The Bitter Smell of Dirt (back story, mature themes) [Archive]

View Full Version : The Bitter Smell of Dirt (back story, mature themes)

Kaitar

06-06-2007, 09:57 PM

(( Actually this is a bit of a back story I'm typing up for my guild forums in regards to three of my current characters; Dsarisz Ahseijz, Lieh Enderi, and Adrassiv. But our guild forums aren't up quite yet, so I figured what the heck :p I'll post it here for now as well. This is a WIP -work in progress- and I will be adding to it until the entire back history is complete. There is going to be some violence and mature themes in this story, as a warning. ))Four years ago :"Take the Sidewinder with you. Make sure it is done properly, neatly, and above all... make sure the rest of them know -who- it was that sent you and that the same will be done to them if they do not pay what was agreed. Of course, be sure to use proper etiquette as well, little dark one."Madev Al'Daree smiled in that slimy, sly way that Lieh had come to detest so much as he brushed back a lock of her dark hair with a finger as thick as a brown sausage. She had learned that it would be unwise to recoil from that touch, no matter how much it sickened her. He was just the type to use what you hated the most against you in ways that would make anyone's skin crawl. She had heard some of the other girls crying from their sleeping mats at night, and knew they'd been punished for a wrong look or word."Your wish will be fulfilled, Gracious One." Those words were almost as bad as the sweaty touch. He loved to be addressed as "Gracious One" ...though he was anything but. Madev Al'Daree was a fat, camel faced, sweaty gold lender who kept his slaves as showpieces and his contacts of the shady black-market type. All his slaves were beautiful women, dressed in silk tunics and not much else. Madev kept various types of girls, save for those races he considered "ugly". These consorts attended him day and night. He kept thick gold collars around their slim little necks, and would tug on thread-fine gold chains attached there as if they were small dogs to be led around. Madev Al'Daree would not suffer an ugly slave in his palace. Even his hired soldiers were handsome. It was almost as if there were a swarm of colorful butterflies attending an undulating maggot, such was the contrast between servant and Lord in this House. Madev could not abide ugliness in anyone but himself, it seemed.Well...except for the one he'd named Adrassiv, or in his tongue, Sidewinder. Lieh herself was nothing extraordinary either, but Madev Al'Daree had commanded she paint her face up so heavily it felt like she was wearing a mask that might melt off in the hot sun. She was not ugly, but she certainly was no great beauty. He was still not entirely pleased with her looks even after the applications of makeup. But Lieh was too useful to throw out onto the streets or sell, and so she and Adrassiv were kept for more "unworthy" work. Unworthy work meant extortion, translator duties, murder, and whatever else the "Gracious One" wanted done that a pretty, docile slave girl couldn't do.Lieh bowed and turned from the merchant lord, glad to have any excuse to get out of Madev's courtyard and away from his sweaty, sticky touch and sour smell only weakly masked by layers of perfume. Her armored sandals, patterned in the usual way of mercenary soldiers that worked in Maj'Dul, rattled softly on the sandstone tiles as she walked through the open-walled sitting rooms and finally through a darker, closed corridor lined with ancient carved stones.Sidewinder was not allowed in the open halls or more public places of Madev's palace. He was kept in the back rooms, in the darker haunts that had been dug and built below the hot sands to be used for storage. Old weapons were kept down there, ancient scrolls, dried foods, wines, and an unending city of cobwebs and scorpions that lurked just out of reach of the dim, flickering lights of the torches that hung from the walls. The first journey down into that darkness had made Lieh's head ache with a numb terror. She had always hated cramped places, and those narrow sandstone hallways felt suffocating. She had been hardly more than a girl then, a mere baby by the standards of the Tier'Dal and nothing more than a child by any other regard no matter the race. When she came upon the Sidewinder in a dark wine cellar, cloaked head to toe in black with a cowl pulled around his face, she almost turned and ran back up the corridor towards the stairs that led to the sunny, hot world above. Somehow, she had managed to stand her ground. Iksar scared her, though there weren't many that lived in Maj'Dul. Ro was too hot, as a general rule, and there was not enough water for their kind to readily thrive. Still, that hadn't stopped the rumors and stories about Iksar from reaching the slaves of House Al'Daree, and they avoided the Sidewinder as though he really were that poisonous desert snake that their master had named him for. Several years had passed since her first command to fetch Adrassiv and accompany him on an errand. Lieh's fear had long since been squelched like one of the scorpions her sandals smashed as she stepped through the under passages of the palace. "Adrassiv...?"Like some shadow made scale and flesh, he stepped out from behind her and put a clawed hand on her shoulder. She had passed him, standing so silent and still in the dark, and not even realized it. It was a sort of game with the two of them...if you could ever consider Adrassiv possible of having any kind of humor for games. Still, it was an unspoken custom between the two of them that she would try to spot him before he was able to sneak behind her and touch her shoulder. It shouldn't have made Lieh jump after so many years, but it did anyway. She gave a little start and whirled around in time to see him move back into the shadows again. Lieh cleared her throat, and tried to look as though she had not been startled. "Lord Slug wants us to go on an errand.""I thought as much. Who is it now? Sadesh Opeij?" Adrassiv's voice was a low, resonating hiss. The first time Lieh had heard it, it made her mouth go dry and her heart pound. She'd since realized it was just how he sounded, no matter how hard he might try to pass as "amiable", though she doubted he tried to be pleasant in any regard."Yes, who else? The Slug is mad because he won't pay for the loan he took for all those expensive, imported horses he had to have shipped from Antonica." Lieh sneered a bit as she went on. "The horses died of course. It's too hot for their breed here. He should have stuck with camels but ... who is to say these rich masters have any sense at all, hm?" So the Slug is sending us out to do demand the payment, either in gold or blood."

