Chapter 8

As the door to the cage shut, Angela dropped to the ground in the corner and hugged her knees. Her strawberry blonde hair spread like a fan as it hung over her arms and knees.

Samire stood and leaned against the bars, crossing his arms and getting a far-off look in his eyes as he ran his tongue over his teeth in a way that made it seem he was chewing something.

Prisha looked at the two for a second and then her eyes met Jason's, a silent question in them. Jason shrugged his shoulders indicating he couldn't give her the answers to the questions she hadn't even asked.

He spoke up addressing the group. "We have two days. We shouldn't rush an answer, we should all think long and hard."

Samire nodded. Angela didn't respond, keeping her for head planted on her knees. Prisha showed concern for the girl but left her alone. "I never thought I would be a slave. Before this, all I had to worry about was teaching my students and keeping my parents happy." Prisha intoned, melancholy fighting to take over. "My life was all about checking tests and homework as well as dealing with my parents and their expectations."

Jason flashed a wry smile and said "My grandfather was a handful as well. He was always drilling into my head our old family customs and traditions, but he loved me dearly and I him." Jason felt a stab of sadness thinking about his grandfather and hoped the old man was taking care of himself. His grandfather had a habit of forgetting his heart pills and Jason was always reminding him.

"My parents were uptight. Everything I did had to be perfect growing up. Nothing was ever good enough. I miss them right now though." Samire joined the conversation that Jason and Prisha were trying to start.

"Waaaaaahhhh I miss my parents!" Angela burst into tear and started wailing. Prisha came to her and started soothing the young girl and stroking her hair, but the waterworks still lasted a few minutes.

Samire and Jason stood to one side of the cage at a loss for what to do. As mostly unknown men to the girl, they didn't feel it appropriate to attempt to soothe the young lady.

Samire and Jason looked at each other and embarrassed smiles appeared on their faces. "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to talk about this" Jason said.

Samire took another glance at the girl who had only just started calming down and nodded. He exhaled a burst of air and sat down.

"Are we sure there isn't a third option available?" He said looking around to make sure noone was listening to their conversation. He raised the shackles and looked at them closely. "Has anyone else noticed the strange etching on the metal wristbands of the shackles?"

Jason had noticed them earlier but they were gibberish to him. Samire continued. "These etching must be how the shackles control and or store that magical electric current. I don't see any wires or circuits or anything else like that. It's magic of some sort. If we could understand these marking we might be able to break them and escape."

"Or we could get ourselves killed messing with them." Jason cut in. "We don't have a single piece of info to go on. We know nothing about magic or the power the people of this world use." He continued while shaking his head. He really couldn't see a way out of this.

Jason thought about his cultivation. He was sure he could break these bonds if he could break through and create his second core as well as amass enough qi. He wouldn't really need that much. If he had a month he could possibly do it.

He inwardly cursed the circumstances. He needed a month but only had two days. It was impossible. Cultivation wasn't fast. Even in this world overflowing with qi he simply couldn't integrate it fast enough.

"Actually we do know one thing." Samire said breaking Jason from his thoughts.

"What is that?" Jason cocked his head and gave Samire a questioning look.

Samire jerked his head to the side seemingly indicating outside the cage. Jason followed his eyesight and saw Darek sitting at a campfire laughing and chatting with some of the bandits.

Prisha had heard what Samire said as well and stood from her position where she stroked Angela's back and hair to see what Samire was pointing out. "Darek? What about him? What does he have to do with the shackles?"

"Not so much Darek. It's what he possesses that I'm interested in." Samire showed a small evil grin as he said it.

Jason was lost. He was curious what Darek could have that could help them in their current situation. Just as realization dawned on him Prisha tapped one closed fist on the open palm of her other hand in a gesture of sudden enlightenment and spoke.

"That device! The one he used to activate the shackles before!" She blurted out.

"Ssshhhh" Samire shushed her as her voice had grown too loud.

Prisha seemed embarrassed and looked around to make sure noone heard. Seeing none of the bandits was near the cage or looking at them and all of the slaves still had their eyes glassed over staring at nothing she breathed out in relief. "Sorry" she voiced out in a tiny warble of a voice and hung her head.

