Continued from here!
It was a rude awakening, in more than one way.
Pepper groggily awoke with a start to the sound of a stranger's voice, and before she could even sit up, she felt the net close around her. The men, two big ones and a weaselly fellow, came prepared; the wave of dizziness that fell over her was all she needed to know it was infused with iron, binding her magic and sapping her strength, but whatever strength she lost through iron she made up for in raw terror.
Experienced men. Men with nets and shackles.
Slavers. She knew all about slavers. They had been one of her biggest fears growing up on the streets; every street kid had stories of a friend just
vanishing, of boys sold off to mines, girls sold off to brothels...
"
Soren!" In a panic, Pepper clawed at the net, but the two men holding it gave it a tug that swept her off her knees and onto her back with a thump, further entangling her. "Soren! Soren, help!" But the only answer she received was the mens' laughter and knowing looks.
"Oh, he's long gone now, cupcake," said the weaselly man with a smirk. "High-tailed it once he got his pay."
"What?" Frantic, Pepper searched for a sign--anything--to prove he was lying, but Soren was nowhere in sight.
And neither was the satchel.
"No..." She let out a yelp when the two big men hefted the net up between them, and fear struck her anew, filtering down through the shock. Uselessly, she struggled in the net, kicking and thrashing uselessly. "
No! Lemme go, ya goat fuckers!
Lemme go! Soren!
Soren! Kia damn yer soul, Soren, ya fuckin' lyin'
bitch!"
"Well, he sure weren't lyin' 'bout her mouth," one of the big men joked, and the other gave an ugly laugh. "I can think of far better uses fer a dirty mouth."
"Cain'll hear 'bout this!" Pepper yelled as tears began to sting her eyes. "He's a powerful mage! He'll know! And when he does,
you'll be the ones that's fucked! I work fer him, y'know! So ya better lemme go, or he'll
kill ya!"
But her threats went unheeded, and she was carried off to to the slaver, Tivol, just the same.
It was high noon when Pepper and five other captured girls were lead into town and to the auction block.
The net had been replaced with iron chains at her wrists, and an iron collar at her throat, keeping her magic bound and her weak and ill, though Pepper couldn't tell if the nausea was from the iron or from nerves. She'd had her teeth counted, her hair checked for lice, and had been stripped of her student robes and placed in the uniform garb of an unsold slave, a simple linen dress that fit badly and showed too much leg.
Even treated like scum on the streets, she had never felt so dehumanized.
And after putting up a good struggle at first, exhaustion and iron had taken its toll. Now she walked where she was lead, too scared to fight after the things she'd been threatened with.
And too heartbroken.
How could she be so
stupid, running off with a strange man like that? Alone. Into the woods. Haha, really? She'd been lead right into his trap, drank his sob story like fine wine. So
stupid! All because he'd been nice to her? And flirted a little? And she had believed, actually believed, that he kind of liked her, because she'd kind of liked him. She should have known. She shouldn't have trusted. Had she really forgotten
everything from her time growing up? Had she really bought that bullshit her professors preached?
She always liked to believe that she'd be brave if the worst happened, that she'd fight to the bitter end and die before she went down, but as she waited her turn on the block and the other girls were sold all she could do--stupidly, childishly--was cry, rooted in place by a sort of petrified, shivering fear.
One of the big men from that morning, who was standing near her, nudged her sharply. "Oh, stop yer bawlin'. Yer gettin' all red and ugly."
"Fuck yerself with a spoon," she managed to choke out through her tears, and then it was her turn. The man gripped her by the arm and leaned in close.
"Mind yerself when yer up there," he growled. "Ya don't need a tongue to get bought. Now dry yer damned face and move."
He shoved a kerchief into her face, drying her tears for her, and then she was lead up the steps and the bidding began.