Edited

I groggily wake up with my hands tied behind my back, and my ankles bound. I attempt to sit up, and groan with effort. My head is pounding, and I feel nauseous. I'm in a dark small space, but by the light of the lantern swaying above me, I can tell I'm not alone.

"Good-you're awake. You realize that you've been taking up most of the room? There's lots of us in here, and you took up half the space. So thank you for that." A girl hisses angrily in the darkness. I glare at her...or at the general direction that I think the voice is coming from.

"I'm soooooo sorry that I was knocked unconscious because I actually put up a fight. I sure hope I didn't cause any inconvenience." I shoot back, my voice dripping with sarcasm. She huffs and turns away from me. I roll my eyes, and lean my head against the hard wall. Everything hurts. Gradually, my eyes become accustomed to the darkness, and I can almost see. The girl wasn't kidding-we're stacked in here so tightly we're practically sitting on each other.

"Here. Eat this. It will help with the pain." A boy next to me, holds out a leaf or something.

"I'm fine." I protest. I may be a thief-scum of the streets, but even I know not to accept strange substance from people I don't know. Just then we hit a bump, and I can't hold in a gasp of pain. The boy laughs, even though I don't see anything funny about the situation.

"Eat it." He places the leaf in my palm, and I begrudgingly put the plant in my mouth. I sigh in relief as soon as the leaf touches my tongue. It immediately vanquishes the pain, both in my temple, and my cheek, where the man hit me. The nauseous feeling in my stomach dissipates, and I instantly feel more alert. I turn to face him so that I can thank him. But I get slightly distracted by his hair. Hey-I'm still a teenage girl-I get distracted by these things!!! His light brown hair curls softly at the ends, and his emerald green eyes have a 'happy' look about them. He smiles at me.

"I'm Derrin." He introduces himself. I smile in return.

"I'm Lynx. Thank you for the medicine." I respond gratefully. Derrin's eyes lock on my left cheek.

"They hit you!? I thought they would at least know better then to hit a girl!" He angrily states. I'm not sure why he cares, but I don't really remember the last time somebody actually cared about me, so I don't mind.

"I spit in his eyes. Don't worry though-I'm used to it." I say tiredly. I notice the fleeting look of worry across Derrin's features, but turn away before he can say anything else.

"You did that!?" A girl sitting across from me says in a surprised time.

"I didn't want to be captured! Didn't anybody else put up a fight?" I ask, looking around the small carriage. I don't know what I expected, but I guess I didn't expect the dead silence that followed my statement. There's a couple mutters, but for the most part people remain silent.

"Oh." I murmur. That's stupid. Why didn't they try to put up a fight? There's a awkward silence.
Just then the doors are flung open, and the bright afternoon light filters in. Even though I'm half blinded, I can still see the man I spit at glaring at everybody.

Oh great.

"Everybody out!" He roars. Slowly, kids start to stand, groaning as they stretch out their stiff muscles.

"Can you stand?" Derrin asks me.

"I'm not a invalid." I respond sharply.
I stand up, and almost immediately my legs give out. Derrin half catches me as I regain my footing.

"Don't say anything!" I scowl. He laughs in amusement, and helps me out of the small trailer.

When the man sees me, his lips curl up in a awful sneer. I glare at him, trying my best to look way tougher then I actually am.

"The spitfire is awake." He snarls menacingly. I smile wickedly.

"Still spitting! Come closer and you can find out for yourself." I cheerfully chant. The man's scowl deepens.

"You! Come here!" He sharply calls to Derrin.

Derrin frowns as he shakes his head.

"No!"

The leader smirks evilly.

"Let go of the brat, or we'll kill her, then you." He hisses.
Derrin looks apologetically at me, as he carefully makes sure I can stand on my own. As he walks away, the man looks at me.

"My name is Rogust, king of the Kypaiha. Bow to me. " Rogust sneers. I definitely messed with the wrong guy. But I can't change that now I guess. So I force myself to laugh scornfully.

"Sure. And I'm the queen of Faiyria. I'll bow to you when horses can talk. I'm sure even then they'd have better speech then you." I toss my hair defiantly. One of Rogust's cronies shoves me to the ground. Rogust kicks me. Hard. In the stomach. I screech in pain, as I curl into a small ball. I don't even care that my peers are watching me-it hurts too much. Rogust leans down to whisper in my ear.

"When I say bow, you bow. Got it?" I can barely think straight enough to speak. So I just nod. Fervently.

"Get her inside!" He yells at Derrin and another girl. They help me up, and support me as I limp away.

We are put in a prison cell of sorts. 3 to a cell that's obviously only meant for one. As soon as we enter the tiny space, the doors slam shut. There is one cot, one bucket of water and one mouldy loaf of bread. Our cell measures 10 feet long by 10 feet wide. It is small. Even by my standards. I fall onto the bed, and gratefully accept a ladle-full of water.
It kinda tastes like urine, but I'm so thirsty I don't question it.

