Escape

I am nine years old, my body is a solid build of muscle.

Robust and flexible as I stretch every day.

My mana control is on another level.

At this point, I can control seven strands of mana perfectly.

I feel confident that I can survive the harsh terrain of my rock life.

I am not the only one who filled it out.

Eating the game I hunted for her along with hunting for herself Isla has filled out in all the right places, her hips jutting out of her to tight rags.

Her perfectly rounded breasts are perky without a bra, she is young but it is enough for a grown man to cup them and filling out quickly.

I even caught Kirle and Tume staring at her when we walked into the house one day.

The fat man had set his sights on her, repeatedly telling her to load the cart and licking his lips as she bent over to lift mana grass bales.

Sometimes going so far as to grope her.

I limited my excursions not only because of Isla but because my mana cores where developing quickly.

I didn't want to make a scene like last time especially since the energy I was carrying was over a hundred times more than the time I met Mislin.

Each of the seven tendrils has a lot of energy behind them.

I knew it was time to leave and it could not be put off.

I had made a ruck sack for myself placing linen, some leather I made from raw hides that I turned into shoes, and dry meat enough for a couple of days.

I fashioned a water sack out of some more processed raw hides.

Although the leather quality was bad I made the best of what I had, using natural salts and minerals to tan the hides, thanks to the information from the humanoid in my first life that I reaped memories from.

I was bringing a cart to the center of the cul da sac when I spotted the overweight man coming.

I get out of the way of his horse and cart but not before he spots me and yells out.

"Runt grab those bales and be quick about it!" I nod my head like I usually do, and begin my work.

As usual, he spots Isla and beckons her to come and assist with the bales.

"fine little tart you are eh?"

He begins jeering at her taking swigs from a wine skin, that looks much more refined than what I manufactured with my limited recourses.

"I'll tell you a little secret hun" stopping to drink from his wine skin he continues.

"They are going to spend a pretty penny to get a tight young thing like you".

Isla shivers at this, she has no idea what someone would buy her for.

She thinks of those rumors were adults eat the children.

She isn't far off on that thought process.

"Now I like me some Olim pussy, but I like me some stones more and the change you're ganna bring in is ganna have me sitting happy for days" he continues.

We worked as fast as we could and stepped off to the side.

He checked to make sure nothing would fall before getting on the cart and winking at Isla.

"See you tomorrow," he said giving me a feeling of foreboding and making Isla shake visibly.

At this point, Kirle was already gone being picked up by the pale man some time ago.

Tume was like a tiger without his fangs.

He didn't make eye contact with me, going so far as to not come out of his room in the morning to avoid me.

I notice a lack of new children being brought into the camps adding to my feeling of foreboding.

I have to act, and I have to do it now.

That night when everyone falls asleep, I walk over and tap Isla's shoulders, unsurprised to find her awake.

"What is it?" she asks me.

"Do you want to know what is going to happen to you tomorrow"? I asked her.

She stares at me wide-eyed "No." She said softly.

"Do you want to know?" I asked again.

She didn't answer just nodding her head.

"They are going to put you on that wagon and take you into town where adults will bid for you, once they buy you they will either r**e you, and any child you make will be brought here to be a slave.

"If not they will march you over six-hundred miles north on foot to be sold to someone else who will more than likely r**e you".

All this was said in a monotone voice that didn't really capture the severity of her fate.

Her eyes widened as I explained this to her slowly, she didn't even know what half these words meant but her imagination was enough to fill the gaps.

I let the quiet settle in between us before adding softly.

"There is a different option".

She perks up, the desperation on her face not dampening her natural beauty.

"Please…" She mutters.

"You can get up and walk with me now".

"It will not be easy, and you might lose your life, but I promise to help you get stronger so that if anyone tries to capture you again they will at least have a hard time."

She is shocked.

I know it is unfair to just pop this on her now.

It was something I was thinking about for a while.

She has shown me as much kindness as my own mother back in my first life, I want to give her a way out.

And a loyal assistant would go a long way in helping me manage my future goals.

As her shock wanes it is replaced by a determination that I have seen before on her face usually when she is taking a beating for me from Kirle.

"I… I am ready" was all she said.

I look at her deep in her eyes knowing that I have her loyalty she would not rat me out even if someone threatened her life.

In her world, it is just me and her, no one else I was her father, brother, and child wrapped into one.

I get up slowly and she follows me as we step out of the house, and walk towards the red grass from our house for the last time.

Breaking past the foliage of grass we head deeper and deeper.

My masked mana sense spread out seventy yards around us on all sides.

We reach the spot where I hid two bags I use mana to bring them out.

This being the first time I used mana in front of anyone, I check Isla's expression to find her stunned but not too surprised.

"Did you know I could do this?"

