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A number of hours went by with nothing happening, and then the guard reappeared in the company of others like himself. The captives had been given nothing to eat or drink, but for Tain that was more a kindness than deprivation. The only sanitary facilities available was a short bucket in each cage, a bucket that stank even without being used. No field agent was actually fastidious, not with what usually had to be put up with in the field, but there was a big difference between using a bush or tree in the woods and using a stinking bucket.
The guards began to open cages, starting with the ones farthest from the door they’d entered by. One or two of the women tried to refuse to come out the way the guards wanted them to, but a brisk order got them out and on their feet. Deliberate orders couldn’t be refused by them any more than E
The look E
Even if Tain knocked out the guard or killed him and then released E
So Tain simply stood and waited until all the women were lined up to the guards’ satisfaction, then she moved forward when they were told to do so. E
The women at the head of the line moved through the doorway with two of the guards leading the way, and when it became Tain’s turn she could see that they moved through a rather large room with chairs and tables. It wasn’t hard to see that the room usually held the guards who were now all around them, which was hardly surprising. When you have valuable merchandise, you tend to guard it well.
Rather than being taken outside, the line was led deeper into the building. The floor they walked on was stone and the walls were plain stucco, nothing in the way of decoration to be seen anywhere. Lighting consisted of what looked like oil lamps on the walls, other rooms along the corridor hidden behind closed, plain wooden doors. Tain pretended to look at nothing but where the line was going even as she studied as much as she could of her surroundings, but the studying did no good. Without a decent opening trying to escape would be a waste of time, and nothing in the way of a legitimate opening came by.
The line was finally directed into another room, this one much larger than the ones they’d already seen. There were a couple of women already in the room, but they were taken out by a door opposite the one Tain and the others had used even before the entire line made it through the doorway. The women were directed to line up along the lefthand wall, and once the entire line was in place the guards went into waiting mode.
And we weren’t told we could sit if we liked, so we can probably be called at any time, Tain thought as she glanced around. It’s fairly obvious that we’re about to be sold, and I wish they would hurry up and get it done. Once I’m out of here I ought to get some kind of break.
Or so Tain fervently hoped. She had a small edge the slavers weren’t likely to know about, but it was a very small edge and couldn’t be wasted. One chance would be all she’d get, and then—
“Do something, Halliday!” a very faint whisper came from Tain’s left, obviously from E
Looking at or answering E
With the guard staring straight at E
Just about the same amount of time passed before the door opened again, and now it was E
E
It might have been Tain’s imagination, but it seemed to take longer to sell E
The guard who had taken E
At the top of the stairs there was a stage of sorts surrounded by lots of lamps as well as mirrors, the mirrors doing their job of increasing the light coming from the lamps. Tain could tell that the large area beyond the stage held a lot of people, but it wasn’t possible to make out any faces.