Chapter 16

I don’t know if I’m crying from relief or delight. When I leave my room the next morning I find Amina standing by my door ready to hand me the bag containing the stones. She has chosen to stay despite it meaning her irrevocable surrender to slavery. I don’t question her decision since I’ve already said everything I can say on the subject. I accept the bag and tell her to help prepare breakfast. I return inside my room and collapse onto the bed.

I suppose my reaction is because Amina is like me in many respects, despite each of us having a completely different childhood. Her temperament and attitudes are a lot like my own, which sometimes makes me feel as though I’m dealing with myself. I’m pleased that Amina chose to stay, but I wouldn’t have thought any less of her if she had chosen to leave.

After breakfast the tattoo artists I hire to place slave-marks on newly enslaved women arrive. I don’t make any announcement to the slaves and simply have each batch of slaves to be tattooed assembled at the appropriate time. Amina and her older sisters make up the first batch. Only Amina knows that today is when she, Hafsat, Makina and Farai officially become slaves. Only Hafsat objects to being tattooed. Her complaints are soon silenced when I show her the whip she will be experiencing later if she continues to resist. All the new slaves are similarly tattooed during the course of the morning.

By the next day we have established a routine that we keep up until the day before the auction. As usual, I invite Tabib, Yasir and Jona to preview those I intend to sell tomorrow. The six new untrained slaves are of no interest to the buyers, but Beyza and Nazli attract a couple of decent offers from Jona. I haggle over the price and he eventually increase his offer to an acceptable amount. At one hundred and five solidi apiece, I’ve made a decent profit on the two women. I dismiss the six new slaves and I tell Beyza and Nazli to say their farewells to the others. While they do that, I complete the paperwork with Jona.

Yasir doesn’t wait but Tabib delays his departure. Jona leaves as soon as Beyza and Nazli return and the exchange of collars is completed.

“I understand you have purchased seventeen new western slaves,” says Tabib.

“Yes. It’s hardly a secret. Marching a coffle of seventeen naked women through the city streets is bound to attract attention.”

“I presume the six you presented today are the ones you don’t think are worth training. I agree with your assessment. You’ll be doing well to get twenty apiece. Twenty-five for the long haired blond if you are lucky. Even trained they would struggle to command more than thirty solidi.”

“Hmm. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow,” I reply, unsure what Tabib is driving towards. His assessment is similar to mine, but I’m not going to agree until I know what he proposes.

“Of course, you have the Halls of Valhalla’s reputation to consider. You don’t normally trade such inferior stock on the open market. It might depress the value of any slaves you want to sell later.”