The barbarians left the girls alone for a full day, a second night, and half of the second day. By this time the girls knew that the ship was not headed for Grandiese.
Halfway through the second day the door banged opened. Two men entered the room and left with the no longer empty chamber pot and the now empty water jug. They returned shortly along with a third man who carried a tray of food.
Ashonee didn’t know what to praise the gods for first: the bowls of food that looked unappetizing, but would fill their empty bellies; the water which, while stale, would quench their nearly unbearable thirst; or the removal of the waste pot that had steadily filled the stuffy room with a sickening smell. In the end she thanked all the gods for answering just a few of her many prayers.
While the slavers were in the room, the girls huddled in the corner and watched them warily, but as soon as the men closed the door the girls fell upon the tray of food like wild animals. It was the worst food Ashonee had ever eaten in her life and yet it was the best meal she’d ever eaten.
When the girls finished licking the gruel out of their bowls they took turns filling them from the water jug. Leilelle and Ashonee drank slowly, savoring every mouth full, whereas Keelie gulped thirstily and emptied her bowl in seconds. She went to refill her bowl but Leilelle stopped her.
“Wait, we do not know when they will refill it.”
“But I’m still thirsty.” Keelie whined as she eyed the jug fervently.
“Wait until your stomach settles and then you can have some more.” Ashonee proclaimed, sensing the mounting tension between her friends.
Leilelle pursed her lips and Keelie pouted but neither girl contradicted their princess.
~~~~~
The final night on the water was the hardest on the three girls. They were tired and sore and restless. They wanted fresh air and sunshine but most of all they desperately wanted to be out of each other’s company for the first time in days. Fear had turned their tempers sour and the close and uncomfortable confines were making matters worse.
The morning light had just started to cast rays into the stuffy room through the crack of a window when the door swung abruptly open.
Keelie gasped as she sat bolt upright; Leilelle, who’d been awake at first light, eyed the figure in the doorway warily as Ashonee slept on. She looked like the peaceful, innocent child she should have been whenever she was asleep.
“So this is what they bring me to work with.” And old woman exclaimed angrily as she crossed the small space to roughly yank on Keelie’s tangled hair.
Scoffing, the woman moved on to Leilelle. “Those angry eyes will keep you from the best households. I would advise against it, you’ll be much more comfortable in a household that will treat you well.” She leaned in to whisper in the girl’s face, her words spraying the foul odor on her breath. “Trust me, wretch, the lords and ladies who like girls with spiteful eyes are not the lords and ladies you’d best hope claim you.”
Leilelle broke eye contact with the old woman and turned her face away. This shifted the old woman’s focus too, and her eyes finally landed on the sleeping Ashonee.
Worried that the old woman was going to be angry with the girl for sleeping, Keelie reached out a hand to wake her friend.
The old woman swatted Keelie’s wrist away. “Leave her. This one needs her beauty sleep.” The woman said gently as she brushed a single curl of black pearlescent hair out of the girl’s face. Catching a ray of light, the blueish quality of the strand dazzled the woman. “The captain told me she was a pretty one, but I wasn’t expecting this.”
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Slave Princess
RomanceAisha was a young girl when she was taken from her home and thrust into the hands of her enemies. In order to protect her identity, she changes her name and becomes someone else in order to survive in her new and unfamiliar environment. Will her str...
