I need to wake up. She blinked rapidly. Her hands were bound behind her back, and her feet were tied at the ankles.There was a green creature up on the stage–it looked like a goblin–and it was reading a list in its hands in a foreign language. It held the hand of one of the prisoners--the turtle creature--lifting it high in the air. 

The people in the crowd went wild, yelling in foreign languages. Eldora knew what must be happening. It seemed like the crowd was bidding on them. 

I’m a slave. She recognized. 

A seven-foot-tall skeletal creature bid on the turtle creature, an the goblin pointed at the skeleton and exclaimed something loudly. The turtle creature marched over to the skeleton, and cried bitter tears.

The next creature on the market was the bird, and Eldora recognized that she would be next after the bird creature. She collapsed to her knees, tears flooding her eyes. God help me!

The goblin holding her ropes yanked her to her feet. The bird creature sold quickly. She was up next. Her gaze swept the audience once again. She swallowed bile rising in her throat. This isn’t really happening.

The goblin creature held up her hand next. She wept heavily. The people in the crowd shouted in a foreign language, bidding upon her like she was a piece of meat. She nearly fainted. Her stomach twisted, her warm insides felt like they were frozen by an iceberg.

The crowd was cackling, as if she was a difficult, unappealing creature to bid on. Words flew from their mouths, but a rather somber man wearing all grey and black finally gave an ultimate number, and the goblin pointed at the man, and shoved her toward him. 

The man was wearing a unicorn mask, but otherwise appeared humanoid. The man grabbed her by her manacles, holding the chain attached to them. The man bid on a few more slaves, and once the bidding was over, the man took his slaves and a contingency of soldiers--dressed in silver armor--took the chains of the other slaves. 

They walked through the city together until they came to another caravan. The man in the unicorn mask pointed inside and said something in a foreign language. She clambered inside the caravan with the other slaves. She looked at her fellow captives. One of them was a sharp-fanged, black-eyed, clawed creature. Another was a creature with a hunched back and spiral horns, and the last was another turtle creature.

She sat nestled between them as the caravan rolled through the city. She wept uncontrollably as the caravan rolled up an incline. She had felt such sadness before, but nothing so intense. Her throat was dry, and a lump the size of an apple sat within it.

She didn’t know whether she was being sold into a lifetime of servitude, or what her station would be. She wondered if her master would be kind or cruel. 

She gazed out the front of caravan, seeing a castle looming in front of her. It was an opulent castle with stained-glass windows, beautiful red spires, and flags flying on each of them–a flying duck embroidered on each.

She was marched, on foot, to the castle gates, and they groaned open. A beautiful woman with the face of a heron wearing fine jewels was waiting for them behind the castle gates. She was accompanied by several servants, who evaluated Eldora and her fellow slaves. They poked and prodded her, looking at her with surprised, intrigued expressions. She heard the word 'Jaykuin' several times, and thought it might mean 'human'. One of the servants--another one of the turtle creatures-- looked at her and met her gaze. He said, "Namenwa?"                                  

The woman with the heron head nodded. "Namenwa."                                                                                     

Eldora was dragged inside the castle, then. She was in awe of how beautifully furnished it was. Embroidered carpets covered the floors--the design in the shape of a duck, the same as their standard--expensive vases sat on top of mahogany tables, and Eldora never thought she would see such fineries in all her life. She was dragged a floor below and brought into a room where dozens of other slaves--some human-- had been knocked out. Many robed creatures were waving their hands over them, chanting in a foreign language.

 Eldora watched as one of the humans disappeared in a blast of light. When the light evaporated, all that was left behind was a big, hairy beast. Eldora shrieked. She kicked and bit her captors. They released her for a moment, and she ran as far as the stairs before they recaptured her. They dragged her back to the room with the humans, strapped her to one of the tables. She came face-to-face with the robed creature.

She howled--its eyes glowed a menacing red, and flashed yellow, and she lost consciousness.                               When she woke up again, she was in a spartan room--it had only a bed and a dresser.

Two other creatures were packed in with her. One was a sharp-fanged, silver creature with tusks and four arms. The other was a a tall, furry creature that had pointed ears and claws.

Her vision swam as she sat up. Her furry roomate spoke to her in English. "Who are you?"                      

"I'm Eldora. You were human, right? From earth?" Eldora asked.                                                                                  

"That's right. My name is Celina." She answered. "I'm from California."                                                                            

"California?" Eldora said, turning her nose up in mock distaste, trying to be humorous as it was usually how she diffused awkward situations.