Chapter 17: The auction

Guessing that this was where slaves were bought and sold, Kira allowed himself to continue being pulled along around the side of the stage and towards a wide wooden building behind whose upper floors overhung the lower. Along the bottom floor of this construct were many small windows that were all barred, and when the slaves were taken inside, it became evident as to why because they all looked in on the individual cells that slaves were being held in until it was their time to be auctioned off.

Standing the slaves in a long corridor beside these cells, the guards watched on cautiously as a jailer walked the length of the chain whilst asking questions of the individual slaves before letting them loose and directing the guards to take them into different cells. It seemed that slaves of different ages, genders, and races were all grouped together, probably on account of their differing values.

Kira, being at the back of the line, was the last to be sorted and eventually stood alone, waiting. When the jailer finally came over, he looked Kira over and asked, "Can you read?" as he did so.

Perfect, thought Kira. If it was known that he could read and do basic sums, then he probably wouldn't be made to do hard labour and instead might be used as a scribe which would give him plenty of opportunities to rest and practise his manipulations. Confidently, he replied, "I can read, write, and I know my figures," trying to stress his every word so that the jailer was well aware of this.

"Alright, alright," said the jailer, "Don't think that you're special," before adding, "Eight." And at this command, Kira was let loose from the chain, now limply laid out along the floor, and taken over to a particular cell at the end of the corridor marked with an eight.

Inside, the bare stone floor was covered with a bundle of fabric and straw at one end that much resembled the small bed that he had made himself the previous night. However, it didn't seem that he would even be afforded that luxury because the bed was already occupied by another slave who nodded a greeting to him before lying back onto it and staring up at the ceiling. Assuming that he wouldn't want to give up the only comfort provided by the room, Kira sat in the opposite corner and looked around himself and through the door that had now been locked.

Even at this time, well before the setting of the sun, the room was freezing, and this wasn't helped by the cold stone of the floor that Kira had little choice but to press himself against. Settling down for the night, his only source of entertainment was watching the occasional passerby through the cell's barred window. Occasionally, one would pause and look down at him to survey the goods for the following day's market with only the slightest amount of visible contempt.

When the morning came, it was through this window that Kira was able to observe a large crowd gathering before the raised stage as a well-dressed man, with an immaculately kept moustache, got to the stage and began talking to them. Against the crowd's noise, it was impossible to make out what exactly was being said, but the crowd seemed to like it, eating it up and responding with ever greater cheers and bouts of laughter. "That's pointless," said a voice beside Kira, startling him as he had practically forgotten about the fellow slave sharing his cell, "You won't gain anything from looking." the man continued.

"I know," replied Kira, not taking his eyes off the proceedings, "But it is still interesting." and, hearing this, the man didn't reply and instead lay back staring up at the cracks in the ceiling once more.

Soon enough, the crowd quietened as the first few slaves were lined up on the stage, and the first was brought forwards to allow the bidding to begin. It started with a young demi-human girl who went very cheaply, after very little bidding, with the largest bid only consisting of a few bronze coins. After such a poor display, the auctioneer tried to rile up the crowd for the rest of the slaves who all went for more; even a sickly old human woman fetched a greater price.

Out of the first grouping, the human men attracted the most, and the last one caused a bidding war to begin between two particularly eager buyers. They then ended up driving up the price to such a degree that the winner was embarrassed to have to hand over such an amount for a mere slave; a whole ten gold coins.

Seeing people's lives bought and sold, often for about the same as a well-bred bull held a certain sick appeal for Kira, and he gave it his full attention so that he hardly noticed the cells further down the corridor being opened and emptied behind him. By the time the sun was fully above them, Kira had noticed the jailer walking up the corridor with his eyes seemingly fixated on him.

Walking up to the metal-barred door, the jailer took out a ring of keys and, flanked by two guards, opened the cage. With wordless understanding, Kira and the other occupant of the cage followed the jailer and several other slaves out of the building and to a set of stairs behind the stage that led up onto it. Inside, the crowd had been loud enough to completely engulf the straining voice of the auctioneer at times but now, out in the opening, it was deafening and Kira felt his pulse rising as though he was about to go into combat against it a manipulator.

This made him want to try and retreat within himself, but there was no escape to be found from the cacophony, and he was forced back into it when a guard prodded his shoulder. He then saw that the other slaves he had been grouped with were already clambering up the stairs to the back of the stage. Following them up and to the top, he was thrown into the sights of hundreds of people who viewed him as no more than another commodity to be bought and sold at market. Along with the other slaves, he was made to line up to the left of the auctioneer and, one at a time, they were taken forward to be sold.

