Inside, the building was dark making it hard for them to maneuver as most of the windows had been boarded up and it was nearing sunset. Edmund reached back for his torch but found it missing as he had left it back on the ship.
"You have anything to make it a bit brighter in here?" Ed turned to Raelyn with a curious grin.
"Actually, I do have one thing that I've been dying to try." She admitted sheepishly. The other three watched curiously as Raelyn closed her eyes, taking a breath. Slowly a light started to grow, starting from her center and reaching making its way to the outside of her skin, emitting a warm glow that lit up the area around them. She peeked one eye open, glancing down and grinning broadly.
"I did it!" she gasped excitedly. Ed laughed in surprised, smiling widely at her. He reached out to grab her hand but hesitated.
"Can I…" he asked cautiously.
"Oh yea, totally safe." Raelyn assured reaching out and taking his hand in hers before leading the way. Caspian and Lucy shrugged at one another before following, getting back to business. The group continued farther into the room, each of them walking in with their weapons at the ready. The building was as worn down as the rest of the town seemed to be, with plenty of lanterns around but the only light was streaming in from the holes in the roof and from Raelyn.
"I'm ready to go when you are." Eustace called to them nervously from outside, breaking the silence. They all ignored the comment and continued forward, looking for some type of indicator as to what had happened. In the center of the large room was a pillar with a large book open on top of it. Edmund walked over, using the light from Raelyn to read it.
"Who are all these people?" Lucy stared at the rows of names and numbers.
"Why have they all been crossed out?" Edmund added.
"It looks like some kind of…fee." Raelyn realized, pointing out the numbers next to each of the names in the book. Suddenly she got the unsettling feeling of being watched. Some of these dates had been fairly recent so someone must be close by. Raelyn looked up and around worriedly, taking advantage of her 'night vision'.
"Slave traitors." Caspian whispered. Raelyn gasped as she spotted a figure on the ropes, raising a hand to shoot out a ball of light, knocking the man off the rope. Once the first had been exposed a series of bells started to ring as the rest of the men slid down the other ropes with battle cries. Edmund and Lucy began battling with their swords while Caspian and Raelyn protected their backs, picking off men with a crossbow and bursts of energy. Once all the men had reached the ground, Caspian dropped his bow and whipped out his sword to join the fight. Raelyn tried to keep up her energy blasts, causing her own glow to dim a bit as her concentration dropped. Turning around she yelped as a sword came down towards her face rapidly. She quickly ducked out of the way, deciding it would be best to now use her sword. The group continued fighting off the thugs until a girlish shriek cut through the room, causing everyone to freeze in place and stare at the doorway.
Eustace stood there with a knife to his neck, shaking in terror. The man behind him shut the door, leading the boy forward into the hall.
"Unless you wanna hear this one squeal like a girl again, I suggest you drop your weapons." The man told the group pointedly.
"Like a girl?" Eustace huffed but was quickly silenced as his captor tightened his hold.
"Now!" he insisted. Lucy was the first to drop her sword soon followed by Caspian and Raelyn.
"Eustace." Edmund growled accusingly as he was forced to drop his weapon.
"Put them in irons." The man ordered. The others in the room quickly moved to restrain the group. Raelyn struggled, using her hands to burn the men trying to restrain her as she and the others fought against their captors.
"Get your hands off me!" Lucy fought back with a growl. The man holding Eustace put away the knife, instead holding the boy by the ear which seemed to be quite as effective.
"Let's take these two to market." The man gestured to Eustace and Lucy, taking notice that the other three were being much more difficult.
"Send those three to the dungeons. But put the girl up for special auction in the morning. She will be quite valuable." The man sneered, looking over at Raelyn intently. Edmund's eyes widened in alarm as he looked between his sister and his girlfriend. A few other men came over to help restrain Raelyn who began to fight even more, the men yelping in pain as she continued to strike at them.
"Don't touch me!" she snarled.
"Listen to me you insolent fool. I am your king!" Caspian shouted, fighting against the men holding him. Edmund fought against his own captors trying to reach Raelyn.
"Get her restrained!" the leader shouted once more seeing as they were still struggling with the small redhead. One of the thugs came up behind her and struck her across the back of her head with the hilt of a dagger, knocking her old cold. She fell limp into the man's arms and he hoisted her over his shoulder roughly. Edmund snarled viscously and leapt towards the group, only to be pulled back once more.
"You're going to pay for that." He threatened, eyes burning with fury.
"Actually, someone else is going to pay. For all of you." A new voice chimed in, as the clear leader of the traders stepped into the light. From there the men began to drag Lucy and Eustace outside with the other slaves on the wall while Edmund, Raelyn and Caspian were dragged in the opposite direction. Lucy and Edmund shouted frantically for on another as they were taken away.
Edmund and Caspian protested the whole way to the dungeons. Once they had reached the cavernous room, the traders threw the two of them inside. After hitting the group Edmund quickly whipped around to catch Raelyn just as she was being dumped inside unceremoniously.
"Hey watch it!" he snapped, easing down to the floor with the unconscious girl in his arms. Caspian quickly headed over towards them, checking her head for any cuts.
"Looks like it's just a bump. I don't feel any blood." He assured, taking an extra moment to look over her face for anything else. Edmund nodded, nibbling on his lip worriedly. His sister was outside stuck with the slaves and Eustace while they were stuck in here and who knows what will happen in the morning. Seeing that Edmund wasn't going anywhere, Caspian rushed over to the small window on the opposite wall.
"Can you see anything?" Ed asked, glancing back while cradling Raelyn's head against his shoulder.
"No, it's too dark out." Caspian sighed stepping down from the ledge.
"There's nothing much we can do right now. We will have to wait it out until the morning. Reepicheep and the others will be back for us." He suggested, settling in as best he could on the hard stone floor. Ed nodded mutely, slowly shifting himself to get more comfortable. Well as comfortable as one could on a dirty cave floor. He gently set Raelyn next to him, making sure she wouldn't wake up with any cricks in her neck before attempting to drift off to sleep.