Everyone knew she loved him, that was obvious. The mystery was, how? He wasn’t exactly the lovable type, and she was in no position to have those types of feelings for him. He was a slave trader, of sorts. There were ten of us slaves, all of us women. He had come during the night, burned our tiny village, and took us away. Now we were traveling across the great ocean, to whatever future lay before us. That’s why we really couldn’t understand how she could love him.

Nine of us were kept locked up in a small cabin, and we were only allowed out during small intervals during the day. She, however, was free to go where ever she pleased. Often she was with the Captain. But she still had her loyalties with us. On occasion we could hear her shouting, arguing for our sakes. But no matter how many fights they seemed to get into, she and the Captain always spent the majority of the time in his cabin.

Then it happened. We were sitting in our little cabin at night, with a few little candles to give us light. The ship pitched slightly, and a woman who was holding a candle lost her balance. She dropped the candle as she fell, and the candle rolled off under a bed in the back of the cabin. I guess we all assumed that the tiny flame had gone out when it hit the ground, but a few moments later proved just how wrong we were.

Smoke filled the room, and it grew increasingly warm. We sat in confusion for a moment, before a few women jumped up and tried to move the bed, but it was too heavy for them. All of us gathered around the bed, and tried to move it, but the fire was quickly engulfing the bed. One woman grabbed the pitcher in our room, and threw the water on the fire, but it didn’t do much good. The pitcher was half-way empty. Another woman tried grabbing the blanket and folding it over on the fire in an attempt to smoother it, but she backed away with a gasp, staring at her burned hands. I ran to the door, and began pounding on it wildly.

“Help!” I screamed, “Help us! There’s a fire! Let us out!” I continued pounding and screaming, tears welling up in my eyes as the seconds passed, and no one answered. I could feel it grow hotter and hotter on my back, and the women behind me began screaming and sobbing. Suddenly the door opened and a hand reached in, pulling me out of the smoke-filled room and out onto the deck, before slamming the door shut again before anyone else could get out.

“No! No! We have to get them out too!” I flung myself back at the closed door, but strong arms circled around my waist, pulling me back.

“No, shhhh,” the sailor whispered, looking around furtively. “Our commands have been to keep you girls in there until further notice.”

“But they’ll die!” I shrieked. The soldier clapped his hand over my mouth, preventing me from saying anything more.

“Don’t you get it?!” He muttered harshly. “You’re not supposed to be out here!”

Fresh tears filled my eyes, as I turned and watched the cabin. The flames were now visible, dancing up and licking at the sky, the screams of the women ringing clear.

“Stop the fire!”

At those words, the sailors rushed forward, pulling open the door and jumping back as flames shot out. One woman staggered out, coughing uncontrollably into her hand, covered in soot and burns. She was the only person to come out. The sailors grabbed buckets, filling them with water and splashing it on the fire, but at this point it didn’t seem to be doing much good. The fire was spreading to the deck of the ship, and the sailors were desperately trying to put the fire out, but it was too hot for them to get near enough. The cabin was now a black skeleton, and the flames still danced around the ship.

“Can you swim?”

I was a little taken back by the question, and when the sailor’s hand came away from my mouth, allowing me to speak.

“N-no. Not very well.”

“Hold on to me then, and don’t struggle any, or we’ll both drown.”

As he said those words, there was a loud crack of splintering wood, followed by the moaning and groaning of the ship. I understood it then, the ship had taken too much damage from the fire, and was going to sink.

“Abandon ship!” came the call, as the sailor with me clinging tightly to his back, got up on rail and jumped overboard. The breath was knocked out of me when I hit the water, and I gasped for more air but instead my mouth was filled with salt water.

After what seemed like forever, I felt my head break out of the water, so I took in several deep breaths. In a panicked second, I could feel my grip on the sailor slipping, and I sunk into the water again, this time alone. I flailed around, opening my mouth in a scream that was flooded out by the water. Liquid pressed into my mouth, and all around me, smothering me. I could feel myself sinking, as everything around me went black.