He may have thought, many times, that he would like to be viewed as an equal by ordinary people, but this was going to another extreme. To be judged by them and given an arbitrary value was quite a strange and demeaning feeling. He also now had an excellent view of what exactly was going on on the stage.

First, a slave would be brought forward alone and be given a base value. Then, members of the crowd would raise a hand to bid on the slave and as the auctioneer led the price higher and higher until only one bidder remained to whom the slave was given. A slave sitting at the side of the stage would note down who belonged to who and for what price they were to be exchanged for later in the day.

As there were only a few others up, it didn't take long for Kira's turn to arrive, and he was taken forwards to feel everyone's eyes boring holes into him. Once the gathered crowd had had a chance to look him over, the auctioneer began, "Here we have a unique opportunity, not only can this human boy read and write, but he would also be capable of undertaking physical work." And, while saying this, the auctioneer walked around beside Kira and had him raise an arm to show off the muscle he built up in training to be a manipulator.

"Also, note how he is in prime condition and that he will likely be able to serve any one of you for years to come making him into a worthwhile investment." after waiting a moment to let his words sink in, he started the bidding by announcing the starting price, "Bidding starts at four gold pieces!"

Thinking quickly due to being thrust into such an intense situation, Kira realized that his starting price was higher than the price that he had seen the majority of the demi-humans going for and even than the price that some humans had been sold for. This might actually all work out then, he thought, as he was so expensive that it was unlikely that he would be bought for some labour intensive job.

He then watched with great anxiety, as some part of him was still in doubt about this assertion, whilst the price was rapidly driven up to five gold coins and then up to seven as an argument broke out between two adjacent bidders. However, these soon backed out, worried that the price was going too high for either of them to afford. The bidding then reached eight gold pieces and stuck here for some time as no one seemed willing to pay any more.

This caused the auctioneer to call out, daring the people watching to part with higher sums of money. However, Kira himself was satisfied with this value as it was almost the most that he had seen paid for a slave all day and the man who had won the bidding looked like a kind gentleman. Then, just as the auctioneer was preparing to declare the bidding over, an elderly human woman raised her hand and called out, "Nine gold pieces!" sending a wave of murmuring through the gathered people.

That was way too much, thought Kira, agreeing with the unrest in the crowd as, from what he had seen, only the most valuable slaves went for this sort of price, and he couldn't dare to count himself among their number.

Trying to confirm that this was a serious bid, the auctioneer raised his voice above the crowd's noise and called out to her but was only met by a deathly cold stare. Seemingly rattled by this, he assumed that she was not messing around and, taking a moment to gather himself, declared that the bidding was over. At his word, a guard walked up from behind Kira and led him away by the shoulder back to his earlier cage. There, he was made to wait, and he busied himself ignoring a fresh set of looks, this time from his fellow slaves, as they all wondered why he had been sold for such a high amount.

A tension seemed to fill the holding cells as they viewed him but, thankfully, he didn't have to wait in this environment for long. Just when he was certain one of the other prisoners would open their mouths to question him, the door at one end of the corridor opened, and several guards walked in.

Behind them trailed the old lady who had purchased him wearing a grey dress that, upon closer inspection, seemed to have originally been a different colour and so may have been as old as she was. Following her was another human man who appeared like the other guards with a sword hanging from his belt but he was uniformed, and his tunic bore the symbol of a falcon. Seeing this seemed to get the attention of the gathered slaves, and it certainly took Kira's attention too. This was because he was certain that he had seen this symbol hanging from one of the towers flanking the walls surrounding the old imperial palace. So the possibility of her originating from within it explained how the woman had been willing to part with such a sum to purchase him.

The strange group then stopped outside his cell, and a guard unlocked the door whilst the woman handed over the gold to the auctioneer who had appeared beside her. Thanking her for the sums, he then nodded at Kira, who took this as his cue to leave the cell and walk beside the woman out of the holding building and back out into the courtyard beyond. Here, with the large number of people filtering past and sometimes knocking into them, Kira was well aware of the guard behind him's eyes boring into his back. However, Kira had no desire to escape and so endeavoured to appear as humble and subservient as possible towards him.

"So, do you know why I paid so much for you?" asked the old lady, as they walked out together onto the main road that passed straight through the centre of Ostermark before adding, "The name is Jane, by the way."

"No," replied Kira, not interested in making any uneducated guesses.

