Peter D Brown, Author

hands bound together with iron bracelets; another iron ring was fixed around their necks. Sparks erupted as the hammers fell, like the sparks from new wood tossed on a roaring fire.

Then a new tool was taken from the fire—red hot—and pushed into their backs while two or more white men held them firmly against a tree trunk.^[1] Piercing cries of pain rang out as a thin trail of smoke rose off their backs. Something was then rubbed over the spot, and the men were led to one of several large, heavily guarded stockade pens.

Jayvyn noticed others being led to open boats waiting along the shore, where they were made to sit or kneel. He saw these open boats moving across the water towards giant ships standing off in the distance. Each boat left fully loaded with captives, probably twelve or more to a boat. White men rowed and stood watch over them, brandishing weapons to ensure their obedience. The open boats returned with only white men.

He looked in awe at the ships in the distance. They looked like enormous wooden islands with large trees connected by many ropes in bizarre patterns. Instead of the usual canopy of leaves, white cloth bundles were tied here and there; smaller colored ribbons waved in the breeze from their tops. Men moved to and fro on the surface, like so many termites on a mound.

Suddenly, a strong hand pushed Jayvyn forward, down the narrowing corridor, toward the men by the fires.

[1]Slaves were routinely branded like cattle, often many times over the course of being transferred from one owner to the next