As the caravan settled in after arriving the first day Benaiah knew that the following night would be raucous indeed.
Once a large caravan stopped over all of the local area residents would gear up to have a good time. The caravans were a nice diversion to the same old same old of the daily, local, routine of life.
Benaiah used to run down to the caravan gatherings when he was a younger boy, all excited  to hear news of far away places, see the new animals and see the new people traveling with the caravans and he would see the slaves and the slave market.
“I’m older now,” he thought, “no need to hurry down, evening will be here soon enough.”
Throughout the second day the oasis swelled with people and visitors from quite a ways away as they heard this was an especially large caravan and had plenty to offer.
As the sun started to set Benaiah could hear the slave trader who owned the peculiar slave calling for challengers for a fight he was setting up for later.
Benaiah as a boy liked learning and playing games with the children traveling with the caravans. Games of all types. Everything from foot racing, staff throwing, using slings and stones for accuracy and rock throwing.
Other games required a bit more maturity, like the games of Janbiya, Munqila or tossing hajar alnurds for all sorts of stakes.
Benaiah did not play the gambling games, he would play the strength games, the skill games, even the strategy games and he especially liked to watch, well it wasn’t so much a game, he liked to watch the bartering exchanges between the locals and the caravan traders. Benaiah liked how at the end of the exchanges, regardless of how heated they got or not, he liked how each party going their separate way acted as if he had made the deal of the century.
The horse traders were the most shrewd.
Then came the fight organizer.
Benaiah had learned from his Grandfather that in everything concerning people, what you think you see is not necessarily what you are looking at, and that no matter how sweet someone made a deal sound he could not forget that each person ‘wants’ something to begin with.
He did not have dealings with these type of men yet as his father and grandfather handled the wealth of the family and cared for their needs. He would watch… and learn.
Benaiah liked to watch the fights and try to learn new moves when he saw something that seemed to work or looked new to him or others.
As the sun went down and his sheep were settled for the night Benaiah made his way down the hill toward the market area, he wanted a closer look at those very fine horses and he would work his way around to the fight area as it looked like they were setting up away from the caravan over near where the peculiar slave was chained up.
Benaiah didn’t even have a foot in the market area and he was accosted by a multitude of hagglers, tradesmen and even local traders trying to get him to buy their wares.
Benaiah confidently made his way through the throng looking at all of the different items, some very nice and well made and others… not so much.
He was examining a fine looking, slender sword, a design he had not seen before when he heard quite the racket raise up at the other end of the caravan, in the area of the fight circle, looking over his shoulder he wondered what would cause that.
He was near the horses so he laid the sword down on the merchants rugs and stepped over to admire them.
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