I was sitting in my new home. A dark, creaky cage which was swaying with the movement of the ship.
I was shivering from the cold and felt ill from the constant rocking of the waves. I looked in the cells surrounding me and saw girls the same age as me in them.
Some of them were huddled, holding their knees close to their bodies, shivering just as I was.
Others were sitting with their back straight and a smile on their faces, looking forward to where they were heading.
And the rest were like me. Sitting with their head rested against the bars of their cage, their face emotionless as though they still couldn't quite comprehend that they were here, in the bottom off a ship, destined for the Sovereign.
~~~~~~~~~
I thought back to this morning, or maybe it had even been more than one day? I had woken up and was in the middle of making breakfast when my mother had come into our worn down kitchen.
As I stirred the porridge I waited for her to say something, a complaint, something about my hair, anything. But nothing. I looked at her, 'Was she ill?' I questioned, 'She did look pale.'
"Mother, are you feeling well?" I asked, worry etched in my eyes.
"Feeling well?! Why, do I look like I'm dying?! Well it's this drafty, old house and poor food I tell ya!" She yelled.
I sighed and turned back to the fire. She wasn't sick that's for sure.
I served the food and was about to ring the bell for the children, when my mother told me in a softened voice to sit down. It was so unlike her I halted from my task and sat.
She got up and took the kettle from hanging over the fire, then came back and poured it into two cups. I noticed her hands were shaking. 'Maybe she was ill.' I thought concerned.
She sat across from me at our small table. I looked at my mother, she may have been beautiful once but now with toil and age she didn't hold any beauty. Her black hair had grey streaks in it and was in a rat's nest, pulled back in a tight bun, similar to mine. Her skin was prematurely wrinkled from years of stress, and her green eyes no longer looked vibrant as my siblings that shared them did. They looked murky and swamp like. Her once thin and tight figure, was saggy and flabby in places and gaunt and spindly in others.
"Hydie." Her mother started, "You must know that I appreciate you and all that you do for me and the children." I nodded, this news a surprise to me. Not once had my mother ever said that I was appreciated.
I took a sip of my tea.
"I just want you to know." She said, a worried look in her eyes.
"Okay, thank you." I said, 'Maybe she was dying and was trying to make up for past wrongs.' I thought to try and make up for her behaviour. 'Although it would be hard considering her past.' My mother had been a harlot. That's how she came by so many children. I was the eldest, and was charged to take care of all the new ones. Luckily my mother had stopped "working" in that line of business quite a few years ago. My youngest sibling was now seven.
I turned to get up and ring the bell, when my mother's voice stopped me, "No, we'll wait and finish our tea." She said with a smile. I was suspicious but sat back down and drank my tea.
I was feeling dizzy and got up to ring the bell, but the world spun around me and I fell to the ground. The last words that reached me before I slipped away were, "I'm sorry."
~~~~~~~~
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" I repeated the words through my head as I sat in the cage I had awoken in. 'How could she say that, "I'm sorry" ugh!' I slammed my head against the bars and pulled my legs in closer to me. I looked outside the small window and saw that the light was fading outside. It would soon be night, and colder.
Once night came I tried to stay warm and rub my arms and legs, anything to stay warm. But it was pointless. The darkness leached the warmth from by body, and soon I was shivering and my consciousness was fading.
I was awoken by the sound of a horn.
"Land ho!" Followed. I stretched my limbs but they were so stiff it hurt. I turned my head quickly, which hurt, when I heard a rattling sound, I saw that it was a man running a stick along the bars of the cages.
Some of the girls shrunk away, others glared, the rest just sat still. Emotionless.
The man stopped in the centre of the ship's hold and shouted so we could all hear.
"We're nearing the Sovereign's island, I suggest ye all prepare yerself." Then he returned back topside.
Some of the girls began to sob and wail, others started adjusting their hair and clothes, and the rest, like me, just sat still looking numbly into the distance.
I soon felt the ship stop moving and heard the sounds of land. The waves crashing against the shore and people yelling at each other and the galloping sound of horses.
The man came down again, along with many more, and they started to unlock the cages, while saying in a loud voice, "If any of ye try to escape we will not hesitate to kill you! The Sovereign has plenty of virgins arriving, he won't miss you!" A rough looking man unlocked my cage and pulled me out harshly by my arm, "Get up wench!" He yelled as he did.
'I'm not a wench.' I said in my head but revealed no emotion on my face. The men lead us out to the deck of the ship and we all stumbled at first; blinking in the morning light. The rough looking man shoved me forward harshly. I half-fell, half-walked down the plank that led to the dock.
I looked around me, the island that I was standing on was huge, I'd heard that the Sovereign lived on an island but it was bigger than any island that I'd ever seen.
I headed toward where all of the girls were gathering when I heard a click and a scream.