Gild

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination, sexual violence, emotional abuse, graphic violence, and death.

The pirates drag Auren and Sail uphill toward three large pirate ships that are built like enormous sleds and pulled by giant snowy cats with fiery paws. Sail calls them fire claws; the felines are 10 feet tall and can melt snow or kill a person with a single swipe. Dozens of pirates congregate around the ships. They lead the surviving horses into one ship’s hold and then loot the caravan’s supplies and gold. They gather the saddles in a shivering group and strip the surviving guards of armor.

Sail whispers reassurances to Auren as he is shoved into line with the other guards and Auren is placed with the saddles. Beside Auren, Polly sits in the snow shivering, her dress torn to shreds. Auren strips off her coat and drapes it over Polly’s shoulders. Polly glares at her and then mumbles her thanks, fatalistically warning the women that the pirates will use the saddles for sex and then sell them off. Hearing this, Auren chastises herself for thinking that a single night with Fulke would be horrible, and she wonders if this new situation is her fault for daring to wish that she could leave her cage.