The night went by sleeplessly. Having arrived at the village I had been taken up into the trees and made to sleep in a small room, almost like a cage, hanging from a large branch. Lying on an uneven wooden floor I could see the ground far down below. Being terrified of heights I stayed as close to the middle as possible, waking up each time the room swayed. My captors had not bothered to guard me since any attempt to escape would be met with a several hundred foot fall. I had been thrown a short animal skin tunic which provided some warmth, but did little to keep out the chill. Nonetheless, after a time, I fell asleep soundly.
The morning brought a soft light, which woke me up with the promise of a better day. As I sat up I felt the room start to sway again, so I quickly laid back down, my body tensing up in fear of falling. I rolled over and slowly crawled to the edge, attempting to look down at the forest ground below. I could see people milling about the village, all of whom seemed to be women.
After waiting for some time I started to shout, “Hey! I’m up here!”, hoping to get some attention. A few people looked up at me but I didn’t seem to consider me of much interest. I continued to yell for help, “Someone get me down!”. As I continued making a commotion I noticed a small crowd of women were forming far below, pointing up at me.
Eventually I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw a few women moving the staircase back into place. The staircase connected with the room and a tall, muscular woman with long brown hair and serious looking brown eyes walked up the stairs. Wearing skins similar to my captors from the night before, she was flanked by two female guards beside her, both holding spears.
“Thank you.” I said, as I tried to slowly stand up on the swaying platform. However, to my surprise, the woman shouted something, stepped onto the platform, and hit me hard in the gut with the handle of her spear. I fell to the wood floor in shock, coughing, trying to catch by breath. In a moment I felt one of the guards on my back, her knee digging in as she tightly bound my wrists behind me. Shoving a gag in my mouth the women began laughing and giggling amongst themselves. One guard, kicking me in the side yelled something at me. Finally, they left down the staircase, pulling it away once again.
“Great”, I thought “Apparently they just wanted me to shut up”. My face brushed against the dirty wooden floor as I wormed my way towards the center of the platform, feeling it swing wildly. I squeezed my eyes tight, imagining I was back home in my warm bed.
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Hours passed by, as I slipping in and out of sleep due to utter boredom, exhaustion, and hunger. Eventually I was awoken with a bump as the stairs were brought up to the platform again. The brown haired women was standing there again, along with the same two guards. I tensed as I felt one of the guards approach me. However, instead of kicking me, she picked me up by my arm, stood me on my feet and nudged me forward silently with the butt of her spear. I gingerly walked off of the platform with a breath of relief at being on something stable. I followed the other two down the stairs, the brown haired woman in the lead.
We were still pretty high up, and being able to get a better view I could now see an intricate village with stairs and platforms in the trees with houses for what could easily be a thousand or more women. We made our way down to a large platform and then along a long swaying bridge. My heart thumped heard in my chest as it swayed and I had no hands to steady myself with. Going through a network of platforms and bridges we came to a circular platform and to a staircase that snaked up a large tree, circling around it.
Walking up the staircase I relaxed a bit, as it was the most stable ground I had walked on yet today. We begin to climb again, and my anxiety began to grow at the height. Reaching the top I noticed that we were approaching a large, circular room that had been built near the top of a very large tree. As we reached the outside we halted and the woman leading us began a conversation with one of the guards outside the room. As they talked, one of the other guards removed my gag and untied my hands. I breathed deeply, giving her a grateful look that was returned by an apathetic glance. A moment later we entered.
The room, by far the most ornate I had seen in my walk through the camp. The entrance was covered by thick animal skins, making the inside of the room several degrees cooler than outside. At the far end of the room sat a woman with long black hair, sinking into a large throne like chair appraisingly. There was no mistaking it. This was the woman in charge.
Wearing the same clothes as the others, I noticed that they were of a different color and material — Red fur with a silky sheen to it. Her hair, tied and pulled over to the side, framed a hardened face. Beside her, on either side knelt the first men I had seen in the village. She had her hand on one, petting him ingratiatingly. The other leaned against her chair watching me. Obviously slaves or servants of some kind, though rather than looking weak and malnourished, they appeared to be strong than the woman in the village. The woman in the chair gazed at me and issued a command, at which point the guard beside me hit my leg, knocking me to me knees.