< Jackal Prelude 1 | Campaign Logs | Skyla Prelude 2 >
SKYLA PRELUDE 1
ST ::Of the time before her capture by the Raiders that sold her to the Guild, only a precious few memories -- painful and yet important as they are -- remain clear. Even then, they are often fragmented, just bits and pieces...::
ST ::Skyla only vaguely recalls her father, only knowing that he was often occupied in war or the Hunt. Memories of her mother are...more bittersweet, and still few and far between.::
Railee "Skyla, where are you gi--"
Railee smiles as you peek your head out from behind the bush you had been picking berries from, the basket you'd been putting them in seeming quite large in your small hands.
Skyla "I'm here! Look I found the biggest ones!"
Railee wanders over there, and nods approvingly.
Railee "Still, do not wander out of sight. Stay near me."
Skyla "Why, Ma? It's not dangerous, Da killed the bears."
Railee "Just listen to your mother,"
Railee idly feeds you, her pretty little girl, a berry from her own basket and then sets out to help you pick berries. After that, you move on to gathering nuts -- you even find an Egg!::
Rikki ::Your sisters were far older than you, having already been married. You only rarely saw them, and seldom spent much time with them, but now and again you have a few memories of your brother. He was only a year older than you...::
Rikki "Father says my aim is getting better, but he still will not let him go with me on a hunt. I think you've been further from the village than I have!"
Rikki frowns a bit, thinking that obviously unfair.
Rikki ::Mother, after all, takes you with her to gather food, water, and other supplies.::
Skyla "It's not the same, Rik, I just gather berries and things. It's not as exciting as hunting"
Rikki "And you get feathers to put in your hair, twine and stones that you used to make that necklace..."
Rikki "All I did was break my dagger and scare away a deer."
Skyla "I can get you some feathers, if you want... Wanna trade places?"
Rikki "Could you?? Maybe some black ones, like from a raven or raiton?"
Skyla "Of course. I saw a nest of ravens the other day, and the berry bushes should have some new ripe ones to pick.. I bet I could get Ma to go there next."
Rikki ::You'd, indeed, found him the feathers you needed -- and, with a large flat stone that you'd found, constructed a little charm for him to hang from his bow that was pretty.::
Rikki ::The tribe wasn't large, but it was prosperous enough -- you and more than a few friends, though the names and faces of most of them have long since faded from you.::
Girl , whose name you can't remember, chitters lightly while you braid her hair and put in a few tasteful white feathers here and there.
Girl "I wish I was as good at crafting things as you were; all I do is pick berries and cook things."
Girl ::It was true; you'd been spending more and more time working with skins, stones, and even some metal...::
Skyla laughs and fastens the feather into her braid with a small stone bead. "Oh, I can make things, but you cook so much better than I do."
Girl "Especially with that new bowl!"
Skyla "I think I might try to make more of those... do you want one?"
Girl , a different girl entirely whose name you still can't remember, dances with you quickly around the fire -- holding your hands and twirling around and around and around! You're both giggling, and it's both exhilarating and a making you a bit queasy at the same time!
Girl ::All around the fire, all kinds of kids are doing the same thing.::
Skyla "I love dancing, I wish we could do this all the time!"
Girl ::The adults hang in the background, talking amongst themselves and watching the children dance and sing. The evening air is cold, chill, just a bit windy. The night is alive with the sounds of insects, the moon burning high above. More than anything else of your childhood, you remember this night better than anything else.::
Girl continues dancing and laughing, voicing -- something -- you can't remember exactly what...
Girl ::Then, the two of you fly apart, finally having to stop twirling before you throw up...::
Girl ends up kind of on the ground, giggling and laughing!
Skyla flops on the ground, looking up at the stars whirling around her...so dizzy!
Janna , a girl you remember much better than your other two very very good friends, runs up to you with a wide smile!
Janna "Skyla! Skyla!"
Janna is all of 8! So old and mature.
Skyla "Janna! Janna!" she laughs. "What are you doing?"
Janna "Come on; I want to show you something!!"
Janna tugs on you.
Skyla "But I'm supposed to dig these roots f...oh fine!"
Skyla "But I'm diiiiizzy! I don't think I can walk!"
Janna "It's worth it!" *laugh!* "Come on, shaky!"
Skyla "Ugh, fine fine..." she takes Janna's hand and hauls herself to her feet." where?
