Samos. Xisco Bonilla

spending a week in the cellar, the time it takes to get to Tyre, will be the best thing for you, you don’t want what happened to your sister to happen to you, do you?”

      "You said we could trust you, that you would take us to Kos.” Almices was becoming angrier. “You knew from the start you’d sell us as slaves!”

      "When we saw you drifting, you had already passed the island of Kos. What we have done is given you a chance. You’re no longer scorching in the sun and dying of thirst in the middle of the sea, now you have at least one chance and we will be rewarded for picking you up. It is nothing personal, it is our job. We will see you again in Tyre.” The captain turned around and headed to his quarters, as the sailors placed the shackles on them.

      Time passed by slowly below deck. The small opening in the helm and their one meal a day were their only time references. Their meal was a mixture of flour and water which was difficult to swallow. They has plenty of water; but the space was small and trapped as they were, they had to do their business in the corner of the dank room.

      Although the first two days were very hard Nerisa and Almices tried to get their little sister to speak. She barely said a word. Almices had found a small piece of coal on the ground, with which to draw scribbles for his sister to entertain herself. When she went quiet, Nerisa made up small stories to try and make her smile.

      The weather was good, and the journey was smooth. Zamar honoured his word and the children neither left their cell nor were they again disturbed by the crew. Janira did not regain his speech; as soon as her brothers stopped talking to her, she lowered her head to the ground for hours. She barely touched the food and seemed to lose weight as the days passed.

      Nerisa and Almices had plenty of time to talk about everything that had happened to them. They missed their parents and Telma a lot. They took advantage of the time to tell each other all sorts of things about themselves and their experiences. They thoroughly reviewed their short lives. They learned more about themselves in those days than in all previous years. How mature Nerisa was for her age, Almices thought, what fortitude she had. The first few days she had cried a lot, but now her brother believed that she was much stronger than him. She thought the same about her brother, was proud of him and wanted to raise his spirits at all costs. They avoided talking about what would happen once they got to Tyre. When her sister let them share her thoughts, they tried to get Janira out of her inner abyss. It was an exhausting effort with minimal results, the little girl sank into a deep depression and her siblings didn't know how to help her.

      The days passed and the crossing came to an end. Mid-morning on the eighth day of confinement, Zamar came to their cell with the impression he was a kind person unable to harm anyone. They had arrived in Tyre.

IV

      It was a sunny day in Tyre. The city was on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the central sea that linked the whole world, the Mare Nostrum that the Romans tried to monopolize for their emerging empire. The metropolis, raised almost a century ago by Alexandro the Great and his troops, was located at a strategic point that constituted a natural gateway to the Eastern countries. The ancient caravan routes, which for some time changed their course, soon returned to Tyre. The old city, destroyed years ago almost entirely, began to resurface from its ashes with new energies.

      The Asian routes, came through the Euphrates and Tigris, nourished the city with exotic goods which were then distributed southwards to Egyptian markets, to the north across the expanse that was the former Macedonian empire and to the Mediterranean Sea reaching the Pillars of Melkart and even beyond the civilized world thanks to the commercial eagerness of its merchants. In return, Tyre had become a source of resources for the Persians and their neighbours, providing them with wines, oils, ceramics and, above all, slaves. The once-ruined city had become the main market on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean for slave trade. Its strategic location allowed it to supply slaves to many traffickers who roamed the main cities of the eastern Mediterranean and the lands of the Middle east.

      Anyone could fall into slavery. Tribal wars and quarrels were the main way of supplying slaves who then worked in temples, farm lands and wealthy estates. Another critical way you became a slave was through debt incurred with other citizens or with different social classes. In many regions the punishment for unpaid debt was loss of freedom. Homelessness and deprivation could also lead to slavery. Janira, Nerisa and Almices observed the city from the deck of the ship, worried about their future. In their village they had never seen a slave; although they knew perfectly what they were, people abandoned by the gods who had lost their freedom. And so, the three of them felt abandoned by the gods, subjected to their whims, and abdicated to the abyss of uncertainty. They did not want to be separated. Janira had not understood the situation, the events of the last few days were completely beyond her understanding. Nerisa and Almices tried to explain it the day before, but the little one did not understand why they had to go to the home of a stranger. She insisted that she return home to her parents, they were the only words she spoke captivity.

      The port of Tyre was a hub for commercial bustle to the eyes of visitors compared to other big cities. Many ships constantly entered and left the port. They were close to each other for lack of space on the docks. Zamar's ship docked next to another similar sized vessel. The captains greeted each other. The children did not understand the language they spoke. Almices would then find out that they were speaking in Phoenician. To reach the port's dock, the children had to pass chained, among the indifferent looks of the other ship’s crews, from ship to ship until they stepped on land.

      Nerisa and Almices tried once again to convince the pirate not to sell them; the answer was a blow to the boy's ribs, dutifully delivered by one of the sailors. Janira gripped her sister's arm.

      The small group, led by Zamar and escorted by four sailors, began to move forward through the city’s congested. The port had an intense smell, stalls with roasted sardines spread the characteristic and penetrating aroma of the food they cooked. The street stalls also sold beer, wine and a variety of highly seasoned foods that pervaded the senses of passers-by with strong aromas. The three children were starving, having only been fed water, flour and scraps that had been provided sporadically by some sailors for more than a week.

      Zamar’s men led them along narrow, shady streets entering the crowded city. The port smells gave way to other strong aromas. The residents’ faeces ran down the edges of the narrow streets and insects wandered next to it freely. Some rodents also enjoyed the atmosphere and Almices recalled time spent with Telma back home. The journey through the city led them through different neighbourhoods. This was the children’s first experience of city life. With the exception of Almices, his sisters had never left the small village, a population of less than two hundred. Janira, despite being chained up, was wandering away from her constraints. With wide eyes, she watched many of the city’s strange characters. Almices was disappointed with what he saw as they entered the metropolis; it was more like a pigsty than a city, so different from the distant Greek acropolises he had visited with his father. Nerisa did not understand how so many people could live in so little space. As she missed her beach and her house, she instinctively grabbed her little sister's hand more forcefully.

      It was a long walk through uneven and disorderly streets. They passed through the tanners district, which treated leather and created a nauseous and foul odour that filled the nostrils of all passers-by. They also passed through the basketeers' district, where they observed magnificent works of art made from palm and cane in doorways for the best bidder to take. In the weavers' district, the streets were covered with hundreds of fabrics and carpets covering the walls of the houses forming a multi-coloured mosaic that seemed to give way to another world. Nerisa admired the vivid colours of the fabrics that brought figures to life in multiple ways. They continued to walk until little by little the houses were more spaced out. They turned a corner and before the group, the hills that flirted with the city opened up over the walls.

      The children's ankles were already bleeding when they passed beyond the walls. Zamar and his group took a narrow, poorly travelled path that disappeared climbing up behind a small hill. After reaching the summit, the children looked on the other side at their destination. At the foot of the hill, on its eastern slope, there was a small group of houses