Slave girl of Aradina

CHAPTER 1- (please send comment:))

"Aliana, run! The slavers are here! RUN!"
The frantic voice of her mother cut into her dreamy thoughts. She sat up,and looked around. Across the field she saw three large men in hot pursuit of her mother, who was bolting through the long grass.
"Mother? Mother! Whats happening?" she cried as her mother rushed up to her and pushed her into the house.
"Sshh! Come quickly! Into the hideout!" Her mother urged. They raced to the pantry and her mother pulled up the trap door. "Go down! I will guard."
She kissed her daughter and tried to shove her down. "But mother! What about you? Aren't you coming too?" she cried desperately.
"No. I can't. If they manage to get through, promise me you won't use your powers. Don't yet let them know, use them when they are unawares. Promise me! Remember I will always love you."
She pushed her the whole way down and shut the trapdoor. Aliana crouched and scuttled along tunnel that led to the river, some half a mile away. She was just about through when she heard the first of her mothers screams. I must go back, she thought......

By the time she reached them her mother was unconcious.The three men were crouched over her, looking under her eyelids and taking her pulse.One of them said, "She seems a bit old to be a slave girl.Are you sure this is the right one?"He inspected her face closely.
The other man said,"No. This must be the mother. She has probably hidden the other one." he rose, and said "She`s useless. Kill her."
"No!" Aliana screeched. She flew toward them, claws out. She could feel her rage rising....
The largest of the men backhanded her, sending her spinning. She looked up with hatred in her eyes and muttered a curse.
"Aaaaaaagh!" sceamed the man who had hit her, as the blood in his arm started to boil. It went a strange dark maroon colour and his veins bulged. She muttered a counter-curse, remembering what her mother said about keeping her powers a secret, and his arm stopped swelling."Jesus! What the hell just happened?" he asked the other men.
"I don`t know...catch her!" the taller man yelled, as Aliana jumped to her feet and grasped her mother about the arms."No! No!" she screamed as an evil-smelling cloth was pressed to her face. She felt dizzy, and was soon floating toward unconciousness.

When she woke up, she knew she wasn't on earth any more. Checking her surroundings, she saw what appeared to be a busy, dirty marketplace, although it was selling the strangest things she had ever seen. Large, lizard-like animals on long chains and wearing leather harnesses were carrying around people and cargo.
She tried to stand and found herself chained to the ground by some sort of collar around her slim neck.
It was actually pretty of a sort, being rather like a delicate gold choker necklet, barring the swooping chain which clung from it. Examining herself, she found a matching gold anklet on her ankle inscribed with some kind of number. She frowned at it and tugged at it to see if she could get it off.
"It will never come off without a key, you know. Aradian metals are the strongest in the universe."
She looked up, and spotted a beautiful girl apparently in the same predicament as herself, with her own necklet and anklet. She sat in the sand a few metres from Aliana, her long blonde hair loose and tumbling down her back.
" Who are you?" Aliana asked.
"My name's Tel. On Earth I was called Dion, but I am not able to use that name any more." said Tel. She studied Aliana's face, then leaned and quickly whispered, "He will ask you if you have any birth marks or strange markings. Even if you have them, for the love of Life say no!" and then sat back and stared at the ground mutely. Aliana looked around and whispered back,
"Who will ask? Please, what do you mean?"
Tel was about to reply when a shadow fell over them.
"Aliana of Earth, you may rise." Boomed a great powerful voice.
She looked up and saw a large, handsome man in a leather tunic. She struggled to her feet and looked at the ground, her bottom lip trembling.

~That's the way to it- keep looking afraid. He feels no threat from you~
The thought interrupted her mind. She started and stared wildly about her. Tel was staring at her, her eyes holding a hidden meaning. Suddenly understanding, Aliana sent out the message,
~ Tel, was that you? Wink twice if you can really hear me~
And looked at Tel. Slowly, meaningfully, Tel winked twice. Then the message
~ I'm a witch too, Aliana. But you can't let the slaver know. We can speak this way without getting whipped~
Was sent to her. Suddenly the man spoke, and brought the girls from their Thoughts.
"Do you have any birthmarks or the like on you at all, girl of Earth?" the man asked casually. She looked up into his eyes and tried to project innocence. She shook her head. He seemed to relax.
"Do you understand why you have been brought here?"
"No, I do not." Replied Aliana. The man peered at her from his great height.
"Then I shall explain."
He grabbed her chain and brought her to her feet.
"This, child, is the planet Aradina. It's most popular trading cargo with Earth is girls... slave girls. But the girls are not ordinary. At least, they are not meant to be. The girls we bring here usually have beauty beyond imagining and many skills not found in the women of this planet. The girls almost always can quickly learn advanced fighting techniques, have great muscular endurance and are very strong.
"But lately, we have realised that not all the girls we bring here have only muscular power. There have been cases," he said, looking meaningfully at Tel, "Where slave girls somehow manage to display powers that only an ancient witch of Earth could have. We have read your documentaries, yes, and we know of the Salem burnings. But to a lighter subject, you are as of now a slave girl or Aradina, like Tel here. You will soon begin your training. Tel will show you the ropes."
The slaver threw down the chains and walked away, leaving Tel and Aliana alone.
"Whoa." said Aliana.
"Yeah. Whoa." agreed Tel.
"So...what did he mean by all that stuff about fightng?" Aliana asked.
"He means that the slavers only kidnap girls who are beautiful and very healthy... like us. You will have a hard time finding a girl on this planet who's been brought from Earth and does not have those qualities.
"Look around you. Look at the men. See how
strong and attractive they are? Its a pity for them..." Tel mused.
"What is? What's a pity?" Aliana said.
Tel smiled at her. "The women of this planet are... unfortunate, you might say. They seem to be naturally designed for breeding and...not much else. They're squat, ugly creatures with no individuality at all. Every one of them looks the same as the next. No differences in eye colour, hair colour... That's another reason for the slave girls. Variety."
Aliana's mouth hung open a little.
"Anyway," Tel continued briskly, " to your training. I've been here nearly a month, so I pretty much know what you'll expect from the slavers. They will treat you... how should I say it... harshly, it might seem, but to them its great treatment. They'll work us both hard. We will have to learn many things... how to fight, for one. By the end of the two year training period, we'll be what they call Arai Fighters. They're the most skilled fighters you could ever possibly find."
Aliana had her mouth hanging open again. She closed it. "How do you know we'll be Arai Fighters?"
Tel pointed to a shiny, brass coloured sign glinting in the sun near to them. It was covered in symbols and pictures.
"That sign translates as, basically, "Here are the Arai Fighters". See where we're sitting? We're in the Arai pen. And see the pen over there?" Tel pointed across the market to another pen similar to the one they were sitting in, but much larger. There was also around thirty girls in it, whereas Tel and Aliana were alone in theirs.