(Flashback) The Exchange (Adder)

[Blythe]

83 Winter, 498 AV

Blythe hadn't slept well during the night. Her body had grown to be rather sore, being that she couldn't get up, couldn't stretch, could hardly move. The area adjacent to her bound hands and ankles had grown sore. Some of the skin surrounding the area had scraped off in little flakes, and the skin had grown to be both a pale shade of red, and rather irritated.

Blythe had tossed and turned as much as a bound person could during the night, she only dreamt once, the rest of her slumber having been interrupted by her high level of discomfort- being too cold with only one blanket, and her body being sore and bound. Her nose also itched, which she found rather frustrating, considering the fact that she couldn't simply reach her arm up and scratch it until the itch had died down.

Blythe remembered very little of her dream... just something about walking along the sea shore and being attacked by a shark after choosing to wade into the water's murky green depths. Blythe shook her head and sighed, looking around for Adder, she wondered where he had gotten to, if he had actually managed to sleep, knowing what he had done to her. Perhaps that was why he drank, she thought, as she lay with her back flat on the bed, the red blanket slipping off the right side of her body, exposing her left side, and pooling around the right in a crumpled mess.

Blythe looked up at the ceiling. There were several cracks in it, and a few cobwebs hung in the corners. It didn't seem like Adder worked very hard at keeping the place in order... or bothered to dust.

[Adder]

Adder awoke from his drunken sleep. The fire had gone out and he was cranky. Rubbing the sanddust from his eyes he got up. The konti, Blythe, was still lying in his bed.
He found the bottle, empty, next to his chair. Adder flexed his muscles, stretching his arms. "Did we have a good night sleep?" he asked, though he didn't really expected a reply.

He sighed and sat back down. "I'm going to take you to either the Slave Market or Baroque Bay... If you're lucky an Akalak will buy you." Adder informed her. "I hear they take great care in their captured Konti... Ofcourse you'll have to take one of them as your lover... At least, one." Those were the things he had heard in Sunberth inns and indeed one could sometimes see a group of Akalak warriors strolling and browsing through the slave markets.
"Perhaps an official or ruler of some kind will acquire you and you'll have to do whatever trick it is you do at his every whim..." his tone was distant. "Of course, those are the two 'good' options..." Adder could think of more than a dozen others which were a far worser fate.

After sitting a while staring in front of him, to the wall. "Well? Don't you have anything to say? No comments?... Nothing?" He sought her eyes and placed his head on his hands.

[Blythe]

Adder awoke a long while after Blythe. The fire had gone out during the night, and the first thing Adder seemed to do after stretching, was glance down at the empty bottle of alcohol at his side. What a pathetic little drunk, Blythe thought to herself as she watched his every move out of the corner of her eye from her place atop his bed.

"Did we have a good night sleep?" Adder asked, Blythe didn't bother to reply, shouldn't he already know the answer to that? she thought, after all, she was tied up and stuck in this strange man's bed, all alone, and a very long way from home. How well could he honestly think she had slept?

Adder sighed, "I'm going to take you to either the Slave Market or Baroque Bay... If you're lucky an Akalak will buy you." Adder informed her. "I hear they take great care in their captured Konti... Of course you'll have to take one of them as your lover... At least, one." Blythe stared over at Adder in horror. Just what was she insinuating? Were they simply going to pass her around and around until they had all had a go, and had satisfied their lust? Blythe shivered, what a disturbing image and thought she had held in her mind. Blythe pushed it away, no need to catastrophize, she thought.

"Perhaps an official or ruler of some kind will acquire you and you'll have to do whatever trick it is you do at his every whim..." Adder had started to sound more and more far away, his voice continued to trail off. "Of course, those are the two 'good' options..." Good options? Blythe wondered, thinking that neither of those options sounded very good, and that all she wanted to do was get out of here, go home, crawl under the covers, and stay there for a very very long time.

Blythe hoped that everything that was going on around her was simply a nightmare, she wished she could pinch herself and wake up at home in her bed. But this wasn't a dream; it was a cold, harsh reality.

