Twisted Destiny

Part 13 - Kidnapped

When Lantana first stirred into consciousness, everything was groggy, and she had difficulty opening her eyes. The world seemed dark around her, and even though she willed her eyes to stay open, they kept annoyingly sliding close. This went on for about an hour while Lantana slowly stirred into consciousness. Once she was fully functional, she tried taking in her surroundings. They were definitely moving, and it looked like they were in the back of a wagon. It was very dimly lit, and she couldn't tell who else was in it with her though. And, she was tied up. Her hands were tied behind her back at the wrists with a very coarse piece of rope. Because of the material and knot, every time she moved, it painfully dug into her skin, most likely preventing her from escaping. The same went for her legs. Multiple coils of the thick rope wrapped around her legs, preventing movement, and causing pain when she moved. She was also gagged with a thick, foul tasting cloth that she assumed had never been washed, and used on numerous occasions before. She felt like vomiting thinking about that though, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind while trying to focus on who was with her. She was able to hear human noises such as heavy breathing, and sounds when people shuffled around, including the rattling of what seemed like metal. Even though she couldn't get an exact estimate, she presumed that there were about five people in this cart. They weren't all cramped together, but it was hot and stuffy. Lantana couldn't tell who was with her, and she feared that she wasn't in close contact with either Gabriel or Violet. If so, there was almost no chance of them reuniting by some miracle and they had no connections here. She doubted they could even understand their language as she severely doubted they spoke English.

"This could be the beginning of the end," She thought against her will.

With nothing else to think about, that thought grew, and sprung around in her mind. That one horrible thought brought the onslaught of many others, and she sunk into a trance going over every situation possible, and thinking of the horrific possibilities. And then, somehow through all of this, she was able to doze off.

Lantana was awoken by... light. Thinking for one precious moment that she had awoken in Virago Castle, and was about to start her day, she then remembered her current situation. Most likely hundreds of thousands of miles away from Virago, her people, in a foreign country, and kidnapped. Blinking a few times to adjust to the blinding light, she took in her surroundings. Whomever was driving the wagon had now stopped, and someone had opened the door and were unloading its captives. Looking around, she saw that there were eight people in the rather spacious back of a wagon. Three had been unloaded, and looking to her right, she saw Violet. Unable to speak, she tried to nudge her alerting Violet of her presence, which was able to work. Violet, who seemed to be staring off into space, not even disturbed by the light in the air, came back to life with the jab Lantana had given her. With a start, she happily realized that Lantana was next to her, and tried to say something, but was unable because of the gag. Lantana tried to form her face into an expression that would show Violet that she understood, and by the awkward way Violet tried to return it, they were both able to understand the others' thoughts. To the left of her was... she wasn't even sure how to describe them. They looked human, but had large patches of thick silvery fur in certain places such as one arm, the forearm of the other, and a calf. In front of her, was someone with wild bright red hair. She would almost be beautiful, if it weren't for the cataracts that snaked over her left eye, which was a brilliant blue compared to her other eye which was a dull brown. It matched with quite an ugly scar that went down the side of her face, and part way down her neck. Lantana didn't want to know what had caused that, but she could only imagine. And finally, the last person in their cart that hadn't been unloaded was the one and only Gabriel Blackthorne. Seated in a dark corner, where the newfound light couldn't even touch. He was chained up like the rest of them, but he seemed to be tied up with... are those iron chains? Lantana thought to herself. They were wound up all over his body, not just tying his wrists together, but his whole arm, legs, and thrown over his torso and neck for good measure. She could only imagine what he had done to deserve this special treatment. She could only wish that it involved taking down multiple of their kidnappers before finally being taken away himself. Snapped out of her thoughts though, rough hands grabbed her body and practically threw her outside.