The chains did a horrible sound, indicating
that Genke was now a slave. He had fought bravely and had resisted for many
days in the jungle, but the Wataku tribe had attacked with everything they had.
They had burned down every single tree in the jungle, killing every animal that
lived in it and making every former free man run for their lives. They put men
on all sides of the jungle in order to capture the escaping men. They would
beat them up with sticks that damaged the skin and then throw one of those
stink bombs they used to render people unconscious.
Genke had been the victim of one of those
bombs and had woken up in a cell on top of a cart. He had been sleeping in a
corner, as there were at least five other men with him inside the cage. The
cart advanced through the wilderness very slowly and it was then when they all
realized the jungle was burning, very far in the distance. It was something
very difficult to see, as the forest had provided food and shelter for a long
time and now it has fallen with them
They wanted to ask where they were taking them
but there was no way they would answer them. Any sound they made was answered
with the crack from a whip. It always scared them despite the fact that it
never it them. They were too scared and tired to fight nay longer and decided
to let things happen however they had to happen. They stayed in silence and
tried not to annoy the Wataku.
The night passed and when the first light of
morning appeared in the horizon, their new masters made them step down the cart
and start walking behind it. They did not know why they had to do that but they
did it without question. They had no intention of crossing any of the slavers.
The man with the whip was on a horse and looked at them like a hawk. Any wrong
move would be enough for him to react.
That wrong move was when the youngest of the
new slaves fell to the floor, possibly because of dehydration. The man whipped
him with an uncanny ability and the kid’s flesh opened horribly, making wounds
that would never properly heal, much less in the new conditions that they were
living in. He had to be helped up in order to resume the walk, which he almost
didn’t finish. The following morning, they entered a small village.
It was called Sihoku and it was a settlement
created by the Wataku that lived from capturing other tribes’ men. There was
something like a jail there, where the five men were put in. There were lots of
other slaves, possibly twenty more. Genke thought, for a moment, that they
could rise and destroy the enemy but that wasn’t possible. Everyone was either
too tired or had been beat up horribly by their new owner.
Later, a tall member of the Wataku came and
pushed every single man to the corner of the cage where they were being held.
As he did that, two others carried a big metal deposit that worked as a feeding
device for the animals. There were two of them. The big soldier pushed and
kicked them, calling them names in his language and then left, doing some kind
of a grin that they thought was very strange.
As soon as he left the cage, every man except
Genke and the boy that had been beaten up, ran to the metal deposits in order
to eat and drink. They looked like pigs or cows feeding as if they had never
eaten in their lives. Some pass over others to get food, some others hit their
fellow men in order to get a handful of the food, some kind of mashed product
that smells like it had gone bad recently.
Genke did not even try to get closer. He
thought they had to be better than that, he thought it was better if they
showed the enemy that couldn’t be broken so easily. They had their houses
burnt, their wives and children skinned alive or burned and now they were
behaving just like the enemy wanted. They seemed to have forgotten every single
thing that had happened recently and, the worst part, was that their new owners
realized how easy it was to tame them and to convert them in the nice little
slaves they wanted them to be.
However, they had also seen how Genke had not
even tried to eat or drink and they had already decided to make an example out
of him. During the night, the cage was open and the big soldier entered again
but this time he was careful no to be so loud or violent. He was there to grab
only one of them and it was easy to stop who he wanted as he was apart from the
group: Genke had separated from them because he couldn’t stand them anymore.
The man grabbed Genke, woke him up and took
him out of the cage. They tied a rope from every extremity and tensed the ropes
from poles in order to cause him extreme pain. This was done over a wooden
table were he was lying down, although there were moments when his body didn’t
even touched the table. That was how much they stretched his body.
Genke screamed all night. The guys in the cage
realized what was happening and were sad for him but they had understood that
there was no way to win to the masters. They were stronger and simply hand the
upper hand. When morning arrived again, Genke was not thrown into the cell
again but into the one in a cart. Others joined him there and then the
transport began to move. The journey would be much shorter.
The Wataku were sending them to the ocean.
There, they saw some kind of event happening in the beach and also immense
boats floating on the ocean. They understood what was happening just as the
cart stopped and they had to walk, in chains, to make a line behind many other
men that were been auctioned to a public of foreigners. They were dressed in
funny clothes and look very different from one another. Genke even noticed that
they all preferred to raise their hand and show fingers than actually speak
during the auction.
When they finished with the group that was
there when they arrived, it was their turn. Genke felt sick, not only because
of his torture, but because he was very hungry and thirsty. He walked in front
of the foreigners making his best effort not to faint and then waited for their
Wataku master to release them from the chains. But that didn’t happen. The
Wataku were merciless and never forgive any misbehavior.
All the slaves in their group were kept in
chains and the foreigners had a chance to approach before they began the
auction. Genke found it humiliating, as the foreigners checked every slave’s
hair, their teeth, their skin and even their overall size, including the size
of their feet. They didn’t understood why so many measurements and detailing.
What had the mouth anything to do with working in a field?
The auction began some time after that. One by
one, the men that had been captured the same day as Genke were being sold to
different foreigners. Other men from beyond the sea would come and take them
directly to the ships. They didn’t wait or let anyone say anything. They just dragged
the slave if they had to do it.
The younger boy that had been badly beaten up
by the Wataku was sold to a man with a mustache but when he was being taken to
the ship, he started fighting his new owner, trashing about and yelling in
their tongue. Somehow, he thought they would all suddenly rise and defend him
from being taken away. The truth was much more sad: he was punched and kicked
in the ground and carried unconscious into the boat. No one knew if he ever
survived the journey.
Genke was sold to a tall man, the tallest he
had ever seen. His eyes were cold and his skin was the one of a ghost. He didn’t
fight them as he was taken to the ship. He didn’t say anything when he had to
sleep with dozen of others inside that boat. And he didn’t talked once he was
sold again, in a port far away from his homeland, which he would never see
again. He rarely spoke again, hoping he would eventually die and, at least,
have some peace in his grave. That was his only wish.
