The South Paws: Book One (Preliminary Version)

Chapter Eight: The Slave Market

I was awoken by what sounded like an auctioneer. I groaned with agony. My head was feeling woozy. I opened my eyes slowly, at first all I could see was white light. "Ah, there we go, she's up!" A familiar voice crowed. There came several laughs. I frowned inwardly, where on earth was I?

That was when I remembered that I had been rendered unconscious after meeting a North Paw in the forest. I felt my heart skip. I was at a slave market! 'No, this is not good! I need to get out of here!' My mind reeled with panic. As my vision became better, I could see that I was in a large cage.

Men, women, and children stood around it, each one muttering to another. Standing in front of the cage was the very man who had captured me in the first place. My eyes narrowed at the sight of him. He was grinning with greed as several people raised their hands.

I then realized that I was being auctioned off! That was not going to happen, and I would make sure of it! Pushing my still dizzy body up from the cage floor, I headed over to the bars. "You will not have me sold off like an animal." My voice was raspy from not being used for a while.

His grin faded when he saw that I was fully aware of the situation. "Let me out of this cage now," I growled. His eyes widened when he saw that I was reaching out of the cage for him. By now the auction had stopped completely and all the folks who were waiting began to whisper uncomfortably.

I snickered when I saw that some people were shifting uneasily. He glowered at me, "Listen here Southie, you are nothing more than an animal that us right handers have full control over." His spittle flew out as he snarled at me. I growled, "We are not animals, before that stupid law, we were humans too!"

There were shocked gasps from the crowd. If looks could kill, his eyes were gleaming with a fire. "You will say no more understand!" He was red in the face as he yelled this. I shrunk back in fear. He looked as if he wanted nothing more than to grab a hold of me and shake me till I understood what he was saying.

I bit my lip, and gave a heavy breath. He gave a curt nod when he saw that I had given up. Now the folks watching the argument match had turned their attention back upon the man. He wiped some sweat from his brow, "I do apologize. She sure is a hellion." There was more laughter. I sat myself down and gave a frustrated huff.

Deep down, I was crying. I would never get to know if my mother was okay. Instead I was going to be sold off once more. The freedom fighters wouldn't come back to rescue me this time. I felt a warm tear slid down my hot face. As the auction went on, I looked around the market.

There were tons of men and women wandering the grounds. Cages were scattered around, some had crowds of over a hundred people standing by them. I felt ill seeing the way us left handers were being treated. We were humans too. I cringed as I watched a young male left hander get a slap for tripping over his new mistress.

'Where are those freedom fighters when you need them?' I wondered to myself, the chatter of the crowd around my cage getting louder by the minute. That was when I caught sight of a going on. Only a few cages down there was a huge fight happening. I stood up, my eyes locked on the beat down. There were two people fighting, the others were watching in a large circle.

I glanced back at the auction happing behind me. Luckily no one had noticed that I was moving slowly towards the back of the cage. My mind raced. Maybe it was the freedom fighters. I just had to know, I looked around the cage, praying that I could find something that would give me a better view. I then noticed that there was a next level of the cage.

My heart slammed against my chest as I began to shimmy up the long ladder that led up to the next platform. I was terrified of heights, and the last thing I needed was to fall off. I made it up to the next platform, my heart in my throat. 'Okay, now to make sure that no one can get up here.' I kicked the ladder. It hit the cage floor with a loud clang.

I then realized that I was officially stuck up here. Yet, that was fine by me for the moment. By now the auction had stopped, for the crowd had pointed out I had vanished. I could hear the man raging when he saw that the ladder had been thrown to the floor. "Where did she go?" I had to withhold a fit of laughter, was he that stupid to not see that there was another platform.

Now, I could see the fight clearly. My heartbeat quickened when I saw the cloaked figure of a freedom fighter. 'They come to rescue us!' My mind screamed with eagerness. There were now many more cloaked figures coming into the market. There came screams, and shouts of worry as the right handers saw that their market was becoming overrun.

There came a sound that I hadn't heard in years, a roar of cheers. I glanced downwards. The freedom fighters were opening cages left, right, and centre. "Hey! Up here!" I cried. I watched as pandemonium struck the right handers when they realized that their day at the market was up. The other left handers raced excitedly about, helping with opening cages.

That was when my cries were heard, "Hey, there's one, go get her men!" A voice cried. I watched with hopeful eyes as a few of the others saw I was still trapped. Soon enough I was on safe ground, there were tons of left handers yelling and cheering the freedom fighters. The freedom fighters turned to all of us, taking off their cloaks they all smiled.

"Go now, the right handers will be back, and they will not be too happy, now be free!" I watched as everyone began to scatter, yet I stayed behind. One of the freedom fighters looked familiar. "Aren't you- I broke off, they were turning away from me. "Wait!" I cried as they began to dash off. I took a breath.

They weren't going to get away from me that easily. With one last look around at the wrecked market I began to chase after the large group...