The snake like young man strode forward and spoke up.� "What of these other worms?"� Jace straightened from his kneeling, and watched the young man as he approached, the girl in black following close behind."Child, Elis spoke naught of them.� Though it looks to me as if that large one is not affected by the curse."� The woman spoke again, no longer in the venomous tone from before but like that of a doting mother."May I take that slave?� I would like very much to see how much pain a human female can take before dying."� Something atrocious just left the foul young man`s mouth.� Jace pushed Sam behind him again, knowing it was futile but not knowing what else to do.His mind was racing in circles. 燞e knew he couldn`t win a battle against these people. 燞e didn`t even know where to start. 燘ut he really couldn`t believe his life would end here. 營t all seemed so pointless.�"Torturing pets to death?� Disgusting.� What have you taught this boy of yours Verna?"� Surprisingly one of the other blood splattered Kindred spoke up in objection.� The woman Verna looked irritated at the comment and who it came from, then looked at her son."If you want something child you must pay for it, I did not raise a thief.� Talk to the slave girl`s master and reach a compromise."� More horrible words came from the horrible redheaded woman`s mouth.牋Jace`s mind kept running and running around in circles trying to think of a way out of this situation with his life in tact.� He even for a brief shameful moment had a thought about abandoning Sam to these monsters if it meant he could live through this.� However that was only a moment, it wasn`t until this moment he realized there were some things that were worth more then his life.� Pride, he`d rather die as a good person then as filth.� If his journey was to end here, then he`d do it with his head high, not begging on his knees.� Of course if begging would keep me alive...` he thought.營t seemed爐here were some limits to his pride. The Kindred youth strode forward and looked at Jace, then he pulled out a single coin called a "Tal" after "Talon" for "dragon`s talon", even with the old king long gone the currency was still named after him.� His mind ran in circles on some irrelevant trivia, which he didn`t fully remember, as he couldn`t recall why exactly it was called a dragon talon, or how that related to coins.� The coin of course was gold.� And from what he knew of the world`s currency, 10 human slaves wouldn`t be enough flesh for a single tal of gold.� So the boy was technically and massively overpaying for her.He shook his head.� "She`s not for sale." This time he purposefully spoke those words in the dragon language.� He wanted to change the situation, and the eyes of these Kindred didn`t see him as an equal.� As long as they saw him as a creature to be trampled he probably would be trampled if they got irritated enough.The kindred boy scowled.� "Everything is for sale.� This is far too much for a human slave.� Are you an idiot?"� He spoke back in the dragon tongue.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.Truthfully this was a poorly considered course of action, entering into negotiations in a language he couldn`t say he was proficient in.� The mother stepped in at this point.� "Look at the humans, see how he is shielding her and that white robe?� He is in love with this slave, my child.� Of course he`d reject an offer of a single tal."燭he young man smirked and nodded.� "Everything is for sale.� I want to know what your price is for this woman, at what point does a human sell his love?"� He took a pouch of coins off his belt and upended it into his palm.� 20 or 30 Tals of gold were resting in his hand.It didn`t take Jace a second to shake his head. "Not for sale." "Nonsense.� I`d sell my own sister for this amount of gold.� My slave isn`t even worth this much gold.� How stupid do you sound?"� The boorish young man complained.� The woman had a look of irritation on her face.� "Forget about it.� I will buy you a slave girl so you can torment to death later.� Leave it be." "But I want this one, I want to do it here.� I want to pull her arms off and watch her scream while this worm watches, a bag of gold in his hands& "� Monstrous young man started complaining.Jace`s nerves were on edge, he noted that the other kindred were going to be no help, they mostly seemed like they saw the whole thing distasteful.� But what really bothered him was the mother`s eyes when the kid started whining.� He had a bad premonition that she was the type of mother who gave in to her little monster`s every selfish whim.� He knew the only reason the young monster was even talking and not simply taking her was because of his mother.� If she decided talking was pointless she might kill him herself.� Still he couldn`t see a good way out of this without selling Sam.Shaking his head, he spoke quietly.� "You`ll have to kill me if you want her." The young man looked at the mother pleadingly.� The mother glanced at the other kindred.� The young man seemed to have an idea and grinned viciously.� "I know a way to solve this.� We can play Meri`ack for her.� If I win, I get your slave, if you win you get this gold."Jace made a face.� Meri`ack was not a game he could win against a Kindred. 營t was a kindred game after-all.� He beat Teral before by relying on alcohol and waiting for Teral`s adrenalin to wear out and shock to set in.� When shock starts to set in it becomes hard to hold your blade steady, your hands shake too much, furthermore your will erodes.� He was relying on some very amateur understanding of human biology to defeat Teral.� He had no knowledge about kindred biology.� While they were human-dragon hybrids, he knew their bodies were nowhere near as weak as a human.� Still he needed a way out, a path to victory before the mom just slaughtered him. �Unfortunately he couldn`t figure out what that might be.