Untie My Wings

About this chapter
This is a story I've been working on for about seven or eight years now. It takes place in an Antrho setting, meaning all of the characters are anthropomorphized animals.

This story is about Alleah, a bat who was kidnapped and sold as a slave at a young age. In this chapter, Alleah, along with two other slaves, officially become Vlad's possessions, and begin the long journey to their new home.

Chapter 5: The Sun Sets

Alec had died early that morning, before the sun had even risen to filter through the dismal shroud of grey clouds blanketing the sky. A servant had been chosen to stay with him at all times, from the very onset of the sickness, and it was he who alerted us to that which we'd dreaded the last few weeks.

With Alec gone, we were running out of time. There wasn't even enough time for us to mourn the passing of someone that we'd considered, in some odd way, as a good friend. Without Alec, Vlad had no reason to refrain from outright killing us. Or worse, if he chose to let those who remained live, which is something that we didn't want to spend too long thinking over.

Out of those of us that had survived, there were only five or six that were well enough to even walk. We all agreed, six against Vlad isn't a fair fight. But it was all we had now, and it was now, or never.

Several of us discussed the plan of just fleeing, running away, splitting up. Why would Vlad follow? Most of the others agreed to the plan, and a few escaped to freedom under cover of darkness that night. I couldn't leave. Even if I did escape, and Vlad didn't follow me, he'd still live on to do God knows what to someone else. I, and others, couldn't let that happen. He had to be stopped, and this would be our last chance.

Alec had specified in his will his wish that he not have a funeral. It stated that he didn't want anyone to mourn his death, but instead to celebrate his life. It was something I could remember him telling me many times while he was still alive.

Even so, everyone filed into the cemetery, and lined the walkways as his casket was carried past. There was hardly a sound as everyone shed their tears silently, and Alec's remains were lowered into the ground.

It was a chaotic few days after Alec's demise, as his material wealth was divided between a few friends and charity. Money here, estate there, possessions there, everything was sorted and gobbled up by the greedy swine who had befriended Alec for just the occasion. Unfortunately, it happened that Vlad was a beneficiary, and we slaves were considered possessions.

Each of the twelve of us left nervously awaited the moment we would handed over to a new owner, praying that between the others that were to receive slaves, that each wouldn't be one of the unlucky three to become the official possession of Vlad.

As you may have noticed, I am an especially unlucky individual. We were lined up on the stairs in front of the mansion, a few steps above the people who were to choose their new possessions. I felt nauseated during the entire selection process, when the four beneficiaries looked each slave over and chose the ones they wished to keep. A lightheaded feeling came to me each time Vlad passed, though after having passed me twice or maybe more times than that I began to hope he didn't want me.

I was one of the last to be chosen, and was by now feeling fairly confident that I would have a new owner. I'd finally be free of Vlad, despite the fact that my plan to rid the world of him had gone awry and he'd plague the planet until his natural death. I cared little at the moment, and held my breath as Vlad passed me again.

I began to relax as he passed, but he paused halfway down the line. He glanced back towards the end, just as another beneficiary had chosen a small cat. Stepping back a bit, apparently to compare who remained: a bobcat servant, a mink slave, and me. I began to feel guilty as I prayed to myself that he would chose the mink, since Vlad had shown no interest in taking servants. I lowered my eyes, my chest aching from holding my breath so long, and the dizzying anxiety returned.

Unfortunately, as I watched in shock as the mink was lead away by another, Vlad stepped up in front of me. His face held a faint, superior grin, apparently amused by my horror that I was all that was left and it was his turn to chose. As soon as I glanced back at him, and those dreadful eyes caught mine, the world went black.

I don't remember fainting, and for a while I wasn't sure whom I had been taken by. I woke up about a half hour later in the back of a moving carriage, jarred awake by an unusually harsh bump that it'd driven over. I still felt sick, and disoriented, and it was a few minutes before my vision cleared enough for me to see where I was.

There were two other slaves in the carriage with me, a speckled feline I knew as Anete, and an arctic fox who had introduced herself as Rishi to me when I first moved in. I was told that as soon as my new owner had stepped up to me I'd just collapsed, and that everyone had attributed my fainting to the unusual sticky heat and strong sun that we'd experienced that day. Other than that they told me no more, and nor did I ask anything for several minutes of odd silence.

Finally finding the silence between us three too much to bear, I spoke up, asking who our owner was, as I remembered nothing in the few minutes before I'd fainted. There was a reluctant pause, and fox and cat glanced at each other, before the latter backed away silently into a corner and curled up there. After what seemed an eternity of waiting for my answer, in truth less than a minute, Rishi confirmed that which I'd rather have died that heard: we had been chosen by Vlad.

Once I heard those awful words, the memory of what had happened came back to me. I remembered the mink, watching her walk away with someone else, and that... that smug, superior look on Vlad's face. I'm not sure if it was my own fear, or if it was something that his eyes actually held when I had looked upon them again... whatever the reason, a frightening thought crept into my head, that his eyes also held the sentiment of all the horrible things he would do to me now that I was officially his.