Kaitar

06-06-2007, 09:58 PM

The Sidewinder nodded in the gloom and pushed his cowl back. He kept his face well hidden by the hood and a veil of heavy cloth when he was anywhere but these dark recesses of the palace, and with good reason. Half of Adrassiv's face was scarred so hideously that Lieh had gone pale the first time she saw it clearly. Now she was used to it, and it was a familiar, almost welcome sight. Adrassiv was blind in his left eye, and the pupil was pale as milk. The scales had been burned away on his cheek and jaw, and what you might call a lip on an Iksar had been twisted from the scars into a sneer, leaving a few of his sharp teeth poking out in a snarling manner. He was not pretty to look at, not even by Iksar standards she was certain, but Adrassiv did not seem to care one way or the other about his frightening visage. In fact, it was most of the reason Madev had bought him in the first place. What better thug to send than one that looked and sounded so awful? Who would dare mouth back to the translator who looked like -that-?She had asked him once, a year or two before, how his face had gotten that way."I've felt hotter things than the sun of Ro's deserts." That was all Adrassiv would say on the matter. Lieh had guessed he had been burned during the Shattering. Many people had scars from the hot cinders that were said to fall from the sky when Luclin exploded. Lieh herself was too young to remember, but she had scars of her own to bear because of that day, though they weren't visible. She had lost her family to the Shattering, and because of that, a string of unfortunate circumstances had led her to this fate...a life of slavery and a name that was not even really her own. She did not remember her real name any more, and didn't suppose it mattered really anyway. As Adrassiv said; a name was just something to call you by. Lieh often wondered what his name was before Madev started calling him Sidewinder. He never spoke of his life before he became a thrall.Without another word to each other, they began down the narrow stone hallway again, though they did not go back the way Lieh had come. There was a faster route to the outside world from here, a secret one that they'd been instructed to use when out on "errands". The passage opened via a false wall about three hundred feet behind Madev's gardens. From there, Adrassiv and Lieh would quickly make their way into the back allies of Maj'Dul, and dart along the twisted streets until they reached the dwelling of the merchant Sadesh Opeij. Lieh watched Adrassiv as they walked hastily and silently down the cramped once they had left the confines of the secret passage. He kicked a rat out of his way without breaking his strange, fluid stride, and never once looked anywhere but ahead of him. His face was covered again, but the few urchins and beggars they passed on their way knew who he was, who he belonged to, and what he was probably up to... and they scrambled to get out of the Sidewinder's path. Lieh they paid less attention to, but then...she did not quite have Adrassiv's reputation. She might be...what did Madev sometimes call her? A Child of Hate, but she was not nearly as fearsome to see striding between the shadows of two limestone statues. It was easy to see how Madev had come up with his little nickname for the Iksar. Adrassiv had a curious way of walking that was almost like a side step, except his path was perfectly straight, much like his namesake viper that roamed the dunes. His tail swished in sync with his movements, and the whole effect was indeed something very serpentine and utterly unlike any smooth skinned race could have copied, though Lieh sometimes tried just to see if she could do it. It seemed a much more efficient and quicker way of getting somewhere than how she walked, after all, but she could never be that graceful no matter how hard she concentrated.Sadesh Opeij, the young nobleman who made his money from selling stock of various kinds - camels, goats, slaves and occasionally exotic breeds of horses - lived near the outskirts of Maj'Dul where one could look beyond the last dwellings and see the endless deserts beyond. There were two guards standing at the front gate to his large home, both copper brandishing spears that caught the reflection of the sun and cast a bright glare from their sharpened tips. The guards' dusky skins gleamed, and their eyes sparkled like bits of ebony as they saw the two mercenary slaves approaching. "We are here to see your master, by command of the Gracious Lord Al'Daree, son of Omedrel Al'Daree. Will you let us approach?" Lieh's voice was sterner than most house slaves could have ever managed, but by now she was an old hand at this sort of work. Adrassiv had told her that the moment they smelled fear or indecision on you, they would turn you away and chase you off with dogs, flying rocks, or worse...spears and knives. There was no room for the weak in their particular brand of servitude.The slave guard on the left, who wore his hair coiled into thick rows that hung to his waist, looked them up and down slowly, though Lieh could see his eye twitch and his lips tighten when he saw the Iksar push his hood back and lower the veil from his face. Adrassiv's voice sounded like gravel as he repeated the same herald Lieh had just announced. This time, the guard stepped aside and motioned his comrade to do the same. They lowered their spears and looked away as the gate swung open. They knew who that Iksar was and why he'd been sent to see their Master.Two slave girls, bedecked in gold silk and more jewels than was good taste to wear (Sadesh Opeij was apparently even more fond of pretty, over-garnished slaves than Madev was) opened the thick stone doors to the house, and bowed low as Lieh stepped past them. One of them spoke in a husky, soft voice but never once raised her eyes, which made Lieh's lip curl in contempt; "Please, wait in this room for our Fortunate Master. There is water if you to drink or wash the dust from your hands and face." Lieh shook her head impatiently and Adrassiv did not even acknowledge the offer. It was not safe to take what a slave of a rival household offered. There was always the chance water and food might be poisoned at their master's command, and a story that they had unfortunately been stung by a scorpion on their journey cooked up. Not that anyone ever believed those kinds of stories, but there were old, unwritten rules about how business was conducted in Maj'Dul, and one of them was if your slaves were so stupid to drink poisoned water, you were better off without them and your rival had done you a favor. If he truly felt sorry for you having owned such stupid slaves, he might even send a few new, brighter thralls back with the corpses of the old.

