CHAPTER ONE

501 AD, Katalie, City of Light

In the far West of the Goldenlands, stood a Land known for its beauty within. A Land so prominent, that many nobles abandoned their homes to live in the City. It was well acknowledged that one day, perhaps a hundred years from now, the City of Light would always be remembered for such. Men would visit the Land and never want to leave. The Land wasn't the only motive for its recognition, it was the Women. It was said that the Women born in The City of Light were crafted by the Gods, making them one of the most beautiful women in the World. 

Like most women in Katalie, Sapphira Bala, the daughter of a retired Katalian Man-at-arms and a Teacher of the sole School in the City, was promised to a man, to serve and bear heirs for the Estate. It wasn't out of the ordinary for a girl of four and ten to leave her family to marry. Alexandra, sister of Sapphira Bala, retired from her home at five and ten and married into the Marsh family. The Marsh family was quite affluent and well-respected in the City, and to the Balas, it was like an answered prayer from the Gods above. Sapphira too was promised to a Marsh son, before he unexpectedly died in 500 AD of an unknown cause. After her first failed engagement, Sapphira was promised to a Marsh cousin.

When Marcella Bala unexpectedly fell ill in 501 AD, four and ten year-old Sapphira and eight and twenty year-old Fabricio's engagement was deferred. Simon Bala being the only man in the house meant he had to keep their business afloat and Sapphira was tasked with caring for her ill mother and the household. Surely the illness itself was bad enough, but being bought by a Marsh was a death sentence. Despite what was said, the Marshʼs were cruel and manipulative. The trait ran in the family the same way blood ran through one's veins. Alexandra Bala was married to a Marsh and hadn't been seen by her family since. 

Sapphira and Alexandra wrote each other letters on occasion, letters that had to be burned after being read to remain a shared secret between sisters. "For our protection" Alexandra would write. In the beginning, Sapphira did not comprehend what or who Alexandra was protecting herself and her youngest sister from, until she showed up at Marius and Sapphira's engagement feast, black and blue, and advised her sister to run and hide for the sake of her life.

No older than  ten and four, she feared what her life might come to if she were to truly wed a man of considerable power. She was not her mother. Even as the wife of a man of power, what and who would she be? She would always be known as the wife of Marius Marsh, not Sapphira or Lady Wife Sapphira. What kind of life would that be? Living in the shadow of your own husband. 

Sapphira always knew she was born to become more, more than her parents, but how does one become more? How does a slave break the wheel of life designed by men? You design a new one.

It was relatively cold that day, so after her father had given her his old but precious military cloak to replace the old and holed cloak, Sapphira had been holding on to for many years, to protect her from catching a cold, she set off to fetch new medicine for her ill mother. On her way to the medical herb market, Sapphira was occasionally stopped on the street and greeted by family, friends, and neighbors. Everyone liked the Balas, specifically Sapphira, She was a fine kid, but she sure was a handful. 

A tongue so improper surely came with troubles. It hadn't been something she was taught by her parents or her elder sister, no, she had learned to bite back by herself, and anywhere Sapphira went, trouble followed. Even then, the majority of the inhabitants adored her, she fought for fairness in every golden corner, something not many would dare do. One may lose a head for it. She believed in justice, in a world of injustice. She was no princess nor queen, otherwise, it surely would have made things much easier for her but she intended on fighting the battle, with or without them.  

The days in Katalie were long, the sun didn't set until very late, and the people didn't vacate the streets until long after the City gates were closed and the Watchmen of House Bolton made their nightly excursion of the City. Women were often advised to stay in, for their own sake seeing as the gates were now sealed and most guards were pulled from their posts after the excursion. Night Watchmen regularly sat in taverns with a few mugs of ale and a lady on the knee, it wasn't uncommon for them to seek out more. 

Whilst a beautiful Country, the City of Light was much like others, bad things happen anywhere one may go, it is in the nature of mankind. Sometimes those bad things are simply impossible to prevent from happening, no matter how much of a fight you put up. Some things are bound to occur. One that may rewrite an entire lifetime. 

When Sapphira departed that day, she did not count on having her destiny rewritten in a matter of seconds. Decisions were always a holy matter to her, she believed decisions always came with bloodshed or ache and that not all deserved such liberty. One unwise decision may lead to the deaths of eight subjects, and their blood to forever stain the streets. The blood of innocents was shed because of a decision made by House Bolton. No one with such high power should ever have the mastership to decide whether one keeps their life or not, it was not proper. 

