A caravan reared into the dock of Northern Rhûn, a cart nearly losing a wheel from its one axle as they traversed across the unpaved roads. The harbor was bursting open with ships coming in from the south in Far Harad, with riches of gold and silver, and goods that would last a rather large man for the rest of his life. In fact, it was so eventful that the caravan went nearly unnoticed until it came right to the shoreline.
An old man, probably from Harad himself, leaped out of one of the chariots like one would in his youth, and gave a hearty laugh as he viewed the scene. “Go on, unload them!” he cried. “Unload them all!” He shouted so loud that even the Haradhrim working to drop off the goods on their ships turned to face him, and finally the caravan had gained attention.
“We shall have to clean them up a bit before we begin, Hlack,” said an aid that rose from the same chariot. “They are weary from the hard journey.”
“Then hurry up the process,” said Hlack. “The Haradhrim are interested as well.” Hlack turned to face the sailors. “Expect to go home with a different load!”
The aid did his best, and unloaded the caravan. It was not a convoy of creatures, however: the stock they had been carrying was people.
“Get a move on it,” cried the aid. “Wash your faces, and hurry! You don’t want to keep Hlack waiting. Scrub underneath your fingers, look presentable!” The aid, known as Darlín, was growing as impatient as Hlack was. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, for he had no interest in Rhûn or its people. These prisoners couldn’t have been slower in Darlín’s eyes than they were right now.
After what seemed like an eternity to Darlín, the prisoners looked somewhat decent. They then went out once again to where the caravan had stopped, in time to see Hlack already making a statement to the people.
“My dear Haradhrim and Easterlings!” Hlack called out. “It is a pleasure to have both clans united! Today is your lucky day! Darlín, give the people what they want.” When Hlack stepped down from a small platform near one of the ships, a great applause rang out, and Darlín came up to the stand.
“I have to agree with Hlack that you will all be very pleased ere the end of this day. We have traveled long and far to your beautiful country to bring you these prisoners. We are introducing a slave market to the people!” There was another applause, especially from the Haradhrim. “Right here on the dock, we will auction off these slaves to the highest bidder. So do not linger, and get you one before we run out!”

The dock immediately swarmed with citizens that needed help around their villages. There were strong men sold to farmers and blacksmiths. Others were sold as bookkeepers, and the smartest of the slaves became helpers to the healers, though there were not many who were skilled at this task in the realm of Rhûn, which was known for its corruption.
And so it was that on this day of the Third Age of Middle Earth, a slave market entered into people’s minds. A new evil was born. But none knew that it might help the force of good to grow even stronger…