A Cruel Passing of Innocence Read Online Free PDF

emerged noisily to greet the convoy, and Nassara heard muffled laughter and guttural banter. The youths leading the desert beasts clearly knew where to go, leading them towards a large hut that stood alone. In front of it the beasts were made to kneel in the sand, ready to unload their reluctant cargo. Nassara saw that the young men, still in their shackles and near to collapse, were being herded towards another hut.
    The whip-men circled the sitting beasts and gesticulated, shouting for the girls to discard their covering and dismount.
    Other men approached, holding lanterns. Evil eyes glinted in the dark, sweeping lecherously over the naked arrivals. The men joked with one another, pointing and gesturing, exchanging vulgar comments. But Nassara was beyond caring, glad to put her feet on soft sand again, her body stiff and aching, her legs sore from the rubbing motion. Belithza moaned quietly, stumbling to the ground, and she staggered to where Nassara and Ugimba waited.
    â€˜I could not have endured…’ she started to say, her voice tailing off, remembering the whip-men’s presence. But they were, it seemed, too tired for cruelty, and they ordered the girls into the large hut, gesticulating with their whips.
    It was warm inside; a fire had been lit at one end. An old woman was stirring some steaming food in a large pot, and soon the girls, ravenous and parched, were fed and watered. Heavy blankets were issued to each of them, and almost gratefully they settled down to sleep, fretful in their troubled slumbers, fearing the next rise of the sun.
    Nassara huddled in her blanket, her eyes seeking Belithza’s, but she’d already fallen into an exhausted sleep beside her. Alone in the darkness, hearing only the restless breathing and occasional mutterings from her companions, Nassara closed her eyes at last, and drifted into a troubled sleep of unwanted dreams.
    She awoke with a start, the sense of dread instantly upon her. Stiff and aching she sat up. From outside came the unwelcome sounds of activity. Men were shouting, and somewhere nearby Nassara could hear the muffled sound of clanking metal and chains. Bright rays of the early sun shone dustily through the open doorway. The other girls were stirring unwillingly from their sleep, groggy yawns turning quickly to awareness.
    A whip-man appeared at the entrance, his implement held menacingly at the ready. He shouted and gesticulated for the girls to get up and go outside, his evil eyes darting around, enjoying the fearful looks that greeted him.
    The girls stumbled out into the glare of the sun. Naked once more they formed up in a line, no longer heeding the now familiar lecherous stares of the men gathered there, nor their jeering remarks and obscene gestures.
    Nassara looked discretely about, avoiding any eye contact with the men. Before them lay the sea, and even in her fearful dejection she marvelled at the glittering beauty and vastness. Nearby, alongside a jetty, was a large boat, its pointed bow rising high above the descending sweep of its decks. A furled sail fluttered from its tall, swaying mast, as the craft rocked lazily from side to side with every swell of a wave.
    â€˜Where do they take us?’ Belithza whispered urgently in Nassara’s ear, and then, as if in answer, the girls’ attention was drawn at once to movement in front of one of the other huts. Chained as before, the ragged young men were filing out into the sunlight, bleary-eyed, their raw, dusty skin showing all too clearly the cruel ravages of the lash and the relentless sun on their nakedness. The guard with the long black whip ushered them towards the boat, making them shuffle quickly to where a gangplank led up onto the deck. Noisily their bare feet rattled the crude planking as they stumbled aboard, chains jangling in unmelodic despondency.
    More turbaned men stood waiting on deck for the prisoners, whips at the ready. Once aboard the young men were made to crouch