One Thousand Pieces of Gold

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Author's note: The following is a teaser  introduction to a story I've   
been  working on for way too long.  I hope you enjoy.  If your looking
for the full version that once was here, thanks for looking again, but
the story is  about to begin it's final transformation into it's novel 
form.  As it's author, and a story teller,  I hope you'll find it well 
worth the wait. 



As Steve once said,  I hope to see ya round' the corner.  In the dark. 

Phantomgraph };8>


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Then  the auctioneer  began. "Now  how about  this fine  specimen. Lot
number 18679  on sale for  theft. All digits and  appendages undamaged
intact except for the left horn and ear."

Tannin held as much  of his pride as he could, but  it never ceased to
amaze  him how  casually the  auctioneer put  his  disfigurements. His
cervine  horn of course  would grow  back the  following year  and was
broken when  the guards  pulled him to  the ground  but the ear  was a
price of  a much  longer battle.  His  ear had gotten  frostbitten one
night sleeping  out in  the cold  and the old  memories of  him waking
looking at part of his ear in his memories flooded over him.

Tannin didn't  want to cry, and it  took every bit of  his resolve not
too.  He simply stood there as proudly as he could and listened to the
proceedings.

"OK this is the  final bid on this lot, do I  here three hundred gold,
any one  give me three hundred  gold?" The auctioneer  called out into
the crowd.

The  crowd was  silent. And  the last  of Tannin's  hope  finally left
him. He knew he  was done and although he only closed  his eyes for an
instant he knew the tears  would follow quickly and they did, spilling
down his face and dripping off onto ground before him.

And the  auctioneer droned on  in the background  "Do I hear  275? Two
hundred and seventy five?..."

Tannin listened and  offered up a simple prayer  to whatever god would
listen. "Please god,  just one gold more than  two hundred, I'll never
ask for anything more." He whispered, his hot tears still flowing.

Someone  in the  crowd  called out  and  for a  moment Tannin's  heart
leap. "I'll  give a shinny copper piece for the mine  meat." the voice
said, and the other bidders laughed.

Tannin's heart broke  in a million little pieces like  a fine piece of
crystal falling on a stone floor.

"Come on,"  another bidder  said, "default this  one to the  mines and
lets get on with it."

Although Tannin did not see it, the auctioneer nodded and looked sadly
over to Tannin. "Very well, as  this is the last bidding for this lot,
Do I hear two hundred and one pieces of gold?"

Tannin  lowered his  head repeating  his prayer  with an  empty heart,
praying for a miracle he could not quite find the hope to believe in.

The  auctioneer looked  out  into  the crowd  and  nodded. "Very  well
entered to  the default bid  of two hundred  gold to the  Lamar mining
company, going once..."

Tannin broke..  and fell to  his knees in  tears. Some of  the bidders
laughed and others  ushered the auctioneer to get on  with it, but the
auctioneer  kept his professionalism  and left  the correct  amount of
time between callings.

"Going twice...."

Tannin pleaded cupping his hands  behind his back hoping that the gods
weren't listening cause he hadn't clasped his hands.

"Very well.. " the auctioneer began but was interrupted.

A single  very firm  voice came from  the very  back of the  crowd. It
flowed  over the  bidders and  stopped the  auctioneer's gavel  like a
rock. "One thousand pieces of gold." It said simply.

The  bidders  parted  and  turned   to  look  at  the  source  of  the
voice. Cloaked  in mystery was  a figure wearing  a blue cloak  with a
hood. From the hood stuck the  end tip of what was obviously a dracine
nose.  The  voice was  male,  but other  than  that  carried no  other
intones.

"Sir," the  auctioneer began.  "The default bid  is for 200  pieces of
gold. You only need to bid over that amount for this slave."

"I said" the voice called back calmly, "One thousand pieces of gold."

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