Chapter Four

ROWENA 

We arrived at Ravenshallow at the crack of dawn. The landscape was like nothing I had ever seen before. The atmosphere was shrouded in grey fog, the sun's rays barely pierced through the mist. In the distance stood tall rocky mountains barely visible above the mist, with buildings and structures emerging from the mountains.

“We are here ladies,” one of the slavers said before letting out a drunken laugh. 

“Don't be frightened,” the other one said to us at the back. I couldn't see his face but I could sense a shared smile in his tone. “You all will be put to very good use here.”

The wagon moved slowly through the town to the market square. The smell of raw meat, vegetables and the indistinct chatter that was akin to the market, filled the wagon. Suddenly, the wagon came to a halt. The door of the wagon was opened and we were all made to climb down its steep ramp. 

We were about to be sold off, like goods, we were about to be bargained for like lifeless items at a stall. We were all ordered to stand on a podium in the heart of the market square. The other captives still didn't utter a word to me but I could see the realization of how miserable our current situation was on their faces. 

We stood there for hours on end waiting to be bought. As the sun rose higher in the sky, the heat grew more fierce making us parched with thirst and too tired to stand. The slavers kept themselves busy with refreshments under a stall’s shade laughing with the other traders, but we were left to suffer under the grueling sun. 

“This red haired one, where is she from?” An old, hairy trader asked the slavers as he grabbed hold of my leg. One of the slavers stood up and walked towards me. 

“Kneel you vermin!” he shouted at me. I was not going to have my dignity stripped from me more than it already had, so I stood and stared at him in silent defiance. Seeing this an act of rebellion, the slaver, in anger, hit my legs with his fists until they buckled under me and I fell to my knees.

By this time, the old trader had already lost interest in me and had moved on to the other woman next to me. “You better be careful little girl,” the slaver whispered into my ear, his breath foul from the meat he had been eating. “You are a slave now, so let go of any other identity you had. If you want to survive here you better get used to following orders. If not, you will end up like the other girl who went missing,” he hissed.

I remained on my knees after that, too weak to stand and too broken to try. 

Little by little, the other women were sold off until only I remained. It was pitiful honestly, to be the last piece of meat the street dogs want to eat. I didn't know if I should have felt empowered or scared of what the slavers would do to me if they couldn't sell me off. A group of five men riding on black horses came to the stall. The man in the middle, who looked like the leader of the group, spoke before the slaver could say anything. 

“What swine have you brought into my kingdom now, Piers?” asked the man in the middle. He had dark-blond hair and deep blue eyes. I began to laugh to myself when I heard the man call the slaver Piers. The name sounded so childlike. But laughing was a privilege I should have known I had lost days ago. 

“What are you laughing at, you pig?” The man asked as he dismounted to properly examine me. His eyes looked at me sternly. He was tall and loomed over everyone else, commanding authority. Those words wiped the laughter from my face. 

“She is a troublesome one sire. We got her from the Eastern clan, her father and her husband sold her to us because of her mischief,” said Piers, who happened to sound less intimidating and more like a whining infant at that moment. His statement made me burst out in laughter that startled everyone else.

“My father gave me away in marriage to clear his debt but unfortunately I fainted before the rites were completed which made Darius Varian reject me and sell me into slavery to get back the money he has lost. Darius Varian is not my husband,” I rambled with a hysterical smile plastered on my face. “He didn't even lick my toes which I heard was some kind of fetish of his.” 

“Abominable! She rambles like an uncultured woman. No wonder she was sold by her husband,” said one of the men in the group to which the others laughed. I rolled my eyes, so much for explaining. 

“Enough!” The leader growled in anger which made everyone fall silent. “How dare you speak when I have not addressed you?” He asked me.

The leader looked so fierce and enraged. Then he calmed down almost as quickly as he had become angry. Still staring intently at me, with a sly grin on his face, he said to Piers “I want to buy her. How much is she worth?” Only if I had known what that smile implied.

“I will give her freely to you as the great Alpha of this clan. She will cost you nothing,” replied Piers. 

“We are a Kingdom, Piers. We are nothing like those other backward clans with their remarkably senseless women,” the Leader said, still staring down at me. “What is your name?” he asked.

“Rowena Silverveil from the Eastern clan of Eldoria,” I replied.

“I am Thane Darkmoor, the Alpha of this kingdom. Now, are you afraid that you laughed in the face of someone who wields the power to kill you?” He sneered. Fear creeped into my chest. How foolish I was to have laughed in the first place.

Before I knew it, I was handed over to Thane Darkmoor and his men. “Can you not walk? Are you injured?” he asked as I struggled to stand upright. 

“They barely fed their women well in her clan so they end up growing weak and feeble,” Piers joked before I could say anything. I gave him a side glance and sure enough he had a big smile across his face. 

I was made to ride on one of the horses of the other men. After we left the market, we arrived at what looked like a fighting arena.

I sensed something was amiss. I was made to enter into the arena and wait for instructions. The men sat looking down at me from the spectators' seats. Something in me yelled for me to run but I was fixed in fear. There were three gates to the arena and all of them were shut. 

There were bones, skulls and blood stains littered around the arena. Suddenly, the gate in front of me began to open and out came a large black werewolf. It growled at me intently and began to make its way towards me. I screamed in fear.

“Please let me out,” I begged but all my cries fell on deaf ears. 

“Where is your laughter now Rowena?” Thane shouted down at me. “I would run if I were you but since your legs are no good you might as well turn to your wolf and put up a fight,” he sneered. 

The beast had long lost its patience by then and lunged at me fiercely.