Chapter 4: A New Master…

Previously in the last chapter, you read ~ the party who captured Jasper and the child are within the vicinity of the Black Market. Alec (the masked man) had captured someone he knew only to hide his real identity. Alec and Jasper are on separate missions; Alec is now getting ready to sell the child off for his mission as Jasper tries to save creatures like her.

Alec growled louder, making the air in the room feel thick and intense. The others stepped back and looked elsewhere from the scene in front of them. The hybrid flinched as she curled up into the corner of the cage, hiding herself with her tails going quiet. He huffed as he turned around and finished getting dressed. The other three move away from him as he passes; they go separate ways to get changed. After thirty minutes, they finished getting ready and headed out of the inn with the half-orc swordsman carrying the cage. Yinnuko, the bowman, is the first one out of the room, heading to the inn's front desk.

"Hello sir, how may I assist you?" the front desk clerk asked as he looked up at Yinnuko.

"My room needs new towels when it's ready to be sent up," he said as he kept eye contact with the clerk making the clerk squirm at his intense stare, making him nod in submission and turn around.

"Y-yes, sir. Le-let me get that su-suited... I-I mean taken care of," the man struggled to say as he hobbled away with his spectacles slightly sliding down his nose, making him push it back up while walking to the back. His slightly short honey-brown hair was pulled back into a little warrior wolf tail so it would be out of his face. Only to miss his bangs completely, which failed the purpose of his hair being pulled back.

As he goes to the back and gathers a handful of towels, Yinnuko waves Mizu to leave. While carrying the cage, Mizu starts to walk out of the inn with Alec behind him. They step outside, go left, head towards Ro's shop, and turn left again down an alleyway. They come to a door from the side of a building; just past the door are stairs below the building. Alec pushes past Mizu while walking down the stairs towards a closed door, giving a patterned knock on the door, making it open once he finishes.

They walk through the door into a room filled with different races, cages, and platforms with Merchandise as a sneak peek of what's up for auction. Mizu starts heading towards the stage where everything is to be sold, leaving Alec behind, who is now waiting for the other two. Mizu walks backstage to a table where an auctioneer takes in all of the Merchandise. He gently sets the cage on the table in front of the auctioneer after the other few in front of him have finished.

"Evening, my fellow swordsman. What do you have to sell here?" the auctioneer asked while getting ready to lift the piece of cloth covering the cage.

'Smack.'

"Uh-huh. It's a special surprise I would like you to sell last." Mizu whispered as he put his finger to the center of his lips in a hush-hush voice. This made the auctioneer give him a questioning look, making Mizu chuckle.

"Why should I do that for you?" he asked as his green eyes stared at Mizu's hands that were holding the cloth down.

"You see, Alec is the one who is asking... No, he's telling you to make this the last thing but also announce that there is a very rare pet waiting to be broken in." Mizu lefts the cloth a little and opened the cage with a crack to pull out the child's tails. The sudden touch makes her squeak quietly and try to pull away. "I hope this piques your interest as a last-minute sale type of matter." The men chuckle as they shake on it. After that, they put the caged creature in the back with a number tag, then place the cage with the rest of the Merchandise. Mizu smiles while walking towards the stage curtain.

"If she gets loose, goes missing, is stolen, or removed from this building before she is sold...." Mizu stopped in his tracks as he looked over his right shoulder, giving the auctioneer a deathly stare that would kill a man if it could. "...We will sell you to the goblins." he threatens, then fixes his loose shirt, walks through the curtains, and enters the main room.

The auctioneer lets out a breath of air, not realizing he was holding it. He quickly straightens up, collects himself again, and then goes back to organizing the rest of the auction. He gathers up the paperwork that was filled out and walks towards a door that leads to an office. He opens the door to a man sitting at a desk with a dark elven maiden sitting on his lap. Without a word, the auctioneer walks up and places the papers on the desk, as he avoids making eye contact with the scene in front of him. He steps back, bows slightly, then turns around and heads out the door.

"Th-the auction will be starting within fifteen, sir. I will be setting the cage on stage up, then get the first auction up," he says as he opens the door and then starts shutting the door behind him. He takes a quick peek at his boss just as the door shuts. Once the door shuts, the auctioneer stands in front of it, collecting himself again before going out on the stage for preparation. As he starts setting the stage up, the room fills up with various people. When they finally arrived, entering the underground act, which was located just below the inn and the bakery next door.

