4

Still holding onto the mare, I pushed her harder and rode into the night. My captor's compound stood alone on a hilltop. I rode down the hill and decided not to go into the town that was there. That would be the first place they would check for me. 

After riding for what seemed like hours, I came across a well just off another town. I dismounted carefully and looked in. Thankfully it was not dried up. Tending to the horse, I paid attention to my side where the arrow was stuck. There wasn't any pain. Just an uncomfortable numbing sensation. I had seen soldiers being treated for arrow wounds before. They would pull the arrow through if it was a clean penetration. And if it wasn't, they'd push it through first so they could get the head out. 

Steeling my resolve, I wrapped my hand around the arrow and began pulling it gradually. The burning pain I'd been expecting did not occur. The same numbing feeling was what remained. 

Before long, the arrow was out and I dropped it on the sand. I ripped a part of my skirt and used it to clean and dress the wounded area till I could come across a proper healer. Taking a deep breath, I calm myself and collected my thoughts. I couldn't stay here for long and I had nowhere to go. With a lunatic chasing me I also could not stay anywhere close for a while. 

"How did I get in the ice? And who took me away?" 

I mused aloud. I knew it wasn't the Djinn who was called Iskandar. He vanished before I lost consciousness. Perhaps I should go back. It would do me good to find out what happened.

"Perhaps I'll only be able to move on when I've sated my curiosity." 

"Now I just need to find out where I am and know where I'm supposed to be heading."

Seems I do need to visit the town after all. 

Mounting the horse once more, I rode to the town I could see in the distance from the well. 

It was a lively little place, people were still out and about and the town was alive for that time of the night. I got odd looks here and there but ignored them as I rode ahead. After finding a place to house the mare, I went to the closest tavern I could locate. The sounds of loud conversations carried into the night air. The smell of wine was thick and heavy as well. 

Walking straight to the bar, the bartender approached me and gave me a once-over. His gaze lingered on the jewellery I wore and my torn skirt. 

"You need something?" His voice did not match his ragged appearance. With a thick greying beard and huge belly, he spotted a scorpion tattoo on the left side of his head. He sounded somewhat gentle for a man of his looks. 

"I need to know where this is." I replied to him. 

"You NEED to buy something first before you start asking questions." He said in a final tone.

"Do you have any milk then?". He sighed and turned around to collect a jug from the shelf behind him. He placed a wooden cup in front of me and filled it up before stretching out his hand to me. 

I pulled off one of the rings u wore that had a ruby on it and placed it in his outstretched hand. He raised a brow at me before lifting it to examine in the light of a torch hanging close by. 

"No change for this. Anything else you need?" 

"A change of clothes, a meal and a room. I'd also like some riding gear for my horse outside." 

"Follow me". 

He led me past a curtain I hadn't noticed to the side and up a flight of stairs. We came to a long hallway and then he suddenly came to a stop while walking. 

"Sorry about this. It's just business." Before I could ask what he meant, doors opened and men stepped out. Two in front of us and two behind us. Without speaking, they lunged at me. I couldn't react fast enough and one of them wrapped a chain around my neck and began pulling me back. 

"Take the valuables, we can sell her later so nobody touches her!" 

"Sure thing boss." One of the men replied. "Hey! What's she doing?"

In my panic, I had frozen the chain that I was struggling with along with the hands of the man holding them. Pulling with all my might, the chains shattered but so did the man's hands. 

He screamed as he fell to his knees. I didn't pay attention to him as I was coughing and trying to breathe properly. Not learning from his friends' mistakes, another man grabbed onto my elbow and my neck as he pushed me against the wall. In a fit of fear and rage, I grabbed his hand that was around my neck and this time willingly froze his hands. Only I didn't stop there. His scream lasted only for a second before the frost travelled up his arms and then his head. His mouth remained open as he fell back. 

He had not let go of my elbow so he pulled me down with him when he fell. His entire upper half shattered to pieces as he fell to the ground. Leaving only his lower half intact. 

"You bitch!" The bartender yelled and the other two men charged to seize the opportunity my fall had created. Without thinking, I slammed my hand on the floor and it froze almost instantly. The entire hallway was covered in ice and the remaining men had their legs frozen under them. 

"I didn't want any trouble." My voice sounded exhausted in my ears. And I was. I had gone from one troubling encounter to another from the moment I opened my eyes. I was exhausted mentally and I was angry as hell. 

I pushed myself up and was about to walk away when I had a thought. I walked back to the man on the floor and searched through his pockets. I found a pouch of silver coins and took them. Walking to the man whose arms I'd first frozen, I knelt beside his whimpering form and lifted his chin so his eyes met mine. 

"I'm sorry." With that, I froze his head as well and he went silent. I rummaged through him and emptied his money pouch as well. 

I turned my gaze to the remaining men who had their feet frozen to the ground. 

"Don't even think about it you bitch!." The bartender said in a strained voice. "Do you even know who I am?". 

"Not too long ago I'd have asked you a similar question as well." I told him in a solemn time. "But it doesn't matter. In the face of absolute power, who you are means nothing." 

Waving my hand slowly in the air at their eye level, a white frost cloud flew at them and froze their head to mid-regions immediately. After catching my breath for a few minutes, I repeated the same process with the bodies of the now dead men. I had managed to gather quite a reasonable amount of money. 

I went into a room one of the men had come out from to see if I could find anything useful. I especially needed a change of clothes. Going through the door, I was met with a grotesque sight. Women whose hands were chained to the wall lined up and were in various states of undress. On closer inspection, some of them were no longer breathing, others barely had any life left in their eyes. At a far corner, I saw a bundle containing clothes and I began searching. 

I traded my silk clothes for loose cotton pants and boots that were slightly bigger than my foot size. The shirt I found also wasn't my size but I had to make do. Lastly, I grabbed a turban to protect myself from the heat of the desert sun before stuffing the money I had obtained and the few jewelry still in my possession into a bag that had been inside the pile. 

I didn't need anyone to tell me these possessions belonged to the victims of these men. 

"Please... Make the pain stop.." A weak voice stopped me in my tracks. 

"Just make it stop.." Another voice echoed the first. 

Taking a nearby candle, I examined the captives in the room. Most of them looked half dead and the rest were worse off. Somehow, I didn't feel any surge of emotions. I only felt the slightest bit of pity for them. If I'd still been powerless and been captured by these men then I'd have ended up like them too. 

"Are you sure?" I didn't direct my question to anyone. 

The sound of someone throwing up made me turn my head to the side. A young man who had been strapped and had multiple bruises on his body that had created a mass of colours kept throwing up blood and convulsing before he went still. 

"They test their opium on us before selling us off when we can't take it anymore." The girl speaking in front of me had her black her turned brown from dust and neglect. Her eyes held very little life and I knew she didn't have any more time left. 

"I understand!."...