"Well, I'll tell you," she went on, "It's because if that other nobleman had bought you, you'd have been in trouble, and I'll leave it at that. Just know that we go back a way."

In hearing this, Kira's relief was twofold because if what she said was true, not only had he narrowly avoided being bought by an unsavoury master, he had also been bought by someone capable of demonstrating such kindness. Seeing his look of relief though, she stated, "I won't be your master; you do realize that, don't you, I've merely come out to buy some more slaves for the palace, and you better be worth the money."

This did dishearten him slightly, but not by much as the work in the palace was likely to be menial, such as cleaning or cooking, giving him plenty of time to think about and work on his manipulations. Walking alongside the palace walls, they reached a large pair of wooden gates studded with iron, and a smaller door set into the left of these gates hung open, and it was through this entrance that Kira followed Jane into the compound.

Off to his left was the cathedral structure that he had seen outside Ostermark the previous day. To his right was a haphazard array of stone buildings that seemed to have all begun as separate constructs but now were joined together, forming many different interlocking courtyards between them. Surrounding these two structures, and filling the rest of the compound, was a lightly wooded garden with many paths crisscrossing through it. This created an area of welcome peace and calm set aside from the bustle of the wider city.

Moving towards the confused palace building, they entered it from a small door set out of the view of the main entrance. It led to a less than glamorous, low and dark space that a few people hurried through and turned off into many other attached rooms and passageways. "The servants have their own ways around to not intrude on the inhabitants," explained Jane as she led Kira up a flight of steep, winding stairs that came out into some sort of laundry room.

Here she went forwards and held a short conversation with one of the workers busy beating wet cloth against a ridged board about where she could find a man called Eric. With his location resolved, Kira was then led back down the stairs, barely catching himself to stop falling down the last few, and through a maze of small hallways into an open space that seemed to be an intersection where several of what had once been separate buildings had been joined.

In its centre, a black-haired man was busy directing several other slaves to their tasks, and he stopped when he saw Jane and the two of them approached each other exchanging a few words, during which Jane handed over the bag of coins that she had paid the auctioneer from. Carefully counting them out, Eric's brows furrowed together as he looked between Kira and the number that remained. The conversation that followed was quite brief and blunt, with Jane spending most of the time with her head bowed to him as a means of apology. Deciding that they couldn't immediately sell Kira back and that Jane's over-spending could be overlooked this time, she was sent scurrying away down a different corridor, winking at Kira as she went.

Once she was gone, Eric approached Kira and asked, "What's your name?" as he walked Kira over to a chest at the side of the space.

"Kira," he replied, knowing that his own name would be common enough to not arouse any sort of suspicion.

"Well, Kira," said Eric, as he rummaged through a nearby wooden chest, taking out several different items, "When working here, you'll be doing a variety of tasks. What we really needed was a new scribe to take down a transcript of what is said, and by whom, during debates, but that won't occupy you all the time." Looking between Kira and the low pile of clothes and other necessities that he had produced, Eric added, "You'll be answering to me most of the time, and this stuff here will be yours."

He then started to walk away and, momentarily forgetting to gather up the bundle of clothes, Kira followed along behind him. "Right, I'll show you where you'll be living; note that we don't normally put boys and girls together, but we're out of space, and so I don't want any funny business," said Eric, looking back over his shoulder at Kira's embarrassment whilst leading the way up several flights of stairs and along yet another corridor that had a formerly grey carpet stained a variety of colours by constant use.

On Kira's right side was a long line of doors, and Eric stopped outside of the one second from the end before pushing it open. "This one is yours," he stated, "Someone will get you and wake you when you're needed, but you should learn your schedule soon enough." before marching off evidently very busy.

Entering through the open door, two mattresses were laid out along the floor, each covered with a blanket and a pillow at their head. Against the wall, one by either of the beds were wooden chests that would serve to hold the residents' personal things and between the beds, opposite the door through which Kira had entered, was a curtained glass window. Through it, he could see right over the outside gardens and the palace wall, but beyond that, his view was blocked by many rows of houses.

As the bed on his left was obviously owned by someone and had several items of clothing lying out across it, Kira sat on the one on the right and, guessing that he was meant to, changed into one of the servant uniforms that he had given before packing the rest into his chest. The uniform consisted of little more than a white tunic with a golden falcon embroidered over his left shoulder and was simply intended to make the servants recognizable and presentable should they find themselves in the sight of a lord or lady of the palace. Wondering what he should be doing, Kira had little option left aside from sitting and waiting, as Eric had said, for someone, anyone, to arrive.