Rattle!, Rattle!, Rattle!
Abel woke up to the rattling of wheels. He found himself in a dark and cramped space.
'What is going on?' he had no idea. He did not know what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being smacked at the back of the head, and being forced to inhale some minty substance, after which, as a result, he passed out cold. He was experiencing a head-splitting headache, and his view of his surroundings was not clear. Obviously he was dizzy, and his vision blurry. He had yet to regain his sense of balance.
The mouldy smell of sweat assaulted his nostrils, his consciousness became clearer, and he noticed that he wasn't the only one in the carriage, in fact, he laid atop and was surrounded by other lumps of bodies. He tried to move about, only to find out that his hands and feet were bound. Through the small cracks, a dim light poured into the rickety carriage, he scooted closer to the cracks and saw that there were no forages around, they were surrounded by sand. A vast endless sea, made of sand.
Thump!,Thump!,Thump!
Abel panicked.
His heart beat wildly.
A million thoughts ran across, through his mind.
'Where am I?'
'Who are the people that kidnapped me?'
'Why did they kidnap me?'
'How is mother?'
'Is she alright?'
'Is she looking for me?'
'Will she worry?'
'Will she be lonely?'
'Would anyone help me?'
"Ha. Ha-ha,ha."
He chuckled silently.
He didn't know where he was heading, but one thing was for certain. After asking himself such stupid questions, he had finally come back to reality. It hit him like a tidal wave, leaving him unprepared.
No one would help him. No one.
Who would want to help him and get themselves entangled in such a mess. He had only himself to rely on, only he could get himself out of this situation.
Despair coursed through his entire being, the feeling of hopelessness crushed him. He was shrouded in fear, causing goose bumps to appear all over his body. He lay on a pile of unconscious bodies, shivering in fear. His stomach churned, and his heart burned.
'Is this how I die?' He thought.
'I'm too young to die.' He clenched his teeth and bit down on his lip.
He was resentful. He bore great resentment. The world was unfair.
'I haven't done anything yet, nothing. This is too soon,' tears fell from his eyes.
'I tried my best at everything. I sold food, I stole food. I washed plates, fed pigs and cleaned rooms. I sucked-up after people, rich and poor alike, just to feed my mother. I begged for money, I stole for money, I picked pockets, and tilled the soil. I baked, I made and moulded, I built and broke down houses, I trashed the grain, and cut the timber, I even mined the coal.'
'Likewise, I did everything to make ends meet, and at the end of the day, I still got robbed. Furthermore, I could barely feed my mother. Not only that, but I was starting to get used to things, things were finally going to get better, so why?' Tears streamed down his cheeks.
'I'm going to die . . .'
". . ."
'No! I'm not going to die, I've come too far to give up.' Abel wiped his tears.
'I will survive, and make it back to mother. I will live.'
Abel steadied his breath, and calmed his nerves, he thought about what had happened before he got kidnapped. His mother had sent him on an errand, he had obliged just like any other day. He noticed two men following him from behind, and attempted to run before they attacked him, leading to his capture. He didn't know who they were, so it made no sense as to why they kidnapped him.
But would great magicians bother explaining themselves to a mere boy? He would be more than happy if they didn't kill him right off the bat. Abel was also scared, there were cases of magicians and sorcerer's kidnapping children for their life-force and blessings. Not to mention, parents selling their children off for money was rampant in the back alley, were there were many mouths to feed and not enough to go around. Abel sincerely hoped that he had been kidnapped.
Three days later.
The carriage stopped moving. Abel could hear the clinking of the keys as the carriage lock came undone. Light flooded into the dimly lit compartment through the opened doors. The men began hauling the children out. One after the other, they tossed them out onto the floor of the sandy terrain. Soon, it was Abel's turn, he calmed himself and pretended to be asleep. He was hauled out of the carriage and onto the burning floors of the sandy terrain. By the time the men were done, they had already formed a miniature mountain, with just the body of the kids alone.
'Just how many children had they kidnapped?' Abel thought. How big of a group were they to not get caught?'
When the last of the children was finally offloaded.
The men began arranging them according to their size, weight, how much blessing they had, sex and hair colour.
A fat man came forward from the group of three and blew a mist of sand upon them. Soon enough, the children began to wake up, one after the other.
"Ahh! My head hurts."
"Huh! where is this?"
"Ugh, I'm so dizzy, I feel like throwing up…"
"Damn. Why is the ground so hot?"
"I can barely see."
"What happened to me?"
"Who are you?"
"What's going on?"
"Why are we here?"
"Get off me!"
Clap!, Clap!, Clap.
"Now children, no noise"
"Who are you?"
"Quiet down, and I'll tell you."
The fat tall man raised his conjuring stick, and the child who spoke, along with a few others beside him, were raised into the air. As their life was sucked away from them, they turned into red vortexes, which were also devoured without living a trace.
♣︎♣︎♣︎
"Ah! Much better."
The gathering was quite, the children didn't dare to make a sound.
"Finally some peace and quiet." The fat man smiled stretching his limbs. The two men behind him snickered.
"Does anyone else have a question?"
Even though he asked, who would dare to answer, after his vicious display of power. They must be psychopaths.
"As you can see, you have all be kidnapped by me."
"Ehemm!" The short man behind him cleared his throat.
"Us. You have been kidnapped by us." He blurted out a bit awkwardly.
Even after such massive failure the children still didn't dare to make a sound. After all no-one wanted to die?
"First things first. I know you all must be tired, so I prepared a present to get rid of your fatigue."
The fat man raised his stick and dozens of potions appeared in the air. The potions floated into the hands of each child present at the scene.
"This will help strengthen you, as well as get rid of all the dizziness and discomfort are experiencing."
Not long after the children took the potions, they all began to faint one after the other, they fell on their backs foaming at the mouth under the hot desert sun.
Abel didn't want to take the potion, he found it absurd that the men who kidnapped them without batting an eye, and killed some of them so brutally, would show them any good will. He hesitated a bit, then he noticed the men staring at him, so he had no option but to put the strange liquid to his mouth.
Satisfied, the men turned their gaze away.
When the fainted children had got up, they all noticed that they did indeed feel much better than they did before. Which made them even more confused.
'Where these people really evil? They are so nice.'
But of course, anyone who dared kidnap you was pure evil. So, what was going on?
The men began to introduce themselves to the children. The fat conjurer came forward, 'I Don't think I need to introduce myself," he chuckled.
"Call me fat, and that would be it."
Next a short thin man followed, "I'll be taking care of you from now on. I go by the name short, it's best you behave if you want to live, it's been a pleasure meeting you all."
After Short, came a burly man with a limp. "I'm Muscles, I'll be responsible for you all, and I'll be working you to the bone!" He gave them all an eerie smile.