Betty’s gaze was dead, "you want to go after Hope." Abrielle said as a matter of fact. Betty’s hands clenched her lips sealed she didn’t have to say it for Abrielle to know she was right
"But you know that is risky. I don’t think Hope would want you going after her. If you manage to escape, it would lead to both of your deaths." Abrielle explained, her eyes staring straight at Betty.
"I don’t care, Hope doesn’t deserve to die. I was the one who t Lawrence and accepted his offer to go to Vitalis after our parents warned us against the guide. Hope warned not to, but I insisted. She followed with the hope of getting to change my mind, but in the end, Lawrence turned out to be a slave trade agent."
Guilt was eating Betty up. The type she would never be able to live with unless she saved Hope. She might not be able to face her parents ever again even if there is a slight chance.
"What are the chances that when we leave here she will be alive? Your parents deserve to see at least one child alive even if they might not like your decision." Abrielle explained.
"That is for to decide." Hope stated. "So what is the plan?" She repeated.
"First, we need Intel to know what lies beyond the gates," Abrielle stated.
"How are we going to do that?" Another girl asked, and then everyone was pushed into their thoughts. The cellar was quiet, even the sounds of water dripping off the walls echoed. They whispered among themselves.
"I know a way to get the information. Most of us do." An older slave announced she was in the cell before Abrielle’s cell close to the tal door. Abrielle walked up to the bars to catch a glimpse of the girl.
"How can we get them?" Abrielle asked; while she was outside in the square, she was studying their environnt, trying to get so clues. Abrielle’s last desperate attempt would have been to force her way out.
"The service girls," the girl ntioned. "Service girls," Abrielle repeated, confused.
"There are so of us the guards fancies and Penny gave them the permission to have their way. The girls are allowed to leave the cellar..we can gather information from them but most of them are being quiet because they get a bit better treatnt after Letting the guards stick their things in them." The girl explained and Abrielle had a general idea. The guards were giving extra food to so of the slaves after having sex with them.
"Co on, is it a sin so of us found a way to cope?" Another girl sneered. An argunt started, apparently there were 6 girls of that nature. The so-called service girls. Abrielle felt a headache coming until a voice bood one person daring to raise her voice higher than a whisper.
"Enough. Can we just stop already?" Heather’s voice bood and everyone went silent. "We can’t bla anyone for whatever they do to try to survive but we all know one thing for sure. We might all die soon, the hunt is in a week. Not everyone will survive that." Heather explained
"What is a hunt?" Abrielle asked; dread set in because she had an idea what it might be. "During the hunt, we are allowed to play hide and seek with so crazy nobles who would shoot us with a crossbow if they find us. The maze is surrounded. Escape is impossible, so all we can do is run until the horn goes off, not to be caught."
It was exactly how she thought. Abrielle asked one more question she dreaded, but she had to know. "What happens to the girl that gets caught during the hunt and is shot." She asked, and everyone went silent; no one dared to answer.
Becky’s weak voice, like a crackle, spoke, breaking the silence. "They are violated, beaten, trashed, cut, raped for whatever sick needs that the hunters wish for and after they are broken, they make us kill them with our hands in front of the hunters that paid to watch the show." Betty’s hands were shaking. She had ended soone herself.
"We have no choice but to end their suffering." Becky broke into tears. Things were more ssed up than Abrielle imagined.
"Does every girl participate in the hunt?" Betty asked. The hunt was like a culling event to get rid of weak girls for the hunter’s amusent.
"That’s even the worst. There is no training. Just one random morning, you are woken up hungry, and everyone is dragged out. They say it is hide and seek, not explain what might happen if you are caught." This ti another slave spoke.
The slave took a break and then continued. "Not everyone has experienced it. It is held twice a year. I got to experience it barely 2 weeks after I got here. Most of the girls that ca with didn’t make it." The slave explained.
Abrielle understood all this; they were minor world-building she had done. The original Abrielle had co across the death’s bite before when she was desperate to get rid of Callista. Abrielle was heartless; she made the deal and gave them Callista.
Luckily the priestess was rescued before she got to a branch. That was the last straw Lucian and Cedric could take; that was the final act that led to her death. At that mont Abrielle was already being held in a tower for a failed poisoning attempt. Death was already her faith but the villainess didn’t want to take death without taking Callista with her
She sent Deborah, her handmaid, who followed her from the Nightshade estate. Deborah carried out the last task her mistress gave her.
"We need to gather all the information possible, and the hunt day won’t be the day they haunt us, but the day the prey haunts the predator," Abrielle explained.
Becky was stunned, and she walked towards the bar. "You want to escape during the hunt..the security is doubled that day due to the nobles." She explained but she was secretly elated.
"Which other day do we all leave this cellar? As a bonus, they wouldn’t be expecting us to run because they expect the older slaves to make us give up the will by telling us the terrors. All the service girls, when you leave the cells, keep your eyes open, then share what you know."
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