The Mayaware's reign has to end.
In a world of demonic beings with a hunger for human flesh, and thirst for blood, Hesi Renen knows it well. When her siblings are taken to the harvesting farms, she must do everything she can to get them out, even if...
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Hesi scampered down the wall to the beat of the water splashing across bare stones. The walkway had ended in the middle of the fortress, right into another courtyard. Buildings as tall as the rock formations outside flanked the open space from all sides, each one peppered with arches guarded by balconies across a minimum of five floors.
She tightened her grip on the hilt of the knife buried deep into the mortar between bricks and flattened her body against the wall. Down below, the women, about six in total, hunkered into themselves, shaking like blades of palms against a sandstorm. The Mayaware inside the new courtyard bore buckets of water, drawn from wells Hesi had seen on her way here. Another synchronous swing, and waves of fresh water zipped out of the rim and into their target. An angry series of splashes rained against the stone.
Much to Hesi's surprise, a man sauntered into the courtyard, bearing dry towels. He began drying the women with them, not bothered about the fact he was touching them in places not meant to be touched by anyone, especially strangers. It must be a harrowing experience, especially to the women. Not only had they seen tons of women get butchered, it also became clear that by some twisted coincidence, they avoided such a fate. And now, they're being handled like lost cubs, being touched and viewed in ways that weren't proper.
But it wasn't what held Hesi's attention the most. It was the man, characterized by the dark mop of curls decorating his head, running around and ushering the women inside the western building. How in the world were humans able to thrive in this place, even as a servant? Were they simply lucky, handpicked by the general or some other demon playing a god, and instructed to start cleaning and be ordered around?
Maybe the Mayaware culture had changed a lot since the Great Shadow. When they were first taking over Ser-Djare, they were nothing but a pack of hungry beasts humans thought they could handle. According to stories of veterans and lucky sods who lived past their prime, the Mayaware began to organize and attack with better accuracy and planning, as if they have spent more than a year studying human civilization seeimingly moments after historic upheaval. Darpeh, they even managed to adapt and change much of Berijyet in a few months.
In short, the Mayaware changed in ways Hesi nor other humans couldn't predict and in a rate as fast as a blink of an eye. At this point, most of the humans had accepted that they were merely food and that survival must be as primitive and essential an instinct to be used in the real playing field. Now, they have become no better than the fowls and critters they used to hunt for meat and other needs, and Hesi still hasn't processed how she'd feel about that.
So maybe the human slaves were a recent addition and only available in this part of Setene or only in this fortress. She watched the women do various rituals right after an impromptu bath. One had the damp towel around her shoulders, covering most of her chest. Another had swiped her fiery red hair off her face and followed the male slave out of the courtyard. As the others followed, they jumped over streaking streams of water bearing most of the blood, grime, and traces of the desert that once have plagued their bodies. The water, itself, had emptied into the edge of the courtyard, where a waiting trench-like contraption waited for it. It's almost mesmerizing, witnessing the murky water drain into the trench and, because of an engineered incline, flow past the interconnected network of pipes and trenches leading to who knew where.
