This sheet of parchment is a direct continuation of the previous page. The writing is getting increasingly thin as the writer is running out of ink.
The port warden, a dwarf with an impressive grey beard, came over just as Stanid and three other of Gadruff's pushovers berthed the raft at a small, sheltered landing. He gave us a disinterested look of a clerk, scratched something on a slate tablet hanging from his neck, urged us to get a move on, and left. My cage, which was secured to the raft with thick ropes and big nails, required some work, so I had to wait while Stanid and another man lead all the other girls onto dry land and away into the port-town. I didn't even say goodbye to them, I assumed I'd see them later. I watched them go, trying not to give in to despair, wondering where the other rafts had gone, and hoping that Gadruff would show his face soon. I even lowered myself to asking my guards about him, while they were dismantling the fixtures, but they were so scared of their captain that they refused to speak to me. At last, two other men I had never seen before came over explaining that they had been sent by a quaymaster to speed things up, and I was lifted off the raft and placed on a busy quayside, all four of my guards disappearing.
Tightening the blanket around me, I rose to my feet to scan the port for Gadruff, but there was no sign of him. Instead, I saw stacks upon stacks of wooden crates, barrels, boxes and other containers, all sealed and marked with runes I could not read. What was in them? Where did they come from and what was their destination? I also noticed that not all boats were being loaded - some, especially the smaller ones, were being unloaded. I realised that slaves, who were waiting to board the barge furthest away from me, were only a fraction of what was going on here. Again, as I had done a thousand times previously, I tried to open my cage, hoping that Gadruff had forgotten to lock it. He hadn't.
Suddenly a commotion started deeper in the port and a moment later a half naked man, with his hands chained to a metal collar on his neck, burst from among a row of low, ramshackle sheds lining the waterfront. He was tall, well-muscled, fair-skinned and bearded, like those horse masters I'd seen before, and he was moving with great speed. He almost managed to reach my cage before an arrow to his knee brought him crashing down onto the paving stones, and he grimaced in pain when two dark men caught up with him and landed their whips on his bare chest. He didn't scream. They lashed him again and again, and he bared his teeth at them, but not a single word or sound escaped his mouth. Someone else screamed in his stead - me.
He was dragged off as quickly as he appeared, and I was left in the cage, tightening the blanket protectively around my shoulders, and trying to calm the frantic beating of my heart. Low buzzing in the ears muffled and drowned all sounds as I was praying for Gadruff to come back, eyes shut tight, so a warm touch on the cheek took me by surprise. I looked up and saw a tall, ebony-faced man in richly embroidered robes, who was resting his broad forehead against the bars of my prison and watching me calmly. I realised it must have been my screaming that drew his attention, but what was a man from Harad doing here in the first place? I froze as he reached out to remove a strand of hair from my face and I didn't flinch when his thumb traced the outline of my lips. I knew it was one of the buyers, men whose money was making all this misery possible. His thumb travelled down my chin, then my neck, and I let go of my blanket leaving myself in a grey, thin nightdress, and moved towards him slowly, as his gaze dropped lower and a satisfied smirk crept onto his face. I lashed out as fast as I could and felt wetness under my fingernails as they scratched his open eyes. He withdrew his hand quickly, jumped back and cursed with a deep, furious voice in his own language, while I grabbed my miserable cover and squeezed myself into the opposite corner of the cage. I was as surprised as he was.
He wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand and looked up at me. Angry red scratches ran from under his brows down to his cheeks and his bloodshot eyes were burning with a different light now. He said something, and a thin, tall boy, with white skin and a soft face, appeared beside him and bowed slightly. The black-skinned man spoke to him in a commanding tone and the boy bowed again.
"My master wishes to see you properly, girl," he said to me, his Westron tinged with a southern accent, his voice thin and feminine.
I shook my head at the big man and he snorted derisively. He started circling the cage, a thin smile of self-asserted superiority on his face now, while I glanced around, ready to scream for help as soon as Gadruff came into view. There was no sign of the captain though. The Haradrim came too close and I moved away again, careful to stay out of his reach, but I wasn't prepared when he suddenly grabbed the bars and shook the cage with force, as if he wanted to topple it over. I stumbled only for a moment, but it was all he needed to get hold of the corner of my blanket and tear it out of my grasp. Cheering erupted around me and I realised that the spectacle was starting to attract a small crowd. We circled for a few moments, as the men were egging him on, the crowd swelling slowly, when suddenly there was a movement to my side. I flinched and spun around to see if anybody else was coming at me. It was the thin boy, and as I jumped away from him, a big hand closed on my arm. The Haradrim pulled me towards him with a wide grin of a victor and took hold of my nightdress. I thought he was going to tear it off, but he froze instead, and his eyes shifted away from me. I followed his gaze and spotted Gadruff, whose short, sharp blade was tucked up nicely under the chin of the black-skinned man. I had never thought I'd be so happy to see the slaver.