White Wardens of the Great Eastern Empire of Eternos raided Katalie, the Holy City of the Faith of the Five, capturing young women and slaying those who stood in their way. When the screams in the Village erupted, Sapphira quickly ran back to her home, where she had left her parents behind to fend for themselves. She was no warrior, but defending her family was a lifelike reaction. Upon arrival, Sapphira came across her childhood friend, and across-the-street neighbor, Ayda, being dragged from her grandmother's arms as she kicked and screamed.

In an attempt to break free from the old woman's deadly grip, the White Warden slapped a palm across her face. As the woman fell, the White Warden forced the screaming girl into a barred cell on the back of a wagon. In the barred cell were two Katalian girls who offered their comfort to the miserable girl. Before Sapphira could truly react to such a blood-curling scenery, a large knight approached her, with the intent to fill the barred cell to its limit. But she was not going down without a fight.

Slipping through the man in White's grasp, she hurried to her house, where her father struggled to hold back another Knight, picked up a piece of wood stacked on top of another, and hurled it at the man coming her way. Seeing the flying piece of wood, the man quickly dodged the first of many attempts at upholding distance. The man remembered thinking of the many attempts at escaping of the other young girls that came before this slave, and that none had put up a fight which resulted in several knights falling short of breath from having to dodge wood and chasing a little girl around. 

It wasn't long before she found herself cornered by the same White Wardens she had outrun moments earlier, and she was left with no more than a single piece of wood to defend herself with. In a last attempt at avoiding the demise ahead, Sapphira swung the last piece of wood at the face of a Warden, oblivious of the nails piercing out of the front. The nails had punctured the bright blue eye of the man, blinding him at once. 

When the blood stained the ground, a knight struck the slave and knocked her out. When one White Warden offered up a cloth to the blind man, he was bitterly shoved and denied. There was only one thing the Wardens did not fancy when a woman made them out to be frail. Their image was dear to them, in their world it meant everything, it meant power, and when a woman messed with such it became the end of their world. Who would respect a man who was overpowered by a woman half their size? 

Dumping the passed-out slave into the barred cell, Ayda crawled to her dearest friend and pulled her body to her own. In an attempt to check for life, Ayda hovered above her friend and allowed her warm breath to blow in her face, as a sign of life. Despite the harsh blow to the head, Sapphira was alive and well, which comforted Ayda. If she were to live the rest of her life as a slave in a foreign country, there was no one she would rather spend it with than her closest friend, Sapphira. 

Once the Wagon set off to the pier where their transportation across the Sea awaited, the women recalled looking between the barred cell, at what had been seized from them and what would forever remain a distant memory.

It was no secret that the road to Eternos by Land was much quicker and perhaps steadier, but the White Wardens were Pirates by heart and what do Pirates do best? They sail. Then again, transporting slaves across the Golden and the Arch lands was not child's play but downright time-consuming. Eventually, the slaves would grow weary and want to rest, or another would fall behind from frailty, perhaps they would even lose one or two on the way. It was not practical.

"Safi? Wake up." Ayda gently tapped her palm against Sapphira's cheek, in an attempt to wake her up from consciousness. Sapphira felt the taps on her cheek and forced herself to open her eyes and fight the bright light and the headache that came with it. As her eyes settled on the unfamiliar scenario and the constant rocking, realization quickly hit her. She was no longer on steady ground. She was in the Blood Sea. 

The thought of being beyond Katalie frightened her. As the daughter of farmers, Sapphira had not been outside the Country, let alone the West, and upon hearing of the many terrifying stories Simon's army friends would tell her, she did not want to find out either. The fact that she was not alone but with her dear friend, Ayda, made her much more accepting of the situation. 

Getting up from the cold and moist floor, Sapphira ran up the stairs of the Hull and onto the deck, where the fog had picked up and practically made the City of Light evaporate from sight. She only remembered seeing several men in their white and gold cloaks operating the Ship before she was kicked in the belly and pushed down the stairs of the Hull. 

As she tumbled down the stairs, she finally met with solid ground, but not without injury. The fall had broken her left wrist and she was in excruciating pain. The man that had pushed her, came down the stairs and grabbed the slave by her hair, and tossed her around like a sack of potatoes. Her memory was a little foggy when it came to what happened to her after she had fallen, as she had hit her head when she was tossed at the wall. 

