When Gods are Sold

Thorn sat in the back of the wooden transport cart, the shackles surrounding her hands glistening with magic. The chains running from them to the metal floor of the cart were heavy enough to pull her hands down to her knees as the cart thumped along the cobblestone road. The three o'clock sun barely came through the cracks in the wood.

The electric lights on the inside hummed and flickered every so often, and a single incessant fly kept buzzing by Thorn's ear.

After about ten minutes of the torture by fly, Thorn shifted her ear up to the top of her head to escape the noise. Sure enough, the fly then honed in on it in the new location.

The cart slowed to a stop as the sounds of the market flooded in through the cracks in the wood. Sounds of the rich and the poor all coming together in one place to shop for anything and everything.

Sounds like marching began to mask the sounds of the market as Thorn knew the guards specifically for this market were about to bring her out.

The wall in front of her then began to lower, and almost instantaneously, a group of ten different guards with full plate armor, swords (holstered, thankfully), and shields strapped to their wrists, all began to surround her.

"Don't try anything, demon," one of the guards hissed in her ear. "Put the damn collar on it. Now!"

A metallic click echoed through the cart, and a small shock told Thorn that one of the signature electric shock collars of the market was now fastened on her, so if she tried to run she would be shocked until she was unconscious. 

A jerk from the chains told her they were detached from the cart, and a firm yank from the guards told her to stand. 

A feeling of dread and powerlessness settled on Thorn as she stepped out of the cart and into the sunlight. A bustling crowd almost entirely came to a halt as she left the ramp from the cart and set foot on the cobblestone street that covered the entire lot that was home to the market and the infamous Demon Auction. 

Murmurs went through the crowd as the guards cleared a pathway from the cart to the section of the market where the auction was held. 

"Move along, demon," A guard snarled at Thorn as soon as the pathway was cleared. "Or do I need to pull out my sword to convince you?"

Thorn said nothing but simply started walking forward slowly, moving only as fast as the chains would allow her to. Every so often, the guard would pull the chain tight to stop her so people could watch as 'another worthless creature walked off to its death' or at least that's what the guard said was happening.

A wooden platform stood ahead, with a plump old man standing beside it, anxiously checking his watch every couple of seconds.

"Get up there!" a guard said with a shove to Thorn's back, pushing her up onto the platform and down onto her knees. The shackles around her hands fell off and disappeared into nothingness.

"Finally," the old man said, wiping sweat off his brow with a white handkerchief. "Took you long enough. The auction was set to start five minutes ago!"

Thorn looked up to see a crowd of people in front of the stand, their social classes obvious. From the Nobles who wore elegant clothes and had servants holding carts full of coins, to the poor who could fit all of their coins in the palm of their hands. 

And then there were the middle class, the ones who wore somewhat-elegant clothes, but were better suited for comfort rather than looks. They too had coins, but they had pouches the size of a large grapefruit, and marked with the type of coin inside.

Someone wheeled a cart over near the side of the stand, and a pasty and lanky man popped up from behind the cart, placing several stacks of coins of all kinds on the table.

"Attention all," the old man who apparently was the auctioneer said, "If you need to exchange your coinage for appropriate wagers, our friend up here at the front will assist you."

That apparently pleased the crowd, because several of them went over and began exchanging coins. A few nobles even pulled out a diamond coin or two, a rare sight in places outside of the big cities.

Eventually, the coin exchange died down and the auction was about to begin, because the auctioneer returned to the stand, a small stack of papers in his hands.

"Ahem," the auctioneer said, clearing his throat and ruffling the papers that held his script. "Welcome to the Demon Auction," he recited. "Today is a rare specimen, caught in the Pale Garden Woods by two bounty hunters. I present to you, Thorn the Shapeshifter!" He gestured to Thorn, who was standing still on the stage, not daring to move a muscle.

Thorn stood there, her eyes darting as she assessed the crowd, taking note of the number of guards and their positions. "Five different exits," she murmured to herself as the rest of the crowd settled into their seats.

"We'll be starting the wagers at one hundred dollars, or one platinum coin. Do I hear one hundred dollars?" The auctioneer yelled out into the crowd, trying to get them engaged.