With less than five minutes left, everyone gets into position. Two men start lining the Merchandise up in the order they were given. From children to adults, the various types of racists were placed side by side in random order through their race. They had some tied up, chains put on a few others, and the rest in cages they had come in or were placed. Three men took care of the Merchandise by moving them on, then off stage, and placing them in a cell once they were sold with nameplates next to the door. As the three men took care of the Merchandise, they made themselves seem threatening with a whip attached to their hips, their muscles protruding from their clothing, and standing around 6'9.

The auctioneer walks past the men while letting them know that they're doing an excellent job as he walks back up on stage with some type of microphone. It was small enough to fit in his hand. It was also made out of a rare type of wood, someone could speak into a hallowed part of it, and you would be able to from afar—many struggles to get them because of how rare and expensive they are. The auctioneer stands up on the stage facing all the buyers. He smiles as he walks to the center of the stage and starts to introduce the event.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please, please settle down!" He holds a hand up with the gesture of calming down, his voice seeming soothing in a comfort matter, then continues. "I would like to greet this event with the start of the possible buys of your soon-to-be pets," he chuckles, making a few others do the same. He steps aside as a man comes out from behind him; the auctioneer hands the microphone off to the man.

"Evening, let me give you a taste of what is being sold tonight...." He points to the right and makes everyone turn their head to see another man walk out with a child with a cloth bag over their head and cuffs that cover his hands. They looked around ten years old, with the child's height being small. He pulls the child to the center of the stage, then, in an aggressive voice, he speaks to the child.

"Boy! Get on your knees and stay there." the man says as the boy goes to his knees while trembling slightly. The man grabs the top of the bag and rips it off the boy's head. Once the bag was off, it revealed the boy with white and gray eyes, red hair that looked like fire, a muzzle over his mouth, and little scales across his nose and under his eyes. The boy flinched, shut his eyes from the sudden light change, and slowly opened them again. With a few gasps in awe, someone calls out a price.

"100 Silvers Pieces (SP)!" a woman shouts

"No! 150 SP!" a man called out

"150, do I hear 200?" the auctioneer calls out.

"1 Gold Piece (GP)!" another man says, raising a paper with the number 21 on it.

"Do I hear 2 GPs?" the man asks.

A man raises a paper saying 47 on it. The auctioneer smiles as he goes to speak again but is cut off by the first woman who shouts out. "I'll pay five gold for the boy" she raises a paper that says eight on it.

"Do I hear anything higher? Going once! Going twice! Going three times! And sold to buyer 8!" the auctioneer shouts as he points at her. He then chuckles and sighs, then speaks again, "ladies and gentlemen, we have 13 young children ready for whatever you throw at them. We have eight ladies and 12 men who will be of great use around the house. As for the end of it all, we have a special and rare creature from up north." he turns to face the other man.

"I can assume that you can do the rest of this, Sye?" he hands the microphone as Sye nods.

"Yes, boss." Sye takes the mic, steps toward the crowd, and then starts calling out for the next auction.

A man comes out from backstage with a rogue male elf. He was the next one that came out, standing at 6'2 with straight black hair that was covering his black eyes. The elfen man stands there with his head down in slight defeat, his hands tied behind his back.

"Let us start the betting at 25 CP," Sye says.

"100 CP." number 10 raises his card.

"50 SP!" number 25 shouts out.

"60! SP" 22 calls.

"68 SP!" 25 calls out.

"Do I hear 70 SP?" Sye asked.

"75 SP," a woman calls with the number 45 on a paper.

"Do I hear anything higher? Going once! Go-" Sye starts to say,

"1 GP!" a man calls out, raising the number 60 on his paper.

"Haha! Do I hear higher?" Sye asked.

"2 GP and 500 SP!" The lady number 45 calls out.

"5 GP!" the man before stands up and holds his number higher.

"8 GP!" the lady shouts as she looks towards the man and glares while standing up. Sye watches the two with amusement as the man with 60 walks over to her and bids higher again.

