Chapter 26
Seda
Elco returned to the hall hours later, covered in whip marks and burn scars.
He let out a whimper, like an injured animal, and curled up into a ball near her cage.
Seda grabbed the hidden keys and tried them all until finally, the last key clicked and unlocked Elco’s shiny red cuffs.
He looked at her hopelessly but moved the chains beneath him.
Seda went back into her cell, making sure to lock the door, then sat next to him, gently running her hand through his mane and stroking his back, being extra careful to avoid his injuries.
A new Rozzer Seda had never seen before brought her food, fresh water, and a new bucket, but was wary as he walked past Elco.
He saw her petting him through the bars and did not say anything.
He set the items down and quickly left the hall, closing the door behind him.
The cool night air from outside rushed in as the door shut.
Slowly, Elco’s markings started to fade. He pushed his nose against the bars, and she gently kissed the soft fur above his silky skin.
They slept peacefully, pressed against each other through the bars for hours, until screams woke them.
The violently shaking ground made Seda fall away from him.
“What’s going on, Elco? Do you know?” she asked him. His ears were alert and pointed toward the door.
“The Jotnar are here to collect.”
Seda’s stomach lurched. She heard the horror stories, she felt their attacks upon the dome, but never, not once, had she seen them in person.
Loud sirens blared through the room, and the hall door swung open with a few Rozzers marching in. When they saw Elco, they paused but kept moving toward Seda’s cell, unlocking it.
Seda jumped up, her heart pounding in her chest and her legs seizing.
Not again, not again!
She scolded herself for freezing up. She was strong and capable of defending herself. Although she was uncertain how to do it again, maybe she could find that strength within herself once more.
“Seda Arbor, follow us. The Jotnar are here,” the Rozzer in front said, holding open the door.
She took a tentative step forward and nearly collapsed out of fear, catching herself on the bars.
She nervously walked down the hall, each step stabilized by her hand on the wall.
She looked back once at Elco, who was watching her intently.
“You will be okay, moon-flutter, I promise,” he said to her. No one else looked at him as he spoke, and no one responded.
The heat pressed against her skin, and the sun blazed into her eyes, making her take a few moments to adjust to the scene. Her cell may now have light, but it was dim compared to the bright blaze outside the walls.
As her eyes adjusted, she saw three massive beings standing at the end of the courtyard.
She looked up twenty feet to the faces of the two males.
Huge, round noses dripping with mucus, wide and flat mouths, and small chins sticking out in a rounded point.
Their eyes were too close to their noses, and they had heavy brows.
Their bodies were sturdy and weighty, and the large muscles in their arms looked intimidating.
One of them was dressed in earth-tone clothing, while the other was in armor.
The lone female Jotnar stood in the center. She was shorter than the other two, but her presence commanded attention. Heavily built, with large breasts covered in minimal clothing and a thick, tree-woven crown atop her head.
The Rozzers pushed Seda into line with a large group of people at the opposite end of the courtyard. The reptilian creatures and the Rozzers surrounded them, their weapons at the ready.
“Where is our dear Monster King?” the female Jotnar asked the crowd, her voice shaking the ground beneath Seda’s bare feet.
The burly Rozzer, who had whipped Elco the night before, walked forward into the middle of the courtyard and looked up at the female. “His Highness is not here today, High Gravemara.” He bowed low before her.
High Gravemara looked down at him, like he was a small ant that she hadn’t yet decided if she wanted to squish. “How unfortunate. Do you have the collection for us, Captain?”
“It shall be ready soon. Why don’t you make yourselves comfortable, and we will have a cookout for you to snack on while you wait.
” He waved his hands to a few Rozzers, and they stepped forward, grabbing men at random.
They ran their swords across the throats of all of them quickly, dropping them into the sand.
Everyone in the crowd collectively gasped. Seda’s eyes widened, and her heart rate spiked as she watched the men’s bodies crumple on the ground.
She heard panting and looked to her left, seeing a young man, about twenty or so, who was urinating in his pants. She quickly looked back at the Jotnar, unable to keep her attention on anything else.
