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“What do they mean?” I ask.
We are hustled to a different wagon before she can answer. Shackles are placed around our wrists and when I turn, I see that Ella is looking at me, her face wan with worry, before she turns to get into the wagon that brought us here this morning.
Lily only answers when we’re all of us alone in this new wagon.
“The naga want their fun, I suppose,” she says almost wearily. An older woman with a slightly weather-beaten face nods sagely and hitches up her trousers.
“We should have seen this coming. They’re too busy to be with their own women, so they’re using us.”
“That’s what Dransa said,” the older woman speaks. I look at her carefully as I begin to understand. Hot, pulsing horror washes over me, and bile rises in my throat. “He said that the soldiers don’t have time to find mates. So they’re going to use us.”
“Why do you sound so happy about this?” Lily snaps, and the older woman smiles.
“Because I’ve never been with a naga, and I’m quite sure that it will be fun. I’m not getting any younger, ladies, and while this may seem pretty sick, it is better than the alternative.”
Her words seem to cheer some of the women up, but Lily’s face remains white. The horror, warm, wet, and slimy, inside me, has become cold and knotted up.
“It’ll be okay.” Lily takes my hand in hers when she notices that I’ve started shaking. The wagon has started up and is making its way up the winding road towards King Kriseri’s palace.
“What if it isn’t?” I ask her. I notice the tears that splash down onto both our hands then.
We’re both crying, I think distractedly.
“Don’t think about that,” she says sternly. “Just pray that whoever you get doesn’t hurt you too badly. Just pray that you don’t get sick, or worse, pregnant.”
I shudder at this. My stomach turns with nausea. I swallow several times, but the urge to vomit remains.
When we reach the palace, we are shuffled out of the wagon and taken into a separate building a mile from the palace.
Upon entering, we are taken to the basement immediately.
The naga keep us all together, and I cling to Lily as our surroundings become darker and damper.
The horror inside me has turned to dread. Tears leak freely from my eyes, my grief and fear uncontrollable as the tears demand to fall.
We are split into pairs then, and each pair is placed in a cell. Luckily, I am able to stick with Lily.
I do not think I could stand to spend the night with the older woman, who I have learned is named Beth. She seems to be excited at the prospect of bedding a naga.
Lily takes one of the cots while I take the other, and together we sit in silence.
A little while later, food is brought to us, but neither Lily nor I move.
I don’t think either of us are going to have an appetite for a long time.
3
SELLISS
Icannot believe that they’re actually doing this, I think as I listen to the conversation going around in the main room of the barracks.
“...just wait til you see–”
“Humans weren’t my first pick, but I saw them. They’ll do.”
“They’ll do? It’ll be fun to break them.”
I decide to tune it out. This morning, I am not on patrol. Instead, I will be patrolling the border between Yadat and Marzula tonight.
