Page 74 of Joy Guardian

Piara returned, leading a big camel to the cages.

“We’d better get packing,” she said. “I want to leave before the night is over.”

“What does it matter whether it’s over or not,” Tazm grumped. “You’ll travel night or day anyway.”

“A day storm hides our tracks well, but we don’t make much progress during the day. The camels refuse to walk when it gets too rough. Come on. Get those cages up.”

Reluctantly, with complaints and curses, the fae climbed to their feet.

Watrat peered into the cage at Peter and Maria, who seemed to be slowly recovering from the effects of the magic used on them. Maria was the first one to get up into a crouch. Holding her ripped dress up to her chest, she crawled into a corner, hiding her face from everyone.

Peter was still lying on the floor of the cage with his knees bent and his face up to the sky. But his hard-on was at half-mast now, slowly drooping even more.

“Leave these two here for now,” Watrat ordered Piara. “We don’t have enough camels for you to take all the cages anyway.”He ran his gaze along the row of cages. “This one also doesn’t look like she’s fit to travel yet.” He pointed at an older woman a couple of cages down from ours. “Put her in with the one who arrived last. Load the rest.”

As the thugs rushed to comply with his orders, I realized he had meant me when he said “the one who arrived last.” Piara sauntered to our cage, unlocked it, then reached inside to grab Elaine.

“Come here, Sweet One,” the fae hissed with an expression that didn’t promise anything good.

“Leave her!” I managed to catch Elaine’s hand as she was being dragged out, but Piara yanked Elaine out of the cage and from my grip. “Take me too then. I’ll come with her.”

“That’s not what Watrat wants,” Piara dismissed me.

Elaine turned to me as Piara dragged her toward the other cage.

“If you ever get out of here, Ciana, go to Teneris. Ask for Prince Rha,” she said quickly.

“Shut up.” Piara punched Elaine in the face.

Air rushed from Elaine’s lungs with a moan of pain. She fell, clutching the injured side of her face.

“What are you doing?” I screamed. “Leave her alone!”

“Hey,” Watrat yelled. “Don’t damage the wares.”

“Oops. My hand slipped.” Piara smirked mockingly. She then grabbed Elaine around her middle and lifted her from the floor. “That’s for punching me in the leg,Sweet One,” she hissed, tossing Elaine into the other cage. “You better behave from now on or there will be more. I have a way with camels and horses. Taming a human can’t be much different.”

Tazm shoved the other woman in my cage in Elaine’s place. The woman gave me a quick glance before crawling into a far corner and pulling her knees up to her chest. Tazm and the others then hauled the cages out and attached them to the camels, one cage on each side of the animal.

“Elaine!” I screamed into the night as the camels formed a lineand moved along the black dunes that sparkled in the moonlight as if their crests were dusted with diamonds. Not a word came back from the cages. I didn’t know if she heard me or if her reply got lost in the distance.

Elaine’s presence had brought a breath of home for me, a memory of the world I’d thought I had lost completely. Now, she was taken into the unknown by the people who gave only brutality, and I could do nothing to help her. Helplessness and sorrow squeezed my heart, and I wanted Elaine at least to know that she wasn’t alone in this strange hostile world.

“I’ll see you again, Elaine!” I screamed into the darkness of the desert.

“Sure you will,” Watrat mocked. “Once the camels are back, you’ll be heading the very same route too. Who knows? You may even end up owned by the same master.”

Yanking the fabric back in place over the two remaining cages, he tossed a long board over it with a thud.

“Are you really going to sell us all?” I yelled through the shroud over the cages.

Watrat didn’t deign to answer me. I was just one of the “wares” to be sold, not a person who deserved a reply.

“He will,” the woman in my cage said somberly. “We’re nothing but property to them.”

I turned to face my new cage mate. She was about twice my age or slightly older, with dark tight curls cut close to her skull and a guarded expression in her brown eyes. Like Maria, this woman was dressed in a long shift dress.

“You’re not from Prince Rha’ssarai,” she stated, giving me a once-over.

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