Penny could slowly feel fear begin to sink into her bones out of nervousness as she stood in front of the people as a display item. Though the weather was cool with the clouds dominating the sky which were dark and yet to start growling, she could feel perspiration begin to settle on her skin with every passing second that came to go by.
Her eyes didn’t dare to look up, the glances were never one which were decent and of pity. Instead, most of them grinned looking up at her.
With the way she had bit the bidder’s finger as he had touched her, she feared what he was going to do. For the slaves who had done nothing, their hairs were pulled, their dress and clothes stripped for the buyer’s eyes so that they could entice them to buy the slaves from the slave’s establishment.
“This is Penny, young and fresh as you see. She is-” paused the bidder as he read her information which he had been given to him from the guardsman. With every slave’s information recorded, the details were used during the time when the slaves could be sold with the right data. The bidder didn’t go to speak aloud and instead murmured as he read the parchment which had been filled by her own relatives who had sold her.
The bidder turned to look at the guardsman and then at the slave who stood next to him. The young girl was undoubtedly pretty to look. Her feminine features better than the younger and the older ones which he had been brought here from the slave establishment. But she had been submitted only a week ago, and they never had an early sell-off of the slaves, “Excuse me, gentleman, while I go have a word. Please enjoy the sight in the meantime,” Frank gave a grin with his dirty teeth and went back to meet the guardsman.
While the bidder who was auctioning the slaves left, Penny was left standing there with hundreds of eyes on her. It made her feel uncomfortable. She had tried to be brave all this time but now she was scared and regretted biting the man’s hand. By the look in the man’s eyes before, she knew he would strip her in front of everyone but something worse was also awaiting her. She had known that her time of arrival at the slave establishment was recorded. How would she know? It wasn’t like she was a frequent visitor there. This put her in the position where the guardsman could take her back at the mere word of being a new slave.
Behind the stage where two more slaves stood, the guardsman and the bidder spoke in a rushed tone,
“Are you sure we can sell her? Didn’t they say they wouldn’t sell a new slave until they would be trained? The girl is clearly not tamed,” said the bidder.
The guardsman who had taken the parchment back from the bidder, looked into it as if he could read when he actually couldn’t. Not everyone were fortunate to learn and write, leaving a lot of them uneducated. It was the elites and some rare men and women, women being scarce when it came to the lower part of the society. Looking at the scribbled words, he said, “Her name was put there. We are only following the rules and orders. The warden himself personalizes and sends the slaves to be bid. He wouldn’ have added her name if she wasn’t ready.”
“You sure?” asked the bidder who didn’t want to get into any unnecessary trouble for someone’s mistake.
“Aye. Sell her cheaply. We ain’t need any refund back,” suggested the guardsman, giving the parchment back to the bidder.
When the bidder went back on the stage, he said, “I see some of you have eyes on this beautiful creature standing her. Wouldn’t you like taking her home with you? Look at her hair,” said the man loud enough to gain the attention around. As he touched her hair, Penny didn’t react. This time she was obedient, “So smooth. Imagine having her in the bed with her beautiful legs wrapped around your waist as you push into her,” she still didn’t react but internally she cringed.
After all the imaginative crude remarks he had dropped for the previous slaves who had been brought, she had thought she would turn a deaf ear but she couldn’t. The man had no shame and neither did the people who had surrounded them who had leaned forward to listen to more of what he said.
His hand was still touching her hair before he pulled it roughly for her to wince, “She will sound lovely, just like this in your arms. She had been untouched and unbitten,” and this gained murmurs among the crowd, “You can have the first bite of this v.i.r.g.i.n.”
Noticing the delightful whispers that came in front of her, Penny, whose face was now facing the dark sky which had turned dark guessed that v.i.r.g.i.ns had higher values just like when it came to the demand of marriage.
“Fifty gold coins!” a man shouted in the crowd.
“Look at that! We have the first buyer,” commented Frank in glee.
“Hundred gold coins!” Another man shouted. The time of the bidding hadn’t been stated yet there were men who were eager to buy her. Frank let her hair go. He took a step forward at the crowd as the numbers started to fly one after another.
“Two hundred gold coins!” one man jumped the number. The young girl looked frightened, her heartbeat spiking with every number that moved up and higher. She saw the man who had just bidded for her. It was a man in a grey suit, his eyes red in colour which meant he was a vampire. Another man stood next to him with an umbrella over his head even though it wasn’t raining or was sunny. He had a look on his face which made her uneasy. It was as if something lurked around his face which anyone could see but it didn’t speak of what it was.
But the number didn’t stop there. The gold value on her went on to move up and in that time she saw the people who wanted to ‘buy’ her, it wasn’t just male but there was also a female and by her attire and presence, she was another vampire. She had valued her to eight hundred gold coins, but the man in grey suit pushed his number to a thousand gold coins.
Among the crowd who bid on her, there was another man who appeared decent compared to the rest of them. Like many, his eyes were red but his appearance were gentle, tall with brown hair on his head.
Compared to all of them, she internally prayed that if someone was buying her, it would be the brown-haired man. At least he appeared decent compared to the rest who had a lecherous look in the eyes like the others.
She then heard the bidder say,
“Let us see how much more she can entice you.”
When Penny’s eyes moved to look at him, she gulped nervously. She saw him look at her smugly knowing what his words meant and to tell she was not scared was a lie. She wanted to cry for the shameful display in the public which she had never imagined.
She felt vulnerable and cornered. Penny had never done anything to anyone until now. She had been polite and kind, her words thought out before she spoke to make sure it didn’t offend anyone unless someone meant it to be. Maybe she had stolen fruit from Mr Barne’s tree occasionally which was one in number but that didn’t mean she was to be decreed in such manner by God.
The bidder walked closer to her, his hand reaching to the dress which was hardly enough to cover her feminine curves on her body, when someone said,
“Five thousand gold coins.”
Everyone had been concentrating their gaze on the bidder, the bidder’s hand and the girl who stood there with bound hands to snap their heads seeing who had a mere slave for five thousand gold coins. It was very rare for a slave to be bid over two thousand gold coins, something that happened once in a year or two but it was rare for one to pay that amount of money.
Penny herself was shocked to hear five thousand gold coins. Her eyes were wide, mixed with shock and panic of who had bid on her. Scared that it would be someone odd.
The bidder who was standing next to Penny himself hadn’t caught the man who bid the high amount that he found it would be rude to offend the person if he were to ask who had spoken just now. His hand that was hanging in the air above her shoulder moved down to rest to his side.
Murmur and whispers took around the crowd before one person after another looked at one man who stood at the back of the crowd with his hands in his trouser pockets.
