Page 20 of Warlord's Mate
“I have sewing materials.”
Marcy looked up at Celestia. “Thanks. I’ll undoubtedly need them.” She stood and held the pieces up again. The cloth was thin, and both strips were wide and long enough to wrap around her several times. She could make a wrap dress. Maybe.
The shirt she’d been given was nearly black now thanks to Jityria making her clean the ash pit by hand. She searched for Jityria. The warlord had told her not to leave camp unescorted or without permission. Was Jityria supposed to go with her? She probably wouldn’t even if she asked. But … she’d told her to go bathe so maybe that was all the permission she needed.
Tucking the material under her arm, she headed toward the path to the pond. She was halfway there before she realized Jorrick had gone this way. He wasn’t at the pond when she made it to the top of the hill, though. She looked toward the waterfall cave. If she had to guess, she’d say that was where he’d gone and even though that waterfall looked like heaven, she headed toward the pond.
The water was as cold as it had been earlier and she hissed in a startled breath when she stepped in. She looked toward the cave. Not seeing Jorrick, she stripped off the filthy shirt, sucked in a breath and took a running leap into the water.
And came up gasping.
As she had the day before, she scrubbed with the fine-grain sand on the bottom of the pond, her skin tingling by the time she saw Jorrick exit the cave. She ducked down, submerging in the water until nothing but her nose and the top of her head were peeking out and watched him walk to the path and head back to camp. If he’d literally meant for her to not leave camp alone, she certainly didn’t want him to see her by herself again.
Marcy finished her bath and dried her hair and body on the longest strip of cloth Jityria had given her and then wrapped it around her body. It barely covered her ass and all it would take was for her to lean over to show anyone looking everything she had.
She unwound the cloth and wrapped it around her waist instead, making a skirt out of it. It fell to the top of her thighs. Pushing the material to her hips made it long enough her butt wouldn’t show if she bent over and she tucked the end into the material wrapped around her hips and grabbed the second piece of cloth. She did the same with it, wrapping it around her top half and secured it underneath her arm, then picked up the old shirt she'd been wearing and headed back to camp.
She asked Celestia about her sewing supplies when she made it back to the females hut. She followed her inside and was reaching for the small box when the material she had wrapped around her breasts fell off. Celestia laughed. It was the first time she'd ever heard her do it but as soon as she did, she looked horrified and hurried out of the hut.
"These aliens are so strange." The box contained a crude needled that looked to be made of something resembling bone. The thread was thicker than what she'd used back on earth but beggars couldn't be choosers.
It took her twenty minutes to figure out how to make the length of cloth resemble a top and not half a dress. She'd ended up wrapping it around her back and grabbing both ends and crossing them in front of her, pulling both ends up and tying them around her neck. She sewed the front together best she could and ended up with a crisscross halter top. A good portion of her midriff showed, but it was either pull her skirt up to her waist and potentially show her ass, or wrap it around her hips and show her belly. She opted for the belly.
The others looked at her when she stepped out of the hut. Tezhlia smiled. "Jityria won't be pleased you were able to make the scraps she gave you work."
Marcy tugged at the material underneath her breasts. "I figured as much."
She sat back down and tossed the filthy shirt she'd been wearing on the ground. It was so dirty, she doubted washing it would do much good but she wasn’t about to burn it without someone telling her to.
Picking up another of the ear-like things, she resumed cutting them into strips and for the first time since being dropped on Prison Moon One, felt like herself. She was clean, was covered in enough material she didn't feel naked, and despite the food here bordering on disgusting, she wasn't starving.
The ear-like things were calledvacso, according to Sebra. They'd cut them all into strips for cooking and she was reaching for the last one when the sound of a woman screaming filled the air. Everyone in camp looked toward the forest, herself included, and she saw one of the aliens dragging a woman into the clearing.
“Do not look.” Celestia bumped her arm with her elbow. “It is not our business what happens. Your only focus is the task you’ve been assigned so keep your head down. You will be punished if they see you show any sort of interest in their affairs.”
That would explain why these women hadn’t paid her any attention when she was brought into camp.
The woman screamed again, struggling in the grasp of the alien who held her and fought like the devil himself had caught her. Apparently supplies hadn't been all they'd had in that drop shipment.
She turned away, trying to ignore what was happening but found herself taking quick glances their way, especially when the sounds coming from the surrounding forest grew in volume, voices starting to reach them now as angry shouts filled the air.
Marcy tilted her head in such a way she could see without it being obvious and saw half a dozen bodies come rushing into camp at once. The woman screamed again, saying, “Stop! You’re hurting him,” and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
She knew that voice.
Jumping to her feet, she stared across camp, watching as dozens of aliens came rushing from the trees dragging a naked man with them. She sucked in a breath, not realizing she was holding it until the girl turned around enough she could see her face. Her heart started racing, the breath exploding from her chest as she recognized her.
Sara was in the warlord’s camp.
Marcy screamed Sara’s name and was running across camp, her heart ready to burst from her chest by the time Sara saw her and screamed her name in return. She was less than a hundred feet away when the snake-like alien who had stuck his hand up under her shirt the day before and copped a little feel stepped into her line of sight. He snarled at her and took a step to the side, throwing out one beefy arm to block her, the long appendage catching her at throat level.
Her feet flew out from under her and she hit the ground flat on her back—hard—the wind knocked from her lungs. She lay there stunned, gasping and trying to catch her breath as the noise around camp once again grew in volume.
The snake alien who’d effectively “clothes-lined” her stepped into her line of sight. He was smiling, amusement clear on his snaky face. The smile didn’t last long. One moment he was grinning down at her, the next, his eyes widened, his mouth opened in a silent gasp, that forked tongue once again visible as brown liquid slowly spilled past his lips to dribble down his chin.
Marcy blinked when she realized something was sticking from his chest. The long shard was pointed on the end and coated with the same stuff falling from the aliens mouth. He sank to the ground, both knees slamming into the dirt beside her.
Towering over the kneeling alien was the warlord. He raised his leg, placing his foot on the aliens back and shoved him forward. The bloody shard piercing his chest slid out with a sickening wet sound as he fell face first into the dirt.