And there Rollan hung, by slipping fingertips over a yawning gap in the buildings, wind rushing through the opening and worrying him more and more by the second. He thought and thought about what he would do for the longest five seconds of his life. His fingers slipped away.

He dropped about six feet before slamming his feet against the wall in front of him, mashing his back against the wall behind him. He slowed with a teeth-rattling jolt. Before he knew it, his heels were touching the ground and he was barely recovering himself. He got up, dusting himself off, flustered from the fall. Cedric was just staring at him, then he looked out into the lit street.

"That could have gone worse..." said Cedric.

Rollan wasn't sure how to take that.

They poked their heads out into the street. No one was around. The street was wide and the other side of the street was the docks, then the bay.

"You ready?"

Rollan nodded

They went to the shop and opened the old door. It creaked open. "Aright friend, here's what we do. I want you to put this mask on and hide where I tell you." Rollan nodded his head, donned the black hood-mask and followed Ced down some steps. It was dark in the hallway, all except for a bright line of light at the bottom of the door at the bottom of the steps. He heard what sounded like a good deal of people inside. It was actually relatively loud. They got to the bottom of the steps where there was a door in front of them but also, there was a door to the immediate left.

"Alright," said Ced "You go in there and wait. You'll know what to do when the time comes."

"What? But I-"

"Just do it!" Ced hissed, and pushed Rollan through the door into a dark room, about the size of a closet.

It was dark inside, very dark. He heard noise coming from the other side of the wall but no light. He waited, like Ced told him to, wondering all the while What in the world is happening? He waited and waited. All of a sudden, a scraping sound came from behind him, the sound of wood scratching on wooden flooring. Before he knew it, he felt arms, big arms, wrap around him and a hand close over his mouth. He started struggling but before he knew it, his arms were behind his back and he felt iron manacles clink onto his wrists. Something like cloth wrapped around his head and if it hadn't been too dark to see before, it certainly was now. He felt fingers moving across the hood on his face. They felt for his nose and then heard a snikt as a small hole opened in the hood under his nose and with that, something closed over his mouth. Blood started pumping in his ears and he started struggling. He tried to make sounds outside of just grunts, growls and unintelligible sounds, but it was nothing doing. He felt his feet get bound, arms went under his and he felt himself getting dragged down what seemed to have been a crooked hallway to the back of the dark room. It must have doubled back around the wall, into the room with the light.

He heard wood scrape again. A door, he thought. The noise from a mass of people assaulted his ears. The men (he assumed they were men) held him still as he struggled and strained against them. He felt what must have been a large fist slam into his stomach, doubling him over, leaving him hanging by their large arms. He heard footsteps approaching.

"This the one?" said the man who had Rollan's left arm.

"That's the one. He'll do just fine."

The voice belonged to Cedric.

Rollan struggled harder, still winded by the blow to the gut. What was happening? What was this?

He felt the men drag him up some steps onto what must have been a stage. They held him up and he had a feeling he was on display.

"Gentlemen," said a voice that projected around the room. "We have another fine specimen here! Good for any kind of work you'd need and not sickly like some of the poor shows you've seen brought in here tonight!" There was some chuckling, and some jeers. "We've got a man here who looks a good six foot and some, 'bout... two hundred pounds, maybe a bit more. Good strong stock, not much else need be said! The bidding starts at fifteen gold pieces!"

I'm being sold! It was in that moment that Rollan felt at once both furious and afraid. But then, he supposed, it made some sense. Robbing folks could only get you so far, especially sticking to one town or city. To the Hells with this. He started struggling and thrashing against his bonds, like a fish being held by the fins.

"Sixteen!" yelled someone in the crowd.
"Eighteen!" yelled another.
"Twenty one!" yelled someone else.
"Twenty five!"
"Thirty and five!"
"Forty two!"
"Sixty!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Eighty five" said a solid voice near the front.

Someone in the crowd gasped.

"Filthy rich son of a-"

"Eighty five is the bid! Anyone else! Going once!"

bang

"Going twice!"

bang

"Sold! To the lord here in front!"

"Grrrrmmmmph! Muurrnnnnnnmmmmmmph!" Rollan bellowed against the fabric over his mouth.

BOOM! A hard blow landed square in his stomach. He felt all his air rush out of his mouth and nose as he fell to his knees, folded over.

CRACK! He felt a sharp impact on the back of his head, saw nothing but white, swooned and hit the wood platform with a dull thud.