Grimluk sat on the bed/bench his cage had. The cage was reasonably spacy - ten foot by ten foot by ten foot. The bed/bench was comfortable enough to lay on, and sleep on. There was even a chamber pot, which was changed at dusk and dawn. The food was quite good, if he'd be honest with himself - fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit - and to be fair, based on what he could see, no one was stinted there.
Over all, this was actually a decent slave market. Even those with lower Starting Prices than he were treated well - food, bed, chamber pot that was regularly changed, and the cages themselves were not crammed full of slaves - maybe three at most per ten by ten by ten cage, like the one he was in, as it was roomy enough, and the bed/bench could be adjusted to fit all three for sleeping, by pulling out the bed part.
Grimluk sighed as he thought about his predicament. This was his third time as a slave to be sold at auction. The place had a policy that slaves to be sold had to be displayed for a week before they could be brought to the Bidding Queue. At that point, they'd be sold to a new master. During that week, many had examined him.
Sometimes it was simply looking at him. Some would ask him what he could do. Some would even ask about his prior masters, and the reason they'd sent him to be sold - luckily in his case, his last master had died with no heirs, while the prior one had moved to another country, and his original master had been murdered by a bandit - in short, it wasn't like he was a problem slave that a master couldn't handle. Also, he had many skills - cooking, cleaning, gardening, carpentry, medicine making, and other useful skills that the three prior masters had taught him.
Then there were those who decided that he had to do physical, or practical, demonstrations. There was a space where slaves demonstrated their skills, mainly to prove that they weren't lying about their capabilities in an attempt to get a better price for themselves. Then there was the spot where they had to do physical tasks, not limited to lifting weights, running distance, running distance with weights, and other physical activities.
Others decided to physically examine him, checking his teeth, eyes, nose, fur, joints, and other parts. There was even a woman who decided to examine him another way, wherein he was brought to a room, asked what he knew about breeding, if he'd ever been bred himself, and then - well, he couldn't complain too much, although he watched afterwards and saw that the woman gave the person that ran the place some money. Also, Grimluk saw the person come, and raise the starting offer by another hundred fifty gold.
By this point, the starting offer for him was well over one thousand, five hundred gold.
That was when the Market Guard came to his cage.
"Grimluk the fox. Item Number 37849."
Grimluk stepped forward.
"Turn around and step backwards."
Grimluk turned around, and stepped until he was against the bars. That was when he was shackled.
"Arms behind back."
Grimluk put his arms behind his back. His wrists were then restrained. He then watched as the guard opened the door.
"Step out. Time for you to be bid on."
Soon enough, he was up on the block.
"Ah, and this, good ladies and gentlemen, is a fine specimen of the fox anthronian sort," said the Auctioneer. "Physically fit, good for practical work, but let me tell you, that would be a waste. Good with cooking and cleaning, he'd be perfect to mind the children. Skilled at making medicine, which is very useful. He also has excellent gardening and carpentry skills, which could be valuable. He has a good mind, learns quickly, and should not be any trouble. Now, who will open up the bidding at fifteen hundred gold?"
"15!"
"1,650!"
"17!"
"2,000"!
"21!"
Grimluk listened, and watched as the bids went higher and higher.
"Four thousand, seven hundred, fifty gold!"
"Five thousand!"
Grimluk watched the one person that had been bidding one him, stare at the other.
"Alright," they said. "You can have him."
"Five thousand to close the sale."
"Very good," the Auctioneer said. "Nothing like a good bidding war to loosen the money around here. Next slave!"
Grimluk was led away, and found himself chained up to some others, at least twelve.
"We've been bought by the same person," the one next to him, a cat anthronian said. "Pass it on to whomever they chain up to you."
"Alright," Grimluk said.
"What was your price?" they asked.
"Five thousand gold," Grimluk said.
"Not a bad price," they said. "Three myself."
"Starting offer?" Grimluk asked.
"800," the cat said.
"What about the rest?" Grimluk asked.
"Let's put it this way," the cat said. "None of them sold for under two thousand."
"So, our Master is wealthy," said Grimluk. "Let's hope he's a good one."
"One can only hope," the cat said.
Soon enough, Grimluk and the rest, including seven more slaves bought after him, were taken to their new Master. The location was at......
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