Kaitar

06-06-2007, 09:58 PM

While they were waiting in a large, airy room that smelled of opium and jasmine, Lieh leaned close to Adrassiv, a sudden weariness coming over her. She whispered to the Iksar in a low voice that the slaves laying out the sitting pillows could not hear; "Do you ever think of just...running away? Taking your chance out in the desert or finding a way to the other lands?"Adrassiv didn't answer, but he looked at Lieh a long moment before she saw the barest hint of a nod. This encouraged her, and she went on in the same whisper, "You and I could do it, we're smarter and stronger than most of these house slaves, and we know the roads better, and we can fight besides."The Sidewinder did answer then, and though his tone was as steady and laconic as ever, Lieh saw something like anger in his face...or maybe it was bitterness. "It would be no use, inky. They know you and they most definitely know me. They'd have every mercenary within a hundred leagues out after us, and we'd be caught before the sun rose and fell again. Besides...the desert? We'd die. And trying to find safe passage to Freeport or any other city would be too big a risk. You're too impatient, soft skin. Wait until the right time or you'll just end up dead."Lieh's mouth twisted into an angry scowl, and she felt her temper rise as hot as Ro's morning sun. "There are worse things than dying in the desert, lizard!" Adrassiv hissed at her and she hissed back at him in mockery, but their argument was cut short by the appearance of a tall, dark skinned and lean man with a forked goatee and far too many rings on his fingers. Lieh's face took on the stern, cold look she used when conducting such business as extortion and murder as she bowed stiffly and prepared for the dirty business Madev had sent her to finish.***Adrassiv was silent much of the meeting. His mere presence was enough to convince Sadesh Opeij that Madev Al'Daree meant business and this was not a courtesy call. In the end, the horse trader paid, which much cursing, what was owed. It was either that or forfeit his life; though neither Lieh nor Adrassiv himself openly made that threat. It was old custom not to openly threaten in this kind of business, or else you risked retaliation from relatives and other tradesmen, slavers, and ship runners. It was an odd sort of courtesy, Adrassiv saw no reason for it, but who was he to try to figure out why these over-fed soft skin merchants went about their business as they did? The little inky conducted herself well, he had to admit. Though she was hardly more than a girl and still prone to blunders now and then, she seemed intelligent enough and willing to listen when he spoke of the important points on being a slave mercenary. He watched her silently as they waited to be allowed inside Madev's chambers to hand over the payment and the report on how things had gone. Her earlier words had struck him; though he had been under the chain of thralldom since several years before the Shattering, he had kept himself apart from most the other house servants, both by his own choice and by command. Not only were they mere house servants, they were soft skinned ones at that, and he found them tiresome and annoying. They seemed dull and stupid in most regards, and he did not want to waste his time around them. That was, until a few years before, when Madev had made a rare trip to the darker regions of his elaborate palace and told his "little snake" (it still took all of Adrassiv's willpower not to lash out when those words were uttered) that he was to train a young Tier'Dal as a partner since, in his words, "times were changing and even an snake like yourself needs backup, ha ha." Adrassiv had been disgusted at the idea. He wanted his solitude and his shame to be his own. He had only just tolerated Lieh's presence at first, the little whelping seemed to know nothing and kept asking question after question, but the tolerance grew to a mild compliance, and from there into a camaraderie which he almost looked forward to. He would not have admitted it to anyone, least of all himself, but his haunts in the out of the way places of Madev's palace were lonely, and talking to an inky female was better than having no one to talk with at all. Wouldn't his friends on Kunark be horrified to know that? Well, Kunark was probably nothing more than ash at the bottom of the sea now anyway; there was no use in even thinking about it, or the ghosts of his old companions that had probably died with his homeland.But out of nowhere, Lieh had asked if he ever thought of running away, and Adrassiv felt a jolt in his heart he had not for years. He HAD thought of running, years ago, but that hope had died in him as he grew wiser and saw that his chances to get away alive would be slim to none. Madev kept guards, tall, strong, well trained, and hired specifically for the purpose of keeping the fat merchant safe and his slaves in check. Alone, Adrassiv could not hope to take them all on, talented and clever a knife artist though he might be. And it was true what he had told Lieh, the desert would consume them and leave nothing but their bones for the vultures to pick at. But...if there were some other way the two of them could...Adrassiv's scarred half of his face twitched in annoyance. Why would he bother to take her along? She was nothing but some insipid little soft inky girl... yet, he knew he would take her, if he could find a way. The years had numbed his once violent hate of any soft skinned race to a dull old ache that he didn't much have the energy to kindle. It was hard to despise them as utterly as he once had, now that he had fought and bled alongside one of them, and occasionally felt little twinges of friendship for. Besides, a slave was a slave in the eyes of other men, no matter the race. He and Lieh were both less than worms in the sight of free people, those with scales or without. That ugly truth had kept him awake many nights musing the irony of his enslavement.

