Trip through Tallis

I open my eyes to the sunlight coming from the outside. In that moment I realize we were on a cargo wagon in a train. My heads hurts when I try to remember last night. I feel Thomas waking up behind me, pulling the ropes that tie our wrists together ever so slightly. He groans, trying to say something, but our mouths are covered. A man approaches us with two other men behind him. They look at us as if we are some kind of merchandise. “Good morning, did you sleep well?” said one of them sarcastically, at which the others responded with just as sarcastically laughs. Thomas seemed outraged by this and I was just glad his mouth was covered. “Well, it’s almost time to leave so get comfortable,” he scoffed. “We have a long ride ahead.” That said, they turned around to leave and shut the door behind them, but not without taking a last look at us. For my misfortune Thomas somehow managed to take off the cloth covering his mouth. He wouldn’t stop yelling the whole day. “I hope you lose your voice soon,” I mumbled. “It’s seriously driving me crazy.” I miraculously managed to sleep despite Thomas’ tantrums. When I woke up again, we were no longer in the train and, thankfully, the cloth was back at Thomas’ mouth. It took some minutes for my eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight. We were sitting next to each other, our wrists tied to the cart. They had beat up Thomas, for there was blood coming down his nose, his hair glued to his forehead from the sweat. The road we were in was far enough from the villages around us that any passerby wouldn’t be close enough to know we were kidnapped. I don’t know for how many hours we traveled, I was just relieved when night fell, for the sun’s heat wouldn’t let me think. Full moon could be seen on the night sky when we came to a stop. The men pulled us down from the cart and tied us to a tree. Thomas looked pale, for we had not eaten for days. When everyone finally fell asleep, I tried to recall that night’s event. I started to remember small pieces; Thomas skipping school that day, hearing something from my window before going to bed, getting hit from the back and smelling something sweet. Feeling the thud of my body hitting the ground before passing out, I hear what sounds like my mom screaming from afar. I can remember how I got carried by a bulky man, riding on his horse rapidly until we reached some kind of basement. Here is where I saw Thomas through the crack of my eyes, wrists and ankles tied, mouth covered, anxiously trying to set himself free. I pass out, woken up by the cold water hitting my face. Now we are here in the middle of the woods without apparent hope of escaping. Out of the corner of my eye I see Thomas struggling until he finally manages to take of the cloth from his mouth yet again. “Hey Milo, are you awake?” I am surprised by how calm his voice sounds. I nod and turn my head to him. “We have to think how to get out of here, fast before they wake up.” I shot him a look of ‘You think I don’t know that?’ “Well don’t look at me like that and think of something, I can’t stand being out here for so long.” I decided to ignore the rest of his complaints and focus on trying to come up with ideas. Thomas stops talking when we both hear something in the bushes. We scan our surroundings frantically until we finally spot it. A pair of eyes is looking at us. A head slowly raises from the bushes and quickly signals us to stay quiet. The mysterious figure approaches us silently. We feel our hearts raising as the mysterious figure pulls out a knife, illuminated by moonlight, and cuts the rope around the tree. It takes off its mask and we notice it’s a young woman. She unties our wrists and ankles and whispers “Follow me.” We look at each other in doubt but following her is out best option now. She guides us through the thick forest, and by dawn we reach a small shelter inside what looks like some sort of hill. She opens the door and ushers us in without making a sound. Before we can even think of something to ask, she starts speaking. “You look like you need to eat and rest, so stay here for a few hours. Later I’ll take you both somewhere safe. You blondie come here so I can clean that blood.” Thomas looks offended by this, but I don’t give him time to complain. “Excuse me Miss, who are you and how did you find us?” She answers my question while cleaning Thomas’ nose, whom she had to sit down herself, for he was too shocked to move. “My name is Sasha, I just found you by casualty on my way here from a trip.” I accept her answer not very convinced and move on to the next question. “Where will you take us tomorrow, if I might ask?” “I’ll take you somewhere safe in Aerowyn, the closest town.” “Aerowyn? I’ve never heard that name before.” She looks up and I can see the concern in her eyes. “Where are you kids from?” “We are from Abingora, the capital of the Cianna state.” We look at her in silence while she stands up and grabs a map from the corner of the room. She removes some objects from her table and unrolls the map there. “Kids I’m afraid you are