The sandstorm dulled to a light dusting by first noon, and they were off. Vanessa found herself tightly bound, consistently. Her curiosity nagged her to see what this settlement would be like. He didn't seem intent on harming her, he didn't blindfold her, she could see where she was and where she was headed, there was no urgency to get away.
For the next several days, Vanessa noted the geography carefully. She was led through rocky terrain, over what she would describe as small mountain ranges. The land was strange, but sustained more life than the desert did. The occasional cacti or lizard dotted the landscape.
Days into the journey, when their supplies were nearly gone, she saw a glitter off in the distance.
"This is the settlement," Vince described, smiling wide. "Good to be home, isn't it?" he added, laughing. "I sure missed it. It'll be good to see the family again, I'm sure they're still as poor and desperate as ever. That's why I was out there, you know. Where we met."
The settlement was expansive, with homes of stones and scrap as far as she could see. Shaded by high rock formations, the settlement was abuzz with activity in the afternoon cooling. Some people shouted to them and ran about. Vince led the toma to a large structure at the edge of the settlement, where a large man was stationed at a doorway. Dirty little children were pointing at Vanessa and making faces.
"This is your stop, little lady," Vince mentioned. "I've got mouths to feed, maybe they won't go hungry now. Trying to feed them before got me stuck out in the wasteland, but now everything should be ok. For a while, at least."
Stuck in the wasteland…to feed his family? Why would a person wander so far out, no supplies or transport, scavenging for food? she wondered.
Vince halted the toma and hobbled onto the sand to retrieve Vanessa. "Sure you're tired of the ropes, but don't worry, no more of them." Leaning down, he untied her thighs and shins with his free hand, leaving her to stand on her own with only her ankles bound. "It's been fun, miss. Sorry 'bout the treatment, but I'm sure you understand. It's for my family." He smiled, and nodded to the large man.
The strange man was obviously very strong, muscular, with tattooing on his bare chest. He said nothing, simply opened the door he was planted near, and handed Vince a pair of cuffs.
Vanessa's heart dropped.
Working around the ropes, Vince secured one separate cuff tightly around each of her wrists and ankles. The large man shoved Vanessa inside a dark room. She could see Vince mounting the toma cart, and the door shut.
She felt her body pulled backward, into the room, by her wrists and ankles. She stumbled, trying not to fall, tugged until a loud clang rang out and she was stuck. At her back, it felt cold, like a metal pole. The cuffs must be magnetic, she realized, ears trained on any clue of her situation. It was dark and hot in there, musty with the smell of a barn. Men's voices murmured through the walls.
Moments passed until she heard a creak and light shone in, as if a door had opened behind her. One by one, the windows opened. A young girl was going along the wall, pulling on cords to lift window covers on one wall. The room was bright with the suns, illuminating the girl's fiery red hair. The girl turned to face Vanessa, a bundle of cloth and scissors in her arms. She rested her bundle on the floor.
Vanessa eyed her as the pudgy girl untied her ropes. She could hardly move. Craning her head around, Vanessa peered towards the open door. She saw a group of men with guns, watching, from the doorway.
"You look about ten, is that right?" Vanessa whispered to the girl. "What's your name?"
The girl did not respond, nor lift her eyes from her work.
"What am I here for? What's going on? I didn't do anything wrong, this man kidnapped me and now I'm here, and I just want to go home. Can you help me, please? I want to see my family again, I have a-" Breathing in sharply, she stopped. She sounded as desperate as she was becoming.
Dropping the last of the ropes onto the floor, the girl reached for her scissors and began to cut away Vanessa's clothing.
"What are you doing?" Vanessa whispered. "Stop!"
Again eliciting no response, Vanessa felt her clothing fall away. The cold blade of the scissors was moving up her leg, slicing away her pants. It was about to leave her nude. She jerked away.
