I could hear exclamations of confusion and surprise from the soldiers on the ledge above us. "Where did they go?" was the most common thing heard. We had placed the lids on the barrels we were in and were waiting for the soldiers to move on.

"HOLY SHIT!" I yelled when I felt movement. I felt sick to my stomach as it felt as we were spinning in mid air.

"What's happening?" I heard the dark haired one whisper.

"We're both in barrels, that's the extent of my knowledge," the other one said. We stopped moving, only to be put on our sides and rolled. I heard them conversing to the left of me, and they were saying something about lifting the lids on their barrels, and running to the docks.

"1, 2, 3!" they pushed, but were unable to lift it, as there was a chest on top of their barrels, I however, was not so fortunate, as I popped out of the barrel, and onto the deck of a ship, in front of the sailors from earlier. They all stopped, and glared at me.

Next I knew, I was in chains in front of Cortes, the conquistador in charge of the voyage that I was apparently a stowaway on. Me being the loyal idiot I am, didn't tell anyone that there were actually two more stowaways, and pretended that I was alone. No matter how much I tried to claim that I didn't know it would be sailing today and just wanted to take a look, a bullshit story but the only one I could come up with, they wouldn't believe me and I was sentenced to be flogged, enslaved in Cuba, and the some more flogging. Yay me. I'm so proud of my split second decisions.

I was below deck after I got a couple lashes, when I heard the chatter and boisterous laughing of the crew stop suddenly. It was dark in my cell, so I assumed it was most likely nighttime. I then heard the two idiots I decided to follow start talking and rambling. I rolled my eyes, trying to stand up so I might be able to hear better, but immediately regretted that decision as my back screamed in protest, and I could feel some of the wounds that had closed up reopen. I collapsed on the ground with a thud, just as I heard chains being put on the boys. Great.

Cortes issued the same punishment to the boys as he did me, however they weren't flogged immediately, unlike me. They were unceremoniously dropped into the cell with me, and they started talking, planning an escape. I could feel myself losing consciousness from the pain, and groaned in hopes that they would at least take notice of me so they wouldn't step on me. They let out two of the most girlish and juvenile screams I've ever heard, and as they started slowly walking towards me, I passed out.

When I came to, my head was elevated, and I wondered how someone got my a pillow. However, I was in too much pain to even bother with trying to figure that out, so I turned over onto my side and snuggled further into the pillow.

"Uh…" I heard from above me. I opened my eyes, and found myself staring right at the crotch of the blonde man. I let out a small shout of surprise and scooched away, sitting up, ignoring the fact that my back was protesting.

"I'm so sorry!" I gasped, backing further away.

"It's alright, just uh… take it easy," he held his hands up, in the universal gesture of 'it's okay'.

"Take it easy?" I asked, not understanding.

"Your back is pretty bad," the dark haired one said from next to me, I hadn't even noticed he was there. "How did that happen?"

"They, uh... they gave me a couple lashes before throwing me down here," I explained.

"That's a bit more than a couple for it to have been bleeding that much," the blonde one said, and I looked over at where I was laying earlier, seeing a puddle of blood. Right, I almost forgot about my circus years, they must have got some of the scars. I held my head.

"I am way too sober for this," I groaned. They looked at me quizzically, and I sighed. "I'll explain at some point, but for now we're cell mates, so I'd like to know who you are,"

They exchanged a look, seeming to have a conversation with their eyes, much like earlier, and then they shrugged.

"Miguel," the blonde one said, giving me a small smile.

"Tulio," the dark haired one introduced himself, giving a small wave. I smiled.

"Rose," I said, offering them both a smile. I would've shaken their hands but I didn't trust myself to move. Miguel's smile grew, and I wondered what was going through his head. Tulio moved towards a beam, and started banging his head against it, deciding he was done with the conversation. "Is he…?" I started to ask Miguel wondering if Tulio was okay, but Miguel waved the question off.

"It helps him think," Miguel explained, and I nodded.

Miguel and I conversed for the rest of the day, talking about each other's pasts, leaving out the gruesome bits on my part, not ready to reveal the abuse I went through in the circus. I found out he was 28 and originally from Britain, but then moved to Spain with Tulio once his parents died. Tulio was actually from Spain, however he was visiting relatives in Miguel's town when Miguel's parents died. Apparently there was a sickness that killed most of the adults in the town. I was originally from Portugal, but joined a traveling circus when I was 11, I'm 24 by the way. I stopped the circus two years ago and became a barmaid.

"What did you do in the circus?" Miguel asked.

"Aerial silks," I said, causing Miguel to blush. I then realized that most people found the revealing clothing people doing aerial silks wore odd and scandalous. It was just a thing of life for me, I was never ashamed because I thought it was natural. It was then that I looked up and realized that it was night time.

"Well, good night boys," I said, carefully laying down on the floor as to not aggravate the lashes on my back. I closed my eyes and let the rocking of the ship I was being held prisoner on lull me to sleep.