Auction

Webbly was a gross town

It smelled arguably worse than the fetid grove in his experience and from Alice's description of "it looks like someone built the roads out of human excrement" he was kind of glad to be in a cage

Upon their arrival in the town, the wagon had slowed and soon parked in what Alice informed him to be a stable of sorts before their two captors had slowly begun unloading the soon-to-be slaves off it.

They first moved off the men and women, fitting them with pairs of chained collars and fetters and having them shuffle down a ramp and through a door that Alice couldn't see through and was blocked from his own "sight"

After that they moved the assortment of cages within the wagon off, including their own, placing them on the ground, or in their case tossing them. And finally refitting the tarp so that no one could peak in or out

"What should we do?" Alice chittered to him, clearly worried by their lack of sight, as they felt their cage lift off the ground and be carried in another direction.

"Stay calm and wait" he chirped back at her, keeping his own nerves in check as he nuzzled his arm, trying to rub the soreness out of it "they want to sell us right?" he asked her

She nodded

"And this is a slave hub?"

She nodded again

"Then there is probably some form of market around here," he told her, making a guess towards their location, a guess that turned out to be correct as he soon heard the voices of dozens of humans nearby, and smelled the now-familiar scent of filth soaked slaves

After a few moments, their cage was set down on the ground, although the tarp was left on. He could hear, muffled voices and the clinking of coins as the other captives were sold off one by one, growing in a line that drew them closer and closer to them

Soon he could clearly make out the voice of jack, bidding

"This one here, ten copper! 20! 40! 100 copper!, do I hear another? Going, once! twice! thrice! Sold to the man in the yellow hat!

This happened for a few more minutes before he felt the vibrations of jacks boots grow closer until they were next to the cage and he heard the tarp shift slightly as he took ahold

"And now I have something special for you fine gentlemen! Hehe!" he announced, his voice like glass in a bucket "allow me to introduce these two"

And the tarp was yanked off, the light of the sun slamming into his white eyes, causing him to let out a large his, startling both Alice and the buyers.

"My word!"

"What the fuck!"

"My God, it's hideous!"

a chorus of voices rose around them as the tarp was sharply yanked off of their cage. he was instantly hit by the sheer amount of different scents surrounding them, they were so pungent that he had to shake his head, in order to clear his mind, causing Alice to gently run her hand over him out of concern

"we're on a stage of sorts" she whispered to him, gently placing her head near his to give him something to focus on, as the glow of her features drew his attention away from the smells and scents of the crowds "just wait a moment for it to be over"

"These two are one of a kind!" Jack announced to the crowd "we found them wandering the forests of Gunderburg, fighting off a pack of wolves single-handedly" he continued, clearly creating a fake story for the buyers "they have a unique bond that allows the Half-elf to control the beast like an extension of herself!"

this caused some commotion amongst the crowd as the buyers began to formulate their own plans for them, plans varying from "perfect for spy work" to "what a nice pelt". he didn't like that guy

jack let them have their time before he began the bid

"starting at 10 Copper!" he shouted "10 copper!"

"I'll take that!" shouted a male voice, that belonged to a man that Alice described as "a toad with hair"

"15!" another shouted, male again and belonging to a "pig with constipation"

"20!" shouted another, the man in the yellow hat from earlier this time

This continued on for a while with a bidding war beginning between the toad and the pig that lasted a few minutes until they reached a new coin, silver this time. heavily sweating the toad with hair finally yelled "1 and a half silver!"

the room went quiet for a moment and jack began the count

"Going once!" he began

"Going twice!" he counted

however before he could finish, a new voice rang out, this one female

"4 Silver!"

the room returned to silence, he felt alive once more, lowered herself to him, and whispered "the toad just fainted!"

"sold to a woman in blue" Jack shouted without hesitation, clearly not wanting her to take back the offer before giving a laugh and exclaiming "they're all yours miss!"

***

from that point it was pretty simple, the tarp was redrawn over them and they were once more carried off the stage and taken away, before being set down and left alone for a few minutes before they once more were lifted, this time however they were placed onto a wagon, one smelling far nicer than the past one.

soon the random bubble of voices drew closer, he recognized a few, jack, harry, and the woman in blues voice before the conversation drew closer

"Now whatever you do... don't stick your hand in the cage," Jack said with a laugh

"fuck you!" he heard harry grumble

"well thank you for your business gentlemen," the woman said "specimens such as these are rare as they come"

"No problem!" Jack exclaimed, his voice filling with some amount of awe "we didn't expect to run into the slave baroness during our travels, so if anything WE thank you for the business"

from there the conversation mainly dropped off, they said their goodbyes and parted ways, and soon the familiar feeling of the wagon moving set in