8. Kavian

Clearly, they've moved it since I was here last.

I shuffle behind the caravan, still careful not to attract attention. My old look was a bit too obvious, so I took the opportunity to sneak into one of the shopfronts and pilfer a decrepit old cloak. Underneath the old brown cloth, I can hide my horns, though my figure is a bit more imposing than any xaphan I've ever seen.

The streets are fairly busy considering it's the morning. As I move, careful not to step over the long, traipsing cloth, I have to shuffle through crowds of people, surely not just here to witness the auctions, but for some other event.

I still remember, on one of the few occasions I visited New Solas, that they made a big showing of their slave auctions. While they'd claim the selling of humans was technically illegal, they still barked out their numbers on street corners, making it quite the spectacle.

Not like anybody really cared though. The selling of humans brings quite a bit of income for the city, behind the scenes. Gets the tourists fired up.

Instead, I watch as the caravan stops outside a large building, and the humans are quietly handed off and guided inside. Almost none of them put up a fight as they're led into the building, save for one girl, whose appearance still puzzles me.

She's clearly seen some of the worst experiences a living entity in the realm can see, yet she maintains an incredible beauty, even from afar. And as she quietly asserts herself before being pried from her cage and pulled inside, I see a strange dignity.

Doesn't she know it's not getting any better? That she'll probably be killed off at some point if she doesn't simply take her own life?

I ruminate on it, before realizing that I'm attracting undue attention and that the door is closing. If I want to sneak into the crowd without making a spectacle, I need to move fast.

Rushing from the shadows of an alley and sticking my foot forward to catch the door, I stumble into the large, dark auction hall.

That's when I realize that I failed and that several xaphan saw me enter. Their eyebrows are cocked, clearly sizing up the sight of my tattered brown cloak. Perhaps, in my attempt to be discrete, I overcompensated.

"Just didn't want to miss out on any good deals," I mumble under my breath, walking to the crowd and away from the guards.

I can see now that most have been waiting in the pit already, and from the looks of it, for quite a while.

"You're lucky we're letting you in," one of them calls out. "This is a closed auction! You need to get here on time."

As I join the crowd, pushing my way through near the front, I try to detach myself from the inquisition at the entrance.

"The nerve of some people," one of the guards says in the distance, over the quiet murmur of the crowd. "Think they can just show up minutes before the show and we'll let them in."

"He didn't look out of place," the other says. "He's just an entitled demon, just like the rest of them. Don't let it rile you."

I clench my fists.

When this falls apart—and it will—then I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I've drawn Gorran one step closer to his demise.

Maybe the auction house can keep a schedule. But the humans his caravan led in are disorganized and miserable. If I crane my neck, I can see them in the back, being made only a little more presentable. Most are perfect little guests, quick to obey as one of the xaphans wipes grime from their cheek or tells them to stretch.

But not the girl.

I try to catch even a word of the backstage conversation, as she pulls away from the large xaphan man yet again.

"Fine then," he says. "Just stay dirty. Don't think it's going to save you though. We're getting nodals from you one way or another."

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?"

I'm suddenly startled as I'm face-to-face with a xaphan with a row of golden, curly hair and a large staggered wing. I remember him dangling from the ceiling of the tavern, wrapped in a muffling shadow cocoon.

I wonder who pried him free?

"Don't think so," I say, attempting to disguise my voice. "I thought it was demon bidding today?"

He chuckles.

The hypocrite nearly put me at knifepoint because some demon came into his tavern with human slaves, and he's watching an auction for fun?

"Clearly not. And I'm not here to bid," he says. "Just to make sure you don"t get into too much trouble. I know how demons get around human women."

I nod indifferently, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of a fully formed response.

Luckily, my cloak partially conceals my face. And the moment I recognized him, I pulled the shadows toward me, using them to further obscure my features.

Not wanting to hear another word out of this lunatic's mouth, I subtly scoot forward a little more. I know that one wrong move could leave somebody dead in this crowd, especially with tourists and xaphans spectating it.

Fuck. This is going to be really hard to disrupt, actually.

