Let's see just what it takes to pull a scream from your stinking half-blood throat.Let's see just what it takes to pull a scream from your stinking half-blood throat." Five strokes and Jess was taken below decks. She had given in easily and permitted herself to cry out after the fifth blow. She knew that if she had taken all of the lashes needed to truly break her, she would be lucky to be alive and in no condition to make an escape. The captain's mocking laughter at how soon she had yelled stung her more than her back. The hold of the slave ship was a dismal affair and she sniffed. Her own ship, back in the days when she and Malak had this run had been a lean, trim craft, and the hold far better organized. Brackets were set in the hull, and a chain attached to the collar of the slave passed through it and on to the next. The men locked the chain to her collar and fastened her wrists to the collar. |