After sitting a while Adder said, "well? Don't you have anything to say? No comments?... Nothing?" He sought her eyes and placed his head on his hands. Blythe looked up and into his serpentine eyes. She didn't have anything to say to him. Nothing at all.

[Adder]

Bah, the impudence. He spat on the floor. Still, he couldn't blame her for her silence.

Ignoring her he put on his leather armour and attached his belt. Adder drew his derk and began treating it with his whetstone. A blade had to be oiled and sharpened once in a while to avoid rust. The sound of stone scraping steel had always soothed him and so he closed his eyes for some time and just listened...

After another close inspection of the biodag he took it in his right hand and slowly approached Blythe. "I'm going to cut your feet loos, I suggest you don't try anything stupid though." he flickered the dirk in front of her face and caressed her soft neck with it to let her feel how sharp it was.

Carefully he cut through the knot and unwirled the cord. Grabbing her by one of her shoulders, Adder worked Blythe up. He waited to see if she could find her balance and the cord wouldn't have hampered her blood circulation. "Can you stand?" He was sure she would try hard enough as a trip to the market was sure as Hell not comfortable lying over his muscled shoulder.

[Blythe]

Adder spat on the floor, before putting on his leather armor, and lacing on his belt. Adder drew his dirk and began treating it with his whetstone. It make a loud screeching, and scraping sound. Blythe wished she could cover her ears, the sound was positively dreadful, but the best she could so was shut her eyes tightly against it, and wish it away with her mind.

When that was done, he held the blade in his right hand and strode over to Blythe. "I'm going to cut your feet loose, I suggest you don't try anything stupid though," he waved the weapon in front of her face, before caressing her neck with it. The blade was sharp, and a few bloody droplets appeared on her neck. Was he trying to kill her? she wondered, as the crimson fluid dripped slowly down her neck and off her blade.

Carefully he cut through the knot and unwirled the cord around her ankles. Blythe tried to move her legs, but could hardly get them to move a centimeter, they were so stiff! And her skin was now etched with a bright red outline of the rope that had bound her.

Grabbing her by one of her shoulders, Adder pulled Blythe up, and onto her feet. The floor felt cold and stiff beneath her feet, and slightly foreign now that she had been forced to lie down for so long.

Blythe waited a few moments for him to say something; looking over at Adder, wondering what she was supposed to do. "Can you stand?" he asked, still holding her up.

Blythe's legs were trembling. She was shaking like a leaf. She could stand, but she wasn't sure for how long she would be able to do so, or how long she could walk. Blythe simply nodded, better that he figure that fact out on his own, right?

[Adder]

Blythe was shaking like a reed. He hoped she'd made it to the Slave Market, fortunetaly it wasn't too far from Sunset Quarters. Adder pushed her forward and into the streets. While holding her arm he turned the lock to his little haven and placed the key in his pocket.

The sun was creeping higher and shone down in the snowed in streets. Apparently some more snow had fallen that night and everything was covered in a pristinly white blanket. Adder pushed Blythe through the streets, in the direction of the Slave Market; south.

A patchwork of tents and stands in all colours and sizes unfolded before the konti and her captor. Adder took in the slaverscape with a trained eye. Children were sold to the left, adult to the right. Almost all species and race was present. The air reeked of oil an sweat, even in this wintery weather.
Seeing as he didn't want to deal with Tiandra or Chubs, the tended to scam most of the sellers, the halfblood approached a smaller trader, though of relative respectable reputation.

"Greetings Poy! Look what I've got for you!" he cried out to a short men with retreating hair. In the past Adder had watched his stand a few times as a day guard.
The slave trader shook his head. "I won't sell any Konti today, Rayne... it ain't worth the ammount o' trouble... Ya gotta talk to one o' Lazzie's men." Poy looked genuinly sorry and dissapointed. Losing a konti meant losing profit.
Adder grunted.

