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“Foryouit is.” The other woman smiled and this time there was nothing kind or grandmotherly in her expression. “That’s because of the sleepydew I put in your tea.”
“Whaaaat?” Ketha stared at her uncertainly. She seemed to be getting further away somehow even though they were still sitting at the small table across from each other. “Whaaaat are youuuu talking aaaabout?” she asked in her new, slow-motion way.
“Talking about how you’ll bring a nice profit at the Flesh Bazaar, dearie.” Nanny Grim cackled. “Adoubleprofit, since you’re pregnant—two slaves for the price of one! Don’t worry—the sleepydew won’t hurt the baby,” she added.
“But…but youuu caaaaan’t dooo thaaat,” Ketha tried to protest, shaking her head. But even that small motion made her feel incredibly dizzy and she had to put her head down on the table.
“Looks like I already have, dearie,” the other woman said, cackling again. “Now then you two—come out here and take her to the ship,” she added, clearly speaking to someone else.
Two sets of hard hands grabbed Ketha by the arms and she was hauled unceremoniously to her feet.
“Pleeeasse,” she moaned, now so dizzy she could hardly see straight. “Doooon’t do thiiiisss to meeee.”
“Oh, we’re doing it all right,” Nanny Grim said, giving her another mean smile.
“You’re sure it’s safe to take her?” one of the men asked.
“Am I sure? OfcourseI’m sure!” Nanny Grim snapped. “She’sperfect. Family’s disowned her and the father of her child has abandoned her. Nobody’s going to come looking for her—she’s ours for the taking!”
Ketha wanted to protest but her mind was all fuzzy, as though her head had been wrapped in a cloud. Also, the sad truth was, the old woman was right.
She was all alone in the universe and nobody cared what happened to her.
19
KETHA
“Slaves! Slaves for sale! Come get them—the freshest, the best, and the most beautiful girls, right here!” Nanny Grim’s high voice rang out, echoing in the wide-open space of the Flesh Bazaar, enticing buyers to come bid on her wares.
Ketha felt like crying. Just a few months ago she’d been walking through this very place, a free woman and now she was nothing but property to be sold. She remembered wondering what the bodyslaves felt like—well now she knew and it was the worst feeling in the world!
She couldn’t even see or talk to the prospective buyers who came to bid on her and the other hapless girls that Nanny Grim and her crew had collected from spaceports all over this quadrant of the galaxy. She was naked except for the black blindfold shields placed over her eyes and the speech gag tied around her throat, which kept her vocal chords from making any noise.
“A whining, whimpering slave puts the patrons off,” Nanny Grim had remarked, as she put the blindfold shields and speech gag in place. “They mostly only want the body anyway—why bother ‘em with the rest?”
Then she cackled with glee as she bound Ketha’s arms behind her back and forced her into line with the other naked, blindfolded, and muted girls. They had all been marched out to the main hall of the Bazaar and each of them had been forced to kneel on a stone pedestal which was horribly hard on the knees. Ketha’s were already aching and bruised from kneeling on the unyielding surface for the past two hours.
All around her she could hear the other girls in her group being sold. Buyers came forward and asked Nanny Grim questions and examined the “merchandise.” Already Ketha had been poked and prodded and her breasts had been fondled with rough hands, making her want to scream. But when she tried to shy away from the potential buyers, Nanny Grim gave her a shock in the back with a pain-prod that sent agonizing burning sensations through her entire body!
She’d entertained visions of somehow getting off the display pillar and running away at first, but where would she go when she couldn’t even see anything and how could she free her eyes of the blinding patches with her hands tied behind her back? She was trapped here and soon she would be sold, like most of the other girls around her had been.
“Styx please—if you can hear me, please help! I’m being sold at the Flesh Bazaar! Please—come help me!”
Mentally, she called out again for Styx—not that it would do her any good. The big Kindred never answered and she still felt the presence of that invisible barrier that seemed to stop all the communication between them. It was like she was mentally shouting into a steel door or a brick wall.
Suddenly, an important new customer approached. Ketha could tell by the way Nanny Grim greeted him.
“Good day, fine Sir,” she said, her voice going low and respectful. “And what can I do for you today? Are you interested in a beautiful woman to warm your bed at night? Or perhaps a domestic who can cook your supper and clean for you?”
“Perhaps…” a deep voice rumbled in response. It sounded slightly familiar but also distorted, as though the prospective customer was wearing some kind of sound module, Ketha thought. “It depends on your prices,” he went on. “How much for this one over here?”
Ketha tensed, but he must have been talking about one of the other girls because no one touched her.
“Seven hundred credits,” Nanny Grim said promptly.
“I see. And this one?”
“Only six hundred for her, Sir,” the older woman responded.
