Read [Shadowed Path 01] - A Woman Worth Ten Coppers for Free Online Page A

unshackled.”
    The guard glanced toward Peshnell, who nodded. “Inside,” barked the guard. The wounded man limped back into the darkness.
    As the guard moved to unlock the blond man, Peshnell said, “There’s a reserve on that one.”
    Honus shot Peshnell a menacing look. “If this is a slaver’s trick…”
    “No, Karmamatus! Remember your pledge!”
    “I expect you to deal fairly.”
    “I am, I am,” said Peshnell in a nervous voice. “He can be yours, if you but match the miller’s offer. His treadmill goes through many slaves, so we have a standing agreement. Ask anyone, Karmamatus. I speak truth.”
    “What’s the price?”
    “Thirty coppers.”
    “Count the money, Yaun.”
    Yaun emptied the coins into his palm. “I’ve sixteen coppers, Karmamatus.”
    “That’s not enough!” cried Peshnell. “I paid twenty for him. You pledged to preserve what’s mine.”
    “What about the girl?” asked Yaun.
    “Her?” said Honus, glancing at the chained woman.
    “She’s fully grown,” said Yaun. “She could bear your pack.”
    Honus turned his attention to the young woman for the first time. Her dark eyes widened when she returned his gaze. “Perhaps she’d do,” said Honus.
    Peshnell turned to the guard. “Put her on the block.”
    When the woman was unchained, she hesitated before mounting the block. Only when the guard raised his switch did she hop onto the stone. Yaun grinned. “Show her naked,” he said. The guard reached up with one hand and whisked the tunic over the slave’s head. For an instant, she stood in stunned humiliation; then she tried to cover herself. The guard’s switch whistled and struck her backside. She dropped her hands and became rigid, staring off into the distance, as if forcing her mind elsewhere. Passersby slowed to eye the nude woman on the stone. Yaun gawked openly. “Peshnell,” he said, “you should sell this one to the pleasure gardens in Larresh.”
    “Larresh is far away. Could you reach there with one such as her? Up here, men don’t pay for what they can take.” The slaver leered. “I don’t.”
    Emboldened by Peshnell’s words, Yaun reached to fondle the slave girl, but his hand was stopped by Honus’s iron grip. “That’s a person there,” he said, “not a horse.” Despite his words, Honus looked upon the naked woman as he might a horse and judged her fitness. She was slender, but not skinny, and her muscles were sleek. Although she was dirty and had welts from the switch, she appeared not to have suffered overlong in Peshnell’s “care.” Honus judged that she had seen but eighteen winters and was probably a maiden before she was captured. She’s not as strong as a man. He glanced scornfully at Yaun, who still quivered in his grip, and realized he could abide him no longer. She’ll have to do . “Ten coppers,” said Honus.
    “Ten coppers!” wailed Peshnell. “Look at this beauty. Such delicate hands and feet. Long hair, like polished walnut. Firm, perfect breasts. A curvaceous a…”
    “Ten coppers,” said Honus with finality.
    “I’m being robbed. You made a pledge.”
    “Perhaps I should visit the miller,” said Honus in an ominous tone. “I made no pledge to him.” Then, to make his threat perfectly clear, he added, “Dead men buy no slaves.”
    “Did I refuse you, Karmamatus?” said Peshnell quickly. “I merely hope you appreciate my openhandedness.”
    “I understand it well enough,” replied Honus. “Yaun, pay him.”
    While Yaun counted out the coins, Honus lifted the shabby tunic from the ground and handed it to his slave. “You should dress now.”
    Throughout the sale, the woman had appeared oblivious of her surroundings, but she quickly seized the tunic. Slipping it over her head, she jumped down from the block.
    Honus turned his attention to Yaun, who had finished paying Peshnell. “Don’t put those coins away. She’ll need a cloak.”
    “Please, Honus,” said Yaun, glancing longingly at a nearby