The little girls feeling of freedom had
been shattered. She felt sick to her
stomach as she was thrown into the
bamboo cage with the other girls and
told to not make a sound. If she tried to
escape, she would be killed on the spot
and thrown in the fire. She had been
captured by a group of bandits who
roamed the countryside kidnapping young
females. They then took them to the
largest cities and sold them off as
slaves to anyone who had the money. The
bandits had set up a small camp and were
planning their next kidnappings which
were to take place in the girl's village
in the valley below. A villager who had
made their way over to the well for
water had heard voices as he was
approaching which he thought was unusual
so he had proceeded with caution. He hid
behind a bush before coming any closer.
He peered out from behind the bushes and
closely observed the strangers and their
camp. He didn't think much of them until
he saw what they had trapped in the
bamboo cage. Panicking, he quickly changed
his mind about drawing water from the
well and headed back down the hill to
the village as quickly as possible. That
night as the rain began to fall the
little girl huddled between the others
to try and stay warm. None of them dared
speak as they all sat there cold, sad, and
scared. The little girl wondered why life
had treated her so badly. She missed her
parents so much and wished them to be
back in her life with all her heart. It
was at that point she thought she heard
someone calling her name. She slowly
opened her eyes and looked into the
darkness. There was someone there.
As the figure slowly approached her she
tried to make out who it was. A feeling
of terror overwhelmed her as a dead
stepfather came into view and began to
talk to her. "Don't worry darling he said
this will all be over soon. They're not
going to sell you off. They don't want
you. I mean they won't want you, when
you're dead!"
With this the little girl screamed and
as her stepfather faded away one of the
bandits appeared out of the darkness and
bashed his stick against the cage. "Shut
up!" he said. "One more word out of any of
you and I'll cut your throats out!" The
other girls in the cage stared angrily
at the little girl. She felt more
miserable than ever and really did just
want to die. The next morning one of the
bandits had been patiently scoping out
the village and noticed that all of the
villagers were congregating at the
largest building right in the centre.
This is perfect he thought to himself. He
went back to the camp and sat down with
one of the others. They both agreed that
this was going to be a great opportunity
to surprise them and trap them all in
one area, and then kill off the men. That
night the bandits made their way down
the hill to the village and just as they
were about to storm the building the
male villagers came out all brandishing
bamboo spears and all ready to fight.
They had been expecting the bandits and
were ready to defend themselves. One of
the head villagers told them they were
outnumbered and it would be in their
best interest to just turn around and
leave. The bandits weren't interested in
leaving they gave the villagers the
option of surrender or death the
villagers had had enough. "This is your
last chance to leave" they said, "or we
will be forced to kill you all."
"Kill us? Replied the bandits, you're not
killers. We are!" and with that the last
thing the villagers heard was the sound
arrows flying through the air right
before they took out each and every one
of them with incredible and brutal
precision. Three of the bandits were
highly skilled archers and had been
hiding in the dark lining up their shots
as the others drew the villagers out and
into the open. Their plan had worked
perfectly. All of the male villagers were
dead and now not only did the bandits
own the village they also owned
everything in it.