Her friend, Ayda came to her rescue once more, whilst dragging her across the cold and wet floor and holding her broken wrist as it slowly began weighing down on Sapphira. The days on the Ship did not do Sapphira any justice, only the contrary, unlike the other slaves on board and in the care of the White Wardens, Sapphira had not been so lucky. Whilst the slaves were pushed around, and occasionally bad-mouthed, Sapphira had endured torture. It seemed that she was not very popular amongst the Wardens. 

Whenever the night came, Sapphira would sleep with an eye open, afraid the men would rape her and toss her overboard as some of them had openly spoken about. Yet, despite being advised against deflowering the young girls, Sapphira could not trust them to be loyal to their mission to keep them pure and valuable for their buyers. 

Some would say the Eternosi were barbarians and their beliefs were delusive and treacherous. They believed in the Five Gods of the Faith, whilst the Grysha and the Mareki folk believed in only one. To the people, it implied the Eternosi were discrediting the one true god by claiming the five Gods existed. Religion was a valuable thing to the people of Acari, they were highly convinced those who did not pray to their God or Gods, were bound to burn in the eternal flame. 

As the daughter of a former Katalian soldier, religion was a great chunk of her life. The men who served under Noble houses in the City of Light were obliged to worship the same god, or it would be considered a great insult to the house. Unlike, Simon, Marcella was raised in a household of the faith and solely converted to the Grysha religion when she wed Simon. 

On the other end of the hull was a round pail of cold water which the Wardens often used to throw at the slaves whenever they were due to wash up. They were to be sold to the highest bidder, and for such a thing to happen, they were required to look presentable. Sapphira was not as fortunate as the other slaves. The same pail used to bathe the slaves was used to waterboard Sapphira. 

It was clear that the Wardens had come to loathe Sapphira for her open mouth so many of the Wardens took turns torturing a  ten and five year-old girl to submission. In addition, Sapphira was made to oversee the young slaves and ensure that they behaved accordingly, or she would be punished. The Wardens took pleasure in terrorizing her because she did not bend or break very easily. As her father once said, "They may strike us down but they will not bend us or break us." 

With her head resting on her friend's lap, the young slave shivered and coughed as she had picked up a cold from the constant waterboarding and temperature at Sea. Becoming ill was relatively uncommon for Sapphira, she had always been healthy. Even as a child she rarely ever got ill, yet a week out at sea and she has had many illnesses.

During her time at Sea, the young slave has had time to mourn her losses, in the silence of her own mind. She hadn't been the only one to lose somebody yet she felt alone, as did she grieve alone. Dying a brutal death was not how one may wish their parent to die, but Sapphira had been too late to protect the only family she had. Now, she was alone in a world built on violence and misery. 

A child of ten and five, whose only skill was to take care of her ill mother and of household affairs, out and about in a world of no protection from evil. Even so, Sapphira wanted to believe her father was looking after her during this difficult journey and keeping her alive, despite the many times she had come close to her demise. 

Over time, Sapphiraʼs body started to decline the water torture, the lack of food, the dehydration, and the exhaustion of having to care for the young slaves and keep an eye open at night. Occasionally, Ayda would secretly pass food to her friend despite not having that much herself, to help her gain her energy back because she was going to need it to endure the many more weeks at Sea that were ahead. 

Once they were to reach the Noblelands, they would have to cross Sparta to the Slaver's Watch where they would be locked up in a dirty cage with hundreds, until the women of the Golden House came to pick up their girls of choosing. Every so often, the Golden House would travel to Sparta to collect some of the most beautiful slaves to either service their Brothels or be sold to the Housekeep of House Stark for a higher price. 

It wasn't uncommon for the Housekeep to visit the Madam Albina of the Golden House for their fair share of slaves because despite being labeled a slave, the young women were fed, washed, and cared for whilst the Slaver's Watch could not care less if one dies of starvation or a disease that spread within their walls. 

The women picked by the Directress of the Housekeep were considered fortunate as only the prettiest were chosen to serve the King. Surely, not every slave would feel the same way about being bought like an object yet it was a much better life than being raped every night for a few Krones that are not worth much in the market. 

Some would say it was a life to relish, all one was to do, was keep their eyes and ears to themselves and speak only when spoken to, and pouches of Krones would follow. A slave may live a comfortable life in a palace, yet many would never marry or bear children of their own, so how much better could a life as a slave for a Royal Family truly be?

Sapphira had always wanted children of her own and being sold off to the Golden House and later perhaps House Stark, only stood in her way. A life without children was the worst possible thing that could happen to Sapphira. She could not imagine a life otherwise.

