So Kathryn and Alice have met. Kathryn doesn't know it yet but Alice is already determined to acquire her...but how! Magnus has a budget and it seems clear Kathryn will be out of that price range. The auction is about to begin!

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Chapter Six

Kathryn

It was only a few short hours before the horrible procession began. The buyers had left the facility for the most part now, leaving us alone with our captors. The time of the auction had come.

     The sibla men who came to the cages to lead us now were well armed, prepared to quell any potential resistance. Each carried a club on his belt along with a knife and a gun. It was clear that any who might resist their authority would die in agony.

    Each and every human radiated terror as our captors lined us up for final inspection. There were so many, all of different sizes age and gender. Though my caged fellows and I were kept with other girls around our age, I watched as the sibla hearded thier other terrified victims as well, organizing them. Sorrow overwhelmed me as my eyes fell upon a group of young boys and girls. It was not hard to guess at their fates. Everyone knew that young meat sold well and was highly valued.

I noticed too the adult males, dressed only in heavy shackles. No doubt the sibla worried they, of all the captives, might rebel. But in the eyes of these men I could see only deadened despair. I wondered if any had allowed themselves to be taken, as I had, to save thier falimies. Sibla cared little for wild adult males as slaves. These men would probably be dead by the end of the month. Fattened and slaughtered for their flesh like the children or kept in chains and worked to death. My fate, however, was still very much uncertain. I wondered if that wasn't even worse.

    One after the other, the groups of humans around me were herded to a corner of the large barn, wooden batons falling upon any who fell out of line, and then, marched single file through an open door through which I could see sunlight. The older males went first. Then the sobbing child, their cries piercing my my heart and fraying my nerves.

    "You lot are next!"

    I jumped at the harsh voice trying to avoid being trampled as the women around me began to panic. Three sibla men herded our group, attacking us with weapons and fists until we all managed to line up.

    "Hands!"

    We put our arms out in front of us obediently and the slavers came around to check the restraints on our wrists. I gritted my teeth when my turn came, a disinterested sibla man taking rough hold of my arm and retying the ropes tight until they cut even deeper into my already raw, reddened skin.

——

    Outside the day was blindingly bright but the air was cold, a light wind nipping at my skin . Entirely naked I could not stop my teeth from chattering and after only a few steps I realized I could barely feel my toes as they trod upon the frozen earth beneath me.

     Though it was difficult to make out more than the sight of the head of the girl directly in front me as I shuffled out the door I tried my best to look into the crowd of sibla who stood prepared to barter. I could only make out short glimpses of faces and snippets of conversation but I could feel the excitement in the air. These creatures were focused, eager to make their bids and beat out their competitors to buy our flesh.

    Risking leaning out of line to look ahead, I could see the first girl in our line dragged up the steps of the stage and a moment later I felt the sharp sting of a baton on my naked backside, again urging me on until we all climbed the scaffold, reforming our lines in organized rows, ordered to stand still until called forward. A well-dressed sibla man took his place at the podium set at the front of the stage. The moment of truth had come.

    "Next we have a group of mature young females," the auctioneer said, gesturing to the array of frightened girls on the stage all lined up waiting for judgment beside me. "All are of breeding age and none more than twenty years old. Some nice specimens here folks. Wild animals of this quality are hard to come by. We'll start with lot 67."

    I watched as the girl at the far right of the stage was dragged forward and forced to stand on the block. The final destination for all of us. At least until the purchases were made...

    " A ripe young thing," the auctioneer commented, speaking of the woman as if she were a piece of fruit. "The animal is  sixteen years of age and in good health. You can see she is well fed," the man used a stick he held to prod the poor girl's stomach then lift her arm so his customers might see the girth of it.

    "Decent fat cover already and with a bit of feeding up this one will make for premium market stock. Or grow your flock and vary your human bloodlines with the offspring this well-formed female might produce. We'll start the bidding at three hundred and fifty gold."

    As the raucous shouts of bids began to fly through the air my eyes moved from the stage into the crowd. From my new vantage point, I could see better the assortment of sibla men and women. I noticed a few humans among them as well. Slaves who stayed close to their masters, their faces pale and worried. No doubt they feared their owners might have brought them to market and that they too might soon find themselves on the auction block. I knew that's what I would fear at least. I couldn't imagine that anything might be worse than staring as a prize in this macabre sibla game, though that was my inevitable role.

    Of course there was one exception to the drawn human faces and my eyes found her almost immediately. Near the front of the stage they stood, Alice and her master. But unlike the other human attendees, Alice seemed entirely without fear, apparently comfortable in her surroundings. Perhaps the others had been right about her after all. She certainly seemed more sibla and human as she watched the captives in front of her with the same predatory gaze of her Master. The way she eyed the girls for sale, the way she cast looks at her competition for bids. It was as if Alice herself were prepared to offer money for the humans that stood for auction.

