Chapter Eight
Capture
Buttercup was rather annoyed at the passiveness of her family. Her father, naturally, wanted to do something, but his job was making it rather difficult. It was getting to be close to harvesting time, which meant that he had to keep a very close eye on the crops, unless some parasite got a hold of them. She couldn’t count the number of times that had actually happened, although luckily, her father tended to overplant anyway to prevent against financial trouble as a result. For the past few seasons, now that he had a few more watchful eyes, none of the fields have been really compromised, but there was a first time for everything. Still, since her mother wanted nothing to do with the fact that the goddess disappeared, that meant that rest of the family couldn’t bring up the subject, either.
Besides which, they were too caught up in their own lives to really worry about it. They didn’t really get any news about it, either, since they lived in something for a void, just far enough away from the village that news didn’t really make it to their house easily. Buttercup could see her father talking with a few of the other farmers from time to time, and she was sure they were discussing the matter, but she could never outright ask what he was talking about, because she always seemed to be within earshot, or he was too busy to take his break while she was out there. Seth, John, Cole, and Sammy had gotten to the people were they didn’t care unless they heard anything further. Which was understandable, she had to admit, because all it really was happened to be a rumor.
Just a troubling rumor, that’s all. The thing that really bothered her wasn’t her mother’s lack of interest in the matter, but rather the fact that she didn’t want to find out anything more. Sure, it was farfetched, but it just seemed like common sense to find out if the rumors were true or not. Because if they were, then it was a cause for panicking. After all, that was pretty much signifying the end of the world.
Buttercup had read about some religions had something of an end time scenario, where some event would take place, and that would pretty much be the sign that everything was about to come to an end. Their religion had none of that, mostly because they focused on the creation of the world, and appeasing the gods who created it. But she wondered briefly if perhaps there was a scenario like that, like one of the gods going missing. Because that’s pretty much the end result – the world falling into chaos and pretty much destroying itself. She shuttered to think about it, how it was going to be achieved. The Lumentians, she was positive, would blame the Alterians, and the Alterians, if they weren’t already, would blame the Lumentians.
She didn’t have much love for Lumentians, but considering the consequences of this, she would never blame them. After all, making a goddess disappear took too much effort, planning, or magic that none of them had. But it didn’t matter – they would blame each other, and start a massive war that would most likely end their way of life. No one would benefit from that, so she couldn’t even begin to imagine why anyone would kidnap a goddess. It was really baffling, and she couldn’t talk to anyone about it.
The only person she really saw outside of her mother’s hearing that had the time to actually worry about it was Lily, and she seemed to be shadowing her mother’s thoughts on the matter. She was never really as into the religious stories as Buttercup was, listening to them only because they were forced on her. She believed them, she understood them, but she never thought about them. And considering this wasn’t something that had happened before, she wasn’t too worried about it. Besides, there were plenty of things she agreed with their mother about, mostly because it just seemed easier for her to mimic someone else’s opinions, and this seemed to be one of them. Mostly because it was an opinion that was opposite of Buttercup’s. She wasn’t going to last long in the outside world, Buttercup determined.
Buttercup really had no other choice but to go about her day to day life like nothing happened. She was looking forward to the next time her mother might need something from the village to see if any more rumors were traveling around, and to see if this were affecting more people. Getting new news was the worst, she determined, but it was something that she had always hated. The only time they found out anything right away was if it involved family, and some cousin or uncle was sent over to specifically tell them the news. Anything involving something outside the family could take months to get to her family.
And so she fretted, but tried not to make it too obvious. She didn’t know why this bothered her as much as it did, since it wasn’t like she had some special connection to the goddess or anything. She was just as much an ordinary citizen as the rest of her family, and yet she was the one worrying over it almost too much. She also wondered why she couldn’t just ignore it like the rest of her family, and realized it was because she had a little too much more time on her hands then they did. Or, in the case of Lily, didn’t have enough free space between her ears.
“Gods, you’re annoying,” Lily said as she caught her sister flipping through one of the old religious textbooks they owned. “Why don’t you just leave it be? Everyone would be happier if you did, you know. Mama said not to bring it up again, anyway.”
