Miko just looks on in shock at the red lines across her shoulders and back from where the whip struck her. He keeps his head down as he plods along, doing his best to not think about being paraded though town naked. The enemy soldiers they pass hardly even give them any attention, except for a few calls to the ladies in the group.
After moving down several streets, their group joins with another slave line and together they make their way to the southern wall. More and more of the enemy’s soldiers can be seen. When they draw close to the gate, the head slaver brings them to a halt and has them wait while he talks with the guards. After a few words are exchanged, the slaver shows them a letter and they are allowed to pass through.
Outside the walls, Miko sees teams with carts filled with the dead as they take them over to a large, communal grave where they are deposited. Soldiers are everywhere, a veritable forest of tents covers the area outside of the gates for over a mile. When they pass a tent with several men standing in line outside, Miko can hear the cries of several women coming from within.
One of the smaller children asks, “Mama, what’s that lady crying about?”
The woman, trying to hide the tears in her voice replies, “She’s just sad,” her voice beginning to crack. “That’s all it is, don’t worry about it.”
Then a slaver comes and whips both of them saying, “No talking!” When they both remain silent, he goes back to his position next to the line.
Out away from the encampment of soldiers is a large area with many wagons and strings of people tied in lines just as they are. The only difference between those people and Miko’s group, is that those people have clothes. The males all have a cloth wrapped around their loins while the women have a very short dress, all a drab brown in color.
When Miko’s group arrives, they are taken to an open area nearby where they’re told to stand and be still. The lead slaver moves to a nearby wagon and begins pulling out garb, similar to what the other slaves are wearing and begins handing them out to the other slavers. The slavers then take the garb and tie it around the men, and with the women they untie their hands before putting it on them. Miko feels somewhat better for having his privates covered. All the captured people visibly relax once they’re dressed and covered.
Several of the slavers then move to another wagon where they remove crossbows which they hold ready to prevent anyone from trying to escape.
One of the slavers climbs onto the bed of a wagon and faces the newly arrived slaves. “Go ahead and sit down and rest,” he tells them. “This may be the last chance you’ll have for a while. No talking and anyone causing trouble will be dealt with.” He glances around at the faces looking at him a moment then jumps off the wagon.
Miko does the best he can with his hands tied behind him and manages to make it to the ground without falling over. He sits there and rests, looking back to the City that’s now securely in the hands of the Empire. All that keeps him from totally losing it is the belief that James will find him.
Over the next hour, several more slave lines are brought from the City and join with the rest. There are over a dozen different lines trailing behind several different wagons. With each line that comes, several of the guards that were guarding them grab crossbows and join their fellows in keeping watch.
At one point shortly after Miko arrives, a slaver begins moving down each line and unties the hands of the men and boys. Once they are all untied, another slaver mounts the wagon and addresses the people in the slave lines. “We will be passing out food and water shortly,” he announces. “Don’t waste any, it’s the last you’ll see until tonight. Your hands shall remain free, but if you make trouble, they will be secured again. If you try to escape, you will be shot. This is the only warning you’ll be given.”
Once the slaver is finished, other slavers begin passing down the lines, giving each captive a small cup of food and allowing them a single drink from a ladle, filled from a water bucket one of them carries. When Miko gets his, he eats the food ravenously, even though it tastes pretty bad. He drinks all the water and is about to ask for more when a girl of about sixteen in another line holds out her cup to a slaver and asks, “Can I have more?”
The slaver comes over to her and slaps her hard across the face, “Impertinent slave! You take what we give you and be happy that you were given anything at all.”
The girl cries, “I’m not a slave!”
All the slavers standing within ear shot hear her and break out laughing. The slaver who had come over and slapped her says, “You are now,” and laughs at her.
The girl starts crying hysterically and the man slaps her across the face again. “You shut up or it’ll be worse for you.” He grabs her by the hair and pulls her head back so her eyes stare right at him. “Do you understand?” he asks with an expression that says, ‘The only answer better be yes’.
Tears streaming down her face, the girl just nods. The man releases her hair and walks away. She sits there and sobs to herself quietly.
Miko looks around and can see that until that moment, some of the people who were tied to the line hadn’t come to that conclusion yet, that they were slaves. Some begin to murmur amongst themselves, others start crying. One of the slavers shouts, “Slaves only speak when spoken to, break this rule at your peril!” The people begin to quiet down until only muffled sobs can be heard. Several slavers come and collect the food cups that had been handed out.
An older slaver walks from the City and begins speaking with one of the others for a moment. After they are done talking, the older slaver returns to the City of Light. The one he was talking to turns to the slaves and shouts, “Everyone on their feet!”
Miko quickly gets up as do most of the people around him. Several others, either through stubbornness or not understanding, remain on the ground. Those that fail to stand quickly enough for the slavers are whipped until they are up and standing.
The one that ordered them to their feet announces, “When slaves are told to do something, they do it quickly and they don’t ask questions. A slave who doesn’t learn that rule fast, tends not to survive very long.”
Miko begins to think that the man who’s been giving them orders is the lead slaver for this group. He hadn’t noticed it before, but the man’s clothes look slightly superior to anything any of the others are wearing.
The lead slaver gets up on a wagon and with a nod of his head to the driver, it begins moving out, pulling the line of slaves behind it. Soon all the wagons are rolling, each with the lines of slaves walking along behind.
Marching under the hot sun soon has Miko exhausted and extremely thirsty. Only after they’ve been on the road for two hours does a slaver pass down the line, allowing each of them one cup of water while they’re walking. No one dares to asks for more this time. This repeats every two hours until they stop for the night.
While Miko is sitting and eating the small amount of food they’ve given him, a voice is heard coming from within the group of slaves. “Where are you taking us?” a woman’s voice asks.
“Who said that?” one of the slavers asks. With whip raised in his hands, the slaver rushes over to where the sound of the voice originated, looking from face to face in an attempt to determine who dared break the silence. Unable to find the source of the question, he looks around at them all and says, “The Slave Markets of Korazan.” After a moment’s pause to let that sink in, he adds, “Where you will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, to spend the rest of your lives as slaves.” Laughing, the slaver goes back over by the fire and resumes eating his meal.
“Oh, James,” Miko sighs quietly. “Find me!”
Chapter One
James wakes to find the two boys are no longer there. The two girls are over in a corner huddled together, and talking in hushed voices. He stretches and sits up, asking, “Where are Jiron and Tinok?”