On they traveled. Sheena cried and cried, but silently after Pug yelled at her for her "'orrible snivlin".
Why did we have to live on the edge of town? Why? This makes it so easy for anyone to take us. No one in town would see us. No one would know we were gone until our parents told them.
And Sheena felt pain in her gut.
Her parents.
Would she ever see them again?
Mari?
Analiese?
Fernard?
Eddy?
Phillip?
Mother?
Father?
Shasta?
Hattie? (Her best friend)
Ok. She'd probably see Shasta again, but that was it. Wherever they were taking her, it was far away. She knew from Lily (the village gossip) that the victims of Pug's kidnap never were seen again.
She could hold back the trembling sobs no longer.
Eventually, the horses came to the the boat landing; also on the edge of town. Whenever Sheena had formerly come across this place, the dock had always been empty.
Now however, a great boat was there...
And another, and more!
And then she noticed something.
This wasn't the boat landing in her village at all.
It looked the same, but the houses past it were very different. In fact, this village looked a LOT bigger than her village.
Plus, there were a lot more docks than the two at her village. There must have been fifty!
She looked out at the water.
The sun was starting to peek over the horizon to see what the day held.
Well, Sheena thought grimly, this day's not going to be one of my best.
So
Pug turned around on his horse, and slid off, dragging Sheena with him.
They walked a little farther into the town. The other men held Shasta and brought the horses with them.
Sheena felt guilty. How frightened little Shasta must be in that bag!
Pug gripped Sheena hard, as if he was afraid that she would run off.
But Sheena could only stare in wonder at the buildings surrounding her. They just got bigger and bigger!
And the market!
They walked in the midst of it. Fruit, rare and delicious looking... and so much of it! Sheena had had an apple once. She remembered the wonderful taste of it. How it was delightfully juicy. How the taste stayed with you for a while. It had been a birthday present.
And here, only a day's travel away from her village lay hundreds of apples!
She had heard of the other fruits, and she'd seen Sir Grail's cook with a banana.
It's bright color had looked so appetizing and it had stood out by a mile. It had seemed that with a banana in the room, one's gaze was drawn to it.
Now she saw more bananas and orange spheres and yellow fruits in the shape of a ball with two cones on the ends. She was stumped, but then she saw the signs. S
Sheena had been a lucky one in the village... she had learned to read. Now she saw that the signs said:
LEMONS!
ORANGES!
STRAWBERRIES!
KIWIS!
BANANAS!
APPLES!
CANTELOPES!
WATERMELONS!
...and so much more. Sheena had a hard time containing herself and she forgot she was a prisoner for a while.
And the people!
Sheena had never seen so much people before!
She didn't even know there was that much people in existance!
People buying fruits, people looking through stuff, people laughing and talking with friends and family, people that looked sad, people who looked radiant with joy, people who looked curious, others like they were smelling something horrible, others like they were as amazed as she was to be there, there were fat people, deathly skinny people, short people, tall people, men, women, and children of all ages. There were old people and young people. People selling their fruits. So much people!
And then they past the fruits, which Sheena was sorry to leave, with their bright colors and undoubtfully delicious tastes.
But, they did enter the vegetable section of the market. These vegetables had a variety to them that Sheena didn't know vegetables could have. She was fascinated by how different these were from the turnips, beets, leeks, onions and herbs they grew in their garden back home. There was yellow vegetables! And red ones! And orange ones!
Of course there was green ones too, but Sheena had never seen them before.
And there was the leeks.
And the onions.
And the beets.
And the turnips.
And the herbs.
Sheena was once again reminded of home, how she was never going back there, and how she was a prisoner. Soon she would be a slave.
She couldn't help but hope that she had to be a slave in this big city instead of a village like the one back home.
Then they came to a white picket fence. Pug seemed excited. This was where he was taking her? Good! Someone rich enough to have a white picket fence couldn't be so bad!
Then they came to the entrance to the gate.
Sheena was dragged through.
There were people sitting on one side, on what appeared to be bleachers. But, on the far wall, well, that was what was so horrible. There were lots of people here too...
Only,...
they were lined up...
but...
they were chained to the wall.