LYRA'S POV
When I awoke, I couldn't place where I was initially and as I attempted to find my bearings, my head reeled with the terror of the night, the darkness, the pursuit, the fear and above all else, because of the shock of what had been done to me afterwards.
I had been rescued.
Or at least I thought so until my rescuer struck me.
I slowly blinked, my parched eyes watering as i glanced around and discovered that I was no longer at the village. I was handcuffed at the wrists, hanging over my head and secured to the wooden slats of a small covered wagon. My ankles were chained as well, cold metal digging into them. The wagon lurched sporadically, and it told me that we were on the move.
"W-What…"
My voice croaked. I had blood in my mouth most likely from when I was punched. My limbs hurt. My body screamed at me, and yet somehow none of that compared to the wave of fear and confusion filling me up.
I sucked in a whole lung of air and screamed as loudly as I could.
The shriek ripped from my throat, raw and hysterical, ringing off the wooden sides of the cart. I strained at the chains, kicked at the wood, skin ripping raw. "Help! Someone help me! Please!"
The cart lurched to a stop.
Hoofbeats and stone. Boots. A voice.
The back flap of the cart creaked open, and brilliant sunlight blazed at me. I winced, lifting my chained arms to block it.
A shadow filled the doorway. Then a face. He was him.
Same guy from last night, same one who had cut the throat of my first assailant. Same one I'd stupidly believed was my rescuer.
"You're awake," he snarled, leaning in closer.
Let me go!" I exclaimed to him, voice trembling. "Why are you doing this? I thought you saved me.".
He knelt at my feet, no expression in his eyes, only the icy detachment of a man who had done this one too many times. "I saved you because it would have been wasted," he growled curtly. "You'd have fetched less if you were broken or battered, Sam wasn't to touch the merchandise, he knew that."
My stunned gasp. "M-Merchandise??"
"You'll learn soon enough."
I hurled myself at him, but was restrained by the chains that bound me "You must keep your strength."
"I'm going to kill you," I snarled, seething with maddened helplessness. "When I'm free out of this place, I vow…"
But I never had a chance to continue.
He thrust a thin, shining needle from his sleeve into my arm. I screamed out, pulled away, but in time. The warmth seeped into my bloodstream rapidly. my vision blurring immediately.
"No… no, no…" my voice slurred.
The world began to tilt sideways.
"Sweet dreams," the man said, and closed the cart again.
The second time I woke, the sun was low in the sky, casting orange and gold over everything around us. The rolling cart had come to a stop, and the outside air echoed with the sound of distant voices and buzzing insects.
My head pounded.
I stood against the wall now, still chained, but too exhausted to stand. My skin was sweaty, my lips parched. My stomach growled with anger, but no hunger could divert my attention from the creeping fear within me.
I was numb, thudding pulse in my ears.
And then I heard them, two voices.
Men, close to the cart. Their voices were deep, but the quiet of the woods brought their words to me and i did not lose one word of fear.
"..told her she was young. Not yet taken."
"She better be. I don't want to go through the trouble of bringing back a broken one. You know what happened the last time."
The second guy groaned. "This one's worth it. This one's father swore she was pure. Claimed his daughter was a virgin werewolf and he had evidence, you know how that never works, you'd be a wealthy man."
My heart stopped.
My breath remained stuck in my throat.
I must have misunderstood. Clearly i had to have misunderstood, or perhaps they were talking about someone else.
Virgin werewolf? my father?
The words rang out in my head like a mantra. My eyes overflowed with tears, my body trembling uncontrollably. I tasted the bile rising up my throat as I understood this wasn't merely a kidnapping.
This was a sale.
I was being sold and purchased like a piece of tattered cloth.
For something I had no knowledge of.
They were going to discover my dad had lied. First of all, werewolves were fictional creatures who were found in Master Jonas's book, there was nothing like that. These men were deluded, probably sick people.
And worst of all, my dad had brought them right to my door, why? for some meat.
My own dad.
The man who had raised me up by himself. The man who had made me work for hours, yes but who had also shown me how to cut a rabbit with a knife, and who whispered me secrets about our dead mother when my brother slept.
My world split.
The cart door had swung wide and the killer, the abductor, the man I had idiotically believed was saving me, whoever he was, materialized once more. The face no longer had the savior's cloak. Now it was simply plain, uncreased, businesslike.
"You're awake," he told me.
I didn't talk. Couldn't.
"Take care when you're around her now, she's a hot head. I think she'll make a break for it as soon as she gets the chance."
Another person emerged from behind the kidnapper, this one wasn't very nice to view at all and the grotesque scar that ran across his face made me recoil with distaste.
"You're right." He smiled abnormally. "Soap and some war paint and she will be lovely."
I stared at him, eyes blazing with rage, grief, and wished that i could be strong enough to confront these men.
I did not know why they thought I was a virgin werewolf but i knew that I was in big trouble and i needed to get as far away as i possibly could.
If this madman thought I was a werewolf, I had no idea what they planned to do with me.
"Get her out of the cart." The scarred man barked and I was stiff with immobilizing fear as two burly men made their way towards me.