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

"W-why are we— here?" the words left my mouth first with a stutter, and ended like a whisper.

The Hunter shifted in his seat, and spoke with uncertainty.

"I’m not sure. But if I had to guess, the stadium is where most of us will be sold at. It will probably be a public auction, involving thousands and thousands of buyers."

For a second, his eyes flickered to something on my face; then, he qualified his statement with something that probably was not true. "Who knows? Maybe he’ll hold a private auction for us Beastkin."

I blinked, and realized he was trying to console me; he knew I was going to be privately auctioned off to only the wealthiest buyers in Bys, so he was comforting me with the thought that I wouldn’t be alone.

And perhaps he was right. Maybe a few people would be sold alongside me. You didn’t just sell single items during private auctions, right? I did not actually know how private auctions work, but the possibility that I wouldn’t be alone made me feel better.

No, not better. Just less lonely. I shook my head and dismissed those thoughts; wanting others to suffer because I had to suffer was exactly the kind of thoughts horribly cliche bad guys had! And if there were any horribly cliche bad guys here, it had to be the slavers!

If there was anything that would make me feel better, it was not being a slave. Speaking of which, it’s probably time to address the elephant in the room. So I did.

"Hey, uh… what happens now?" I hesitated, and saw blinking faces. I was being vague! I quickly added in the important part of my question, to not appear like an idiot. "I mean what happens with our… plan? To escape. Are we… still doing that?"

I began to turn red over how stupid I sounded. Good job not appearing like an idiot, idiot! I just barely stopped myself from facepalming at myself, only because it would make me seem like an even bigger idiot.

Fortunately for me, Rin was here, and she did not judge people for being idiots. Thanks Rin! I’m really sorry again for insulting you when we first met! Even if it was in my head! That was mean of me, I was being a jerk!

"Nn, I completely forgot about that!" The catgirl perked up. She smiled at me and nodded her head and said "Of course we’ll still escape!"

From across her, Shang sighed loudly to himself.

"How did you even forget— nevermind." The Dog Beastkin resigned that point to Rin, and instead focused on the more important part of her statement. "How do you propose we escape, Rin?"

"The same way we’ve always planned to, of course!" the white furred catgirl grinned triumphantly, and puffed out her chest. "We fight."

She paused and noticed the incredulity everyone was looking at her with; the Cat Beastkin sighed, and her face turned very serious for a moment.

"Look, I know what you’re thinking. ‘Oh no! Everything is bad! We’re in the Slave City of Bys now! We’re gonna be slaves! Ahhh—’" she did a bad impression of Shang’s voice, and waved her hands in the air mockingly. Then, she simply shrugged. "And?"

She met every single eye in the room, and spoke with genuine passion.

"And? We just give up? Even after all that talk about never giving up? After all that talk about fighting for our freedom; we just surrender when faced with adversity?"

Rin stood up, and raised her voice to be carried throughout the room, bringing hope and inspiration with it.

"In the first place—"

"Lower your voice, Rin! They’ll hear us!" Rin’s motivational speech was interrupted by a Rabbit Beastkin from another cage.

"Oops," the Cat Beastkin said, sitting back down. She smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

Then, the young woman took a deep breath, and spoke again; this time, in a much more subdued tone, but with no less passion behind her words.

"In the first place," she declared, glancing around the room to make sure everyone heard her, and continued when she got a thumbs-up from the back, "did we not plan to break out in Bys?"

The young woman gazed challengingly around the covered wagon; when no one responded, she answered her own question for them. "We did, didn’t we?"

She smiled knowingly to herself, and continued her speech.

"When Melas heard our plan, she suggested the possibility of escaping before we had to fight through an entire city of slavers, because fighting through just a company of them would be easier. She did not, however, say to abandon the original plan completely. To her, it was just a worst-case scenario type of thing— am I right, Melas?"

Rin gave me a knowing look, and I slowly nodded my head.

"See?" The catgirl pointed her arms in my direction, and then around the room. "Well, guess what? It’s come to the worst-case scenario— to our original plan! And we’re not giving up! We’ve had setbacks before, but we persisted. Because, as far as I’m concerned, I could kill a hundred of these bastards with my hands tied behind my back!"

Slowly, Rin lowered her arms, and gave a smug grin to everyone in the room.

"Just because they captured us in our sleep, doesn’t mean they can do it when we’re awake. We are Hunters, after all."

The wagon went silent, and it carried on for a couple of seconds, before someone finally broke the silence; from his seating position, Shang shifted, leaning forwards and opening his mouth to speak.

He was going to support his companions speech. He was going to give his own inspiring words to stir up the room even more. He was going to—

"Hrn, did you really say all that, just to get back at me for saying ‘I’m