Mia
My stomach grumbled and I rubbed my hands over it. The damned traitor. I couldn’t believe that I dared to be hungry in this kind of situation. What was wrong with me? Why would I be hungry at this time? Why wouldn’t I? It had been hours ago I had been abducted and hadn’t eaten anything since then.
Moreover, I had a weird tendency to eat whenever I was stressed. I didn’t think that anything could have been more stressful than the situation that I was in.
The trolls heard and came rushing to where I was. As usual, only their leader talked and smiled at me. “Are you ready to eat now?”
“As if I was going to eat what you have.” I scoffed at them.
“Don’t be too stubborn.”
“What is your business if I am?”
“You are making us feel bad. It’s hard on us to watch you suffer.”
“Then let me go. No one will have any reason to be hurt anymore.”
He scoffed. “Stop suggesting the impossible. You know we can’t. It will be hard on us to let go of our bride.”
“It’s hard on me to see you keep on dreaming. I wonder how many times I have to remind you that I’m not your bride.”
“Do we have to keep reminding you as well that you are going to be and you should stop fighting what is meant to be?”
I sighed. It was no point talking with them. They were only going to drain me. Why would I waste my draining energy on them? I was certain that the boys were going to find me soon and I needed to save my energy so I would be able to run when they are around.
“I’m not hungry.” I spat at them. “I would rather starve to death than eat anything that you have on that ugly plate that you call food. Why would you think I can stomach the poison you eat?”
“Suit yourself.” One of them hissed at me, hurt by my words and went away.
The other stormed off as well. I sighed. If only they could be hurt into letting me go. The leader was about to turn away when he went stiff. His eyes went round as he stared at me, watching me carefully as one would watch a stray dog that one was looking for a reason to spank.
“Are you bleeding?” He asked.
I felt embarrassed. I should have known that he would know. I had been so glad when they came and didn’t notice anything. I said nothing. There was no way I was going to tell him that I was bleeding. He would want to know why and there was no way I was going to tell him that. I would rather die first.
His expression changed and his countenance hardened at the silence he got from me. “Were you trying to escape from the cage? Are you crazy?”
I heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. He didn’t know anything. I used that moment to be hard on him again.
“Yes, I’m crazy. It would be a wonder if I’m not after been locked up and staring at ugly faces of the three of you.” I shouted.
He shook his head. “You are truly a feisty one. That makes it all fun. We will have something to say and laugh on after you come to your senses and become ours.”
“I’m never becoming yours. The three of you are so deluded I feel pity for you. I would have suggested that you get your brain checked if there was a hospital around here.”
“You don’t know what is down there or you wouldn’t be trying to escape. Did you think that we didn’t know you were going to try to escape when we moved you out of the bedroom inside to this cage outside? You must have thought that we were fools if you didn’t think that we were going to take precautions against that.”
“Wouldn’t dying be better than being your prisoner? Don’t tell me that I’m your bride and not your prisoner. I’m so tired of hearing that word that I might scream if I hear it again.” I gave him a mischievous smile. “Actually, I thought that you were worse than fools and that was why I could dare to think of escaping despite knowing that it was dangerous.”
He flicked me an annoying glare and went away. I sat back in the cage, held my head in my hands and started crying. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen at all, not to me.
Quinn
Yes, I’m crazy. It would be a wonder if I’m not after been locked up and staring at ugly faces of the three of you.
The voice boomed through the land and my heart skipped a beat, dancing in excitement. We had been trailing Mia’s scent for the past ten minutes, hearing her voice made us know that we were close. We would soon find her.
“Isn’t that your girl?” Neigh asked.
“Yes, she is.” We said with pride.
He chuckled. “She seems like trouble. I’m almost feeling pity for the guardians. Almost.”
I chuckled. “You have no idea.”
“Serves those bastards right. They should also suffer the consequences of stealing females everywhere. I almost wish that she should make them suffer more. Now I know why you said that she is strong and wouldn’t die easily.”
“Maybe but we don’t have that much time. She is bleeding.”
“Those bastards might have hurt her. It’s amazing how she can still shout as loud as that at them in that state. She is truly admirable.”
“That is Mia.” I grinned with pride, even as I quickened my steps. “She always fights to her last breath.” I didn’t pray that she take that last breath though. Not yet. Not ever, if possible.
“We have to move faster.” Jack said.
I nodded. The closer we got to her, the more I could sense the blood. I growled. Those damned bastards were certainly dying for daring to lay a hand on my girl.
We got to where she was and gasped as we saw her. She wasn’t dead but might soon be if we weren’t careful. She was locked in a cage and the cage was suspended in the air over a heap of dried bones and sharp spikes. If we made any mistake, she was going to fall into that heap and be dead before we could gasp at what we had done. Those cunning bastards.
We needed a plan. We couldn’t charge ahead and be rash, unless we wanted to lose her.
John sighed, shaking his head as we moved back into the shadows. We could still see her clearly from here and watch over her. If there was going to be any problem, we were going to fly straight at those idiots.
I sighed, staring at her cheeks. She had been crying and it hurt that we couldn’t tell her that we were here to give her hope. There was no way that we could do that without alerting the trolls to our presence and we needed to have a plan before we do that.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
My brothers looked at me as if I had grown two heads. They must be awfully surprised that I had asked that instead of coming up with a plan myself.
“Come on, guys. No one says I always have to come up with the plan. Don’t tell me that you have been so used to me coming up with the strategy that you don’t have anything. I’m as distressed as you are and my brain is empty at the moment.”
Jack chuckled. “That is not it. It seems funny that you don’t have an idea at the moment. You are always brimming work one even when we have ours. You made us lazy, brother.”
“Cut him some slack, Jack.” John smiled. “You heard the guy. He says he is as distressed as we are.”
“Okay, Quinn.” Jack grinned. “You are forgiven for not having an idea at the moment.”
“Do I have to remind you guys that you don’t have time to joke around?” Neigh asked, looking at us.
“Hey, man. Chill.” Jack told him. “We are busy thinking.”
“By joking?”
“That’s how we do it. Isn’t it boring if we all look sad to show that we are thinking?”
Neigh shook his head. “Have you ever been told that you are weird?”
“Can we be as weird as the creatures in this place? You grew up here. You should be the last one to find us weird.”
Neigh cackled. “You have a point.”
“I have an idea.” John said.
We all gathered round him and clapped him on the back few minutes later. We hoped for luck but we were confident of ourselves as well. The guardians were going down tonight and Mia was coming with us.