The ship wobbled in the endless sea as the moonlight reflected on the waves and tides.
Joya's eyes were opened as she wrinkled her nose, the stench of the corpse of a dead woman overwhelming the atmosphere.
"How long do we have to put up with this smell?" Melin's hand hung on her nostrils as she tried not to inhale the horrid smell.
"Not for long." Joya added when her ears picked up quick footsteps making their way to the cabin.
"Here they come..." A woman in the cabin said with apparent fear, her voice breaking.
The heavy wooden door creaked as it swung open, spilling a narrow strip of light into the dim, airless cabin. The man's boots thudded against the deck, the sound unnervingly loud in the cramped space. Inside, the air was thick with the stench of the corpse of a dead woman.
The woman had died after weeks of enduring painful suffering. He perceived the stench and then scrunched his face in disgust.
"Motherfuckers! Dying like hens." He groaned under his breath when the smell hit his nostrils.
The women sat in uneven rows along the walls, their wrists bound by chains and ankles shackled with cold iron. Some lifted their eyes as he entered—dull, exhausted, and rimmed red from tears. Others stared at the floorboards, lost to their own silence. Chains rattled softly whenever someone shifted.
The man's shadow stretched long across the planks as he stepped further inside, the door groaning shut behind him. The muffled roar of the ocean outside was the only reminder that the world beyond the cabin still existed.
This man always came down with an iron bar stick in his hands to hit any woman that was reluctant to go with him. He had a lamp in his left hand as he raised it up midair to have a vivid view of the women in the cabin.
He took out a rusted key from his pocket and then made it to where the corpse of the woman lay, cold and stiff. As he bent down to unlock the woman's ankle from the train of chains, he dropped his iron bar rod in the process.
He placed the lamplight on the cold floor, then unlocked the small padlock, breaking away the corpse from the chains. Suddenly he felt a shadow looming behind him.
The cold, silent bare feet of a woman kissed the floor as she made her way behind the man; thunders from the heavens flashed, and the lightning flashing in the sky reflected on her face from the small circular window in the cabin.
When the man raised his gaze, he saw the shadow of someone raising an iron rod about to descend on his head. The shadow was cast on the wooden walls in front of him due to the reflection of the lamplight.
But before he could make a move, it was already too late. The rod descended on his head, blood sprouting out, and he lost consciousness, falling on the floor beside the corpse.
Joya took the key from the man's hand and then released Merlin from the trains of chains. With Merlin's hello, the man was dragged along the floor to a corner, the blood in his head forming a straight line, tainting the wooden floor.
With a simple click, Joya turned off the lantern, and there was an echo of silence again.
The door creaked before swinging open for the second time, letting in a thin blade of moonlight. Dust motes danced in the sudden brightness. The sea's muffled roar slipped inside with the breeze, briefly replacing the thick stench in the air.
The soft thumping of boots clicked on the worn wooden floor. Broad shoulders reflecting under the moonlight from the door lingered half-open.
"Viko! Viko! The man screamed the name of his fellow friend, his movement stopping halfway, unsure whether to stay in or keep out. He waits to hear the reply of his friend, but since he doesn't…he turns to climb up the stairs, the iron rod in his hand swinging back and forth.
Suddenly two hands pulled in both his legs and then dragged him backwards. He screamed momentarily before falling flat on his face on the wooden staircase.
Joya and Melin dragged his body down the stairs, and it galloped as his face bumped while coming down the stairs. The man's eyes were closed, his face bleeding. Joya had turned on the lantern and brought it to his face.
"Do you think he is dead? Merlin asked, taking the iron rod in the hand gloves of the second man; now they had two weapons while shifting her gaze to Joya. Joya brought out the iron rod in her possession….
"Not yet." She said before smashing the rod to the man's face.
Clang!
The second body was also dragged along the wooden planks of the ship to a corner and laid beside the body of the first man that had walked in.
"Hey girl, come take this chain off me." The rude woman groans when she sees that Joya was making progress in her plan.
"Sshh," Merlin says, placing her hand on her lips; she could hear fast footsteps approaching.
The second man's scream had attracted the attention of the other crew, who were drinking and eating dry meat at the upper deck.
