World of Taroo: The Sabors

By Jimmy Eriksson

A rescue mission, an assassination attempt and the discovery of new incredible powers that lay within the magical stones.
The knight is about to step out when a horrible scream suddenly fills the cave room and the soldiers look around. The scream continues and it sounds like someone is in pain. The knight orders them to stand in line and be ready for combat. They don’t have to wait for long until they see something coming. A light is getting closer and so is the scream. The scream is so chilling that for the first time even the knight feels his hairs stand up on the neck. A woman, wearing almost nothing, with white shiny hair is walking towards them. The knight shouts to her to stop. Instead, she brings up her arms and the soldiers immediately bring up their shields. A strong wind suddenly flows within the room and seconds later a beam of ice streams out from her hands.
This is a story brought together by the complex mind of the writer who dreams and tries to offer others a glimpse of the world within him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781398402867

Jimmy Eriksson

The creative mind of Jimmy Eriksson increases for each year with seemingly no end in sight. With this being the third book in the first trilogy, it finishes off a story that was first viewed in a series of recurring dreams. Jimmy, who still finds himself looking into another world, does his best to share the story he lives sometimes at nights.

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About the Author

Jimmy was born in one of the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. Parts of his life were very hard with events that come in life. Jimmy took escape in the imaginary world of books and his own mind. When Jimmy could no longer stay in his current life, he decided to make an adventure and choose the furthest country away from his birth place. He fell in love with Australia and decided to stay. With a new life, he found peace of mind and was able to focus on the future and what he truly liked, which is writing and family life.

This is the second book from Jimmy Eriksson and the most thrilling yet. Jimmy has worked hard to bring his art to the world and lets his imagination guide his way through the words he put down on paper. With the support of his wife and children, he has been able to concentrate on what he wants to say and show others through his books.

Dedication

For my family

Copyright Information ©

Jimmy Eriksson (2020)

The right of Jimmy Eriksson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398402843 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398402850 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781398402867 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2020)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Austin Macauley Publishers for their professional work and positive spirit. The respect they gave me and the book has been amazing.

Sophia’s Nightmare

There is a sound coming from outside when Sophia wakes up. She has not slept much but dozed off a bit after being overtired. She can still hear some girls crying and has stomach pain from not knowing what will happen to her. There is some light coming down from the ladder that she can see outside the door. There is also a tiny opening in the side of the room where she can see the ocean but it’s very small. It’s been hard to see anything for days and any light is welcome. It must be mid-day and she believes she can hear birds and one of the girls says she can see land. It’s a small island with only a couple of trees on. Sophia’s hands hurt because of the shackles being put so tight on her. Lucky for them, she thinks, as she would kill anyone that she could get her hands on. She turns to tell the woman she sits beside that she knows how to fight and any chance she gets, she will escape, and free her as well. Emy smiles but says to Sophia that even if she would be successful in getting free, where would she go; does she know anyone in Redonia? Emy says Quarts can be very persuasive when it comes to his businesses. She says she has seen many girls get beaten up for refusing to work and sometimes they disappear, not to be seen again. He has some really big people working for him and he pays them a lot to do whatever he wants. Sophia asks why the kingdom of Redonia would allow such treatment to go on but Emy tells her it’s not up to them. She has spoken to some men high in rank, both as officers and royalty. She tells Sophia the world is run by favours and agreements to let people conduct their businesses by themselves. As long as no one is opposing anyone else regarding land, or stealing, you are able to work as you please. Quarts has friends in high places and can do pretty much whatever he wants.

Emy begins to tell a story about when she was working on Besidil. She saw the owner of the brothel speak to a few soldiers from Ocenia. At first, she thought the soldiers would perhaps release them but the owner just showed them a paper that said he had a right to run his business the way he wanted. After the soldiers had confirmed it was correct, he invited them to meet the girls who worked there. Sophia knows what Emy says is true because when she was in the castle of Grasoll, she was told by her teacher a similar story. It had been about Shetana and how anything was legal there, as long as no one died. Sophia looks at Emy, then says she will get free and her father will come for her. Before Emy can respond, the door suddenly opens and a woman dressed similar to the other men comes in. She points to one of the girls and tells them to take her. Some men grab the one she points at; she was crying in the corner and begging to be released. She fights to try to get out of going with them. Any opportunity she had has been used to try and get free and now they are tired of her so they drag her out. She screams and tries to get loose but they only laugh as they pull her out. Sophia tells them to let her go but gets a slap over her mouth by the woman. She spits at them but misses and the woman shuts the door after them. They can hear the girl scream as she is taken away. A door is shut further away and the screams are silenced. Sophia is shocked and some of the girls look very frightened. She says they have to do something but Emy tells her not to make any trouble. Sophia asks what will happen to the girl and Emy tells her that she will find out soon. She is not sure what Emy means and instead begins looking at a few other girls in the room with them. Her eyes are drawn to one of them sitting between two other girls, holding her tummy. Sophia realises she is pregnant after she stands up and goes to the small hole where they can relieve themselves. The other young women walk with her and they follow her all the time. She must be at least 4-5 months, Sophia thinks. The first few days, there was no light in the cell due to bad weather outside so she never saw it before. Emy sits silent and starts to peel at her skin. They can hear people walking around and boxes and barrels being moved. This will be the 5th day that they have been on the ocean and Sophia finds the voyage annoying as she has to relieve herself with the help of the other girls. At first, she tried to get the guard to release her so that she could do it herself but the guard ignored her. There is a small hole at one of the corners where the girls go but since Sophia is not able to move, a couple of girls offered to help her, which she appreciated but she feels very defenceless and weak at the moment. It’s degrading for her to be helped with such a thing but she appreciates it and thanks the girls for their help.

