Page 84 of Dragon Gods

“Fuck you,” she spit out, nearly biting his cheek before he pulled away.

She growled as he attempted to pull her up once more. She felt like a savage dog and she didn’t care. It’s what they saw her as anyway. She clawed at his face, a thrill of excitement fizzling through her as she drew blood and he cursed, slapping her across the face.

“I’m going to make you regret that,” he said, his voice a hiss like a viper moving in for the kill. Before she could respond, there was a whistle of air and the whack and thud of an axe on wood in the distance. Her blood went cold.

She heard the sharp intake of breath from the audience. There was no cheering or claps, a silence rarely known at these events permeated the air, and General Ocon’s sneer turned into a cruel and cold smile.

It was over. Mina was dead.

Sofia’s body gave out, muscles going loose under General Ocon’s grip. He lifted her easily and this time she didn’t fight, any energy drained from her.

He dragged her through the main hall of the prison, a pair of guards following behind as he brought her into a large room lined with torches. A single wood pillar stood in the middle of the room and the blood drained from her face.

As she was tied to the post, her mind pushed away from her body. By the time the sixth lash fell against her back, it was gone.

* * *

“I toldyou to throw her in a cell,” the chief commander’s voice was rough and cold.

“The bitch attacked me. She deserved every lash.”

“You lost control and killed her before we could execute her.”

“We can send announcements of death out, to ensure those that saw the outburst understand?—”

* * *

She was being draggedby her leg, skin scraping against cold stone floor. She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe.

When they stopped moving and her leg was dropped, she became aware of something cold and soft pressed against her skin. She opened her eyes to see the gray skin and glassy eyes of death staring back. She was next to a small pile of dead bodies—she was a part of the pile.

Sofia wondered if perhaps she was dead. Perhaps this was what being a ghost meant? Seeing through the eyes of your body after you were gone.

“Slit the throats before you bury them to make sure they’re dead.”

The footfalls drew distant and she tried to move again. She wanted to call out that she wasn’t dead, but the small part of her brain still working told her she couldn’t. So instead, she spent ten minutes slowly relearning how to move her toes again. And then her fingers.

She tried to crawl away, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. Her vision went black.

* * *

Soil filledher mouth and she tasted rot and wet. Her body rolled down a small hill, stopping suddenly as she hit something spongy and hot. Another body followed behind, trapping her.

“You didn’t slit the throats.”

“It’s fine. They’re dead.”

“The general said?—”

“You can crawl in there and do it yourself if you care that much.”

“King’s balls, just throw the last two in. I need a drink.”

* * *

It wasdark by the time Sofia remembered how to move her body enough to push her way out from under the corpse on top of her. On her other side, a man half-rotten gave way beneath her hands as she tried to crawl away. She didn’t gag. She barely reacted. She kept moving until she saw the stars above her. The smell of rot was replaced with incense, and Sofia wondered once more if she might have died.

“Manny! Someone’s alive in there.”

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