The Unicorn's Forest

Aside from making things worse for herself, she couldn't help but worry about how embarrassing having that happen to her would be. Especially when she couldn't say if that would make her prospects of ending up with someone who she'd be able to find more opportunities to escape. Aside from the fact that she couldn't be sure if something worse would happen if she didn't keep in control of herself.

Taking a deep breath, Jenn decided to stop thinking about 'what ifs' right then. She could do that again later, but at that moment, she knew she needed to make herself focus solely on what was in front of her. What was happening with the auction. With Cithis and Haln, who looked even more nervous now that there was movement around them.

Which Jenn knew she'd be able to manage. After all, she wasn't going to let herself get defeated this easily over a battle she doubted her captors were even aware was still going on. It was just that wasn't going on in an overt manner.

While she had seen a number of the others taken out at first, they only started pulling the rest of them one-by-one after that. Each time she wasn't picked, Jenn couldn't help but wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing for her.

_

What surprised Beth the most about the last part of the auction was that it wasn't held in the auction booths that the others had been in, but rather in an area that felt more like a stadium, similar to the arena, but a little smaller.

Naturally, the people who had the most money, or at least spent the most, were allowed to sit closer to the area where the auction was taking place. Where most of the bids were coming from.

Occasionally, someone from the places where Beth was sitting made a bid, but none of them seemed to have a chance to get the winning bid. Though, that didn't seem to deter any of those who made their bids. Nor did Beth see any way that she'd have been able to make a bid herself without having had weeks to accumulate money to do so.

Even the lowest starting bid was more than Beth had, even if she and her friends hadn't needed to spend a single coin, she wouldn't have been able to place a bid that she'd have been able to pay if she actually won it. Not that she was surprised. With all that she'd learned about it, she had suspected as much.

She was only there to see if she could figure out a way to know if it was Charlie down there or not. She didn't know whether or not to hope that it was. If it was Charlie, she then might be able to have a means of tracking her and potentially a way to buy her when she and her friends were able to accumulate enough that they could make a compelling offer to whoever was going to buy her.

Assuming it was in fact Charlie in the first place.

One thing Beth hadn't expected to deal with was her nerves. While being in this place had been wearing at her, it didn't compare to how she was feeing right then. With each person put up to be auctioned that wasn't the girl she suspected to be Charlie, she couldn't help but feel her patience start to break.

Even though she had been there when the fight in the arena had been conducted, she wasn't sure how many were being auctioned here. She couldn't see well enough of the people fighting in the arena to get an accurate count she could be confident about, so she wasn't sure if the girl would be up soon or not

Then, when the twelfth person was led, Beth was happy to see it was the girl she had been waiting for. Though, she hadn't expected to see two children with tanned skin being walked onto the pedestal with the girl.

All three were as naked as any of the other slaves being auctioned, which Beth understood was to show how marked their bodies were with scars, or with a lack of them. The children clung to her, like she would protect them from any danger that looked their way. They looked like they were a little underfed, but either they were starting to get that way or were recovering from being worse, Beth couldn't say.

Beth couldn't make out much detail in the distance between them, but she could see that one of the children had rose-colored hair and the other had brown hair. While the girl held her arms around them, in a kind of protective and comforting manner. The kind of thing Beth was confident Charlie would do, if that girl was in fact Charlie.

However, what made Beth doubt the girl was Charlie the most, was how defiantly she was staring at the crowd around her. Beth could understand that Charlie would have likely given up long ago trying to be so modest about being naked, with how long this girl had been a slave up to this point from when the rumor started that involved her. Yet, she didn't think that Charlie would be able to manage a look like that.

Even though she couldn't see the girl's eyes clearly, she still felt like she could make out the gaze challenging any of them in the audience to try to take her. Which made shivers go down Beth's back. If that girl wasn't Charlie, Beth wondered if she should try to find a way to save her anyway. If she did, she had a feeling they'd have an incredibly strong ally that might be able to help them more than anyone else Beth had met so far in this world.

One thing she wished she could do was use her magic to try and communicate with her, but there wasn't any magic allowed in this stadium-like place. Apparently in the past, many people had used magic to either lower the value of the slave being auctioned so they could get a better deal, or to even kill a slave, no matter what happened to them.

