Samos

"Up, children," the voice of a sailor called them, knocking on the door . Nerisa was the first to open her eyes, it was noon. The small opening in their cell on the ship's bow let a clear light shine through. Her eyes were sore from crying. She stood up to wake up her sister. Janira opened her eyes in terror, envisioning another tragedy. Her sister smiled at her and hugged her tightly. Almices woke up too and put his hand to his lip, he could barely touch it without groaning.

The door opened and the sailor dryly asked them to leave. Almices looked at him carefully, trying to recognize if he was among those queuing up to abuse his sister's body hours earlier, but he did not recognize him. The man urged them to go on deck. Almices grabbed his sisters by the hands and headed toward the steps that went up to the deck. Next to the base of the mast, a small reddish spot indicated where his sister’s life was taken. He looked around, but could not see her body.

Nerisa was right, the sun was high when they stepped foot on the deck. A sunny day greeted them. Fresh tears flooded the young girl’s eyes, unsure whether it was because of the dazzling light or that neither her sister nor her parents would ever enjoy this feeling again. Janira was still silent. She had a permanent look of fear in her eyes. She stared at the ground so as not to deal with her new reality. Almices blamed himself for falling asleep without knowing what happened to his sister's body. He searched for her again on the deck, but only found some bloodstained fabrics by the starboard side. He assumed she had been thrown overboard, along with the bodies of her rapists. The very idea shook him.

"I hope you have rested," Zamar greeted them as if nothing had happened. The young man was surprised by his tremendous cold blood. That man had executed some of his men and then, without hesitation, allowed them to dishonour his sister's lifeless body. “I have called for you to tell you what will happen to you from now on. These things happen, the last night with your sister did not need to happen; however, and to avoid further incidents we are going to put some beautiful shackles on your feet so that you cannot cause more problems. I don't want to lose more money.”

"You can't do this!” Nerisa was worn down.

"Wow, I think genius runs in your family," the captain laughed. “I can do whatever I like with you, even offer you as food to the fish. Your sister has already fed them tonight.”

"You pig!” Almices struggled to free himself from his captor’s grip.

"No, no more than those who killed your parents.” Almices was surprised, they hadn't told them how their parents had died. “Surprised?” Zamar continued as if he had read his mind. “You talk in your sleep, so the whole crew know what’s happened to you. As I said, I don't want you to die, I just want to be paid well for you. Slave life is not so bad, you will always be fed. And if they cannot feed you, they will sell you to another. You will be properties with a value. People in the West do not mistreat their slaves, sometimes even treat them better than their families.”

"What have we done to you? We only asked for help.” Nerisa didn't understand the captain's attitude.

"That's life, little girl, you're very young and you have your whole life ahead of you to try and earn your freedom, but that will depend on you. For now, spending a week in the cellar, the time it takes to get to Tyre, will be the best thing for you, you don’t want what happened to your sister to happen to you, do you?”

"You said we could trust you, that you would take us to Kos.” Almices was becoming angrier. “You knew from the start you’d sell us as slaves!”

"When we saw you drifting, you had already passed the island of Kos. What we have done is given you a chance. You’re no longer scorching in the sun and dying of thirst in the middle of the sea, now you have at least one chance and we will be rewarded for picking you up. It is nothing personal, it is our job. We will see you again in Tyre.” The captain turned around and headed to his quarters, as the sailors placed the shackles on them.

Time passed by slowly below deck. The small opening in the helm and their one meal a day were their only time references. Their meal was a mixture of flour and water which was difficult to swallow. They has plenty of water; but the space was small and trapped as they were, they had to do their business in the corner of the dank room.

Although the first two days were very hard Nerisa and Almices tried to get their little sister to speak. She barely said a word. Almices had found a small piece of coal on the ground, with which to draw scribbles for his sister to entertain herself. When she went quiet, Nerisa made up small stories to try and make her smile.

The weather was good, and the journey was smooth. Zamar honoured his word and the children neither left their cell nor were they again disturbed by the crew. Janira did not regain his speech; as soon as her brothers stopped talking to her, she lowered her head to the ground for hours. She barely touched the food and seemed to lose weight as the days passed.

Nerisa and Almices had plenty of time to talk about everything that had happened to them. They missed their parents and Telma a lot. They took advantage of the time to tell each other all sorts of things about themselves and their experiences. They thoroughly reviewed their short lives. They learned more about themselves in those days than in all previous years. How mature Nerisa was for her age, Almices thought, what fortitude she had. The first few days she had cried a lot, but now her brother believed that she was much stronger than him. She thought the same about her brother, was proud of him and wanted to raise his spirits at all costs. They avoided talking about what would happen once they got to Tyre. When her sister let them share her thoughts, they tried to get Janira out of her inner abyss. It was an exhausting effort with minimal results, the little girl sank into a deep depression and her siblings didn't know how to help her.