    "Sold!" The gavel fell snapping up my attention again. Somehow I'd missed it, the girl on the block was pulled off to the side of the stage. I shivered as she cried out in pain, one of the slavers pressed a hot iron into her arm branding her with the identifying marker of her new owner. I could smell the acrid stench of burning flesh.

    As the next girl was forced to stand before the crowd, I allowed myself to be led down the line to fill in her spot. But as I was herded towards the other side of the stage I caught sight of what I hadn't noticed before. The scent of sweat and fear had masked the smell of blood, but as I moved towards the center of the stage I could see it. Just beside the auction post, the slavers had laid out their butchering operation.

    Already the metal tables were stained red, a pile of human heads lying on the ground beside. I could see the butchers hard at work on a fresh corpse, and the rows of cages where recently purchased animals stood waiting for processing. Beside the cages were coolers, marked with numbers, waiting to receive the meat from the corresponding human. I choked back a mouthful of bile rising from my stomach, reality hit me squarely in the chest. It might only be mere hours before my head lay on the ground, my body dismembered and packaged for a buyer to enjoy.

    "Next we have a nineteen-year-old female. Quite a large one at that."

    My head still spinning and stomach queasy I forced myself to look back to the block. The girl standing there was more filled out than most of us. From the way the auctioneer was talking, her chances of surviving the day didn't look good.

    "Live weight already at 165 pounds. We'll start the bidding at three hundred and twenty gold."

    "400! "

    The shout rang out through the crowd.

    "Very generous Mr Carver," the auctioneer commented. "Do I hear four hundred fifty."

    I was surprised to see that the other sibla seemed decidedly uncomfortable bidding against Caver, who stood smugly holding up his number. Clearly he was a man of power.

    "Four hundred gold going once? Twice? Sold to Mr. Carver!" The auctioneer's gavel banged down.

    "Process the animal along with the others," the sibla man called out.

    "Very good, sir," the auctioneer answered with a nod. I saw the poor girl's face pale as the man's words registered in her ears, her eyes opening wide in fear and disbelief.

    "No!" she screamed, as one of the slavers grabbed hold of her arm. "No, please. Please!"

    My heart went out to her as I watched her struggle, kicking and snapping her teeth, doing everything she could to fight her captors. They paid her little notice. A second man stepped forward with a length of rope and the girl was quickly wrestled to the ground, trussed as I'd seen the men in my village do with pigs before slaughter. In my mind I thought of those horrible squeals, so much like this poor girl's cries, begging for mercy. The sibla slavers seemed just as deaf to her pain as we had been. Knowing that pork would keep us fed, the end result was inevitable. Survival of the fittest.

    A gag was stuffed into the the poor girl's mouth to block any further complaint. In spite of her resistance, it was not long before she was branded and carried away down the steps to the butchering station.

    "Sold"

    I blinked in surprise. As I'd watched the horror of the previous girl, another had already been purchased.

     "And how would you like your purchases today Mr. Kendrick?" the auctioneer asked.

    "Keep them held until I complete my business."

    I recognized the voice immediately, my eyes going straight to the sibla man beside Alice.

    The auctioneer nodded in response and the girl was lead to the corner of the stage to receive her brand before being taken away. I noticed she was far skinnier than the girl before her. She looked almost sickly. It wasn't surprising the bidding had gone quickly. I couldn't help but wonder why a man who clearly had money would want to purchase one that looked so fragile.

-----

    As the auction continued, it became obvious who the top contenders for myself and the others might be. While a few other sibla made bids on the girls in my group, any of a more substantial size were quickly purchased by Mr. Carver. By the time I was halfway across the stage, the man had already sent five sobbing women to slaughter. Kendrick, Alice's master, also seemed to be interested in us, but as he had with the first purchase, the man seemed to only invest in those who looked somewhat less than premium, buying all for under four hundred gold. It was odd to watch the auction like an observer, making note on the operations as if I were not in line for sale like the rest, but somehow doing so helped distract me from the fact that I was inching closer and closer to my own turn on the block.

     As I tried to keep my thoughts away from the danger inching closer and closer every second, I found my mind turning to thoughts about the other bidders, about Kendrick. What kind of lives were these women being condemned to? Kendrick had ordered each of his purchases taken away live. Was it possible that the ones who faced slaughter here today were the lucky among us? I thought of my fleeting hope that I might be put out of my misery quickly to gain release from slavery, even if it was into death's cold grasp. But now creeping closer to the busy knives of the butchers I wasn't so sure. I thought of the girl trussed like a pig, of the sharp blades tearing into my body, my flesh roasted as food...

