AN: Okay, so, this takes place in Inkspell. The prisoners of the Adder are shipped off on slave ships before Farid, Dustfinger, and all the others arrive to bring them back. So, this means that Farid is not killed by Basta (yet), Basta is not killed by Mo (yet), and Dustfinger does not die by resurrecting Farid (NO NO NO YET! Because I didn't like it that way. lol) So yeah, Meggie and all the other prisoners (Barn Owl, Resa, Mo, etcetera.) are going to be sold off as slaves. : Lol, oh no. (Also if I've messed up terribly with a fact that is in the book, please let me know, okay? Because my copy of Inkspell is all the way across the country with my sister… I miss it. xD)
ONE SHOT!
"Yes, yes, this is quite the shipment you've brought in today. Two yellow hairs… both slim, well, imagine that!" Boasted the slave auctioneer, Daz. "And you say that they can read, the yellow hairs?" Aamu, the owner of the slave ship, nodded.
"Saw them scribbling with me own eyes. They's smart, too. The girl cowers behind the woman whenever Blazek entered the cargo hold. Blazek says he heard the girl mutter a words in her sleep ever night I put him on guard of the slaves. Something like fuh-reed. Strange creature, that little wench… refused at first to tell us her name, refused to drink with me and me men. Blazek convinced her easily though, two lashings to the back, she was like mud in me hands.
"Now the older wench, though… she refuses to leave a dark haired man. Keeps calling him Mo." The name slipped awkwardly off his tongue. "Figured that be his name…" Daz was beginning to grow rather impatient with the slave trader.
"Enough, I'll give you forty gold coins for this shipping. You're in luck that I'm in a generous mood today, or I'd have sent you back to the Adder as only a head by now." Aamu's eyes widened at the threat. He gulped, but said nothing. "Shackle the slaves and bring them out, I want the yellow hairs in the front, keep this dark haired man away from them, we don't want any of the slaves getting ideas from the yellow haired wench." Aamu nodded and scurried back to his ship to unload the slaves.
"Mo," Meggie whispered, her voice hoarse from so many tears. "What's going to happen to us, Mo?" Mo looked at her sympathetically, wishing with all his might that he could tell his daughter that everything was going to be alright, but he himself had a hard time believing that. So did Resa.
"We'll be alright, baby." Resa cooed, reassuring Meggie while Mo could not. She hugged her family close, wondering if after today she would ever be together with her family again. For barely over a year, Resa had been with her family. She didn't want to lose them again. She'd missed over a decade of Meggie's life, and she wasn't planning on missing a single day of the rest of it. She ran her hand thru her daughter's silk blonde hair.
"I love you, Meggie, and I will never let anything hurt you, not again." Resa felt absolutely terrible for what had happened to her daughter only the second night on the ship. Taken up to where the bloody sailors celebrated, drunk. They'd lashed at her soft skinned back, easily pealing away the flesh, if not for Barn Owl, Meggie probably would have been unconscious or in terrible pain for days. Mo rest a hand on Meggie's arm, gazing into her deep, blue eyes.
"We'll make it through this, I promise. We'll find a way out of this situation; we always do." Mo had always been a terrible liar, and to this day he still was. Another tear rolled down Meggie's cheek. She knew she would probably never see Mo again. She knew for a fact she'd never see Farid again, her mother again.
"Shhh, Meggie, it'll be okay, we promise you that everything will be okay." Resa was about to continue soothing her daughter when their inmates by the stairs let out a deep cry.
The man who had whipped Meggie was on his way over to them. Meggie shifted to behind her mother. Mo stood to do all he could to protect his wife and daughter.
But he couldn't do much other than that.
Blazek easily knocked him aside and off his feet. "You two, come with me." He said in a gruff voice. Like all the other men working aboard the ship, Blazek couldn't help but admire the beauty of Meggie and her mother.
Blazek himself, though, was far from beautiful. He was tall, fat, and had uncountable scars spread across nearly ever inch of his body. He was missing an eye, but his one, piercing black eye made up for the loss of the other. His nose was rather on the large side, and his lips were quite thin.
