Chains. Rust. Blood. Sweat. The common sights and smells of an overused slave trade post. His head bowed down low in the hot summer sun's heat, hands bound together with large, thick, strong iron shackles. His once gorgeous long red hair was matted and held large clumps of dirt and mud, obviously not well cared for. Large beads of sweat rolled down the back of his neck and down the sides of his face, leaving streaks of cleanliness where filth had resided. He preoccupied himself by watching the peoples feet shuffle around on the dirt road, looking for the perfect servant to fill their wants and needs. A few times people had stopped and inquired about the mysterious red head, but ended up walking away apparently thinking he was not to their liking. Maybe if his current master bothered to clean him up every once in a while, he wouldn't have such a horrid impression on potential buyers, but he knew that this would never happen. His owner could hardly handle himself.

He stared unconsciously at a pair of fine leather boots with a fur trim that had stopped before him. One of the well dressed feet nudged him gently, trying to assess the pitiful being in front of him. The poor slave was snapped back into reality when a thin hand grabbed his chin and pulled his face up. The young man sitting on the ground was forced to make eye contact with a gray haired youth about his own age. He was dressed quite nicely, in fine blue silks and satins.

"Name" asked the man to the slaves owner, his curious eyes still on the red headed captive.

"Joshua. If he had a last name, it's been forgotten." Came the drunken voice of the man Joshua was forced to call master.

"Hn…" he twisted Joshua's face left, right, up and down, trying to get a good impression of the boy. "Is he good?"

The slave owner shifted feet as he thought about where to rate his 'pet'.

"With culinary and cleaning skills, he's a 2 on a scale of 5…" he drawled "He's good with manual labor such as cutting wood 'n stuff. And in bed…"

"Yes?" the gray haired man that had been looking at Joshua's face was now eye level with the man trying to sell him.

"I'd give him a 5 or so."

"Ah. You speak from experience, I presume?"

Joshua stiffened and looked back at the elegantly dressed man's feet.

"Yea, I guess you could say that."

"If he's so good, why are you selling him?"

The bald man laughed "Ran out of money to buy booze with"

"I see. On your feet, boy, your coming with me."

Joshua didn't move as his legs had suddenly turned to lead. Why would a rich, beautiful man want a pitiful, filthy rotten slave like him?

When he did not rise for another few minutes, his previous master wrenched his hand in Joshua's nasty hair and pulled him painfully to his feet. His new master merely watched silently. Joshua winced painfully as the man brought him up and would not look at either of them. The bald man put his arm around Joshua's waist and brought him close so that he could whisper into his ear.

Joshua quickly broke free from his grasp and stood between the two of them, staring down at his feet.

"How much?" the silver haired buyer asked.

"2500" the drunk said, folding his arms across his chest, looking smug as though he were cheating the other man out of his gold.

The elegant man scrutinized the balding man with intense eyes and finally drew out his gold pouch. He looked at it and weighed it in his palm, tossing it up in the air lightly. At first Joshua thought he wasn't going to buy him after all, but received a pleasant shock when the man tossed the entire pouch to the old man.

"He's worth a lot more then that." Came his cold voice.

"Heh," the old man smiled a not so toothy grin "whatever you say mister, whatever you say." He tossed Joshua's new owner the chain leash that connected to his shackles and turned away to count his gold. Joshua stared at the man who had just bought him with disbelief. How is it a man who appeared to have everything and enough money to get it want a man who could neither cook nor clean or have any other skills that mattered in this world? A thought crossed through his mind, giving him a slight shiver: Just how old is this guy? He didn't look much older then himself, but with such thick gray hair? He wasn't too sure…

As if on cue, the man turned his sharp eyes on Joshua, who involuntarily took a step back.

"I'm Innes."

"Oh…ok…" Joshua didn't really have much to say.

Without waiting for a response, however, Innes turned and made his way through the slave trade, Joshua trailing along behind him. As crowded as it was, he was not bumped into once. The people seemed to step aside when they saw Innes come by, some even tipped their hats, which caused Joshua to wonder yet again, just who was this man?

"I wasn't planning to make a purchase today, I was only going to pass through and be on my way, so I only brought one horse."

Joshua shrugged, he had been dragged behind many horses in his time and by now he could keep up with a trotting horse for quite a distance.

"Do you need a leg up?" Innes asked, turning to face Joshua. Startled by the question, Joshua only stared at him blankly. Innes repeated the question.

"W-what?" Joshua said, looking at the horse then back to Innes.

Innes sighed patiently and rubbed his eyes.

"There's one horse, and two men. You do the math."

"Are we…are we both going to ride it?"

"Bright kid. Now, do you need a leg up or no?"

Joshua looked at the shackles around his wrists and looked up at the tall horse. "I've never ridden a horse…" he muttered, turning back to Innes.

Innes smiled and got down on his knee. He cupped his hands and waited for Joshua. "Hold onto that hump on the saddle and put your left foot in my hands. Then, after I heave you up you'll swing your right leg over the saddle."

Joshua clasped the place on the saddle Innes mentioned and hesitantly put his foot into Innes' delicate looking hands.

"Ready?"

"I guess so…"

"Alright, on three then. 1…2…3!" he heaved Joshua up and he stretched his leg over. He winced slightly as he came to rest on the horses wide back. Innes swung up and sat in front of Joshua, who scotched back a bit to give Innes room.

"If you need, you can put your hands on my waist for balance." With that, Innes gently nudged the horse into a slow walk as they made their way through the bustling crowd without much conversation.

"How peaceful are you in the fact that I just bought you?" Innes questioned over the shouts of the slave market.

"I…I've been exchanged many times. I guess…" he fell silent.

"How good are you in bed? Your previous owner seemed to give you a high rating."

Joshua turned red as he recalled the awful events his ex-master put him through on that rickety thing he called a bed.

"He'd give a monkey a high rating…" he said sheepishly.

Innes laughed good naturedly.

"It seems I'm going to have to do an examination then."

"Oh…well…I um…" he turned a furious crimson red and nearly fell off the horse. He quickly saved his fall by grabbing ahold of Innes' waist.

They breaked through the crowds at least and a cool wind blew, blowing back his tangled hair innocently. A bird sang cheerily in a nearby tree and Joshua felt at peace, until Innes picked up the pace.