Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
The attendants move to my side. The man takes the goat from my arms, and the woman grabs a basket and starts flinging flower petals down at my feet.
“Oh, wow. Um, that’s truly not necessary,” I say as the man bows to me and gestures that I should follow after them. “Really, I don’t need rose petals.”
“The gods have sent you,” the man says as we leave the large temple room behind and step back into the humid morning air.
I guess they did. But I’m really no one special. I’m just the person being given a job apparently no one else wanted. They head down through the broken plaza, toward a large series of low steps that lead off to a dirt road and actual, honest-to-goodness land. I could weep with joy at the sight of it. They don’t live in the swamp, then. They just came here to sacrifice a goat because they’re afraid. As we head down the steps—the woman throwing flower petals as she races ahead of me—I glance over at the man. “I’m really sorry I interrupted your animal sacrifice.”
“You have spoken, and your word is the word of the gods. He is yours now, and we will hold him as sacred as you.”
I wince at the ‘sacred’ thing. “Yes, well…I appreciate it.”
He glances over at me. “You were very brave to travel through the swamp.”
It wasn’t my choice either, but I’d figured that Lachesis wouldn’t let me come this far just to die in a swamp. Plus, there were no boats waiting to take me out, so it wasn’t like I had options. I pull a chunk of drying mud off my arm. “The worst were the mosquitoes, for sure.”
The stranger grunts. “For me, the snakes and the leeches are the worst.”
“I… I’m sorry, did you say leeches?”
“Indeed.”
I… didn’t see leeches. But then again, I hadn’t been looking for them. I pull my soaked, muddy shirt away from my chest and sure enough, there’s a fat leech tucked into my bra. I whimper, and on a horrible whim, pull my stretch waistband of my slacks out and look down.
Leeches. Leeches everywhere. All over my legs and thighs, and far too close to places I would never, ever want a leech to go.
A sour taste fills my mouth and blackness rushes into my vision.
I wake up to gentle touches and the sound of splashing water. My eyes flutter open as someone bathes my arm. I try to make out my surroundings, but it’s dark. All I can tell is that there’s a roof over my head, and I’m lying on a soft bed of some kind.
“Do you feel better, Mistress?”
“Elsie,” I murmur. My tongue is thick, and my throat is dry, but otherwise I feel all right. “I’m sorry I fainted.”
Then I remember why I fainted, and my hands go to my abdomen. I’m naked, my skin clean. No leeches. I let out a sigh of relief.
“I removed them from you, Mistress,” the woman says even as she bathes my arm. “I’ve removed most of the mud and am getting the last of it. I wasn’t sure if you wanted it on you or not. Please forgive me if I’ve done wrong.”
Her tone is far too subservient for my liking. “No, I’m great. Thank you for everything. I… didn’t think about leeches for some reason. And please, call me Elsie.”
“Very well, Mistress Elsie.”
Oof. I turn to look over at her and it’s the same young woman with the flower petals from the temple. She smiles shyly at me, as if hoping for approval, and picks up a folded gown and offers it to me.
I take it from her and pull it over my head, wincing at the crunch of some of the mud still left in my hair. I’ll have to work on that. Later. There’s only so much you can do for an unconscious woman and I’m just grateful the leeches are gone, honestly. The garment skims over me, a loose sleeveless tube of a dress with what looks like a gathering at the neck. It’s a soft blue and made of thin cotton, which feels nice in the humidity. “What’s your name?”
“Kina.” She tucks her chin, as if bowing.
“Where are we, Kina?” I eye the room I’m in. There’s no window to let in light, and the only illumination is from a doorway covered with a beaded hanging. The walls look like they’re made of a strange stucco and the floor that Kina sits on is hard-packed dirt. Either she’s very poor or a dirt floor is normal for these people. I remind myself that this is a different world, and they might not be as technologically advanced as us back home. Given that I came across a goat sacrifice in a temple, they don’t strike me as a cellphone-loving sort.