The Night Rose - Chapter 4

“Arg!” Arwin groaned after she was suddenly woken up by someone splashing cold water on her.

Half asleep, she slowly tried to stand up, but she immediately stumbled down and saw that it was because she was shackled on the wall. Arwin was chained by the arms and feet. ‘What the-‘

Before Arwin could see what else was wrong with her, she suddenly was hit on the head by someone, and the pain woke her up completely. She then finally realized that she wasn’t alone.

She started to look around and saw that there were at least twenty others, shackled, in the same manner as her in the dim room.

However, before she could look around better, she was slapped again, and someone said mockingly, “Wake up sleepy head! We aren’t going on any vacation! Or do you think it is a holiday for now? Wake up now, miss princess! I still wonder how a woman like you was in the Night Roses crew! Oh well! It doesn’t matter as I won’t see you anymore after we have landed at the Shadowcoast. So stand up now! We will transport you to a steamship soon.” The prison guard shouted rudely. He then opened some of the shackles from Arwin’s back and gestured for her to move outside.

Only now, Arwin realized she didn’t have her coat that usually did cover her neck and her small magic device that converted her voice to a more deep one. It was gone with her coat. She was only wearing a white undershirt, underneath, her chest was still covered with bandages. She also has brown pants on and simple leather shoes, at least.

She was wearing something simple that could not completely hide her true gender. Because of that, even when she had a short hairstyle with men’s clothes, there were still some who did recognize that she was a woman.

When Arwin finally got to the deck she was suddenly blinded by the sun’s brightness, Arwen started to squint her eyes while still trying to look around.

Then someone hit her back and said, “Miss princess, as I said we aren’t on vacation here! Keep moving! You aren’t any tourist, or if you want any of these soldiers would be ready to kill you, but first, they probably would want to have their fun with you. Since I have made a vow to treat every prisoner as equal and the laws of our kingdom prevent us from touching prisoners, you are safe as long as you don’t do anything stupid and will listen to orders. So keep moving! Hop, hop, hop! Straight to that ship now! Hurry!” The prison guard shouted out and pointed towards an old airship that used steam.

“As you see this is as far we can take you with an airship that uses magic as it’s power the rest of the journey you just have to get used to the steam-powered one and pray that you will land safely to the Shadowcoast.” The prison guard added while he started to lead the prisoners towards the old airship, and only now, Arwin saw the massive continent in the distance.

‘How did I get here? What happened to my crew and to me?’ Arwen questioned herself silently.

It did not take long for her to remember what happened and cursed out in her mind. ‘That bastard, Talfen! Why did he save my life while he sacrificed himself? I bet it is because he thinks that there was no other choice, and I have a chance to live at Shadowcoast.’ She subconsciously touched the spot where Taflen had hit her and felt the dried blood still on her head. ‘I will get my revenge. I promise that, and I will bury every single last of you properly.’ Arwin promised while she stepped at the airship.

She hasn’t seen a steamship since she was a little kid. At the time when her father was still alive, and she was only five years old. Steamships were still quite common, and Arwin had helped her father repair quite a lot of them.

However, around when she was ten years old, the research regarding magic suddenly exploded out of hands, especially when they had discovered the magic stones. People realized that they could use them as a power that was stronger and more reliable than steam.

With that, suddenly, everyone was giving funds to the magic research and the mages that were previously looked down upon for not having better use than being soldiers. However, now, mages were highly respected, and new magic branches were being built. Because of this, steam was eventually forgotten with science.

When Arwin saw the steam engine on the airship, she felt slightly nostalgic as she remembered how her father used to carry her on his shoulders while pointing on different parts of the airships he was repairing.

“Princess! The earth is calling at you. Wake up!” The prison guard shouted out, and Arwin finally snapped out from her memories. “Good! The princess is finally awake! She can go and take her spot from there and sit down.” The prison guard said and pointed at an empty spot on the deck of the airship.

Arwin listened to him and went to sit down at the spot the guard pointed at. She then started to scan her surroundings once again, mostly focusing on the other prisoners.

She saw that they were mostly male, but there were also a few females among them. Their ages varied. Arwin could guess that the youngest would probably be around fifteen years old, while the oldest looked to be around sixty.

It was none of her business, but Arwin still wondered what those people’s past was. In Shadowcoast, she would need allies as she couldn’t survive alone at all. But she wouldn’t want to get an ally who would just use her.

With this in mind, Arwin just silently observed them as they do the same with her.