Murmurs went up through the crowd, hushed voices talking about things like if Thorn was actually a shapeshifter or not. Silence eventually fell as everyone turned back to Thorn and the auctioneer.

"C'mon folks, we don't have all day!" The auctioneer said, wiping his forehead with his cloth again. 

"Are you sure it's a shapeshifter?" a voice challenged from the back of the crowd. An obvious noble made his way through the crowd, or rather the crowd split to let him through. The noble wore a gray coat and a white dress shirt underneath, a navy blue tie around his neck, and sleek gray pants and black dress shoes adorned his lower half. His medium length navy blue hair matched his tie, styled to look comfortable yet fashionable. His piercing light-gray eyes glared at the auctioneer with annoyance and determination.

"Um, yes of course it's a shapeshifter!" The auctioneer said, a wide and greedy smile spreading across his nervous face.

"Prove it," the noble said, stopping and crossing his arms in clear annoyance.

"Excuse me?"

"Prove it's a shapeshifter," the noble clarified. "As of right now, it could just be a random person who you are trying to sell off to their death."

Murmurs went up through the crowd again as the auctioneer fidgeted with his script and glanced around nervously.

"Shapeshifter," the noble said, stepping forward so that his feet were at the base of the platform, his eyes glaring now at Thorn. "Or supposed-shapeshifter, in this case. My name is Prince Edric Valemont. If you can prove to me that you are a shapeshifter, then I will help you."

"Good luck with that," the auctioneer said with a chuckle. "As soon as this auction is done, she's being sent off to the power-draining room to have all that power sucked right out."

Prince Edric snapped his finger, and a small wolf scrambled forward, holding a roll of paper as thick as the wolf's fluffy tail attached to its back. Edric snatched the paper up and unrolled it. People in the crowd around him craned their neck to read the paper.

"Aetheria Royal Charter for the Demon Auction of Gearhaven." Edric announced in a booming voice not uncommon for the Nobles. "The Demon Auction may take place, by the rules and regulations that were accepted by the Royal Court. These rules include, but are not limited to, the following. One, the Auction accepts demons from Bounty Hunters from both inside and outside the Kingdom of Gearhaven. The Bounty Hunters in question are paid a portion of the income from their auction. Two, the purchasing party has the ability to keep the auctioned demon in their current condition, powers and all, as long as they are able to surpass the current wager by twice the amount."

Murmurs of oh my god and he's not kidding spurred up through the crowd as the Auctioneer fidgeted with his script, flipping through his script for clues on how to handle the situation. Prince Edric rolled the paper back up and strapped it back onto the wolf, sending it back through the crowd.

Thorn stood there, unable to do anything but stand there in awe of Prince Edric's raw power. Her jaw dropped in amazement, her eyes wide in anticipation of what he might do next.

"What was the wager at, one platinum?" Edric said, pulling a single gleaming coin out of his coat pocket. He twirled it through his finger, and it seemed to split into two as a second one appeared. "I think this is double the wager, is it not?"

A paddle stuck up in the air, marking a person making a wager. "I wager five platinums!" 

Almost immediately, wagers started coming in, and the sudden inflow of voices yelling made Thorn jump slightly. 

The auctioneer struggled to keep up with the bets coming in and the current wager. "Fifteen platinums, two golds, five golds, um, uh... one ruby!" 

The price finally settled and the auctioneer said, "The current wager is six diamonds and five rubies." he wheezed, panting and wiping sweat from his brow. He turned to Prince Edric, holding his hand out. "Any chance you can double that? That's-"

Prince Edric flipped four coins onto the auctioneer's waiting hand. The audience gasped as the auctioneer examined the coins with great interest.

"This... this is," the auctioneer gasped, his body shuddering as he realized the amount of money he held in his hand.

"One obsidian coin, and three diamond coins." Edric said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Exactly double the previous wager."

The auctioneer looked over at a guard who was near the edge of the platform, and Thorn noticed he was holding a small remote in his hand. He nodded to the guard and said, "Well then I guess we'll have to do something about that."

And a searing pain filled Thorn's entire body as the shock collar delivered a consistent shock through her.