For Sale
Flesh.
There were many markets all over the continent. Some traded in spices. Others in precious gems. Many sold the cattle and goods of the few farmers who were able to scratch out a living in the arid lands. None of them were as profitable as the flesh markets though. In a sense they were no different to the cattle markets, only the chattel they drove bleating and crying through the pens were all human.
Many a warband or raider clan made a small fortune from capturing the poor desolate souls in unprotected villages and selling them into slavery. The big ones became workers, the smart ones did the sums for merchants but it was the pretty ones that suffered the worst fate of all. For they could provide something that everyone wanted, pleasure.
There was little doubt as to which Valya was to be. She had been stripped bare from the moment she had been captured. The bastards that had burnt her village to the ground and taken her had immediately taken her to a slave broker to be put up for auction. Now here she was, hanging from the wrists by heavy iron manacles attached to the ceiling of the wooden cage. On either side of her were two others that were to be sold today as well. The cage was sat at the entrance to the bazaar in which the auction house lay. That way visiting merchants, traders or even bandits could eye up the merchandise that was to form the main event of today's bidding. The sound of a sword hilt being rattled between the bars of her cage made her lift her head.
"Pack it the fuck in with that sobbing you! You three are going up on the block next!"
Valya raised her head and looked at the guard with blank eyes. He was a musclebound man with leather strap armour and a wide curved sword. There would be no escape, even if she had the energy to try. Right now all she felt was defeated, empty. Her life was over and she was to be sold to some old, perverted monster or to be used as a toy for a mercenary band to pass around. The guard unhooked their manacles one by one and looped a sturdy rope through the ring in their collars. In a grim procession they were led out into the scorching midday sun for just a moment before they were pulled into the rabbit warren of stalls and buildings that was the bazaar.
"Out of my way! Hands off the merchandise!" the guard ordered as he pushed his way through the crowd.
Valya had never seen so many people packed into one place before. She felt as though she could barely breathe with them all around her, leering, whispering obscenities and the brave amongst them even reaching a hand out to try and touch them. She cringed away from any who came close but soon it became futile. As they marched Valya saw wonders and horrors in equal measure.
A shop full of cages that seemed alive with feathers and furs of colours she could never even imagine.
Open fronted stalls with slave women in stocks, their asses facing outwards and coin buckets between their legs.
Mountains of men that rippled with oil saturated muscle bargaining hard for their services.
A slave on her knees in the dirt, a prospective buyer's cock in her mouth as she tried her best to prove her "worth". The welts from a whip on her back showing just how successful she had been before.
Every new sight made her head spin more and more. Barely even a week ago she had been enjoying a peaceful life. Now she was to be cast into this den of depravity for the highest bidder to enjoy. Valya had become so lost in her own waking nightmares that she hadn't even noticed her arrival at the auction block until she walked into it's lowest step.
"Watch it! Injure yourself and you won't sell as well!" the guard barked.
As Valya ascended the steps she looked out to her left and felt a sob leave her lips unbidden. There lay a seething mass of people jostling and fighting for the best view of the raised platform that her and the other two were being led up onto. She saw ugly twisted brutes, sadistic killers and sleazy traders all shouting their bids. Her brain settled into a quiet terror as the woman before her was sold off. She heard the shouting of the barker only as a vague far off noise. That was until the rope around her neck was pulled and she found herself manhandled to stand atop a barrel. From below her came a cacophony of whistling and jeers.
"A fine one we have before you today! Captured from a village in the north where you know the women are fair of hair and of body. As you can see she is no different!"
Valya looked at the barker in panicked horror. Until now her emotions had been buried deep, lost in order to help her survive. Now to be spoken of in such a humiliating manner it all came rushing back at once.
"She's a pretty little thing indeed this one. A little smaller in the tits than some of you bastards like but as I always say, as long as she's tight in the right places!"
She cried out as the guard grabbed her roughly by the shoulders to turn her around and bend her over. Behind her the crowd roared in laughter and approval. Hot tears splashed down her cheeks as the first coarse voice shouted up.
"Five copper!"
Laughter echoed through the hall.
"I now open it to proper bids. This one here is top quality stock!" shouted the barker in response.
"How do we know you've not 'ad a go on her already?"
"Ten silver! I'll have the bitch!"
"Fuck you! Fifteen!"