They are not given much food and only a mug of water for every meal. A young woman next to her says there will be another 4–5 days at sea before they reach their target and they must rest as much as possible as they are not given much food and have no energy. She also says they will most likely stop at other islands to pick up provisions. Two hours have passed since the girl was taken but then she is put back in the cell. She is led back by the woman who whispers to her so that no one can hear. She doesn’t scream anymore and walks quietly inside the cell and sits down. She curls up in a foetal position and doesn’t listen to any of the other young women who ask her what happened to her. She starts to sob quietly to herself and Sophia feels more fear inside. Emy says that this is what she had meant by being persuasive and bets the girl will not protest or make trouble again. Sophia asks what they have done to her but Emy is silent and keeps peeling her skin that has now started to bleed. Sophia finds herself suddenly breathing very fast and starts to see darkness closing in. Her heart pounds when she thinks of all the kinds of horror that might have happened to the young girl. She feels herself sinking to the floor and beginning to sweat. She faints and leans her head on Emy who catches her. She gives her a kiss on her forehead and covers Sophia up with a blanket.

The days come and go and the girls never get to go outside their cell. They can only see the sun from the small hole at the side and sometimes when it reaches the top of the sky, it shines down through the hole where the ladder is. A few times, the ship stops somewhere but they never know where. It’s only for a short time and very soon, the ship moves again out to sea. The 8thday is very bad weather and some of the girls throw up and create a bit of a mess in the cell. The girls had tried to keep it as good as possible in the cell but now it was messy and smelled bad in there. The smell also reaches outside and one of Quarts’ men in charge of the transportation and of making sure the girls behave leaves the door open. He orders some of the men to bring buckets and water to clean the cell. He has other matters to tend to and leaves some of the men to deal with the situation; they scare the girls. When one of them comes in, Sophia notices how the girl who was taken away starts to shake and huddles up more.

The crewman walks around and looks at the young women. He looks at the floor and sees the mess. He tells the other two men that they should not be the ones to clean up the mess and suggests that the girls should do it themselves. He grabs one of the young women sitting next to the pregnant girl and hands her a bucket. He then pushes her down onto the floor and tells her to start cleaning. The other two crewmen give the cleaning equipment to some of the other girls and tell them to start working. They stand in the door opening and talk until one of the girls slips and falls down on the floor. One of the men calls her stupid and walks up to her. He grabs her by the hair and pulls her up. She begs for him to let go but he tells the other two that she will be a bad worker and laughs. She loses the grip on the bucket, which falls on his foot. He lets go and bends down to hold his foot that now hurts while the other two men laugh at him. The young woman says she is sorry but the man grabs her and throws her on one of the benches where the girls sleep and sit. He grabs her again and when she starts to cry, he slaps her. Some of the girls are afraid but some, including Sophia, pleads for him to stop but he doesn’t. In a situation like this, it’s hard to predict what anyone would do but one girl has had enough of the abuse. She grabs one of the buckets and with all her strength hits the abusive man over the head with it. Everyone quiets down and looks at the man now bleeding a little over one of his eyebrows. He looks the girl in the eyes and she is frozen with fear after realising what she has done. The other two men come in and grab the young woman. They begin to tear off her clothes and soon she is completely naked. The man starts to punch her in the stomach and chest while the other girls plead again for them to stop. She drops to the floor and gets kicked in the stomach and once in the head. She is hardly breathing when he stops. He says to the girls they will have to behave if they want to make the journey and not end up dead in the ocean. He finishes the humiliation by urinating on the naked girl before he goes and tells the others to continue to clean up. They leave and shut the door behind them.

Immediately, some of the others in the cell try to help the girl and clean her up as much as possible as well as giving her clothes back. Sophia wants to help but cannot move even a little bit in each direction. She can see the horror the girls have to go through and wants more than ever her father to hold her and tell her it will be alright. There is again a lot of noise in the night coming from upstairs. It sounds like they are celebrating something but it’s unclear what. Some of the girls talk to each other about what is waiting for them at the port city of Akabu.