While she understood the precaution, she couldn't help but feel annoyed at it. Especially since it made verifying if the girl was Charlie or not that much harder. Though, as the introduction of the 'slave' about to being auctioned was about to start, Beth pushed all other thoughts out of her mind. She wanted to make sure she got all the details down, just in case she might learn something that could help her determine if this was Charlie or not.

"Our next item up for sale is really just the young woman there. The children with her have adopted her as their mother and she has accepted that designation, so to avoid complications that could involve her value going down, the children will be added to her sale, regardless of any other considerations."

The auctioneer paused as something was called out from someone in the audience that was right by the auction stages. Beth couldn't make out what was said, but the auctioneer seemed willing to relay what was said to everyone.

"We have a request. Because the children are hugging the merchandise so tightly, it's hard to see her body. So, we will separate them for a minute so you can see how pristine her skin is. She is clearly obedient as she hasn't had a whip strike her yet."

Beth watched, feeling a little uncomfortable about the way that had been phrased. Although, part of her felt a little excited about seeing the girl's naked body without any obstructions, she reminded herself that doing that wasn't what she had come there to do. Especially since she wasn't aware of anything on Charlie's body that would give a clear identifying mark on her. No birthmarks, no unique moles, or even a tattoo.

When people reached out to pull the children away from the girl, they stopped when the girl looked at them, as if daring them to try. Beth wondered if something was going to happen that could result in the girl getting injured as the people looked to the auctioneer for guidance. Yet, the girl instead knelt down and smiled at the children, although Beth had no idea how she knew that this was happening, before pushing them slightly away with a nod. Which seemed to calm them down and diffuse the situation.

Beth couldn't help but feel like she should know what just happened, but felt at a total loss to explain it, even to herself. It felt like it was a silent communication that required absolute trust and faith in order to be accomplished in such a fashion. It wasn't something Beth was sure Charlie should have been able to do. Which was when she started to doubt that it was Charlie.

Yet, those doubts were rudely pushed aside when the girl turned around, to display her body to the crowd. While Beth got some pleasure in seeing the girl's naked body, she felt her eyes somehow focus on a scar in the girl's back. It wasn't a scar that the people in this auction seemed to take note of, since it was maybe a quarter of an inch wide and certainly not from a whip or anything.

What it had to have come from was an arrow. In the place that Beth suddenly remembered Charlie had been hit when she was fighting off the deer-kin before they had been able to meet up on their second day of the expedition that had led them to being here.

Regardless of anything else, Beth was now confident that this was Charlie. Maybe she had been able to unconsciously use her magic to enhance her senses in order to pick up on what she had that she couldn't quite explain a reason to how she had been able to, but she didn't care. If so, then the precautions about not using magic had been for more overt methods, or was like a shield around where the slave would be.

So caught up in the realization about what she'd just learned, Beth almost didn't hear the auctioneer continue with his pitch.

"Now, we've seen how pristine her skin is, you can be assured that she hasn't felt the sting of a whip once. If you want to mark her with a whip yourself, then you'll need to place the winning bid. If you want her for anything else, you'll also need to place the winning bid," he said before pausing, as Beth watched the children released and embrace Charlie again.

Beth had a feeling the auctioneer was trying to build up a bidding frenzy over Charlie. Regardless of what reasons they would have for bidding on her, Beth was starting to feel an intense loathing of them. Even putting aside anyone who would want to beat Charlie with a whip just to scar her body, Beth felt an intense anger starting to build inside her at what some of the people around her were clearly thinking about as they watched.

"So, aside from what I've already said," the auctioneer continued after a moment, which Beth was confident was done to allow potential bidders to fantasize about what he'd just said, "not only was this young woman found recently, but she can't speak. We've verified that fact, even though we're not sure why. However, she was clearly taken by the Lost at some point. So, there's no telling as to the depth of her knowledge. She is able to read and write herself. She can use most weapons easily. She also has a grasp of tactics as seen in the arena yesterday. Aside from the children who have adopted her, she's clearly not had any children of her own, so just imagine getting her in your own bed or the bed of someone you want to reward!"

While Beth wouldn't mind doing just that, she knew it would have to be Charlie choice and not because she was compelled. However, while she had been disgusted at what had been said so far about what the winner of the auction could do to her, somehow she was starting to feel rather distant from the whole situation. Beth wasn't sure what the reason was, but as she looked around, she felt the tinge of magic around her.

