Headed by a Snake

**Content Warning: Continuation of explicit torture and death**

Light slowly creeped into the room from beneath the heavy door. Doe's captors were returning. Maybe it wasn't too late to beg for death?

The wood-rotted door creaked open on rusty hinges, the oppressive light of a bullseye lantern spilling through. It hurt her eyes terribly. It had been so long that she hadn't been able to see.

...It had been so long without the warmth of a flame.

Seta had grown fat and bloated, her eyeless sockets staring in silent sadness at the two who entered.

An elderly man wearing tattered robes dragged his limping body into the room. Underneath white, unkempt hair, he wrinkled his large, crooked nose and blinked with eyes, clouded white. He lifted up his lantern, inspecting the caged women on display.

The old man didn't have a name... or if he did, Doe was never important enough to know it. He didn't deal with the lower echelons of House Galanis, and everyone with half-a-brain avoided him like the plague he stank of. He was referred to as the Ancient... or The Warlock.

It wasn't terribly creative, but those that called him anything but ended up in the Herd.

A younger man followed close beside him... a tiny-pricked, less-than-human bastard named Linos.

Linos focused the light of his own lantern at Doe's face.

It burnt so badly...

She struggled to shield her eyes with her hand. It had been too many suns without food and water... It tired her so... enough that she stopped her struggles, glowering into the burning light, helplessly accepting the pain.

"You ready to give in, Doe?" Linos smirked, "Being a part of the Herd isn't so bad."

Doe clenched her teeth. A few moments ago, she was fully intent on begging for death. Seeing Linos' pockmarked face and hearing his ugly, high-pitched voice, she wanted nothing more than to claw his eyes out.

She, along with Ialtrae and the others, were being prepared to join the Herd... through of House Galanis' weird, cult-y rituals. They said they'd be better sacrifices, the more torment they were put through.

Why couldn't she join a criminal organization that volunteered at soup kitchens or picked up trash on the beach? As a reward for years of faithful service to House Galanis, all Doe received was the special 'privilege' of learning about the Herd.

It was a fate worse than death.

Every man and woman who took part in the ritual would inevitably change. Sometimes, it took a few suns-- once, she'd seen it take a whole Flame-taken week.

Slowly, she'd start losing her memories... What she ate for breakfast. What she was doing and where she was... Where she grew up and who she grew up with. What her name was.

In that fear and panic, she'd become more suggestible... holding onto anyone that offered direction. Sleep with me. Take this drug. Sleep with a few of my friends. They'll protect you. I'll protect you.

They were the sweetest lies... Admittedly, they had worked on Doe even without mind-altering dark magic.

Eventually, she'd lose the ability to think for herself, her mind an empty slate. Her only use then would be suffering physical and sexual abuse without complaint. She wouldn't even be able to take care of herself... needing to be spoon-fed like a child and washed down like a beast.

A part of her didn't think it sounded so bad. The Herd lied around all day, violated and beaten by sadistic and cruel men and women. They were fed and bathed regularly.

But their eyes never changed. They held stared in sadness... they shook with fear. There was... clarity in those eyes.

Doe wasn't afraid of death. She was afraid of living each day unable to control herself... watching like a ghost... knowing that she couldn't even act to kill herself.

She should have left the organization, then. She should have left it a long time ago. She was stupid. She fell for the lies. She even lied to herself, laughing it off... saying it would never happen to her.

No one expects the worst to happen to them... until it does.

She opened her parched mouth to speak, willing sounds to come out... to form the words that would tell Linos how she truly felt.

"Ffff..."

"What's that, my love?" Linos raised an eyebrow. "Free you?"

"Fff....ffff...uck... yyyou...."

Yasss... She did it.

Doe closed her eyes... As dry as her lips and mouth were, she was smiling. The coppery taste of blood at the corner of her lips was her reward for her tiny victory... but even that made her tired.

Hopefully, they'd kill her for her disrespect.

An iron clang resounded through the room from a cage being struck. Three weakened women yelped in surprise to the tune of the low clatter of metal.

"WhaaAAt... the f*CK issss thisss???" The Ancient demanded, his words thick with phlegm and the gravelly crackle of age.

"What? The shite and piss on the floors?" Linos asked in contempt, "Or my relationship with the whore I was just talking to?"

Doe grit her teeth. She wanted to argue back... maybe insult his sexual ability or... ask if the bastard had ever loved her... But she was just so tired... She didn't even want to open her eyes.

The agonized screaming of three caged women gave Doe strength she didn't know she had. She opened her eyes. She shook her cage, "What? ...No ....S-stop it..."

The Warlock was holding out a twisted hand, a heretical swirl of green magic swirling around it. The room was illuminated as green flames engulfed a woman in the other cage.

Ialtrae... poor sweet Ialtrae... even as she burned alive, she was beautiful. Her eyes were twisted in pain as she sang... a mournful song of grief and unending suffering. The other two that shared her cage struggled, unable to escape-- they would share sweet Ialtrae's fate.

The sweet smell of burning flesh mixed in with the shite and rot. Doe's body was wracked with a body-convulsing pain as she dry heaved. There was nothing in her stomach left to vomit.

"Flame take you, Pyraxis," Linos frowned. "What is the meaning of this?"

"OhhHHHh, sod offffff, Linos..." The Warlock doubled over, coughing, only rising after spitting a thick glob of green upon the floor, "I willll notttt.... ssssuffer an elf to LIVE before me....."

Linos rolled his eyes, "Blasted old man! Elves are worth far more than normal men and women. You're wasting Mister Galanis' money."

"Annnd YOUUUU!!" The old man pointed a bony finger tipped with a rotten nail at Linos' throat, "have WaAAAsted my TIIIIME."

The old man pointed his gnarled hand at the immolated elf. The unholy green flames spilled from their cage and onto the filth of the cell's floor like it was a clump of bread dough. Obediently following the Warlock's direction, the flames wrapped tenderly around Linos in an immolating embrace.

The other women cried, continuing Ialtrae's song. Sweet Ialtrae remained quiet, listening in her infinite patience... just as poor, bloated, maggoty Seta held her peace.

Linos screamed... a half-step less musical than Ialtrae's, but somehow... comforting. Doe closed her eyes... She felt like she'd finally be able to sleep, listening to the lullaby of her ex-boyfriend burning alive.

She was so very tired.