He grasped a hold of Resa's hair, making her let out a whimper of pain. Meggie tried to escape farther back into the corner, she tried to become nothing, but it didn't work. Blazek reached for her, but she scratched back at him, spat on him, too. Blazek, of course, had a more violent reply to that. He kicked her just below her knee, nice and hard. Meggie let out a fierce cry of pain and dropped both of her hands to cover her now bleeding knee.
Resa, reached for Meggie, but Blazek yanked her back by her fine yellow hair. "Get up, wench." He spat at Meggie who ignored him. "Isaid get up, damn it!" He reached for his whip, prepared to beat the young woman to a pulp.
"Get up, Meggie." Resa ordered, desperately. Meggie looked up with tear filled eyes. She silently obeyed her mother.
"PHANES! PEYTON! Get in here and bring the shackles!" Blazek shouted loud and clear, giving Meggie an instant headache.
For the past four weeks, Meggie had seen only one thing other than this cargo hold of the ship, and that was the top deck where the men of the boat had forced her to drink with them. Every night for four weeks Meggie had had far more rum than Mo had ever tried to gulp down. As much as she hated it, Meggie now craved the rum more than water. Every night Meggie had found herself sick, often she'd wake up from the trance and find herself kissing one of the men with the ship. Several times the man had been Blazek.
Meggie swayed, but tried her best to stay on her aching feet. Her right leg throbbed where Blazek had kicked her. By now, Mo had regained his footing and was ready to charge and Blazek, he had hurt his daughter and his wife far too much, now. He had crossed the line long ago, but never before had Mo felt this furious. He felt like murdering the man before him.
Someone behind him pulled him back off his feet. "What the hell?!" Mo whispered, infuriated at whoever it was. It was Barn Owl. He had a surprisingly strong grip for an old man. "Let go of me!" Mo ordered, but Barn Owl didn't budge.
"He'll hurt them more if you interfere. He likes irritating you, why do you think you're still alive, they wouldn't have lost much money with you dead. They'll keep them," He nodded towards Resa and Meggie. "Alive. They alone could bring in a fortune that could put these men each on throwns of their own You're lucky that none of them have thought to kidnap them… yet." When Mo looked back up to where Meggie and Resa had stood moments before, he saw nothing.
"Where'd they go?!" Mo demanded to know. Barn Owl had fooled him.
"Up to the top of the deck, we've reached port." Barn Owl said monotonously. "They're going to sell us." The old man had barely accepted their fate. For the past four weeks, they had all been crammed into the small cargo old… slave cargo. And now they were going to be sold off as objects.
"Ah, the yellow hairs, what would be your names, ladies?" Resa glared at Daz as he spoke. Meggie was definitely still in pain from the night before. How could men be so cruel to a young girl? Make her drink, kiss, and dance with them as they pleased? Her daughter was not supposed to be the entertainment of older men.
The shackles held tightly to her wrists behind her back and then at her ankles. The same held for Meggie. Phanes and Peyton had already gone back to shackle the rest of the prisoners on the boat. The prisoners included Mo. Meggie, Resa, Daz, Aamu, and Blazek all stood to the side of the ramp coming down from the ship. Blazek yanked again at Resa's hair, signaling for her to answer.
"Resa, sir." She said, and then spoke for Meggie, too. "And this is my daughter, Meggie, sir." When Resa had been trapped in the Inkworld before, she had learned to treat anyone threatening as her superior, she had learned to call them by sir or ma'am, and speak when spoken to. Only when spoken to.
"Is she mute?" Daz motioned to Meggie. Resa shook her head.
"No sir, my daughter is not mute."
"Then let her answer my questions, wench!" He slapped Resa across the face. Meggie gasped.
"Resa!" She tried to reach out to her mother, but nearly fell in the process. Blazek jerked her back by her hair.
"How old are you, girl?" Daz asked Meggie, as he fiddled with a strand of her hair. "So soft…" He murmured. Meggie diverted her eyes to the ground.
"Th-thirteen." She stuttered. Daz grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his eyes.
"Look at me when I speak to you, and address me as sir as your mother did. Now let me ask you again, how old are you, wench?"
