A Princess For Auction: Chapter 2, Verdant City
Hours passed inside the hot confines of the barrel. Beads of sweat made its way down my back as I listened to the sounds of the ship leaving the mooring and slowly making its way down to the lower docks and the city proper.
I'm finally going to see Verdant City, without a carriage and guards and a chaperon. Despite my discomfort I was gleefully anticipating my reward, and the promise of actual freedom.
I nearly let out a yelp as someone picked up my wooden prison, bobbing me up and down as I was carried off the ship. One of the things I had been worried about was that someone would think the weight of the barrel felt strange, open it and find a hideaway princess inside. Getting discovered and sent back home so early would have been the height of embarrassment. But apparently, whoever was carrying me didn't seem to care.
Once I'd been set aside, and the sound of the sailors disappeared in the distance, I cracked open the lid and made my way out, sliding horizontally and landing in a puff of dust and grime on the cold, stone floor.
"Let's maybe not do that again..." I whispered to myself as I stood on shaky legs with both my blonde hair and silken dress clinging to my body, soaked in warm sweat. I took a swig of water from the skin I had brought and quickly started to undress as I looked around me curiously. It was a sort of cellar, with wooden beams and brick walls, and tons of barrels in different colors and makes.
"Hello? Anybody there?" I had just about managed to close the door to the cellar behind me and walked into the first floor of what looked like some sort of wood shop, when someone called out from a back room further into the store. A gray-haired man popped his bespectacled head out from a nearby doorway.
"Oh! Hi!" I put on my most friendly demeanor, smiling as I straightened out my tunic. "I... uhm... wanted to see if you had... eh... were... hiring...?"
I couldn't tell him I had just crawled out from his cellar.
"Hey, Thurel! Here's another one. Looking for a job she says!" The gruff man's voice bellowed out across the dusty shop floor, quickly answered by a quick laugh from behind the other side of a row of cluttered shelves. The wooden interior of the old building would have felt warm and inviting, if it hadn't been for how nervous and tired I felt.
"Hah! Well, tell her what we've told the other ones. We're fully staffed, and that's that."
"That's fine... Just wanted to ask, that's all." I shrugged, somewhat relieved that I didn't have to continue to pretend to be interested in some sort of work. With a sweaty hand I tucked a wayward lock of blonde hair behind my ear and turned towards the oaken door, which lead to what looked like a busy afternoon street. "Thanks anyway..."
"Young girl, hold on a moment." I turned with what I could only guess was a perplexed look on my face, light eyebrows curling up with confusion. "People are not hiring right now. No one on this street, or anywhere through the city. I can guess you noticed?"
"Yes, Sir. I... guess I have." I nodded and walked back into the warm space of the woodworking shop. Light from a nearby window cast my pink cheeks in a comfortable glow, highlighting sawdust that floated in the air between me and the older man.
"Yes, well. We get folks running down our door every day looking for work. And there is no shortage of recommendations, high praise and lofty diplomas. But the work, and the coin to go with it, just isn't there." He took a small break and wiped his hands on his apron. "I'm sorry for sending a young woman back out on the streets, especially one so beautiful, but I haven't got much choice."
"Is it really that bad? People don't have jobs or money?" I tried my best to sound like I was asking for myself, while ignoring the man's eyes that had started to wander down my body, resting at chest height. I was never the bustiest girl, with a rather average cleavage hidden beneath a softly blue, embroidered tunic that Millie had gotten for me. But I knew they looked heavy on my short and slender frame. And men, particularly those with a measure of wealth and power, had always had a tendency to stare a bit too long, even when I had been much younger than now. My mouth was starting to feel a bit dry as I followed the older man's gaze. It felt unusual to be so brazenly stared at by a commoner.
"Yes... yes, it is that bad." His eyes snapped back to my face, and he looked a bit confused. "Ever since the invasion from the east, and the arrival of all those orcs, no one has two coppers to rub together. Except the soldiers. And those that were already rich, of course. Perhaps you will find something eventually."
With an awkward goodbye, made worse by the feeling of having my butt ogled as I walked out of the shop, I suddenly found myself on the streets of Verdant City, named for its seas of greenery that I had only truly witnessed from up above, in the towers and ramparts of Verdant Castle. A nearby carriage was making a racket on the cobbled stone beneath its wheels, heavily making way through the crowds of shoppers and workers, merchants and sword-bearing soldiers.
Just like the shop-owner had said, there were plenty of brutish-looking orcs among the humans. And they seemed to move around in heavily armed groups, with other citizens giving them a wide berth.
I took a deep breath. A warm breeze, coming off the hills and working its way through the district, brought with it a picture of a city winding down for a quickly approaching summer night. There was a nearby garden with hanging roses and large trees, and the sounds of crickets could be heard coming from several such pockets of green around me. It was all enough to draw my lips into a smile. The air smelled like wood smoke, cured meats and... musky sweat.
My nose wrinkled in surprise, just as a small group of rough-looking, orcish soldiers walked out of an alleyway tavern, nestled in behind the wood shop and a small brewery. Their voices were loud and boisterous, laughing in good cheer as they talked over one another.
"-and this human, this milkmaiden, fuckin' dumb bitch, fell for it. Hook, line and fat sinker. We couldn't believe our luck when she started bending over to look for it." A skinny orc in a padded tunic waved his arms about as he was telling a story to his three mates, all of whom where giving him big grins while guffawing at his crude language. "There! There! No, further down! We all shouted at her, getting her to bend even further. I swear to the emperor, her undergarment had shifted, giving us a good look at that fat cunny. Fuckin' glistening that thing was!"
I grimaced as I stood frozen, clenching my small, leather satchel in front of me as I tried to avoid eye contact, my heart beating hard inside my chest. The men were obviously well into drinking for the evening. For a moment I considered going back inside the shop. But the awkward interaction with the leering, old man had me hesitating. Besides, there were crowds of people around me.
"Then what happened?" One of them asked eagerly. "You all took turns on her?"
"Yeah... course we did..." The man faltered for a second, scratching his head as he smiled uncertainly.