“Gods, why are you so annoying,” Buttercup demanded of her sister. “I’m not bringing it up to Mama or anyone else – I’m doing this on my own. And what I do on my own is really just my business. So what does it matter if I’m worrying about it? Someone has to, and it might as well be me.”
“Because, clearly, you have way too much time on your hands,” she said, rolling her eyes and kicking her feet in the air.
“Actually, if I were looking for someone with way too much time on their hands, I’d give the task to you, and you’d still find a way to not to anything all day, because that’s how much free time you’ve been wasting every day,” Buttercup snapped. “It’d be nice to have a useful sister for once. Then maybe I wouldn’t have to do everything around here!”
“It’d be nice to have a normal sister as well, but that’s not something I’m going to get. Besides, why do I have to be useful? You know how to do everything already, and I plan to marry some rich lord or something. Maybe even our prince! In other words, I don’t need to learn to do anything domestic. Unlike you.”
“Unlike me, huh? Trust me, our prince would take one look at you and opt for the Lumentian princess instead. You’re not princess material, Lily. Nor are you lady material. Being a spoiled brat doesn’t prepare you for a life of luxury.”
“How would you know? You’re just going to end up mooching off Mama and Papa and Seth your whole life. Of course you have to be domestic to pull your weight, while I’m going to be living it up, with servants to do all the domestic chores for me.”
“And you’ll piss them all off, too, for treating them like cattle rather than people. Its horrible, and it’s not right. Besides, what in the hell would you do if I was no longer here?”
She snorted. “Like, if you managed to find a husband? That’s so farfetched, Buttercup. Maybe that’s what you’re problem is. You’re just making up shit now. That’s not very lady-like, you know.”
Buttercup seethed. She had four other witnesses, and probably a village full of them, that could tell her sister that she wasn’t making any of this up. “You’re the very definition of not lady-like, Lily trust me.”
Lily flipped her long hair over her shoulder in an arrogant manner. “Whatever, Buttercup. At least I’ll get married someday because I know how to present myself.”
“No,” she muttered under her breath as she gathered up her book and decided to take her research elsewhere. “You’ll find a husband because they’re looking for a dumb bitch, for which you fit perfectly.”
She acted like she was merely reading through the stories for entertainment, although she was looking for clues to see if there was something that happened before. She knew that it wasn’t, it would have been something they had actually learned, and not something tucked away and needed to be found. But it made her feel better, especially since she actually was just reading through the stories. They were all so familiar to her, and reminded her of the greatness of the gods. How the different races were created to ease the loneliness of the Matrem Dei, and how she was genuinely happy because they existed. How the Angelus Dei looked over everyone because they were partially her children, and how the Diabolus Dei continued to protect those he deemed worthy.
The Alterians didn’t agree with the Lumentians that the Diabolus Dei was an evil god, but he was more questionable than the others. But that was because he controlled fire, which was unpredictable and uncontrollable at best. The biggest difference was that the Alterians accepted that about him, and tried to appease him lest he deemed them unworthy of his protection. That happened from time to time – and entire village wiped off the map from a wild fire or a volcano, depending on where they were. No one blamed him for the disaster, but they knew the village had done something to fall out of his favor.
“I sort of don’t get it,” Seth mentioned one day about a week after the incident as they sat on break. “Why is this such a huge deal for you? You seem to be obsessing over it way more than you probably should be, don’t you think?”
She sighed. “I might be, but it’s just the nature of the beast. In the end, who do you think they’ll end up blaming for her disappearance?”
“The Lumentians, right?”
“Well, yeah,” she admitted. “In the long run. But initially, it’ll be our family. You forget; we’re the black sheep.”
“Oh right.” John said, tapping a finger to his chin. “The Angelia’s are supposed to be the protectors of the Angelus Dei, right? I can see it; Papa is the black sheep of the family, and they’ll think we didn’t do a good enough job of protecting her if she disappeared.”
“That’s stupid; how are we supposed to protect her? We’re just a family of farmers, after all,” Seth said angrily.
“It’s not us specifically, but our family as a whole, remember? That’s why our cousins are always chosen to participate in all those ceremonies. They’ll blame all the Angelia’s at first, but then it’ll trickle down to just us once they learn around Papa and his situation,” Buttercup pointed out.