"Thirteen." She said, and then added, "Sir."
"Thirteen… mmm… and being such a beauty as you are, I assume you've been wed." Meggie stared at him wide eyed.
"N-no… sir, of course not." She had to fight from putting her head down. She was still dizzy from all the alcohol from the past few weeks. Every night she got off drinking as little as they allowed her to, but that didn't mean she had little to drink. Nearly every night they had her get drunk so she'd "loosen up" and have some "fun".
"Well, did any of the men on that boat take you to bed?" Meggie felt her cheeks turn bright red, embarrassed at the thought of it.
"No. No sir, at least, not that I remember." She felt ashamed admitting it, and why was she admitting it to this man who was probably as bad as the rest? Meggie felt Resa staring at her, but she did not turn her mother's way. Daz cracked a smile.
"Not that you remember, eh? What do you mean by that?"
Meggie played with her fingers behind her back, not wanting to admit that she had been forced drunk nearly every night since their departure.
"Sir, if you'd allow me to speak?" Daz glared at Resa, but nodded. "The crew on that ship forced my daughter to drink every night; I'd be surprised if she could recall over half of the journey, sir." Daz's smile only widened.
"Is this so, Blazek?" The beast behind Resa and Meggie laughed in response, then said,
"Of course, sir. We couldn't let a beauty like her be sold without a trial, first, sir." Meggie felt her stomach flip, her eyes began to sting, and any minute now, she knew she would be in tears.
"Did you damage the girl?" Daz asked, as if getting a girl of Meggie's age was quite alright.
"A bit, only disciplinary, of course. Nothing like what she'll get when she's sold, sir."
"And where is the damage, visible I presume?"
"Of course, sir. Right on her back." He patted her hard where the welts from the lashings were. Meggie let out a shriek of pain.
"Well, well, well, I shall have a look to see how bad the damage is myself to see if I'll have to lower the cost on this lovely wench." Meggie felt terrible as if she were cattle about to be slaughtered, or a sweater with juice spilled on it that hadn't even been purchased yet. Barn Owl had had to cut the back of Meggie's dress down to the middle of her back to mend the lashes Blazek had put on her back. It tied at her neck now, thanks to Resa.
Blazek turned Meggie around so her back was to Daz and her eyes had to focus on Blazek's sweaty chest. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Daz grinned wickedly, he was going to play with this young girl a bit, so she was ready and alert when it came time for the auctions. He saw the welts, they weren't terrible, but they would knock her price down a silver coin or two, because these would surely scar. But he was not finished with Meggie yet. He slid his hands inside her dress and placed them on the skin of her hips. Her skin was soft. Soft as a baby's skin and warm as a summer breeze.
Meggie jumped. Daz's hands were rough and cold, and they were violating her personal space. She stepped closer to Blazek who growled, but, still, Meggie kept her eyes shut.
Resa felt useless, terrible, and heartbroken. Here she was watching her daughter be touched by older men and she could do nothing, nothing about it.
Blazek gave Daz an inquiring look, one that questioned if he could turn the girl around again. Daz slid his hands out from her dress and nodded.
When she was turned around again, Meggie still did not open her eyes. Daz moved his lips to her ear, "Things will be much worse than that where you'll end up at, trust me." He whispered, stepped back, and then shouted, "TAKE ALL THE SLAVES TO THE AUCTION HOUSE! YELLOW HAIRS FIRST, OLDEST TO YOUNGEST, THEN GIRLS, THEN WOMEN, THEN BOYS, AND THEN MEN!" Then he started his way down to the auction house.
Resa and Meggie stood at the front of the line of soon-to-be-slaves. They were the only ones with blonde hair, or, as Daz called it, yellow hair. Resa's was a darker shade of blonde though, so Daz said she would go for far less than Meggie, who's hair was one of the lightest shades of yellow he had ever seen.
Daz's men had forced all the woman into shorter, tighter shirts that covered only their breasts, and skirts that came about six inches or so above the knee. All so the crowd could see what they were purchasing.