    "You're next."

    At the rough grip on my arm, I felt my heart stopped. It was time. I didn't resist as one of the slavers led me to the front of the stage. The more fight, the more they would hurt me, but it was all I could do to keep panic from totally overwhelming my mind.

    "Get up there, girl," the slaver said with a snarl when I hesitated to mount the block, momentarily frozen by the terror clouding all other thought. I flinched at the wrap of his baton against the small of my back, the nerves tinging as the wood colliding with my spine. I regained my footing and obeyed.

    The block was not high, but somehow standing atop it, dizziness overwhelmed me, as if I were standing on a high cliff overlooking the sea. The swarms of sibla below were a blurry swirl of colors and sound.

    "A fine looking animal," the auctioneer remarked. Shapely, well built, live weight one hundred and fifty pounds. Just look at those thighs."

    I blinked back tears as his stick pressed into my leg, assessing me as meat just as he had all the rest.

    "And at only 18 years of age she has many reproductive years ahead of her. We'll start the bidding at three-hundred-fifty gold."

    "Four hundred."

    The chill that ran through my body had nothing to do with the cold. I recognized the now familiar voice immediately. Death. My eyes focused on the man bidding. The man prepared to take my life as he had so many already.

    "Thank you Mr. Carver," The auctioneer answered. "Do I hear four-hundred-fifty?"

    Silence pounded in my ears. If no one bid against this man my end was assured. The concept was surreal somehow, though I'd been trying to prepare myself for the possibility ever since I'd left my family behind. I'd even thought to desire it. But so clearly confronted with my end I realized just how much I wanted to live.

    I fought the urge to look towards the slaughtering operation, so close now. I tried not to think of the blood-stained ground, the piles of heads.... instead I found my eyes focused on the one human woman who stood watching from among the sibla. The cold grey stare, expressionless gaze focused on me. Intensely so. Our eyes locked in some silent discourse I couldn't understand. The human protected and the human condemned.

    "Going once," the auctioneer called out.

    Alice turned to her master and whispered something in his ear, breaking our gaze. I couldn't imagine what she might be saying. Was she mocking my desperation? Just simply commenting on something banal? It didn't matter. The auctioneer's voice again.

    "Going twice."

    I closed my eyes, and held my breath,  preparing for the gavel to bang cementing my death, tears slipping down my cheeks now despite my efforts to hold them back.

    "Four fifty gold!"

    My eyes shot open in surprise, the voice now just as familiar as Carver's. Alice's master.

    "Six hundred!"

    My eyes darted back to the butcher as he increased his bid significantly looking quite sure of himself, then back to Alice. Her Master had a frown upon his face. It was clear he was hesitating. My heart pounded uncontrollably in my chest. Two men fighting for the right to purchase my life.

    "Do I hear six fifty gold?" The auctioneer asked the crowd. Still Alice's master remained silent. I watched as the human woman glared at him. Her mouth moved, though I could not possible make out the words.

    "Six hundred going once," the auctioneer began. "Going twice."

    "800 gold!"

    I heard the gasp of surprise that went through the crowd. The butcher's smug expression disappeared from his face, but looking to Alice, I could see that the human woman seemed quite pleased with herself.

    "A very serious price for a very valuable animal," the auctioneer commented, though even I could hear the incredulity in his voice. No other in my group had garnered such a sum so far.

    "Will any challenge this man's bid?"

     Silence again. The butcher shook his head and waved his hand permissibly at the auctioneer.

    "Eight hundred going once, going twice, sold! To Mr. Magnus Kendrick! Congratulations, sir."

    Kendrick nodded his head once but, unlike the slave woman beside him, the man did not appear happy. I couldn't imagine why he'd bid at all. I was nothing like the other girls he purchased. I should be facing death and knew it. So why was this man agreeing to pay a ridiculous sum to take me in? And what horror would I face at his hands now that he had done so...

    "I'd like to close out my tab," Kendrick shouted.

    "Very good, sir," the auctioneer answered. "And will you be taking advantage of our butchering services here today on any of your animals?"

    My breath caught in my throat again at the possibility that he too could condemn me to slaughter, but the sibla man shook his head.

    "Your purchases will be available as soon as your paperwork is complete." the auctioneer said. "After our treasury has collected your payments in full you can bring your trailer to the stalls and take your animals."

    I continued to stare in disbelief at the man who had just bought my life as he and his slave disappeared into the crowd, no doubt off to settle their debt. So confused by what had transpired I nearly fell to the ground when a rough hand suddenly dragged me from the auction block.

    "Come on girl," a gruff voice prompted.

    I followed my captor's orders without complaint, barely registering the searing pain as the brand was pressed into my flesh, still too dazed to truly feel anything.