Janna drags you with her, away from the circle. It was dark outside, especially away from the fire, but you trusted Janna. The elders had given everyone warnings about another tribe, but you'd not really been that concerned with it... So you followed Janna.
Janna lead you out a bit beyond the camp, but had reached her destination before you started to get scared and wanted to go back.
Janna ::The moonlight shines down, giving a little light once your eyes adjust...::
Janna bends down, and picks up a small bit of ivory carved in the shape of a little human figure. It looks old!
Janna hands it over to you!
Janna "There were two; one of each of us!"
Skyla "Ooooh.. that's beautiful!"
Janna ::You hear a sound...::
Skyla looks at it carefully, holding it up to the moonlight. "Wow, I wish I could make things like this... I bet it's old"
Skyla looks up
Skyla "Janna... let's go back.."
Skyla pulls on her hand
Janna "Oh, okay! I just wanted to show you were I found out..."
Janna , asks, on the short walk back..
Janna "Why do you think it was there? I'd not heard of any ruins near here!"
Skyla "It's just dark.. and I heard a voice.. and Da said not to go away from the fire, you know? Maybe someone dropped them?"
Janna "Maybe..."
Janna ::This is about when you reached the fire -- it's when your memories get very very jumbled, and very very frightening, as everything started happening all at once...::
Janna ::First, there were screams from around the camp -- and a chaotic rush of movement as all of the adults suddenly took turns running to grab weapons or just running chaotically. You saw your nameless friend get grabbed by her mother, pulled away... Your own mother quickly grabbed Rikki, moving over toward you quickly, yelling at you...::
Janna ::You were so frightened, almost paralyzed.::
Janna ::Janna just stood next to you, wide-eyed and shocked, as there was more screaming. You remember the screaming the most, the whirrrr of arrows through the air.::
Janna eventually pulled you along, and the two of you started running across the middle of the camp toward your mother!
Skyla remembers vividly the feeling of the ivory figure cutting into her palm. The one sensation that was pure in the chaos of the camp... that and the screams...she didn't even realize they were hers
Janna ::There was a man. He was tall, muscled, almost seeming to shine in the dark moonlit night, holding two hand axes. A few people, mostly unarmed, followed in his wake. He and his friends were the first to make it into the center of the camp...::
Janna ::A man, in the path between you and your mom, fell dead from an arrow sticking out of his throat just in front of you...
Janna screamed at that point, but kept running, trying to stay away from the huge warrior and get to safety..your mother, her mother, just /away/!
Janna ::Another large warrior came into the center, covered more or less in blood, killing another of the tribes men.::
Janna ::Another Barbarian grabbed one of the older women, called her something in his foreign tongue (related, but not the same, as yours), and dragged her with him as the quick raid began to spread...::
Skyla screams, running and running, like a deer, can't get shot, can't get caught.. run... faster.. moommmmyyyyy!
Janna ::Your mother, suddenly out in the open, just looks at you with hugely large sad eyes -- the various barbarians are closing in on her...and on you.::
Janna ::The moment seems to last forever.::
Janna ::Your standing there, running, watching, looking her in the eyes...::
Janna ::...then she takes Rikki -- who starts screaming -- and looks pointedly away from you as she turns, taking another route, making the hard decision and trying her damnest to save one of her children.::
Skyla "Mom? ... MOM! DON'T LEAVE ME!" she cries, and runs, tear-blinded in the same general direction as her mother
Janna , slightly more in control of things than you but still completely utterly horrorfied, grabs you and jerks hard!
Janna "We'll get caught!"
Janna twists your arm, turning, trying to find their best chance...
Janna finally, after only a moment, turns and starts running in another direction -- they're going to have to weave between two of the Raiders, but they're tiny and fast...
Janna "Run as fast as you can, Sky!!"
Skyla "Mommy!" she cries, but Janna pulls her in another direction, and she goes, her heart thudding in her chest, her palm bleeding where the figure cut into her. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, and runs
Janna ::You run, your tears streaming, your heart pounding, confused and afraid.::
Janna stops suddenly, her route cut off by one of the Raiders -- an ugly scarred man with black teeth who smiles at you, beckoning...
Janna stops...
Janna "Uuuuuu!"
Janna turns, but there's someone else in that direction too...
Janna quickly tries to rush past them, pulling you with her still...
