Gold to Dust

Chapter Ten

Ten

Hands roughly shoved Tamshie into the dark. It was the same cell she'd been slowly starving in for the the past seven days— at least, that was how long she estimated her time in this hell. She marked a tally on the wall for every time she was taken from the room and shoved back in at what she assumed was the end of the day. Truthfully, though she didn't fully trust her, Romi was Tamshie's only connection to outside of these walls during the rest of the day. Every night the girl came in and washed Tamshie, stripping her of her dresses and suiting her into something much more comfortable to sleep in. They'd sit and talk about the other men, the traders that would refer to her as nothing other than the name "svanna" when they escorted and placed her and moved to her to different locations to be looked at.

Counting today, Tamshie had been entered into six separate auctions, all of which had failed to bring in any money from her. She counted her blessings every time she was waved away from the center circle and moved to the other rows of semiconscious women, half toppling over with drugs. She pitied them, but also envied them in a twisted sense. The ones with the heavy-lidded stares and glazed looks in their eyes were the ones that posed the biggest threats, and were given the syrup to make them stop fighting against the traders and their buyers. Tamshie hadn't raised a finger since she'd been here. Quietly, she lingered in the back among the others, too short to be noticed and too foreign to be considered a jewel like the others. So at the end of every auction, she was returned to her cell with the same echoing slam of the doors and the same mutter of disapproval. Tamshie wasn't ugly— far from it, in fact. She just wasn't what the men were looking for: the kind that would be easy to manage. She smiled against her palms.

Tonight, Romi guided herself to the other girls' cells further down the longer corridors, attending each of them with the same amount of care as she had given the one before. When she stopped at Tamshie's cell, she unlocked and swung the door open, closing it behind her. Then she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around Tamshie's shoulders. Tamshie froze, unsure of what to do. She was tempted to reach behind the girl and grab the set of keys lying on the floor, but her failure would mean she would no longer be able to preserve her sanity in the small chats the two of them had. If she succeeded...

"You are not..." Romi began, struggling for the Cureldin word, "beautiful enough." Tamshie frowned, her eyes falling to the dirt beneath her fingernails. "Is good thing!" Romi rushed to add. "If you are not pretty, you will not be sold. Then we can stay friends." A wide smile pulled the girl's lips halfway up her face.

The blunt snort that left Tamshie's nose made the grin falter and slowly slip into a less pronounced curve of the lips. "I suppose that's better than being sold to a bastard who will only like me for my body, if nothing else." Romi's eyebrow jumped in confusion. Tamshie shook her head. "Never mind."

The radiant smile returned. "So we are friends, yes?"

Tamshie's eyes once again darted around the other girl to the keys carelessly strewn on the ground. How easy it would be to jab her fist out quickly into Romi's throat and seize her chance at freedom again. She could almost feel the sun against her skin again, the sensation of the wind breathing down on her. For once, she wouldn't mind the sand being blown into her mouth and eyes. So long as she was outside and away from here, she wouldn't mind at all.

Ellegra, her thoughts screamed. And what of the princess? She hadn't heard a single word— from Romi or any of the other traders— about another girl, especially not with rare eyes like hers. Was it possible that she had been sold before Tamshie, before she had even awoken from her stupor on her first night? Ellegra was so much stronger than her. She wouldn't have taken long to wake up like Tamshie had. A deep throbbing ache began to beat in her heart.

"Romi," Tamshie said softly, stealing the girl's attention from the tattered rags she wore. "On the first night I was here, I asked you about another girl that might have been brought in with me, my friend. She's very important to me. Do you remember if she was here? Is it possible that she was sold before me?" Tamshie leaned closer to her, their knees slightly touching. Romi lowered her gaze again, the same way she had the first time she'd asked about Ellegra. "Romi." Her voice hardened. "I need to know. She... she is my sister. Was she here?"

The silence between them stretched on for an eternity before Romi's head lifted and slowly shook. "No," she whispered sadly. "No other girl came with you. You came single."

Her shoulders fell. "Alone," Tamshie corrected numbly. "I came alone." She sat back, her shoulders hitting the hard wall behind her. She wasn't sure whether to be happy that Ellegra escaped capture or scared that something might have happened to her. There would be no use in trying to sell a dead body. Tears swelled in her eyes. No, she scolded herself. It wasn't possible. There was no chance in hell that Ellegra would have fallen at the hands of stupid, flea-ridden men! Ellegra grew up with two brothers and a father, two of which encouraged her fighting skills. She remembered pulling on her own mother's skirt, asking if she could go train with the princess in the green field of the outdoor courtyard. Watching her had been so mesmerizing, so beautiful in her natural form. It was almost like staring at a magician wield his magic wand, only she wielded something that could one day slice her in half.

Nothing can touch her, Tamshie reminded herself. No one can hurt her.

The door to her cell swung open, cutting in on her thoughts. Both girls jumped to their feet as the trader came in. His eyes narrowed on Romi first. "Get out, rat." Romi sucked in a breath, collected her keys, and squeezed behind him through the door, leaving him to burn holes through Tamshie. "You," he growled. "You are worthless. Seven days, and not a single offer. Seven days! You are no longer worth the cell you are kept in. All these resources we wasted on you— stupid! You belong with the rat." His hand was suddenly around her throat, holding her against the wall several feet off the ground. Tamshie clawed at his hands, stretching her arms to scratch at his face. He easily moved his head out of the way. Sounds began to fade. She was semi aware of her pants being tugged down, his fingers probing her bare skin, scaling up her body until they tangled in her hair. Gritting her teeth, Tamshie used the last of her breath to brace her shoulders against the wall and swing her legs up. Her feet planted on his chest, she bent her knees and kicked him off. His hand left her throat as he tipped back, the other ripping a chunk of her bright red hair from her scalp. Then she was falling. A loud crack could be heard all throughout the corridor as Tamshie's head struck the ground.

Everything began to blur together in one bright swirl of silhouetted figures. The light from the hall bathed the trader in a dark shadow that made its way over her, angrily cocking back his fisted hand. Another smaller silhouette leapt at him, clinging onto his arm and howling. The sound was so inhuman, so demonic that even in her stupefied senses her skin crawled with bumps, hairs standing on edge.

The smaller figure plunged something into the trader's neck. Animalistic gurgles bounced inside of Tamshie's screaming head. Warm blood poured down onto her stomach. How odd that she couldn't find the sense to move away or recoil in disgust. She just lie there, motionless with a blank stare as Romi dragged the body further into the cell and tucked it into the darkest corner, kicking sand around to cover up the bloodstains. Then she crouched down next to Tamshie, muttering jumbles of words that slurred together.

Shoving the keychain onto her wrist, Romi slowly slid a hand under Tamshie's shoulders and began to lift. "Another set... more are coming. This is our chance."

The rest of the girl's words were lost in meaning. The fog that kept her mind dense briefly cleared enough to let panic and excitement flood her chest. Setting her feet on the ground, she dizzily made for the hallway. Footsteps bounded heavily behind them, along with the loud shouts and the screams of other prisoners.