There is a girl who looks younger than Sophia and has been so afraid during the ship ride that she sometimes has trouble breathing. She at times even has to lie down on the bench. Sophia asks Emy if she is afraid of what is going to happen to them but Emy only smiles and tells her she doesn’t care anymore about what happens. Sophia hears her say that she pretends every day that she is on an adventure somewhere else where no one can hurt her. Sophia asks Emy how long she has been forced to work and Emy says this will be her 4th year. Sophia wonders if she has ever tried to escape and Emy says she did manage to escape two times but was captured right away the first time, then was tricked by a woman she thought was her friend but who sold her to another man. Sophia thinks she sounds so calm about it and wonders what happened to her when they brought her back after she escaped. Emy lifts her dress and shows Sophia her back. It has scars all over and looks like it has been cut with knives and whipped. Sophia touches her back and says the four years must have been the most horrible in the world for her and it’s amazing she didn’t kill herself. Emy says she can’t as she has a daughter still living and she hopes to see her again. Sophia raises her eyebrows and asks how old the daughter is; she says her Kaia is ten now. Emy is herself thirty and she makes Sophia upset as she says she was taken in front of her daughter when she was out walking. Her daughter Kaia tried to help her by screaming and hitting one of the men but they hit her and left her crying at the side of the road. Emy says she was tied up and could not move while inside a wagon. She was raped by the men for three days while she couldn’t defend herself and then sold to a business owner that had the biggest brothel in the great city of Shetana. Sophia has trouble holding back the tears and says she is sorry. Emy smiles and takes Sophia’s hand and puts it on her own chest. She says as long as she can feel her heart pound in there, she knows she at least is not completely dead and can hope that she will see her daughter once again. Sophia looks around the room again and wonders what else happened to these young women that made them end up there.

There is some noise coming from outside the cell and people are descending the ladder. The door is unlocked and some of the men are drunk as they come in. The girls all back up to the walls where they sit huddled up as much as possible. One of the men says he needs three girls to come up with them and dance as they are reaching the port city of Akabu in the morning. They are celebrating that they have made a great journey with good profit. He says he expects some volunteers and points to one girl who seems frightened. He starts to laugh and instead tells the other men to grab a girl close to the door. She does not want to go but she has no choice and gets pulled out. Another man grabs another girl who comes silently with them.

The loud drunk man walks around the cell, brings his finger up and starts to point to several girls. He then turns to Sophia and wonders if she wants to come with him. She sits still and wonders if perhaps she should go with him; when they take the chains off, she could cause some damage. She is about to say yes to him and has everything planned that she will kill him when she get the chance. She gets a cold feeling behind her suddenly that makes her change her mind. If she escapes, she will be on her own and even if she takes some of them to face death, she is still hopelessly outnumbered. And with what she has seen, it can go really bad for her. He repeats his question and walks up to her; she looks at him and sees his disgusting appearance. She says no and the man grabs her chin and pulls it up to him. He says she has no choice unless he gets a kiss from her. She is terrified and pulls back from him but he grabs her by the clothes and slaps her in the face. He says loudly she will do what he says or he will make sure she learns to behave like the other girl taken away earlier. Emy lays her hand on the man’s cheek and says she would be happy to come with him and that she can dance very well. She then kisses him, making him let go of Sophia. Emy says he will get a wonderful night if they leave now as the party upstairs is reaching a great level. He agrees and she grabs his arm and walks with him outside. Sophia is looking at her friend who has just offered herself to go with the horrible man to spare her. She doesn’t know what is happening inside her but she can feel a deep guilt and sadness spreading around her body.

The last thing she see before the door closes is Emy’s face that is smiling and then gets drawn away and suddenly the cell seems extra dark. Sophia’s fists cramp together and she feel enormous rage building inside of her. It’s like the others inside the cell turn to ghosts and fade as she sees nothing but the man in front of her raping her new friend. She starts to cry and now there is no one who can hold her and she feels like a defenceless child again as she did when her mother died. She cries through the night as there is laughter from above and at times she can hear fighting. She wishes she could get loose so that she could kill everyone on the ship. The noise continues through the night and when the sun starts to rise, she can see land from the small hole on the side of the wall. There is some noise coming from the door finally and it opens up and one of the girls walks in with her hands tightly gripping each other. After a couple of minutes, the other girl also comes back followed by the woman from before. Her clothes are dirty and she sits down quietly to try to get some sleep. Sophia wonders where her friend is but there is no noise behind the door anymore.

There goes a whole hour until the door opens again and Emy walks in. Sophia feels her heart sink as Emy sways a little from all the alcohol she has been drinking and her clothes are a little ripped. The man bringing her is a different one from before and kicks her down on the floor. Sophia tells him to come closer so she can break his balls but he laughs and slams the door behind him. Emy slowly tries to rise again from the floor but is weak and some of the other girls help her up. They bring her to her seat and Sophia tells them to lay her head on her lap. She looks at Emy who is trying to speak but Sophia tells her to close her eyes and sleep and think about her daughter Kaia again. Emy closes her eyes and begins to smile. She falls asleep and Sophia wonders if there is anything worse than this.

