Word Count : 1574

👀👀👀👀   Oops- my hand slipped.

-
UPDATE : This full chapter is now on Ao3 under Powder404! Go find it if you wish!
-

The huge wooden cart wheels were planted on the ground and the chains around his midsection were starting to get really painful. How long had he been in their captivity? Was it six months? Was it a year? He wasn't exactly sure anymore. But he had been in this weird, pretty court yard since early this morning. 

He could tell that his seller or enslaver wasn't happy about the early time but nevertheless they were both here.

There were people- fancy looking people- passing by the cage he was in. His seller was desperately trying to get their attention. None of them paid him any mind though. He wasn't sure if he should be glad they weren't paying attention to his seller or he should feel insulted that they didn't wanna hear anything about him. 

Nobles continued to pass by. They were pointing to items and other prisoners and they were talking to others in funny, colorful costumes about things that he didn't understand. But they were pointing and describing other prisoners that were also in cage boxes. 

After a while, he turned his head ever slightly to the right. 

More people had begun funneling out of two massive doors. They all must have originally come from inside the huge castle thing. Some people even stopped and turned around, peering inside the castle before continuing their stroll into the courtyard. 

Why they stopped and turned around he would never really know. 

After watching all the people he simply closed his eyes and turned his head down, doing his best to curl up in the most manageable ball he could muster. He thought he felt himself drift off to sleep despite all the bustling people running to and fro. For how long he had gone out he had no idea. 

"Interested in this beaute of a bird, your highness?" 

He opened his blue colored eyes. 

Multiple people were now standing in front of his cage. Four people to be exact, four men. 

There was one with a tan grey, baggy shirt. Black straps held up grey pants and a brown scarf was wrung around his neck. He had brown hair and a beard and he had a black piece of cloth wrapped over his left eye hiding it from view. Though his visible eye was a light brown. 

Standing next to that man was a shorter one. This man was wearing one of those funny costumes that some of the other people were wearing except this one wasn't as colorful and he didn't have as crazy of a hat on his head, simply a fun beanie hat. He had pale skin that had scars littering his cheeks and near to his eyes. His eyes were a brownish green. 

The third man was wearing an outfit that made him look like a mix between a chef and one of those servers with a white shirt and puffy sleeves and one of those aprons tied around his waist. Blond hair sat somewhat unkept on his head and he had strikingly purple colored eyes, even if they weren't as defined. 

The final man was the tallest. He wore much fancier clothing and he stood like he held a lot of power. Sharp black eyes pierced every defence that his blue eyed victim had with frightening ease and this final man was the only one to not break eye contact with him. Black hair was skewed every which way on his head. 

"What kind of bird is… He? She?" The tallest man finally questioned. The other's eyes were now all back on him though he did not return their gazes. 

The seller gave an eager grin, like he had been waiting for someone to ask him that all day. In a way he had been but nobody would have asked him willingly until this particular royal. 

"Well I'm glad you asked your highness. This lovely is a double winged harpy. A difficult one to nag but he's a sight to behold ain't he?" 

The man in the funny costume gave a glance to the royal before looking back at him. "I'll admit the-the harpy is very beautiful." 

"You bet your Adams apple on it, clown." The seller bragged, giving a cocky, toothy grin towards the funny costume wearer. 

The prince and the man in the funny costume both physically cringed at the name call, but neither spoke up. 

"Does this harpy have a name?" Questioned the man with the brown scarf, looking toward the seller. 

The seller gave a hard glare back at the man, as if he was offended by the man speaking to him. "Don't you have a horse's shit to clean up, stable boy?" 

The harpy watched as the prince's eyes narrowed then shifted over to the seller in what appeared to be a barely controlled fit of rage, despite appearing very blank in expression and attitude. 

"If you dare talk to him like that again, I'll have your tongue torn from your mouth and strung to a necklace." The prince snapped harshly. The tone clearly stated that the prince would have his threat carried out if the seller wasn't careful. 

The harpy watched the seller flinch from shock before falling silent with a slight nod of his head with understanding. That alone allowed the harpy to also understand what type of person this tall man was. A man with a short fuse and with enough power to demand harm to another and succeed. 

The man with the apron looked up warily at the prince after the small outburst. His hands were cupped together in front of him as if it were his natural standing position. "Do you… wish to purchase this harpy, your highness?" 

The royal's black eyes turned away from the seller and back onto the harpy who mildly shrunk away from them in his cage. The royal's eyes may have appeared dead but there was some sort of story there, even if it was deeply shrouded in a cold exterior. 

The black haired prince suddenly spoke up after a pause of consideration. "What's the cost?" 

The seller turned his head up again but he still kept it dipped down in a meeker position than before. "The price for this bird? Well I'd say ol' Grian here is worth at least five hundred gold pieces or even more, your highness." 

Grian. Right. That was his name, Grian. He had forgotten again hadn't he? 

The prince turned towards the man with the apron. "You'll have to make do with the five hundred. Zedaph if you would." 

The man with the apron, Zedaph, reached back and pulled out a leather pouch that was possibly hidden in an extra pocket on his person. He went to wordlessly hand the pouch to the prince. 

The seller stuttered his protest. "Your highness! This bird is obviously worth so much more than a measly five hundred. Besides, the gold would greatly help an old suffering man and his community like myself. Wouldn't you agree?" 

With a scrunched brow, the seller gestured with his hands semi-dramatically to help him better explain his reasoning. He stepped up in front of Grian's cage and forward towards the prince. 

Grian craned his head to observe the prince. He watched the royal stop where he was, then turn towards the seller with an angry looking expression. He pushed the leather pouch back towards Zedaph before turning fully to the much shorter merchant. Threateningly, the prince stalked up until he was standing directly in front of Grian's seller. He was obviously using his towering height to the fullest advantage he could. 

"You assault my followers with your words, you brag endlessly over the mistreatment of your 'product', you lie to woo pity from me as if you have no idea how I act in the first place and now you demand that I pay a more 'generous' fee than what I've already offered to give you." 

One of the prince's followers- the one with the brown scarf- visibly cringed. He hesitantly reached a hand up and towards the taller man. "Mumbo- er- your highness. Let's just be rational here! There's no need for a violent outcome." 

Grian watched as Zedaph and the funny costume wearer ducked their heads and remained silent. The harpy then turned his attention back to the prince and the seller, who looked absolutely terrified with his back now against the wooden posts on his cage. 

After a moment of hot tension, the prince, Mumbo, gave a soft sigh as he visibly relaxed and calmed down. Mumbo took a step away from the shorter man. 

The man with the brown scarf stepped up to Mumbo, placing a hand on his forearm. Grian listened as he spoke something in some weird gibberish to the prince that the harpy didn't understand, though according to the attentiveness of the tallest man, he understood the gibberish. 

"Sold… t-to the young prince, Mumbo Jumbo, for-for five hundred gold." The merchant stuttered out. "Take good care of Grian, your highness." 

-

Fin

Oh yeah- this isn't even the beginning. It's the middle of the first chapter and there are about 2,000+ more words that are added to this on the google doc its sitting on.

>:)  ya'll is just gonna have to wait till it's on Ao3-

(which I will announce btw, I'm not that cruel)