Redwall's New War, chapter three
Suricatta, had been in the locked dark cabin for four days, he thought that maybe the captain had forgotten about him, but he had no food fed too him, he was now very thin, indeed he was thin before, but not like this. The only water he had, was the water that dripped from the ceiling.
Then light entered the room, the door had been opened, he could hear captain Vernis's voice, arguing with a crew member, "Ya, the mouse oar slave has keeled on over, cap'n, we could use this wretch to replace 'im"
"You idjit!" Vernis yelled, "The only reason the oarslave is dead, is 'cause yew whipped 'im to much, Taintedfur, yer in charge of this 'un until we land in Mossflower and git more slaves,"
The rat named Taintedfur grabbed Suricatta by the scruff of his fur, in a cruel manner, "Git up, yew useless scum, let's see ya use an oar!"
The rat dragged him painfully to the slave galley, the slaves were silent in fear, only the staining of their over worked muscles could be heard. Taintedfur was a cruel slave driver, of course most slave drivers are cruel, but he was far worse then many slave drivers before him.
"OARSLAVES!" Suricatta thought, he had only heard those words in the tomes he had read, but his father, had never allowed such a cruel thing to be made, but now, under his brother's rule, oarslaves were aboard every ship.
The slave driver chained Suricatta's wrists to the wall, and gave him the oar,
"Start rowing!" Taintedfur yelled, "afore I whip ya!"
Suricatta was not a strong beast, he could not row, but he tried anyway, his tiny muscles bulged, never before had he done this.
"That's better," The slave driver said lowering his whip, "now keep on doin' that for thirteen hours, then the gruel will be 'ere, but stop once, and ye ain't gittin' any!"
Suricatta kept rowing, the shackels hurt his wrists, the oar hurt his arms and paws, why did his brother hate him so, why, he thought, he had done him no harm.