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NIYAH
“What’s happening?” Mila shouts in her demanding, annoying voice.
The Urr’ki, Samhaja, who we’ve been staying with glares at her. The three Urr’ki in their robes with leering faces terrify me and there goes Mila, shooting off her mouth and acting like she runs the show. Does she never shut up?
“What’s happening?” Gweneth asks.
“Who knows,” Elara says.
I look from one of the girls to the next too scared to speak. My stomach is a hard knot and I feel like I’m going to be sick. My knees quiver forcing me to latch onto the back of a chair to keep myself upright. This was a stupid, stupid idea. Why did I agree to this?
Rosalind asked for volunteers and she gave more than one opportunity to back out. She said there’d be no shame, but did I? Nope. I had to be brave. Had to try and outdo what my sister would do. Give me all the challenges and an opportunity to be more and here I am. About to what? Be killed? Worse?
“This is bad,” Phoebe says.
The three Urr’ki in robes continue to argue and bark at the two who’ve been taking care of us. There is one last sharp round of utterings then they turn and leave. Samhaja slams the door behind them and growls as he turns around to face us.
“What is it? What’s happening?” I ask, finding my voice at last.
“The Maulavi have decided it is best that the five of you are separated,” Mazabuta says.
“When? How do we decide? Where will we all go?” Mila demands stepping forward.
“When is now,” Samhaja says.
“They are demanding it, but we will decide where you go,” Mazabuta says. “We will see that you are placed with guards who are trustworthy.”
“What does ‘trustworthy’ mean?” Elara asks.
“Ones who will make sure you do not come to harm,” Samhaja says.
“Harm?” Phoebe asks. “What do you mean harm? Someone here will hurt us?”
“Stow it, Phoebe,” Mila snaps in Zmaj then switches to Common. “You know what you signed up for.”
Phoebe opens her mouth to protest with her wide, tear-filled eyes, but she snaps her mouth shut and nods.
“Okay,” Mila says, once more acting like Rosalind put her in charge of us, which she most definitively did not do. “We don’t have a choice. Let’s do it then.”
“One of you can stay here,” Samhaja says. “The rest of you will be distributed among honorable guards.”
“How do we decide who stays and who goes?” I ask, trying to assert myself even though I’m terrified and really want to cry.
“We draw straws,” Elara says.
I frown but it’s a good, fair way to decide who will stay with Samhaja. Mazabuta is the only one in the know of how and why the five of us human females are here and in truth, I’d give anything to go with him. If only because there is another human woman, Annalise, who has fallen in love with him and is in his house. It would be nice to be with another human, but I don’t think that he’s an option.
Samhaja, who we’ve been staying with, doesn’t know the truth but the way he and Mila are butting heads constantly seems like a bad combination to me. She will probably make him so angry he’ll hurt her. Not that she wouldn’t deserve it. The girl really needs to learn to shut her mouth.
“I’ll abstain,” Mila says.
Good idea.
“No,” Elara says. “We’re doing this fair. All in or all out.”
“No, really, it’s fine,” Mila argues.
