Twilight Between: Day 1

Word Count: 6,071

Summary of Events:

Adler was woken earlier than usual and, after his meagre, unpleasant breakfast, taken out of his cell to a stall without a roof or door, where he was chained to the back wall and looked at critically by a steady parade of wealthy men. Torben and Emma called on the cooper so Torben could place his annual order of crates and barrels necessary for his produce, and also ended up hearing the latest gossip from Odalrichsaal, where the cooper had recently been for a wedding. After hours of being eyed — and prodded — by wealthy men, Adler was unchained and taken toward a large building that looked reminiscent of auction houses he'd been to for the purpose of buying horses . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

A queue of handlers with their Sklavestäbe hooked in the Halsbänder of a person clothed as he was — in thin, plain, undyed linen clothes — led to a door, and he was pushed to the end of the queue.

From his position he could hear the voice of the auctioneer ringing out, and he imagined the interior of the building would probably not look altogether unlike the Auktionshaus he’d been to back in Schönwiese, with benches set in rising courses around a somewhat small enclosure around which the horses had been paraded to show their action while the auctioneer had managed the bidding from a raised platform.

Because of his hunger and lingering tiredness he wasn’t particularly looking forward to the idea of being paraded around — even at a walk — but he was sure he would be sorely beaten if he didn’t do what he was told to, so he knew that he was going to have to do what he was told, whether he wanted to or not.

Slowly, but yet steadily, the line moved forward, with more people being gradually added to the queue behind him. He didn’t see any of those who went in come out again, and surmised that the exit door was somewhere else, or maybe led to an area inside the building.

It actually surprised him how soon he ended up finding himself at the front of the queue and being pushed through the double doors when they were opened, where he was stood on a small platform next to the auctioneer, who spoke quickly about him.

His height, mass, physical condition, and age were all highlighted in generalities by the auctioneer like he was, in fact, little more than a horse, before the bidding was commenced.

“Who would be willing to give me one thousand Wicht for him?” the auctioneer asked. “One thousand, one thousand, one thousand, there we go! One thousand five hundred?”

He looked at the auctioneer, then at the hands that were popping up and going down around the room, rather astonished. Even bidding for a good quality horse didn’t often start at W1,000, and since many people considered horses to be more valuable, the fact that his bidding was starting there seemed incredible to him.

Indeed, how quickly the number rocketed up was astonishing. It seemed as if everyone in the crowded room wanted him for their own, but gradually the amount of people who were putting their arms up dwindled until it was between a harsh-looking old man and a man who looked reasonably young — but probably still older than Reinhardt by a good handful of years — but had an ample girth and a neck cut short by ample chins.

Where the margin had initially been leaping up by hundreds of Wicht at a time, it slowed to a crawl of just ten more Wicht, until finally the auctioneer called for a bid of W12,360 from the old man, who shook his head.

“Sold!” the auctioneer exclaimed. “For twelve thousand three hundred fifty Wicht to number four eighty two!”

Pronunciations:

Sklavestälbe: sklahvehstehlb'

Halsbänder: hahlzbehnder

Auktionshaus: awkshunzhows

Schönwiese: shuhnveess

Wicht: vihcht