Lux tries to reason with her captor

The chattering of the mites is all around Lux, a wall of noise in her hazy mind. The world swims before her, out of focus. She lashes out as the mob crowds in on her, trying to push them away, but to her dismay she’s too slow, too weak. She can do little more than flail feebly as the little bastards seize her arms and legs and, working together, they pull her down to the ground.

Small and light as they are, they’re enough to hold her in her current state. She thrashes desperately, aware of many eager eyes watching how her body twists and writhes. With handfuls of leftover spiderweb, they begin to tie her down to wooden stakes, gleefully chattering.

Spreadeagled, with her arms and legs spread wide – the worst pose she can imagine when surrounded by these stupid blue creeps, many of whom have already stripped off their dirty rags to reveal small but still threatening erections. Moment by moment, her defiance slips towards panic, not helped by the thought that’s been at the back of her mind all along: what have they already done to her, while she slept? Is that ache and warmth in her pussy from earlier, or is it some anticipation of what’s to come…?

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the leader, the scarred one, making his way back. Something in his hands – she can’t make it out, but judging by the look of cruel anticipation on his big ugly face, whatever it is isn’t going to be good.

“Stay the fuck away from me,” she hisses – all fire and defiance on the inside, but her voice is barely a whisper. The scarred mite doesn’t even seem to hear her. He grunts an order to the others, and most of them back off.

Lux tenses as he approaches her. Her instinct is to stare him down, but it isn’t easy from this angle – and, she realises with an sense of annoying familiarity, he’s not looking anywhere near her eyes. Trapped in this **** position with her body on full display, she knows she’s not going to intimidate anyone. But she has to try something.

“Listen.” As hard as she tries to keep her voice level, she can hear the tremor in it. “I haven’t done anything to you. I was just – passing by.”

The mite stops. Lux sees something like amusement in his eyes. He’s smarter than the others, as well as bigger. Though only just big enough to look down at her, while she lies flat on her back.

“Didn’t think to do anything for us, did you?” He looks her in the eye, finally. “Didn’t think to pay tribute?”

“Minn – my guide, didn’t tell me about—” Lux takes a breath. “Please. I’m just looking for the queen of this place, the Hamadryad. If I can free her, she can – she can fix things?”

“Oh. ‘Fix things’.” The mite’s lip curls. “Fix things for pretty dryads, maybe. Fix things for pixies and sprites.” He spits the words. “Will things be ‘fixed’ for us too? Will it make any difference for us?”

Lux doesn’t know what to say. But the mite isn’t waiting for an answer. Real venom in his voice now as he gets into his stride.

“We are the vermin, the ones who crawl and hide. Lowest of the low. Nothing ever gets better for us. Nobody ever thinks about us. Nobody gives us anything – we only get what we take.”

His fingers close around the flesh of her thigh, and pinch hard. Lux winces.

“Bottom of the heap, and we can’t climb up.” The mite’s eyes bore into hers, full of hate. “But we can drag you down, down. And keep you here.”