High Gravemara stood tall and proud, with her thick knees, bowed legs, and her plump rolls spilling over her shorts.
Her snot was brightly colored as it slid down her nose toward her wide, crooked smile, overlined with blood as lipstick.
Her long, thick, wet tongue came out and licked at the discharge, causing Seda to hold back a gag, her mouth watering with disgust.
She couldn’t make herself look away, despite wanting to.
High Gravemara looked at the crowd of humans and licked her lips, smudging her lipstick and smiling brightly, revealing her rotten, crooked teeth.
“Oh, why isn’t he here today? I thought he loved to visit us when we came to collect,” she whined sweetly at the Captain.
“He had business to take care of,” he said, directing the dead bodies onto a large barbecue pit as the smoke stung Seda’s eyes.
Seda wasn’t sure how she felt. Was it fear? Disgust? Hatred? These monsters made her and thousands more of Joro citizens’ lives hell. Seda lived her life in fear over these… Gross beings before her.
As the slain people cooked over the fire, with the choking smell of burning clothing and hair, the rest of the Camp inmates were expected to stand still and not move.
A few Rozzers and serpents slashed their whips at the people who moved around too much.
Seda’s legs cramped, but she remained upright and still, watching the sun slowly move across the sky.
The young man, who previously urinated in his pants, grew increasingly fidgety alongside her. “Th-They are going to eat us next,” he shouted, and the other prisoners looked at him. “We have to run. We have to escape!”
Without delay, he ran toward the guarded, narrow exit past the barbecue.
The unarmored male Jotnar laughed loudly like a small child with a long string of drool dripping from his lips. He swiped his hand through the air and grabbed the young man running for his escape. His screams quickly silenced as the Jotnar bit off his head and began to chew loudly.
“Mogthud! Quit playing with your food, son!” High Gravemara yelled at him, the ground shaking with her anger. “How many times have I told you that royalty never eats them raw!”
Mogthud pouted, peering at the remains of the small man in his palm. “Bring the rest of him over here. We will cook this one special for you, since you caught him like a big boy,” she called to him. He walked the remainder of the man over to the barbecue and threw his body onto the fire.
Mogthud watched with an excited grin.
Her eyes were wide with horror, but Seda remained frozen in place, even though she really had to go to the bathroom. The pressure was hurting from holding it. What was stopping her from just going down her bare legs the same as that man? He likely wasn’t the only one who had.
She decided against it, unsure when she’d get another chance to shower.
The Jotnars poked into the bodies with large sticks, pulling them off the flames. They munched on stomachs first, slurping through intestines as Rozzers lined up mobile cells near the exit.
“Captain, how many have you allotted for us today?” High Gravemara asked as she nibbled on a foot and picked her teeth with a stick, flicking out something that had gotten stuck between them.
“The Monster King has allotted one hundred for you today,” replied the Captain.
High Gravemara set down her toothpick and looked at him with furrowed, heavy eyebrows. “And what of the other hundred due soon? My people will starve if we do not have enough to eat. It’s been difficult for them to hunt with less and less allowed outside of the dome.”
“He is aware and wishes for the dome to fall soon.”
“We have a deal, Captain. Please remind him of this the next time you see him. Or our deal expires soon.”
The Captain nodded and turned to look at everyone watching the Jotnars eat. “All males line up to my left! I need a count of how many there are of you.”
The hesitant men lined up, and the Captain counted them. He looked over to High Gravemara and said, “We’re short ten. We will allow you to choose from the women who are not pregnant.”
What the hell?
As the men lined up, they started exchanging confused glances. One of them yelled, “Where’s my chance to prove myself? I scored in the ninetieth percentile! I’m part of Cascade!” A serpent walked behind him and hit him over the head with the butt of his gun, causing the man to fall.
“High Gravemara, you can now pick eleven from the remaining prisoners.”
High Gravemara stood and thundered quickly, too quickly, for someone her size, over toward the women.
Everyone let out a gasp and quickly stepped back.
Some women cried loudly, begging for themselves and praying to anything that would hear.
