TWO

SEVEN YEARS LATER

ALINA

"Alina!"

"Yes, madam," I jumped up from my task of mopping the floor and stood straight but kept my head down and my gaze on the feet of my mistress.

"The Warriors are coming to town today; the whole city is ablaze. I want you to dress Claire up to meet the Commander's taste, I want her to look so attractive to him that he would dream about her. She is the fairest lady in this city anyway."

"Yes, madam," I said and bent to continue scrubbing.

"What are you doing?" My mistress asked.

"I wanted to finish up this task first before I dress her up."

"Leave that task and come back to it later. I want you to take time, now go, leave my presence."

"Yes, madam."

"Make sure she shines like a diamond...and wash those hands of yours before you touch my precious daughter."

"Yes, madam," I wiped my hands on my dress and hurried away from her down the long corridor.

It's been three years since I was brought here as a slave, me and some other girls from the earth. For seven years we have been slaves to the gods and goddesses and there was nothing we could do about it because our people gave us up. We were humans, weak and little and these people were gods. When I was fourteen and experienced the last war on earth, humans made a really ridiculous pact with these gods, and it affected me and affected me most because my father was among the nobles who made this pact. The men of my clan invited these gods to war seven years ago to fight alongside them to conquer the battle. In return for their favor, our men promised to give them five girls from our clan every four years when the girls turn eighteen, to become slaves to the gods.

For the last seven years, five girls who were still single at eighteen were brought out at night to the clan's center, tied up to a big tree, and left there. The gods would come in the middle of the night and take them away, with their eyes blindfolded and their hands bound. Last three years, I turned eighteen and when I had no suitors coming, I became one of the girls taken away by the gods. My mother had wailed her heart out that night, but there was nothing she could do because she had no say in society and couldn't utter the decisions of men. We were brought here and taken up by the noble families of the gods to serve them.

I cried a lot when I was brought here and was forced to work my ass off for a little pay. We were scorned and rejected socially because we were nothing like the gods, we were mortals and we were ugly, our place was on the floor, mopping, cleaning, and running errands. I don't feel bad about the scorn and the way they treat us anymore because I kind of grew a thick skin toward them. We were not allowed to interact with our fellow humans because they didn't want us to revolt. They feel if we interacted, we would one day plan an attack on them, so humans don't interact, the punishment for it was to chop off our tongues so that we won't be able to speak again, so humans were far from each other. Within the three years I was here, I learned the Tiba language because they don't speak English, although, I couldn't speak fluently, I understood and spoke a great fraction of it.

I was among the second batch of girls that have been taken since the batch. I mean, the last three years was the second time human females were taken by the gods, so we were like ten human girls here and we rarely saw each other. Even when we see each other in the market or in social places, we pass on like we didn't see each other, for fear of our tongues being ripped off our mouths.

"Alina!"

I halted at the male voice and turned to see who was calling me. It was Sir Harold, a tall, lean man with a vulpine face. He was Claire's older brother and a noble too. Tibaians were always tall, they were taller than mere men and have paler skin than humans

"Yes, sir," I said, my gaze dropping to his feet. As servants, we have no business looking them in the eyes.

"Have you gotten the clothes I asked you to get?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but madam asked me to scrub the floors just when you told me to get..."

"You ugly duck! I have a meeting with the nobles in a few minutes and my clothes are not ready yet! You primitive swine!"

Sir Harold's anger was chaotic, and I wasn't ready to face any troubles. I couldn't afford to be thrown out of the mansion because, I will end up in the streets of Tiba with no food or money, so I did everything they wanted without complaint.

"I am sorry, Sir, I will go get them at once," I said quickly and rushed off, away from his presence.

I ran as my weary legs could carry me, since morning I have not sat down, it has been from one errand to the other, I would be on one task, and I would be called up to do another. Tiba was on the brink of war with other clans and the warriors were arriving today to camp at the east side, but everyone made it look like they were greater gods coming to save them, I overheard the people say that they were fearful to look at and the mightiest men in the whole of Tiba, that even the King and his cohort feared them. They were not like the other gods, they were men who devoid themselves of all emotions, fear, pain, love, and family, they estranged themselves from their families because they feel getting attached to anything was a distraction and the language they understood most was Kill.

I have never seen a warrior once, but from all I heard about them, I don't think I wanted to see them, I was okay with the terror I was getting from the nobles and the city peasants alone, I didn't want to come in contact with those warriors and have my head chopped off at the slightest mistake. However, the warriors were given girls to relieve them at the camp whenever they came, and the noble ladies flaunt themselves around camp to get the warriors' attention. They were like the gods of gods.

I sped to town, clutching my gown with both hands as I ran, I couldn't afford to get it stained, I have only two of them, I just got the opportunity to wash the other one this morning and it was not yet dried. The city was busy as people were going about their businesses. Some of the people I passed looked at me with scorn and threw expletives, but those things no longer get to me because I hear them as my second name now. Just as I was nearing the laundry, I bumped into a large woman.

"Watch it, human!" she yelled.

I turned to apologize to her, clutching my hands in front of me, she scowled at my apology and moved on. I turned quickly to continue my hurry to the laundry, but I stepped on the hem of my skirt and fell like a log, face down into a puddle. I heard laughter around me, and no one helped me rise. I picked up myself, the whole front of my dress was a mess with grit. I raised my skirt again and forged ahead, ignoring the scornful laughter following behind me. I had a target to meet and dwelling in self-pity was a waste of my time.

I got to the laundry shop and stated my business, Mr. Hardwick, the laundry owner, handed me Sir Harold's clothes but not without giving me that quizzical yet descending look. I grabbed the clothes and ran off. When I got back to the mansion, Claire was fuming that her dress was not yet picked out and when I rushed into her room, she lunged at me, maybe to slap me, but withdrew when she saw the mess, I was covered in.

"Eww, why haven't you gotten my outfit ready?"

"I'm so sorry, my Lady, I will do that now." I dashed to the closet. There was no room for giving excuses.

"Go wash your filthy hands!" she yelled. I almost jumped out of my skin from her sudden yell.

"Sorry, my lady, I will do that right now." I dashed out of the room to go wash my hands and face off.

When I got back, she was not in her room. I searched around, but she was nowhere to be found. I took out her clothes and her jewelry and placed them on the bed, arranging them in the order that she would wear them. After arranging them, I kept staring at the dress. It was a beautiful maroon dress with a butterfly bow between the breasts and the stomach and before I could know what I was doing, I started thinking about what it felt like to be a lady, to wear good clothes without patches, to have my hair styled beautifully, to wear those sparkling jewelry, to be in charge and to matter. Then I decided to bring my fantasies to life, I took off my dirty, patched dress and slipped into Lady Claire's dress, it hung a little loosely around my neck, but it was okay, I wore her jewelry and applied her make-up on my face.

I was considered beautiful back on earth, but I was an ugly bag of bones here because I was malnourished and dirty. My collar bones were so hollow that they would comfortably hold a cup of water. I still came out beautiful with a little touch-up, so I smiled at myself in the mirror. But that was when my woe came. The door flung open, and Lady Claire stood there with her mother glaring at me with wide eyes and dropped jaw.