Kaitar

06-06-2007, 09:59 PM

Madev's doors opened then, snapping Adrassiv from his silent contemplation of escape and how it might somehow be possible. They were ushered in by several guards in Maj'Dul style armor; simple chest plate and leggings made from the carapaces of giant scorpions, and loose pants and a tunic under that. The guards lined up against the wall and became as still as dark statues, though every eye was on the two mercenary slaves as they bowed low before Madev, who was reclining in a great sea of fat silk pillows, eating a plum. Juice dribbled down his double chins and stained the front of his embroidered vest. Adrassiv had to shift his good eye to a spot on the wall just behind the fat, camel faced merchant to stop a hiss of disgust from escaping his throat. He noticed Lieh had done the same. "Well...?" Madev asked as he picked another soft, overripe plum from the gold dish in front of him, and bit into it. Juice spurted wetly from between his lips, and more dripped onto his clothing. He did not seem to care. "Did you get what I was owed? Snake...speak up.""We did, Gracious One. The elf has it with her." "Allow me to approach, Gracious One, so that I may give you what is rightfully yours?" Lieh's voice was quiet and subdued, but Adrassiv could hear the faintest edge of malice in it, and again he wondered how a soft skin could have the capacity to feel such hate and loathing. He never really thought they minded being slaves, or had the capability of understanding what slavery really was. Were they truly more than mindless animals? Sometimes he thought Lieh might be, but his old teachers in Kunark had always told him otherwise. Madev lazily waved her forward, and keeping her head bowed low, Lieh offered to him a small, jeweled box that contained the gold coins inside that Sadesh Opeij had made a "gift" of. Madev snatched it from the girl with a smirk and tossed the half eaten plum aside so he could open the lid and revel in his victory. His sticky, fat fingers slid through the coins and curled around a few before letting them drop again with a faint jingling sound. "Good...good. Here," he said, motioning to a house slave who was kneeling several feet away, quiet as a mouse, "take these and give them to my steward. Tell him I want these to be put towards that ship I'm investing in. He'll know which one. And don't dawdle. After you're done with that, tell the cook I want roast river caiman for my dinner."Then Adrassiv had to look away again, because Madev had grabbed Lieh around the waist and was pressing his stained, fat lips to her face with a squelching sound. "Heh, poor beast," he thought, "even an inky doesn't deserve to have to be consort to that maggot." Out of the corner of his good eye, he could see Lieh's face had gone a slate gray, and her lips were pressed tight together in a hard line. Madev was groping her, but his thick fingers fumbled with the leather straps of her armor, and he finally grew disgusted and thrust her away from his bulbous form with a grunt. Lieh scrambled to her feet and bowed before hastily making an exit. "Is there anything else yo...""Get out of my sight you ugly little snake, and tell that pretty blonde one that's hanging around outside the door that I want a private word with her. Now be gone." Madev shoo-shooed the Iksar in a pompous manner, not bothering to look at him as he sniffed out another fat plum. Adrassiv stared a split second too long, unable to conceal his contempt, and Madev glanced up impatiently. "I told you to be gone. Go. Do you think I want to stare at your ugly, scaled hide? Look at me again that way, snake, and I'll have the guards blind your other eye for you and you can try to make a living on the streets begging for food. Wouldn't that just rankle you and that precious Iksar pride you have, hm? Why are you still standing there?"With a stiff, slow bow, Adrassiv made his departure and felt hate's burn creeping slowly along his veins like poison. Why did he feel such malice that day, when he'd lived through many years of such treatment? This was nothing new, he'd had to endure much worse abuse than that during his life as a thrall. Impatiently, he pointed to the slave girl Madev had indicated and hissed for her to get in the Master's chambers. She looked more frightened at what lay in those chambers than at the Iksar that was telling her Madev demanded a private audience, and shakily she hastened to the large, ivory doors. Adrassiv watched her a moment, and felt the same stab of pity for that little whelp as he had for Lieh, and then a sickening disgust at himself for allowing such pity in the first place. Why should he care what happened to some little inky soft skin girl? She was an annoyance to him, and besides that, she was only a thrall, what more could she expect? And where had she run off to, anyway?He wasn't supposed to go walking around the open courtyard, but he decided to risk Madev's wrath and chance it. Something inside of him that had felt as tight as a sitar string had finally snapped, though Adrassiv could not say exactly what had, as they were fond of saying in Maj'Dul, been the straw to break the camel's back. Maybe it had been that inky and her comments of running away. He glided along the sandstone path as quickly as a shadow, and the few servants that caught a glimpse of his dark figure stayed their distance and looked to the ground if he walked too near in passing. Lieh was standing near a large fountain that was carved out of onyx and shaped to resemble a phoenix. Fresh water gushed forth from its open mouth, and a long spear pierced its breast. The water, of course, was meant to represent blood, and to enhance that symbolism, there were red rubies at the fountain's base, glittering in the sunlight. Lieh was staring up at it with a strangely blank expression, and didn't seem to notice the Iksar's approach. Adrassiv stopped a few paces away, and watched the little Tier'Dal with narrowed eyes. Finally, she spoke."What are you doing here? If you get caught, they'll whip you bloody."Adrassiv scoffed; though he knew what she said was the truth. The Iksar stood a moment, feeling the heat of the desert sun warming him too fast in his black armor and cloak. The sudden influx of heat made things seem far too bright, and his head swam a little, both with the temperature change in his body and the ebbing feelings of rage towards Madev Al'Daree. Lieh still had not looked at him. Her shoulders were shaking with silent, angry sobs. The whole world had taken on a quality of surrealism that was making Adrassiv feel ill."Why did you come here, to revel in my humiliation?" Lieh's voice was full of venom, though Adrassiv guessed her words were meant for Madev and not for him. She could not speak so to her Master, and so she spoke her hate to her partner. Adrassiv did not move, or speak. It was an odd thing to listen to a soft skin cry and snarl words of anger like that."You're going to get caught, and then they'll whip me too."Adrassiv felt his tongue move, his mouth open in a low growl, and the words come snarling forth unbidden between clenched teeth, "A fortnight. Give me that long to make a suitable plan. And stop your crying, they'll whip you if they see you crying." He did not wait for an answer or even bother to look to see if Lieh had moved or reacted to his words. Instead, he strode away, his head pounding from the heat and the utterance of the promise he'd just blurted out like a fool. A fortnight...how in the name of his scales was he supposed to get them out of Maj'Dul in such a short time without getting killed? It was too short a time to make a plan, and too long to keep such a plan secret. Madev kept his servants spying on one another and all that was whispered eventually got back to the merchant lord one way or another. Still, the inky was right. Maybe there were worse things than dying out in the desert sun. Dying a slave on a chain might be one of them.

