Chapter 139: Welcoming the in-laws- Part 3

In the end know one knew where Heidi was. He gritted his teeth in an effort to hold off his anger. Where could she have gone?His crow, Toby, had searched through the town, skimming it but hadn’t found her there. As he sat in the carriage with his legs crossed heading back to Bonelake, he sighed. Once they reached the mansion, the girl was put in the dungeon with a hungry wolf next to her cell which she use to entertain herself once she was awake. He stood in front of the fire that crackled like his simmering mood.

“What do you intend to do, master?” Stanley asked with his head bent down.

“Gather the people who are good at finding information. Send them along with the guards in search of Heidi,” spoke Nicholas with his back facing his butler.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to find the lady if help was asked in the council?” the butler inquired curiously wondering why he hadn’t sent a letter yet.

“The council have killed more people than save them. There have been cases, especially with young girls and women who didn’t return back in once piece due to the greed the abductors hold. If a whisper is dropped on a lady who is going to get engaged has disappeared, God forbid what would happen,” his hold tightened on the wooden architecture of his wall.

“Yes, master,” the butler bowed his head understandingly, knowing that his master didn’t trust the council. Before the butler could ask another question his master had disappeared from the room in search of the girl.

As anxious Nicholas was to find Heidi, so was Heidi in getting back o Bonelake. Stepping back into her cell after spending two days in the isolated cell, she sat in the corner wondering how to get out of this place. Last time she had escaped out of sheer luck and she was lucky in the sense to not be captured and thrown back into this world but here she was looking at the same walls after years of running away from it. She wasn’t small anymore to hide in the bushes and go unnoticed by the guards. Escaping this time would be difficult and if she got caught, there would be no escaping again. Another week passed as she tried finding the loopholes in the system but she found none. Every spot and corner around the big walls was guarded securely after all they were the treasures who would be bought by wealthy men and women for their respective needs.

Life in the slave establishment wasn’t easy. With the amount of dirty looks that were passed around and the beatings and screams, it was a horror to spend time here. Most of the slaves were smart enough to opt being silent and accepting what was to come but then there was a bunch of rebellious slaves who didn’t understand that their fate was sealed. People who weren’t considered up to the par were killed in these very walls while the others who would benefit a great deal where tamed into obedience.

One morning, Heidi was woken up before dawn broke down in the sky. She was asked to wash herself and given better clothes to be worn, not the kind of clothes she regularly but the kind which was better compared to what the slaves wore. Like many others she was bound by hands and feet, pulled by the guards of the establishment who were put into the dark carriage. The ride was a long one and when they reached where ever they were intended to go, all the slaves who were dressed well were dragged out of the carriage roughly with no hint of gentleness as slaves didn’t deserve it.

It didn’t take Heidi much time to know where she was being taken with the rest of them. They were going to auction them in the black market. At first she had found hope of finding help in the crowd as the guards had never believed her the first day she had arrived at the establishment. Unfortunately she couldn’t do much as her mouth was bound with a cloth to avoid her from unnecessary talk.

“Move it everyone! Don’t slack!” one of the guard pushed the slaves one by one in the tent.

“Please! Please don’t send me there! I beg you!” Heidi turned around to see a young woman around her own age on the ground being dragged by one the guards. Compared to the rest of the slaves she was a decent looking woman with her dirty blonde hair that cascaded down her shoulders.

“Bound her mouth!” one of the guard spoke with a bland expression on his face.

“No, please! Why are you doing this?! I thought you cared!” she cried and the guard picked her up to speak lowly for her to hear which Heidi caught the words.

“You were a good fuck but don’t forget that at the end of the day you are a measly slave and slaves are only good for that. I am doing you a favor so get inside right now,” the guard pushed her hand away from me before getting into the tent.

She caught sight of the broken expression the woman wore like she had been betrayed. She sniffed and let the guards bound her mouth. Giving her a sympathetic look, Heidi got inside the tent. The black market was noisy and wasn’t for the decent folks unless he or she had a lot of money to command over the place. Once the stage was set, the auction began without a delay, one slave going up after another. Time to time, Heidi’s heart would begin to beat as men, women and children as well were sold out from outside with the number of bid that went up along with the screams and cheers of the crowd. Even the ones that weren’t going to buy anyone had huddled around to only look at the new goods the establishment was providing.

When the turn of the girl who had been crying before was sent out, the woman cast a desperate look around the tent before she was pulled on to the stage by the head guard. Time turned to run agonizingly fast the moment and Heidi had remember to breath before she would faint here. It was at that moment she heard the crowd go still and quiet, wondering what had happened like the rest of them, she craned her neck to see the guard carrying the girl in his arms while cursing under his breath.

“What happened?!” the guard whom Heidi had seen speaking to the girl came rushing towards the girl who had fainted. No she hadn’t fainted, thought Heidi. Blood seeped through the girls mouth and Heidi was sure she had bitten her tongue to give herself an immediate death.

“I fucking told not to open any slaves mouth! That idiot costed us a slave, dammit!” the one who had brought her in exclaimed in frustration.

“B-but the bidders wanted to hear her speak,” another one came down.

“I’ll take her. Continue with the rest,” the guard said taking hold of the dead girl in his arms. For the briefest moment she saw grief pass through his features, an explainable sorrow. The man noticing eyes of Heidi on him sent her a glare across the tent.

And then it was her turn. The guard pulled her chains roughly, pulling the chains so quickly that it made her stumble on the ground and she had to crawl a little on the ground before getting up on the stony stairs. As if a dead girl hadn’t poured down the excitement from the viewers and bidders, black witches suddenly appeared out of nowhere when she had managed to place both her feet on the stage. The guard ducked and she fell on the stage too before the witch could get any of them. Pulling Heidi and the other slaves back in the carriage, the head guardsman of the slave announced quickly that all the bidders had to visit the establishment to collect their goods and with that they left the market.

Fortunate enough for Heidi, the day wasn’t a damper as there was someone in the market who was passing by, who had recognized her from a far distance.