corner, he had no choice but to walk across the dead. His feet occasionally disappeared into wet mush, but he kept going, imagining it to be mud. He stumbled along as fast as he could until he hit hard ground, then fell to all fours and coughed hard, a line of drool hanging from his bottom lip.
His head pounded. I have to keep going. I need to get away from this smell. He struggled to his feet, feeling like he’d puked out all of his energy behind him. The smell of death covered him, and his mouth tasted of bile. He forced himself forward, staying right.
He passed under a huge wooden roof on poles. The odour of death now mixed with shit and blood. There were hundreds of people. Some slept, while others stumbled around. Most were naked on at least the top half, some completely. They groaned quietly. Some sobbed.
The closer he got to the front of the compound, the louder the moaning and crying became. The people moved around a lot more, some huddled together. He could see the break in the wall where the gate was.
A woman held her arms out toward him. “Poor child. You don’t deserve this fate. You didn’t choose this. None of us did.”
Mara dodged around her.
“Love me,” she shouted, stumbling after him. Then she fell over and cried.
I can’t stay in here. I need to find the door.
Mara came close to the corner. The area was crowded. These must be the people who want to get picked. He heard a muffled scream ahead. Three men held a woman on the floor while another had sex with her. Mara wanted to kill them all. He put his hand under his shirt to feel the handle of his blade. You all deserve to die. He released his grip. I can’t, not ’til I get back. He passed around them. It took all his strength to look the other way. I’ll come for you, so will the Beast. All the Wretches will die.
People slept around the small door, some lying down, some sat up. Mara stepped through them gently, pausing each time someone stirred. At the door, there was barely enough space for him to slide in front of it. He watched over the crowd for several minutes as they slept. He couldn’t afford for anyone to be awake. Sure nobody was, he knocked softly three times, waited, then knocked twice more. He felt the door lift slightly behind him, then disappear. A hand gently took him by the shoulder.
“It’s open,” a man shouted in front of him.
The hand pulled hard, and Mara stumbled backwards onto the floor of the torch-lit corridor.
The guard slammed the door shut. “Fucking cunt.”
The people in the compound banged on the door and shouted to be let in.
The guard pressed his shoulder against the door. “Get over here and slide the pins,” he shouted.
Mara hurried forward and slid the metal pins on the door into loops on the wall. “Done.”
The guard stepped away and lifted two wooden beams into place. The door rattled behind them. “Horrible cunts will settle down, eventually.” The guard didn’t have his helmet on. It lay on a table in the corner with his gloves. His silver chest plate shone in the torchlight. “You’re him, then. I’d expected someone bigger. Didn’t expect you to stink so bad though, you crawl through shit to get here?”
Mara couldn’t focus on anything other than the guard’s thick black eyebrows that met in the middle. It’s like a slug.
“Not the talkative type, then. Don’t see anyone for days on end down here, and then someone turns up who don’t have nothing to say.” The guard put on his silver helmet and took the torch out of the metal holder on the wall. “This way.”
Mara followed the guard along the corridor that was carved through the rock. He couldn’t understand how the wooden frames were stopping it from caving in. A cool drop of water hit his head. Many twinkled on the roof in the torchlight. He wanted more to fall to help cool him.
They reached another door, and the guard lifted off the two wooden beams, slid the metal pins, and stepped aside. “I’ll be waiting. Same knock.” He took off his helmet and placed it on the table. “Try to think of something to talk about for when you come back, aye?”
Why does he want to talk so badly? Mara entered. The room was cool, stacks of barrels reached the tall ceiling. The door to the corridor shut, and all went dark. The guard hummed as the beams clunked back into place.
Where is this boy? He felt along the barrels. “Hello,” he whispered. “You in here?” Nothing. He continued along until he found a wall and slid down it to wait.
Mara woke to the sight of a pale boy with dark hair, pinching his own nose while tapping him on the shoulder. Mara’s hand was already on his blade.
“Is it you?” the boy asked. His voice sounded funny with his nose blocked.
“Yes.” Mara stood and began taking off his clothes.
The boy stood back, eyes wide. “What are you doing?”
“Take off your clothes.”
“My clothes? Whatever for?”
Mara stood naked, blade in hand. “Take them off, or I will for you.”