The lane emptied out into a broad square surrounded by three-story buildings all around. At its center was a raised wooden platform encircled by a crowd of men shouting eagerly and waving hands to be seen. Atop the platform stood a quartet of naked men. They were filthy and thin and stood with heads lowered. A chubby man in a yellow robe, the first actual overweight person Caroline had seen since arriving here, moved before the men waving a stick of some kind at the crowd who laughed and called out to one another.
This was a slave auction. This is what awaited Dwayne and her.
The fat trader held one of the men on the block upright by the hair and forced his mouth open to show his teeth. He pinched the flesh of the miserable man’s biceps and thighs and made remarks that raised guffaws from the men at the foot of the stage. He made each of the four slaves stand on first one leg and then the other. He ordered them to lift each other’s genitals and the crowd exploded in mirth.
He turned to the crowd and spread his hands. The audience grew silent. The trader pointed his stick at the quartet and held up four fingers. They would be sold as a lot. The bidding began and was furious at first before petering out to two men and finally ending. The four were walked from the stage down a flight of steps at the rear.
Xin urged his charges forward with a sharp tug until they reached the bottom of the steps. Caroline stumbled, and Dwayne stopped his progress to allow her to fall against him for support. Xin called out to the trader who came to the edge of the platform.
Praxus translated the exchange.
Xin said he had some fine specimens for sale. Romans and an educated Greek.
The trader said that he was interested but had many slaves for sale before them. Xin would have to wait.
Xin countered with a promise of a bonus atop his regular commission if the trader would put his merchandise on the block ahead of the queue. Praxus added that Xin was anxious to get drunk despite Ahinadab’s orders to the contrary.
The trader considered this and finally nodded concession while gesturing Xin to bring his slaves forward.
It all seemed so normal, and matter of fact, this trafficking of human souls. Caroline was struck by the inhuman callousness of it. She was certainly not naïve after all she had seen and experienced. But at least the man-eating protohumans of the valley in Nevada were acting on pure animal instinct. This was naked commerce of the vilest sort. Slaves stood docile, waiting their turn to be sold to the highest bidder. She wondered how they could go to their fate without any sign of defiance or protest. Then she saw the rough men lounging close along the face of the stage, armed with thick clubs. One man held a cat—a whip with many strands of leather tipped with metal barbs. Many of those waiting to be sold showed signs of beatings, old and new, on their torsos, arms, and legs.
It struck her that each and every one of those waiting their turn on the block was naked. Involuntarily she hesitated before setting a foot on the first step to follow Dwayne to the stage. Xin cuffed her across the back of the head and she climbed the steps, pulling Praxus behind her on their shared line.
Xin shoved them roughly forward into full view of the surrounding crowd which began to mutter to one another their appraisal of this new offering.
The trader raised hands to quiet the crowd and went into his pitch. Praxus stood silent, and Caroline did not ask him to translate. She could only stand and fight down the urge to shake convulsively as her mind reeled with the dreadful possibilities to come in the next moments.
Dwayne’s line was cut, and he was pulled forward. He turned and met Caroline’s eyes with a hard look before being jerked to the stage edge by the leash in Xin’s fists.
She wanted to believe that the look meant “Courage.” But it was just as likely it meant goodbye.
The trader tore away what was left of Dwayne’s swim trunks and tossed the filthy rags aside. The crowd pressed forward in interest. The trader touched Dwayne’s arms and chest with the end of his stick and made remarks that set the buyers laughing. He used the stick to lift the Ranger’s penis to assure the crowd that this particular piece of livestock was not gelded. Standing on tiptoes, to reach his mouth, the trader pried Dwayne’s lips apart and the crowd gasped in awe. The miracles of modern dentistry once again. A furor swept the crowd and the trader motioned for silence, then slapped the stick against Dwayne’s chest. The mob, which had doubled in size as the curious moved in from all sides to see what all the hubbub was about, shouted out a flurry of bids with the trader pacing back and forth to register them all with urgent thrusts of his stick.
It was over in moments, and Dwayne was led from the stage by a pair of thugs. From where Caroline stood, she could not see who had won the auction for Dwayne. She now had only two fervent wishes in the world: that these next few moments go by quickly and that she be purchased by the same buyer who had purchased Dwayne. They were feeble, sad little hopes, but they were all she had to hang onto.
Caroline was cut from the line running to Praxus and drawn forward by Xin. The trader was into his rap and gesturing at Caroline with his stick to little audible interest from the crowd. She kept her eyes on the planks of the stage as she felt Xin’s hands tugging at her clothing. He had her naked in moments, and she fell to her knees under