Duties

Akabu is a city and has twenty thousand people in it. There are many types of businesses in the city but one of the most visited is the Red Flower Entertainment house where Quarts is the manager. He runs and supplies the five-storey building with fun games, competition and fresh girls as well as other entertainment. He is also an inventor and one of the richest men in Redonia. He is not liked by the royal family that runs the land but with the power he has and people he knows, they reluctantly allow him to operate as he pleases. Quarts always feels confident about himself but knows he is having eyes on him that wait for a chance to take him out. It’s just before midday when the ship carrying much of the entertainment comes to Akabu. It docks and many men stand ready to unload the cargo. Not only new workers come with the ship but also beautiful furniture made by the skilful carpenters on one of the stops they had. Much fabric has also been purchased from Besidil where the silk is of the best quality.

Sophia strokes Emy’s hair and listens to the sounds from outside. She can hear voices coming from all over the ship and soon the door opens up and more light come in as part of the deck has been taken away to make it easier to move cargo up from the ship. A man comes in who doesn’t look like a sailor and he has brought with him a piece of paper. He walks up to the girls and asks their names and has two others with him who checks the girls for ticks and fleas. He comes up to Sophia and Emy and the two men move Emy to a sitting position and examine her. The man asks her if she can walk and she says she can. Emy has a terrible hangover but she is used to the alcohol better now after a few years of drinking so she can still function well. Sophia says the men have beaten her up but gets cut off by the man who asks her for her name. She doesn’t want to say it and she doesn’t have to either as he says her name and wonders if it’s correct. She still says nothing and looks at the side. The man writes something and then leans in closer. He tells her that she can avoid answering questions as much as she wants now but will answer to everything later when she has no choice. The other two men check her and then check the last of the girls in the room. He tells some other people to come in when they are done and the crew woman from before tells them to all stand up in a line before she walks out. One of the men is about to unlock Sophia when the crew woman stops him and tells him to put other shackles on before taking the others off as she is deemed as trouble. Sophia would love to make some trouble but has for now decided to behave. When the crewman has finished and Sophia is finally able to stand, she steps inline and they walk after each other. They walk up the steps and soon see the sun when it is high in the sky. It’s bright and their eyes are not used to the light as they have been in the dark cell for so many days. Sophia hears some voices and she is drawn towards some men unloading. She can see it’s the man who had slapped her and who Emy had gone with during the night. Next to him is the man who had brought her down and kicked her down to the floor. She makes a memory of their faces. They see the girls as they walk towards the walkway that brings them to dock and shout that it was a great night and laugh behind them. One of the girls brought that night makes small crying sounds as she walks and soon they stand on the ground looking at the city.

There is a great wooden fence next to the ship and Sophia can see other people walking along behind it. They are led through the streets and the back alleys. There are so many people and no one seems to pay attention to the girls. The fence has some holes in it but Sophia can only see the legs of the people at the other side. Soon they have to enter a house that takes them to a path that is hidden from the public. The path goes between the houses but not one of the buildings has a single window. The path later opens up more but is still hidden away from the public. Sophia can hear one of the men speak to another about Quarts being able to keep the path for himself after bribing the mayor of Akabu. They walk for twenty minutes between apple trees and flowers that bloom in the sun. Sophia makes memory marks of everything she sees in her head, anything that would look like it would be useful is taken down in her memory.

After coming to a pair of doors, they are asked to sit on some benches and wait. There are many birds in the apple trees and there is a small garden full of berries. One of the girls wants to taste them and stands up to walk up to them but is told to get back to her seat. A couple of young women that look like maids come out from the door and give the girls water and then stand in a line. After a couple of moments, some other people come out and take over from the sailors that now head back. The new men are well-dressed and ask the girls to pair up with someone else. Sophia grabs Emy’s hand and holds it tight. The men tell them that before they are allowed to work inside the Red Flower Entertainment house, they must first be cleared for disease and made sure they are suitable for work. A woman says from behind the men that they must undertake examination first and tell the men to bring them in. The well-dressed men escort the new arrivals inside where there are several doors to rooms that have no windows. All the girls are anxious except for Emy and one other girl who had spent last night with the men. Emy tells Sophia to relax and that she will be with her. Sophia holds her hand hard as they are led into the rooms together with some other girls. She and Emy with two other girls are asked by a maid to please sit down. A man comes in and walks up to Sophia and tells her he has been instructed to let her know that if she makes any trouble, she will be taken away to a much worse place. He then brings a needle that is dipped into a jar. He says he will give her a dose of the elixir and says she will receive one every time she misbehaves. She tries to avoid him but he is strong and gives her the needle in the arm. She asks what it is but soon feels as if her stomach has exploded inside of her. She loses her breath and gets the feeling of drowning. There are thousand arrows hitting her over and over again. The pain is too great to stand but her voice is nowhere to be heard. She thinks she is about to die when she feels another needle in her that stops all the pain. She pukes on the floor and tries to catch her breath. She lies on the floor to try and breathe while Emy tries to calm her down by holding her hands. She is finally able to relax and looks at the man standing by the door. The last thing he says is that she better be on her best behaviour unless she wants to spend her last part of her life in pain. The door is locked and the girls help Sophia up on her feet.

