Through the Flames by Ryne Billings Read Free Book Online

of red framed her face, making her bright green eyes seem brighter than anything he had ever seen before.
     
    Caleb had little experience with girls, having met only one or two his age in his life, so it was not a surprise that he had no idea how to describe her. She may have been a pretty girl, but he could not tell at the moment. Her face was smudged with dirt, and she was wearing black leggings and a sleeveless black tunic that were covered with a thin layer of dust and dirt. Like him, she did not have any boots on.
     
    He was a bit unsure what to think about the way that she wore the attire that would be more commonly seen on a boy, but he was not entirely surprised. His mother had always told him that it was almost as common to see a girl in a tunic and leggings as it was to see one in a dress. She was from the city of Zabryan, so he supposed she knew more about people than he did.
     
    A pang of sadness went through him at the memory of his mother, but he tried not to make the sudden change in mood to obvious.
     
    “I’m awake,” Caleb said quietly, looking around. There seemed to be about five tents around them and the camp fire. It would have been a circle of tents, but there was not one where they were.
     
    “That’s good to hear. They were a bit worried that they damaged you. Most people don’t stay unconscious for long,” the redhead said with a look of indifference upon her face. “I suspect that you were tired and actually regained consciousness just long enough to go to sleep.”
     
    “I was tired,” Caleb agreed, but his thoughts were focused on her earlier words. “Who was worried about me?”
     
    “You don’t know what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into, do you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. When he looked even more confused, she sighed. “Those highwaymen that you encountered are not the type of criminals that you think they are. They rob anyone who has the coin to satisfy them. Anyone who doesn’t have the coin is beaten. If they don’t die, then those thugs normally take them prisoner. I heard the boss of these thugs tell the one who captured you that we were going to get moving soon. Apparently, we’re going to the Isle of Akabar to be sold.”
     
    Caleb’s eyes grew cold as he heard that last part. “We are going to be sold as slaves?”
     
    “Yeah, that’s correct,” she answered with a downtrodden look. “If you’ll look behind us, you’ll see a dozen others. They, like me, will be sold at one of the markets there. You, on the other hand, will probably be sold to the arena that was built there. The ones that captured you spoke highly of your fighting capabilities. It would make you a very valuable slave. After all, anyone can do physical labor.”
     
    A momentary glance behind him showed Caleb that there were seven men and five women clothed like him and the girl that he was talking to. “We aren’t going to be sold as slaves,” Caleb stated with a fire in his eyes.
     
    “That’s what I tell myself every day,” she said softly, her look of indifference slipping to reveal fear. “They captured me a few weeks ago, and I’ve tried to escape. They take our boots to stop us from running, and they whip anyone that tries to escape.”
     
    “You misunderstand me,” Caleb said as his eyes focused on the only brigand that he could see. The man was facing away from them on the other side of the campfire. “I’m not going to run away.”
     
    With that, Caleb jumped to his feet and began to run towards the fire. Using his training as a hunter, he was able to move swiftly and without making too much noise, though the metal chain of his irons rattled occasionally.
     
    One of the things that Caleb had learned from an early age was that a person could move their hand through fire without injury if they did it quickly enough. It was that knowledge that made Caleb jump through the campfire as he neared it.
     
    Though he felt warm for the brief moment that