Yelping, Vanessa suddenly became very still. That scissor blade was stuck in her thigh, just a little, and the girl drew it out slowly, wiped the blood away, and continued her work. When Vanessa was exposed, the girl walked back to the door, and returned with a bottle and a cloth.
The armed men, who'd been chatting casually all the while, laughed.
The girl poured what smelled like whiskey into the cloth and into the wound, cleaning and sterilizing it. Vanessa remained still, and allowed it. The girl wrapped a bandage around Vanessa's thigh and dropped the scissors into her chest pocket. She pulled from the pocket a small slate and a chalky rock.
Looking at her teeth, her skin, her hair, her eyes, the little girl gazed with a dead expression and jotted things on the slate. Finished, the girl walked back to the door and came back to face her once more. She held out a simple dress of brown cloth, like her own tan one, and spoke softly. "Put this on, now."
Vanessa felt like crying, and suddenly her mind was full of rage.
The girl pulled a strange plastic item, like a key, from her pocket and she bent down to the base of the pole, beside Vanessa. With a turn, the magnet effect was gone, and Vanessa's body fell from the pole very suddenly, onto her knees.
Shaking, Vanessa pulled the dress over her head, over her wrist cuffs. She walked to the pole, holding out her cuffs, and waited for the girl to reach down to turn the key.
Taking the girl by surprise, Vanessa kicked the girl in the throat, then the gut, with her weighted hand, and pulled the scissors from the felled girl's pocket. She assumed a hostage-taking pose and turned to face the armed men.
Their gun barrels trained on her.
"I'll do it," she sneered, pressing the blade against the girl's throat. "I'll kill her. You give me a tomas and a week's supplies, and she lives."
A man in the back of their group held up the slate and called out, "She's worth at least twice the girl."
She heard Vince's voice from within the next room. "Don't kill her!"
"You're a slave…too…" she whispered next to the girl's ear. Vanessa's heart sunk lower, and she reluctantly dropped the scissors back into the girl's pocket.
The gunmen were laughing heartily once more. She heard one joke addressed to Vince about how he would've lost a good chunk of the profit to repay the owner of the girl.
As Vanessa stepped back to the post, she saw Vince nod, relieved. "Cow almost cost me some cows," he replied, to laughter.
The girl winced, but followed Vanessa to the post, where she reached down to reactivate the magnet.
"I'm so sorry, I would've let you go, I'm so sorry," she whispered to the girl.
The girl said nothing. Maybe that sort of thing happened to her all the time.
Once more held tight to the post, the gunmen draw back from the doorway, and two men in old suits and tattered ties walked in, with Vince.
"This, gentlemen, is Vanessa," Vince told them with a smile. "Tall and lean, muscular and of the best age, this naturally blond and lively filly will be a welcome help to any home in the settlement. Don't mind the scars, don't mind the attitude, she's a beauty and she's smart, with knowledge of traveling and medicine."
"Not exactly the subservient type, though," one of the buyers interjected, chuckling.
"That can be learned," Vince countered, smiling. "She found me in bad shape out there, gentlemen, but you see she mended my broken bones and sewed closed my wounds, and never have you seen such a quick heal!" he announced, gesturing to his healing ailments. "She even gave me potions that kept away the pain! Why, I swear by my clan that it's true. For the most sensible price of four toma, ten cows, and twenty goats, she can be yours."
One man shook his head, while the other held up a finger to Vince. "She's blind in one eye. And it hurts to look at her, gah, from ANY direction. Two toma, not four, and you have a deal."
Vince frowned. "Three."
"No, two."
Smiling, Vince nodded. "Deal, then, sir. I'll retrieve them now, then?"
"Yes you may," answered the man with the ruffled red tie as he stepped a bit closer to his new purchase.
"Treat her nice, Tamber, sir, she's special," Vince said in parting to the new owner, slapping Vanessa's rear before leaving. The metal heel of his leg splint dragged in the dirt as he exited.
Vanessa filled the air with curses and swearing terms the settlement was largely unfamiliar with, but the sound was drowned out by laughter.