Court of Snakes: This Desert Cage

Induction - Barracks | January of the Second Year

"Rise and shine!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The echoes of the rattling door shook Parisa's tiny shack, and she leapt out of bed, covering her head out of fear. Commander Crevan's gravel-throated voice grated beyond the door, and he yelled, "Outside in ten!"

Parisa took a moment to recover there, on the floor, shaking, and eventually stood to look around. The shack appeared much more dismal in the daylight, beams of sun floating through the spaces between broken shingles. The night had been cold and unwelcoming, winter air permeated through the cracks and holes. Her breath formed clouds as she stood, and dust motes floated through the light as though they were lost. Winters in Segeno were not cold for long, and the day would be warm before she knew it, but the night had been relentless and dry, and she wanted to be at home in bed with her books.

She almost forgot what had happened and expected to wake and see her breakfast in her lap, just like yesterday and the day before. Here she stood, in the cold, and it took her moments before she mustered the courage to open her dresser, an old, wooden thing, and see what lay inside. She pulled on a pair of trousers that were too big for her and cranked a belt down around her waist to help them stay up. The shirt's sleeves were too long, and she rolled them up to keep them from slipping over her hands. On the floor rested boots that laced up with hard soles and scuffs in the toe, not new, and white leather gloves that barely fit her delicate hands. She had no mirror to examine herself, but she was sure that if she did, she would look like a clown in her oversized getup. She laid her Embassy dress and shoes, a memento of the old, into the bottom drawer of the dresser and dashed out the door.

On the lawn of the barracks stood the garrison, and, lined in a neat row, only a dozen or so men. Most of them were her age or a little older, from what she could see. All of them were young boys, and Parisa could not believe what she saw. When she had last visited with Esmond, the men that stood there had certainly been men. One of the soldiers before her now barely came up to her shoulders. What had her father been thinking, recruiting ones so young? Most of the guards that she had ever known had been old men, and she could not imagine why they were lowering the draft age requirements. The only threats to Segeno, as far as Parisa knew, were sandstorms and thieves. The number of Elite Guards grew and grew each year, and for what?

She shook at the end of the line, sticking out like a sore thumb next to the dark-skinned, fit boys that stood like statues adjacent to her. A gust of wind came, shook her curly hair, and she hurried to pull it from her face. With shaky and hasty fingers, she used some curls to pull back others until her blond ringlets were out of her face.

Commander Crevan paced in front of the boys, his stern eyes examining their every flaw with disgust. When he stepped in front of Parisa, he touched her hair with his large fingers and bent down to meet her face.

"What is that?" he demanded.

"My hair, sir."

He reached for her hair again and she reflexively flinched, not caring to have him touch her again, but he grabbed her shoulder hard. With a massive hand, he ran his fingers through the curls in her ponytail.

"How is it that your hair is so light?"

"I was born that way, sir."

Commander Crevan flicked an eyebrow in curiosity and released her. "We'll have to cut that mop off your head. I'll leave a pair of shears for you in your bunk."

"Y-Yes, sir," Parisa replied, her voice wavering. She met eyes with the other boys, whose hair had been cropped close to their scalps, and knew hers was next.

"Now, you all are here to be inducted into the Embassy's Elite Guard. This branch of our great military is one of rigorous training, blood, sweat, tears, mud, and pain. I know you all are young and most of you are here for the high pay. Despite your motives, you all have been selected because you are the best of the best. You've surpassed your other peers and deserve to learn more specific skills. Are you ready to partake in the biggest challenge of your worthless lives?"