“That would explain a lot, then,” Seth admitted. “It’s not so much that you’re worried about the world ending so much as it’s your worried about what’s going to happen to the family.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I’m plenty worried about the world ending, trust me. But even if its just a rumor, our family could still be blamed. I think that’s one reason Mama doesn’t want me talking about it, because she doesn’t want to think about that particular consequence.”
“I can’t blame her,” Sammy said, shuttering slightly. “That’s not exactly something pleasant to think about.”
“It’s still something to think about, and she’s being stubborn about it. If she ignores it, then it’ll be too late for any of us to do anything about it,” Cole said. “She’s being a fool.”
“But it’s Mama, sadly. We can’t go against her rules. If she says she doesn’t want to hear about it, then we’re not allowed to discuss it with her. She’ll just have to be prepared when something does happen,” John said sadly.
It was true that their mother was being a fool about this, but at the same time, she could see the point. She didn’t want to worry needlessly until proof came that the Angelus Dei had disappeared, and then she was going to worry about. A rumor was a rumor, and there was only so much truth in rumors. If she believed every one that came her way, she’d be worrying endlessly. Still, she needed to learn that some rumors deserved a healthy bit of worry about them.
After Buttercup returned, she realized she was just a bit too restless to sit in the house and do chores all day, even if those chores involved teaching Jacob. “I’m going out to practice,” she declared as she set the dishes in the sink.
Her mother looked up from scrapping the pan she had cooked the meal in. “That’s unexpected, dear,” she admitted. “Anything wrong?”
Buttercup shook her head. “Not really,” she lied. “Just have a lot on my mind right now. I need something to clear it a bit.”
Her mother nodded. Buttercup knew that her mother tended to do the same thing with mopping the floor. She was a skill swordswoman, like her father, but she opted to hide the skill rather than hone it, really. She preferred the life of a housewife to a warrior, which was a common attitude amongst the women. Buttercup liked using honing her skills as an excuse to get out of the house, and it usually worked fairly well.
“That’s perfectly fine, dear. Just be back before dinner, okay? I’ll get Lily to help me tonight.”
Buttercup stifled a giggle. That was going to work out fantastically, she knew. Lily was going to pitch a fit about it, and their mother was going to do all the work. But it wasn’t going to be her problem, sadly. She was going to milk the fact to the best of her ability if it meant the possibility of Lily actually being forced to work.
Chestnut was extremely eager to see Buttercup when she entered the barn. Buttercup always felt bad for the horse, being cooped up as she was. Again, she stood patiently as Buttercup went through her routine, and it was only when she grabbed the bow and quiver from the back of the barn that she started to get restless. Buttercup almost let her burst out of barn doors like she always wants to do, but she feared breaking them.
Buttercup began to relax a little once she saw the trail leading off the main road. She hadn’t realized she had been so tense until that moment, and she knew a quick target practice was going to help matters immensely. She didn’t usually go every week, but this time, it just seemed right. She lined up her first shot while still on Chestnut, something she really didn’t do all that often, although she knew she needed to work on her skill of shooting while on a moving object.
Not like it needed much improvement, since it was similar to shooting while stationary for her. It just took a little extra concentration, keeping the target lined up as she was moving, and she managed to hit her target square in the center. It was probably because of the fact that she had more than enough reason to escape that she was as good as she was, because she was constantly practicing the skill.
She remained on Chestnut, not feeling like bothering with any of the stationary targets once she got a feel for the movement. She knew she was good at this method as well, but she could be better, since she still managed to miss a few when Chestnut made a sudden movement she wasn’t really expecting. Those annoyed her, because she had it in her mind that she needed to be the best markswoman in all of Alter. Although she really had no idea why it was that important to her.
She marveled at the way her arrow just seemed to know exactly where it needed to go without her thinking about it, and she focused more on what was around her than what was trying to slip through her thoughts. She wasn’t really lying to her mother when she needed to clear her thoughts, because she needed a fresh mind to reset her thoughts on what to do. She found that, if she had a problem, practicing helped, because it gave her mind a different focus for a while, such that she started with a fresher mind when she got back to the problem. She hoped that this was going to be the case now, but it was also nice to get out of the house, she\’ll readily admit.