Soon the words faded into a blur as Valya stood there sobbing to herself. Whoever bought her the rest of her short life would be full of abuse and mistreatment. She really was just cattle now.
"Ten gold."
All of a sudden the racket of noise ceased and a deathly quiet settled over the auction hall. The voice hadn't shouted but it was firm, confident and most odd of all, female. Slowly Valya stood up straight and turned to face the crowd. The guard made no attempt to stop her.
"I will pay today if you will have her on my cart before the sun starts to dip."
Stood in the middle of the room was a woman that Valya had not seen before. She looked to be of a robust, middle age and either side of her were two men in full leather armour with spears. What caught her eye however was what the woman wore around her neck, a slave collar. Valya felt her knees go weak, she was to be taken to some elderly owner too weak to buy her himself. The barker grinned from ear to ear as though he himself had just struck gold.
"Would anyone else like to place a bid, gold for the golden haired woman?"
Silence resonated around the space, punctuated only by a few mutterings.
"Sold! To the slave looking to buy a slave..."
Homeward Bound
The older slave had been as good as her word. Valya had been rushed off of the auction block, the rope attached to her collar cut and a shapeless hessian dress thrown over her head. She had barely the time to process what had happened before she was staggering back out into the sun towards the woman who had bought her and four of her guards.
Since then two whole days had passed, the whole time had gone by with few words spoken between anyone. The guards had been focused entirely on watching the desert around them, spurring their horses on as fast as they could. The slave woman, of whom she had discovered was called Ceres, had only asked her if she could speak the common tongue before haughtily ignoring her. Valya had debated escaping but all around them was vast rocky nothingness with mountain ranges on the far horizon. She would not get far before capture or death.
On the evening of their second day of travel a smudge on the horizon began to resolve itself into focus. It wasn't long before she could make out large stone block walls and baked clay buildings. Once they had reached the complex that was their destination night had fallen, lighting her surroundings was only the torches on the outer walls. On the cool night breeze Valya could smell something pleasant, like the spices at the market but softer somehow.
"Come, come we must not keep the Master waiting. We made worse time than I had hoped and if we don't hurry he will be abed by the time you're ready," Ceres complained.
The woman grabbed Valya by the arm and pulled her through a sturdy looking gate in the outer wall. As they marched towards the largest of the buildings, Valya could see very little around her in the gloom but her nose was filled with that wonderful scent. Ceres pushed Valya through a door into a candlelit room.
"Ah thanks to the Seven above he must still be awake," the woman muttered to herself as she busied herself gathering items around the room, "strip off that sack and stand outside."
Finally Valya had enough.
"No! I will not warm the bed of some horrible old man! I am no slave, I am Valya o-"
Her tirade was cut short by a sharp, stinging slap from Ceres. Valya reeled backwards, the woman was far stronger than she looked. Without missing a beat the woman grabbed her dress and tore it clean off of her.
"You are sold and bought girl! You belong to Master Vittori now and if you wish to wail as a babe in arms I will grant you to the guards first until you learn you manners!"
Valya stood slack jawed for a moment before the tears began again, great wracking sobs that the grief within her forced to the surface.
"What did I just tell you? Get outside and stop that bawling..."
Once Ceres had thrown buckets of water over Valya from an outside trough she had rubbed her down with a sweet smelling herb before dragging her upstairs. The entire time Valya shivered, though whether with fear or the cool night air she did not know. The wooden floorboards were rough under her bare feet as she took the stairs with the resignation of the condemned.
"The Master will be upstairs shortly and does not know you are here. You will surprise him and pleasure him to satisfaction otherwise my threat grows worse. Once the guards have finished with you I will return you to the market as soiled goods, fit for only the worst. Am I clear?"
Valya nodded, not trusting her voice lest she burst into tears once more. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she pushed the door open and stepped into the room of the man who now owned her for the first time. Hesitantly she padded her way inside, her arms folded over her chest in an attempt to preserve her modesty. Swiftly Ceres shut the door behind her and Valya was left alone in the gloom. It took everything that she had to stop herself from spiralling into an endless panic. Either force a horrid man to enjoy her or be raped and returned to the hell hole she had been bought from. She began to pace frantically, unable to to sit still as the anxiety mounted within her.
Anxiety that reached a crescendo as she heard the door began to open.