Janna ::Vaguely, you hear someone else die as the Large Barbarian with the Two Axes splits someones head.::
Janna ::Another Barbarian, out of the corner of your eyes, beats one of the men unconscious...::
Skyla runs, away away, from the barbarians, from the blood... not that way!
Strong`Barbarian runs up, saying something as he reaches around and grabs at both of the girls! Holding one in each arm!!
Strong`Barbarian laughs!!!
Strong`Barbarian says something to the others, who also laugh!
Skyla screams and twists, and tries to bite his hand. her little feet beat a staccatto against his thigh
ST ::The Tekani, a tribe somewhat related to your own, kept their slaves in large iron pens just a bit outside their camp. The pens were cramped, hot during the day and cold at night, with very little in the way of food or comfort.::
ST ::You and Janna had been split up, put in different pens, but both of you got as close as you could -- mostly just to stay in sight, as the Barbarians didn't like it when any of you talked. You and here were among the youngest prisoners taken.::
Skyla spends much of her time crying, huddled in the center of the cage, as far away from the bars as possible, but in sight of Janna
ST ::There was another young girl your age, but she wasn't of your tribe and didn't understand your language much. You occasionally saw one of your tribes young boys, but he was in a pen even further than Janna, and you only saw him once or twice...::
ST ::The food wasn't good, or much, but eventually the Barbarians handed some of it out -- laughing, taunting, some of them telling you that you were going to sold to Cannibal Merchants who would sell you to the Blessed Isle where you'd serve as Pretty Things for Dragons...::
Large`Slave came over, that first night when dinner was handed out, and stole your bowl of food from you.
Skyla glares fiercely at the large slave whenever he's not looking
Large`Slave barked something at you in a language you didn't understand, but whose meaning you could guess fairly well enough. He was big, and scary, almost as much as the ones who had taken you...::
Lerri ::Nobody really tries to help you, or does anyone to stop him, as he eats your dinner...::
Lerri "Girl," she calls out, somewhat haltingly in your language. "Come here; you can have some of my dinner."
Lerri holds out her bowl, showing you.
Lerri was here when you originally arrived.
Skyla looks uncertainly at this girl, "You...speak my tongue?" she ventures closer, and eyes the bowl hungrily
Lerri just nods, and gives you the bowl once you venture over.
Lerri "My mother was one of your tribesmates," she notes. Tribal intermarriage wasn't uncommon.
Lerri plays with your hair a bit while you eat, trying to comfort you a bit.
Skyla takes the bowl and eats hungrily, stuffing the food into her mouth... to soothe her aching stomach, although it doesn't sit well anyway... it twists with fear. "I'm Skyla." she whispers, once she's taken the edge off of her hunger. "Um.. Thank you. For the food..."
Lerri ::Lerri was fairly kind, and tried her best to keep you safe and not-so-bad-off for the week that you were in the encampment of the Tekani...::
Lerri ::Eventually, though, one morning the Tekani came and pulled everyone violently out of the pens -- taking them in small groups of 3 or 4 at a time, marching them toward a nearby Trade Outpost. Lerri wasn't in the group with you...::
Janna ...was, by some luck, however. She grabbed at your hand, but didn't say anything.
Skyla clings near Janna
Janna ::The other person with the two of you was a fairly large fellow, who was chained up, and still struggled a bit. You were being escorted by four large barbarians, including the one Huge Raider with the Two Axes that you saw a week ago in your camp...::
Janna ::The walk was a long hard one, but eventually you arrived at a small outbuilding surrounded with various implements of the slave trade. Chains tied to posts, pens, cages, and a large block for presentation. A few slaves were already standing nearby...::
Janna ::There were Barbarians there, Takani, but also /other/ figures -- pale white skinned ones, dressed in colorful and somewhat uncomfortably constrictive seeming clothing. They spoke even more strangely than the Tekani or most of the other slaves...::
Skyla still entertains thoughts of escaping, but did not realize quite soon enough.. she cowers back away from the chains, the other barbarians... all the STRANGE Rs?... and runs!
Janna ::The other Barbarians quickly grab a quick hold on most of their captives...::
Axe`Barbarian grabs one of his axes, and TOSSES it, such that it hits -- blunt-end first -- the back of your head. You go tumbling down, a large knock on your head, and are kind of out of it until you feel someone grabbing hold of you...
Axe`Barbarian picks you up with one hand, barks something at you, and practically cares you over toward the presentation area.
