"Clang! Clang! Clang!" A metal was being vigorously hit on the metal bars by the wardens as they passed by each cells which had a minimum of two slaves in each one.
"Wake up, you slaves!" They also added while hitting the railings as if the loud sound wasn't enough to get anyone up in the first place. The entrance was finally opened as all the slaves filed out of their cells immediately.
Winifred and her cell mates did the same thing as they finally got the chance to look carefully at eachother.
They all had shocked looks on their faces as they stared at the new slave before them."What.. is there something on my face?" Winifred asked, panicking as she rubbed her palms across her face frantically.
"Uhm, you're beautiful, too beautiful to end up as a slave." Katherine blurted her mind out without fear.
The other ladies however just quickly averted their eyes as they looked ahead of them instead.
"Uhm... thank you?" Winifred responded, not knowing if that was a compliment or not.
"We should join the rest and get going before we get singled out for standing around idly. Also, Winifred, make sure you avoid getting into the path of the chief warden who's that man over there, do not even make eye contact with him too." Edith simply said, her voice stern.
Winifred mentally thanked her new acquaintance as she immediately let her head down, avoiding any issues.
She couldn't help but notice that she was getting stared at and eliciting whispers both amongst the slaves and the wardens and she didn't like this. She used to love being the center of attention in her school back in the world she knew due to her popularity and beauty but here, the attention was giving her bad vibes and she didn't like it.
"Is it just me, or am I getting stared at way too much? I'm trying to keep a low profile here and they are not making it possible for me." Winifred whispered to her cell mates as they all continued to walk to where she doesn't know.
"With your face and body, there's absolutely no way you can keep a low profile in here. The worst part is the fact that you're automatically the new source of amusement for the bullies in here." Agnes replied, with a jealous hint to her voice.
"Why would I be bullied, I am just a victim like everyone else."
"You think? First of all, you seem like you collected way too much in heaven as a lady, leaving others average. Well, that's what's going on in their minds right now... They obviously think it's unfair. That's not even the worst part, the issue is you are also the head priest's daughter, the same man who's behind the deaths of various families if the salves in here. He's also the man who sentenced majority of the slaves to this place, the point is, you automatically have a lot of enemies amongst the slaves." Edith explained.
It was at that moment that Winifred started to understand the whispers she had been hearing.
"That's her."
"It's the headpriest's daughter."
"I never thought that I would see a day like this where his daughter would also be a part of us here."
"That's karma."
"I wish we could cut those flawless hair of hers off."
"And add so many scars to her body. "
"Her face deserves to be hideous and ugly not as great as that."
At each and every one of the whispers she was able to decipher, Winifred was very terrified. She unconsciously started to hug herself with her arms as she tried to avoid each and every one of them but while doing this, she ended up bumping into someone instead and as she looked up to see that it was the same man that Edith had warned her to avoid, she swallowed her saliva in fear.
"I'm... I'm sorry sir." She quickly apologized looking down at her feet.
"Strip!" The man commanded, his voice holding so much authority that scared Winifred to her bones.
"Sir...sir?"
"I do not repeat myself!" He thundered again.
Snickers started to occur amongst the other slaves as they had all stopped to witness the show that was happening in front of them. Most were delighted to see the humiliation while others were indifferent about it. Only two of Winifred's cell mates were scared for her.
"I... I.. won't do that." Winifred choked out.
She had never been naked before the opposite gender for no reason, she didn't understand why she should be made to do so before this dangerous man before her nor did she understand why she had to do it in front of so many people either.
"Take her to the dungeon! Others, go your ways!" The chief warden commanded as the other slaves immediately started to walk towards where they were being led while Winifred was led the other way.
Before she knew it, she was thrown into total darkness that had no windows and only a little door. Within the next minute, a source of light could be seen, alongside with the chief warden.
The man towers above her, he was huge, muscular and scary. Various scars adorned his face and his mouth held a permanent scowl."You think you're better than the other girls in this place, don't you? You think just because your father used to be the head priest and because you have a pretty face, you deserve to be treated differently?" He started, his words having so much venom and anger in them.
"No... no sir!" Winifred disagreed, shaking her head vigorously. By now, her back had touched a wall as she kept moving backwards while the chief warden kept moving towards her.
"So strip!" The man said again.
Winifred knew she was in trouble, she knew what she was getting herself into when she had refused to strip in the first place but if this man before her thought that she would strip just because he says so, then he's wrong. Winifred would rather die than do that.
"Sir... please. Why... why should I just do that?!"
"Why should you just do that?! Because I said so, whore! Because I said so! You know, I'm going to have to much fun breaking you into pieces, I'm going to have a lot of fun showing you who's the boss around here. That beautiful face of yours would be very haggard pretty soon. No slave disrespects me and goes scot free. Not even the former headpriest's daughter!"