Goda's Slave (Lesbian, Dystopia, LGBT Fantasy)

Chapter 4: Serpents

"Don't look back at the innkeeper's door," Goda said.

They were walking across the side of the yard, a space that was littered with empty pots and flower boxes filled with shriveled weeds. A fence made of dry wood encircled the garden, but it was tipped over in places and seemed to no longer serve any purpose. Some furniture was strewn about, fallen from the wind. Most of it was half-buried in the sand from what must have been months of disuse.

Kanna couldn't fathom that they were sauntering around the grounds of what was supposed to be an inn. She had heard that the Outerland region was poor, but she had never imaged such squalor could be offered to members of the public.

Upon hearing some muffled voices coming from the cabin, Kanna tried glancing towards the entrance once again, but Goda wasted no time grasping the back of her head to stop her.

"I said don't look. Give the woman time to rid herself of her visitor. We're pretending we haven't seen anything."

Throwing Goda an annoyed glance, Kanna wriggled her head free. "What on earth are you talking about? Sometimes I wonder if you're coming up with these random demands just to see if I'll obey them."

"You don't know this culture, Rava. You can't see the big picture yet, so you'll have to trust what I say. If you cause the innkeeper to lose face, then she'll be even more uncooperative, and we don't have much of a budget to spare for different accommodations."

"You're telling me this? Isn't it you who has already insulted her?" Kanna kept her eyes on Goda, but as she heard more commotion behind her and the sound of an unlatching door, she was tempted to look again.

"She knows me. I'm already aware of all the rules she breaks and I'm discreet about it, but if someone else were to see—especially an ignorant foreigner—she would worry that they would tell the priestesses."

"Tell them what?"

Goda didn't answer. Instead, she pressed against the small of Kanna's back to hurry her along as they rounded the corner to the back of the house—but before the front yard was out of view, Kanna snapped her head back with the intention to disobey.

She caught a quick flash of a figure running across the sands—a delicate figure, unlike any Middlelander she had seen before. The person's frame was small like Kanna's own, draped in multicolored robes, and the stranger bounced with a dainty quickness that tousled the messy waves of their short hair.

Another foreigner? Kanna guessed, but she could not get a better look before Goda grasped her by her collar and sharply dragged her behind the cabin.

Kanna nearly fell over. The bucket that she was carrying slipped from her hands, spilling water across both their feet, splashing newly-formed mud onto Kanna's ankles.

As soon as Kanna regained her footing, she shot a furious glance up at Goda. Out of some unconscious impulse, she thrust her hands out and smacked her palms hard against Goda's chest—to push her back, to force her away—but the woman barely shuffled from the blow. It was as if Kanna had rammed with all her strength against a boulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" Goda asked.

"You can't just yank me around, Porter!"

Kanna gnashed her teeth, and when she launched herself forward to push against Goda once more, Goda caught both her hands. The woman clenched her fingers tightly around Kanna's wrists, and she held them steady even as Kanna tried to wrench them away. The lack of effort that it seemed to take only infuriated Kanna even more.

"Fight me, at least!" Kanna shouted up at her, trying to strike her fists against the trunk in front of her, but finding that it was futile. "Don't just stand there like you're a goddamn rock!"