Kaitar

06-06-2007, 10:00 PM

Present:"You're bleeding, lizard." Lieh didn't have to look up to see that it was true. She could smell Dsarisz's blood from the doorway, and heard the wet drip of it on the floor as he crossed the threshold."It's nothing much, I ran into some Thulians today, they took me out hunting for a while, until they discovered they were wasting their time with converting me into a hateful scale-monger." Dsarisz's voice was uncharacteristically flat and subdued. He didn't sound like himself at all, and it was this that made Lieh look up from her tome and study him as her dark gray eyes narrowed at the slump in the Iksar's broad shoulders."You're bleeding and you're doing it like a stuck pig. No doubt this hunting meant trying to fight something too dangerous for you to win against. I thought you were giving it up, Dsar. You promised us, after the last time." With some irritation, the Tier'Dal closed the thick, heavy book and slid it away before motioning to the red scaled Iksar to come near so she could inspect how badly he'd managed to get injured. Dsarisz smiled absently and shrugged as he sat down across from her, though his silence was unusual. "Why didn't you just tell them you had something else to do?" Lieh muttered softly as she gingerly touched a long gash that was dripping crimson on the warrior's muscled, scaled neck."I was hoping to see some little sign that maybe they weren't entirely without reason...""And you didn't, else they'd be here now and you'd be making a fool of yourself with introductions."Dsarisz shook his head and smiled once more, the expression oddly innocent and yet resolute. "No. I think the male was the same one Ady ran into the other day...the one he mentioned with the dark scales and all that? I bet it was him. Don't think there's any reason to try to talk to them again...about anything... they're too much into the past and all the dead that goes along with it. Their goodbye was that old blah-blah walk in Thule's shadow or ...whatever it is they say to try to sound frightening."Lieh quirked a brow and wiped the blood from her fingertips onto her pants in an absent manner, not realizing she had stained the leather and not the type to care much in any case. Sighing, she began looking for something to serve as bandages for the Iksar's bleeding neck. Finally, she began to tear the sleeves of her wool tunic. It was all they had for the moment, and would have to serve."It probably was the same one I saw. Dsarisz, you were foolish to go with them if you suspected as much, and even more a fool to go fighting like you did."That voice came from the corner of the dark Nerian house in a low, snarling rasp. It would have unnerved Lieh if she didn't know exactly who had spoken in that cold way. Adrassiv did not show his emotions often and it was impossible to guess his feelings from his tone, but she had known him long enough to recognize his posture as being one of anxiety over the entire situation concerning Dsarisz and his run in with the Thule worshipping Iksar."Ady...didn't see you there. I know I shouldn't have gone but I wasn't in any great danger. Those type usually don't bother with trying to kill me...I'm a waste of energy in their opinion. Besides," Dsarisz's little smile became a broad grin and he rubbed his shoulder where a bruise was rising under his scales, " now we know for certain to never let on exactly what our purpose is to those particular Iksar."Adrassiv growled from the corner where he was leaning. Lieh saw him shift his weight out of the corner of her eye as he spoke again. "I'm sure they will guess our intent sooner or later. You'd have to be lacking a nose to smell Tier'Dal all over you, Dsarisz."Lieh snapped at him before Dsarisz could reply, "You smell like Tier'Dal too, you know, and frankly -you- are the one more like to get in trouble than Dsarisz. That type hates cold contempt more than someone they think is a simpleton." She did not mean to sound so harsh or take his words personally, but it was hard to curb her anger with her nerves so frayed. The night before she'd almost been certain she would have to try ...most likely without much success... to fight her way out of the house the Five Points Trading Company seemed to hold most of their business in. She was still more than a little wary of what would happen with their situation, and unsure of how much to tell this "Rykos". Pretty words on paper did not make a magic shield that would protect you from being sold out...oh, how she knew that. How well they all knew that."Well nothing bad came of it so let's forget it. They don't know anything and they're not going to find out anything. I'm going to lie down; my head feels like it got chewed on by tigers..." Dsarisz laughed in his usual, cheery manner, but he could not quite mask the weariness in his voice. "Oh...wait, it did."Lieh glared at him, wanting to scream at the way he so casually let himself get beat on for no good reason, but she said nothing. When Dsarisz got it into his head to do something reckless there was no one in Norrath