THE NEXT MORNING, I wish I could say I was awoken by beams of sunlight or maybe even the chirping of birds. Those would have been pleasant.But no.When I woke up, I couldn't even identify, if it was night or noon. The tent was that thick. With no windows and just a door flap, its a wonder we didn't suffocate.Somehow, during the course of the night, Kezira had moved and now layed curved in on herself. I don't know how she was so comfortable sleeping there. Hell even I, don't know how I slept through the night. Must be some of the magic left in my system.When the flaps were thrown open for the first time that day, I knew we had arrived somewhere critical.I could feel the difference in the air. The men whispering excitedly among themselves. The new spring they had in their steps. Even the horses seemed brighter somehow. Like they knew something good was up.The braavasi are normads, they move, they capture, they trade.But its only natural that throughout the years, some of them had
I DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT LONG to find out, cause the next hallucination that came was indistinguishable from reality. One minute I was trudging along the line and the next, I was swamped by a dead ringing in my skull that made me scream and fall to the ground. For the next few minutes, I wavered in and out of consiousness.I vaguely remember them putting me in a crate filled with other items that were to be sold.I remember the musty smell of the crate and how cramped my limbs were. The crate stopped once- I thinkCause I remember the smell of Missy's poultice applied on my leg.When I eventually regained full conciousness, we had arrived. My leg was healed and I was a mess.The crate was opened by the goons and when I was let out, I stood on my feet.I smelt as bad as the stable hand we had in the palace and I'm sure I looked way worse.The other captives were no better.As we had already been sold, our masters were waiting at the port of entry to collect us.We had arrived Mistlyn, th
THE BATHING ROOM was tiny, dingy and smelled like piss.It was dimly lit with a torch that did little to provide light. It was lined with tiny cubicle-like bathroom stalls about ten of them. The stalls each had no doors, one small shower head fixed above and green algae growing on the walls.The room was filled with the sound of some of the girls crying. Some of the women working at the brothel were just leaving the bathroom when we entered. Madam Claire stood at a corner of the bathroom quietly inspecting us with the help of two of her goons. Some of the girls who were branded before me, were already naked and being pushed into the stalls by the two goons who worked for madam Claire. Kezira and I hung back, unprepared to take off our clothes in front of the men.A small meek looking woman who was introduced as Merra pushed small cut pieces of cheap soap into the hands of all the girls present including us. When the goons were moving their inspection closer to Kez and I, I unconc
THE DOOR TO that dark room opened the next day, at least I think it was the next day, I wouldn't know. Since Madam Claire has decided I was a bad investment, her soldiers didn't bother wasting her food on me.It was so cold, alone in my thin strip of a dress, I was freezing and my teeth were chattering by the time they came to take me away. I wasn't taken through the brothel, lest my dirt and smell irritate the important clients. No, I was taken through the rear of the brothel. I only saw Kezira once, and it was enough to break my spirit and stop me from fighting.She had taken a bath and looked considerably cleaner. She had makeup on, the rosy blush bringing life to her cheeks. She stood beside a client and when he whispered in her ear, she laughed. I was struggling against the guards hauling me towards the rear exit when I heard the sound of Kez's laughter. The moment I saw her laughing, all the fight went out of me, and I just fell limp and allowed them to carry me away.I was
NEEMA TOOK ME down a corridor to a series of rooms that I was sure belonged to the servants.We stopped in front of one of the wooden doors and she brought out a ring of keys from within the folds of her dress.I watched her carefully as she unlocked the room door and handed the key over to me.She obviously had another key, the way she gave me was too casual. I would have to device a different way of locking my room from within.“Comin lemme show you where the stuff are,” Neema said to me as she walked into the room and I hurriedly followed behind her.The room was tiny, it had one small bed, a table and chair.That was it. No clothes for wardrobe or anything go like that.I had stayed in worse though. Camping with my soldiers was sometimes different so I could adapt and manage for a while.Neema walked over to a connecting door and opened it. I coughed a bit from all the dust in the room.“Sorry dere, the room’s a bit old eh,” Neema said with a chuckle as she walked into an even
Chapter 11I SIGHED IN IRRITATION, a bit self-conscious about my lack of uniform.Apparently, a new prince was in the palace. I don't know why this was such a big deal, at home we used to host several royal ambassadors and even some meters of the royal family.But in a way, I understand their reasoning. Revision is an aloof country and it always has been. They were rarely mixed with the rest of us, so a royal prince from another country must be quite exciting for them.The maid who Neema had been yelling at was called Tamara and she was a bit dim-witted.She had attempted to balance two trays of food at the same time and go up the stairs to serve the new prince.Now, anyone with even half a brain could tell that it would end in disaster. But Tamara was built differently and proceeded to leave the kitchen like that.And maybe, just maybe she might have succeeded in her task. But unfortunately for her, Neema saw her trying to balance the two trays and sent her back to the kitchen in a
Chapter 12I knew I was in big big trouble as I stared at him.He was sculpted. From my spot, I couldn’t help but admire every lean line and toned muscles that seemed to make up this incredible human.The prince stared at me in absolute shock and blinked rapidly like he was trying to clear his thought process.“Hey,” I said to him with an awkward chuckle as I waved my hand slightly.“Palaskda ve!” He swore sharply as he grappled my wrist and found me away from my hiding spot like I was some demon.I clutched my arm to my chest in shock as I went crashing to the floor.“What the hell is your problem? Do you have marbles for brains or something?” I hissed at him in pain as my leg began to steadily ache again.He seemed even more surprised at my fluency in his tongue than the insult I had thrown his way.“This demonic country has sent me an ifrit! And you came into my closet!” He yelled at me in anger.He kept muttering more insults under his breath as he aggressively picked up a pair of
Chapter 13I SPENT THE next few days following a routine schedule and getting to know my way about the palace.At first, Neema had been placed on breakfast duty in the kitchen but within a few hours, it became apparent that I had no idea what I was doing.I had cut myself, burnt my fingers, broken dishes, and started a small fire. It was obvious I didn't know my way around the kitchen.Next, I had been put on cleaning duty. That didn't go down too well either. I could never tell the difference between the cleaning agents and would constantly substitute soap for bleach.Neema had received thousands of complains from the maids made to work with me and the occupants of the rooms I had cleaned.Finally in frustration, she had paired me with a wiry looming girl called Vianna and made me assist the girl.Vianna was a high ranking maid. She had direct access to the king's breakfast table. And while my fake limp made me slow, the one job I was able to do properly was balance stacks and stac