The swing of her breath was all she could hear. In and out of her lungs, its warmth humid over her face.

Threatening whiplashes cracked inches from where Suarus marched over the stone-paved ground; the sharp pull of the rope chaining her to the other captives almost caused her to fall. Her brain strained for answers. Questions raised fading, resolution unavailable.

Inclined yells of men, near and distant, triggered a mixture of frantic pleads and cries from the bound women led into the shade. If only she too knew what awaited beyond the veil over her face, the fate she had come to receive.

The heavy drop of a hand over her shoulder left her gasping as the clasping fingers dug into her skin.

'Hey, hey, no touching!' A man shouted from behind, his thudding steps approaching.

The hand was forcefully lifted, and a throbbing pulse resided in its place.

'Move!' said the man, shoving her forward.

In the abyss of her mind, the pair of dark eyes shone, pulling her back to that moment in the woods, recalling the warmth spread over her forehead. Was it what stripped her from her magic, blocking away her powers? But why go for that when he could have easily killed her? If he was the cause, where was he, and where was she being taken with those women?

The sudden tug upwards prepared her to trace the expected steps coming her way, counting them as she went.

One.

The icy fingertips of her tightly clenched hands throbbed.

Two.

Her heartbeat pulsed under her vocal cords.

Three.

Air thickened in her chest.

Four.

An itching pain crawled in her skull across her forehead.

Five.

Her thigh muscles twitched, knees about to fail her.

Six.

Uncontrollable shudders invaded her body, clicking teeth unstoppable.

Seven.

The cloth over her face damped, clinging over her flushed skin.

Eight.

Self-blame tortured her.

Nine.

She bit on her lips, dulling her sobs.

Ten.

Her tearful eyes aimlessly followed the riotous calls of excitement, movement, and sounds halted by the shrill toll of the bell.

'With a fresh batch straight from the carriages, I welcome you, loyal customers, to the day's first auction!'

The crowds hoorayed and clapped, breaking the dominating stillness.

'Merchandise at its rawest state, uncleaned and untamed, as you have requested... the finest and ripest of women in the original state they were captured!'

Suarus followed the voice as it moved to the other side; a bitter taste invading her mouth.

'The unveiling,' he continued, his voice barely over the excited cries, 'The unveiling,' he repeated louder, 'will be to your liking!'

'Cut the first!' Suarus heard him say, followed by a booming clamor of claps and whistles in the background.

Through the binding rope, Suarus felt the vibrating quivers of the weeping woman next to her, the one meant by that order. Only then did she understand the cause of the unmeasurable fear the women around her experienced. It was beyond anything she had imagined, the cruelty of this realm.

The rope tugged, brushing against her before falling still next to her.

'No, no, please, no!' the woman wailed, feet stumping.

Feverishly stood Suarus, wishing she could shield her ears from the screams and the enormity of the fear it projected.

A muting slap echoed, followed by the ripping of fabric. The feeble weeps that came after passed unnoticed by whoever watched.

The crowd's cheers intensified for something she wished to avoid knowing.

A big splash and a screeching shout followed, stopped by the shortness of the woman's breath.

Suarus's mind froze, blocking the hysteria breaking around her.

A punishment this must be!

'Who'll start the bid! It opens with a hundred silver Neers.'

'A hundred and ten!' someone cried from afar.

'A hundred twenty!' another one added.

'A hundred twenty! Who'd adds more for this luscious figure?' the merchant encouraged.

'A hundred fifty!' said one from the front row.

'Anyone willing to go further?'

The women's cries were all that was heard, the one bid on, mourning her soon to be lost freedom.

'Sold!' declared the merchant, the bells sharply tolling in the background.

What remained after the rattling resistance was the dissolved cries of the sold woman in the air, herself, or what remained of it dragged away to whoever has her ownership now.

'Bring the next.'

A hand clasped her arm, forcing her forward. She complied, moving along without resistance. What would resisting change, surrounded by heartless men, in a land she knew nothing of, weaponless without access to magic?

Her skin crawled with goose-bumps as the hand untied the knot at the back of her neck, loosening the tie of the sack, lifting it.

Scorching light forced its way into her eyes. Through the stinging flutters of her eyelids, she saw them. Men of assorted ages, looking up where she stood on the platform, standing shoulder to shoulder, too many for her to count. Their eyes of dark shades were unmistakably astonished.

The master merchant hovered around her like a wild beast calculating an attack, hands resting above the leather belt barely visible under the flap of his large belly, gleaming eyes of copper scanning her.

'Behold! The unexpected... A fighter drenched in blood!' his thick dark lips mocked, slyly smiling.

His heels thumped on the wooden plates as he walked closer towards her, reaching for her chin, holding it between his forefinger and thumb, vigorously turning her face from side to side.

'Thrilling... A bloody-faced blue-eyed female.'

His eyes narrowed, staring into Suaurs's, examining their authenticity. He let go of her, hand scratching his shaved dimpled chin as he strolled behind her, studying her figure.