Skyla "Uhhnnnnhhh...nooooooo!" she wails and flails weakly against his grip. "lemmego!"
Axe`Barbarian tosses you down, hard, once you reach the area in front of the raised platform. The little ivory figure tumbles out of where you'd been hiding it, skittering across the ground...
Skyla dives after it, scrabbling accross the ground
Axe`Barbarian says something in his ugly tongue, and ends up pushing you away, then taking your hands -- prying them open, smiling a bit and spitting in your face. He takes the figure, keeping it for himself.
Skyla cries more, wiping the spit off her face with her arm. "That was mine! Give it back!"
Guildsman comes up to the Axe-wielding Barbarian, glancing at you and then the Barbarian. The two start arguing a bit, but it doesn't last very long. The other slaves arrive at this point, a fairly good crowd of them...
Guildsman says something...
Axe`Barbarian takes his axe, sharp end first -- almost scaring you to death -- and starts to cut off your clothes, leaving you completely naked. He then pushes you atop the presentation platform, where a few more of the strange-speaking pale skinned figures wait...
Guildsman ::There are a LOT of people here, some of them ARMED, and all looking dangerous. They have whips, nets and other things. You'd better behave, they don't look like they'd tolerate you running off...::
Axe`Barbarian pushes you forward, directing you to go forward...
Skyla crouches on the platform, covering herself, and staring wildly... "Mommyyyy" she whimpers
Skyla is not a pretty sight, covered with dust and mud
Skyla 's teal hair is matted and straggly, and she's skinny as a rail, even the half rations that lerri had been sharing with her weren't enough.
Guild`Doctor grabs at you once your close to the center of the platform, manhandling you somewhat, inspecting you a bit. He squeezes your arms fairly hard, grabs your chin and looks at your head, deep in your eyes, forces your mouth open to get a look at your teeth.
Guild`Doctor says something to the guy who seems to be in charge...
Guildsman just nods, looking her over. He frowns a bit.
Skyla looks between the men, frightened but her head still hurts too much to try to escape again... what are they saying?
Guildsman then says:
Guildsman "Three,"
Guildsman and waves you off..
Guildsman ::You find yourself pulled away, slapped in chains, and taken away...::
Guildsman ::Life in the Slave Citadel, for the month that your there before being shipped away, is hard -- but in some ways, not nearly as bad as it was in your week with the Tekari.::
Guildsman ::The Guild feeds you well, you get /clean/ (cleaner than you ever have, even). Your sleeping corners are shared with a few other slaves, but any abuse is punished by the Guards...and, again by some bit of luck, you ended up with Lerri...the only person in your cage you could understand.::
Guildsman ::On the other hand, they work you - hard, constantly. Not as hard as some, since your only six, but you are expected to keep busy and your slave keeper yells at you in his strange language and punishes you severely when you disobey. You try to get away once, but after getting 20 lashes on your feet, that kind of ends...::
Skyla{G} feels the hope of escaping slipping away with each day, especially when she has to stand on her aching feet. Somehow there is still a tiny spark, but she keeps it hidden, and does as she's told, taking small comfort in Lerri's company
Guildsman ::Eventually, in somewhat better shape after the month in the care of the Guild, you and a large group of the Slaves are taken from the Citadel by cramped hot wagon and arrive in a port some day or so away. That was the last time you saw Janna, who you'd occasionally spot around the Citadel during your month there...::
Lerri , walks a step or so behind you, quiet and showing no real disobediance as the various Guards trail ahead and in front of you. There's no hope of escape, not right here, after all... If, indeed, there would ever be hope.
Lerri ::The town is so strange, and somewhat frightening. There are so many of the strange people, all around. None of them pay any attention to you, or seem to care that you are there at all... They just go about their business, ignoring the presence of the slaves being marched down the main road of the town entirely...::
Skyla{G} dreams, maybe, of escaping her new Master, whoever that is... she keeps her head down, and stays silent, trudging along in step with the guards.
Lerri ::The buildings are large, made of wood and stone, some even reaching up two stories! Not quite as huge and imposing as the Slave Citadel, but frightening in its own fashion...::
Skyla{G} stays close to Lerri, trying not to trip over her feet, or the chains.
Lerri ::Eventually, the smell of water reaching your nose, you reach the docks... with the many sights that there await.::
Lerri --fade out--
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