He dragged her to a rather large and richly decorated tent. It belonged to one of Chubs' henchmen, called Nero (sometimes called the Zero because he almost always lost at cards). The guards standing outside let him pass after he had relinquished his trusted dagger.
Adder pushed Blythe into the the linnen tent.
"Hail" Adder greeted Nero formally. "Would you be interested of acquiering this young Konti here? She's still fresh from the pond..." Rayne winked amicably at the central figure.

[Blythe]

Adder held onto Blythe's arm and led her out the door and into the chilly Sunberthian streets, which were covered with a thin layer of newly-fallen snow. Adder shut the door to his room, and locked the door to it, before pushing her south, to what she assumed to be the slave market.

Blythe remained quiet as the sun crept higher and higher in the sky, and her muffled steps hit the cold earth beneath them, leaving a trail of snowy tracks through the streets, and little bits of hard-packed snow on her boots; which she had been allowed to put back on before their departure from Adder's place.

A patchwork of tents and stands in all colours and sizes soon came into view. Some of the stands were large, others small, some somewhere in-between. Predominately, the tents were beige-colored, or a deep forest green, although, the occasional sapphire blue or blood red one could also be found; as well as many other shades of blue, green, brown, red, and other colors.

The air reeked of sweat, piss, and oil; and Blythe couldn't help but scrunch up her nose in disgust. Fear, also, seemed to hang heavily in the air. The tension between those being sold, their captors and their sellers was rather tangible, you could feel it making the air heavy. Thick; in need of being cut through with a highly-sharpened blade.

Adder pushed her through the area, and approached a smaller trader, the man looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. He was maybe five feet tall, and had a round beer belly. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown, and his black hair was retreating upon his head, leaving the top of it nearly bald. "Greetings Poy! Look what I've got for you!" Adder exclaimed, as he pulled Blythe in front of him so the man could have a better look at her.

Startled by the sudden movement, Blythe tripped over her right foot with the left one. Thankfully, Adder was still holding onto her or she would have fallen flat on her face. She peered at Poy, with widening-lavender eyes. The man stank of sweat, and stale ale. As Adder held Blythe out for Poy to see, Poy shook his head, "I won't sell any Konti today, Rayne... it ain't worth the ammount o' trouble... Ya gotta talk to one o' Lazzie's men."

So these two men knew each other fairly well, Blythe thought, as she tilted her head up a bit to look at Adder, her face fell just below his chin, her head was resting on his right shoulder. She was looking up at him with a confused and slightly frightened look in her eyes. Who was Poy talking about? she wondered, as Adder simply grunted in response.

After a moment, Adder tightened his hold on Blythe's arm and dragged her along to another tent. This one was larger than the last, and was far more decorative. The outside was a deep red, and the front, by the door flap, was decorated with an intricate, inter-woven pattern of twisting knots. There were two guards posted by the door, one had his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. This particular guard was tall, with tan skin, and muscular looking arms. He wore no coat, only a simple leather armor, with boots. The man's eyes were a dark green, which showed not even a hint of kindness. His face was littered with thin brown hairs, and his hair was long, and kept in a ponytail.

The other guard clearly displayed a curved knife in his hand. He was about as tall as the other guard, but his facial features were cast in shadow; courtesy of the long green, hooded cloak he wore. Underneath this, he wore a simple white tunic, with black pants and brown leather boots.

When the two guards saw Adder, Blythe in hand, they nodded him inside, and Adder pushed Blythe into the tent. "Hail" Adder greeted the man who stood inside the tent, counting a large sack full of mizas. The man turned, and Blythe got her first good look at him. The man towered over her, at about six feet tall. He had dark-colored skin, with long, muscular arms and legs. His arms seemed to be as thick as Blythe's thighs, and his eyes were black, and cold looking. He wore only a pair of black pants, and leather boots, his sword strapped to his back with a leather chord, that held its dark leather sheath in place.

