Ramah struggled with her heavy load. She pushed a cart of food from the fields back to where it would be prepared for the others. Thousands of other women worked in the fields guarded by the Agonotti. They grew and harvested from fields she did not recognize. They had once belonged to someone, but now they were gone-either the owners were prisoners somewhere, or they had already been killed.
She had a good life once, but the months since the Guardians had been defeated by the outlanders had been the terror of everyone on Draconis. Many thousands had died during wave after wave of Agonotti attacks upon the cities. Many others, both men and women, had been captured for their nefarious plans for the future.
Ramah was seventeen. Her normally thin figure had become boney mostly due to the constant hard labor and lack of food. The sun had darkened her bronze skin further and her raven hair was long and ungroomed.
Ramah wheeled the cart on toward the warehouse compound where their group was being fed. In another building her small sleeping quarters had been a place where animals had been kept and now the tiny stalls were used for the breeders. There were no beds, only straw to sleep upon. The Agonotti treated them like cattle and that was all she could look forward to for the rest of her life-working for in the fields for her conquerors.
Today, something was happening in the ruins just over the rise from their compound. Various clouds of Agonotti had been arriving separately and descending into the ancient amphitheatre that remained mostly uncovered. This is very unusual, she thought as she continued on inside with her cargo under the watchful eyes of a nearby Agonotti guard.