Page 7 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
Grumbling, my arms found themselves around his neck, hanging on for dear life. His hurried gait was anything but smooth, and his armor felt slightly warm against my skin. He smelled like leather and some spice I’d never smelled before, along with ashes and fire.
Quickly, we caught up to the others as they passed underneath a large stone overhang beneath eight large, shining pillars that swirled with green and black material mixed into the gleaming white.
“It’s called marble. Like a jewel, it has the most marvelous shine when rubbed.”
I glanced up at the fireguard. I wanted to ask him why he was talking to me, but that would require talking to him. Was he trying to bait me into chatting, and then he’d smack me?
I shivered as the memory of being smacked across the mouth surfaced again in my mind, sharp and clear as the day it had happened. It was being around all these fireguards. It was driving me mad.
The sound of running water happily distracted me. We walked through a ring of more fireguards into the great stone building, which was full of large tubs set into the ground.
Oh. Abathhouse. Like a house that had baths in it. It hadn’t never occurred to me that such a thing existed. Why would it? It was a tremendous waste of space and precious fresh water. In the mud quarter, we had to use rags and dirty basins to clean ourselves, not that there was much point. You’d only be dirty again five minutes later.
My face flushed as we were the last ones to file through, leaving the other girls to stare as I came in cradled in the fireguard’s arms. There were a few other girls already here, including one with fiery red hair. We all glanced at each other, uncertain. We had started with thirteen, then two died from the cliff. Now there were four more girls, putting us at fifteen. No one else had black hair. No one else had come from the mud quarter.
From further back in the building, a line of older women came forth, immediately swarming us. Clothed head to toe in swirling robes somewhere between red and purple, they had large cowls covering their hair. The color was so vibrant it hurt my eyes, reminding me of wine. In the mud quarter, water was in short supply, but the fireguards would give you as much wine as you wanted.
I never took it. I saw what it did to my mother.
My fireguard set me down gently and backed away to resume his rank.
The women moved gracefully in jeweled slippers, offering each girl our own goblet of wine. A kindly older woman offered an emerald-encrusted cup to me, a knowing smile on her face. The moment the scent reached me, my stomach flipped, and I turned her away. I wanted no part of it.
Not to be dissuaded, she held the wine out in one hand and pushed me toward one tub with the others. All around me, the women were stripping the girls naked in full sight and plain view of everyone. Even the guards.
I made my muscles rigid and sat down on the cold floor. I would be the only one with a brand on my shoulder since I didn’t see any on anyone else’s. The other girls all had smooth, unmarred skin on their shoulders. I pulled my limbs in and made a ball, refusing to move.
“They marked this one as troublesome,” I heard the captain remark to one of the robed women. The one escorting me backed away as the fireguard descended upon me.
Three on one. I’d had worse odds, but the boys in the mud quarter I’d routinely fought for food didn’t wear armor or carry swords.
“Come, child. Let’s get you into the bath and scrape that mud away.”
I tucked my body tighter, sneering.
“Girl, do as the prima commands. You would go before her highness covered in filth?” the captain exclaimed, a sneer twisting his face.
“Rather that then go before all of you naked,” I grumbled back, glaring at the ‘prima’ and daring her to try. The older woman sighed, then shot a look at the captain. Before I could protest, he picked me up and threw me into the nearest pool.
The water was more than warm; it was scalding hot. I screamed, but no one heard it. Steaming water rushed in all around me and I flailed helplessly. It filled my eyes and ears, my nose and mouth. I choked, realizing I couldn’t breathe. Never had I been fully submerged in water like this!
Don’t panic. Stretch out and feel what’s around you.
I resisted the urge to breathe in since water was running down my throat, and instead I stretched out my arms and legs as far as I could. My toes scraped the bottom, and on instinct I pushed against it as hard as I could.
My face broke the water, and I gasped, choking and coughing.
The ledge. Grab the ledge.
I wasn’t sure how I managed it, but my hand grasped the stone edge and I pulled my body over to it. I held onto it like a lifeline, coughing and hacking, and trying desperately to regain my breath. Water dripped through my hair, plastering it flat against my face. With one hand, I brushed it away and looked around. I expected to see the other girls flailing in the water like I had. As far as I was aware, no one in the kingdom knew how to swim. Well, maybe those up here who used these bathhouses, but certainly no one from the districts below.
Cries rang out and then were quickly cut off as the fireguards bodily threw each girl into the water. As I hung onto the side of the pool like a half-drowned rat, I watched helplessly as other girls flailed and splashed in tandem. Not a single fireguard twitched from their perimeter, and the primas watched serenely with no panic or surprise in their eyes. Where was the kind fireguard now?
I thought of the two girls who had fallen to their deaths. I thought of how none of the stone girls would have made it up the steps without the young guard fighting to carry them. And now this.
My realization hit me all at once. This wasn’t a selection process.
It was a carefully planned execution.
