So this is my new story which I have no idea how is going to turn out…so bear with me!

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Tashbaan was not where I wanted to be, but I would have to say it was probably better than where we would all be going tomorrow. I looked around me and saw four pairs of eyes filled with the same fear I was feeling inside, but I also saw despair and I wasn't to that point yet. I wondered vaguely how long it would be until I got there…

"On your feet!" the familiar and harsh voice sliced through the silence like a blade through skin and I found myself on my feet without a second thought. Better to play along and not put up a fight, which is why I had lasted so long I suppose.

Unlike the four girls chained behind me, I remembered vividly every moment that had brought me here. I remembered my father sneering at me as the slave trader placed the meager amount of money into his hand. I remembered the whippings I had gotten the first and every time I snapped at anyone in authority over me. I remembered my little sister being sold to a Tarkaan right before my eyes and not being able to do a thing about it. I remember the blisters that had slowly turned to calluses over time and the pain they cause as we were mercilessly driven forward. I remember the first time I had felt the sensation of actually starving. I remember being raped multiple times when the slave drivers would drink too much. Yes…I remembered it all and THAT was what drove me forward. Because I would find my little sister and I would get revenge.

"Move out!" the slaver in the back called to the one holding the leather strap that was tied to the metal collar around my neck. I felt the familiar painful tug and I started walking immediately, the girl behind me connected to me with collars of her own and the one behind her was bound in the same way. We formed a chain of hopeless souls.

We looked up at the gates of Tashbaan as we passed beneath them and I couldn't help but feel a little bit of admiration for the people who made them. But mostly, I felt hatred for these people and everything about them. I hated Calormen and all of its people. I hated men most of all.

Yes, that was one thing that was gone forever. Any ounce of respect I had for the male species was gone. After all, it was my father who sold me, my brothers who stood by and watched, a man who separated my sister and I despite our pleading, men who had taken my innocence, men who had beaten me, and men who were now driving me to the slave market in Tashbaan where I would be sold like a common sheep instead of a human being. Because, I reasoned, that's all we are to men.

My bitterness, however, was not shared by the youngest girl in our sad little troupe. Jinni was the only other person in this helpless group that spoke besides me, the others were too lost deep inside themselves to even try to say anything to a headstrong girl who seemed to get them in trouble more than needed. But Jini told me once that she found hope in me and we have bonded quite well. She often told me that a kind man would buy us and treat us well. I didn't ever tell her the notion was ridiculous.

We were paraded through Tashbaan and I kept my eyes down as we passed by crowds of people who jeered at us and sometimes even threw rotten fruit at us. It was like this in almost every town we had passed through. Finally, we reached the market square were a kind of platform was standing for the very purpose of showing off the wares of the slave trade. We were all tied behind the platform as our drivers called the crowd to gather around and see what they had to offer. But, it seemed that not too many people were interested at the moment because none of them were coming our way, they were all lining the side of street. My head jerked up at the sound of a trumpet blast, one I was unfamiliar with. It was unlike any trumpet call the Tisroc's armies made. I craned my neck over the platform to try and see the strangers whose trumpet call had caught my interest. Jinni tried as well but she was too short.

"Tell me what you see, Najida!" she pleaded softly.

"Well it's hard to see with that crowd gathered around," I started but then the crowd parted to both sides and I saw a most unusual sight! "Oh! There's a Centaur!"

"A Centaur!" Jinni's eyes were wide, "I thought they were only found in the far north countries."

"That must be where they're from," I replied, "Yes, it's a Centaur bearing a green flag with a red lion on it. He's the head of the group and behind him are two figures on horses, a boy and a girl. They appear to be of great importance. The boy has dark hair and looks about my age or a little older, the girl has a reddish-brown colored hair and she looks about a year older than you. They both have that same lion emblazoned on their saddle blankets and they both have crowns. I think they're royalty!"

But the procession passed fairly quickly and the crowd followed them up the street, leaving us alone in the market square minus the shopkeepers. Our drivers mumbled about arriving at the wrong time and bad sales time and drug us back down the street a ways to a large stone building. I knew what came next. We would be locked in a cell for the night until he drug us out for selling the next day when the crowd was satisfied it had seen enough of the foreigners.

I was right. We were all flung into a rat infested, dung scented hole of a cell and left there without a word or a scrap of food. A little water was shoved under the bars in a bowl. After we had drunk just enough to wet our tongues, Jinni and I sat back against the wall to talk as we always did.

"Who were they, Najida?" Jinni asked me, her brown eyes wide with excitement. She was always curious about countries she had never seen which was…all of them.

"Well, I guess they had to have been Archenlanders or Narnians," I replied.

"Narnians!" Jinni squeaked and her hands flew to her mouth. "Do you really think so?"

"Yes, I think the Narnians have a lion as their pagan god, " I reasoned, "So I would say it was indeed their king and queen."

"I would love to meet them," Jinni said wistfully, "Especially the king."

"Ugh, please, Jinni," I scoffed, "I wouldn't want to be within twenty feet of him."

"Why not?" Jinni looked shocked.

"Jinni," I sighed, "You know why. You can't trust them. ANY of them. We couldn't even trust our own fathers!"

Jinni's eyes were brimming with tears.

"But…but I don't believe that!" her voice was high with denial. "They can't all be that way! There has to be some decent ones…"

"NO! THERE ISN'T!" I snapped, cutting her off abruptly, "Stop imagining the impossible! They're ALL the SAME! Haven't you seen enough to know that by now!"

I don't know why I snapped like that. I usually kept myself together and just told myself it was all false. But I guess I was tired of Jinni living in a fantasy world where chivalry and love were real. Because they weren't. I sighed and rolled onto my side to sleep, Jinni's small sobs hurt me more than the stones that were poking my skin.

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There's the first chapter! Let me know what you think!