Daughter of the Moon - Book 1: Water

Chapter 4: The Slave Trade

- Elara -

It only took me a moment after waking up to realize that I was not where I was when I fell asleep. I was not in my bed (which I quickly reminded myself had been burned to a crisp), and I was not in the forest where I had passed out. I wanted more than anything to mourn the loss of my tribe after being attacked by the Fire Nation, but I knew I needed to figure out where I had been taken before I could do anything else. So, I bottled my emotions and shoved them deep inside myself to deal with later.

I looked at my surroundings, and what I found was absolutely disgusting. It was hot and extremely humid, and the smell of salt, sweat, and death hung in the air. I had been squished into a small room with dozens of other women who were all dirty and sickly, and I wouldn't have been surprised if some of them were dead or close to it. I knew that if this was the state of the people I was stuck with, there was a good chance that I appeared similarly, and just thinking about it made my skin crawl.

We were all sitting on the floor, shoved into the small space so that we were shoulder to shoulder. There was hardly enough room to breath, and I felt bad for the women I had crushed while I had slept. I then felt the room sway to one side, and the women groaned as they were squished even closer together.

That was when I had a terrifying thought. Why was the room swaying?

I frantically tried to sense the water around me, but what I found was not comforting. Right below me, I could feel nothing but water. I had somehow landed myself on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and I had no idea how I had gotten there. I tried to stand up to explore my surroundings further (not to mention the fact that I wanted to figure out how I had gotten here), but I found that I was quickly pulled right back down to the ground. My hands had been chained to the floor, preventing me from going anywhere, and as I looked around once again, I realized that the other girls where chained in the same way.

"Oi! Watch it, will ya!" The girl next to me whispered nervously. "We're all connected, so if you try to stand up, I get pulled down, and I don't like gettin' pulled down."

"Sorry," I mumbled in reply. "Hey, could you tell me why we're chained together? Where are we going? What's going on?" I start to ramble off questions without giving her any time to answer.

"Shh!" Another women nudged me from behind, forcing me to fall forward more that I already had.

"What was that for?!" I spit back, annoyed that this woman had the guts to push me when she should be helping this other girl answer my questions.

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open, and about five men entered. They were dirty, ugly, and grizzly looking, and I could tell they were up to no good, and my confidence almost immediately evaporated just by looking at them.

"What's goin' on in 'ere! I though' I told e'ryone to shut it!" The man in the front hollered as he scanned the room. His gaze eventually landed on me, and I froze in fear as he gave me a mischievous smile.

"Well, look what we 'ave 'ere! The little coma girl is awake, and lookin' good 'n 'ealthy, no less!" He sneered as he walked towards me. I tried to back away, but the chains kept me in place as he grabbed my chin, moving my head from side to side. "Yer a pretty lil' thing. I'm sure you'll fetch a fair price on the market."

He threw me to the floor as he turned to address his men, leaving me to cower as he issued an official order. "Put 'er on the list to be traded at the next port. I have a buyer in mind who would just love to get 'is hands on this one."