very far from home.” She says while pointing at out location in the map. We looked at the map and notice horrified how far we are from Cianna. “I’ll let you sleep for a few hours; you have a long trip ahead of you and we better get going before nightfall.” Despite our concerns we slept after having our first meal in several days. A little past noon Sasha gave us some things and we started our way to Aerowyn. We got to a small inn just as the sun was hiding. She left us there and gave some written instructions in the lobby. That night too we slept soundly after a nice meal. We woke up to a knock followed by a man’s voice. “Sasha left me a note to take you guys through the woods. My name is Owen, I’m Sasha’s twin.” He came in. “What are you doing out here all by yourself? This might look like an innocent little town in the woods, but it’s the connection between Ebraxas and Venery.” He noticed we didn’t understand what he was saying and explained himself. “The sellers go all around Tallis collecting kids from the States to sale overseas as slaves. They come from Briony State through Venery until they reach Cianna and come back to Venery with the ‘merchandise’.” He made a pause to take out his map. “They usually kidnap kids from rich families to ask for a rescue fee even though they never return the children. I guess that’s what happened to you two, huh?.” We looked nod while he scans his map. “Where are you guys from?” He marks a route in the map after telling him we come from Cianna. “Here’s what we’ll do, we’ll go through the woods until we reach the outskirts of Ebraxas, from there I’ll take you to the twin city’s capital. I can only go that far, the rest of the trip you’ll have to make it alone.” He showed us his map pointing at our location and showing us the path we’ll be taking. I had never seen the Orioch State nor the Venery State, that’s why I’ve never heard the name Aerowyn. “I thought Orioch and Venery were just myths.” “Well now you know they are very real.” He said rolling his map and walking to the door. “People don’t talk about these places because they are dangerous. Get ready, we’ll be out in an hour.” Once he leaves we pack the few things we have. “You are very quiet today.” “Don’t talk as if we were close.” Thomas answered me harshly. “We are together in this, no need to be so hostile.” We finished packing in an awkward silence, then headed outside where Owen was waiting for us with some horses. He helped us up and we began our journey through the thick woods that surround Aerowyn. After a few hours of riding, we found a small river and decided to let the horses rest. We were getting ready to continue when we heard quick gallops in the distance. Owen guided the horses silently to some tall bushes. The gallops got closer and closer until we could see them clearly. I recognized them as the kidnappers and told Owen right away. “They are probably looking for you two. This is not good; we have to take a detour through Venery, it’s our only option now.” We waited for the kidnapers to go far enough that we couldn’t be heard. We hoped on the horses, now on our way to Venery. Owen decided that it was better to go fast to not loose sunlight nor risk the kidnappers coming back. That night while Thomas slept I asked Owen how did the kidnappers got out of Briony, which had a strong border. He told me that they had an underground tunnel to Venery, which they use to transport children from the inside before going to look out for more around Tallis. The next day we got to the border of Venery. It was very protected, that’s why the kidnapers preferred to go through Orioch instead of going straight from Ebraxas to Venery. Owen knew someone who helped us through. That night we slept in the outskirts of Ebraxas, close to the border of Aonaran, the twin city of Adiscon. Owen woke us up in the middle of the night. “We have to move, now. The kidnappers are close; I’ll leave you as close as I can to Azura.” By dawn we were in Ilya, the town before Azura, with the kidnapers hot on our heels. “Keep a low profile and stick together. I’ll take the horses and try to distract them for as long as I can; you are on your own now.” He gave us his map, indicating us where to go, before galloping away back to Ebraxas. We spent the rest of the day looking all over town for a place to sleep and eat that night without much luck. “Milo look, this house looks abandoned, maybe we can spend the night here.” Said Thomas pointing at a small cabin. According to the map we were close enough to Azura that it will only take us half a day to get there. We went to bed that night, hungry and restless. “Milo, Milo. Please wake up, I think they found us, we have to move.” Whispered Thomas shaking my shoulder. “I think it’s almost dawn and I heard some men looking for two kids when I went for a walk just a moment ago.” We rapidly picked out things and. “I think we should go to the next city before going to Azura, we might lose them that way. We were getting ready to move when we hear voices outside. “I found them!” shouted one of them the moment he saw us. We hear