She was sort of annoyed at herself later, because she was so focused on staying focused that she wasn’t really paying attention to her surroundings like she should have been. The area was secluded, of course, but it wasn’t really hidden, and she had just gotten complacent with the fact that she hadn’t seen anyone enter into her area, or less with her targets. She just assumed no one else knew about this place, or was even going to find it. But, without any warning whatsoever, she found an arm in her path, knocking her clean off Chestnut and onto the leave strewn path the horse had been running on.
Naturally, she had the air knocked of her, and she was more confused than hurt about what happened. She found herself staring up at a group of men, Lumentian based on the yellowish tone of their skin and the slant of their eyes, and she felt her heart stop for a moment. She stared at them uncomprehendingly.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here,” one of them said with a thick Lumentian accent. He had a greasy look to him, grinning at her lewdly. She instantly hated this man.
“It seems to be a girl,” another said, leering down at her, his accent just as thick. He giggled slightly from his own wittiness.
The third, who looked less untrustworthy, smacked the second on the back of his head. “You moron. Of course it’s a girl,” he said, his accent closer to that of the Ta’Norians, which just suggested he had come from the southern borders of Lumentis.
“A lost little dove, I would think,” the first crooned. “I think we should help her, don’t you, Clyde.”
“Oh yes,” the third agreed. “Poor little thing probably has no idea where she is. It’d be such a shame if she stayed lost in those woods.”
“Who the hell are you people?” she demanded, watching as they looked down at her in shock at her use of Lumentian. “What do you want from me?”
The trio glanced between themselves. “An Alterian who knows the Lumentian tongue? There can’t be a surer sign than that. She has to be the one we’re looking for! She even look a little like her!”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “Who are you, and what are going planning to do with me?”
The third man, who was quite obviously the leader since he was obviously the smarter of the three, was just standing there, considering her. “I don’t think she knows exactly who she is,” he admitted. “They must have brainwashed her. What’s your name, little dove?”
She glared at them. “And why in the world would I tell you?”
The strike came from nowhere, mostly because her attention was focused on the third man. But the first man swung his fist into her temple, harder than he really should have for hitting a girl. She saw stars for a moment, shocked that they would hit her. “I suggest you answer the question, dove,” he said, cracking his knuckles.
“Buttercup,” she squeaked. “Buttercup Angelia!”
They grinned at her in triumphant. “See, there’s no clearer sign! She’s exactly who we’re looking for!” the first man said.
“This girl is the goddess?” the second man asked stupidly. “But she’s human.”
“That’s the point, you dolt. Remember, the Alterians have a spell that’ll turn the goddess human, so they would have control over her. Clearly, they made her forget who she was.”
“Wait, what?” Buttercup demanded. “You think I’m the Angelus Dei? That’s utterly ridiculous! No one has that sort of spell, or the sort of power needed to cast it, much less the Alterians!”
“Of course that’s what you’d say. You’ve been brainwashed into thinking you’re an Alterian! Don’t worry, love; we’ll take you to your proper place in the Acerbus Temple, and they’ll stripe you of your human form, and return you to your glory. You’re safe with us,” the first man said, stretching an arm out to her.
Buttercup panicked. She had no idea who these men were, but she had a good idea – not the good type. Before she realized what she was doing, she pulled out one of her arrows, and jabbed it into the man’s arm. He let out a startled scream, not exactly the sort of sound he would be proud to admit. He let out an impressive stream of curses that Buttercup would hope he wouldn’t use in front of a lady again, grabbing at his arm as Buttercup pulled away, leaving the tip of her arrow bloodied. “She’s insane!” the man declared, clutching at his arm.
“She’s just a little scared,” the third man said. “It’ll be all right, dove. Everything you’ve been told is a lie. We’re the good guys. We’re Lumentian.”
“I can see that,” she hissed. “That doesn’t make you the good guys. In fact, that makes you the worst guys. I know what you’re planning, and I’m not going to let you!”