The Haradrim let go of me and said something, as the thin boy rushed to his side.
"My master wants to see the girl. Order her to remove that rag she's wearing. He might be buying her," he addressed Gadruff.
"Your master," spat the captain, "doesn't have enough money to look, let alone to buy. Tell him that! And tell him that if he touches anything that doesn't belong to him again, his body will feed the fish in this river."
The Haradrim's jaw ground angrily as the boy was translating, but he didn't reach to the jewelled scimitar hanging on his left hip. Instead, he spoke to the boy again, and the latter turned to Gadruff.
"My master, Revered Zoba, has enough gold to buy this entire pigsty! And he's been promised safety by master Mansson. Step away or you'll regret it, rat!"
"Your master," scoffed Gadruff but withdrew his blade and sheathed it, "is touching what doesn't belong to him, and that is in strict violation of the rules set up by Mans himself, you little prick, so tell him I'll chop him up next time he even looks at any of my girls before he parts with that gold you claim he has. Understand?"
As the interpreter related Gadruff's words to his master, the captain picked up the blanket and handed it to me through the bars. "You ok, gal?"
"Gadruff," I couldn't quite keep the desperation out of my voice, "we have to talk."
"Not now, gal. I'm busy." He started to turn away from me, gesturing to Stanid and to four slaves in his tow to pick up the cage.
"Gadruff," I grabbed his shirt. "It's important."
Gadruff sighed resignedly as if I was his pupil and failed some sort of a test. "It's always the same. You never want to speak to me until we come here. Then, you suddenly have important business to discuss. Funny, don't you think?" he closed his fingers on my wrist and a pain shot up my arm. I released his shirt immediately. "You're gonna have to wait like all the others."
"Gadruff!" I tried to stop him but the cage was picked up and I lost my balance for a moment. When I looked up, he was already walking down the quayside. "I really need to speak to you!" I called after him urgently.
He stopped, turned to me, and with a half-patronising half-teasing smile he called back, "If you wanted to make me all loved-up, you should have thought about it earlier. Now it's too late, gal."
I was taken deeper into the port without any further incidents, but I did catch a glimpse of Zoba right before I was carried into a dark, tall shed. As the slaves, grey and tired looking Bree-landers with chains around their waists and ankles, set the cage down, I heard female voices behind a thin, wooden partition. I tried to call out to them, but Stanid showed his face and told me to simply shut up. And for the first time since my capture, I did shut up. Breathing heavily and trying to suppress the sobs I slumped to the floor of my confinement. I was in Talvi-mûri all over again and I was going to fly with the dragon. I was going to fly with the dragon with my very waking eyes.
It wasn't until the next morning that I saw Gadruff again. I scrambled to my feet as soon as he came in and wanted to speak to him immediately, but a short, ugly looking dwarf in a workers outfit followed him in.
"Is that her then?" Why is she in the cage?" he asked dryly.
"She bites and scratches."
"Why?" the dwarf didn't look too impressed. "You can't bring her under control, Gad?"
Gadruff smiled a wicked smile. "I can think of at least one who would gladly pay for the pleasure and save me a lot of hassle in the process."
"Actually," smiled the dwarf looking at a small notebook he had pulled from his pocket, "that was well played, Gad. Leaving her alone like that? Zoba took the bait like an unsuspecting roach. But," he continued looking into his notebook, "Zoba is a tight ass, he doesn't like to part with his gold. He won't pay that much for her. At least not as much as you want."
"Then he can go to hell," grimaced Gadruff. "He can go and catch one himself. There are other buyers."
The short dwarf shook his head. "This is a very specific market, Gad. No one's gonna pay that much for a girl this small. What challenge can she be?"
They were discussing me as if I was an animal on display, and it made my skin crawl.
"She killed Karloff's cousin," said Gadruff not looking at me.
"She did?" the small dwarf raised his heavy eye-brows. "With what? Did she shoot him with an arrow?"
"She mauled him to death with her teeth, Mans," Gadruff carefully avoided my gaze.
"I'll be damned," the dwarf came closer to have a better look at me. "She doesn't look it, ya know? Is this really true?"
I was listening to all this with a growing alarm.
"Karloff says so," shrugged Gadruff. "His cousin wasn't a big fighter but still."
"Ok," the dwarf called Mans consulted his notebook again. "I'll pay time and a half for her, Gad. Take it or sell her yourself."
