Chapter 4

The sounds of birds were carried on a gentle breeze. The warm sunlight shone down through the trees, with a beautiful blue sky that could be glimpsed through the leaves. It would have been considered a perfect day for adventuring with Mother and Oswin if it wasn't for the fact that I was still being held captive by the slavers. 

It had been two days since I had been captured, and through this time, my understanding of how foolish I had been continued to deepen. Reflecting on these past few days, I've realized that I never should have left Mother and Oswin to fill up the water. Due to my last life and Mothers protection, I gained a false sense of safety. Though, I was lucky that it was these men who captured me. 

Those of us who were captured were kept in caged wagons, and the Slavers had a total of 4 of them. We were given bread twice daily, and if we were lucky, they would throw some of their food in. However, it was obvious that they were only doing it for entertainment, as after throwing their food in, they would watch the kids scramble to get some. The kids, having been captured longer and having to survive off of just bread longer, would begin to fight each other for the scraps. It was quite the brutal scene, with those stronger beating up those who were weaker and some even prying open the mouths of those who tried to shove it in. Luckily, if it seemed that one of the kids was going to get hurt too bad, the Slavers would step in and split it up. We seemed to be considered at least a little bit valuable to them; therefore, we couldn't get too hurt, or the big boss would punish them.

The caged wagon I was in suddenly seemed to shudder as it went over a small hole, jolting me and almost knocking my face against the bars of the cage that I had been staring out of and daydreaming.

"Are you ok?" a familiar voice asked.

I turned to look beside me. The boy I met two days ago was sitting on my left. Since that day I showed up, anytime he wasn't taking care of the other kids he was sitting next to me. During this time, I learned that his name was Syfin, and he had been orphaned in a village. While there, he lived and worked in the local inn before the proprietress had sold him to the slavers. He was a year younger than me but was always busily running around helping the others locked up with us. I couldn't understand why he continued to look out for others despite what happened to him, but I let him do what he wanted, as it wasn't my place to say anything. 

"I'm fine," I said, turning my head to continue looking out the bars. Staring at him made me slightly uncomfortable as the little lights that would dance around got brighter near him, making me feel like I was staring at a miniature sun.

For some reason, since I'd woken up, the strange lights would come and go; however, around some people, certain lights would shine brighter around them, the ones around Syfin being exceptionally bright. As I stared out the bars at the monotonous scene of trees passing by, I made sure to also pay attention to the Slavers walking around outside. The men seemed to be split into four groups, with the main people in charge leading them. Each group concentrated around a caged wagon and seemed to be in charge of it. The three men who had captured me were part of the group that was in charge of the cage I was in. The tall man with a scar seemed to be the group's leader, while the man with a scarf on his head and the fat man seemed to be his left and right-hand men. 

We traveled for a few more hours until the sun was high in the sky, and the heat seemed to have reached its peak. The groups in front of us seemed to slow down as we approached what looked like a fork in the road. After a few minutes had passed, the caravan of Slavers took the path to the left. As my group passed the fork, I noticed a sign on the other side of the road. Getting up, I walked over to the other side of the cage and understood why they had chosen to go this way.

 {BLACK WOLF CARAVANSERAI}

[This person's taste in names seems quite. . . interesting.]

Despite the bad name, the part that interested me was the 'Caravanserai' part. During these past six years traveling with Mother, we had only seen one of these a few times near the border where the Beastmen lived. It was pretty much an inn for travelers, though the style was slightly different. It was set up in a square shape with a huge open courtyard in the middle of it. They usually had high walls surrounding them and were usually the go-to place for caravans. What made them so attractive to traders was that the enormous doors were closed and locked at night, making it a safer place to stay for those with a lot of goods compared to regular inns. As well as the fact that they had plenty of room for many animals of all sizes.

While caravanserai were normal near the Beastman's territory's border, we were far away from there. Over here in the Human territory, the regular Inns were the norm. 

[Why would there be one of those here?]

"What's wrong?" Syfin asked quietly as he came up beside me.

After thinking for a little bit, I shook my head. "Nothing," I replied.

There was no reason to say anything when I wasn't sure. It could be that a Beastman decided they wanted to make a rest stop here and just did what they were used to. Since I couldn't make sure that only Syfin would hear me and was probably overthinking, I decided to keep my worry to myself.