She tried to run, but they anticipated that. The second man, faster than he seemed considering his mental capacity, lunged at her and grabbed her by her ankle. She kicked at him, but it wasn’t like he had anything up there to really process the pain. She kicked him hard enough to break his nose, blood pouring out of it, and yet, he still held on. Which, of course, gave the other two men just enough time to grabbed her by her arms, fending off a few punches, and pulled her upright.
It was the last thing she saw of Alter before something heavy hit her on the back of her head, and her world went black.
When she came to, she found herself in something of a cell, chains holding her arms into place. Her head was pounding, and she was disoriented for a very long time. The cell bounced a little, and when she allowed her hearing to function, she could hear the sounds of hoofbeats hitting a dirt path. It didn’t take her that long to determine she was in a wagon that was fashioned into a cell. It took her several more moments to remember just why she was in that cell. She tried to drag herself upright, but the jostling motion just kept knocking her down.
She figured it was a losing battle, and just focused on the sounds outside her little cell. They were hard to make out, since the horses and wagons were making too much noise, but she could tell that she was traveling with a rather large group.
She was rather relieved when they stopped, since the motion was making her a little nauseous. She sat there for a good long while before a man’s face appeared in the window on the door, peering in at her. “Good Gods, it really is her,” the man said. “I can see the power radiating out of her.”
“Go to hell, old man,” Buttercup spat at the man. It was the opposite of lady-like, but considering she had been kidnapped, she figured she earned the right.
He chuckled. “Feisty, isn’t she? Like a true Alterian. That’ll be fixed soon enough, not to worry, my goddess. For now, just relax. It’ll be all over soon enough.”
“If I’m your goddess, then why the hell am I chained up?’ she demanded to know. “I’d think Lumentians would at least treat their goddess with more respect than this! But what do I know; you’re just a bunch of filthy Lumentians, after all.”
He continued to seem amused, which angered Buttercup greatly. She was trying to insult him, and he was amused by it. He stood by her door for a long period of time, just sort of grinning at her, at least until another man showed up to give her some coarse food. It was disgusting, and she refused to eat it, but the man wouldn’t have any of that. It was literally shoved down her throat. “You need to keep up your strength, my goddess,” he said, still grinning like a mad man.
Buttercup stewed in a corner for a bit, trying to keep away from the man’s gaze. It was creeping her out greatly, like he was about to do something terrible to her. It wouldn’t really surprise her, sadly, but he was in for a rude awakening if he attempting something. She didn’t think it was common knowledge that all Alterians knew how the defend themselves. Before even being handed a weapon, her mother taught her self-defense. She wasn’t great at hand-to-hand combat, but she could certainly hold her own.
She was rather surprised that they stayed in that location for a few days, the man continuously staring at her the entire time. She was force fed meals until she got tired of it, biting the man feeding her and making it a point to eat for herself. It was disgusting, yes, but it was more humiliating having his shoved down her throat when she didn’t want it. This seemed to please the creepy man.
The third day they started traveling again, and the same routine continued. Buttercup lay prone on the floor as they traveled, trying not to get sick from the motion, and she found that they stopped briefly for the night for about four days before stopped for several. It was going to take them a very long time to get to Acerbus, she was sure.
The second week she attempted to get away, head butting the man feeding her to daze him, and grabbing the keys from him. It took less effort than she would have thought to unlock the chains with her hands tied, and she dropped the chains onto the man. No one was outside the cell, and she made it about halfway to the forest surrounding the area they had stopped before they caught her. She knew she would have been safe if she had made it to the trees, where she could hide from them, knowing they were looking for her.
She put up a good fight, too. They seemed rather surprised that such a small girl could put up such a fight. She managed to give two of them bloody noses, and from what she understood later, two more black eyes. But she still ended up back in the cell, her hands tied behind her this time. “I don’t get it; if I’m your goddess, why tie me up?” she demanded to know of the leader when he visited her.
“Obviously, it’s a precaution. We weren’t sure what the Alterian’s had taught you, and now I see it was a very wise decision. I suppose we shouldn’t expect anything less than a goddess, though. We’re not making the same mistake twice.”
After that, she was provided with two guards that stood at her door day and night, alternating. The good thing about them was that they kept the creepy old man away, since apparently, he wasn’t actually supposed to be there. He seemed to try every night. “We told you time and time again, you can’t see the goddess. She’s supposed to remain pure and innocent. We can’t have you doing anything to her, moron. Now step away before we call Hannibel over here to deal with you.”
