The Life of Koru, Chapter 29
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No matter how hard Peon tried, he couldn't convince Chief Tariq to let him join Mulo to the war in Sahara.
The chain gang formed of Mulo, Sleaze, Fucka and many other slaves were to be sold that morning to one of the recruiting companies present in Rio.
Prior to the inspection, the slaves had to wash themselves in the courtyard under communal showers. They were even given pieces of soap to rub on their bodies, but the soap was nothing fancy. It was just crude lye soap with a strong industrial scent to cover their typical slave stench. The package of the soap clearly said: "for koru only, koru body wash", so Mulo and the other slaves carefully rubbed their chests with it, their arms, their legs, their balls and ass cracks, and especially their puckers.
They stood there clean in front of Sir Jared, in order to be taken to the market and be sold.
The slave markets in Rio were enormous as they had to host thousands of slaves and Black buyers. Naturally they were also quite dirty, so most of them were located at the outskirts of the city, basically in the same area where pigs, cattle and buffalos were also sold.
The slaves had to climb on wooden platforms when they were discussed, inspected or auctioned. There were also large platform scales to measure their collective weight, the weight of a pack. The slaves were too many to be evaluated per capita, so they were grouped into packs of four to ten slaves which were sold together.
So for example, Mulo climbed on the scales and he was 84 kg, but then Sleaze and another three slaves joined him and the weight of the pack rose to 427 kg.
"427 kilograms, recorded! Pack of five!" the scales operator yelled, handing a ticket with this information to Sir Jared.
Miss Faraja used an app on the telephone that estimated the price of the pack starting from mere weight.
That day, the rate of conversion for the city of Rio was:
"1 kg of living slave flesh: 49 cents"
I think we can get "209 shillings with this pack!" she said.
"Make it 220, because the boys are hard-working and muscular!" Sir Jared said.
And after thinking more about it, Sir Jared decided that he could get up to 250 shillings, if he negotiated well.
They moved through the crowed roads with difficulty. All around them there were auctioneers and buyers yelling out prices. There were discount sales and clearance sales -- you only had to be vigilant to spot them, because the transactions happened very fast. Some Black owners bought hundreds of slaves in one purchase, for prices so cheap, that it made you envy their investments.
Here and there, a koru slave with a loud melodic voice was instructed to advertise his herd by yelling:
"Buy us today, suhs! We'se good slaves, suhs! We'se work very hard, suhs!"
It was just cheap advertising, just as cheap as the colorful cardboard panels saying: "Buy now!", "Slaves for sale!", "Hefty workers!" and so on.
The smell of slavery was suffocating and if you were prudish, it was better to stay away from a slave market. Here, koru slaves had all their body parts checked in front of the viewers: teeth, gums, cocks and balls, nipples, assholes, tongues, soles, nothing stayed away from public scrutiny. Some slaves were asked to fuck each other in the ass right there on the wooden platform to prove their sexual capacity. Other slaves had to lift barbells, boulders or tree trunks in order to convince the buyers that they were hardy brutes. And if all else failed, the koru were asked to suck the cock of their future buyers, looking into their eyes as if they already owned them.
It was shameless debasement after shameless debasement at every corner. The koru were treated like sheer animals and nothing else. And all the time you could hear the whips of impatient overseers ordering the slaves to hurry up or do a specific task.
Sir Jared, Miss Faraja and the coffle reached an alley where war recruitment officers were buying mercenary slaves. They saw an imposing military man, who went by the name Captain Xaxa.
"250 shillings for this pack, Captain!" Sir Jared said. "You will never see better boys in the land of Brazil! Look at their chests! Look at their thick arms and legs! Damn, they are so muscular! They will fight so well in the war, that you will see it ended in no time and the Black Empire will be victorious!"
"I can't give you more than 200 shillings for this sorry pack!" Captain Xaxa said. "Your slaves are full of whip scars. Also they are ugly as fuck..."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sir Jared said. "Are you buying them for ballet at the National Opera in Lagos? No? Then why does it matter?"
"It matters because..."
But he had to stop because Miss Faraja was laughing too loudly at the joke that Sir Jared just made.
"Imagine these brutes dancing ballet on a stage, dressed in tutus!" she said.
"Yeah, and showing their ugly whip-striped backs to the public as they dance!" Captain Xaxa said, playing along. "Call the whole thing `The Bumbling Apes'!"
"Let's try it out!" Sir Jared said. "Apes, try to do these moves, look at me, on the tiptoes! Just like that!"
Sir Jared immitated the moves of a ballet dancer and did a pirouette.
The slaves were confused. They raised their arms above their heads and started moving on their tiptoes. It was an awkward shitshow, the slaves bumped into each other and almost fell off the platform.
Captain Xaxa laughed. This was exactly what Jared and Faraja wanted -- to make him interested in their merchandise through any means possible.
"Let's get to more serious things!" Captain Xaxa said. "I want to see their ability to jump!"
He held a long stick in front of the slaves and each one had to jump over it. The stick was then raised higher and higher and they still had to jump.
The slaves still wore fetters on their ankles so it was a bit hard for them, but Captain Xaxa was nevertheless impressed with their ability.
"Now I want to see them do a hundred pushups!"
They dropped to the ground in the required position and started doing pushups, while Sir Jared, Miss Faraja and Captain Xaxa continued discussing
"They seem alright!" Captain Xaxa said. "Standard plantation training, exactly what I need!"
"So do we settle for 230 shillings?" Sir Jared said.
"No, I still think they are not worth more than 210. Do they have any experience with the machete?"
"Well, of course! Every year they have to cut sugar cane with machetes!"
"Yeah, but now they will have to cut koru flesh!"
"Easier to cut, in my opinion!"
"Alright, then we settle for 220 shellings, but you take the shackles from their feet for free!"
Sir Jared agreed on that, so that evening it was the "unshoeing" of the slaves. Each one of them had to jump on the anvil of Smasher, who used hammer and chisel to break the irons down.
Mulo felt relieved when he saw that his feet were no longer connected by a chain. So he jumped and stretched his legs in the courtyard saying:
"Look, Peon! I'se free! Thank ye, bossuh Smasher!"
"No biggie!" Smasher said.
And it was clear that Mulo had suffered a lot with those fetters, because his ankles were purple from all the rubbing they endured. Mulo himself was full of marks everywhere, from his previous beatings, but he was alive and kicking, just like his feet!
Captain Xaxa saw him jumping in the yard in these moments of bliss, but didn't react negatively, he just smiled.
"What's your name, boy?"
"Mulo, suh Captain suh!" the slave said, bowing respectfully.
"You seem cheerful! Are you happy to join me?"
"Yessuh, I'se ready to go to Africa and fight!"
"And what's up with that brand on your ass?"
"I'se been marked by the Hukunta, suh Captain suh!"
"The Hukunta? Do you serve the Hukunta, boy?"
"Nosuh! I'se serve the Emperor and the Black Empire, suh Captain suh!"
Captain Xaxa found these answers satisfying. Mulo showed all the enthusiasm needed to become a good fighter.