Page 25 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
That had everyone’s attention. I could feel hope racing through the defeated villagers again.
“Tell us what we need to do,” Milosh said.
“First,” Rumi said, setting his stew bowl aside and leaning in, like we were conducting a secret meeting, “we need to know more about this camp, its size and its strengths and weaknesses.”
“Any information you can give us will be helpful,” I added, wanting to take charge as much as Rumi.
The villagers were more than happy to tell us everything they knew. They knew more than they thought they did. Not only were they able to tell us physical details of the camp, where it was most heavily fortified and where it was weaker, they were clear about just how corruptible the guards were.
“Father’s greed just might be our salvation in the end,” I commented to Rumi late into the night, after our meetingwith the peasants concluded and we all shuffled off to bed. “Instead of hiring men that could be trusted to operate a place like this, he found the cheapest, cruelest people he could.”
“They should be easy to bribe,” Rumi agreed as we climbed into the same small bed, since there weren’t enough beds in the longhouse for everyone.
“I’m convinced we can fight back,” I said. “These people might be tired and disheartened, but did you see how their eyes lit up when they realized help is coming?”
“It restored them,” Rumi agreed. “I’m convinced that we’ll be able to lead a rebellion within these walls, sooner rather than later, and that everyone will be free by?—”
He stopped speaking as the longhouse door opened and the alpha in charge, Baylin, stepped into the building holding a lamp.
“Where are the princes?” he growled, his face eerie as the lamp illuminated it.
I exchanged a glance with Rumi, and even though my body ached and my stomach felt terrible, I pushed myself to sit, then to stand.
“We’re here,” I said, chin tilted up in defiance. “Who wants to know?”
Rumi, Obi, and even Misha were quick to scramble to their feet beside me. I couldn’t speak for them, but I had the deep sense that we needed to do whatever we could to protect our new villager friends from harm by facing whatever came our way bravely.
A few seconds later, I wasn’t certain that was such a good idea.
“The four of you, come with me,” Baylin said, gesturing for four guards who had been waiting outside the door to come in and grab us.
Being touched by another alpha set my teeth on edge and made me slow and clumsy as I was dragged out of the longhouse and into the starry night as the villagers, who had gained so much hope by our arrival, wilted as we were taken away.
“Let go of me,” I panted, feeling like I would be sick to my stomach. “You have no right to touch me.”
“Quiet!” Baylin said once we were a few steps away from the longhouse. “Don’t make a sound and don’t try to escape.”
For a few, glorious seconds I felt like my brothers and I had stumbled into an impossible stroke of good luck. I considered that Baylin might have been on our side after all and was letting us go.
Then we reached the edge of the camp’s defenses, where we were met by an even rougher group of men with a covered farm wagon.
“See?” Baylin said, presenting us to the men by the wagon. “I told you it was them.”
“This cannot be happening,” Misha moaned quietly.
One of the men by the wagon stepped forward, a small sack in his hand. “It’s them,” he confirmed with a nod, then held out the sack to Baylin. “Payment as agreed,” he said.
Baylin chuckled as he took the sack, then gestured for his guards to push us toward the wagon. “They’re all yours to do with as you please,” he said.
I wanted to fight and struggle in protest, but I felt so horrible that it was all I could do to stay upright as the new set of captors took us.
Diamant, where are you?I called out through our bond.
The plan had been to infiltrate the work camp so that we could help the captive villagers stage a rebellion. Instead, we’d just been sold off to an unknown fate.
Chapter
Eight
