Sleep deserted Mica all night.
She tossed and turned in her bed until the thin tattered sheet wrapped around her legs in a tired tango. Her mind was loud and tormenting, but in the midst of noise she heard him.
The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. Heavy and purposeful. Uncle.
… little lamb…
Mica's eyes squeezed shut just as he reached for the doorknob and swung it open.
Beneath her eyelids she saw the curve of golden light from the lantern he was holding, the stench of alcohol followed close by.
"Git up."
She tensed as he stepped inside and moments later the blanket was torn from her body. Large hands grabbed her ankles and with casual ease, yanked her from the bed.
"Hey–" The wind knocked from her.
Before she could orient herself he reached for her thin forearm and dragged her onto her feet.
"Hey!"
"Shut up. It's time."
This silenced her. Stumbling behind him while being drawn away from her shelter, Mica stared wide eyed at her aunt who was standing solemnly by the front door.
"H-hey auntie? What's happening?"
"I'm sorry Mica… I'm really sorry…"
Mica's pulse was thumping now heavily at the base of her throat.
She tensed in her uncle's vice grip which was dragging her at an unrelenting pace.
She tried to dig her heels into the floor, "What? Why are you sorry? What's happening?"
And then she saw it.
The sack of coins nursed in her aunt's hands, too large to be hidden from her view. Her face paled as she turned towards the door where a handful of men stood holding lanterns, the solemn faces cast in the shadows of night.
They had come for her.
She had been sold as a sacrifice to the Lycan King.
"No!" This time she bucked hard enough for her drunk uncle to loosen his grip on her forearm.
Mica pivoted on her heels, sprinting for her bedroom already mapping ways to escape from the window and into the woods–
An explosion of white glazed over her vision as something hard and heavy slammed against the back of her head.
She lost her footing and the ground came rushing up to meet her.
・・・・・
It was the soft sound of mewling cries that awoke Mica.
A gentle sob in the corner.
A mourn of agony in another.
And the ground beneath her felt hard and cold and wet.
With a gentle groan, Mica tried peeling her eyes open.
Darkness.
She blinked and raised a hand to her eyes just to confirm that they were truly open in such absolute blackness. They were.
And then the memories came unbidden.
Her uncle.
The sack of money.
The explosion of pain in her head. She touched her head and felt the rough gauze of bandages wrapped tightly about her skull, the back of it was sticky.
"Don't move." A young voice sounded so close it startled her. "It'll only make it worse."
"Where am I?"
"In the cage."
Mica tried to squint in the darkness to make out the formless figure beside her. The edges were far too soft and her voice too fragile, young.
"The guards will come for us when it's time for the sacrifice."
She wanted to sit up and move around but her body was tired, the pain left her muscles trembling and sore. It hurt to even keep her eyes open.
Mica pursed her lips to stop the trembling but the edge of her aunt's betrayal slid clean into her chest. "How long have we been here?"
"Not long…"
"Mum! Mama!" A girl's wail echoed from the other corner of the cage. Many were silently crying, others rocking themselves in dread of what was to come.
Others had gone still with the inevitable acceptance of their deaths being brought about by the Lycan King.
"I don't want to die." The girl beside her whispered while reaching out for Mica's hand— a small clammy thing grasping tentatively as if for comfort.
Mica couldn't move.
Her own mind had seemed to draw a blank from the shock until she heard movement outside the cage. The cage lurched forward then back violently startling the girls within as it was hauled onto something.
For a moment all was silent.
And then it began to move.
"Where are we going?"
"To where he wants us."
They huddled amongst each other like hens as the carriage lurched over uneven roads and swayed from side-to-side. Mica could make out the full moon from where she sat as slivers of cold light cut through the slats of the carriage wall.
… mica …
She blinked and looked up at the girl pressed into her side. "How do you know my name?"
"Huh?"
"You called me."
"No I didn't–"
"I thought I heard—"
The carriage doors swung open suddenly and violently as guards descended on them like nightfall.
Rough hands reached for soft skin bruised from hours of being torn from their households.
Mica was grabbed amongst the scuffle and brought to her feet quickly as a hand roughly shoved her out of the carriage.
It was drizzling.
Her feet splashed onto mud.
She barely had to react when her arms were drawn behind her and interlocked with rope.
"Wait, please…" The panic set in and words rushed out in a flood, "... I can pay my way out of this–"
One of the guards chuckled lowly while the other shook his head. "Hear that?"
Her muscles ached as she was dragged backwards towards a pole dug upright into the ground. It was hard against her spine and her skin marbled into gooseflesh where the cold rain touched.
"P-please…" Her mouth was pried wide open and a ball of cloth shoved deep enough to make her gag.
She could taste her tears.
All around the seven girls were lined up to her left and she was the last one.
Here, under the moonlight, she could make out the familiar faces; farmer daughter's, council members, one young waitress from the bar… all virgins and given at a price for peace within the human kingdom.
"Should we strip them?"
"No time. The Lycan will be here."
The guards were moving in a flurry of desperation, enough for her to notice the tense fear of thread running through each of them. She watched in despair as they entered the carriage and whipped the restless horses back towards safety.
It was hard to breathe with the gag in her throat and water running down her nose. Still she tried to gather herself, tried to stop the trembling of her legs and the tense sensation in her bladder.
The girls cried.
Thunder rumbled in the sky.
Lightning flashed hot and white.
And that's when they heard the growl.
Mica's heart stopped for a second. Long enough for her to feel the cool touch of death along her nape, raising the hackles as she sensed movement in the woods behind her.
A girl screamed beside her, muffled by the gag.
And that's when she saw blood-red eyes staring from within the darkness.
… little lamb… my little lamb…
The Lycan King had arrived.