2-Chapter-11: Danger

---General Sara POV---

Drakove read the financial documents in his hand with utter confusion. He had been worried about the cost of his operation, so he decided to go over the financial documents again when her notice an unknown source of income funding the project. It was supposedly signed off by his son.

"Get Vadim, I have some questions for him." Drakove said to the butler in the room, summoning his son for the second time this day. With a bow the older gentlemen left to go fetch the young lord.

First the Letter earlier this morning, and now this? Lunch hasn't even happened yet.

Sara who was sitting down on the couch reading a book looked up at her father. Apparently, he had forgotten she was there since he was muttering to himself and hadn't ordered her to leave the room. He wasn't angry though and just looked concerned, finding some unknown flow of money in your budget was rarely a good thing and usually suggested some type of foul play at hand. He didn't think his son was dumb enough to do something like that so plainly but as the City's Lord he couldn't overlook this.

"Father, you wanted to see me." Vadim said when he walked in. His steely face as cold as ever. Unlike Lucilla whose face was set in a permanent scowl, Vadims face was always cold and calculating.

"Yes, I wanted to ask you about this." Drakove said presenting the document to his son.

Scanning over the document Vadim didn't so much as twitch. "Ah, I do apologize Father, I forgot to inform you about this." He said handing the Document back to him. "We got some financial support from the Cathrendor Company."

"The airship fuel company?" He asked his son.

"Well that what they are known for. They do many other things than creating fuel for the airships."

"Why would they be helping us?"

"Ah, well you see I may have promise them a certain type of resource if they would kindly help us. They readily agreed to it." Vadim said plainly.

"What did you promise exactly?" Drakove asked cautiously.

"The denizens of the forest of course. To be more precise the ones partially or completely made of mana, Like Nymphs or the fairies. They can attempt to get ahold of elementals too, but that's a risk for them to take, not us."

"Really now? Isn't enslaving them illegal in the Theocracy and most other countries? The Elves especially will be unpleased. If they try to sell them, they will get caught eventually by one of these countries. I doubt a Company like them would want to risk losing their clients like that." Drakove said more than a little skeptical.

"They don't plan on selling them. Either way it matters not to us, but I'll tell you about it later if you must know." Vadim said. "Just know for now they will help fund this excursion of ours allowing a bit more wiggle room. I suggest hiring some Dragon Hunters."

"Mmm... Your right." Drakove said eventually. "I expect to hear more later but other than that, well done, Vadim, things should be much easier now."

Sara who was listening in was horrified. Her family was supposed to protect the denizens of the forest and here was her respected Father and brother talking about them like bargaining chips. She had a sneaking suspicion that their project had something to do with the Forest, but she had firmly rejected that idea, not willing to suspect them of doing such a thing. Now confronted with this she was more than a little dejected. She felt like her father and brother were soiling on her family's history and duty.

Just as Vadim was about to leave the room on of the guards came in to announce the Hero's arrival. Drakove sighed, while Vadims bored expression twitched a little. Following the guard out to the meeting room where the Hero was located, the father son duo left the room leaving Sara behind.

Sara debated on following them but decided not to. Ruby, or Lucilla as she called herself now, was able to discover her even when she tried to hide. Sure, she had difficulty doing so, but she still managed to do it. So did the Vampire woman after a while. If she were to try and sneak in on a conversation with the Hero, who was undoubtably more powerful than either one? Well, she decided not to risk it.

____________________________________________

"Dang, I missed her." Sara muttered to herself.

She was in the library currently looking for her teacher. Her maid had informed her they had spotted Ruby in the Library. Wanting to talk with her Sara made her way to the building. She had sneaked out again of course, but unfortunately, it appeared she had just missed her. According to the Labrian she and the group she was with had left the building following a blond woman carrying a cutlass only minutes ago.

"Well, guess I'll just head home." With a sigh she walked down the road, avoiding the alleyways as she made her way back to the main street. She was still a little traumatized and the thought of going down one alone worried her. Even in the middle of the day where it was much way easier to see. since she wasn't on the main road, she was even more nervous. Just as she was passing one of these, someone called out to her.

"Hey, little girl, over here!" A woman said in a gruff voice.

Looking down the alleyway she saw a woman dressed in dark clothing on the ground. She had one leg trapped under a box causing the womans face to twist in pain. She was covered in dirt and her clothes has cuts here and there. The womans green eyes board themselves into Sara as she looked on from the entrance of the narrow passage.

