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A handful of creatures of mixed race pulled a platform on wheels out from the building.
The creatures were small, thin, and wiry.
Slaves, unless I missed my guess.
There was a resigned and helpless look about them.
Chains linked the collars at their necks and spiked cuffs about their ankles.
On the platform sat the biggest creature I had ever seen.
He was another pig but gargantuan in all aspects.
His huge stomach never seemed to end as the platform turned to face us.
His head was of a regular size and looked tiny on his bulbous frame.
He didn’t wear the black robes of the other pigs and instead sported white flowing robes cut from sheer fabric not dissimilar from that the Prizes wore back at Ikmal prison.
There were so many layers, they gave at least some protection against his rolls of fat underneath.
His arms were short and stumpy and hung uselessly at his sides.
The slaves pulled the platform across the desert floor—not an easy job when the sand kept slipping and giving way beneath their feet.
Luckily for them, most of the ground had been hardened by a thousand stamping feet.
“Behold, Draw the great!” Piggy said, waving his arms and bowing once more.
The slaves drew to a stop before us and quickly ran around to the front.
They bent down on their hands and knees and braced themselves as the giant pig used them as steps to descend to the ground below.
Draw looked me and Egara over.
He didn’t look impressed.
“Greetings, fair travelers,” he said. “Welcome to my humble merchant shop. We have everything your heart never even knew it desired.”
Egara surprised me when he bowed low, his body adopting a poise and style he’d never shown before.
“We are honored to be in your presence,” he said, making his voice light and lofty.
“I understand you are interested in discussing trade,” Draw said.
“We are. Some time ago, you came across a shuttlecraft in the middle of the desert. It is a C-class craft and of little value. I wish to have it back.”
Draw snorted and glanced at Piggy, who did not smile.
Egara smiled amiably.
“What we find, we keep, as per the law of the land,” Draw said.
He smelled strongly of perfume that’d been doused over his sweaty body, measured in buckets, not droplets.
“That’s true,” Egara said, “except this shuttlecraft already had an owner. Me. It was left by my crew.”
Draw’s eyes slid over to me and a greasy smile slid across his fat lips.
