Felanar has been captured by saarks, while his family are far behind on their boat.
Waves of nausea rolled over Felanar as he regained consciousness. He had an awful taste in his mouth of salty water and something else, something unidentified but rancid. He realized that his captors had forced some liquid down his throat, and this was what had wakened him. He blinked open his eyes and looked around wearily. He was onboard the saark ship and lying on his side on the main deck, hands tied behind his back and his feet bound. His line of sight was limited and at an angle, but he could see something of his surroundings. It was still daylight, and the rain had stopped. From the angle of the sun he surmised they were headed north. Onboard there were rows of slaves, both saarks and men, manning the oars further down the deck. Felanar was lying near the stern and guarded by three saarks.
What’s the point of guarding me, he thought, exhausted, for I’m clearly going nowhere bound this way. The ship rolled with the sea and his stomach rolled with it. Besides, he said to himself, even if I were free I wouldn’t be able to move much with this stomach. He groaned, causing the saark guards to laugh with raspy voices.
“The rat is awake,” laughed one of the guards, a vile looking saark with grey teeth in an open mouth that looked like a wolf’s grin. His red-rimmed eyes looked down at Felanar and he licked his lips as if to suggest that their diet consisted of more than animal flesh. “His majesty calls for more grank, Tral.”
The other two guards laughed at this and the one called Tral grabbed a green, leather-covered bottle and brought it over to Felanar. Lifting his head back he poured some down his throat, causing Felanar to choke and gasp as that same awful drink as before went coursing through his body. Another wave of nausea hit him and he closed his eyes and groaned again.
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