Hesi rounded a corner, and her eyes caught a familiar bob. "Pai!" she whispered, picking her way across a mess of carts and piles of hay for the mules. The mass of dark hair snapped up. Her sister's eyes widened.

"Hesi." Her sister whispered back, pushing other children as she crawled to the grates. She spotted the cage's metal lock. For a civilization who couldn't get language right, they surely advanced enough to know how to protect their possessions. Keys. She needed keys. Or...

Her gaze zeroed in on the slab of rock lying a few steps away. It was slick with dried blood, with some locks of human hair clinging to it. Must be where arms get chopped off. She stalked towards it, but a hand closed around her wrist.

"Hesi, stop," Pai pleaded. Tears streamed down her face and wiped a clean trail down her dust-stricken cheeks. Another chorus of mutters and movement swirled from the children, and Unsu made it to Pai's side. By instinct, Pai wrapped an arm around her brother, and he pressed his face against her chest. "It's useless."

Yes, Hesi might draw attention if she broke the lock with the stone. Mayaware senses were more heightened than humans. They would know she was here. No number of deshet would save them.

She turned back to her sister. "I'll get you out," she said. "Hold still. I'll find a way. Somehow."

Pai shook her head. "That's what I meant, Hesi," she replied. "Stop. It will not get us anywhere."

Her hands slammed against the wooden rails, startling her sister and the rest of the children inside. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. "I won't let you become a part of this madness. I'll get you out, and we'll escape. We'll be free."

"It's not freedom when all we do is run," Pai resoned, her voice thick with an emotion the girl never showed. It was not present after they found what remained of their parents (an arm, chunks of their heads, and an unidentified thigh) and burned them to ashes. When they scattered the soot to be part of the ever-shifting landscape, not a single tear crept down her sister's face. But now...

"Running is better than this hell on Tjarma," Hesi answered, gripping the rails with her calloused hands "Don't fight me on this, Pai. Remember the rules."

"The rules don't hold when we're captured," Pai pointed out. "Because we've never been until now."

Hesi bared her teeth. "Don't turn my wheels around, Pai," she snapped. "I'm getting you out, and that's final."

She stomped towards the slab and grabbed it with both hands. A small voice sparked behind her. "I don't want to ride carts anymore," Unsu said. Her arms froze. Her heart fell to her feet and shattered to pieces.

It was his dream to crest the dune without having to walk, to feel the wind on his face as he dove. They have no idea how to tame horses or even mules, so those weren't viable options. They had different versions of freedom, and to Unsu, it was the feeling of flight, of never having to worry about his toes blistering, his ankles snapping, and his legs scabbing and throbbing.

And now...

Hesi closed her eyes and blew a breath, fighting to keep it steady. She faced her sister. "Do you want to stop running?" she asked.

Pai's flat stare bled resolve. Strength. Over the years of witnessing carnage and unimaginable loss, they have had to nurse it. Because without it, they would crumble. They would feel hopeless.

"Things won't end if we keep on like this," Pai replied. Unsu raised his head from his sister's tunic and regarded Hesi with wide, terrified eyes. The smell wafting from the butcher quadrant alone would coax such an emotion from a child.

Her sister drew the boy closer, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She met Hesi's eyes. "We'll be alright," she continued. "I overheard they plan to keep us here until the girls enter their moon-cycles and the boys develop their primal instincts. Between us, Unsu and I were the farthest from that. It'd give you time."

Hesi was about to ask time for what? when Pai's sentiment snapped into fruition in her mind. Of course. If they caught her, they would chop her up and serve her to the Mayaware nobles instantly. Young adult meat was famous for its tenderness, and the vermin in the royal capital delighted in it. But if it was Pai and Unsu...

Time. Her siblings bought her time, freeing her for a moment to do what was essential to end this madness. She has to strike the tree in its root where it got life and stability. If she succeeded, she would throw the entire Mayaware structure into disarray. If she was lucky, humans could mount an uprising against demons and finally end their bloody reign.

But to do that...

"I need to get you out," Hesi insisted. If she has one less thing to worry about, maybe the vision could become a reality.

Pai's grip on her wrist tightened. "We'll be fine. They will feed us until I get my first moon-cycle. We will be alright. I'll take care of Unsu for as long as I can," she said. "You have until then."

"When would that be?" Hesi asked aloud—something none of them dared to. The thing with moon-cycles was there was no saying if they would arrive in a month or in five years. Some women wouldn't get one until they die. What would the Mayaware do with them? "I can't lose you to the breeding enclosures. I know what's going to happen."

The corners of Pai's eyes crinkled when she gave Hesi a sad smile. "We'll hang in there, Unsu and I," she said. "You make sure we can make noise all we want and not fear the demons' claws down our backs. Make us a perfect world, Hesi."

Hesi opened her mouth to protest, to say something else to deter Pai's request and decision, but loud and broken chatter rang from the alley's bend. Shadows lengthened into bald figures striding towards the corner. Darpeh.

She turned to her sister, chest heaving with a thousand whirls of emotions she couldn't keep down any longer. "I will return," she promised, even though she resolved to never speak oaths as brittle as talc. "And the world you will see will be better. Just..."

The shadows birthed heads, weapons, and sharp senses. The lump in her throat hitched her swallowed breath. "Hold on," she whispered.

When the Mayaware cleared the bend, there was nothing but a swish of movement and a faint trace of deshet in her wake. As she tore away from the cage, she resisted the urge to look back. It wouldn't do them good. The only way was forward.

She would saunter out the fortress the same way she got in though. Her eyes scanned the newest alley she went into. Crates upon crates, cages atop cages scaled the fortress' wall. They provided erratic stairs that someone could use to scale the stronghold from beyond the wall.

