Day 13 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

Nighweald Village, Goldburg Province

SHE woke sense up with hazy of sight.

This is the second time in less than twenty-four hours, she thought, rubbing the back of her head. I hope I won’t become stupid.

And then she looked around while wincing. She was in some sort of… A cage? It was a metal bird cage all around her—and escaping seemed unlikely. Where and how did she even get in from?

She looked beyond the cage, and she saw that she was in a very dark room. The only light came from the lantern that hung far above her. What was this place?

Her eyes fell on the guy who laid beside her. Dev. She frowned and started to shake him up. “Hey, Major, wake up!”

Dev groaned. “Uh…” He blinked a few times before he was finally awake enough to sit up. “Uh… Where are we?”

She shook her head. “How should I know?”

He rubbed his head as well. “Oh… Bandage.” He frowned when he felt the bandage that wrapped around his head.

“Ah,” she uttered, just noticed that as well. She looked at her feet and the bruise that came from fighting those men seemed to have been treated. Who… Why did they treat their wounds?

Victoria stood up, her movement chopped and awkward. Her feet, although treated of its wound, still felt rather uncomfortable to use. She peered through the cage, towards the darkness, but her eyes couldn’t see much. There was the marble floor… And then a whole lot of darkness. She couldn’t even see the corner of the room. “We don’t even know how big is this room, or more importantly, where is it located.”

Dev sighed. “Why did Mr. Zindo do this?”

Victoria looked at him for a moment. She considered telling him, but Zindo could be anywhere watching them, and she didn’t want to put the sisters in trouble. So she said, “I do not know.”

Dev stood up as well, with more balance than she did. He observed the cage around them and didn’t find even a door. “How did they even get us in here?” He asked, frustrated.

“That, I also don’t know.”

“Magic, of course.”

They both looked at the source of the voice. The village head, Zindo, stood there, with a very annoying smile on his face. His five bodyguards were nowhere to be found.

“There is no way out,” he said mysteriously. “You are stuck here forever. No way out.”

Victoria and Dev looked at each other for a moment. “Okay,” Victoria said carefully, “Why?”

Zindo laughed maliciously. “Why? Why, you ask? Well, for my Mistress Zevanfya, of course! Oh, she will be delighted I got these sacrifices for her. One of noble blood and one of the knights.” He laughed again. “Yes, she will be very happy with me, I imagine.”

“Sacrifice?” Dev voiced out. Meanwhile, Victoria frowned. Zevanfya? That name sounded familiar…

“Yes, sacrifice. You are going to be the best ones there are.” Zindo grinned. “So enjoy your time while it lasts, my lady,” he said, then he started walking away.

Silence.

“Well… And there is that,” Victoria said, after Zindo disappeared into the darkness.

“Jokes on him, you’re not of noble blood,” he muttered. If he had looked at her, he would see her wince—thankfully, he didn’t.

“We need to get out of here,” she said, looking around once again.

“Yeah… If he was to be trusted, he did say he put us in here with magic.” Dev didn’t sound very positive.

Victoria narrowed her eyes at the ceiling. “Perhaps,” she mumbled. “But look beyond the lantern.”

Dev scrunched up his forehead. “Huh?”

“Look closely,” she replied.

“How in the Goddess’ name would I look closely? It was so high up,” he muttered.

Victoria laughed lightly. “Well, watch me.” And then she agilely climbed up the side of the metal cage all the way to the top.

Dev, who was watching her, was startled. “Hey, careful!”

She continued on, though. When she reached the top, with one of her hands held on to the metal, and the other hand removed the lantern. There was a small opening up top, enough for her to go through. She pulled herself up through the hole, propping the lantern on the side of the cage carefully. When she finally was above the cage, she peered down. “Come on, Major!”

Dev sighed. “Alright,” she heard him say, but because they were so far away, it sounded like a whisper. He carefully climbed the cage, slower than hers, his muscle load probably weighing down on him. Thankfully, the cage didn’t tip over or anything. It was as if it was glued to the marble floor.

The opening was a bit tight for him, but the soldier pulled through. “You are really reckless,” he murmured.

Victoria laughed. “That’s also what my friends said.”

“Well, now what?” He looked around. They still couldn’t see the edge of the room, or even the top of it. Seemed like the ceiling was quite high. The cage they climbed was probably three times the height of an adult, but even then, they still couldn’t feel the ceiling.

“We climbed down,” Victoria said, looking down. “Ah, yes. Probably would be wise to take the lantern.”

Dev took the lantern from the top of the cage, then he started to climb down. Victoria climbed after him. They took less time now to go down, and a few meters away from the ground, Victoria jumped. The soldier brought the lantern up to stare at her incredulously. “Really?”

Victoria shrugged. “What?”

Dev shook his head. “Never mind. Let’s go.”

They had no idea which direction, though. “Uh… Left?”

Dev frowned. “Alright. I don’t know either.” The room was so dark...

The lantern, though, was like a hope shining in the shadowy gloom. []