“Come on, come on. Wake up!” A hand gently slapped my cheeks, and I slowly opened my bleary eyes. Relief filled the face of the sailor looking down at me, and in the early morning sunlight I got the first good view of my rescuer.

He had straight brown hair, that looked like it had the tendency to get into his eyes when it was dry, but now it was wet and plastered to his head. His eyes were a pale blue, verging into gray, and the edges of his irises were encircled with a deep blue. His skin was a nice deep tan color, with water droplets still clinging to him.

“Are you alright?” he spoke softly.

“Yeah, I am.” I slowly sat up, putting my hand to my head. A cool wind blew, causing goose bumps to raise on my wet skin. “Why’d you save me?”

“Ah, well,” he shrugged, looking off into the distance. “You always were my favorite. Sure, you aren’t the youngest or the prettiest, but you’re darn well close to being so.”

“Gee, thanks.” I looked around, taking in our surroundings. We were sitting on a sandy beach, and a few hundred feet away, tropical trees jetted up from the ground. The beach stretched on as far as I could see, with no signs of any civilization.

“My name is Brian, by the way.” The sailor stood up, offering his hand down to me.

“Rayne,” I replied, taking his hand and standing up.

“I know.” He kept hold of my hand for a second and looked into my eyes, before letting go. “The others went up there.” Brian started walking up the beach, towards the trees.

“How many are there?”

“Three girls, including you, and a few sailors.”

I paused, a lump forming in my throat. Only three of us had survived.

“It’s okay,” Brian stopped, coming back and putting his hands on my shoulders. “There was nothing you could about it, nothing we could do about it that wasn’t mutiny. I’m sorry about it, but it’s not your fault.”

“I know, I just–I just need a minute.” I lowered my head, so he couldn’t see the tears that were threatening to come.

“I understand.” Brian paused a moment, took my hand in his and pressed it, then left.

I watched him retreat towards the trees. Then I turned toward to ocean and sat down, hugging my knees tightly. Silent tears coursed their way down my cheeks, as I relived the past couple weeks of my life.

It took me a minute to realize that I was staring at a man, standing out knee deep in the water, and he was staring back at me. I jumped up and looked back to the trees, but Brian was already gone, and I was completely alone. I looked back at the man and was startled at the speed with which he moved. He was coming out of the water, right in my direction.

I had never seen him before in my life, but I knew who he was. His long black hair was loose in wet clumps around his face, his orange eyes burned fiercely at me as he walked. It was Shaitan, the slave trader and captain of the ship. My breath caught in my throat as he stopped inches away from me, and stared down at me, before continuing on.

He fell then, hitting the ground and lying there, just a couple feet from where I stood. I watched him for a moment, unsure of what to do, before my compassionate side took over. I dropped down to where he lay, pulling his arms around my shoulders, then I started to stand up. Before I knew what was happening, he had spun me around and pinned me into the ground, his arm pressed into my neck.

We stayed that way for a minute, looking at each other; me with fear, him with contempt. Then, almost in a distracted sort of way, he took his arm away from my neck, and pulled some seaweed from my hair.

“How old are you, girl?” he snarled.

“Twenty-two,” I answered, my voice barely audible.

“Eh, Sylv is only eighteen, and yet she still has more sense than you. I could’ve killed you, why did you try to help?”

“Because you needed it,” I choked on my words.

“Needed it? Who said I needed it?”

I didn’t answer. I was afraid that I would break down sobbing if I tried to say anything.

“Stupid girl.” He stood up, looking around him. “Get out of here.”

I scrambled to get up, but slipped in the sand and went down again. With a curse, Shaitan caught hold my arm, hoisting me up onto my feet, then throwing me forward. I ran as fast as I could.

Only later did I realize I was missing my black onyx bracelet, the one my father had given me for my sixteenth birthday. It had been my only comfort since becoming a slave, and now it was gone.