Naba chided himself for not jumping in first. Toothless had started the bidding at 15 gold, way more than Naba had intended to pay for the girl, but now he had to decide. This would cut his profit by half… but the green eyes and red hair could bring him a good price if he took her far enough east.

He unconsciously hefted his purse, checking it’s weight and estimating how high he could go. Maybe if he also took a couple of Damascene blades back too, some of the local spices… No not enough… unless he could get the price back down.

“Twenty pieces if she has all her teeth.” Naba walked up to the dais and climbed up the steps.

“I want to see for myself.” The auctioneer nodded his assent and grabbed the back of her head by the hair and bent her head back and pried open her jaw.

“See? A full set.”

“Is she pure? Or have you already ruined her with your prig?” The auctioneer assured him he had not touched her but alas, she was the woman of a dead westerner, an infidel who had brought her to this land where he had died and left her to fend for herself. A noblewoman… Naba doubted the story but used it to his advantage.

He returned to the crowd and stood beside Toothless and muttered to himself, but loud enough to be heard.

“Not even a virgin and he wants so much gold for her… she’s hardly worth 5 pieces of silver.” Toothless’ grin faded. “Did you see her spit? She’ll never be trainable. A noblewoman, she doesn’t even know how to cook or do house chores. Though she is very, very pretty.” Toothless got a worried look on his face, thinking about what his churl of a wife would say… and withdrew his bid.

An argument ensued, the auctioneer objected but Toothless walked off.

Before the auctioneer could start again Naba opened with a low bid.

“I’ll give you five coppers for her.” The auctioneer sputtered but the bidding instantly became lively, so he had no choice but to let it continue. By the time it was over, Naba had won the girl for eight pieces of gold and 20 silver.

He pulled his cloak from his shoulders as he regained the dais. When he tore the meager rags from her body the crowd roared its approval. Naba looked up and down and nodded his own approval. A very good buy. He put the cloak over her shoulders and lashed her hands together. She could hold the cloak mostly closed if she followed closely or could resist and expose herself to every man and boy in the marketplace as he led her away. It really didn’t matter to Naba. Naba grabbed the remaining length of rope and used it as a leash and led her roughly away.