The days passed and the crossing came to an end. Mid-morning on the eighth day of confinement, Zamar came to their cell with the impression he was a kind person unable to harm anyone. They had arrived in Tyre.

IV

It was a sunny day in Tyre. The city was on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the central sea that linked the whole world, the Mare Nostrum that the Romans tried to monopolize for their emerging empire. The metropolis, raised almost a century ago by Alexandro the Great and his troops, was located at a strategic point that constituted a natural gateway to the Eastern countries. The ancient caravan routes, which for some time changed their course, soon returned to Tyre. The old city, destroyed years ago almost entirely, began to resurface from its ashes with new energies.

The Asian routes, came through the Euphrates and Tigris, nourished the city with exotic goods which were then distributed southwards to Egyptian markets, to the north across the expanse that was the former Macedonian empire and to the Mediterranean Sea reaching the Pillars of Melkart and even beyond the civilized world thanks to the commercial eagerness of its merchants. In return, Tyre had become a source of resources for the Persians and their neighbours, providing them with wines, oils, ceramics and, above all, slaves. The once-ruined city had become the main market on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean for slave trade. Its strategic location allowed it to supply slaves to many traffickers who roamed the main cities of the eastern Mediterranean and the lands of the Middle east.

Anyone could fall into slavery. Tribal wars and quarrels were the main way of supplying slaves who then worked in temples, farm lands and wealthy estates. Another critical way you became a slave was through debt incurred with other citizens or with different social classes. In many regions the punishment for unpaid debt was loss of freedom. Homelessness and deprivation could also lead to slavery. Janira, Nerisa and Almices observed the city from the deck of the ship, worried about their future. In their village they had never seen a slave; although they knew perfectly what they were, people abandoned by the gods who had lost their freedom. And so, the three of them felt abandoned by the gods, subjected to their whims, and abdicated to the abyss of uncertainty. They did not want to be separated. Janira had not understood the situation, the events of the last few days were completely beyond her understanding. Nerisa and Almices tried to explain it the day before, but the little one did not understand why they had to go to the home of a stranger. She insisted that she return home to her parents, they were the only words she spoke captivity.

The port of Tyre was a hub for commercial bustle to the eyes of visitors compared to other big cities. Many ships constantly entered and left the port. They were close to each other for lack of space on the docks. Zamar's ship docked next to another similar sized vessel. The captains greeted each other. The children did not understand the language they spoke. Almices would then find out that they were speaking in Phoenician. To reach the port's dock, the children had to pass chained, among the indifferent looks of the other ship’s crews, from ship to ship until they stepped on land.

Nerisa and Almices tried once again to convince the pirate not to sell them; the answer was a blow to the boy's ribs, dutifully delivered by one of the sailors. Janira gripped her sister's arm.

The small group, led by Zamar and escorted by four sailors, began to move forward through the city’s congested. The port had an intense smell, stalls with roasted sardines spread the characteristic and penetrating aroma of the food they cooked. The street stalls also sold beer, wine and a variety of highly seasoned foods that pervaded the senses of passers-by with strong aromas. The three children were starving, having only been fed water, flour and scraps that had been provided sporadically by some sailors for more than a week.

Zamar’s men led them along narrow, shady streets entering the crowded city. The port smells gave way to other strong aromas. The residents’ faeces ran down the edges of the narrow streets and insects wandered next to it freely. Some rodents also enjoyed the atmosphere and Almices recalled time spent with Telma back home. The journey through the city led them through different neighbourhoods. This was the children’s first experience of city life. With the exception of Almices, his sisters had never left the small village, a population of less than two hundred. Janira, despite being chained up, was wandering away from her constraints. With wide eyes, she watched many of the city’s strange characters. Almices was disappointed with what he saw as they entered the metropolis; it was more like a pigsty than a city, so different from the distant Greek acropolises he had visited with his father. Nerisa did not understand how so many people could live in so little space. As she missed her beach and her house, she instinctively grabbed her little sister's hand more forcefully.

It was a long walk through uneven and disorderly streets. They passed through the tanners district, which treated leather and created a nauseous and foul odour that filled the nostrils of all passers-by. They also passed through the basketeers' district, where they observed magnificent works of art made from palm and cane in doorways for the best bidder to take. In the weavers' district, the streets were covered with hundreds of fabrics and carpets covering the walls of the houses forming a multi-coloured mosaic that seemed to give way to another world. Nerisa admired the vivid colours of the fabrics that brought figures to life in multiple ways. They continued to walk until little by little the houses were more spaced out. They turned a corner and before the group, the hills that flirted with the city opened up over the walls.

The children's ankles were already bleeding when they passed beyond the walls. Zamar and his group took a narrow, poorly travelled path that disappeared climbing up behind a small hill. After reaching the summit, the children looked on the other side at their destination. At the foot of the hill, on its eastern slope, there was a small group of houses that surrounded a small square which occupied an important area of land.

