3. Meera

When my eyes flutter open, I'm met with the stench of unwashed bodies, the sobs of the girl next to me, and the crack of a whip on fragile human skin. I flinch, and my stomach recoils at the wails that soon follow.

"Quiet!" The xaphans who captured us don't hold back their contempt. "I'll cut out your damn tongue if you don't stop crying."

It takes me a few moments to adjust and figure out what's going on.

I reach out, gripping the wooden cage that encloses me.

The bars are sturdy. Around me, many girls and women from my village are in the same predicament. Some are bloodied, others are bruised, and we all carry the same fearfulness in our eyes.

Armed xaphan guards keep watch on this wagon that hauls us away. From here, I can somewhat see the houses of our village in the distance. Or what's left of them. These xaphan bastards pillaged and burned down most of our hometown.

"Careful with them," one of the xaphans warns the other, pointing at him with a spear. "You don't want to damage the cargo too excessively. Gorran expects a hefty profit from this batch."

One xaphan scoffs, swiping his tongue over his crooked, blackened teeth. "I doubt he'll care if we have our way with one or two of these."

He makes a step towards my cage, which makes me wince, but the speared xaphan growls and threatens him again with the spear.

"I'll have your head if you mess with my profits," he warns through gritted teeth. His feet inadvertently bang against the cage of the girl across from me. Her blue eyes are wide and she trembles violently. "I can easily explain to Gorran my reasons for killing you. Don't tempt me."

"Ah." The xaphan grins maliciously. "Who knew you had such a soft spot for humans?"

"Hardly. But when they're useful, I won't let you damage them."

So it's true? They're going to sell us all into slavery?

Beside me, sobbing and sniffling loudly, Miranda covers her face and digs her nails into her scalp. In the midst of the chaos, I think I saw her parents getting bludgeoned to death by one of the xaphans.

As much as I want to reach out and comfort the girl, that might only guarantee me a beating from one of the xaphans who want to keep us in line. Why did they target our village in the first place? What did we do?

"We'll have to stop and feed these creatures eventually."

"You worry too much about them! It's sickening," another says. "You didn't care this much about the last batch!"

"We have a longer journey to travel. And if half of these creatures die before we step foot into the auction house, then I see that as a failure. We want to maximize our profits with them. If Gorran wins, we all win."

"I suppose that's true. With nightfall coming, we can stop and hunt. I'm not giving these human bitches a feast, though. They can do that themselves if they're that hungry."

A new xaphan's voice joins the conversation. "And what if they try to escape into the woods?"

"Then we hunt them down and rip their heads off their bodies. A dead slave is much better than a disobedient one."

The xaphans chuckle and laugh to themselves in agreement. Somehow, I muster enough courage to raise my gaze. That was a mistake.

One of the xaphan guards stares down at me with a sneer. He slams his spear into my cage, which sends me tumbling backward. My back strikes against the wooden bars, sending a shock of pain throughout my body. But the pain is nothing compared to the cut searing across my forearm.

What am I going to do? I can't be a slave. I… I had so many dreams for myself.

One moment, I'm tending to the village garden, thinking of ways of feeding myself and my family for the foreseeable future. Next, I'm being dragged to the ground and hauled off as a slave with the rest of the young women in my village. Everything happened so fast, it still makes my head spin.

The wagon jumps, sending all of us tumbling around in our cages as if we're a bunch of livestock. In the xaphan's eyes, I'm sure we are. We only exist to make them rich, at the cost of our bodies, minds, and souls.

I've heard things about slavery. Older women in the village used to gossip while they sewed new clothes for the children, talking about the horrible things human slaves are subjected to once they're in the hands of xaphans, demons, and other vile creatures.

Demons are especially grotesque. They have disgusting fantasies that they act out on their slaves, pushing their bodies to the extremes until they eventually die. It's not rare to never see a slave again once they're sold in the auction house down in the heart of the trading hub.

I never used to pay much attention to these stories because I figured that it would never happen to me. I can't believe that I've been proven wrong in such a cruel way.

Did Kai make it to safety, at least? Where is my little brother? Did he manage to tell the next village over what happened to us?

"Shut the fuck up," the xaphan growls, slamming his boot against Miranda's cage. She only responds with more muffled sobs, covered by her hand. "I never knew humans could be so annoying."

"They are! Why else do you think they're great targets to sell into slavery?" the other xaphan asks. He sticks up three fingers, putting them down with each reason. "They're weak, they hardly fight back, and they're the easiest creatures to kill in all of Aerasak. Which means they're all disposable."

"If that's true…" one of the xaphan muses. "How did Zathex manage to get killed by one of them? Was the stupid bastard drunk?"

"Probably. I knew him well. He was arrogant all because he had a job that allowed him easy access to humans who didn't know their place in society. He was one of Gorran's best allies, but now that he's gone, I'm next in line."

"Yeah." A xaphan laughs. I hate the way they sound. "Right."

What happened to my parents? Are they still alive? Or did the xaphans finish them off, too? Like the rest of our village?

Turning to my left, I see Jemele with her chin resting atop her kneecaps. With the xaphans engrossed in discussion, I figure it's safe to ask her a question.

"Jemele," I whisper. She perks up and looks at me. "Do you know what happened to my parents? Did you see them?"

She shakes her head. "No, I didn't. I'm sorry. I was there when everything started and they were too fast to stop. They started killing and burning everyone. I tried to get away, but?—"

"Hey!"

A xaphan storms over and I feel my belly drop to the floor. Instead of focusing on me, however, he narrows in on Jemele.

"Who the fuck told you that you could speak?"

Jemele's eyes go wide as she shakes her head. "What? No, no! I'm sorry, I?—"

The xaphan yanks the door to her cage open and drags her out by the arm, slamming her to the ground. Reaching for his holster, he grabs a whip and cracks it a few times against her skin, eliciting loud and painful cries that echo out into the world around us.

He makes an example of her. He doesn't finish until there are red welts all over her arms and legs. Then, he tosses her back into her cage and slams the door shut. I can't see her face anymore. She's lying on her side, turned away from me, unmoving.

…This is all my fault.

Maybe it's better if I don't see her expression. It might be nothing but betrayal behind those eyes.

The xaphans continue patrolling our cages, keeping us in fear for our lives. Jemele's whipping isn't the only one I witness. A few cages away, the xaphans bully an older woman, Denise, who had the courage to talk back to them.

They drag her out and beat her the same way they did Jemele. They even threaten to have their way with her in front of the rest of us. The thought of that happening sends bile up my throat.

What's going to happen to us when we get to the auction house? Are we all getting sold into slavery? Will some of us get killed in the process?

Am I never going to see my village again?

As much as I want to blink away the tears, it's just not possible. They stream down my face, wetting my cheeks and pooling around my chin. I'm too weak to move my arms up and wipe them away.

Around me, the sounds of cries are still there, but they're quieter than before. None of us want to invoke the wrath of the xaphans who captured us. They're cruel and callous in their ways. They don't care about anything other than their own benefit. They'll kill us without a second thought if we give them good reason to.

It's a long journey until we reach the trading hub. I don't want to think of whatever horrors we're going to see on the way there. The xaphans seem eager to abuse us in any way they can.

They want to break our spirits. They want to leave us as shells of what we used to be.

And I think it's working. Damn them all. I think they're getting to us.