"Its fine" Jason said and gripped her shoulder. He then looked at Samire and continued on the topic. "Even if we somehow get that device we don't know how to operate it."

Samire nodded in agreement but still pushed on "It's our only real option if we want our freedom though. If we get it, it may be our key to freedom. What's the worst that can happen?"

"They could kill us for trying to escape!" Angela spoke up at this point. She must have calmed down while they were talking because she was on her feet again.

Prisha considered her words and nodded in agreement while Jason did as well. The three of them looked at Samire for his response.

Samire shook his head and smiled. "They won't kill us. We are far too valuable to them. We are rare Travellers. They won't even harm us permanently if we are caught. That would lower our price."

Jason's eyes shone. "He's right. We are their payday. They can't risk harming or killing us."

Angela wasn't sure, but Prisha nodded in agreement as well and in a voice seeming to regain some of her lost vigour said "It's a chance. Better then any other option we have available right now. I think we should take the risk. How can we get it from Darek or one of the others?"

Jason smirked. "That's your job beauty." He looked her up and down as he said it admiring her gorgeous figure.

Prisha showed a shocked look for a second and then she understood. A blush spread across her face and she was at a loss for word.

Samire nodded and said. "Jason is right. We all saw how he looked at you two." He indicated with his hand towards Angela and Prisha as he said it. "You're the bait. That big idiot obviously thinks with his dick. We need one of you to seduce him."

Angela and Prisha looked at each other and both blushed. Prisha said "I'll do it." Wanting to save Angela from the experience. "But I have no experience. I've never done ...... anything like that before. I don't know if it will work."

Angela chimed in. "No, I'll do it."

Samire Jason and Prisha were shocked. They never expected the young girl who seemed one moment from breaking mentally to step up at this moment.

"What?" Angela asked with a fire in her eyes. Life seeped back into them at the thought of freedom. "Prisha is inexperienced dealing with men. Me on the other hand... no man can escape my charm." She flicked her hair and gave a naughty smile as the two men gulped at the seductive gesture.

"In my school, I had a few dozen boys wrapped around my finger. I'm not very smart but seducing and manipulating... I'm the best at that. Just leave it to me." Angela was extremely confident in her ability.

Samire, Jason and Prisha exchanged looks and then chuckled.

Jason spoke up. "Even if we get it from him he will notice pretty quickly. And even if he doesn't we are surrounded. Once we get out of the cage the others will notice us."

Samire nodded. "We will have to do it at night while most of them are asleep. The cover of darkness will help as well."

Jason suddenly noticed an issue. "The cage. How do we open that?"

Prisha gave him the answer. "You were pretty out of it when it happened so you didn't notice but Darek used that device to open the cages. He touched it to the locks and they opened."

"Yes, that's one reason why I'm confident that device can open the shackles." Samire stated.

"So that's the plan then? Angela will try to get the device off of Darek and will escape under the cover of night? It's pretty risky. Are you all sure about this?" Jason asked.

The group eyed each other then leveled their gazes back on Jason. They nodded in unison with steel in their eyes. No words were needed to understand their conviction. They all wanted freedom badly. The life of a slave was hell. That was especially true for women.

"When we flee, we will need to escape into the forest. We have no food and water. We will need to get some. Also, we should do it tomorrow, not tonight. We need to get closer to that city Larrem. The closer we are the quicker we can get there after escaping. Plus a night and day of rest, food and water will do us good. Especially you Jason. You haven't eaten or drank for almost two days. You were passed out earlier when they gave us bread and water."

Samire seemed to think of everything. Jason was impressed with the young man. He had a quick mind.

"We need to find out where they store their rations. If it's possible to grab some on our way out we have to do it." Jason answered the concern.

He should have been more thirsty and hungry than he was, but cultivation and drawing qi into his body helped delay the effects of dehydration and starvation. He actually felt great except for a dry throat.

Samire nodded. Angela and Prisha were smiling now.

"Don't go getting giddy just yet. The plan hasn't even begun. We are still shackled and the plan may fail entirely. We don't know."