She couldn't determine where it was coming from, just that it was around. Which made Beth wonder if someone was trying to influence the bidders so as to either get Charlie at a lower price or to limit the interest in her. As she looked down at the bidders who were closer to the auction stage, she felt her eyes drawn to a woman sitting next to a familiar face. A face she'd only seen earlier. The steward of the Duchess Versith.

The woman's eyes met Beth's and hers widened in clear surprise. Beth suspected the woman hadn't expected anyone to have detected her magic, but Beth looked away, primarily because she felt at least satisfied that all the expressions being directed towards Charlie had been cleared away. That Charlie wasn't as in danger of being put into a situation like that now.

Although, she couldn't say for sure how exactly she could be so confident about that.

When Beth turned her attention back to the auctioneer, she nearly laughed out loud with his expression. She could only assume that the effort he'd been expending to get a rise out of the audience seemed to have fallen flat. Given the magic had been used to subdue the audience, Beth briefly wondered if a rule or law or something might get created to prevent people from using magic on the audience at some point, as this clearly was being used to keep the price for Charlie from rising too high.

While Beth doubted there would be many women in this world who would look at Charlie with lust, like the auctioneer seemed to be trying to instill with his last remark, she had seen a number of wealthy men bidding on slaves, and wondered if that's who those remarks had been intended for.

"Other areas of her are also contradictions that make her even more unique than I've said!" the auctioneer continued, although her voice faltered a little as she tried to regain her composure. "She has some muscle tone, has a very masculine appearance for those too far away to really make out, has clearly spent time in the sun and has no signs of wear on her feet. The kind of wear that even the poorest of peasants have from simply walking along the roads. So, this might be your only chance at such a sale! Out of the years I've been hosting these auctions, this young woman is the only one I've seen with feet as tender as hers are with her muscles showing such activity!"

While Beth could feel interest in Charlie rising again, it didn't feel like it was rising to the same levels as before, which she couldn't help but feel grateful for. The things the auctioneer was saying merely made Beth want to throw up with how much excitement she seemed to have been instilling in the crowd over such crude and horrific ideas.

Although, Beth wondered if she should talk to Amelia about seeing if there was a way for them to use their magic to remove scars. She could recall in the Wheel of Time series that using the One Power to heal would remove scars, but with how Charlie still had the scar from the arrow that had nearly killed her, Beth wondered if they should look into that.

After all, if they saved a slave, removing the scars from being whipped might go a long way to helping them. Beth knew she herself would at least feel better about it. It might be more cosmetic than anything, but it could still remove a painful reminder about an event in their lives that they might not wish to remember.

"So, without anything else to describe about her, let's begin!" the auctioneer called out, her voice echoing throughout the stadium. "The starting bid will be at one zik! So, anyoneforonezik?Onezik?Wegotonezik!Two?anyonefortwozik?Wegotfive!Wegotten!Fifteen!Wegottwentynow.Anyonefortwentyfive?Twentyfive?"

Beth listened as the auctioneer created a rhythm in her announcing the bids and trying to run the bids up that almost seemed to draw the bids out. In such a way that Beth started to wonder if she used magic on the audience herself, to make them want to bid. If so, Beth had to admit it was working on her, even though she knew she had already had been priced out almost at the start.

Although, she also had to admit that the starting bid was much lower than she had initially expected. She wasn't sure if they normally started that low or if it was just due to other considerations that Beth wasn't aware of. However, it didn't seem to stop the bidding from raising the price up to more than a hundred ziks. Which meant that even if they had somehow gotten that much, it still wouldn't have been enough to have saved Charlie.

Then when the bids reached one hundred and twenty five, someone called out, their voice echoing almost as much as the auctioneer's, "One hundred eighty!"

Even the auctioneer faltered at that moment with that jump in the bidding price. "Uh… we have one hundred eighty! Do we have one hundred eighty five?"

Beth wasn't sure if the auctioneer was having trouble getting back into her rhythm or if there was something else stopping her, but she was certainly calling out more slowly than she had before.

Yet, either everyone was too stunned by the amount or something else. Beth glanced at the steward for the Duchess Versith with the mage next to her, but got the sensation that the mage wasn't using her magic right then, although it was clear that the steward had placed the bid for Charlie herself.