High Gravemara eyed pregnant bellies and thin women who had been malnourished for too long.
“What a fun choice! They all look so appetizing,” she licked her lips as she observed them.
Mogthud clapped his hands in excitement.
Fights broke out amongst the men as they rounded into the cells, but the power of the Rozzers and the serpent creatures was no match against their defense.
“You!” She picked a short, stout woman who looked to be in her thirties. The woman turned to run, but a serpent snagged her from behind and dragged her off. Seda listened to her screams as they threw her into the cell.
Seda’s chest vibrated.
“Oh, this is so fun, let me pick always, Captain.” She drooled as she loudly spoke to the Captain. She continued pointing to women, and the Rozzers collected them.
“How many was that?” she asked as she looked at the remaining women.
“Ten, High Gravemara,” the Captain answered.
Her eyes rolled over the crowd and landed on Seda.
“Oh! Look how beautiful this one is. She would make a special dinner, wouldn’t she? I will take her for myself.”
Everything fell silent for Seda, and her vision went blurry.
“You cannot take that one, High Gravemara,” replied the Captain.
“Why not?!” she roared. “You said I could pick! I picked that one! She is pretty, and I bet she tastes divine!” She pounded her foot onto the ground, and the earth shook, causing people to fall to the side, including Seda.
“We have orders, High Gravemara.”
“I do not care. I want that one! Load her up right now!” she screeched.
Everyone paused and looked between Seda and High Gravemara. The other prisoners whispered in confusion.
“Why is she so special?”
“Why can she not be taken?”
“If you do not load her up right now, I will take her myself, Captain. This one is for me. The Monster King may come and talk to me after, if he likes. He is not here to tell me no, and I do not trust you in this! I think you want her for yourself, and I refuse! I must have the best! I’m a queen and I demand the best! ”
“She’s not to be touched, High Gravemara. We deeply apologize,” the Captain said calmly.
High Gravemara stomped her foot forcefully, causing the ground to shake.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream and tugged at her long, dread-filled orange hair.
She looked back at Seda and quickly snagged her from the ground, lifting her high into the air within her palm, and licked her lips excitedly.
The sudden adjustment caused Seda to black out briefly.
The Rozzers and the serpents looked at each other, not sure what to do in this situation.
The Captain pulled out his gun and fired it at High Gravemara.
She shrieked and stomped the ground. The other guards followed and did the same.
High Gravemara circled, making Seda dizzy, and tried to smash the people below her.
The other two Jotnar yelled and did the same.
The remaining prisoners let out screams and took off, desperate to escape.
High Gravemara was holding her too tightly, and it was making it hard for Seda to breathe. Her mind whirred as she flung around within her palm. She was never going to get out of here. She would never see her family again. She would never get to say goodbye to Cahir.
No. Fuck this spoiled rotten monstrosity.
An inferno built within her chest, and her hands began to glow purple. She slammed them into High Gravemara’s fingers, and purple electricity fired through Seda’s palms. An explosion of purple filled the air.
High Gravemara wailed loudly as she crashed to the ground, convulsing while still holding onto Seda.
The Rozzers saw her struggling and ran over to her, stabbing her with too small swords. High Gravemara’s hand opened up, and Seda fell to the ground, high enough to twist her ankle.
She hobbled as far away from the giants as she could, struggling to catch her breath. Guards kept firing at the Jotnar, but the Jotnar were swatting them away like flies.
With a sudden burst, a door swung open, and Elco rushed out, like a vision of a flame tearing through the night. He opened his black wings, and they expanded twenty wide feet as he flew into the air. He looked down and saw Seda pulling herself to the side of the courtyard and roared.
The guards, the Jotnar, and the remaining prisoners screamed.
The Captain looked up and seethed, “Forget the fucking Jotnar, get the Lionne!”
Elco tucked his wings in and dove into the chaos. He grabbed Seda with his front paw and flew back into the air. Bullets flew past them as they went higher into the sky. She pointed her hands back down at the Jotnar and fired her power again.
Seda saw the courtyard turn purple and shrink in size as she faded into darkness.