The maid tells her to please do what she is told as they know first-hand people that have been subjected to torture and how they have died. They sit the girls down and as soon as Sophia has calmed down enough, they tell them what they must do. The room is an examination room and there is a healer going around to every room and examining them for diseases. The healer comes in and it is an older woman that has a cut over her face. She comes in and has a key with her. She walks up to Sophia and tells her she will take off the chains and asks her not to cause any trouble as the security for the Red Flower Entertainment house can be quite rough and points to her own face with a small wooden stick. Sophia says she won’t do anything and the woman unlocks her chains. The feeling of finally being rid of the heavy chains is great and she can see bruises where the chains had been. The bruises had been hurting before when she couldn’t see them and now she can see how big they are.

The woman says her name is Teekina, tells them that she will have to check them and asks them to one by one lie down on a table. Sophia is scared when the first girl gets checked if she is a virgin and feels very uneasy. She has never had an examination done on her and looks at Emy who smiles at her. The next girl gets examined and it’s the other young woman who was with Emy during the night with the sailors. She didn’t want to think about it but the woman turns to the young maid helping with the examination. Teekina says that the girl has a tear in her lower region and it’s been done recently. The girl starts to cry silently and the woman tells her to be strong. Emy is next and gets cleared as well. Sophia is not willing to go through with everything but the woman assures her that it will go quickly. She lies on the table and thinks about how she never in her life thought she would be part of something like this. She closes her eyes and the healer Teekina does her final check; she tells herself that she will have to find a way to get out before she gets memories that will haunt her forever. She comes off the table and holds Emy’s hand again. Teekina thanks the girls and tells them she is working in the bottom of the building where they are heading and they can come to her whenever they feel like. She leaves and the maid there says that the healer is a good friend to them. She once tried to stop a man beating up one of the girls whore fused to serve him as he was drunk and when the man started to hit her instead and choke her, she killed him with a small knife that she had in her bag. When Quarts found out what happened, he had her punished when he found out the man she had killed was an important client of his and she ended up with a scar over her face.

Soon enough, they are finally let out of the room and Sophia has decided to follow and find a way out when she has a chance. She can see the amount of people working with Quarts and his facility from a fenced-in walkway. The four girls are led into another facility and they can see steam coming out from some of the doors. They are asked to take off all their clothes after entering another room. Sophia and one other girl are reluctant to take their clothes off but eventually have to remove them. The girls enter a room naked with a lot of different baths and washrooms and for the next two hours get washed and given new clothes. Sophia finds the situation extremely embarrassing and has never been in the same room naked with anyone else but her sister when she was young or her mother. She now has other girls helping clean her up, which feels very strange. Her living with her father and all the male pupils, she used to be one of the boys and not having her hair straightened and cut.

The girls are asked to dry themselves off and leave the washroom. They enter a room that looks very nice; a young woman greets them. They sit down on some chairs and are told that this is where they will sleep after they have worked and is a male-free zone. Even Quarts is not allowed in there. The girls feel instantly better as they don’t have to meet them for a while. Emy asks if they are inside the Red Flower Entertainment house but one of the girls says the house they are in is behind it and points to the window. The girls walk up to the window and see the outside garden between them and the five-storey building. The garden looks calm and there are other girls working there. More young women from the same ship come in and join them. When all are present, they walk together and have a look around while a woman helping with placing the girls talks about their new home. The woman says her name is Meiny and shows them the relaxing room with comfortable seats and books. The big wash and bathroom shared amongst all the girls is looking good for many of them. They all are shown outside to the garden and Sophia looks around for an escape. She finds herself being a little disappointed when she notices the very high walls that seem to surround them. There is no way she could climb the side as it looks very smooth and any building is far from it so she wouldn’t be able to jump from them. There is only the Red Flower Entertainment house that is close to the wall but she doesn’t know how it looks inside and she doesn’t really want to go there anyway.

She listens closely when Meiny tells everyone to not try and escape because Quarts takes it personally and hunts down whoever tries. Sometimes they don’t come back since he is not known to be kind to those that try and escape. The girls look at each other and don’t know if she is lying or telling the truth but it sounds scary. Many doubts are appearing in some of the girls’ heads who were planning to escape if they had a chance but not Sophia. She was still thinking of getting out as soon as possible. They are told that they can go anywhere as long as they do what they are told to do. They find out that there are multiple jobs in the Red Flower Entertainment house and they range from girls who give out alcohol in the bar to washers in the male bathhouse to cleaners and escort girls that play with the people in the gambling room to make them spend money. Then of course, there is brothel work that is not on any of the new girls’ wish list.