For a not-so-brief moment I thought over escape, either by death or by trickery. The first thing that came to mind was the idea of just killing myself; if I were to die at my own hands Vlad wouldn't have the opportunity to have me die at his. Glancing at the hatch that locked us from the outside world, and the chains that bound us three, I also mused over the idea of escaping somehow. I visualized it in my mind, along with was that I'd like to kill Vlad that crept into my head. I drifted off into some sort of reverie at the thought, perhaps this had also been a result of the heat.

The carriage jerked to a halt sometime later, sending me tumbling back into my cruel reality from my dream world the heat had created for me. My head snapped to face the direction of the carriage hatch simultaneously with the other two in the carriage, waiting impatiently for someone to open it while hoping Vlad wouldn't be the one to open it. He was the last person any of us wanted to see.

Luckily, as the carriage hatch opened we were met by a , who had been the carriage's driver, not the wolf-bat we were anticipating. Though he was tall, about the same height as Vlad, the raccoon was leaner, and definitely kinder at removing us from the carriage than Vlad would have no doubt been. As we stepped out, the raccoon extended his hand to each of us in turn, helping us down from the rather high step of the back of the carriage. Lucky, because I was still feeling a tad dizzy, apparently also was Anete, and we most likely would have fallen if not for his assistance. I could tell that the other two were disappointed, as was I, when he had to go about his work and part ways with us, as we were hoping for a bit more time in the company of -anyone- but Vlad.

Apparently, though Vlad had lived with us and worked for Alec, he also owned his own house. Unfortunately, more transportation needed to be arranged, as his home was still many more miles from the home we had just left. Thankfully, the sun was setting soon, and the desert was cooling, but that was a small comfort as we traded the comforting enclosure of the carriage for two camels laden with supplies. We were going to journey to the edge of the desert with only Vlad looking out for us - a glance at the other two girls with me confirmed we were all fearing whether or not we'd make it across alive.

The fact that there were only two camels also worried us. One of us would have to either walk or ride with Vlad. We honestly weren't sure which was the worse idea. We didn't have much time to mull the possibilities in our heads before Vlad returned. He didn't say anything at first, until he began to unlock me from the chain that bound us three girls together.

I was so disgusted by the idea of him touching me that I growled and attempted to pull away from him. I suppose it was a mistake on my part, but also an instinctive reaction for me that I was really unable to avoid. In any event, my resistance was met with a strong back-handed strike across my face, knocking me to the ground. Before I really had time to let the move register, I winced slightly, biting my lip out of habit as I felt him grab a large handful of my hair and yank my head upwards, forcing my gaze to meet his.

Something I never really grew accustomed to was the anger, the hate... the pure evil in Vlad's eyes. Again, instinctively, I shut mine tightly, unable to look upon them for more than a second. This elicited a frustrated growl from Vlad, who tightened his grip on my hair painfully, even as I attempted to turn my head away from him.

"Look at me," his voice was a low growl, of the kind he often used when he was very angry with someone. Though I wanted to do no such thing, I opened my eyes cautiously. I was still doing my best to resist and look away from him, and as such my gaze fell upon Rishi and Anete, who were looking back at me in utter horror and clinging to each other.

At that moment, it really sank in... there wasn't anyone who could save me now. No Fabiana, no Alec, even the man who was helping with the camels had left to get more supplies, and the other two slaves were more frightened and helpless than I was. I was really, truly, alone... aside from this hellish monster confronting me. For the first time in quite a while, I felt truly afraid.

"I said look at me!" His voice was louder and harsher than it had been a moment ago, and immediately my eyes snapped towards his out of fear. Once I was looking at him, his voice turned low again, apparently so the other two girls couldn't hear what he was saying as he leaned in closer to me.

"You belong to me now, slave. It would be extremely wise of you to stop resisting before something unfortunate happens to you."

Unable to do anything else, I bit my lip and nodded slightly, too frightened to try and argue for the time being. At that Vlad seemed placated, although before he released my hair he painfully dragged me back to my feet. By the time he'd unlocked my chains the attendant helping us prepare for our journey had returned and filled the camels' supply packs.

Taking my arm firmly, Vlad gestured to the other two girls with his free hand, telling the attendant to help them to their camel.

"I need to keep a very close eye on this one," he said, turning to glare at me with narrowed eyes while he finished his statement, squeezing my arm hard enough for it to hurt as emphasis.

Too weak and terrified to resist again as Vlad 'helped' (I use the term as loosely as possible) onto the second camel, I sat there quietly. In my mind I was desperately looking for some way out, even as I let Vlad tie my wrists in front of me to the camel's bridle to keep me from running off. Apparently he didn't trust me enough to let me ride behind him, and as such he sat directly behind me. It was a horrible feeling. He was much, much closer to me than I could ever possibly want, and that closeness made me feel claustrophobic. I was surrounded; it sickened and frightened me. While all this was running through my mind I became dimly aware of Vlad addressing the other two girls.

"It would be in your best interests to follow me closely." While he was speaking, I tilted my head down, trying to block out the fact that he was directly behind me.

"If you get lost in this desert, you will die. If you make it back to the town we left, you will be returned to me. If you make it to the sea, you will be trapped, and you will die trying to find your way back. There is not a single place you can go to escape."