"No, but I saw the light coming from your bed when you were smaller… I knew you were special."

I chuckle at this.

"I am not special you can do this too, and I will teach you".

"Really!" her eyes boring into mine.

"Of course" Smiling at her I turn around and start making my way through the foliage detouring a snake den.

I mark my direction with the constellations that I surmised.

Oddly north had ten stars that were in a perfect circle reminding me of the true north back on Earth.

Using the stars as a guide we pass by some children's settlements.

I take my time knowing that this is a matter of finesse.

The distance out of here won't allow us to leave the area of sentry in one go, we have to utilize my mana sense and avoid as many settlements as possible.

As we walk, I layer the bottom of our feet with mana minimizing our tracks.

Mislin the Sylph said the area was purged of beasts due to the war but my memory of being eaten by a beast that came out of this mana grass is still strong.

We walk nine miles before I stop Isla and scoop a big area of dirt telling her to get in.

I cover us with the dirt and lay tall grass about seven feet high above our heads telling her to go to sleep after handing her some smoked rations.

We do not hunt or light a fire at any time to prevent leaving traces.

We awake at noon only after three hours of rest to get back on the same schedule not wanting to give our slavers an advantage.

We move like this for another eight days nonstop Isla has blisters on her feet and is dehydrated as our water skins were empty.

We rationed the best we could, but it was getting bleak.

I estimated another three days, and we should be out of this territory and reaching the forest.

Along the way, my mana sense was picking up more, and more activity.

At first, it was a soldier settlement here and there, but as we went on, I started sensing individual soldiers moving around the foliage randomly.

"They must be looking for us" I whisper to Isla after notifying her to wait for him to pass.

She says nothing, trusting me completely.

She was ready to die the moment she tackled Kirle.

Maneuvering through these hurdles cost us more time and we ended up getting to the edges.

We ran into a particularly big soldier encampment trying to bypass it by going north first, we only run into a smaller encampment surrounding the northwestern side.

They completely blocked off the forest and the rest of the field of vision. Our only option was to head south and try to enter there or turn back and head east.

We recede back enough for my mana sense to still sense what is around and I tell Isla to sleep.

I am in a bad state awake for almost two weeks I feel the physical fatigue but the sight of freedom and the thought of being caught and enslaved again was hanging above my head.

I quickly dismiss my tired state and focus.

Two figures are walking towards us in the dead of the night.

One tall almost six feet and the other a head shorter and lanky.

As they are walking, they get closer and closer to our position in the foliage.

I begin to worry thinking that they know we are here.

I will myself to be calm, and like a rock, my emotions wash over me and recede in waves.

After calming myself I focus on them ready to snap their neck at any given moment.

Forty yards… thirty yards… twenty yards… fifteen yards… I am ready to act the moment they start to rush us.

I hear the voice of the taller man.

"Some Slaves!

"We are running around looking for slaves and get this, they are children I have never heard of this before".

"Oddly, no one has seen them or found a trace of them it's like they just disappeared".

"My buddy over at town said that these kinds of cases happen sometimes where they get an itch and disappear into the mana grass but they always leave a trace even if they find them dead" the shorter man replies as they pass by us.

"It's that shitty Olim blood, I tell you that Olim blood makes them as stupid as they are violent" the large man cursed as he stamped his feet presumably on some bugs.

"Well a Mage is supposed to be here tomorrow morning you know how they do things, those kids won't be able to get far dead or alive you can't run from a Mage".

I nudge Isla awake and whisper "We need to move now". She was confused because it was still dark, she didn't hesitate to get to her feet and throw on her bag.

I head straight north going past the weakest point of passage.

Two soldiers, who looked like they really did not want to be pulling the late shift, were guarding a twelve-foot-wide entryway surrounded by makeshift walls of lumber.

I walk up to them the torches hanging on each side illuminate me as I step out of the darkness.

The guards looked shocked but then smirked as they saw Isla following closely behind.

"Oi Standish! This Olim bitch is perfect for you!" before the other soldier could respond I crush both their windpipes with two tentacles of mana.

As they clutch their necks I lift them above the ground carrying them behind me as Isla and I broke into a run.

Luck was on our side not even ten minutes past the sentry point do I see the forest line. I stop reaching for the short sword strapped to the soldier named Standish's back.

I stab it through the other man's neck and then continued to maul his body making it look like a beast.

After I am done, I go to the one named Standish, lifting him up I make a breakthrough in the forest again.

When we hit the forest line, I step into it with Isla and Standish still looking like a hangman, he is not dead but is dying.

I break into Standish's body sending my mana to his mind to retrieve information.

I feel it being filtered but I don't have enough time to ponder and assimilate these new memories, and sensations so after I am done, I slit his throat and desecrate the corpse.

Walking into the forest as the sun rises, my shadow disappears into the darkness.