Graden was awoken rudely by a bucket of water to the face. He sat up sputtering, and someone immediately made him bite a piece of rope and tied it tightly around his head. Due to the blindfold, Graden had no idea what time of day it was. His wrists were held, and he was roughly walked over to the end of the line and an additional length of rope was tied around his wrists and to the neck of the person in front of him. For many nights, it was the same schedule. Wake up, be gagged and lined up, be marched mercilessly until night, be roughly fed and watered, sleep, and the cycle repeated. Later, he was told that they made their way west to a mountain range known as The Spine. From their, they followed the edge of The Spine south until they reached the Toark River, a two week journey.
Their little troupe lost one of their members on the twentieth day of their journey, not so much lost him as he was taken from them. One of the slaves had stumbled and cut his thigh a week before. After the dirt, bugs, and bacteria had their way with it, the leg had swollen, turned green, and secreted a thick sickly yellow-green fluid at every step that the man took. The infection in the leg grew worse until the man claimed he couldn't feel his foot. It started to rot, and a useless stump decreased the usefulness of a slave. The crippled man was made the last in line, right behind Graden, as the infection spread. The drivers got sick of him, and they cut the rope connecting the man's wrists to Graden's neck. Before he could ask what was going on, they took a knife to the man's throat, sending a warm spray on the back of Graden's head and neck. The group moved on, with the man coughing and gurgling behind them. Eventually, either the dying man was out of earshot…or he was already dead. Either way, Graden couldn't hear him, and he was content not to hear him, as it was his first experience with death.
Every few days, they were allowed blindfolds off for an hour or so, and the last couple days, they were allowed to have them off for longer and longer. Finally, they reached the Toark River, and camped until nightfall. In the dark of night, everyone was woken up and marched to the river's edge. After a short while, a small black ship drifted down and beached near their location. A ramp descended from the starboard side, and the slaves were led aboard, followed by the horsemen. They drifted down to Woadark Lake, and finally to the ocean, where they docked on the coast. They were fed before being led onto a larger ship, where their gags and blindfolds were removed, and all released into the main cargo hold. They were surprised by the fact that they weren't the only ones in the ship. At least fifty other's milled about with hands bound in front of them. Throughout the entire journey to the coast, Graden never forgot about the dagger in his boot.
