Krista briefly glanced over at last night's fire pit only to look away quickly, as tears came to her eyes at what she had seen. She hadn't cried once last night, but the sight of Elise's mangled and lifeless body lying discarded on the ground like mere trash was too much. Elise had always treated her meanly, but no one deserved what had happened to her. Thankfully the others didn't see her or maybe they had just been too afraid to look.
The oxcart carrying them broke off from the main group and headed out with a smaller escort towards the Attorgron capitol buried deep within the forest.
They entered the forest two days later. Krista had never seen such a forest as this. It made her own beloved forest look puny and incomparable to the unmatched majesty of the forest that pressed in all around her now. How she would have loved to find its hidden secrets and pathways instead of being chained to the side of this cart bound for a destiny to hideous to contemplate.
Five days later after passing through small villages almost swallowed up by the forest that encroached around them they reached a larger city called Santarus. It was the main economic hub of the Attorgron Empire. The capitol of the Attorgron Empire was another three days journey beyond it through the forest. For the first time in days the girls were herded out of the oxcart and into an establishment that must in these parts qualify as an inn. Again they were lined up forcefully against a wall.
Esmerelda came into the room to stand before them to regard each of them directly with a hateful glare. It was hard to look at her and not be disgusted, as her greasy looking facepaint began to run down her face, because of the oppressive humidity of the day.
"Alright girls listen up. I have an extremely influential and wealthy client in this city. Who from time to time purchases fine products such as yourselves to use as he pleases. You would do well to impress him as he pays me very well. If none of you catch his fancy it will go badly for all of you! Do I make myself clear?"
The girls for the most part resigned to their fate nodded their heads hoping at least for an easier outcome than Elise's had been, but Krista remained still. She would play no games of appeasement to the whore mistress, who controlled their fate even if it made things worse for her. Esmerelda seemingly satisfied with what she saw retired to a chair in the room to wait for the wealthy buyer to appear. She didn't have to wait long.