- Emmalina's Point of View -

The road was incredibly bumpy with so many pot holes that it probably would have been a more comfortable ride to do it beside the road. Katrina was sitting right next to me and the man that had bought us was staring out the window at the passing countryside. I was surprised to see the carriage when it first came riding up to us in the town. This guy did not seem like the kind of man who could afford such luxuries, and boy was I hoping that he was only the messenger boy. 

Katrina seriously did not look away from the man. Her big blue eyes just could not look away and I was guessing that it made the man very uncomfortable...Which I was actually pretty glad of, to be completely honest.

It seemed about three hours before we finally came to our destination and let me just say, it was probably one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. It was built Italian style and made out of stone. The house, or more like mansion, was surrounded by a tall stone wall and inside there was a smallish courtyard. In the center was a carved fountain and then the rest was just paved flooring. On my right and left, separated by pillars, were two amazing gardens with blooming flowers and lots of weeping willows. 

Then I sobered up as the carriage stopped at the front door and I was brought back to reality.

"Follow me," Grumpy said, getting out of the carriage and walking up the steps.

Originally I was going to make a run for it but than I caught sight of hidden guards outside the gate.

"Well dang," I mumbled.

I quickly picked Katrina up and followed Grumpy into the house. There we were ordered to wait and sit around while Mr. Slave Driver was told of our presence. 

"What do you think is gonna happen to us?" Katrina asked me.

I slowly put her down and then knelt beside her.

"I have no clue, to tell you the truth. I don't want to lie to you because I know you'll see through it. And this is no time to tell a lie. I believe we're stuck. Liam is probably going to try and find us but I can't guarantee anything. My dad has probably already sent ships out to look for us, but I can't guarantee they'll find us either. I need you to be strong and whatever you do...Don't let them get to you."

I know its weird to talk to a six year old like that, but I thought she could handle it. After a long silence she sighed and leaned against the wall, brushing a red lock out of her face.

"Thanks for being honest," she smiled.

"I don't like it when people think just because I'm little its better to lie to me."

Suddenly a felt a bit guilty. The first thought that had popped into my head was, 'lie girl, lie!', but I hadn't, and I was glad of it.

Eventually Grumpy came back down and ordered us to follow him once more down a series of long halls and out a back door to a thatched hut. It was actually surprisingly large for somewhere slaves were kept, but than I realized that this 'boss man' probably had lots of slaves and therefore needed a large area to keep them. Then of course I became sober again for the billionth time that day. It seemed that every time my hopes were brought up just to be completely pulverized by the real world.

"Get in," Grumpy ordered, shoving the door open.

A dim light came from inside and I was a bit optimistic once more. At least there's light, I thought. Katrina walked in in front of me and as soon as I walked in Grumpy slammed the door behind me.

"Well, well, well, if Tavish bot himself more slaves to get the work done," a voice said from one end of the room.

I turned to look for the source of the voice to be pleasantly surprised. It was a girl the same age as I. She had black curly hair and dark skin with two beautiful brown eyes. Her face was round and she had soft features but her build was anything but. She was not tall but not short either. I could tell by her muscular build that she was from the dessert tribes and as soon as she told me her name it was confirmation.

"I am Abeni. I've been a slave here for almost five years now."

"I'm Emmalina, but most people just call me Emma," I answered politely.

There was no one else in the hut but I was sure that there would soon be more, mostly because of the fact that there were tons of bunk beds.

"Oh don't worry. There are at least 20 more slaves here but they're all out working. Which you will be doing just as soon as Tavish comes back from his trip," Abeni told me.

I nodded slowly but Abeni seemed to concentrating on something else. Then when I followed her gaze I realized what it was. Katrina. Or more specifically, Katrina's hair. Even though it was pretty dirty the red still stood out like a soar thumb.

"Your hair is beautiful!" she exclaimed, kneeling down in front of Katrina and gingerly touching the flaming locks.

"Um...Thank you!" Katrina answered awkwardly.

"How did you get it this color?" Abeni asked.

"Uh, I was born with it."

"Its amazing!"

Well that's good, I thought. A friend already...And Katrina was the first to make it that way.