Chp.5

Over the next weeks, the carriages began to steadily fill up. The Gathered females were to travel two per carriage, which meant the two Gathered from a province rode together. Seleen and Kalifa hadn't seen the other Gathered women and they hadn't seen them either as they were all regulated strictly, to their own carriages.

But Seleen and Kalifa got to see the Amanith kingdom in the past weeks more than they had seen in their entire lives, and that was the silver lining. At first, Seleen cooked up all manner of escape plans, but quickly realised it was futile. The women were heavily guarded and nothing, nothing, got past the Thirteen, not to talk of the Head. It was practically impossible to speak away once they set camp. So she decided to do the sensible thing and sit tight. For now. As part of the Gathered,she figured she'd have some certain freedoms once she got to the Gold Palace, so she'd be able to escape then. But for now, there was nothing she could do.

Weeks turned to a month, plus a few more set of weeks, and the Gathering process was complete. Seleen had to give it to the Head, he wasted no time.

It was nightfall and they'd set up camp. Peals of laughter ran out from the other tents and Seleen looked towards them and sighed, before returning her attention to her bowl of steamy broth and rice. Another plus of being Gathered was certainly the food. She'd not eaten any stale food since they'd left Beria. She didn't even know it was possible. Warm, tasty, flavoured food. Kalifa had speculated that it'd only get better once they got to the Gold Palace, but Seleen couldn't imagine anything better than this. It was heaven.

Another thing was that she hadn't heard or seen the Head since Beria. Those that were already Gathered didn't watch the Gathering process of the others coming after. So since Beria, she'd been stuck in this carriage with Kalifa, as more women were snatched away from their families.

She had developed an immense dislike for the Head, but she supposed she couldn't pin all the blame on him. She'd been planning on leaving Beria, and she had. Just not the way she'd expected. At least, because of him, she was touring Amanith in comfortable conditions. So she supposed there were perks to being Gathered. It was almost a shame she'd have to leave. Almost. She couldn't get distracted. She had to get away before the Gathered were brought before the King.

~~~~

Two days after, the travelling party finally reached Amanith's capital, Caphit. The people stood by the streets, cheering on the Head, as the procession moved slowly through the paved streets and towards the Gold Palace. When Seleen saw the Gold Palace from afar, she sucked in a sharp breath.

With the sun glinting off the truly gilded walls of gold embedded with precious stones, it was beautiful...and extremely wateful. A real Gold Palace? Seriously? Just a but from that Palace could do a whole lot for Beria. With the crowded streets around them, Seleen wished she could escape there and then. Disappear among the crowd and stay hidden. .Then she'd find a way to meet up with Shadee. They'd never return to Beria. It would would extremely stupid to return to where she was taken from.

Kalifa nudged her with gleaming eyes. "This place is..." She trailed off with a breath. Seleen smiled. "I know what you mean." They watched the scene unfold a bit more before Seleen asked, "Why did you willingly choose to be Gathered?"

Kalifa gave her a wry smile. "There's nothing for me, for us, in Beria. There never was. At least, here, I have a chance at something better. "

Seleen nodded and they fell into companionable silence. They reached the Gold Palace in no time and the carriages stopped, leaving Seleen and Kalifa to sit in silence, wondering what was happening outside. They didn't have to wait long as a soldier soon opened the door to their carriage and motioned them out. They were ushered into the Palace through a side door, then were dragged towards different directions. Seleen and Kalifa exchanged alarmed looks before they disappeared from each others line of sight.

There ensued a blur of activities immediately. Before Seleen knew it, she was in a beautifully ornate chamber. She didn't have enough time to marvel at her surroundings because soon she was stripped down from her battered clothing, scrubbed meticulously in a claw foot tub,had her hair pulled in nine different directions by nine different women, then squeezed into a corseted bodice that threatened to burst at the seams.

"What a lovely form!" Someone crooned delightfully.

"I would kill for that waistline." Another muttered grudgingly. Seleen failed to share the sentiment. Soon, she was standing in her new, quality undergarments in a dressing room as her attendants bickered over dresses.

One was a bright yellow with lots of frills and truffles that just looked truly hideous even to a church rat like her. Another was a baby blue dress that was quite pretty actually, but just didn't complement Seleen well. As the bickering continued, a dress still hanging untouched on the trolley, hidden amongst a million other dresses, caught her eye. She slowly pulled it, turned it this way and that, then asked, "What about this? "

The bickering abruptly stopped as the attendants turned towards her, then the dress. Seleen's cheeks tinted pink. "Sorry for the assumption. I just thought...oh, forget it. Silly me. Never mind." She fumbled as she made to return it to its place.

"Oh dearie!" A matronly attendant gasped. "That is beautiful, indeed." Another clasped her hands, nodding eagerly. "Yes, yes. It looks like it was made just for you. Come, come. Let's get you dressed. The time draws nearer."

And Seleen was swept away once again.