"How much money do you want, Gadruff? I'll pay for myself," I finally found my own voice, my knuckles white on the bars.
The dwarf looked at me and snorted. "This ain't a basket of apples we are talking about here, gal. A peasant like you would have to work for twenty years to make enough money. Shut up and don't interrupt." He turned towards Gadruff. "What is it gonna be, Gad?"
"How much is he paying you for me, Gadruff," I growled through my teeth to conceal the chatter I found harder and harder to control. "I will double the price."
They looked at me for a moment, then Gadruff shrugged dismissively. "They'll say anything to get out of the cage, Mans. Never mind. Times and a half is too little. I paid compensation for Karloff's loss."
"You did what?" the dwarf laughed a long, low, raspy laugh, then wiped a tear from his eye. " Eh… this is rich!"
"Gadruff," I pounded the cage bars with my fist in anger, and regretted it instantly. "I can pay more than he will. I will triple the sum," I said massaging my hurting hand. I had their full attention now.
"Rich daddy or a husband?" asked the dwarf.
"Husband more likely," murmured Gadruff. "She ain't no lord's daughter. They start bragging about their papa as soon as they see me. This one kept quiet."
"I can pay myself," I fired up. "I have gold in a vault in Thorin's Halls and I can pay. So how much?" I asked trying to mask fear with anger.
Gadruff looked as me as if I was some rare specimen in the Mathom House, then laughed. "You're trying to lie your way out of here. We let you out and we never see you again. No, gal," he shook his head, "I don't believe you."
"Push a messenger to Thorin's Halls, and I'll give him a letter," my voice started to break down. "The Longbeards are not going to give him money, but will tell him if the required sum is available or not," I watched a deep furrow develop on Gadruff's forehead. His eyes weren't friendly.
I concentrated on Gadruff so much that I almost missed the cocked head and calculating gaze of the dwarf, who said in the end, "The girl is lying for sure. Deal, Gad?"
Gadruff tore his eyes from me and said slowly. "As I said, time and a half is out of the question."
The dwarf sighed, consulted his notebook, then shut it loudly. "Wanna discuss it over a drink?"
They both left despite my bitter protests and I had to wait. If I had been afraid before, now the feeling was ten times worse. I felt sick and touched no food or drink. I bit my fingers and left them bruised. I even tried to fly with the dragon, but the dragon wouldn't come. Exhausted, I lay down on the floor and spent an age in a numb state on the boarder of consciousness and dreaming.
"Are you there?" Gadruff forced me out of the stupor after a few hours and I sprang to my feet powered by both hope and terrible fear.
"I really do have the money," I sobbed at him. I must have been a pathetic sight - his eyes said it even if he didn't.
"Do you?" his voice cut like a whip through the air. "And you've been waiting to tell me this in front of Mans?"
"I wanted to tell you earlier, but you didn't give me a chance," my defence was pitiable.
"Spare me," snarled Gadruff, "you spent almost a week with me. You had every opportunity to tell me." I bit my lip hard as Gadruff continued, "I know what you were thinking. You were going to tell me, I was going to let you out of this cage, we were going to walk out of here free and alive, and then we were going to live happily ever after," he shook his head angrily. "Just how stupid are you, huh?" He looked at me for a moment before delivering the final blow. "No can do, gal. I've sold you."
The cage floor shifted under my feet just as the world spun around my head. I let go of the iron bars and if not for Gadruff, I would have crashed to the ground. He held me by the shoulders as I struggled to breathe, a great heaving sob stuck in my throat.
"Whoa, steady, lass!" he said, his voice a bit less gruff. "It's not the end of the world…" he trailed off as I let out a great wail and tried to disentangle myself from his grasp. "Look at me!" he grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards himself. "LOOK AT ME!" I looked, and he continued. "I said it's not the end of the world. Mans is going to make you an offer. If you can meet his demands, you'll go free." I watched him too dumbstruck to say anything and he fired up. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself now! You are here because you wanted to be clever. If you want to be clever, act clever! Mans will make you an offer and you will bargain with him. And bargain with him wisely, gal, he's the one holding all the cards. And if you keep your part of the deal, Mans will keep his. Just don't tell him the truth about Karloff's cousin. And don't cross him. Whatever you do, don't cross him."
Gadruff told the truth. I was let out of that cage later that day and made a deal with the dwarf. The sum I had to pay was eye-watering and swallowed most my wealth, but, as Mans said, you don't pay that kind of money for a slave unless the slave is you. I was free, if walking on Mans's leash counts as freedom, and for a long time the arrangement worked. Not anymore. I've crossed Mans now and he is coming for me.
