Bondage

"Start the bidding at 20 gold a piece, can I get 20 gold a piece for these sweet little Pixie ladies?" announced the fast-talking auctioneer through his magic-powered bullhorn. 

He was a remarkably well-groomed Satyr, with tiny, circular framed glasses and hair slicked perfectly back, wearing a neatly pressed coattail suit. The type of suit that had no place in Yore, yet now that I thought about it, it was just like the one the Behemoth, who walked off with the Elves in tow, had on. 

I was willing to turn a blind eye and try to explain away selling people from enemy factions, but now they were auctioning off their own citizens?!

As slaves?!

What in the heck was actually going on here?

"50 gold for the two of them," said a voice. It came from the front row of the seated audience of bidders. I pivoted from my beeline to the slick, fast talking auctioneer and whipped around to see what kind of vile miscreant would actually think about buying one of his own people as a slave. But then I saw something that shocked me more than anything else I'd seen so far—which was saying a lot.

It was an Elf.

He was wearing a long, high-necked cloak, the type you'd expect to see on a classical vampire. He had one hand resting on the raptor-headed pommel of his ornate cane, and a most disinterested expression on his face.

"We're under attack!" I cried, instinctively raising my palms toward him, yet I was too short to get a clear line of sight of him (and my levitate ability only worked outdoors). Moreover, my high-pitch voice was drowned out by the commotion of the auction itself. 

Even more unbelievable was the fact that the auctioneer acknowledged the Elf, and continued his spiel: "50 for the 2, Elven gentleman in the front, can I get a 60, do I hear a 60?"

"100!" came another voice from somewhere in the back. 

I only half registered it, as my head was spinning trying to understand what I was actually witnessing. Were they really auctioning off their own people as slaves...to the enemy?! 

I heard Leilei gasp, but I could no longer see because more people and more people seemed to be crowding in as this latest round of auctions was beginning to heat up.

"What?" I asked her, tapping her hip to get her attention. 

She pointed, then realized I couldn't see, so she squatted down so I could climb on her shoulders.

Now it was my turn to gasp. 

This bidder was a Human. I couldn't tell which race, because he was covered in face paint that marked him as a Harlequin, but if I were to make an education guess, based on how easily he was willing to pay such a price, then I'd wager he belonged to the Nobility. 

He was also immaculately groomed and clad in some kind of gilded, form sitting (spandex?) attire, held together with a luxurious belt sporting a grotesque baboon face buckle, which also matched the pommels of the daggers he had sheathed at either hip. Unlike his rather dejected looking Elven bidding rival, (who'd just raised his cane to accept the auctioneers call for 150) this clown had a most evil, eager smile across his angular, painted face.

"200!" he called out, just as quick as the Elf gave 150.

"200 to the Harlequin in the back, do I hear a 250—"

"300," said the Elf, lazily raising his cane again, while resting his head on his other hand.

The crowd was getting more excited by the escalating bidding war and so too was the auctioneer, who was speaking louder and faster than ever.

"300! I got a 300 in the back, do I hear a 4—"

"500!" said the Harlequin, with his head reared back in a sweeping gesture that could only be compared to an androgynous anime villain high on his own evil intentions.

"500!" screamed the auctioneer with near equal vigor, and the crowd was electrified. "500, do I hear a—"

"700," said the Elven aristocrat, who'd sat up straight and had a pestered look on his face. At least he no longer seemed bored. 

"700! 700 in the—"

"1000!" bellowed the Harlequin, twirling in slow motion as he leapt into the air.

"1000, 1000—I hear a 1000!" squealed the auctioneer, as though he were about to succumb to pure ecstasy "1000—going once, going twice..."

The Elf looked most irritated now, yet he gave no counter offer, he merely sighed in defeat.

"Sold! to the Human in the back!" 

The audience erupted into a thunderous applause.

Okay, so you know how I prided myself on my cool-headed logic? Well, I was still only level 5, which meant that my intelligence stat was still quite low relative to my human self. 

Despite that, I had no regrets about how I reacted. I only hoped that I would have done the same if I were still the Minori from the old world: I stormed over and seized the bullhorn from the auctioneer. 

"What's gotten into you people?!" I demanded, equally as angry at each one of the applauding audience members as I was at the actual bidders—not to mention whoever it was that was responsible for organizing this horrid undertaking. After all, things couldn't have gotten this far if the people hadn't allowed it. 

"You've reduced yourself to a city of slavers?!" I continued. "Maybe that would have been expected of the Humans, or even the Elves—but you, the people of the Fae Alliance? You are doing this? And not only to your enemies? But to your own kind?! Going so far as to sell them to the enemy?!"

I looked over at the the Pixies who were just sold. Wearing their burlap sacks, they looked so much like myself, only with different hair styles and colors. The one with the pink pigtails was hiding behind the one with the green bob cut. There was a faint glimmer of hope in their trembling expressions, no doubt sparked by somebody going against the current to stick up for them. 

"Release them at once!" I demanded.

The audience erupted into a cacophony of boos and jeers, entirely unmoved by my attempt to shame them.

The auctioneer merely waved his hand and the magical bullhorn vanished from my grasp. Then everyone went back to ignoring me as the Pixies were led from the stage.

"Release them!" I shouted again, but nobody heard me. Or if they did, they didn't care. 

"Hey, don't ignore me!" I growled as I grabbed the coattails of the auctioneer.

"Guards!" he shouted. And, sure enough, a group of boar-headed Behemoths—all of them identical, wearing golden plate armor and wielding giant, ornate axes—stormed upon me.

Leilei—bless her eternally—was at my side in an instant: "Dragon's Ire!"

An evil looking dragon face icon appeared over the heads of the guards. They turned and ran—flailing wildly—in the other direction. One ran into a group of seated bidders; one into an auctioneer at one of the side counters; and another ran out the door, causing the chaotic commotion of the auction house to spill out after him.

Perfect.

Obviously I knew we would probably regret that attack, and indeed quite soon, but for the moment I couldn't help but be impressed by Leilei for her unhesitating courage. 

I wasted no time using the distraction to merge into the crowd and follow it outside, with Leilei still right beside me.

We'd just crossed the threshold when the fear effect on the guards wore off. 

They all directed their aggro at Leilei, charging at her.

"Moonbeam! Starlight Bath!" I cast both spells in quick succession. The Moon Beam—provided tonight by the Tangerine Moon—struck the nearest guard, engulfing him in an orange pillar of light. 

The Starlight Bath activated a circle around our feet. I could already feel it draw the healing energy of the stars above into my body. This worked as a powerful AoE HoT (area of effect, heal over time) that would repeatedly heal minor wounds so long as we stayed within its perimeter.

The Moon Beam, however, had failed to make the guard's HP budge at all. 

They were all level 45, and they had us surrounded. 

I prepared to cast Ice Shard, but reality was settling back in now. 

I knew it was useless.

If we surrendered now, then maybe, just maybe, we could convince that it was just a big misunderstanding on our part. That was the logical conclusion I reached as I lowered my hands. 

But then the Human slaver emerged from the auction house, and that rational thought was quickly shoved out of the way by my emotions.

"Ice Shard!"

The auctioneer appeared out of nowhere, right before me, evaporating my Ice Shard with a wave of his hand. "You dare assault an honored guest of the city of Yore?! A high ranking diplomat from the Human Pact?!" he demanded incredulously.

"Ooo lala, such a lively little Pixie!" said the Harlequin as he approached. 

He seemed entirely unconcerned with the murderous intentions I was glaring into him as his wild eyes looked me over from head to toe. "I'll give you another thousand for her alone," he offered, eagerly wiggling his steepled fingers.