Meiny says they can request to work wherever they want but some of them are already set to work in the brothel. She calls a couple of the names of girls who were picked up in Thado port town where Chien was and Emy is one of the names as well as the pregnant girl who starts to cry when she hears her name being called. Sophia is still holding Emy’s hand and wonders if Meiny will read out her name to work in the brothel. She will never work there, she thinks to herself, and will escape before they put her there. Her name is not called and Meiny tells her she is not on the list since she was picked up as an extra. She is instead asked to fill in a paper where she can state what she is good at and where she wishes to work. Meiny also says they will be given a room to share with another girl and that will be their sleeping quarters for the remaining of the time they are there. Emy and Sophia grab a key that is lying in a box since they decide to share a room immediately. Meiny tells them to go to their rooms and come back in an hour when they will walk to the Red Flower Entertainment house to familiarise themselves with everything.

Sophia and Emy leave and find their room that’s on the third floor of the big house. The room is small but very nice. As soon as they go in, Sophia wants to leave to find a way to escape and take Emy with her. Emy wants nothing else but to escape but also knows the repercussions and is reluctant to run away. Sophia tells her about her father again who would make the entire city burn to get her back. She can understand why Emy would be scared and is also unsure but they can’t stay there. Emy helps Sophia fill in the paper and they focus on how well she is at cleaning. Emy hopes she gets to work away from the brothel and perhaps can find a way to escape. They leave the room and Sophia notices a window at the top of the corridor that leads to the roof. They walk outside again and Emy helps draw the walls’ approximate height and length with any houses that are close. They walk back in and meet with Meiny who brings all the girls to the Red Flower Entertainment house where they will work after collecting the papers some of the new girls have filled in. They walk over the garden and soon come to the Red Flower Entertainment house. When the door opens, they can see a how big the place is. They are soon opening for the evening after having a fire break out in the bar the night before and were forced to close for half a day. They can hear a man being furious about it and they understand he is the man running the place while Quarts is gone and he threatens the worker that caused the fire with what Quarts would do to him. They continue and walk into the brothel. Some of the girls who already work there look at the newcomers but keep quiet, except for some making whistling sounds and laughing. They leave shortly after and walk up to the gambling rooms. Sophia notices there is a table for Moq-Kado and she wonders if she should ask to work there. They spend some time walking around the building and are told where to go if they need to see healer Teekina. She happens to walk past them and she says hello to them. She has in her hand the results from her examination and walks towards the house they were previously in. They all soon return to the house and now Meiny tells the girls who have filled in the papers what their job will be. Sophia wonders if her plan as a cleaner will be granted or if she will have to work in the bar serving drinks. She lets Meiny know she was also a great Moq-Kado player and could win much money for the business.

However, it doesn’t seem like this will ever happen when Meiny looks at her with uninterested eyes. Sophia feels a lot of pain in her stomach when she hears her name and that she will have to work in the brothel. Meiny says Quarts paid a lot for her and she will have to work in the place that makes him the most money. She says she doesn’t want to work there but Meiny changes her tone and almost shouts at her that she has no choice and she will work there freely or be forced. Sophia is ready to fight now and says no. Meiny blows a whistle and all the other girls in the room disappear quickly. Only the girls from the ship are left since none of them know what is happening. Another girl decides to protest as well and says she was tricked to come and wants to go back. Suddenly, three masked women come in, each holding a blow tube. They stand ready and Meiny tells them they have one more chance but the other girl curses at her and Sophia runs to a table while the girl keeps cursing at them. The three women with the blow tube take aim and now shoot darts at the other girl. She falls down and shakes uncontrollably as soon as the first one hits her. They then focus on Sophia who lifts the table and holds it up. The other girls run to the side to try avoid getting hit by the darts. Sophia runs towards them and they split up.

Sophia takes off further in the house and has the three masked women after her. They continue to fire but miss when Sophia finds obstacles that intercept the darts. She comes to the kitchen and finds a door that is unlocked. It leads outside and she sees the ladder that leads up to the house roof. Well up, she looks out over the property to find an escape but finds nothing she can use. She sees one of the masked women come up and rush to tackle her. The female guard falls down and hurts herself and Sophia takes on another of the masked women behind her. But after only a few seconds, she can feel something sting and then the pain in her leg. She can see the dart in her leg and now the woman fighting gets loose and fires a dart too fast for Sophia to react. She takes the dart in the throat. She has several visions and loses her awareness around her. She falls down in a foetal position in great pain and cannot move. Since she can’t move, the masked female guards bring her down. Back with the others, Meiny tells them this is the perfect opportunity to make an example of her. Emy tries to plead for Sophia but she is told to get ready for the night. Sophia is carried away and put in a cell together with the other girl. When she can focus again, some other people are in the room. She sees a familiar face and it’s the man who gave her the needle earlier and he says she should have listened. Unable to stop him, he pricks her with another needle and she once again gets to know what it feels like to refuse the orders of the house. She feels the pain now even more and he doesn’t stop. It feels like an eternity and her body feels like it’s burning. The other girl gets the same treatment and cries loudly. The man sticks another needle in her and she stops hurting and promises to behave, but not Sophia, who says words she has never said before and promises only that she will cut out his tongue. He stops the pain and now gives her a smile. Another man comes from the side and knocks her unconscious by hitting her hard with a wooden stick on the back of her head.