Joya passed the key to Merlin.
"Quickly release the other women who had stood by us; leave the rest." She says, and Merlin nods.
The cabin door burst open with a violent crack, slamming into the wall. Three shipmen stormed in, their faces twisted with fury, the smell of sweat rolling in with them. The cramped space seemed to shrink as they fanned out, boots thudding heavily.
Merlin had only released three women, who slowly rose to their feet, staggering but sane enough to know that they would have to fight with blood.
"Hey you! How did you…" The captain was among them and was the one taking when an object from behind him landed on his neck, then his head. The two strokes of the rod took him out.
The other two sailors turned around, the first one swinging a fist the size of a mallet into Joya's stomach. Joya groaned as the man took hold of her hair and then delivered a dive kick into her stomach.
"Wretched little worm!" He cursed.
The taller second slave was busy having a hard time dealing with Merlin and the three other women. The lantern in his hand crashed on the floor, spilling oil, and suddenly the cabin flashed with flames of fire.
He swiftly takes out a knife and runs it into the stomach of one of the women, and she falls down dead.
Suddenly from behind him another woman hits his ribs with an iron rod. It was Merlin. She then spits in his face before pushing him into the spreading flames, and he begins to burn.
"Fire! The women still bonded in chains began to scream, their skin beginning to melt from the slightest touch of the red and orange flames, their eyeballs reflecting the flames, which were rising.
There was only one man left, and he was beating Joya to a pulp. Just then Merlin rushed behind him and hit him with the rod in her hand; she continued to do that until blood began to sprout on her face.
"Let's go, Merlin! Joya groaned, a corner of her lips trickling blood. As she clutched her stomach in pain. The fire in the cabin was spreading quickly.
Merlin scurried across the cramped cabin and disconnected the chain from its main source, but the fire quickly caught her dress, and she shifted back in horror.
She could hear the painful cries of the women burning under the flames, the torture in their voices. This wasn't what they planned; this was horrible! Tears stung Joya's eyes as she dragged Merlin, and along with two other women, they climbed up the wooden stairs, which were already burning.
They make it out just in time for the short stairs to burn out and break completely. They would have been trapped if they hadn't come out in time, with no stairs to escape.
It was like stepping into another world—the air was so wide and clean it made Merlin dizzy. The sharp tang of the sea rushed into their lungs, burning, then blooming into something sweet. For weeks stretching into months, they had breathed nothing but rot, sweat, and darkness. Now the wind curled around them like an embrace.
Joya fell on her knees, then tilted her head back, letting the moonlight spill across her face. A laugh, strange and cracked, escaped Merlin's throat. It grew into a trembling grin. Her bare feet met the rough wood of the deck, and for the first time in weeks, every step was her own. No chain clinked.
The other women had a faint smile on their faces; they were exhausted but still managed to fetch some water to extinguish the fire burning in the lower cabin. Fortunately the fire didn't burn enough to bore a hole in the wall of the ship.
Famished and drained, they lay on the cold floor, their gaze heavy, gazing at the dark sky above.
Only the thumping of their hearts could be heard, and soon the cold embrace of slumber overtook them as they fell asleep… peacefully.
The rays of the rising sun etched over Joya's face, and her eyelids twitched. Slowly she opens her eyes, then blinks for a while before sitting up.
Her gaze flashed at the women who were looking over the ship, whispering amongst themselves. Merlin walks up to her and then crouches to her level.
"We killed all the men, so there was no one sailing the ship; however, we have reached a coastline, an endless desert ahead." She says.
Joya sighed, slapping her hand against her forehead.
Of course they should have left one of the men alive; how would they know how to find their way?
"The ship sailed throughout the night without a sailor; we should be thankful we weren't covered by huge tides." Joya said, slowly rising up to her feet.
She gazed ahead but could only see endless sand and dust in the air.
"We cannot remain here. Look around and grab what you know will be useful; we will venture out into the desert." She says before dragging her bare feet across the ship.
Both her hands cling to the bulwark of the ship as she gazes down before slowly raising her gaze and looking ahead…
"Finally…we are free."