"Thank you for hauling my beat up butt to a bed," I smile, attempting to lighten the somber mood. I look over to the girl, who's lying facedown on the floor. She doesn't move. Derrin frowns, as if in thought.

"You've got a talent for trouble." He concludes. I shrug, neither confirming or denying. I do have a talent for trouble-it's my specialty. I laugh, but the sharp pain in my ribs quickly turns my laugh into a awkward cough.

"Just go to sleep." Derrin smiles softly. My eyelids are already drooping. I'm too tired to object. Before I know it, I drift into a dreamless sleep.

I wake up to sunlight streaming through the one tiny window. Derrin is sprawled out on the floor, still asleep, but the girl is awake.

"Thank you for helping me." I say sincerely to her. She flinches, as if she didn't know I was there. She has red curly hair, and light blue eyes, very similar to my own blue eyes.

"Don't mention it. I'm Briss." She nods.

"Lynx" I say. Briss nods again.

"What's his face wanted me to give this to you." She sighs bluntly. She hands me a leaf, identical to the one in the carriage. I chew it, and grimace at the flavour. It tastes like how I'd imagine ground up worms. Not pleasant.

I swing my legs over the side of the bed, and test my feet. Ok. I walk to the opposite corner of the room, and pick up the loaf of bread. I can see the green flakes on it, slowly spreading over the bread. It looks disgusting. Nothing like Harldy makes. He makes a fine loaf of bread. That's when I remember the loaf he tossed me before I was captured. Man-that feels like so long ago. Was it only yesterday? It doesn't matter-I still have it. I silently thank Harldy as I reach in my sleeve, and miraculously pull out the fresh bread that somehow didn't fall out of my sleeve as I was beat up. Briss's eyes widen as she looks hungrily at the loaf.

"Where did you....never mind. Let's just eat." She stammers as she scrambles to wake Derrin. My stomach growls invitingly. Time to eat.

By afternoon, the food is gone, and we have barely a ladle of water left. All three of us are jumpy. I'm feeling loads better-ready for action. We're bored out of our minds. Waiting for people to decide your fate is awful. Seriously awful. I am secretly looking foreword to whatever happens next because at least we won't be in a cell, waiting. All three of us sit in silence. I can't help but feel close to these two. I guess being kidnapped together really gives people something to bond over. Whatever happens, I hope that we're together-even though I'm sure that's not going to happen.

A clang of the bars makes me flinch. A snatcher stands there with a key, glaring at us. I ball my fists, and contort my features into a deep scowl.

"Come with me." He snarls. I make a face at him, and stand up. Derrin smiles reassuringly at Briss and I, but it doesn't do much to calm my nerves.
We meet up with the captee's (what's the word for that!) and are taken to a room, where Rogust waits with his hands on his hips.

"Girls go with Ecxi, and boys come with me." He orders, pointing at a girl in the corner. Slowly, we begin to separate, shuffling to our respective corners. Derrin looks over his shoulder at me nervously. I give him a thumbs up. Then I follow the other girls out of the room.

We don't have far to go-just around the corner. Where a kings feast awaits us. There's so much food. It makes my mouth water just looking at it. I feel like I could eat a elephant.

"First you clean up and then you can eat." Ecxi yells out at us. There's a basin of water with wash clothes. I quickly wash my face and arms, and finger comb my hair. Then I race to the table and grab a apple. The sweet juice explodes through my mouth as I take a bite. I can't remember the last time I had a apple. It's so good! I almost want to save it, but I eat ravenously. It's gone within minutes. I grab at a slice of bread, and take a large bite, but Exci slaps the bread out of my hand as soon as I lower it from my mouth.

"This is your number. Don't take it off, and don't make a sound." She snarls, handing me a piece of cloth with a number on it. I don't think I could talk even if I had wanted to-my moth is stuffed with delicious bread. She looks down at me in disgust as I chew.

"You are disgusting!" She groans.

Then she shoves me out the door and into the sunlight.

The roar of the crowd greets my ears. My eyes widen in surprise. I'm at a auction. No, not just a auction, a slave auction. And I am the merchandise.
This is not happening!

"Look at this one! She's a pretty one! Very well behaved-you won't find a more behaved young woman anywhere! Starting at 50 almi!" Rogust yells. Hands shoot up all over the place.
"100 almi!"
"112!"
Panic rises in my chest. I can't be bought. I won't be bought. I refuse. Then a deep voice rings out of the crowd.
"600,"
The crowd gasps. That's almost 5 times as much as anybody's bid today. On me! I want to shout out in protest, but my mouth is still full, effectively shutting me up.
"Going once! Going twice! Sold!"
I've been sold.