Mattias and Elias walkme through the sheriff’s compound. I have seen parts of it already. It is grand in a way not many places still are. It is cleaner than the world outside the walls. It is maintained, gardens cultivated. It strikes me that there must be some kind of benefit to the crushing dominance the sheriff exerts over all those in his domain, and this is it.
I am used to dirt and broken things. I have never been anywhere clean or nice. I have never looked as I do now. But the cost of all this beauty is pain and suffering.
The closer we get to the grand building where the sheriff waits for me, the more nervous I become.
“Mattias?”
“Yes?”
“You shouldn’t take me to them,” I suggest hopefully. “You should take me and keep me for yourselves.”
Mattias and Elias exchange looks over my head. I see a hint of sadness and resignation, and perhaps frustration, though I don’t know if that is at me, or the situation they find themselves in.
I tug at Mattias’ robe, trying to get his attention, trying to show him how serious I am. Mattias makes my heart race. He is handsome and kind, he is caring and he is strong. He knows how to look after me. I could live with him and Elias, being theirs. We could be happy.
“Trissa, we don’t have time for this.”
“I don’t want to be sold!” My words are a whine.
“Very few people get what they want in this world,” Mattias says, turning and bending down, his big hands on my shoulders. “We take what we must.”
I bite my lower lip to keep from angrily lashing out at him. I know that’s not true. I was free once, not that long ago. I remember what it is for my life to be my own.
“Come here,” Mattias says, his hand slipping from my shoulder to my hand. “I want you to see something.”
He walks me away from the pretty gardens and the polished paths. He takes me away from the civilization of the city, and he walks me past guards until we reach a concrete wall.
“I’m going to show you something,” he says. “It is not a pleasant sight. It will upset you. But you have to understand, Trissa. You have been sheltered from the world. You don’t understand what it is, or what you must be to survive it.”
With that, he bends down and scoops me up onto his shoulders, picking me up so high it feels I can see everything. For a brief moment, I feel an innocent excitement, but as my head is hoisted above the wall that fades immediately. I smell it first. Rotten flesh, like carrion but far stronger. I cover my mouth with my hand as I look out and see a dark expanse that has been sectioned off from the city. A killing field.
There are dead men everywhere. Not lying dead after battle, but clearly put to death there, every one of them dispatched in a manner more horrific than the next. I see corpses in cages, flesh melting from their bones, gnawed by vermin that race and hop from place to place.
“Put me down!” I shriek, having seen too much in a matter of seconds. “Mattias!”
He hauls me down, out of the sight of the horrors beyond, and he lets me hide against his robes, his big arms wrapping around me to hold me close and comfort me after the horrors I have just borne witness to.
“What happened?” I gasp, nearly retching with fear and disgust. “Why are they like that?”
“Some of those were our comrades. Some of them are criminals. Some of them are simply unlucky. A man’s life is worth nothing,” Mattias explains gently. “It can be gone in an instant and nobody will mourn him. Be glad you are a woman. Be glad that there are men who will do anything to have you. Their desire comes at the risk of what you have just seen. You have no idea how precious you are.”
His words hold weight and deep emotion that breaks through my shock at the field of death. I understand what he is telling me: I am alive only because I am female, and what happens to me next may not be what I want, but I am not going to meet the end like those unfortunate men did, sacrificed to a vicious blood fetish.
“I am going to take you to those who bought you,” Mattias says. “And you will service them. It will be pleasure for you, and them. It will be one good thing in a world of terrible things. And it will bring life, not death. Do you understand now?”
I nod mutely. I don’t understand. Not really. I don’t understand why men are so cruel to each other. I don’t understand why they have to inflict so much pain. Men are strange creatures, and I am afraid of them.
My fear doesn’t matter. Mattias and Elias take me back to the grand civilized areas, fussing over the details of my hair and my dress all the way to a pair of large doors.
“This is the chamber where you will meet your mates,” Mattias says. “Try to stay silent unless you are spoken to. Keep your manners. They will not be amused by your rudeness. You do not want to make the sheriff look bad tonight. Your punishment will be exceedingly painful if you do.”
I am taken into a room where seven men stand in a receiving line, waiting for me like they might wait for a monarch.
I expected... I don’t know what I expected. Ruthless brutes and slimy politicians. I expected roughness. I expected terrible things. Gross words and unseemly gropes. But they do not rush for me as the men in the market did. And they do not grasp at me as the sheriff has done.
They stand there as if I am someone to be honored. They look at me with respect. I can feel it emanating from them. They are powerful in body, and I sense, in spirit, each one of them different from the next, but I sense a kinship between them all.
They are handsome, and if I am not very much mistaken, they are mercenaries, just as well dressed for this occasion as I am, and just as uncomfortable in their fine clothing, though at least they are armored. All men of war must be, but their armor gleams and shines. I can imagine that they are here to save me. That I am being rescued. I can feel hope lifting in my chest.