She wakes up after a couple of hours and finds herself on the floor in a room and looks around her. There are high walls and she would not be able to jump as high as they are to get out. She can hear voices from above her but can see no one. She tries to feel around and locate the only one door into the room but it’s locked. She suddenly hears a voice and turns towards it. She sees Quarts and some other men that come into view when they walk up the edge of the high walls. She wonders what they are doing and asks them to let her go but is met by silence. It takes a few seconds until Quarts asks her a question. He asks if it is true that her father is the legendary champion from the big tournament from a few years back. He says he was told who her father was from Chien but needed to hear it from her. She thinks about lying but decides to tell the truth. She says she is and that when he comes, he will burn the city down and everyone in it to get her back. They all sit quiet and look at her with no reaction. Some of the men whisper and Quarts walks to another part of the high walls. He asks her if she has figured out what her future is going to be. She wonders what he means and tells him she wants to leave.

Quarts is again quiet and makes a signal to someone who comes up and hands him a piece of paper. He then reads from it that she is the property of him and his business. She says she is not but he starts to become loud in his voice and tells her she will do whatever he wants or die. Before she can say anything, a door opens and four men walk in. They look like well-trained warriors. She backs off towards the wall and can hear Quarts say he doesn’t like employees that make him take care of them personally. He adds that he hopes her father has taught her something, which makes Sophia tighten her fists as she can guess what is coming. He orders the four men to attack her and they all come at once. Sophia does her best and manages to kick one man in the stomach but another man punches her over the nose and another trips her. She is able to grab one of the men’s hands and twists it. She would have broken it but she gets a hard kick in her side and she has to let go. She is tired and it still hurts from where the chains were put. She is outnumbered and the men punch and kick her all over but she grabs a ring that one of the men has in his ear and pulls it off. The man seems not to care and continues to punch and kick with the others and she finds herself mostly having to block. She feels very weak and believes it must be from whatever was in the needle. With an effort, she manages to kick one of the men between his legs but it’s only half effective. When they walk away from her, she is bleeding from her mouth and nose. She has bruises all over and is in pain.

Quarts opens the door for the four men to walk out as he comes in. He leans down and looks at her as she tries to move but is too tired. He says he had lost a lot of money on her father when he bet against him in the tournament and he had lost the rights to run a business in the great city of Shetana when he couldn’t pay the fee for it. She smiles and tries to laugh but he punches her hard in the chest and says if her father comes, he will greet him with open arms and then use her as his main attraction in the brothel. He leaves and she can hear him call for someone and soon sees a couple of the girls who work for him coming in. She is slowly losing her consciousness and is fading between sleep and being awake. Eventually, it all becomes too much so she passes out and now sleeps deeply.

She dreams about playing with her mother and father when she was young and can see them smile. She is very happy and everything seems so good. She is happy and doesn’t want to leave but her mother turns to her as they play and says to her to wake up. She opens her eyes and looks at the healer standing not far from her. She is speaking to one of the young women that brought her. She can’t really hear what they say because her ears are feeling like they are filled with cotton. She tries to move and healer Teekina turns to her. She tells her not to move too much. The other girl brings some water and gives it to Sophia, who starts to cough. Teekina tells her she has to rest more and they are treating her with different herbs. She looks up at the ceiling and wonders if she will ever see her family again and soon the pressure to be tough becomes too much and tears from her eyes run down her cheeks. Teekina sees them and puts her hand on Sophia’s hand and holds it there. Sophia says she wants her father to come and rescue her. Healer Teekina has seen much and knows how bad things can get. It hurts her to say it but she tells her if she only does as she is told, she won’t get hurt. Sophia tells her she’d rather die than work in the brothel and will fight again. Teekina tells her that there is only so much she can do and Quarts will torture her until she does what he says.