She had lost count of the days the slaves remained at Sea, but she remembered waking up one day from a loud commotion between the slaves. She lay on her dearest friend, Ayda who seemed to wake up when Sapphira did.

A young redhead shook another slave, yet no movement came from her. As the slave teared and begged for her sister to wake up, the other slaves pleaded with the girl to lower her voice so not to catch the attention of the cruel White Wardens guarding the Hull. 

Two Wardens stepped down the same stairs Sapphira had been pushed down from and hollered at the noisy slaves who seemed to have disturbed their nap. The young redhead attempted to cover her sister's body with her own in an attempt to hide her from the Wardens. 

The other slaves stealing glances at the redhead did not do her any justice as the Wardens quickly recognized the situation. One of the men approached the redhead and grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the hull, separating her from the lifeless body. It was only a matter of time before the body decomposed and started reeking. 

The men feared that if they kept the dead slaves on board until they met ground, the decomposition would produce an illness that would kill them all. One loss rather than all. 

The other Warden covered his nose and mouth with a cloth and picked up the dead slave off the ground, tossing her over his shoulder, and disappeared to the Main deck. The redhead screeched at the sound of her sister hitting the waters. 

Once released from the devil's grip, the redhead charged at the Warden who turned his back on her. Her first emotion was to attack the man responsible for her sister's death, but she was unprepared for what was to come. As a heavily trained Warden, his first instinct was to pull out his dagger and drive it through the enemy's skull. 

At the sight of the dreadful act, the slaves began screaming in horror as they had just watched a knife being stabbed through another slave's skull. Due to the loud screaming, the Captain of the ship ultimately showed himself and took the situation under his control. 

Ordering the Warden to toss the body overboard, he complied and removed his dagger from the slave's head before tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her to the Main deck, repeating the same fate, the slaves' sister had met with previously. 

Giving the slaves a daring look, the Captain warned them about disturbing his peace. As the Captain left to take control of his ship, another Warden came upon being ordered to clean the blood of the slave. 

Unsure what to feel, the slaves strangely watched the Warden scrub at the wet floor. "If you want to survive another day rise, I urge you to keep your mouths shut and I swear to you that you will be delivered safely to the Slaver's Watch in Sparta." 

"You send us to our demise." Ayda snapped at the Warden. 

"I do only what I am told, as you do what your god tells you. We are one but we serve different masters and purposes."

"You say we are one, yet you betray us. You took us from our families, and here you are sailing us across the sea to sell us off to the Watch. You stand back and watch us suffer and you do nothing."

"What do you wish me to do?"

"Defend us,"

"Do not make me laugh, slave. I was sold to the White Wardens by my father and I have worked my entire life to be where I am now, and I will not betray my brotherhood and my King for any slave who dare not listen to my warnings." Tossing the wet and bloodied cloth into the bowl of water, the Warden ultimately shook his head in irritation and walked away like a coward. 

"We are not one, you lie," Sapphira mumbled. 

He pretended to know what it was like to be them, to be women, but he would never understand. Women didn't get paid to wield their swords or die on a battlefield, fighting over something they believed it, no, they were paid to spread their legs to men and live in their shadows. Half the Krones would not even remain in their possession as the Brothels Madam would claim them as her own. 

When the time came to deliver the slaves to the Watch, the women were seized from their dreams and dragged to the Main deck, where they would be forced into a line and onto their feet. Sapphira, on the other hand, could not stand on her own, so she was sat down by a post.

The sun, which they had not seen in a long time, burned at their eyes and skin. 

The Captain approached the women and spoke, "For two moons, you have been provided with great care, do not expect to be met with the same treatment by the Watchers, so be at your best behavior or do not and suffer, who cares." 

"You beautiful slaves will earn me a heavy pouch of Krones, and for that, I am forever grateful." 

"Off with you,"

One by one, the Wardens took charge of a slave and transported them to the Slaver's Watch to collect their pay. 

Sapphira's lips, mouth, and tongue had dried out from the severe dehydration, so much so that it fell hard on her to speak, yet she used up all the strength left in her to ask the Captain of the Ship one last thing before her transition from Sea to ground. "What is your name, Captain?" 

"Are you to cast a spell on me, witch?" The Captain laughed. 

"Varius, that is my name." 

"I want you to remember my face because when I find you in 5 or 15 years from now, it will be the last thing you ever see." Coming to collect the last slave on board, Thormund picks up Sapphira who now sits with a crooked smile. 

"Sleep well, Captain Varius," She says as the Warden who claims to be one takes her away.