"I'll pay 10 GP!" She glares up at him and growls quietly to herself, then flips him off as she starts walking to a different area in the auction room.

"Do I have any higher bidders? Going once! Going twice! Sold to number 60." a few people clapped their hands as another sale had happened. This went on for an hour before they took a small break. During the break, they collected money from the buyers while bringing out the Merchandise were bought to their buyers. This was so they could put their names and special equipment on their new property to market it as theirs. After a half-hour break, they start the auction again, bringing out a siren as the first attraction. She swam slightly in a caged of water rolled out from backstage. Her scales were blue like the ocean, and her hair was a bright silver color that flowed with the water soothingly, making her hair hide her eyes.

In the audience were gasps in amazement as a few bidders started applauding. Sye smiles to himself with amusement watching his audience already getting hyped up. Within seconds of everyone settling down, they started making bids immediately, with some calling 20 Gold Prices. Sye finally got the bid to 53 GP's to a man with broad shoulders and a greenish-gray skin tone as he stood at 6'6 feet. They roll the siren off the stage to the back and bring out the next. After they bring out a set of girls, triplets, to be exact. The auctioneer walks up to one of them and grabs her jaw tightly while pulling her up to him.

"Look at this a decent bitch for some house cleaning! With another being a doll for your children and another as a pet! What do you say? Shall we set off with 10 GP's or higher?" Sye, ask as he lets go of the girl making her fall to her knees next to her sisters.

"I bid 25 GP's on the three of them" A man raises a sign that says 15.

"No 50!" Another man with the number 20 shouts out.

"55," a woman called out, holding a sign with 21 on it.

"55! Do I hear any higher? 56? Anyone?" Sye asked as they pointed to the crowd, then to the girls behind him. "55 going once, twice-"

"58!" A man raised a sign that said 34

"No, 60!" the same lady called out again.

"60! Going once, twice, three times! Sold!" Sye pointed at the lady with the number 21, "to number 21."

This continued for another half hour, selling off over forty-plus people throughout the evening. At the end of the auction they brought out a cage made of metal and wood, it was big enough to hold a medium-sized animal, maybe smaller. A half-orc man carries the cage out on stage and sets it on a table that was set up from a previous sale. Sye turns to face one of the men walking onto the stage, then smiles as one man places the cage on the table. He nods to one of them to give them the go and take the creature out of the cage.

After the man sets the cage down the other one comes around and opens the cage. In a flash something jumps out of the cage trying to flee but fails, being caught by the man who opened the cage. He holds the creature by the scruff of its neck and holds it up for the audience to see. It was the child that Jasper saved then got taken away. She yelped while squirming around trying to escape the man's hands. She reached her hands up trying to grab the man's hands to make him let go. She hissed and growled as her golden blue eyes flashed with stress, fear, and anger; while struggling to free herself she caught eyes with Alec and flinched with defeat. She drops her arms and tries to curl up slightly with her three little tails curl between her legs. Her cat-like ears pinned back as silent tears rolled down her little cheeks.

The audience started to shout out bids, one over another pushing each other away, trying to get their bid out in the air. The man holding the child turns toward the cage and tosses her in it, making her hit the back of the cage with a small squeak escaping her mouth. The man steps back while closing the cage and locking it back up, he then walks backstage to gather up the sold merchandise. Sye looked out to the crowd, raised his hand and silenced everyone one last bid was shouted making the rest of them stop and step back.

"50 platinum, 500 gold pieces..! And my maid, the missing princess of the East!" a man with the number 71 on a sheet.

Everyone turned to face the man, some took a few steps back as he walked to the stage with someone behind him. Low and behold it was the missing princess, her once beautiful long silver smooth hair; is now short, dirty, and rough. Her once bright green eyes were now dark, dull, and full of defeat. Her clear flawless skin was now covered with marks and scars, it made her almost dirty, but her once pure and elegant features were gone. She walked with her head down and her hands tied in the front with a small leash that the man's holding. They make it to the stage, then climb the few steps, while walking towards Sye. He tugged on the rope pulling the princess forward, then grabbed her by the jaw. This made her whimper in pain as she clenched her hands into tight fist.