another one scream “Catch them!” as we run with all our might. We can hear their footsteps fading. I pull Thomas to the first alley I see and we stay there until the kidnappers pass by without seeing us. After a minute we spot an old man in a hay cart. We ask him if he was going to Azura, and he kindly offered to take us. We could finally rest for some hours in the hay. It was noon already when the old man woke us up telling us that we reached the outskirts of Azura. We thanked him and asked him where could we take a train to Cianna. “The only train that goes to Cianna is on the other side of town, almost in Adiscon, but the last train leaves at four so you better hurry if you want to get there today.” “I don’t think we can make it today; we better go as far as we can and stay in Azura for the night.” I said to Thomas when the man left. We walked in the shadows, making sure to lose the kidnappers every time we saw them, until we got to a small farm. We waited for night to sneak into its barn. Earlier we had stolen some bread which we had for dinner. Leaving my things with Thomas, I went out and grabbed some apples from a close tree for our breakfast. Just as I was going to get off the tree, I saw horses close by, the kidnaper’s faces illuminated by their lanterns as they galloped closer and closer. I got down as fast as I could and went inside the barn through a back door. I woke up Thomas, who had fallen asleep in a stack of hay. “They are hot on our track; we have to move now. We’ll travel all night and by noon we should be at the train station.” We picked up our things and went out the back door, closing it silently behind us. “Let’s hide here until we lose them.” I said pulling him toward some bushes. It didn’t take long for them to go away. We ran for no more than one hour. We catch our breath for a few minutes and decide to keep running despite our tiredness. The road was long, and our bodies couldn’t stand it anymore. “Just as you said we’re almost there.” Said Thomas when we stopped to catch our breath for a moment. I see the kidnappers coming behind us, although they don’t seem to have seen us yet. I pull us to an alley until the kidnappers pass by in their horses. We can hear the train arriving and under the noise I catch a glimpse of their conversation. “They will wait for us until the last train leaves. If they don’t find us they will hopefully head back to the center of the town and search for us again.” “That means we can’t take the train today?” asks Thomas worried. “I think we have to at least try since we’ve come this far.” I make a pause to think about our options. “We should hop onto the last wagon when they get distracted.” We waited for about two hours and finally saw our opportunity. The kidnappers get off their horses and move them to rest somewhere close. “It’s now or never Thomas, let’s do this.” He nods and we both get ready to run as the train is about to leave. We get to the last wagon just as it passes in front of the kidnappers. “Hey! Here they are!” “We have to catch them quickly!” one of them was close enough that he could grab onto the train and hop on. We go inside the wagon and lock it. As we make our way through the almost empty wagons we hear him behind us. “I’m going to catch you kids!” As we get to the middle of the train, we see that the train is approaching a bridge that connects two mountains. “We are entering Adiscon!” I shout to Thomas while we run. “How many hours to get to Cianna?” “I think only two hours, but we have to get rid of him before getting to that bridge!” We are almost at the end of the train now. “Milo, do you trust me?” “Why are you asking that now?!” we get to the end of the train with the kidnapper two wagons away from us. Thomas looks at me and just when the train is about to get to the bridge he grabs my wrist and jumps, pulling me along. “Thomas why?!” I manage to scream right before hitting the ground and start rolling down the hill. We finally come to a stop. Everything hurts and I can hear Thomas grunting. “I’m sorry, but at least I saved our lives.” He says with a chuckle. “Barely! You are absolutely crazy.” I say while I throw my head back to the grass. We stare at the sky, laughing at how crazy all of this is, until we fall sleep. The next morning, we climb up back to town. Luckily, we don’t see the kidnappers, they must think we died from the fall. With some money Owen left us we buy train tickets to finally get back home after what feels like years. We sit down, relieved. “I have changed a lot during this trip, and I want to thank you. I realized that the world doesn’t revolve around me and that I should be more grateful. I can’t thank you enough.” I smile “I don’t understand why you think I helped you, but you demonstrated to me that people can change for good, so I thank you for that, and for saving my life.” As we laugh I realize that the person sitting across me, went form almost a stranger to being as close as my family, and he realized that too. We stare at the sunset through the window, ready to face any problems we might encounter, together.