that could talk him out of it. Ironically it was that recklessness that had saved them more than once... and in more ways than one. She heard Adrassiv's tail slide across the dry, indigo stone wall as Dsarisz walked past, fingering the makeshift bandage on his neck. She guessed Adrassiv was probably thinking much the same thing as she was about Dsar and his crazy risks, though you would never be able to tell that from his unchanging expression.It wasn't but ten minutes later that someone was screaming outside their door...such things happened almost daily here, and Lieh glanced to Adrassiv with a worried frown. He said nothing, but only looked back at her mutely until the yelling died down and a weird silence had crept into the air. The quiet following death, Lieh thought, was louder than any storm. Her eyes flicked to Dsarisz, who had curled up in the corner on an old bed and was already snoring softly. He hadn't been disturbed by the noise or the terrible still that followed it. Dsar could sleep through the Shattering, as Adrassiv often commented in his grim tone. Sometimes she wished she could sleep so soundly. The hush continued, and Lieh went back to her study of the history of Neriak to try to shake the growing anxiety that kept nipping at the back of her mind.The Iksar brigand didn't try to engage her in any conversation or break the silence, though Lieh knew better than to guess Adrassiv was asleep. In all the years she'd known him, she knew he wouldn't sleep until he was certain it was safe enough to catch a catnap. He was the opposite of Dsarisz in many ways... where Dsarisz was as muscled as an ox; Adrassiv was slim and serpentine in his movements. He was taller than Dsarisz, but it was Dsarisz that gave the impression of being much bigger because of his heavy armor, bright scales, and breadth of shoulder and chest. Dsarisz was quick to smile, his tone almost always cheerful (if a bit hissing, he was an Iksar after all) and his heart... as the old saying went... he wore on his sleeve. He was kind to everyone he saw and kind to those that did not deserve a shred of compassion. In short, he was the most un-Iksar like Iksar she'd ever met in her life. He even prayed to Mithaniel Marr, though he was no paladin.Adrassiv was neither cruel nor kind to the people that Dsarisz was always spreading his compassion and goodwill to. He ignored them utterly. If he smiled, it was usually no more than a fleeting, bitter smirk. His scales were not bright, they were a dark, drab brown with no pattern or variation at all, and his one good eye was pale blue and always seemed narrowed in a wary, watchful manner. His humor was dry, the angle of it hard to grasp, and when laughed, it was a growling rumble rather than anything else. But Adrassiv's smirk and laugh were as rare as a shooting star, and now perhaps even more elusive than those memorable, singular occurrences. Ever since...Lieh leaned back in her chair and pushed that particular memory away. She sighed at the neatly penned words that lined the parchment. After a few moments, she found herself watching Adrassiv instead of reading. Even in his silence, the Iksar was more interesting to her than the history of the Tier'Dal, though it was ironic that she, a dark elf, would think so. What a strange world it was when she felt she had more in common with that grim, scaled figure in the corner than with the people she had supposedly been born to. He and Dsarisz seemed more family to her than the Tier'Dal that had dwelled in Neriak she was supposedly related to. So had Ishuya, for that matter, who had been more like a sister to her than Lieh had ever hoped to have, Kaoda'Dal or not. That was the sad, strange truth of Lieh's reality, and if she had believed in any of the old Gods, she would have been praying to whatever one would listen to protect them against another night like the one that was more like a nightmare than reality. She would have prayed that this "Five Points Trading Company" would not decide to get their revenge in some subtle way for having been "scoped out" from a distance first. They had to understand...didn't they know what could happen to slaves -turned -slave liberators? They HAD to know what could happen. And if they did understand, there could be a chance to find Ishuya. Yes, the Company must realize what it was like, how could they not? Wasn't it part of what they were fighting for?Lieh could only keep her hopes to herself, since she believed that no Gods were there listening. (( will continue the write up as soon as I have had time to write more ))

Ekuthh

06-08-2007, 10:21 PM

Interesting. Please continue.And by the by, great title. <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Kaitar

06-09-2007, 02:26 PM

Thank you. Hopefully I will have some time to continue it early this week. I'm also working on an illustration for some of the story.

Sha

06-11-2007, 07:21 AM

Oooh, this looks GOOD! please write more <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Seraphias

06-13-2007, 07:27 PM

Very cool story, can't wait to read more!