"Would you be interested of acquiring this young Konti here? She's still fresh from the pond..." Adder said as he pushed Blythe forward and towards the other man. Blythe stumbled, tripping over her feet, and ran directly into the man, her face making contact with the top of his chest.

Blythe trembled, taking a few steps back, glancing down at the ground the entire time, not wanting to look up again. "Sorry," she mumbled, as she raked her feet over the tent's floor.

The slaver strode over to Blythe, cupping her face in his hand. His thumb resting on her right cheek, the rest of his fingers on the left, the rest of his hand supported her chin. He pinched her cheeks a bit, and lifted her face so that she was staring right at him.

Blythe met his eyes, black as coal. She didn't like to look into them, they just seemed too dark; too cold. So, she shut hers as the man chuckled, slowly moving her face from left to right so he could get a better look. He was inspecting her.

"Quite the catch you've got here," the man said to Adder, as he stopped twisting her face, and let it go. Blythe's face dropped, so she looked as though she were bowing her head to him. Blythe opened her eyes. She was looking at the man's boots, as he spoke, "and she's quite young... for a Konti." The man laughed again. "Sure to fetch quite a few mizas," he said, looking past Blythe and back at Adder, and then back to Blythe again.

"How old are you exactly?" the man asked, as if he was cognizant of the fact that Kontis didn't age as other races did; she looked like she were 15. Blythe didn't answer. "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" the man roared as he extended his hand, slapping Blythe hard across the face. Blythe's body twisted with the impact. Tears started to fall down her face, and onto the floor of the tent, as she straightened herself back up and looked directly into the slaver's eyes with her own.

Blythe's cheek was burning, a red mark in the shape of the man's hand had shown up on her skin, a sharp contrast to her pale white complexion. "NOW ANSWER ME! HOW OLD ARE YOU?" the man roared again when Blythe had returned to an upright position. "Thirty," she spat back at him. Surely that slap was unnecessary, she thought. Even so, would this man know that she was telling the truth? Did it even matter.

The slaver grunted, and looked over at Adder. The two seemed to be communicating silently, temporarily forgetting that Blythe was even there.

[Adder]

"Quite the catch you've got here," Nero said. Adder had picked up an apple from a nearby table and sunk his jagged teeth in. Other food and things, mostly decorative ornaments, stood here and there and a large chafing dish made sure it was comfortably warm inside.
The juice dripped over his chin and he wiped it off with his leather sleeve. Quite a good apple for this time of year...
He bowed his head in acknowledgment to Nero's statement.

Nero was roughly the same size as Adder and was clad, in spite of the snapping chill, in only some pants and boots. His short sword hung on his broad back, the belt draped across his considerable torso.

Adder Rayne let Nero do his inspection and smacking around. Blythe would need to learn to speak when asked and shut up when not. Something she seemed to have gotten all wrong at the moment. Nero's slap though was far harder than she perhaps had needed and Adder feared he had broken her jaw. If that was the case that would mean less miza's for him. He took another bite.
"Thirty," she spat back at him.

The slaver grunted, and looked over at Adder. The two seemed to be communicating silently, temporarily forgetting that Blythe was even there. "How much?" Nero said, going straight to business.
After a moment of contemplation, Adder named his price. "Ten thousand." he folded his arms in front of his chest.
Nero's eyes narrowed "That's farcical, surely... I'll give you three thousand." Nero said pursing his lips.

What?! Only three thousand? Adder's gaze intensified, he was being conned just as he had expected he would. "Eight thousand..." he countered. Both he and Nero knew that was an excellent price for such a young specimen. "She's unused, in the broadest sense"
Nero's eyes widened again and he took the new information into account. He tapped his thin lips and let his dark pupils glide over Blythe. "Five thousand... Take it or leave it." he fluttered with his hands, more gracefully than one would suspect from a man that muscled.
"You're conning me, Nero." Adder hissed frustrated.
Nero chuckled amusedly and sat down behind his desk. "Am I? If you want to up the price I could always toss in some steel..."
Rayne wasn't armed and outside there were the two guards.

