Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

Rin looked at me, her eyes serious and full of conviction. Then she smirked.

"Of course we do. You’ve noticed, haven’t you? They won’t come near us, out of fear of making a mistake. But they will have to when they want to sell us. When they do, we will pounce on them. Then kill them all. Or at least, the ones in charge like that Marcus guard, or the old man."

"That’s not enough." I shook my head.

I realized one thing the other day, from the battle with the rich man. And that was: waiting did nothing. Nothing happened as I waited and hoped to somehow escape. But when I acted, something did happen. It sparked the fight, which almost led to my escape.

And even that, it was at the wrong moment. I acted out of impulse, not out of any pragmatism, which still nearly could have gotten us out of here. Perhaps if I called out for help to the Bolerian Officials earlier, instead of just ignoring them; if I called out when the crowd was still around, there would have been too many people to witness what happened.

So it was not enough to just stand around and wait. They broke the spirits of everyone else, but they have left me, and these Beastkin mostly untouched. So we were the ones who had to act.

"Nn?" Rin looked at me confused. Bewildered by my statement. So I explained my plan.

"If you wait for them to gather around and come close to you, they’ll be prepared for you to resist. And especially if you try to escape in Bys— you’ll have to fight through a whole city. We’ll die if that’s the case."

"Better dead free than to live as a slave," Shang said, shaking his head. "But I understand what you’re trying to say. Go on."

"I…" I hesitated for a moment, feeling the pain in my leg flare up for a moment. The healer who treated me only gave me a dab of healing potion— speeding up the natural healing process, but not enough for me to walk around unhindered. I sighed, "I’ll help you. I’ll give you the moment you need to break free. Before we reach Bys."

It was a risk. If I was caught using magic… perhaps the Free Lands would have been kinder to spellcasters than the Church. Yet, a merciful punishment was still a punishment. However, with no risk came no reward.

Even just mentioning that I could help the Beastkin seemed to have elicited some suspicion from them. Shang cocked an eyebrow. "And how exactly will you do that?" he asked.

"I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you," I said, chewing my lower lip. "Just please, trust me."

I gazed around the room with a pleading look on my face. I could not tell them about my magic. But it was my magic that could get them the key. Everyone in the room, including Shang looked at me skeptically, but Rin spoke out in support of me.

"Nn, sure!"

I smiled at her, relieved. "Thank you, Ms Rin."

And she smiled at me back. "Aw, you called me Ms Rin! Shang did you hear that? I’m a ‘Miss’!"

Shang shook his head disapprovingly, and they were back to bickering with one another. But I did not look at them with annoyance, like I did before.

Instead, I relaxed as I watched on.

It took us a week before we left Boleria, the Free City of Trade.

I did not know why it took so long; perhaps it was because of the reduced personnel— they had to hire more guards to replace those who died in the battle— while selling off more slaves to reduce their ‘cargo’; or maybe it was due to the whole killing of a rich man and his bodyguards, which they had to spend a lot of money to cover up.

Regardless, our time in Boleria was much longer than initially planned. But it also gave me more time to recover. Lying around all day helped too.

According to Shang, at the rate we had been traveling, it would probably take us two weeks before we reached Bys. That gave me two weeks to act; I was not yet fully healed, but I found solace knowing we did not need to carry out our plan immediately.

I felt nervous at the prospect of escaping, but I was also almost excited. I’ll live, mom. And I’ll avenge you, I promise. I looked around the cages, the wagon, and felt it jolt as it hit a bump in the road. I stared at Rin, then Shang, before lying back down. But first, I thought, I’ll get out of here.

I closed my eyes, and I dared to dream.

Chapter 16: Light Bump

Light flooded into the room, and I glanced up to see a slaver enter our wagon. It took my eyes a second to adjust to the sudden brightness; the canvas over our heads was thick, which usually allowed too little light for me to see anything beyond the vague outlines of cages and Beastkin.

The slaver grunted, as if he were satisfied with what he saw, and turned to walk away. Rin leaned over the metal bars, calling out after him.

"Nn, where are you going? Come on, don’t you want to at least stay and chat a bit?"

"That’s not going to work, Rin," Shang said, shaking his head. The catgirl ignored him, of course.

"Hey! I just want to talk! Shang is annoying, and you— aw, he actually left." She slumped back down, sighing in an overexaggerated manner. "You scared him off, Shang, with your stupid, ugly face."

The Dog Beastkin ignored her, instead leaning one of his droopy ears towards the side of the wagon. "He’s gone. I think they’re giving an order to resume the caravan now."

"...did you hear me? I said