"And so, we have our last slave. Our only demon here, but she is quite the troublemaker, as you can see." My eyes widened; what monster could have done such a thing.
"She caused all of her past owners a lot of trouble, one time she kicked a prince in the groin, and he returned the favor tenfold." The man talked as if what happened was a game, I wasn't able to breath looking down at the girl.
I first noticed she was missing a hand, her left arm rounded off at a nub and was tied above her head along with her other hand. Moving down her body, two small horns protruded out of the top of her head. It was my first time seeing a real demon in person, on the occasion I would see people dressed up, but those didn't compare to the girl before me.
I peeled my eyes away from her horns and continued my survey of her. The demon's face was obscured by her crimson hair and with her lack of clothes I could see long scars on her chest and stomach. The largest of which created an "X" on her abdomen.
Moving further down I understood what the man was talking about, her leg. Rather, her lack of one. I didn't notice immediately because her lower half was covered with a thin cloth blanket, but her right leg had been removed just above her knees. I couldn't speak, my eyes were transfixed on the girl.
Anger boiled up inside me, why must one endure such pain? Why are people so cruel? Similar questions formed in my mind, out of my peripheral vision, I saw that the man glance at me and look me up and down.
"Have you taken a liken to this one?" I ignored the man's question.
"What do you know of her injuries?" I asked not taking my eyes off the girl, and after closer inspection I wondered if she were deaf or blind. She was the only one in this whole building who didn't even look at us. I also questioned if she were dead, though the slow rising of her scarred chest answered that question for me. But I knew for sure that she didn't have much time left.
"Of her six owners that she's had so far, the notable injuries that I could ascertain when she was returned this time, was her leg had been amputated just above the knee. This was done by means of sawing away at it, that man truly was cruel." I kept my mouth shut and bit my teeth with incredibly force they could have cracked under the pressure.
Sawed. Deplorable. It was a miracle that the girl was alive, I assumed she was conscious for the entire thing. Surviving the shock and blood loss from such an event, unbelievable.
"Aside from that, the stab wounds and bruises are of too many for me to count. You may have also noticed her hand; she sustained that injury from her third owner. Just after purchasing her, he was about to do a deplorable act, and she was able to get one clean punch off before she was captured. However, the means of how her hand were removed are unknown to me."
Blank. My mind was blank, listening and cataloging everything that the man said in my mind.
"And finally, she is missing one eye, an injury she sustained from her fourth owner. I am unaware as to why he did this, anyway, those were the things I could discern from a quick inspection." The man said unapologetically.
"I understand." That was all I could muster, after hearing all of her discernable injuries and abuse she had endured my mind thought and instantly concluded. I needed to help her.
I was a professional in the human body and the processes it went through and needed to function. On the other hand, I knew nothing of the demon body, but even with that, getting her out of this hell hole was the least I could do.
I also had another ace up my sleeve, magic, physical treatments could only do so much. While at medical school in Grinwe I learned about the human body and physical treatments for everything from headaches to major surgeries. However, I also learned about the healing power of magical spells, I was sure I could improve this girl's life, even if just a little.
"How much is she?" I asked after a long moment of silence. The man recoiled in surprise and raised an eyebrow to me.
"Really? You want to purchase her?" I nodded immediately.
"Yes. How much?" I said staring daggers into the man's soul, even when he was talking about her injuries, the man was cheery and maintained a joking tone about her suffrage.
"I will give her to you free of charge young man, you may think I am heartless, but she has been through enough. If I profit off of her anymore, it will weigh on my conscience." You are heartless, working in this line of business is unforgivable. I wanted to say as such but maintained my composure.
"Okay, I will take her." Saying that made me want to squirm out of my skin, I was talking as if she were a pet. I was disgusted with myself, but it would all work out.
"Alright, one moment." The man said walking back to the front of the building and through a door I hadn't seen before.
While he was in there, I spoke quietly, "I know you don't trust me, but I am here to help. I can't begin to comprehend the pain you've endured. Humans are cruel creatures; I am sorry for everything that they have done for you. But it will be okay now." Demons had the innate ability that humans dubbed lingual gift, no one aside from the demons knew how it worked. Essentially, demons could understand and communicate in all languages, a useful ability indeed. However, even with that, the girl showed no response, is she dead? But once more the slow raise of her chest answered my question.
A moment after I finished my short speech, the door opened back up and the man was walking toward me with two syringes in his left hand and a large wooden box with two straps under his other.
"Alright, I have never seen you in Ultsar, but I am assuming you know about the stigma around demons, no?" I nodded, put it simply, demons were feared here. They were told in bedtime stories to children and people would dress up as them to scare their friends.
"Okay, then I am going to put her asleep with this tranquilizer and put her in this box. That is the only safe way to transport such a thing in Ultsar, unless you have an enclosed horse drawn carriage. Does that sound good to you?" I nodded once more.
The demon girl was awake the whole time, initially I thought she was dead or sleeping. But as we carried on with the conversation, I noticed subtle movements of her head, hand, and toes, along with her breathing. It was probably best that she was put asleep for the trek back. There was always a possibility she would never wake up after receiving the injection, but that too would be doing her a favor.
The man fiddled in his pocket and took out a key. He moved up to the cell and clutched the iron padlock and slid the key in the bottom. Turning it, the lock popped open with a clink. At that sound, the girl finally showed signs of life, she lifted her head and tried moving her arms. Fear, hatred, the girl must have been feeling so much.
The cell door swung open causing the girl to flail harder, kicking her leg, kicking up dust in the small cell. Her hair fluttered up revealing a singular crimson eye, she still had so much fight in her. In the shadowy corner of the slave house, her other eye looked blacked out. I had never heard of repairing vision after an eye was removed from its socket, but I would still try.
The man moved into the cell and grabbed the girls flailing arm, under normal circumstances she could have sent the man flying. Demons were innately stronger than humans and even with the girl in this state, the man struggled for a moment to inject her. After a minute of struggle, the man stood sighing.
"She's a feisty one, be careful young man." The man said glancing up from the girl and nodding to me.
"By the way, what's her name?" The man was taken aback by my question.
"You're the first one to ask that..." The man said exasperatedly, "Zela, her name is Zela. From the Roark tribe in the demon lands." I nodded, Zela. I said the name in my head a few times, though it seemed she wasn't called that as of late.
I asked a question unrelated to everything, "How long does the tranquilizer last?" The man pursed his lips and rocked his head back and forth.
"Give or take a few hours."
"Okay, I'll be back to ask more questions about her." The man nodded. I wanted to stay and learn everything the man knew about Zela, but for sake of time I chose to leave that for later.
"I am not going anywhere, come by anytime."
With that the man unlocked Zela's hand restraints and moved her into the box. She was no small fry, however, she fit into the box with some space left over.
"Here you are young man." The man said handing me over some papers and the other tranquilizer. I glanced at the papers, Proof of Ownership was written at the top, all I did was shook my head and threw them in my sack along with the tranquilizer. Hopefully I wouldn't have to use such a thing.
"Thank you for doing business with me sir." The man said giving a small bow.
I glanced back to him, "Yeah." That was all I said. I heaved the wooden box onto my back and was surprised by how light the box was, was she even in there?
I said my farewells to the man and made my way out the door, my new life as a doctor was starting off unexpectedly. With a demon girl on my back, I hurried home.