She eyed the racks and the stables lining the alley leading to the tower of giant boxes. A curl of rope hung from the drying racks meant to tie off lumber, bales of straw, or mules' mouths as a makeshift bridle. It has another use, though.

Her fingers closed around the rope, the twisted fibers digging against the calluses on her palms. She stuck it to her belt, letting its bulk slam against her hips every leaping step she took while running. Her boots brushed against the soil, marveling at how easy it was to move when the ground wasn't determined to hold her back and eat her alive.

She reached the first rung. Like how she scaled date trees for a promise of preserved jars when she was a child, she gripped the cage's rails and hoisted herself up. Her arms throbbed and pulsed; her toes and ankles strived to stick to the vertical surface and not plunge her to the heightening depths. Falling to a splat inside a Mayaware fortress wasn't the way she would go. What a way to break her promise to Pai.

The next minutes—or hours—crawled by as she clambered up. When she reached the highest rung, only a small distance hung between her and the wall's edge. She crouched, swung her arms, and jumped. Her fingers bit the rough surface, shooting more pain to her fingers than expected. Dear gods. That hurt.

But getting captured by a Mayaware hurt more, so she groaned and hoisted her weight up, her leg reaching up to drape over the wall like a lopsided salamander. When she was sure she wouldn't fall over the other side, she sighed and surveyed the sights from this high up.

Shades of sienna, brown, and ocher formed a formidable sea before her, stretching for millions of miles until they met the distant line of white and blue of the sky. Wisps of isolated clouds strolled across the deep blue. Rain was a million miles away. Silhouettes of mesas and distant mountains rose and fell on the horizon, showing her how small she was against the huge, unreachable world beyond.

Movement on the shifting dunes and a clatter of spear combined with the terrified feminine shriek stole her attention from the far-off distance. Her gaze fell to the one-sided tug-of-war happening at the foot of the wall. A cart stood ready, a mule obediently waiting before it. The backdoor was open, and a string of humans connected by ropes tied around their wrists trudged towards it.

No one paid any heed to a woman sitting on the wall like a conqueror. It didn't cross their mind their prey would manage such a feat.

Yet.

The women kept their clothes, with scarves covering their hair, arms, and legs, unlike the uncouth slits she tore at the sides of her tight dress for easier movement. Now, what remained of it was two flaps swinging wildly between her legs when she walked.

The clothes weren't what caught her attention, though. These women stayed unscathed, with bruises, wounds, and scars absent from visible skin. They strode out of the fortress, led by several armed Mayaware as if they weren't food. As if they were for something else.

Well, what else did these heathens need humans for? Procreation?

She shook her head and went back to work. Taking the rope she pilfered from the racks, she took her knife and stuck it into the top of the wall. Let her hope she buried it deep enough to hold her weight. Even if it was a shifting carpet, it was nowhere near a cushion made of silk and satin.

The rope tied snugly around the knife's hilt. She gave it a few test tugs, even the strongest she could muster. When she was sure it wouldn't snap with the force, she edged off the wall and abseiled down. Her boots slapped against the bricks, as silent as the wind brushing the top of the dunes and sending sand rolling in waves. Her hands fed and let go, running down the length of the rope. She uttered a quick prayer for the end to take her a fraction closer to the ground, enough for her to not break her legs when she landed.

When the rope ran out, she freed herself from the rope and leaped. Sand swirled with the thud of her boots. Her knees worked perfectly as she straightened. Great. She snatched the rope again, wrapping a good amount of it as high as her height allowed around her fingers. Then, she yanked once. Twice. Thrice.

At the fourth time, she clicked her tongue and applied more pull. The groan of rock chipping clinked overhead. She stepped out of the shadow's way before the chunk of rock and the point of her knife hit her in the head. Debris rained over her, followed by the sharp thrum of metal hitting the rough particles of sand.

That was when she heard the distressed chatter of women and the Mayaware ringing from the corner of the wall. "Where are you taking us?" a woman demanded, shrieking in protest when the demon grabbed her arm and hauled her towards the cart. She was the last, with all the others already inside without a fight. "Where are you taking us?!"

"High Prince brides need," the Mayaware answered, the words breaking more than her heart already was. "Season soon coming. Must wife give. Give wife."

The woman wailed and flailed harder. As expected, the Mayaware won. It slammed the butt of its spear deep into the woman's lower back. The woman skittered across the sand, flung to her knees. Her hair sprayed out of her scarf. "Orders not kill," the demon said. Was that a threat or a five-year-old wanting world domination? "Orders not without hurt."

The woman hacked, bright red liquid dripping from her mouth. Hesi flattened herself against the wall, daring a peek to watch the Mayaware escort whistle to two others waiting by the gate and shut the cart's door. She followed the direction the mule took. It confirmed what she assumed when she heard of the word prince.

A plan formed in her mind, twisting the cords of her thoughts and pinching them in the right places. Pai told her to craft a world where they wouldn't have to run, and the only place where it would be possible was deep in the heart of Iren-Washep. That meant trekking past Rathome, the free lands, and entering a dead zone for her kind. It meant passing by Setene, the livelihood territory, and into the place she swore to never set foot on.

Against her wildest resistance and through some convoluted turn of events and the cruel hands of fate, the only way she could fulfill her promise was to take the highest place a human could reach in a kingdom of demons.

How would it feel—molding herself to be a woman fit for a demon prince only to drive a knife down its throat? It would be nice. Heaven. Because after the prince was the king. With an empty throne, the reign of blood would end.

It was the only way.

For her to set forth down that path, she must go to Berheqt.

She must become a bride.