"Uh, um, are you alright?" Sara asked uncertain.

"I will be when this thing is off my leg." She breathed out. "Can you help me?"

"Uhhh." Sara turned her head observing her surroundings. There were very little people on the street and were a good distance away from her location. Turning her attention back to the ally she didn't see in indication there were other people around she decided to do what she could to help. "I'll help, but what am I supposed to do? I can go look for a doctor?"

"I just need this lifted enough for me to get my leg free." The woman said. "See if you can use those planks over there." She pointed to a pile of wooden planks resting against the wall of a building.

As Sara made her way to the planks a sudden sense of unease hit her when she entered the alleyway and only grew worse the more, she walked. She looked at the woman again and her danger sense started going off immediately. Cold sweat ran down the young girls back as she felt the ever-present sense of danger closing in around her like a vice grip. The longer she stood there the more suffocated she felt.

"You know what," She started saying as she slowly back up, keeping her eyes on the woman, "I think I'll just go find someone else to help, I'm just a little girl after all. I mean what am... I..."

She bumped into to something soft but sturdy just before she made it out of the narrow passageway. Turning around she saw a large man standing behind her dressed in dark clothing with a hood over his head. An even larger woman stood next to him also Dressed in black. They were blocking the exit out. Sara's danger sense was blaring in her head, it felt like a Horned-Rabbit was kicking in her skull, the headache she was receiving as a result was painful.

Jumping away from the two new participants Sara was now fully on guard. In the corner of her eye, she saw the supposedly injured woman effortlessly push the large wooden crate off her leg and stand up. A sinister grin crossed the womans face as she tutted at Sara.

"You made a mistake kid; this could've gone down much easier if you just played along."

Saying nothing Sara pulled out her knives getting ready to fight. Her face hardens as she glared at her assailants, very remanent of her teacher's own face. But first she did the most important thing she could do in this situation. She took in a deep breath before yelling in the most childlike voice she could muster.

"HEEEELLLLLPPPPP I'M BEING KIDNAPPED!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

The woman stopped smiling and cursed. She and the other two quickly approached Sara to shut her up. Not going down without a fight Sara ran towards the woman. She hid her presence to the best of her ability, but this was a narrow space, and they were already focused on her. So, while she can't go unnoticed, she can make it, so they have difficulty understanding her position and movements.

The woman attempted to grab her but instead all she got was empty air, she missed by the girl by a few inches above her head. The girl had gone low and was in the process of thrusting the knife towards her stomach. Not wanting the humiliation of being taken down by a child the woman attempted to sidestep the attack only to miss judge where the knife was heading and instead of dodging, she turned her body right into the attack. Sara managed to hit her directly in her left flank.

'YES!' She cheered in her head. 'Thank you, teacher.' Despite her current reservations concerning her teacher, she was still grateful the Silver haired woman had earnestly and honestly taught her how to fight. Despite her complaining about do so.

"!!!!" The woman gritted her teeth in frustration, but Sara had stopped moving long enough for the woman to get a clear understanding of her location. Using this opportunity the woman pivoted on her foot, ignoring the knife still in her, and kicked Sara into the wall with all her strength. The young girl went flying letting go of knife still stuck inside of the woman.

"GAH-!" Hitting the wall knocked the air out of her lungs. As Sara attempted to breath and stand up, the other two had approached her the large woman picked her by the hair dragging the girl up as she dangled in the air. Sara attempted to scream out again as she struggled to free herself, but the large woman covered her mouth with her hand.

She had to get away, she had to. Panick started to fill her mind as pain cores through her body from the impact of hitting the wall. That didn't stop her from trying to bite the hand over her mouth or flailing her arms around trying to hit the woman holding her.

The man then clasped a Slave Collar around her neck. "Silence." He ordered. Sara found herself unable to make any noise. He then placed a cloth over her mouth, causing her to fall unconscious.

Despite her attempted to fight back and escape, she was sadly outmatched. She was still only a twelve-year-old girl against trained adults in combat. The fact she was still able to get a hit in at all was commendable. A little more training and some actual combat experience and she might have succeeded in escaping.

"Damn girl." The now actually injured woman spat. "Who the hell taught you to fight, fuck." She then paused when she heard footsteps approaching their location. "Come on we got to go, her screaming attracted attention."