I know that none of the demons in the crowd are going to be happy about having their precious auction ruined. Certainly, none of the xaphans running and watching the event are going to let me leave peacefully for causing any interference. And here, I'm even more outnumbered than I was following the caravan.

The spotlight drops onto the stage, a magical device beaming luminescence onto the wood from above.

The crowd breaks into cheering as the event begins. A nauseatingly large and colorful demon appears on stage with a barely clothed human woman.

Even in the bright glare behind the scenes, I can hear a whip cracking from behind the leather curtains as it hits the curly-haired redhead from earlier.

"Let's get this show on the road," one of the xaphans behind me chides loudly.

Noticing that everybody has already taken their seats, I join them, bringing myself down onto one of the log benches behind me.

My eyes glaze over as I watch the event, done as tastelessly as possible. The only real reason the human women are paraded onto the stage by demons and not by xaphans is likely that it sells better to demons. Like humans, we're little more than an accessory to their pointless event.

Otherwise, the demons manhandle and ogle the women, making questionable comments about their bodies. If the event broke out into an orgy, it wouldn't feel entirely out of place.

However, I have to admit that it is a little enticing despite being incredibly vulgar.

But none of these women are appealing to me. I still don't understand why demons flock here in droves, drooling over these humans. They haven't got any fight in them—haven't even got any meat on their bones.

"Don't you ever touch me like that again!"

I hear an aggressive shout from behind the stage, as a familiar face is led forward under the spotlight.

In this light, there's no mistaking it. She's not enchanting me with her magic, and it wasn't a trick or an illusion.

In the full white light, I can see every blemish on her face—every slight imperfection that all adds to a ravishing picture.

The auctioneer lifts her top, exposing the undersides of her breasts, and I am inexplicably possessed by rage.

I don't even hear his preamble as he puts her up for sale.

"200 nodals!"

My voice leaves me without my permission. Already, I've stood to my feet.

The woman looks at me in puzzlement. To her, I'm sure I'm a monster, no better than these captors.

And I'm not sure why I care what she thinks.

"Starting the bids pretty high today, aren't we?" the auctioneer announces, a bright grin on his face. "200 nodals! Do I hear 210?"

"250 nodals."

An unrecognizable face comes into view two rows over. His fangs are finely sharpened, his muscles flexing.

Could this be how I disrupt Gorran's precious auction?

Plans flood through my mind. I'm not sure I understand them.

I expected to be running out here—maybe causing an explosion somehow, and setting this whole market ablaze. In hindsight, I didn't take the time to plan any of it out. I just hoped it would work itself out.

Guess I'm all in.

It's not as though I'm at a loss for money. In fact, if I wanted to, I could outbid every demon in this market without breaking the bank.

Before I call out, I meet the gaze of the demon, whose colorful horns portray an abnormal cockiness.

I imagine that he's Gorran and that I'm telling him in detail how I foiled him.

"2000 nodals," I say simply, as though it's no big deal.

A quiet comes over the auction block, as people try to process my bid.

They don't understand why I'd so quickly jump from 250, nearly multiplying the initial bid ten times over.

The demon studies me for a second before sitting down.

"I'm sorry," the auctioneer says. "Did you say two hundred again? Because we're at 250 now."

He addresses me, out in the crowd.

To clarify, I throw in yet another bid.

"Twenty-five hundred Riel," I announce, louder this time.

I already know I've won. The woman can't hide the despair from her eyes, now coming face-to-face with her new owner. The world around me is silent.

Clearly, they don't think she's worth 2500 nodals. And I'm inclined to agree.

But bankrupting and ruining Gorran is worth every piece of currency in the realm.

Slowly, I walk up to the stage to claim my prize, the auctioneer double-checking the bag to ensure I'm not ripping him off. Jingling it lightly, I place it in his hands.

"This one's got a real mouth on her," the auctioneer warns. "You'd better be careful."

I nod ambivalently, now coming face-to-face with the woman, whose body is more or less thrown in my direction.

I still don't know what I plan to do. I know that when we get to the nearest, quietest tavern, this woman and I are having a nice, long talk.