Hannibel proved to be the leader of the group, since he did need to be called. “I already told you when we brought her here that you weren’t allowed to see her,” he said. “We usually turn a blind eye to what you do, but we can’t allow you do rape our goddess, now can we? If I hear of you coming here again, you’ll have to find a new home, because I can’t allow you to stay with us anymore.”
Naturally, the man returned the next night, sort of drooling over here, and she wondered if all Lumentians were that dumb. The guards had him pinned down fairly quickly and were calling for Hannibel. It was the one and only time that she was grateful for the leader, peering out the little window the best she could to watch her stalker get thrown out of the group. “I apologize about that, my goddess,” he said. “No one will bother you any longer.”
“Well, at least that’s one good thing about all this,” she said dryly.
Still, the weeks started to fly by, until she just couldn’t keep track of the days. She was no longer sure where she was anymore, either, or how far she was from Alter. Even if she did escape, she wasn’t going to find anyone welcoming of her kind. She was in Lumentis now, she was sure of it, unless the people were traveling around Alter for a while before heading to Acerbus. But nothing felt like home, at least what she could see, so she just had to assume she was in Lumentis already.
It was sort of sad, because that was the one place she really didn’t want to be. Ever.
She figured it was about a month and some odd days she had been captured when they made a stop. As usual, she was set away from the rest of the group, and she could hear merriment some ways away. She huddled in her corner, hating her life. She tried not to think about it, but thoughts of her family and how this was effecting them swam in her head. They didn’t know what happened to her. Were they looking for her, having no clue she was taken by Lumentian thugs? Most likely not. And she had no hope of rescue.
She felt miserable and disgusting. Despite being their ‘goddess’, she was treated like a prisoner, and she couldn’t remember the last time she bathed. Her braids had since fallen out from the jostling, although the ones framing her face had stayed in place far longer than she expected. The kohl around her eyes had rubbed off, and she stank. She hated it, and she wondered just how long she was going to have to put up with this. She was contemplating another escape attempt, even though it was pointless and no one would be able to help her. But maybe, if she was successful, she could at least get a bath.
But then, unexpectedly, he appeared. He seemed like any other Lumentian, with his yellowish skin and his slanted eyes, but almost immediately, she could tell he was completely different. He didn’t gaze at her like a prize, but rather with concern. She glared at him, still, since he was a Lumentian. There might be something different about him, but he was still traveling with them, and she forced herself to dislike him.
He disappeared, though, and she found herself disappointed in the fact. He looked a little interesting. His eyes were kinder than any Lumentian she had ever seen, and she wanted to ask why he was with a band of thugs who planned to hand over an innocent young girl to the Acerbus priests. Surely he knew what was going to happen to her.
He didn’t return, at least immediately, and she curled back into her corner to wallow. Her escape plan was flawless except for the part where she actually got out of the chains and the cell, but that didn’t really matter to her. She ran over the plan time and time again, confident that she could pull it off without a hitch,
Not like she’d actually attempt it, but she could totally pull it off.
She was also envisioning a reunion with her family, the way her mother and father would be overjoyed to see her, and neither of them would ever talk about how odd she was ever again because they were so grateful to have her back. Lily, she would learn, had developed into a fine young lady in her weeks of absence, because she was forced to do all the chores Buttercup normally would have done. And she couldn’t complain about it, either, since there was no one else to pawn the chore off on. Her brothers would be overjoyed as well, but she sort of expected that, at least.
It had gotten late when she suddenly heard the sound of soft bodies hitting the ground. She perked up, staring at the door, not daring to hope that something happened to the guards outside. She heard the brief sound of two people whispering to each other, although she didn’t recognize either one. One was obviously a female, and the other a male.
She then heard the sound of the key scraping against the lock, and she felt her heart begin to race. She couldn’t afford to hope now, she knew, but she was only human . She couldn’t help but hope that rescue had finally come.
And when the door swung open, the figure who stepped inside happened to be the very same Lumentian who had looked in earlier, the one with the kind eyes.
Angelus Dei Chapter Eight |