2 It’s Not So Bad, Right?

Dawn closed her eyes and pretend to pass out. The less people that knew she was awake the better.

Fred wasn't a problem, with his personality she doubted that he would volunteer the information. He seemed like the type to minimize his work load as much as possible. She could respect that. When the time came she would try to make his death as painless as possible.

The caring part of her that she never quite managed to kill wanted to help him out and leave him alive but the hardened soldier who'd seen allies cut each other's throats couldn't afford to leave him alive.

Another type of chill settled over her as the warmth in the room slowly seeped into her. This pensive mood accompanied her often in the months leading up to her retirement. No in fact it might have led to it, as she rethought her choices for the last fifteen years. It still haunted her now, had she made a mistake all those years ago?

Refocusing she blocked out where her mind was trying to go. This was neither the time nor the place. She didn't dare move around too much less she attracted any unwanted attention. Fred had been nice enough not to inform the rest of her captors that she was awake. This was the biggest blessing. If they knew she was up they would drug her and she couldn't afford to be passed out or worse at a time like this.

"Put her with the rest," a new voice commanded. Clearly the leader and a scary one at that. Fred's leisurely pace picked up and he trembled slightly.

The voice originated from her left side, neither near nor far. She locked on to his position as best she could. Fred dropped her the same way he picked her up, like a sack of potatoes. She lay limp on the floor. Fred paused for a second before scuttling away. You go Fred! Half the battle was won the minute he didn't tell them she was awake.

She didn't feel any body heat close to her. Peeking out she could see the base of furniture and three pairs of legs. Were the rest of the captives near or far from her? Were they all on the floor? Awake or asleep. The unknown variables were too many to count.

Dawn was trapped in her mind. She didn't know how her friend lived in denial when the facts just kept popping up over and over again in your head when you tried to forget about them.

It took years of training to keep herself calm and she was never more grateful for them than now. No situation she'd ever faced as a special operations soldier was anywhere near as extreme as this.

She'd slowly eliminated the impossible and all that was left was the improbable. As much as she didn't want to, all that was left was to accept that this was not earth or at least not the earth she was used to.

Acceptance. All she could do was accept the situation as it was. She was alive so she would have to do her best to try to live. How bad could it be?

While the situation she was in was touch and go it wasn't like her life back on earth was spectacular. At twenty five she was single and always looking over her shoulder for someone who wanted to kill her or worse.

Half her life was spent in dirty places hunting criminals or doing missions she questioned the morality of.

Since she was given such a golden opportunity then she should live in this world a leisurely, fun and comfortable life....Once she got away from here of course.

Dragged from her musing in the worst possible way Nasal voice sounded out, "Archer! Archer! Can I get a taste! Anyone will do. I'll even take one of the old ladies." Nasal stood close to Archer a small table separating them. Dawn didn't see Fred's distinctive pair of red legs, she was sure he'd chosen a point further away. " I don't like the boys unless they are really young but I'll settle."

Dawn paused not liking the sound of this conversation. It wasn't her first time coming in contact with deviants and perverts. The question was could she ignore what was happening, just to preserve her own life. The answer was yes, unless it was happening right in front of her. She didn't much like the thought of that. She knew here character had gotten more cynical after all the time interacting with the worst the world had to offer but she didn't realize how numb she was.

When she was free, the first person she would kill was Nasal. She couldn't let him live. Even if it was only to ease her own conscience. She might not be a good person but she was decent enough.

"No," Archer said. His voice was smooth, it sounded charming. Like he was always smiling or laughing. "Can you afford to pay for one?"

"But the old ones aren't worth much," Nasal's voice hit new heights of annoying when he started to whine. "Please, please."

Odd. She was sure Fred was afraid of the one they called Archer but Nasal had no such reservations. Were they friends or did Nasal not have enough common sense to be wary.

A deep sigh could be heard. "We'll try to sell them first. Anyone left over from the first day you can pick."

"You promised even if its a sexy young one I still can pick them as long as they were left from the first market day." Nasal said.

"Why do I put up with you?" Archer asked sounding genuinely puzzled.

Good question. Dawn was trying to figure out the same thing.

Market day sounded way too formal. In her opinion kidnappers didn't talk this freely unless they thought they had nothing to worry about. Was slavery legal here? Fred flashed into her mind unbidden.

There was a clear power difference between Fred and Archer that didn't exist between Nasal and Archer. Was it just that Fred was lower in the chain of command? She didn't have enough information to go off but she had a nagging feeling that Fred was a slave.

It would make twice as much sense if Archer and Nasal were human. Discrimination was bound to exist as long as people could recognize and categorize differences.

The room settled into a lull. Dawn napped periodically waiting to see what her captives would do. If this was earth she would have used the time during transport to escape since this was when people got careless but once she was free she didn't know where she was or have the common sense necessary to navigate this world.

That would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Se needed to see how many captors there were in total. Plus there was no guarantee that her fellow captives would be friendly.

Looking around at ground level she couldn't locate anything she could use as a weapon. The knife she slept with was probably still on her bed perfectly useless to her now.

The room descended into silence, broken periodically by Nasal singing about doing some truly disturbing things. She was half tempted to cut herself loose and kill him right now no matter the consequence.

The sound of a door opening roused her. Two new voices could be heard arguing softly. It was too low for her to hear exactly what they were saying. Opening her eyes a fraction two feet came into view. That made a total of 5 people.

"How is he?" Archer asked.

"He will live." This voice clearly belonged to a woman. "His magic just rebounded."

Magic? Her body stiffened. Thankfully no one was paying attention. Well maybe Fred was but she wasn't too sure about him. Why couldn't she have been pulled into a parallel world that followed the same conventions as her original. How effective was the magic in the world. Was it magic like in Darry Lotter or more like Lord of the Band of Gold?

"It best we stay here for awhile. He's not stable enough to move." Another man said, he sounded young. His voice even shook a bit displaying some fear.

"Shut up Chance!" The woman shrieked. "Sorry about that Archer. Don't know how this fucking worm is related to me." There was the distinct sound of flesh hitting flesh. The boy called Chance fell to the ground and curled into a ball as he was repeatedly kicked.

No wonder Chance was timid.

That's enough Lexi," Archer said, the woman named Lexi gave him a few more kicks before stopping. "We can't afford to have anymore dead weight. The five of us can just about manage with Rainford out of commission. We're going to hang around until his magic stabilizes, we need him well enough to put slave bindings on them."

Bingo. This was what she was waiting to hear. There were a total of six of them. Not too difficult if she could divide and conquer. In fact the odds were better than she'd hoped for.

It wasn't really up for question before but this confirmed that Archer was the leader. Nasal surprisingly hadn't said a word since the pair entered the room meaning that Lexi was probably the number two in charge.

Dawn was determined to make a move before the magician Rainford got better it would be her only chance. Whatever convention magic here followed the word slave bindings was probably similar to what was pure fantasy in her world.