The Marked Phoenix: Little Red Bird - Chapter 15

WARNING: There will be a series of foul language in this chapter. Please proceed with caution if you dislike profanity.

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Emerine glanced down at her bounded wrist and nearly laughed at the stupidity of the people who practically saved her from bandits and thieves roaming around. “How foolish,” she whispered before twisting her wrists. Slowly but surely, she was able to maneuver her way out of the poorly tied ropes.

When Emerine was younger, her father invited instructors to come in and teach her martial arts. In those lessons, they had taught her how to escape a kidnapping situation. Even though she had always been safely nestled behind the magic-activated walls of her castle and the forest that kept the commoners from wandering too close to the palace, it did not mean that there would not be a day where her life would not be targeted. With that fear in mind, King Augustus had ordered people to instruct her on the arts of self-defense.

Emerine kicked the ropes off of her ankles before she stretched her sore body. Her eyes flickered towards the dirty bed with a wrinkled nose and curled lips. How dare they allow their princess to reside on something so filthy? She couldn’t wait to tell her father about this news.

‘I am the damn princess of this kingdom for Heaven’s sake,’ she muttered to herself before storming over to the doors of the room. That was when the memory of that night slammed her. The palace. Blood. Soldiers storming the halls. Her infuriated expression slowly morphed into pure shock before disbelief. What happened last night? Was the castle alright? Was Kalesin alright? Her heart sank deep into her stomach.

Why hasn’t the king sent out a search party looking for Emerine? She was the Crown Princess, was she not? Her life was more valuable than any treasure or leisure in the world. He would’ve never risked her life by delaying a search party. Her father’s trained men should be able to find her within seconds. It was not hard to do so, especially when she was the only person in the entire kingdom to have eyes the color of heliotrope.

Fear gnawed at Emerine like termites crawling over rotting wood as a chill ran down her spine. If her father’s men had not found her yet, it could only mean… She rapidly shook her head, refusing to even go down that route.

“Papa, where are you?” she breathed out in shock while she ran a hand through her tangled hair.

Suddenly, a ripe scream yanked her back into reality. Her head snapped towards the door where she heard slamming and violent conversations from the other side. “Where is it? Where is the girl—” her heart soared. That must be the soldiers her father had sent to look for her!

Emerine didn’t waste a single second as she slammed the door open to reveal the mess in front of her. “You’re finally here, what took you so long—” her voice died in her throat when she saw the burly men dressed in all black in front of her. Those were not her father’s men.

Every pair of eyes snapped towards Emerine. The mother from before was shocked to see she had escaped the ropes, but she couldn’t afford to dwell in the shock. “T-that’s her! The one we promised.”

Emerine frowned while she took an unnerved step backward. These men were definitely not the people her father was acquainted with. They didn’t even bear the Kastrel symbol on their clothes, which looked more like commoner outfits than shiny metal armors.

“S-she’s very beautiful, right? She’ll sell for a high price!” the mother declared, scrambling to stand back up. Her head snapped towards her daughter as she ushered the little girl into hiding.

The man glanced at her with curiosity before turning to each other. “Do we keep her?” he asked in a gruff and hoarse voice.

“Aye,” his buddy responded, revealing his yellow and darkening teeth. “The leader will enjoy this treat.”

“Take me back to the castle,” Emerine snarled, “You’ll get a reward if you release me.”

The men looked at each other before both of them erupted into loud laughter that caused her to cringe. “Did you hear this bitch, Rufford? She thinks the castle cares about a simple maidservant!”

“Rufford” let out a burst of bell-shaking laughter while shaking his head. His cackle made the mother flinch back in fear. “These stupid servants value themselves too much. Don’t they know their masters have abandoned them?”

“What are you talking about? I’m no servant—”

“Hai.” Rufford sighed, “It’s always the pretty ones that are delusional. I bet ‘ye five coppers that she warmed one of the Lord’s beds and now she thinks she’s special and above a maidservant.”

His buddy howled with laughter, shaking his head. “Those types of foolish women always get shown their place the quickest,” he licked his cracked lips, “Naivety is quite enjoyable in bed though. I’m sure the leader will like that.”

“‘Yer right, Dugland, I’m sure he will.” Rufford nodded before flicking two sausage-thick fingers towards Emerine. Sure enough, a group of men emerged from behind him. “Grab her.”

The mother watched with glee as Emerine attempted to flee into the room, but she was cornered like a little piglet ready for the slaughterhouse.

“Let go of me, you bastards! My father will kill you!” she shrieked, kicking and screaming when men triple her size hauled her out of the room. She was carried like a sack of meaningless potatoes slung over one of the beefy man’s shoulders. “How dare you handle me like this—” she jolted when a man roughly smacked her behind as goosebumps formed on her body. It was the first time she was ever violated like this and she couldn’t find it within herself to say anything else.

The men let out a burst of booming laughter. “See? What did I tell ‘ya? Bitches like that just need a good slap on their ass and they’ll just shut the fuck up,” Rufford chuckled, shaking his head.

Dugland replied, “This one thinks she’s some sort of royalty. What a retard. They were all slaughtered yesterday night.”

At his words, Emerine’s body stiffened in horror. ‘What did he just say?’

“Hey, now that ‘ye mention it, didn’t the late princess have her eyes? One of my men who used to clean the stables had always babbled on about some spoiled brat with creepy eyes.”

Every pair of eyes shifted towards the horrified Emerine who hadn’t recovered from their previous news. She was baffled by their words. What did these men mean?! “Slaughtered? Who was slaughtered?!” she harshly demanded, without any awareness of her surroundings.

The men shared another look before throwing their heads back and laughing. “Man, this one is fucking bold. We’ll see if she’s still like that after the leader has his way with her. Who knows, maybe she’ll piss him off so badly, he’ll let us have a taste?”

“Good one, Dugland.” Rufford crackled, “Let’s just bring her in.”

“Let go of me!” Emerine shrieked in annoyance, wriggling her entire body. She attempted to wrestle her body out of the heavy and weighed arms of the men securely holding her over his shoulders.

A loud “Pak!” echoed in the room as heavy silence ensued. Emerine registered the pain faster than she witnessed the stars clouding her vision.

“Damn whore.” Dugland snarled, “Keep your trap shut before I sew it together.”

“Aw, Dugland, you shouldn’t be so rough to a little lady,” Rufford snorted to hide his amusement. “What if you damage her lips? They’d look really nice wrapped around me,” he chuckled, shaking his head and patting his pal on the back. “The leader wouldn’t like it if his assets were damaged.”

Dugland shrugged the handoff of his shoulders and snarled, “Whatever. Just knock her out cold. I don’t wanna hear any of her yapping.” And before Emerine could respond, she felt excruciating pain spread from the back of her head to the front. The last thing she saw was the money exchange between the mother and Rufford. Soon her eyes rolled into the back of her skull as she completely blacked out.