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When he speaks, spittle flies from his mouth.
“I wanted to see what Lodra has to offer!”
King Shradga’s eyes narrow, though his face remains completely nonchalant.
“Is that so?” King Shradga’s lip curls.
“Yes.” Vippera’s father smiles widely.
My stomach turns with disgust. I look away from him for a second, to see that the Prince of Lodra is looking directly at me.
He looks away when he notices that I see him staring.
“We are glad to see that your kingdom has such a robust, healthy population of slaves! This bodes well for our agreement.”
I return my attention to the Kings.
“I am glad to hear it. We like to keep the slave population at a healthy level.”
King Shradga has relaxed some, and I do know that this is not a good thing.
“I would like to take some slaves,” King Tikzorcu says, and I watch as King Shradga tenses up again. “I would like to…diversify Jalma’s slave population.”
King Shradga’s eyes narrow again.
“And what I’ll do is, some of these slaves will become part of Vippera’s dowry to young Prince Zalith over here.”
Suddenly, the Jalma naga army advances on the villagers who haven’t been tied up, including my father and me.
I grab a half-broken sword off the ground and defend the child who is in my arms.
“No, you aren’t taking her,” I shout fiercely at the naga attacking me. The naga grins at me with a crooked smile. “Leave her alone!”
I prepare for the worst, but the naga attacking me gets shoved to the side.
Someone lifts the child and hands her to me. I look up, baffled.
Prince Zalith.
Both Kings have stopped talking. They study us with narrowed eyes.
Prince Zalith pushes me aside, and I stumble to the ground, but the naga does not attack me again.
“I want this one as part of Princess Vippera’s dowry.” Prince Zalith nods dismissively at me as he makes the demand.
The Jalma King hesitates but then laughs broadly again.
“Of course, of course! Whatever you want, young Prince! We look forward to welcoming you into our family!”
I am grabbed up by one of the naga – I’m not sure which army the naga is from – and I watch as my father’s eyes widen as I am pulled away from the village.
The royals turn and start to walk towards their lavish carriages.
I start kicking and screaming, but the naga puts a hand over my mouth, and then I am tied up.
All I can see as I am pulled away from the village is the devastation that the naga have caused. The village has been practically burned to the ground, the houses and gardens have been destroyed, and some of my fellow villagers have been injured.
My father is at the back of the village, close to the smithy, and I can see that he is crying.
