On the fourth day, I learn it is a Sunday, I am given a basin of sea water and a small bar of soap to wash with. It may not be what I'm used to but I have never taken advantage of the luxury I am provided with. My eyes have adjusted to the darkness and I am able to wash my hair, I spend a long time untangling it. I shed my clothes and scrub the filth from my body then with the remaining soap I scrub my clothes. They would dry better out in the sun but it's warm enough in the cell for my hair and body to dry quickly.
Snow glares at me when I climb out of the cell myself. When his crew see, two men quickly grasp my arms. I'm taken to Snow's cabin
"I need you to tell me about Ocena"
"They won't look for me, this is fruitless"
"Can we agree not to lie to one another" I glare at him "good, then you will answer my questions" he asks question upon question, some I understand, some I don't but I do not answer a single one of them. He rants in his own language, I don't even try to keep up, he's pacing his cabin and spewing foreign words, I can only pick out fragments. When he turns to me his face is flushed and his chest is heaving from exertion
"You're a coward and a fool" I chuckle lightly. I've been practicing to make sure I have it right for days. The look on Snow's face tells me it was perfect. He strikes me with the back of his hand and although my cheek throbs I turn back to him and smile. He hits me again, harder this time and because my hands are bound behind me, there's nothing to break my fall and I hit my head on his cot. When I stop seeing three of everything, Snow is above me and trying to hike up the skirt of my dress. I writhe and struggle beneath him but it only seems to excite him. I spit at him and he slaps me again, without both of his arms pinning me down I manage to buck him off me. I struggle to my feet, using the wall to steady myself "you're a pig" he marches at me and strikes me once again, my face is stinging but numb at the same time and tears threaten. He rams me into the wall and I can't help but wince when the hard surface digs into my wrists and shoulder blades. He holds me against the wall by my throat and starts lifting my dress again, I kick fiercely but he's depriving me of air
"I'll take your father's land, I'll take his wealth, his people ... his daughter" he spits. I kick my legs as his hand fights its way between my thighs
"No" I growl "no" the hand gripping my throat drops to his belt and I inhale deeply, choking a little. With all my limbs restrained I use the only weapon I have left. I head butt him, I've never seen the point as surely it would damage both parties but it's my only choice. My vision blurs again but Snow's staggered back a few steps. There are swords mounted on the back wall of his cabin and I use them to cut the ropes digging in to my wrists. Snow yanks my foot back and I'm almost impaled on one sword but my hands are free. I try to stand but Snow quickly pushes me down and rolls me over onto my back. His dining table is behind me and I pull its leg to bring it closer, then tip it so his spine takes the full force of the heavy wood. I push my dress down and scramble backwards away from him. His food, bowls, cutlery and a candle are scattered around us and I desperately reach for something to hit him with. The wooden bowl breaks, the candle isn't heavy enough then my hand grasps something thin and wooden, the handle of a knife with a serrated blade. I swing it aimlessly at Snow until he cries out. I look down and find his hands and arms covered in small nicks but a reasonable cut across his palm and a deep slice on his left cheek. We both stand and he moves toward me again, I ready the knife but he simply shoves me towards the door. I laugh at him as he pulls me on deck, he has a fierce grip on my arm, it will leave bruises and I could not care less. He tears the knife from my grasp and throws me into the centre of the deck, I keep my balance but only because my legs have grown to be at sea.
Snow shouts something to the men that again I can't understand, they look between me and Snow's cabin door and I guess what he's told them, given them permission to do. They're wary at first, as they have been these past few days but gradually they move closer. One man reaches out to touch me and I slap his hand away, another takes a tendril of my hair and I push him away from me. They're closing in on me now and there's too many hands for me to bat away so I clench my fists and start throwing punches. They all find purchase but are not enough. A gap toothed greasy man hooks his hand around my neck and pulls me towards him, I push his face away but he comes right back, I turn my face at the last second and while he's licking at my cheek I find the knife in his belt.
A gurgling squeal fills the air and they all step back in time to see the man vomit and roll over to reveal the entire blade of the knife buried in his groin. I wipe the blood off my hands in his shirt and retrieve the knife. He cries out when I yank it out of him but curls into a ball and quietly bleeds after that. The men edge closer slowly and I slice at the hands that get too close. Someone gets a cut across his forehead, one a severed finger, another loses his ear. The number willing to advance on me is dwindling and the hands grabbing at my body fall away. When I pin a large man to the deck with his arms under my knees and the knife at his jugular they back away. I dig my knees painfully into the man's muscle before climbing off him, taking a water skin and some dried meet and climbing back down into the cell. My clothes are torn in places but they're easily repaired, I come out much better than they did.
Both Snow and the men stay away from me after that. My food is dropped through the hatch and it's locked again in a few short seconds. When they won't let me up on deck to empty the bucket I wait for the next meal drop and grab the hand that was put through the hatch, driving the knife through its palm. They let me out when I ask after that but I have to be tied up. It doesn't matter, I still obtain a sword and extra food. I like to think it's my wits but mainly I just think they're stupid.
We're at sea for twenty eight days, I know Seref is only sixteen so the next time I'm brought on deck and I see land I decide I will not spend one more night on this ship. When I'm happy the two men on watch nearest me are distracted I slip out of my clothes, tie up my hair with some fabric from my dress and hold the knife between my teeth. It takes a few minutes but eventually I'm able to jimmy open the hatch with the sword.
I wait a minute to make sure no one comes to investigate the unavoidable sounds of the lock snapping and metal on metal and when I'm sure no one is, I climb out of the hatch. The night air is cold on my naked body and I know that's only a taste of what's to come but I'll take my chances. I lower an empty barrel into the water then leave the sword and climb down the side of the ship. The water is bitterly cold and there's no telling what creatures lurk in its depths but the ocean is part of me and I would rather die in its clutches than Snow's. The freezing water seizes my muscles and it takes me a while to adjust. I may freeze to death before sunrise.
I move silently towards the barrel and heave my chest onto it, wrapping my arms securely underneath I start to kick. I kick for hours, I can only hope the current pulls me to the land I'd seen earlier today. I kick until my legs feel the consistency of the water itself and I keep kicking. Surely the sun should have risen by now. I take a final look at the stars before letting exhaustion overcome me.