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

Chapter 11: Belly of the Beast

Goda glided across the desert and Kanna followed her strides much less gracefully. She didn't know where they were going at first, but then when her eyes adjusted to the darkness outside, and she saw that Goda had turned straight in the direction of the caverns, it all fit together in her mind.

She knew that the next morning, they would be heading out of the desert and into the Middleland; to be able to even set out on that journey, they would need fuel. But she couldn't fathom that Goda would try to steal from the priestesses—or from Jaya, rather, since in theory the temple couldn't keep fuel—after having been plainly caught wandering in the caves only two nights before.

Goda didn't seem to care. When Kanna fell behind a bit, Goda glanced briefly at her, but otherwise she seemed to expect her to keep up. In no time, they passed by one of the military trucks—the one that had been parked close to the garden—and Kanna saw a soldier peek her head out of the door. It was the same woman she had seen the night before, when they had been coming back to the storage room from Parama's shack. She had a cigar stuffed in her mouth again, and the glow of her match as she lit the tip of it was the only thing that allowed Kanna to see her face.

Perhaps it had only been the dim light, but she thought she saw a dark circle under the woman's eye that hadn't been there before.

The soldier took one look at Goda and recoiled into the truck, slamming the door behind her. Kanna raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. By now, she had grown used to all the negative reactions that people had towards her master; she herself had them still.

Kanna caught up to Goda and kept close to her as they walked through another patch of military trucks. "Are you sure this is a smart thing to do?" she asked. "What if we get caught? Priestess Rem already knows that we've been in there."

"If we get caught, then we get caught. The caverns are our best option now."

Kanna glanced around at the machines that surrounded them, some of which were rumbling conspicuously, wasting their precious fuel. "What if you steal from the soldiers?" She was a little surprised at her own suggestion; but she realized then that she didn't think much of the military, perhaps because they had been the ones who had driven her family out of their own lands. She wasn't a thief herself, but if she had been, stealing from thieves seemed to be the most reasonable strategy.

Goda shook her head without turning around. "No, I tried that already," she said. "Earlier this evening, when you were hiding from me, I went into the back of that nearby truck and rummaged around for some spare fuel. The soldier inside the cabin seemed to have heard me and she confronted me. It was then that I learned that none of the trucks are carrying extra fuel. They plan to refuel in the Upperland where all the product is, so their fuel tanks are half-full and tightly locked. It would be unlikely that I would be able to siphon from one of them without breaking the tanks open and causing a scene."

Kanna turned back towards the truck that stood near the garden, and she watched it grow smaller in the distance. Even still, she could just barely see the small point of orange light through the dark windows of the cabin.

Then something connected yet again.

"You hit that woman, didn't you?" Kanna said. "The soldier. You punched her in the face. She had a bruise on her eye."

"Yes, that's right."

"But why?"

"She didn't like that I was looking through her things. That's understandable, I suppose." Goda's voice was dismissive. "But I was in a hurry and I didn't have time to deal with her emotions. She swung at me and she missed."