The Dhani halfblood managed to control his greed and nodded. "Five thousand sounds fine." Rayne complied.
A satisfied smile crept over Nero's face. "I'm glad you saw the fairness in the offer... You get two thousand now and the rest when we've sold the girl." The slave trader opened a chest on a cupboard behind him and counted out the miza's. The bag made a delicious sound when he dropped it on the desk. Nero called one of the guards from outside to escort Blythe away. It was the biggest of the two who had been standing outside. Adder was happy to see the pesky little spitsack go, but couldn't help feeling a pang of sorrow for her.

Nero sat back down, took his quil in hand and began scribling on a piece of parchment. His client walked over to the desk.
Adder reached for the bag and stowed it safely in one of his pockets.
"How will I get the other three thousand?" Adder asked and swallowed the last of his apple.
Nero sighed. "You will just have to trust us." He grinned fiendishly and a glitter of amusement was in his eyes. The man folded his hands together.

Rayne's eyes became large with anger. He had been tricked! The Dhani halfbreed felt his blood boiling. Adder was flexing his muscles and clenching his fists as he struggled to take a decision...

[Blythe]

The two men started negotiating her price after a few moments: "Ten thousand," Adder began. "Three thousand," said the other man. Blythe's head darted back and forth between the two of them as they kept spitting out numbers.

Adder went down to eight thousand, adding, "she's unused, in the broadest sense." What did that mean? Blythe wondered, before coming to the realization that he probably meant that she was still a virgin. Lovely, she thought, now these two... perverts... are discussing my apparent sexual life, or rather, my apparent lack there of.

The slaver seemed to consider this information, "five thousand... Take it or leave it." Blythe turned her head back to look at Adder, he looked a little frustrated to say the very least. "You're conning me, Nero," Adder hissed. So that was the slaver's name, Nero? Blythe thought, looking back at him. The name seemed to suit the slaver well enough. Nero chuckled, and sat down behind his desk. It was made of a deep red wood, and had a series of intricate knots carved into the side, and a horse painted on the top.

"Am I? If you want to up the price I could always toss in some steel..." Nero said, as he continued chuckling, pressing the tips of his fingers together, palm to palm, so they matched up, and raising one of them, tapping it against the other, before starting again. What was he talking about? Weapons maybe? Blythe thought, unable to come to another explanation.

"Five thousand sounds fine." Rayne complied. A satisfied smile crept over Nero's face. "I'm glad you saw the fairness in the offer... You get two thousand now and the rest when we've sold the girl." Blythe watched as Nero opened a chest on a cupboard behind him and counted out the miza's.

Nero then called one of the guards from outside to escort Blythe away. It was the biggest of the two who had been standing outside. He walked up to Blythe, gripping her right arm tightly in his rather large, almost over-sized hands. Blythe looked up at him, her wrists sore from the rope that bound them. The man appeared to be waiting for another order, perhaps where to take her specifically.

Blythe looked over at Nero, who was smiling fiendishly. What had happened during the time that she had been scrutinizing the guard's face? she wondered, as she looked over at Adder, whose face was portraying far more anger than it had a few minutes before. The man's hands were balled into fists, his eyes were large, and he was flexing his muscles. It looked as though Adder were about to jump at Nero, with her and the guard simply standing awkwardly in the middle.

OOCCan you please change the color of Nero's quotation texts, aka, whatever he is saying, because it's nearly impossible to read as is, thanks.

[Adder]

Adder picked up a heavy silver candlestick from the table and smacked the guard holding Blythe on the head with it. Before the man could've reacted his head made a crunching sound under the pummeling blow. He had probably broken his jaw.
Rayne let drop the silver candlestick and reached for his dirk. The tall guard was lying moaning on the ground while blood gushed from the head trauma, soiling the decorative carpet.

"Nero..." he hissed while drawing his blade and taking a step towards the man's desk. "I want my money..."
The slave trader slowly stood up and eyed Adder with undisguised fury. Clearly he wasn't impressed.