Camille's Adventure

Chapter 12: Auction time!

Marcus watched as Lucy was shoved off the stage with a sign hanging from her neck reading 'Sold'. Is this what it was like to be sold to captivity? Marcus wondered.

Someone gruffly shoved him up the small stairs to a large flat platform and over to the auctioneer.

"Now, up next is this handsome fellow." The auctioneer told the crowd. Marcus kept his head down as the man continued to rattle off details.

"Not of very high value, I'd say." A man called from the crowd. Marcus's appearance wasn't exactly top notch.

A man nearby yanked Marcus's right arm up for inspection. "Not very muscular either." The man noted seeing Marcus's thin arm."Not useful for carrying bricks." The man joked dryly and added, "and quite skinny too."

Then the man yanked Marcus's head up and opened his jaw to view his teeth. "Perfect teeth though." The man commented. He dropped the jaw and looked at the crowd.

"He won't be useful for heavy duty labor, but he'll be valuable in other jobs. Who will start the bidding?"

People started shouting numbers until the price number was too high for anyone else to bid. The auctioneer put a 'Sold' sign like Lucy's over the boy's head and shoved him towards his new owner.

Well, there goes freedom. Marcus thought.

Now it was Camille's turn. They inspected her like they did Lucy. They looked at her arms then her teeth. But they didn't do as much inspection as they did with Marcus. After a quick look over, the auctioneer started the bidding and Camille was sold to a man in a brown robe. 

"One-twenty is a good price for a very good slave!" the man commented. Camille resisted a strong urge to strike him.

Down in the dungeons, the door to Caspian's and Edmund's cell clanged open making the new occupants jump slightly. Two burly men came in and put them all into irons again.

"Come on, move!" The men ordered shoving the prisoners out the cell door.

Reluctantly, they followed the lead captor out the door while the other captor brought up the rear. Edmund glanced back at Caspian as the older boy bent a little to avoid having his forehead make contact with the low hanging cell door beam. What would they do now?

As the group made their way across the walkway above the crowd in the auction courtyard, they heard Eustace being put up for auction.

"And now for this fine specimen, who will start the bidding?" The auctioneer told the crowd but they just shook their heads.

"Come on now, he may not look like much, but he's strong." The auctioneer urged, testing Eustace's bicep.

"Yeah, he's strong alright." Someone in the crowd stated.

"Smells like the rear end of a Minotaur!" Another joked, causing the crowd to burst into laughter.

"That is an outrageous lie! I won the school hygiene award for years running." Eustace protested, but everyone just looked at each other. They had no idea what he was talking about.

Then, a figure stepped forward wearing a black cape that completely covered him. "I'll take him off your hands. In fact, I'll take them all of your hands!" With that, the man threw off his cloak revealing him as Captain Drinian, with Reepicheep on his shoulder.

Many other men with black cloaks threw them off as well. The Dawn Treader search party had arrived!

"For Narnia!" they yelled.