Kaitar

06-13-2007, 10:44 PM

Thanks. I had to do a bit of editing per post because of some silly mistakes (why do I never catch these until after I post? hehe) and am going to work on the next few parts tonight in fact. I have also begun the initial and very much still in the beginning stages illustration of Adrassiv and Lieh for this. It is only the rough pencil sketch and the very first blobs of flat color on a layer. It can be viewed here, but it is -far- from finished and will take some time (I may try to do some kind of background as well for it ) though it will likely be done before the story itself is.<img src="http://premium1.uploadit.org/MeisterSar//FlatIksarInkie1.jpg" border="0">

Kaitar

06-14-2007, 07:55 PM

Four Years ago:Down there, in the dark and the damp of the underground cellars where even the desert sun couldn’t penetrate, Adrassiv slid through the shadows of his familiar haunts and paused a moment to stare at a small , red scorpion that was hiding near a wine cask. Its deadly tail was curled upwards and ready to strike should anything threaten it. The Iksar brushed the scorpion aside with his hand, and the little insect’s stinger darted angrily against his palm, but it could not penetrate his scales and deliver a lethal blow. Adrassiv was amused at its efforts, and picked it up between thumb and forefinger, growling softly in a conversational tone, “You must be new down here… or else you’d know you’re wasting your time trying to sting me. You’ll learn soon enough. “ He set the clawed creature down and watched it skitter off between two loose bricks that made a crack in the wall. Talking to scorpions, that was a cheerful thought. Perhaps living this way had finally driven him mad. After his actions earlier that day, he wouldn’t have doubted it. The Iksar was muttering to himself as he sat down to listen to the faint echoes of the people overhead. How many years had he sat down there, in that tomb-like silence, and heard life going on above? Perhaps this was what it was like to be buried and made a ghost. The torches flickered in some faint draft caused by air flowing through the old, loose sandstone bricks. It made the shadows dance on the walls, and Adrassiv watched those as he heard some servant girl drop a glass bowl on the floor above him. The sound of shattering was a faint, distorted echo, and had a dreamlike quality. Sometimes he almost went into a strange, waking dream, which was almost like a trance. In the gloom and quiet, his mind would wander and he’d feel like he was floating away from himself and leaving that scarred shell of a body behind. Madness, he knew, but it was hard not to succumb to that numb, dreaming state when the hours and days would pass without seeing anything but the dark and the spiders. It did not come to him that day though. He had too much that was biting the edge of his mind in a rabid, anxious way and his worries would not allow him that easy state of apathetic daydreaming. He had made a promise, but how was he going to make this promise become reality? And why should he truly care so much that he follow through with his word to some slave girl whom the Slug had an eye for? The priests back on Kunark that still followed the strict teachings of Thule’s Fear would have seen his tail cut off and sent him into exile for having such thoughts as to keep promises to a soft-skin. But then, of course, there was the fact if he did nothing, he would be here for the rest of his life as well… a ghost, buried before he was dead, and always slithering at some Master’s feet until he died in servitude and was thrown out to the vultures to pick at. Adrassiv had never been especially taken by his people’s religion. He knew all the words and the stories, and he supposed he had once called himself a Thulian, but now he wondered how foolish he would have to be to sit and wait for Cazic to send some green mist to save him. The answer, in his mind, was a bigger fool than he gave himself credit for being. Without realizing it, Adrassiv was hissing in Sebilisian under his breath some curse akin to “to Hell with Cazic Thule!” that would have been considered a horrible blasphemy to most of his race. The Iksar snarled away his thoughts of doubt and religions dead to him, and focused on trying to think of a way out of the slavery he’d fallen into. His mind had grown lax in trying to think of schemes of escape, or perhaps it was his spirit had grown weary and could no longer muster the zeal it once had. Whatever it was, Adrassiv had to wrack his brain for any kind of viable plan when he had once dreamed dozens in the early years of his servitude. All those ideas had been stupid, of course, but at least he had been thinking for himself then and not just waiting for the next order from the Slug to come down to him with Lieh. His tail twitched in annoyance as he tried to concentrate, and he found himself recalling vague, half ignored words that Madev had spoken. Something about some ship he was investing in… what kind of ship was it? Merchant? Mercenary? How could he use that information to his benefit, perhaps get himself and Lieh onto that very ship and away from Maj’Dul all together? Perhaps those running the ship could be bribed or intimidated somehow into letting them sneak a passage, or maybe they could manage to stowaway, if the ship was big enough to hide them for any length of time. There was another thud overhead and a louder crash. It roused Adrassiv from his plotting and he glanced upwards, though it was impossible to see much but cobwebs and dust. Another loud rattle made some of the sand that clung adamantly to the ceiling and walls give way and slide to the floor. A large brown spider went scurrying, its web disturbed by all the noise and vibrations. What was going on up there? The slaves were never so loud, they knew better than to make such noise and break things. Adrassiv felt his tail twitch again, and almost instinctively his muscles tensed. He sniffed at the air, but the only scent that reached him was the old smell of half rotten crates, wine, dust, and stone. His fingers curled slowly around the hilt of his falchion and he stood from where he’d been crouching and moved into the darkest shadow he could find, as was his habit when he thought some danger or some unknown person might be about. The Iksar pressed against the wall and became perfectly still. So still, in fact, that the spider that was trying to make its escape crawled over him and rested a moment on his shoulder, thinking he was nothing more than another bit of the wall itself. Adrassiv paid the arachnid no heed, but kept straining to hear anything out of the unusual. There was silence overhead for what seemed like a very long time. Adrassiv began to wonder if perhaps it wasn’t just some accident in the kitchen after all, maybe one of the ducks picked out for supper had gotten loose while they were trying to wring its neck and sent things to falling about. Perhaps… A man’s voice reached his ears, and through the thick walls and the dense ceiling above him, it sounded muffled and strange. The words had been too far away to be heard clearly, though it was easy to tell the man had been yelling something in anger or fear. There was another scream, this time a woman’s, high and wailing, and then more crashing and shattering sounds. Something very heavy must have hit the floor, because more dust shook free from the ceiling above him, and fell onto his head. He snorted softly to get it out of his nose and rubbed his good eye to free it of the grit. What the hell was going on up there?! Then, through all that dust and darkness, a very familiar scent drifted to him like a vague phantom. For a moment, Adrassiv could not believe he was smelling blood all the way down there, but his nose never lied, and the sudden sound of dozens of feet running above him reinforced his notion that something was horribly wrong in the palace. And then he heard a familiar voice that made his heart jump and sent him darting towards the stone corridor that lead to the world above.