Almices looked at the large wooden cages inside the stockade and realised that Zamar was taking them there. The path descended down a winding road until it reached the enclosure and continued next to the stockade built with irregular wooden planks, dry straw, and mud, forming a barrier slightly taller than an adult. He thought it would not be hard to jump. They continued to skirt the structure until a large door formed by two heavy panels of wood that was closed. Zamar drew his sword and energetically knocked on one of the doors with the its hilt. They waited a while, and the door began to open. A very small man, Nerisa's height, began to open the heavy door to allow the pirate's entourage to pass through. The dwarf recognized the captain and greeted him, they exchanged a few words and the little man gestured for them to follow him. The whole group advanced through the enclosure behind the captain. The children looked around with fear of the unknown reflected in their eyes.

Inside the enclosure was spacious, with a large path dotted on both sides by several adobe buildings. Many people worked on different tasks. It was as if it were a small town, a village growing in the shadow of a big city. In the centre of the square, standing out from rest, were the huge wooden structures that Almices saw from the top of the hill. The group continued to move forward until it passed them. The smell coming out of the cages was strong and sour. The children looked at the people locked in there. Dirty, poorly dressed or even naked. Their dull eyes looked at them as if they were ghosts. Men, women, and children divided into various compartments. Individuals who were afraid and others who inspired pity. All very different from each other. All of them slaves.

The dwarf advanced to a stone construction that stood at the bottom of the stockade. The group stopped next to the building. The little man spoke to Zamar in the strange language that Almices heard before and the two men walked until they vanished inside the house.

It had been a while since the captain entered what seemed to be the main building of the grounds. The sailors relaxed talking about their things and the three children, still in chains, spoke quietly among themselves about their impressions when the door of the house opened again, This time to give way to Zamar and a man in his fifties, with a greying beard, somewhat shorter than the pirate, and fatter. He must eat well. Both of them proceeded in silence to the children. The stranger stopped in front of the three siblings, looking at them with expert eyes, scrutinizing the possible defects of the merchandise, evaluating their commercial possibilities. He made them open their mouth, which Almices resisted until another blow on his ribs made him change his attitude. The examination barely lasted a moment. The man exchanged a few words with Zamar, and they both returned to the house.

The children now became more aware of their situation. Their price was being negotiated. It seemed that his fate was decided and that, despite his insistent pleas, the captain would sell them to that man. The three of them held hands as they exchanged glances.

The door opened again and Zamar came out smiling. He closed the door behind him and approached the group. The children thought for a moment that they had been wrong about him.

"Well, it seems that this is where we part ways.” He walked toward the children raising his arms unable to suppress a smile on his face. “You now have an owner.”

"What have you done to us?” Nerisa spoke bitterly, with an insecure voice. It was the confirmation of their worst fears.

"I've sold you to one of the best-known slave traders in Tyre and the truth is, at a very good price.” He touched his right hand to the bag that was hanging from his clothes. “It won't take long for you to get to know a new home. He has to earn back what he paid for you.”

"You're despicable," Almices spat.

"Don't believe it, like I said, I did a you favour rescuing you and preventing you from dying of thirst, even though I regret what happened to your sister. “I have asked him to try to sell you together," he lied. “Think of it as a transaction, I saved you and you have rewarded me for it; otherwise, it was a pleasure.”

The pirate said goodbye without waiting for an response and turned to his men, signalling for them to accompany him, and they left. The siblings were left behind, waiting for their uncertain future, guarded by two muscular men as towers that were about thirty.

After a while, the door of the building opened again, and the slaver approached the children.

"How old are you?" He addressed Almices in a rare Greek.

"Ten," said the boy sheepishly.

"And what can you do?" the slaver scrutinised the child.

"I am a fisherman, but we have done nothing to be here.” He was ignored.

"Do you just speak Greek?”

"I speak it and write it.”

"You write it? Wow, very interesting. And you?” He now addressed Nerisa and Janira.

“We help our mother at home, we speak Greek and write a little too.” Janira remained quiet.

"Very interesting," he repeated. “You won't spend much time here. Tomorrow is market day, so we will take a quick tour of the city and let the gods be virtuous and blessed.” "He said goodbye to them with an inexpressive gesture.

The two men who remained guarding the children took them to the cages on the square. When they arrived, one of them opened a door by moving a heavy metal bar. They were placed inside, and the door bolted. The cage was empty, as though reserved for them. The only thing inside was a small bowl of water. Janira ran as fast as the shackles would allow to the bowl and began drinking. Her brother and sister joined her. They quenched their thirst and sat in the shade of wooden planks that made up the cage roof. They huddled together, just like when they lost their sister. They looked hopeless and pitiful, like the others in the adjacent cages. There were no words, none of the slaves spoke, only absolute silence. Words were not going to restore their freedom.