Meggie now wanted only four things, to feel the warmth of a hug from Resa, to know her father was safe, to know that Farid was still alive, and rum. As much as she wanted to not want the rum, she couldn't help herself. She'd have to rid herself of this habit. If I'm sold, please of please let me be sold to a sober man… But Meggie wasn't even sure if these people knew what sober even meant.
As the enormous crowd quieted down, Daz signaled for Blazek to get Resa up on the stage. From behind the dusty curtain, Meggie couldn't see anything, but she heard everything.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you this marvelous piece of art. This woman is not only beautiful, but I am told she can read and write. She has not a scar on her body—trust me, we checked everywhere." The crowd burst out into laughter. "She is one of the few fair toned woman of our world, and a beautiful one at that… so… let us start the bidding at one hundred silver coins, ah yes, do I hear one ten, one ten? Anybody for one ten? Ah, do I hear one twenty, one twenty? Sold once, twice, SOLD to the woman in grey!" Meggie listened carefully, she heard Resa gasp, and then Blazek came to get her.
"Now, my crowd, what I have to show you next is a creature so divine we'll start bidding in gold. Now Blazek if you would please bring the girl up here, please." Of course, Meggie thought, act like a gentleman now. When Meggie passed the curtain and began to walk up the steps to the stage, she heard all sorts of sounds. Cat calls, coos, gasps. "Blazek, show them her back." Blazek, far from gently, turned Meggie so her back was to the crowd. More gasps.
"You see, we had a little… um… problem getting this little tiger to cooperate at the first of our journey. We had her whipped, whipped so hard that no child could have survived." And I wouldn't if it wasn't for Barn Owl. Meggie thought. Blazek turned her around again. "But this child not only survives, but she's thriving. Do you see the glint in her eyes that have captured water? Like the woman before, I am told that this precious little gem is educated, and can read and write. She has been trained for obedience, so fear not of her running away. All you need do to keep her tame is keep a whip nearby, that's what we've done, and it's worked marvelous, hasn't it, Blazek?" Blazek nodded. "She's been like mud in our hands, ready to take form in whatever we wish." Daz locked eyes with Meggie. He cupped her chin in his hands and forced her to look back at the crowd. His eyes held mockery in them, mockery that he was free and she was not. Mockery that he controlled her, she would have to listen to him if she wanted to live.
If.
Seeing as things were, Meggie did not want to live. She was being taken away from her family to be a slave in some strangers home. And from the sounds of it so far, she would be abused.
"If an animal is what you wish." Meggie snapped, she bit at Daz's hand, catching his index finger in her mouth. She chomped down hard. Daz cried out in pain and pulled his hand away from Meggie the instant she let go.
She turned around to see Blazek already have his whip in his hand. She turned to run in the opposite direction of Blazek, but his arms were longer than she could run in her shackles. He pushed her to the ground, the cut below her right knee reopened. She pushed her shoulders together, readying herself for the pain.
The whip lashed upon her soft skinned back harder than she remembered it doing before. She let out a cry of bloody murder. The whip crashed down on her again, this time, she fell to her stomach. Sobs escaped from her chest, she knew she was going to die, she just knew it.
She realized she had been stupid; that she would lose everything she wouldn't even have the slimmest chance of seeing Farid again, she was letting this man kill her in front of her parents. They were watching their only daughter die.
The whip crashed down on her a third time.
"STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY!" Meggie heard someone roar from the crowd. The auction house went silent, all but for the sobbing duo Meggie heard and recognized as her parents, Mo and Resa. She tried to look up to see who had saved her from a fourth lashing, but her head felt as if it weighed the same as an elephant. "I will purchase this fair maiden for one thousand gold coins." The voice was closer now, loud, but quiet. Meggie could feel herself slipping away. She felt someone pick her up from the stage.
"Barn Owl… help…" Meggie whispered, waves of darkness crashing upon her.
"Who?" The voice questioned.
"The old man… in the back… and Mo… the dark haired one… my dad…" Meggie could no longer fight off the waves of darkness. Content, she let them engulf her.
AN: I'd like to thank Alexa Daley (My beta. :P) for editing and revising this for me, and I was totally kidding about this being a one-shot, I don't write shorty-stories. xD Next chapter will be... FARID'S POV!
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