Aida: Iron, Blood, Deceit

I

Aida walked alone, sneaking a few guards patrolling. She began to stand on the edge of the quarry, looking out over the deep excavation ground. Her gaze began to swirl and instantly took a few steps back. She scouted left and right, looking at the wide descending road not to be filled with soldiers.

Every time a soldier passed, Aida would hide behind a barrel until she covered her body with excavated earth. And when the people have passed it, it will come out of the earthen grave and continue into the deepest part of the mine.

Deep at the bottom is a place where slaves sleep. Right on the cold, hard rocks. Halfway through, Aida found a large tunnel. From inside, she could hear people talking about an attack by the Briondorian on small mines in the previous few months.

She poked her head in, seeing that the room was filled with people in fur robes. The woman could only suggest that they were sorcerers stationed in the mines.

As she looked inside, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Aida jumped in surprise and saw a woman who was much older than her. Her body was thin, Aida could see her bones showing on her skin which was covered with dirt. The unpleasant body odor and disheveled hair made it very clear that she was a slave.

"What are you doing?" reprimand the woman. "We can't go inside! If the guards find out if you glance in, you'll be beheaded. You'd better get back to work."

"Why are you in slavery?" Aida asked fearfully.

The woman grabbed Aida's arm, leading her to walk down into the deepest part of the mine.

"Are you new here?"

Aida couldn't help but stare at the woman.

"Of course you are a new slave. Who is your supervisor?"

"My supervisor?"

"Yes, supervisor."

"I do not have any."

"Okay, I'll assume Mr. Harkon owns you. Usually he brings the slaves here."

A guard came past the two women who were walking. He set his sights on Aida.

"Are you new?"

Aida was silent, and the woman nudged her with her shoulder.

"Yes, sir."

"Which sector?"

"Sector three, sir. We-" the older woman answered.

"I'm not asking you idiot," the guard pushed the slave away. Aida immediately helped the woman up.

"Who's your supervisor?"

"Master Harkon."

The person just stared, then drew closer to his gaze at Aida.

"I'll remember you, woman," he said with a laugh before walking back down.

The two glanced at each other, Aida felt sorry for the woman. She helped her up from the ground with her frail body. They walked again without sandals on the pebbles that clawed at his feet bleeding.

"Where are the other soldiers?"

The slave was facing his head up, right in the direction of the mine entrance. "They're in the barracks. Drinking late into the night, maybe taking the slave girls there too."

"Everything?"

"Everyone. From the very young to people like me. Perhaps, you will also meet those wild beasts."

Aida felt her nose heat up, holding back the tears. She had never felt this kind of fear. The anxiety and heartbreak that held her down made Ada completely lose her trust in the sorcerer.

"Why did the sorcerers allow all this?"

"Because they're sorcerers. It's a tradition that has become their flesh and blood. It's just that people don't know what really happened," she fell to the ground, Ada could see the woman's legs were bleeding. "If I was given the choice to live in the north only to be killed by losing blood, I would prefer to live in the south."

"You need to run away from here."

"I can't. Everyone can't! And if anyone could do it, then they should have run away from this place and sought refuge. This is where we die."

Aida stepped back, away from the woman. She shook her head in pain, and immediately ran uphill. Her eyes were holding back tears. She had a sore leg forcing her to move faster.

The soldier on guard just looked confused at what the woman was doing. In the end, she was chased by a guard. Aida kept running as fast as she could, and the soldier jumped into the woman's body.

Aida was pressed on the ground, the man was on top of her.

"Gotcha!"

Aida hit the man's body, but it didn't work.

Soldiers guarding the edge of the upper cliff saw the incident cheered and laughed.

"Let go of me!" Ada cried.

"Be patient," said the soldier as he began to loosen his pants.

Aida pushed the person away, trying to get away from her. He was outmatched by that person. She could see the soldier's face began to want to tear her clothes.

The people on the outskirts watched it amused from where they were. They kept looking at them, cheering continuously.

II

"Just rip it off!" said a soldier. "Just rip it! Rip it..."

What started as a scream turned into silence. What was originally the gaze of a few guards, began to become the gaze of the entire guard army. They were waiting for something to happen. But not a single movement occurred.

Ada pushed the body of the person on top of her, falling into the mining ravine with a dagger stuck in the neck before his body splattered when he landed under the ravine. Aida looked down, the slaves drifted away in panic when they saw the body seperated and blood splattered.

"Stop!" shouted a soldier.

All the soldiers started running after Aida who started to run away. She climbed the path with ten soldiers in armor chasing Aida who was only clothed in cloth.

Up ahead, there were two soldiers blocking. Ada continued to run and rub the two soldiers down. All the guards who blocked the entrance route had been avoided by Aida. When the woman came out of the mine, she saw in the distance several dozen soldiers coming out of the barracks.

Aida continued to run as fast as she could. As she fell, Ada could feel her sprained right leg becoming more painful. Aida continues to run in pursuit by people who are ready to kill her if they wants. Just as she felt like she was starting to drift away, a bow arrow flew over her shoulder. Aida looked behind her, there were a dozen soldiers holding bows aimed at her.

As she walked clumsily into the forest, the soldier continued to chase her. Aida fell to the ground, she started crawling away from the people. When she was exhausted, the soldiers dragged the woman down the gravel road back to the mine. Aida could only surrender, she was already exhausted. She didn't have the strength to save her life this time.

The woman's fell, and Aida screamed in pain as her right foot hit the ground. Then, there was a growl followed by the sound of a sword striking. Aida turned around for ten seconds when she let go of her legs, and she saw Nazeir surrounded by fifteen bodies of sentry guards.

Excluding one surviving soldier with two legs missing. The soldier crawled away from Nazeir, and gave up from the loss of blood from his severed leg.

The woman's eyes darkened. Before everything fade to black, she could see the inquisitor lifting her up and she could feel her body becoming light.