It was always the same dream. Flashes of home, of the fear-stricken faces of her parents and grandmother as they reached out toward her, unable to catch hold of her before the current dragged her toward the surface. Human hands grappled at her, hauling her onto a boat, their menacing expressions that of triumph and greed. She always woke up when the pommel of a blade came down toward her head. This time it was to the sound of Odisius' club as he smashed it several times in quick succession against the rusting iron bars that caged her.
The woman's malnourished body jolted awake and she peeked up from where she sat curled in the far corner of the space half the size of a row boat. "Time to look pretty Gils." the man who'd bought her snarled with a grin of far too few teeth. She had refused to give her name to any who asked it - she'd refused to say anything at all as a matter-of-fact. They thought her mute, or stupid, but they'd made sure she could still feel pain enough to scream. The wounds weren't healing as they should have, not with a few meagre ladles of stagnant water she was forced to drink every day. She needed salt, real salt and real water, or she'd continue to die this slow, miserable death she'd been dying since the day she'd been dragged into the lives of humans.
She'd been in this underground hell-hole for over a week now, subject to the beady eyes and greedy smiles of the sorts of creatures that frequented such markets. Everything sold here had been ripped from where it belonged, whether it was a stolen artefact, or hides and horns from rare beasts, dangerous venoms and magically enhanced weapons.. She'd even seen a few of their own kind being dragged through in chains and sold to the highest bidder.
"Now try a smile for me, darlin'. We got fortunes to make yet. Well.. I do." he barked a laugh at himself and turned to beckon and barter with the first customers of the day as they drew near to get a closer look at her.. A 'copper a strand of her hair' , 'three coppers a scale' -plucked with a blade from underneath the skin of her legs- and a 'silver for a vial of blood'. The 'whole fish', Odisius had assured, was no doubt well above anything these vermin could afford.
"She looks dead." an orcish looking creature grunted as he prodded a meaty finger at her leg through the bars. Nina flinched, proving that she was in fact alive. Odisius slammed the baton against the bars once more, growling a warning for her to look pretty once again, but she could barely keep her eyes open. Her skin was sallow and her hair had lost the iridescent lustre, just as the scales had. Everything was just slowly turning.. grey.
The woman's malnourished body jolted awake and she peeked up from where she sat curled in the far corner of the space half the size of a row boat. "Time to look pretty Gils." the man who'd bought her snarled with a grin of far too few teeth. She had refused to give her name to any who asked it - she'd refused to say anything at all as a matter-of-fact. They thought her mute, or stupid, but they'd made sure she could still feel pain enough to scream. The wounds weren't healing as they should have, not with a few meagre ladles of stagnant water she was forced to drink every day. She needed salt, real salt and real water, or she'd continue to die this slow, miserable death she'd been dying since the day she'd been dragged into the lives of humans.
She'd been in this underground hell-hole for over a week now, subject to the beady eyes and greedy smiles of the sorts of creatures that frequented such markets. Everything sold here had been ripped from where it belonged, whether it was a stolen artefact, or hides and horns from rare beasts, dangerous venoms and magically enhanced weapons.. She'd even seen a few of their own kind being dragged through in chains and sold to the highest bidder.
"Now try a smile for me, darlin'. We got fortunes to make yet. Well.. I do." he barked a laugh at himself and turned to beckon and barter with the first customers of the day as they drew near to get a closer look at her.. A 'copper a strand of her hair' , 'three coppers a scale' -plucked with a blade from underneath the skin of her legs- and a 'silver for a vial of blood'. The 'whole fish', Odisius had assured, was no doubt well above anything these vermin could afford.
"She looks dead." an orcish looking creature grunted as he prodded a meaty finger at her leg through the bars. Nina flinched, proving that she was in fact alive. Odisius slammed the baton against the bars once more, growling a warning for her to look pretty once again, but she could barely keep her eyes open. Her skin was sallow and her hair had lost the iridescent lustre, just as the scales had. Everything was just slowly turning.. grey.