To Jason's pessimism, Prisha said "It's still a hope and that is better then what we had before."

Jason smiled at Prisha's upbeat attitude. "Alright. How do you plan on luring Darek over Angela?"

Angela smiled a mysterious smile. "Leave it to me. The big dumb ox will eat right out of my hand."

The other three chuckled a bit. It seems she was more than just a little confident. They were glad she was not falling apart mentally any more. Especially Prisha. The burden of looking after the young girl had fallen to her. She worried about the girl a lot.

"Let's rest up and get some good sleep tonight. We will make our attempt tomorrow in the middle of the night. It will be our only chance. Don't let a lack of sleep be the factor that brings the plan to ruin."

The rest of them nodded at Jason's words. They all sat or lay down in different parts of the cage.

Jason closed his eyes and began cultivating with his legs crossed. He needed more strength to survive in this world.

Time while cultivating always had an ethereal and odd feeling. He had thought he had only been cultivating an hour or so when he felt a nudge on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Prisha holding out a water skin and two pieces of bread.

"Here eat. You haven't eaten anything for a long time. Drink some water as well."

She sat down next to him and wrapped her arms around he legs.

Jason was surprised to see that the sky was dark. The light of the multiple campfires the bandits had made flickered and caused shadows to dance.

Jason accepted the bread and water. He took a deep drink of water. He had been more thirsty than he thought. As the water washed down his throat he felt cool relief.

He started eating one of the loaves of bread before noticing she was not eating anything.

"Where is your food?" He asked her.

"I already ate."

Jason eyed her and noticed her facial expression seemed odd. Then he understood.

He held out one of the loaves of bread towards her.

"Take it."

"I already ate. I told you." She responded to his offer.

Jason shook his head and grinned at her saying. "I'm not a fool. You can't trick me. Take the food. I'm fine."

She seemed unwilling so he continued. "If you don't take it back I'll spank you."

That caught her attention as she grabbed the food and glared at him. "If you dare spank me I'll crush your balls in your sleep."

Jason was shocked at her words. He felt his family jewels shrink. "I was just joking I wouldn't..."

Before he could finish his words Prisha broke into a chuckle and smiled a wicked smile.

"Don't worry I'm just messing with you. You can't be the only one allowed to tease people right?" A blush crept onto her face as she said the words though. She started eating the bread.

Jason chuckled and made note not to underestimate the woman. He looked over at her as she nibbled on the bread and noticed her closeness. He could smell her scent. He marvelled at the smell of the beautiful woman.

"You said something about students before. Are you a teacher?" He wanted to keep his mind off dirty thoughts so he started a conversation.

At his question, Prisha looked over at him. "Yes. I taught in middle school. 6th grade actually. What about you? What did you do?"

"I was a labourer. Nothing special. I couldn't afford college growing up. I took the first job that would accept me and didn't look back. I had to look after my grandfather. Did you like teaching?"

"I loved it. It was always my dream to teach even as a child. Though my parents always said a woman belonged in the house. They were very traditional. I was always being sent on marriage meetings with any man they thought acceptable. It was infuriating."

"I'm sure they meant well. My grandfather always forced his views on me too, but now that he isn't here I miss him alot."

"No parents?" Prisha asked with a gentle voice.

"No, they died while I was still a baby. It's just me and my grandfather. WAS me and my grandfather anyways." Pain flashed in Jason's eyes at the thought of never seeing the old man again.

Prisha understood the look. "I miss my parents too. What I miss most though is my students and teaching. It sucks to think I'll probably never teach again."

Jason shook his head at her and said "who ever said you won't teach again?"

Prisha was confused. "We don't even know how to go back to earth. How am I supposed to teach again?"

"There are probably children in this world aren't there?" Jason nudged his shoulder against hers and grinned at her as he said it.

A look of realization crossed Prisha's face and she smiled as she thought about the possibility. A small bit of strain and pressure seemed to come off her shoulders at the thought. "You're right."

The two huddled together and ate the bread. Every once in a while passing the water skin back and forth. An ambiguous and warm atmosphere surrounded them.