Sheep to be Slaughtered

~Chapter Four~

The sounds of pigs snorting below me mixed with the bleating of sheep seemed far away despite being so close. I sat in the loft of one of the barns, chewing absentmindedly on a piece of straw as I tried to come to terms with the fate that awaited me at the day's end. It wouldn't be long now before Founder Marco would be calling the village together for the Daily Offering. I couldn't stand the thought of having to see him... how had this injustice ever been normalized? How did no one seem to think it was wrong? The thought of engaging in such intimate action with the man was vile. To add on to the agonizing thought, I suspected that my own mother had often shared his bed...

I shivered and buried my head into my hands. This was so, so unfair. I wanted to scream, to release my frustration and helplessness...

... but I could not.

This was normal. This was life. This was how we survived.

So many other young women had been able to fulfill their obligatory contributions and had borne children... it was my turn now. This was the way it had to be in order for us to survive. I tried to convince myself of this statement I so often had to repeat to myself. There is nothing out there... this is the only life we will have and will ever know.

So then, why must it be spent like this?

"Eleyah..."

I looked up. Zander.

He looked concerned. "You're crying, Eleyah. What's wrong?" He was at my side quickly, kneeling in front of me and pulling out an old rag. He handed it to me. "Sorry... it's a bit dirty but... better than nothing?"

I touched my cheek... oh, I hadn't even realized there were tears that had slipped from my eyes. I accepted the rag with a smile. "Thank you," I said. How was I to tell him I was to be given away to Founder Marco and allow him to do as he pleased with me? It was embarrassing... humiliating and degrading to be treated as nothing but a broodmare. Was this really all I was worth? Was this my purpose? Another tear fell from my eye.

"Eleyah, please talk to me," Zander moved closer, he sounded worried now. "What's wrong?"

Well, there was no reason to hide anything... he would find out sooner or later and nothing he could do would change the situation.

"The time has come for me to fulfill my obligations to the village as a woman and bear children," I said stoically. "Founder Marco himself has requested me tonight."

Zander went stone still, his face now unreadable.

"It appears I will not be able to help you mend the fence later after all," I went on. "Seeing as I need to bathe properly before tonight." My words had turned bitter, my inability at holding back my temper presenting itself.

"What if you were to ask him to change his mind?" Zander asked suddenly.

I laughed. "My own mother struck me for questioning Founder Marco's decisions," I retorted. "I can't imagine how Founder Marco would react to such a request."

"But what if you should simply ask he change his mind about being the one to... reproduce with you?"

I cringed. Reproduce? By the Venge, he was more awkward than I was. And what was he getting at? "So, I can be pawned off to some other man twenty years older than me in the village who would like nothing more than to take advantage of a young woman?"

"No, no," Zander seemed somewhat taken aback by my blunt words. "Eleyah, what if you asked him... if we were to go to him perhaps... what if we asked him to let me be the one..."