With a gesture of his hand and the shake of his head, an order was given to the tall, lean mocha-skinned guard shadowing over Suarus. Knowing what is asked of him, he stepped in front of her, hands clutching her blood and mud-soiled shirt.

She trembled, backing away a few steps before being jolted forward by the monstrous man appearing behind her. Trapped, she tuned her streaked blood-stained face, tightly closing her eyes, listening to the snapped spherical buttons as they bounced, scattering across the wooden floor. A gush of wind touched her exposed neck and sheerly protected bosom behind the soiled inner garments.

Her ears whistled, blood rushing to her head, the burst of shouts muted by the sudden flood of cold water spilled on her from above. It trickled down the bridge of her nose, dribbling off her hot flesh, tears, blood, and dirt washed away.

Something alien sparked in her, dark and sinister.

Death.

It was all she thought and called upon.

Her knuckles turned white, fisted hands trembling. She lifted her head, pair of opal-blue eyes burning as she glared down at the bewitched men, their lustful gazes carnivorous and longing.

In their eyes, Suarus was no mere woman. She was a goddess, manifested in a faithless land. Crowned with hair of gold. Skin sheenly white gorgeously gleaming under the scattered threads of sunlight penetrating the dome's circular windows above their heads.

'I... want to...touch.' mechanically said a voice.

'I want to touch!' repeated another and another. Before long, the words were chanted by everyone, spreading between them like a spell.

Men from the furthest row violently pushed their way towards the brick-built platform that rose high above them.

'What is happening?' shockingly muttered the master merchant snapped out of his daze.

He called out for his unresponsive men, cracking his whip, pulling them back to their senses. They rushed to their master's aid, holding back those who successfully climbed.

Suarus's bareback pressed on the cold wall, horrifically watching the chaos unfolding in front of her. Like waves of an angry sea, entwined then ripped apart were the men, drenched in each other's blood. Their eyes beaming with death, carrying nothing but the intent to kill one another for the sake of her touch.

A man heavily dropped a few feet away from where she stood, face scraped and bruised, longing gaze locked on hers as life was forced out of him by the large man sitting atop of him, hands smothering his throat.

Suarus could not make sense of what was happening. It was as if she was trapped in a nightmare. One she had no hopes of waking up from. Her breathing intensified with the sharp pain pulsing in her head. She collapsed, dropping to her knees.

In the place of the dead man, she saw Tirus. Her familiar green eyes blankly stared at her.

'You failed us all.' Tiru's blue lips mouthed, a greenish liquid oozing out of her mouth.

The whip slashed at the man raising from the corps evaporated Tirus's image. Suarus's frightened gaze traveled to the large man growling at her, muscled of his neck twitching.

Is this... the end?

Out of nowhere, the merchant's hand forcefully lifted her back on her feet, dragging her behind him down the narrow staircase, the end of which he blocked, tripping a pile of wooden boxes, giving them just enough time to disappear behind the rotating door camouflaged into the brick wall.

Both Suarus and the merchant heavily panted within the dim room, attentively listening as the angry roars grew closer, bashing and smashing threatening.

A line of light vertically crossed the merchant's plump face, running across his right eye that lit up his copper iris. With a shove of his clasping grip over her bare upper arm, he pushed her against the wall, closing in, pressing her nacked back on the cold bricks, feeling his warm breaths over her face.

For a long moment, they remained as they were, the racket outside ongoing.

Suarus noticed as the minutes passed that the flaring anger began to fuse with something else.

As soon as the noises outside drifted afar, the merchant's hand left her arm, clasping her face, bashing the back of her head on the wall. Her head spun as his fingers squeezed her cheeks, forcing her mouth open. She whimpered, body writhing, bound feet battering, tied hands bashing on his chest as the irony taste of blood filled her mouth.

'What curse have you cast upon us, sorceress!' he spluttered, 'I should have known better not to accept this cursed trade with that Damned commander!'

His hand squeezed harder, an amused expression on his face.

'Even as you whimper in pain, you look mesmerizing. What a fool he is to let you go!'

His body pressed against hers, closing the little space between them. Then, when hope was all gone, and the inevitable was about to happen, the loud clang vibrated through the merchant's body, the force of it felt by Suarus. With a thud, his body dropped to the ground, unveiling the petite figure standing behind it.

'Stretch out your hands, quick!' A woman muttered, her voice barely audible.

As told, Suarus lifted her bound hands away from her body. The hooded woman slashed her free then handed her the dagger. 'Free your feet while I check outside.'

Suarus could not stabilize the quivers of her hands as she cut the thick rope, loathing herself for her weakness and fear.

'No one is there. Take this—' the young woman added, unfastening the pin of her cloak, unveiling her tightly curled red hair and hazel eyes partially visible under the thin line of light, replacing the dagger in Suarus's hand with it.

Suarus wrapped it around her damp body, hands unable to clasp the pin in place.

An assuring smile arched the woman's full lips before proceeding to securely clasp it in place, reaching for the draped folds around Suarus's shoulders, lifting it, covering her head with the hood.

'Now, we run,' she said, her hand pushing the door.