"She's well behaved and has the body of a goddess." He says while holding her by the jaw then sliding his hand down to her neck. The princess closes her eyes hoping this ends soon as she stands in front of him with her back against his chest. "She has been very good with tending to the my needs when the wife isn't around, and has become a very good slave." he lets her go as she claspes to her knees at Sye's feet.

Sye looks down at her with a smirk then holds his hand out to the man, as they shake on it. One of the men from backstage comes out and grabs the cage and has the man follow, leaving the princess at Sye's feet. Sye picked her up by the arm and made her stand to her feet.

"Now, let's start our last bid." Sye looks up to the crowd and holds the princess up. "What do we say? 100 gold pieces." The room filled with bids being called out and people shouting over one another.

"150 G.P's" a man called out.

"NO! I'll give 250 G.P's" another shouted.

"260" a woman raised a paper that said 63 up and called

"5 platinum pieces." a man in the back called.

"10 platinum!" another called then Sye looks over towards the person.

"10 P.P's. going once, going twice-"

"25 pieces" a man in the far back corner called, making everyone look around. Sye looked over towards the voice and finalized the bids seeing who it was. Another one of the men from backstage came out and grabbed the princess off stage putting her with the rest of the merchandise.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your bids. For those of you who have bought our merchandise, please stay in your seats while we bring them all out. And for those of you who had not received anything we thank you for joining us, and hope you all, a safe journey home. We will need first bidder to last as we trade." Sye then stepped away from the microphone box then stood at the stairs to collect the money from the bidders and hand off the merchandise. Slowly everyone that didn't get anything started leaving, while the merchandise started to file out onto the stage. From first to last everyone gathered, collecting and paying for the merchandise, then everyone was gone and the place became empty.

~After collecting the child and heading to the man's home~

He grabs the cage from the carriage as he gets out first, then walks to the doors of his home. As he went to open the door it opened and revealed a woman and a little boy.

"Daddy?.." a little girl said as she appeared out from behind her mother.

"It's daddy! Yay!" the boy said

"Welcome home dear." the woman smiled as she opened the door wider. "What's in the box? And where's our maid?"

"Don't worry about her... that trash was sold and traded for this rare and beautiful creature." He sets the cage on the table then starts to open it, while grabbing the child by her neck and pulling her out of the cage.

"oh, my..." the lady stepped back and blocked the children from seeing.

"Chaera, calm yourself." the man said as he stepped back from the table holding the child up. "She's too weak to do anything about it. Maya get the muzzle, then bring it to the kitchen." the man said as he started to walk to the kitchen, while holding the child by the back of her neck.

"Klarc? What are you going to do to it?" Chaera asked as she followed.

"She is going to be going through a lot of training to be a good pet." he stated while walking towards the kitchen. Chaera and the kids follow him to the kitchen wondering what he is going to do to her. Klarc held the child on the kitchen counter making sure she doesn't move or escape while waiting for Maya to come.

"What's its name papa?" his daughter asked as she pushed a chair closer to the counter, wanting to get a better look of this new thing her father brought home.

"Alaric, Valphyra....don't bother with naming it," he glared down at her struggling form then picked her up again as Maya entered the room. Maya hands him the muzzle then steps back and bows before she goes to turn around to exit the room. Klarc grabbed the muzzle while holding her still, he pushed the muzzle to her face making her yelp in pain. As the muzzle is tied and adjusted to her face he turns the stove on, then places a metal rod on the fire. While the rod heats up he faces his wife and children.

"To save you the trouble, go grab my coin bag, it's by the door." he states while waiting for one of them to walk out to return with it.

"Here you go papa." Valphyra said as she held up the coin bag.

"Thank you sweetie." he grabs it with his free hand then hands it to his wife. "Go, go and take the kids out into town while taking care of things here. She's going to learn the rules real quick." she nods with a small smile as she grabs the bag gently.

"Yes dear. Oh shall we get you something while we are out in town?" she asked while tilting her head to the side.

"No, just stay out for the day." Klarc turned away while picking up the rod. "You should leave now..." the three of them hurried out of their nice cabin, through the hallway, passing the stairs, and out the front door. As soon as the door shut there was an ear piercing scream that rang through the cabin, then a small thump and silence.