Alex was still reading the signs when he felt something nip at his neck. "Stupid bugs..." He muttered as he moved his hand to swat at whatever had decided he was going to be a snack, but his eyes widened as he brushed feathers. He tugged those, plucking the thing from his neck and holding it up in front of him. "A dart..?" His vision was getting blurry and his thoughts slow.
"Got him!" He heard a voice shout from behind him. He turned to see a man standing several yards away, a blowgun in hand. He wore just a pair of leather pants and boots, his blond hair short but with a large scruffy beard. "Lucky us! Random stray in the woods!" The man called back over his shoulder.
"Who..?" Alex muttered before he fell to the forest floor, leaves cushioning his fall. He felt rough, calloused hands grabbing at his arms, lifting him up. He tried to fight, but there was no strength left in his muscles. Eventually he simply blacked out.
He woke up to rattling. He was laying on a hard wooden floor but it was shaking. He opened his eyes, blinking away bleariness as he tried to gather his thoughts. He had been in the woods, then.. the dart. He looked around him. Bars. There were three other young men in the cage with him, naked, and the cage was.. a cart. He could see buildings going past, some people. Had he been kidnapped?
He sat up. There were people! "Hel.." He started to shout, only to feel something zap him in one of his nipples. It was more shocking than painful, but it was enough to cause his whole body to spasm. He lifted a hand and touched the spot on his chest the jolt had come from, a ring pierced his right nipple. He noticed all the others in the cage with him had the same piercing.
"No talking." Came a gruff voice from behind him. "First jolt is a warning, they get worse the more you disobey." Alex turned to see the blond, bearded man he saw in the woods walking next to the cart. He was large and muscular, though a bit on the dirty side. Alex said nothing as he turned back around, leaning back against he bars of his cage. What had he gotten into?
Another guard, this one with long black hair walked along the other side of the cart, and one man he could only see the back of sat in the driver's seat. The town they were going through looked almost like some medieval faire, though as Alex watched people passed he noticed two peculiar things. Not all were human, but everyone was male. Many walked around shirtless in the warm day, some wearing as little as a loincloth. No one blinked twice at the cage of four naked men.
The other three in the cage were all like Alex, in their early twenties, though the youngest might have been eighteen or nineteen. They ranged from thin and lanky, to one man who was as brawny as their guards. None of them met his eyes, all keeping their gaze down. Alex had so many questions, but no ability to ask anything.
They passed from a a street through the town into what looked like a market square. The finally set up at one side of the market and tossed some food and water skins into the cage. After they had been fed, buckets of clean water from the well in the center of the market square were splashed over all four of them, getting them as clean as possible. Alex tired to make another sound of protest, but the second jolt was indeed worse than the first, causing his jaw to lock up. Cleaned and fed, only then did the man who had been the driver start hawking his wares. Them.
"Slaves! Clean, young, and with full legal documentation!" He only called out to obviously wealthy individuals. One finally did stop by the cage, motioning to the brawniest of them. The head slaver gleefully motioned for the big guy to get out of the cage, where he stood silent as he was looked over. "This one sold himself to us for money to save his family farm. Good lad, strong, hard working. The self-sold always are the easiest to deal with."
"Does he know how to fight. I need a bodyguard." The wealthy man asked.
"Answer him." The slaver commanded, tapping one of the rings on his finger.
"A little, sir. I can learn, sir." The brawny man's voice was hoarse with disuse.
"Hmm.. a discount then since I'll need to have him trained?"
"We aren't selling gladiators, these are come as they are." The two started haggling, and all Alex could do was sit and listen. Hell, all the brawny guy could do was stand and listen as they decided his fate. Finally a price of 600 gold coins was agreed on, and a ring went from the slaver to the buyer. The new owner barked an order and he fell in with the rest of the retinue, following along meekly.
Alex glanced back to the slaver. He was wearing three more rings like that one. That must be how he was controlling their... extra jewelry to shock them.
Maybe Alex could get that ring off of him..