The Ascension (Book One): Toss the Dice

Chapter Twenty Two

I woke up with tears in my eyes. Just like the other two dreams that I had recently I could remember that I had a dream but I couldn't remember what it was about. I sat up wishing that my hands weren't tied so that I could at least wipe the salty tears from my eyes. I still couldn't see anything around me. The room that I was in with Sheera and Carrow was too dark. But I did sense a difference in the world around me and the difference made me shiver.

The boat wasn't rocking anymore.

We had made port.

I sat straight up and tried to stand but my tied hands yanked me back down to the planking again and I fell with the rattling of chains and a thunk as I fell on my butt. I heard Carrow and Sheera jolt awake and heard Carrow turn towards me, confused.

"What's going on?" He asked blearily.

"What's wrong Scurry?" Asked Sheera, just as confused as Carrow at my sudden, abrupt movements.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I had to understand that people who didn't grow up on a ship wouldn't realize the subtle differences in the way that a ship sat. So instead I tried to stand again and feel again, my attempt just as successful as as the first time I tried it.

"We've made por'." I said. "The ships stopped rockin'."

I heard Carrow and Sheera trying to stand, suddenly just as nervous as I was when I discovered that we were in the harbor of a port.

"Does that mean that we're going to get sold soon?" Asked Sheera.

"I don' know." I said. "Bu' i' does mean dat we're no longer sailin'."

I stopped trying to stand and instead sat back down. The more I tried to get out the harder it would be on my hands. The best plan was to wait, conserve my energy and attack them only when they had unlocked my hands. Sheera and Carrow, upon hearing that I was no longer struggling, attempted to do the same, settling down for the wait with me.

We were totally silent as we sat there. I couldn't tell how long we sat, waiting for someone to come and drag us out of the hole, but I did know that it must have been at least and hour or two because then light began seeping into the room around us, meaning that dawn had finally broken over the horizon and the ship was filling with it's slight light. We waited a little more and then the door to our prison swung open and a crew member stepped in. He was carrying three piles of clothes. He threw one pair at each of us and then threw a small metal stick into the floor at my feet.

"Use this to unchain each other and then get dressed in these clothes. I'll lock this door and be standing right outside it. Don't try to escape, Captain said that none of you three is valuable enough to not kill you if you try to escape again."

The crew member nodded as if that settled that and then stepped back outside, locking the door with an audible snick. I kicked the metal lock pick to Sheera, who was the only one who's hands were in front of her.

"Unlock yar 'ands and then come do mine an' Carrow's." I said.

Sheera nodded and began unhooking herself. She finished and crawled her way over to me, unlocking my cuffs. She slid over to Carrow and undid his chains. I let mine fall to the ground as I stood and stretched out, raising my arms above my head. I felt the circulation going back into them as I dropped them back down to my sides. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Sheer and Carrow were already getting dressed, simply excited to actually get to wear some sort of clothing. I was less excited to see the new clothes. The Captain and his crew had left me in my clothes for some reason that I couldn't fathom and I was reluctant to step into something that the crew of slave traders had given me. But after thinking it over for only a moment I picked up the clothes and began changing. The clothes I was wearing from when they had taken me had gotten rather filthy and the clothes that were given to my by the slave traders were a bit small and did reveal a little too much in my opinion but they were clean, and that was worth something in and of itself.