ELARA'S POV
The carriage rumbled over the granite road. Each violent tumble slammed my joints against the steel bars, the hem of my brown dress torn to shreds. I squeezed myself into the furthest corner, trying to make space in a cage already overflowing with bodies.
Just days ago, Father had left home to deliver a special perfume to the village chief of a neighbouring village. He left Faye and I in charge of the nursery and allowed us to handle the daily orders that came to his little perfumery workshop. I had gone to the market to deliver a beautiful mix of lavender and musk, when the tragedy struck.
Men on horseback stormed into our village. They trampled crops, crushed plants and flowers beneath their hooves, burned down houses. They took our livestock. They emptied our safes.
They ripped young girls and women from their families—forcing them into caravans.
Faye! My little sister...
I raced to our little home. Faye was tending to the roses.
"Hide... Hide" I gasped, clutching her wrist with trembling hands.
We hurried into the house. I hid her in a tiny compartment under the wooden tile. It could only fit one person.
"What about you?" she held my wrist, her eyes filled with panic.
"I will be fine," I hid the fear in my voice. "Don't come out no matter what"
I tried to close it when she held it.
"Please, don't leave me." She broke into tears. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
My heart broke. I knelt to meet her, wiping her tears and caressing her cheeks.
"You have to keep yourself safe, for father. We are all he has." My palms trembled against her skin.
"Promise me you'll come back" she asked.
"I promise"
The main door broke open.
"Everyone file out!" a voice barked.
I panicked and shut the compartment. I squeezed into a corner of the room. Something in me hoped that they wouldn't search.
A man stepped in and the room went still. He held me by the hair and yanked me forward like a rag doll and just like that he put me in the caravan.
They took me from my home.
Father's heart would break when he finds out what happened. We were all he had. Mother had died while she birthed Faye, leaving just three of us.
I didn't realize another tear had fallen until it slid down my cheek. I wiped my face, but sand from the hay smeared against my skin.
I looked outside the carriage. We had entered a busy market—somewhere unfamiliar. This place was larger, louder, more crowded than anything I had ever imagined. I had always dreamed of visiting a city. I never imagined it would be as a captive.
The caravan halted. We were dragged out in single file, chains heavy around our ankles and wrists.
"Move!" a voice barked, followed by the sharp crack of a whip.
A girl stumbled forward with a whimper, her face pale and hollow, as if fear and pain had drained every shade from her skin.
They sold us to slave traders. We sat in chains beneath the scorching sun, displayed like livestock. Time blurred. Everything felt like a nightmare I hadn't yet awakened from. A small, foolish part of me still hoped that when I did wake, this would all disappear.
Black leather pumps stopped before me.
"How much for her?"
I lifted my gaze to a middle-aged woman dressed in black. Streaks of gray framed her neatly styled bun.
"Three thousand," one of the traders said.
"Isn't three thousand too much?"
The way she spoke was the same tone villagers used to price vegetables.
"Look at her." He yanked my chin upward, turning my head left and right. "See how healthy she looks. Three thousand is a fair price."
I jerked away from his grip, disgust curling in my stomach.
"Where is she from?"
"New intakes from a land named Soudan," he replied. "Look at their hair—curly and brown. Very unique."
The woman studied me for a moment longer.
"I will take her."