Teekina says in a sad voice that everyone eventually gives in to him and says Sophia has so far been lucky. Sophia hears how Quarts has varieties of potions that create pain far stronger than she has experienced before. He can also whip her and cut her if he is mad enough. Sophia starts to cry more and repeats that she wants to go home. Teekina tells her everyone wants to go home but there is no choice for any of them and even for her. She lets go of her hand and brings some orange water that she tells Sophia to drink. Sophia is hesitant but eventually drinks and feels better almost right away and the pain starts to disappear. She looks at the healer and asks her to help her escape but Teekina walks away. She says Sophia will stay in the room for now but in the morning she will be back in her own room. Before Teekina and the other girl leave, she says she is sorry but there is no way out and this is her life now.

Sophia continues to cry for herself and feels like a child again. She wishes she was better and could have fought her way out but can see how hard it will be. The night is long and she can’t sleep. Healer Teekina comes in once in a while and checks on her. She brings some food but never says anything. When a couple of girls come to pick Sophia up, she can feel her legs are not very stable. They walk her back to her room where Emy is waiting for her. The girls help her to bed and Emy tells them she will look after her. Sophia looks at Emy, who looks worried, and says that she will be okay. The two friends talk about their families and try to forget where they are for a while.

Emy talks about her daughter who likes to sing and how she wanted to sing for her whole family. Sophia tells Emy about Isabel and the house they have back in the Grasoll land. Emy would love to visit there with Kaia and Sophia thinks that would be a lot of fun. A knock on the door suddenly comes and one girl says that Emy is starting her work soon. Sophia is silent but knows what that means and doesn’t want her new friend to go. Emy gives her a hug and kisses her on the cheek and tells her she will soon be back and not to worry about her. Sophia is again alone and listens to the sounds outside the window. She feels well enough to stand up and walks towards the window. She can see the girls come and go and sits for a while at the window.

When she is about to walk back to her bed, she sees one of the men who was escorting the girls when they had arrived. He is following one of the girls from the brothel with another man behind him and catches up to her. He grabs her arm and talks to her. The girl shakes her head and wants to go but he grabs her again and this time does not let go. She tries to get loose but he slaps her while the other man looks around. She falls on her knees and Sophia can hear her call for help. But no one helps her other than another girl who tries to calm them down and helps her up. The man points to them and say something the Sophia can only guess is less then nice. The man then walks off with his friend who lifts his hand to threaten to slap one of them but never does. The two girls walk fast but Sophia can see the young woman’s face is scared and they soon come back inside. Sophia follows the two men with her eyes as they walk back to the Red Flower Entertainment house. She feels this place is very rough to everyone. She gets back to her bed and picks up a book that Emy had gotten from the library. It’s about dancing and how the various countries use it as entertainment. She figures Emy wants to learn so that when she sees her daughter again, she can teach her. She looks at the ceiling and sees the beautifully painted mural of people and landscape that someone with great talent has done. She wonders if the artist who painted the mural knew who was going to live there. She thinks to herself and wonders how she is going to be able to get out. If they force her to go to the brothel, then she will fight again. There must be away out and she walks to the window again. There is nothing that she can see but maybe she can observe something from the roof. When she had been chased up there last time, she was able to spot part of the city around her but never a good enough spot to find a way to it. She checks her legs and they are truly hurting from the kicks but her main injuries are on her upper body. After drinking some of Teekina’s potions, she does feel better. She can tell her body is recovering fast and feels more stabilised as she walks around. She can put more pressure on her legs now. Her hands hold her right side and can feel the pain increasing and has to let go. It must be an injured rib or something else bad, she thinks. She tries to jump a little and it hurts, which means she won’t be able to jump as high as she used to. Trying her strength, she can tell that she can still reach high enough to get an idea. She walks outside to the bathroom and looks up at the ceiling. The window at the top does not look impossible to reach if she is able to use the walls as a point and jump between them all the way up.

She gets to the bathroom and is met by the girl who was slapped by the man outside the house. She is still a little red over her cheek and looks at Sophia. They haven’t talked before so she introduces herself as Nell and she is sorry they beat Sophia so badly. The rumour has spread fast, Sophia can tell, and Nell says nothing but stays silent for long. Nell reveals that she also was beaten badly before when she came six months ago. Sophia is asked if she wants to join her in a bath and talk a little. Sophia still feels a little shy of being naked but Nell just laughs at her. Some other girls already in the room don’t even hesitate to get undressed. One of the other girls tells Sophia to not be worried about anyone other than girls being in there. It’s not really calming her down but she decides to just follow and walks down to the bath.

Sophia can see a big scar on Nell’s back but is not sure if she should ask about it. She does however ask her what the man told her after he slapped her and why. Nell said he was one of the men who had beaten her up when she first came there after she had been bought by Quarts. She thought she was going to work in the gambling area and did for the first two weeks but when she didn’t make the people lose enough money, she was transferred to the brothel. She had never worked in one and refused. She was forced and threatened with her life if she didn’t do it but after her first time working there, she wanted to leave. She even tried to escape when she pretended to show up at the brothel. She took one of the customers with her and walked with him to a room with a window. When he had gotten undressed, she knocked him unconscious with a lamp that she slammed over his head. She then opened