A Cruel Passing of Innocence Read Online Free Page B

was fierce, burning naked flesh. The leader had given orders for single strips of cotton to be handed up to each girl to wind around their faces. Then the men held up a large heavy strip of material – drapes from the dismantled tents, Nassara thought to herself – for each mount. The girls were made to wrap the rough cloth around their shoulders, so that their bodies were enveloped and protected.
    Soon after the procession moved off. In a while there was a hushed, plodding rhythm of padding hooves in the sand, broken only by an occasional shout from one of the men. Although the drape around the three mounted girls was coarse, and smelt of untold odours, Nassara was glad of its protection from the sun, as much as by the cloth around her head and face, leaving only her eyes exposed. The strange drape was now a single, common garment to the three girls, covering them. Their sweating bodies moved in a strange swaying rhythm, rubbing against each other at every lurch of the beast, and after a while the heat beneath the drape was almost unbearable.
    The beast’s curious motion took some time to get used to. With every lurch Nassara felt her groin drag and her hips jerk forward against the spread of Belithza’s rump, while at the same time feeling the thighs of the black girl press into her from behind. Their legs, precariously hanging on either side of the saddle, were locked together, one against the other. The welt across Nassara’s breasts throbbed constantly as they rubbed against Belithza’s back to every motion of the animal’s awkward gait.
    The leader on his white horse was somewhere out in front; his mounted guards a few respectful paces behind. Then came the three beasts carrying the girls. A youth walked in front of each beast, leading it by a rein, occasionally tapping the animal with a stick to maintain a constant stride.
    On Nassara’s left flank, slightly behind, walked the shackled young men, spaced out by their chains in single file. She could see that their studded collars chafed and worried their necks from every drag of the chains. There was no protective covering for their raddled figures, their naked flesh exposed to the full glare of the sun’s rays. Riding beside the wretched, clinking file was one of the horsemen, carrying a long whip that tapered into a leather tail. Every so often he would flay it at the ground, sometimes flicking the ankles of the young men, making them break into a shambling trot. Nassara hoped the journey would not be far; otherwise they would be dangerously stricken by heat and exhaustion.
    Somewhere behind, mounted on desert beasts, rode the other whip-men. Nassara could not see them, but she felt their proximity, their eyes as vigilant as ever. Nassara knew better than to turn around, fearful of their evil presence.
    Further behind them came the remainder of the camp followers, pack animals loaded high with the general paraphernalia of the decampment.
    As far as the eye could see sand dunes stretched out into the shimmering haze of heat. What dreadful place at the edge of the earth was this procession of misery taking them to? How long would the journey last? Could Nassara endure it?
    Closing her eyes against the fierce glare she let her body adapt to the unfamiliar motion. Settling as comfortably as she could between her companions, she felt their moist flesh rubbing and gliding against hers. She smelt their scent, as well as the strange odour of the desert beast.
    They rode silently, but occasionally she could hear a moan coming from one of the girls on the beast behind. The endless landscape seemed never to change, although they must have already travelled a great distance, for the sun was nearly down, yet the heat under the drape was undiminished. After a while she dared to whisper in Belithza’s ear, but kept a sharp sideways lookout for any whip-men. The girls had learned that talking was not a prerogative of their captivity.
    Behind her