The High Road (On Hold)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“My, my, she is a pretty one, isn’t she?” the corpulent man in front of her commented to Nakin. His face was rounder than a ripe tomato, and almost as red. Fatter than any man she’d ever seen, Elicia wondered if he would pop were he poked by a sharp pin.

“I said the same thing when I saw her, Father,” Nakin replied, though she did not know why he used that title. “She’s been a good little lass these past weeks as well. She’s done her work well, and she’s stronger than one would ever think to see her. And, by Reman’s holy blood, if she washed and combed that hair, she’d be the comeliest girl in all Cross,” he bragged.

The fat man scratched for a long time at a volatile red pimpil on his thick chin, looking her over from head to toe, while she did the same to him. On his head, he wore a tonsure of greasy brown hair, flecked with many spots of gray. His face bore wrinkles aplenty, and brown spots covered his hands. No hair was there on his face, instead there were lines around his mouth and dark, sagging bags beneath his weary eyes. An aged pig, he looked like.

Apparently, he liked what he saw in Elicia well enough. “She’ll do perfectly,” he said, his voice raspy and weak. “How much will you charge for her, good sir?” He dug around in a pocket of the grey robe he wore, withdrawing a bulging leather purse of coins. He pulled the drawstring on the bag, revealing many coins of silver and copper, even several glimmering gold pieces. This was a wealthy man, she knew, and she silently praised Kythanus for his mercy.

“Thirteen golden marks,” Nakin said, his eyes full of mischief, “thirty silvers, and five coppers.” The look on his face was one of scheming, and she knew he was cheating this man out of well-earned coin.

The fat man stood silent for a while, but soon began softly chuckling as he realized the scam. “Do you take me for a fool, brother?” he asked, his voice rising in volume. “Kythanus, in his great mercy, has blessed me with a surplus of funding, so I could afford even those outrageous prices. However, I will not waste my coin on this, as that would be a disgrace on his name. I will pay seven gold, and no more than that.”

Of course, Nakin was equally outraged, and the two men butted heads over the price for a long stretch of time, seemingly unable to come up with a compromise.  Elicia knew her numbers, and for a while she listened to the arguing, hearing Nakin’s unbelievably high demands, and the fat man’s countering suggestions. It did not take long, though, for her to become bored, and with that she began to daydream.

Were this deal to become a reality, Elicia Iliman would begin a new life, the servant of a wealthy man of Cross, a priest, she assumed from the title, his dress, and the money in his purse. Clergymen were well taken care of in Cross, it would seem, the site of God’s Glory, the greatest standing monument the Kythanus’ power. Servant to a wealthy man, she could regain some of the amenities she had known and loved on the Serpent’s Tail. She could have a full, unsoiled bed, a wardrobe filled with her own garments, and a private room. She could have fine clothes and maybe even jewels. She might even be set free when the fat man died, able to live her own life. Maybe she could go back to Serpent’s Tail, to find out if there were any survivors.

Caught up in these thoughts, she did not notice when the two men stopped speaking. She was only removed from her dreams when she heard the clinking of coin against Nakin’s old wooden desk. She watched as the fat priest placed five gold coins on the desk, the price he had demanded from the first. He was a good debater, it would seem, as Nakin was rarely talked out of a price.

“Come along now, lass,” the fat man said, taking her by the arm in a tight, and slightly uncomfortable grip. “It is a long way back to my home, and it is nearing dark.” He began walking away, towards the door that led out of the smelly room. Elicia looked back one last time to see Nakin, the man who had bought her from raiders, grin as he put the coins into his pocket.