Zamar had just stabbed the sailor from behind with his sword. “I told you to keep you away from them. Stupid!” One of the sailors faced him with a thick wooden plank.
"Who do you think you are to boss us around?” He was an enormous being, who remained bent over to avoid hitting the ceiling with his head; Almices, still on the ground, contemplated the scene but did not dare to stand up; he had never seen a man so big. He lunged at Zamar, who swiftly swung his left hand and plunged a pair of knives into the man's chest, who crashed down next to the stones that acted as the ship's counterweight. The third man, the one who wounded Almices, dropped the plank he was carrying, begging for mercy. Zamar’s sword pierced human flesh a second time that night.
Nerisa and Janira had woken up, startled by the uproar of fighting, and watched the scene horrified without daring to leave their cabin or even move. They remained still like statues. The other crew members of the ship approached lurking. Almices got up and moved slowly to his older sister. Telma was lifeless, her head deformed by the attack, her hair tangled, and blood trickled down her neck. His soulless, tear-filled eyes were focused on the ceiling. He lowered her clothes to cover her genitals and covered her breasts.
"How is your sister?" Zamar asked as he approached.
"You told us we were safe with you!” The boy responded, his voice was an amalgam of anger and contempt. “My sister is dead; your men have killed her. Is this what you call help?” He turned his face toward the captain with a frosty look, which for an instant altered the cold composure of the captain.
"I didn't want this to happen, I’m sorry about your sister. I have lost a lot of money because of these imbeciles, but they will no longer bother me.” He put his sword back in his belt.
"Money? What did you want to do with us, you wretch?” Zamar punched him in the mouth. Almices endured the pain as the blood came out of the inside of his lip filtering through his throat and leaving a bitter taste.
"You fools! I'm going to sell you and your sisters in Tyre, we'll arrive in town in a week.” He laughed. “Did you really think you could pay for your passage with a few coins? It's a shame your sister is dead, they would have given me a lot of money for her. At least I have you and your beloved sister's body will be able to satisfy the rest of the crew while it is still warm, at last she will serve for more than just to complain.” Almices lunged toward him, blinded by anger. A sharp blow to his back knocked him out again.
After a while, Almices woke up locked in the small enclosure next to his little sisters, who were crying. On the other side of the wooden barrier, which was used as a wall, they could hear noises. He tried to push the door open; it was locked from the outside, they were trapped. Almices then looked between the slits in the wood. What he saw left him feeling deflated. Some of Zamar's men were queuing up to abuse his sister's lifeless body. They had no respect for the dead. He began to scream, curse, plead; but his cries were ignored. The gods must have been busy with other more important tasks not to intervene in this sinister event. He could have spent an eternity begging and hurling threats, but he finally succumbed to his emotions and cried with his sisters looking up at the cracks in the ceiling. What had they done to the gods to displease them this much? What hopes did they have for this life now? What did the sinister future have in store for them? There was nothing in the world that mattered. Perhaps not even their gods were the true ones, maybe they did not even exist. Almices wanted to die, and wished they were all reunited with their parents.
"Up, children," the voice of a sailor called them, knocking on the door . Nerisa was the first to open her eyes, it was noon. The small opening in their cell on the ship's bow let a clear light shine through. Her eyes were sore from crying. She stood up to wake up her sister. Janira opened her eyes in terror, envisioning another tragedy. Her sister smiled at her and hugged her tightly. Almices woke up too and put his hand to his lip, he could barely touch it without groaning.
The door opened and the sailor dryly asked them to leave. Almices looked at him carefully, trying to recognize if he was among those queuing up to abuse his sister's body hours earlier, but he did not recognize him. The man urged them to go on deck. Almices grabbed his sisters by the hands and headed toward the steps that went up to the deck. Next to the base of the mast, a small reddish spot indicated where his sister’s life was taken. He looked around, but could not see her body.
Nerisa was right, the sun was high when they stepped foot on the deck. A sunny day greeted them. Fresh tears flooded the young girl’s eyes, unsure whether it was because of the dazzling light or that neither her sister nor her parents would ever enjoy this feeling again. Janira was still silent. She had a permanent look of fear in her eyes. She stared at the ground so as not to deal with her new reality. Almices blamed himself for falling asleep without knowing what happened to his sister's body. He searched for her again on the deck, but only found some bloodstained fabrics by the starboard side. He assumed she had been thrown overboard, along with the bodies of her rapists. The very idea shook him.
"I hope you have rested," Zamar greeted them as if nothing had happened. The young man was surprised by his tremendous cold blood. That man had executed some of his men and then, without hesitation, allowed them to dishonour his sister's lifeless body. “I have called for you to tell you what will happen to you from now on. These things happen, the last night with your sister did not need to happen; however, and to avoid further incidents we are going to put some beautiful shackles on your feet so that you cannot cause more problems. I don't want to lose more money.”
"You can't do this!” Nerisa was worn down.
"Wow, I think genius runs in your family," the captain laughed. “I can do whatever I like with you, even offer you as food to the fish. Your sister has already fed them tonight.”
"You pig!” Almices struggled to free himself from his captor’s grip.
"No, no more than those who killed your parents.” Almices was surprised, they hadn't told them how their parents had died. “Surprised?” Zamar continued as if he had read his mind. “You talk in your sleep, so the whole crew know what’s happened to you. As I said, I don't want you to die, I just want to be paid well for you. Slave life is not so bad, you will always be fed. And if they cannot feed you, they will sell you to another. You will be properties with a value. People in the West do not mistreat their slaves, sometimes even treat them better than their families.”
"What have we done to you? We only asked for help.” Nerisa didn't understand the captain's attitude.
"That's life, little girl, you're very young and you have your whole life ahead of you to try and earn your freedom, but that will depend on you. For now, spending a week in the cellar, the time it takes to get to Tyre, will be the best thing for you, you don’t want what happened to your sister to happen to you, do you?”
"You said we could trust you, that you would take us to Kos.” Almices was becoming angrier. “You knew from the start you’d sell us as slaves!”
"When we saw you drifting, you had already passed the island of Kos. What we have done is given you a chance. You’re no longer scorching in the sun and dying of thirst in the middle of the sea, now you have at least one chance and we will be rewarded for picking you up. It is nothing personal, it is our job. We will see you again in Tyre.” The captain turned around and headed to his quarters, as the sailors placed the shackles on them.
Time passed by slowly below deck. The small opening in the helm and their one meal a day were their only time references. Their meal was a mixture of flour and water which was difficult to swallow. They has plenty of water; but the space was small and trapped as they were, they had to do their business in the corner of the dank room.
Although the first two days were very hard Nerisa and Almices tried to get their
