Seraphim

Chapter 1

                                                                                               Captives

Another wave hit the boat, causing it to rock back and forth wildly. Misty braced herself as she was thrown, not for the first time, into the man next to her.

"AYE," he shouted and kicked out at her. "Damn it girl, get off me." Misty struggled back into a sitting position, despite her hands being tightly bound behind her, and glared at the man. It didn't make much difference though. The ship's hold was completely dark. Voices could be heard above them, but most of the time the words were too muffled to be made into anything useful. The occasional bickering between her and the man beside her was actually the only thing keeping Misty sane, and barely that. They'd been stuck in pitch black darkness for five days with the ship tossing and turning, making them feel like rag dolls trapped inside a washing machine. 

"LAND HOOO," suddenly cut through the sound of the waves crashing, and it was followed by the pounding of many feet overhead. Those around her began to stir restlessly, but Misty remained still. She knew that, like herself, the rest of these people probably deserved to be here. She also knew that whatever their future held wasn't something to be excited about. In fact, she'd rather stay on the boat.

A heavy jolt ran through the ship as the anchor caught on something on the seafloor, knocking Misty backwards and into the side of the ship several feet behind her. Pain shot up her arms as they took the force instead of her back, and she wished desperately to untie them and move them for the first time since this five day journey had began.

The creaking of the door that led down to the hold as it was unlatched and slowly lifted was followed the noise of heavy boots trudging down the stairs that led from the hold to the main deck. With a loud, final stomp they reached the bottom.

"Alright, line up single-file every one of ye!" a man's voice barked into the blackness, and shuffling could be heard as the prisoners attempted to fall in line. Misty tried not to bump into anyone in the darkness, and failed, each rough collision resulting in another jolt of pain dancing up her arms. She gritted her teeth and finally found a place in the disfigured line.

"Aight, now get movin'! All of ye! And dun none of ye try nuthin', ye hear?" barked the same voice again, full of undeserved superiority. It made Misty want to smack him.

A cry of surprise suddenly came from the front of the line, followed by a rough woman's voice, "What the hell do you think you're do-" She'd started to say, but was cut off abruptly by what Misty assumed, from the loud sound, was a hard slap on the face.

"Let me get a hold of ya, ye stubborn bitch. It's only yer arm to lead ye up da stairs," the man said, and Misty assumed he'd grabbed a hold of the woman again. The line moved forward then and slowly but surely they made their way up the wooden stairs.

The moment Misty was close enough to see the light that was shining brightly through the wood framed, square door on the floor of the main deck that served as the only entrance and exit to the hold; she had to squint at its brightness. Never before had the sun blinded her in such a way, and her heart ached as she thought of how long she'd been stuck on the stupid, smelly boat that served as her temporary prison.

When the last of them had stepped up onto the main deck, it took several moments before anything came into focus. The sun was directly overhead, and Misty imagined they probably looked like confused children as they squinted and looked around in bewilderment. Footsteps could be heard around them in all directions, and it sounded like they'd stepped blindly into chaos.