The two accomplices nodded in silence. The large woman tucked Sara under her arm as she carried her deeper into the city. By time anyone made it to the alleyway all that was found was a small pool of blood.

_____________________________________

---Sara POV---

I woke up to find myself being strapped into a strange device. My arms and legs were spread apart, making my body form an X like shape. The thing was laying in put me in a vertical position tilting backwards ever so slightly. All in all, it was highly uncomfortable. The restraints were pulled tightly over my wrist, ankles, and waist and on top of that I notice many other calendrical pods with people located behind the glass doors inside the room. Or should I call it a hall?

"Where... am... I." I croaked out. The person that was strapping me in looked up in surprise.

"Well then, wasn't expecting you to be awake." He spoke. "Sorry kid but you're just unlucky enough to be picked up. Anyway, you won't have to cures you luck for long any way."

As the man spoke, he Pulled something from the wall of the chamber. It was hose like with a cone like tip at the end. It had barbs all around the cone shape tip pointing downwards. The top of the cone was sharp, obviously designed to stab into something, but there was also a small whole located on the top, kind of like a big fat needle.

"Wh- what are you-?" I didn't get to finish. The man in front of me stabbed the object into my arm. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHH!?!?!!?" Pain flared from the wound as I cried out in pain and confusion.

The man pulled more of the tube-like objects with the spiny tips and continued to stab them into me. My vision blurred as tears formed in my eyes and I continue to scream out in pain. "AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Every time they stabbed one of these things into me, I felt my energy drain from me little by little, despite that I still tried to pry myself free from my restraints.

I pulled at them, hoping to free my arms, my wrist started to bruise the more I struggled. The taste of blood entered my mouth as I realize I bit into my lip so hard in concentration I broke the skin, but that didn't matter, I just needed to escape. I twisted and pulled, and even tried kicking but noting I did could free me. All I accomplished was causing more pain for myself.

I didn't understand what was happening. Why was I here and what did they want from me. These strange tube-like things continued to drain more and more energy from, causing my already pitiful resistance to gradually weaken. Eventually I stopped struggling too weak to even move anymore. I glared in the man's direction as the only form of defiance I can muster.

"Are you done struggling?" The man asked unfazed by the unsightly scene in front of him. "If so let continue." He then proceeded to stab me again, and once more I cried out and felt the energy being drained from my body. I eventually passed out.

-- -- --

After a while I woke up to the sound of voices.

"We got a new batch just recently so far test have been successful my Lord." Said one voice.

"Good. Then when we get ahold of the real desired subjects, we can expect exhalent results." Said a familiar voice.

Then the two people talking walked into view. My eyes went wide as me and my brother saw each other. He looked just as surprised as me, I've never seen him look so shock in my life. Soon that shock morphed into another expression I've never seen him make before, Anger. His face went red with rage as he rounded on the person standing next to him.

"Mr. Cathrendor!" He yelled. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Wh- what's may be the problem my Lord." Mr. Cathrendor asked nervously.

"You do realize that's my younger sister you fool." My brother said in an even but seething tone.

Mr. Cathrendor's face morphed into shock then panic. I on the other hand was touch my brother would get so angry on my behalf. For a brief hopeful moment in time, I truly believed that. I thought by dear brother was angry to see me in such a state and would save me. But his next words shattered that illusion in an instant.

"I do apologize my Lord; we will release her-"

"Don't do that you fool." With a heavy sigh Vadim gathered himself. "It'll be problematic if she told anyone about this. Luckily for us her physique is closer to what we want compared to the other subjects here."

Vadim then turned his attention to mer. "I do apologize sister but you luck is just terrible. Thankfully you're more useful than dead right now. Rejoice for you can help us fine tune our machines." He said blandly like he was reading out a progress report to a board meeting.

"...." Sara's heart broke as she looked at her brother in stunned silence. She respected her brother and was relatively found of him. Sure, part of it was because of this weird thing where I feel familial bonds with certain people but that wasn't the only reason. He was my blood related brother; I've known him my entire life. Sure, he was cold, but he was like that with everyone even our father and mother, so I never took it personally.

Tears welled up in my eye and I felt hot streaks run down my cheek. I couldn't even muster up anything to say, I was emotionally, physically, and mentally drained. I watched with blurry vision as my brother walked away from view. Only one thought crossed my mind as my consciousness started fading again, I didn't even realize I thought it until much later.

'Please help me teacher....'