Kaitar

06-14-2007, 09:25 PM

*****Lieh was still sitting by the fountain. No one had commanded her to move, and Madev must have been busy enough to forget about her entirely. Slaves were not supposed to loiter around. She knew she should be mending her armor or practicing the languages Adrassiv was teaching her for the translating duties before she was caught just sitting and staring off, but she could not move. Her body felt like a stone, and her heart felt trapped within it, beating so hard and so fast it seemed as though it should have jumped up her throat and raced out of her mouth. She could hardly believe the words the Iksar had hissed in a whisper at her, she knew she -shouldn't- believe them... but she wanted to. Desperately, she wanted to believe. Would he really follow through with it? And why would he bother? She sometimes got the distinct feeling Adrassiv was annoyed by her presence, though he never said a word of what he might think of Lieh other than to give her instruction or occasionally growl at her when she had made a mistake. She supposed he probably hated her, frankly. She'd heard Iksar hated everything and everyone except other Iksar, and she had no scales to win his approval."Then again... they say I am supposed to be filled with Hate and full of wicked, evil urges." She muttered to herself, feeling her lips twitch into a faint smirk. Her most evil ambition was to get out of Maj'Dul and some place safe where she didn't have to live under a collar. When she thought of it, all the generalizations she'd ever heard did sound rather stupid. Lieh closed her eyes to shield them from the glare of the setting sun reflecting off the polished ebony fountain. The day had been a scorcher, and she was glad it was coming to a close. Night would be cold, but she had never gotten used to the sun of Ro like the people native to the desert had and would rather shiver than sweat under the oppressive heat.With a sigh, Lieh finally pushed herself up and took a few deep breaths to help steady her heart. She could not let the hope overwhelm her. Adrassiv had told her many times never to act on a whim or let your emotions carry you when there was danger about, and keeping a secret like an escape from the slavery of House Al'Daree was certainly more dangerous than even most of her errands. At first, Lieh paid the sound of some house slave yelling no heed as she walked towards the armory where days worth of armor mending awaited her. Sometimes, one of the older slaves would yell at a younger one who had done something improper or foolish, especially around dinner. Madev was very peculiar about how he liked his meals prepared and a burned supper meant someone was going to get whipped bloody and probably sold to an even worse master. It dawned on Lieh, after a moment that the yelling had not stopped, however. In fact, it had taken on a pitch and tone that was not at all like the daily squabbling of the kitchen slaves around meal times. The Tier'Dal girl paused; brows furrowed, and glanced over her shoulder towards the direction of all the commotion. Maybe some slave was getting whipped and the others were wailing in sympathy...that happened sometimes...But what she saw suddenly come bursting forth from behind the carved doors was anything but one of Madev's guards hauling away a beaten slave girl. Lieh's eyes went wide.Several soldiers, all wearing the crest of House Opeij on their armor, had smashed through one of the courtyard gates in a rush that sent a few of them sprawling from the force of their charge. Lieh could only stare for a moment in dull surprise. How had they gotten in? Where were the guards at the front gates?She got a gristly answer to that silent question. On the tip of a long, bronze spear that one of the slave soldiers of Opeij wielded was the mounted head of their own chief guardsman with its eyes rolled back and the face waxy pale in death. She only had a second to glimpse that and realize what had happened, when it seemed as though the world had been turned upside down. Several slaves ran past her screaming, from one of the open windows upstairs, she heard what she thought might have been Madev yelling, though it was hard to say with all the noise if it was he or one of his personal guards. The slave soldiers of house Opeij were ransacking everything they could get their hands on, including some of the girls, most of whom were too afraid to fight back. One of the soldiers had a kitchen slave by the arm and was holding her while another beat her into silence with the butt of his falchion. The girl's face seemed to cave in under the blows, and blood exploded from her nose and mouth and twinkled as red as one of the rubies in the fountain pool. A noise behind her broke Lieh's shock, and she whirled to see more intruders swarming from the palace into the courtyard from the back gates. Sadesh Opeij was riding amongst them on one of his favorite horses, whirling scimitar and laughing as it crashed down on a slave girl's neck. Her head went rolling and came to a stop at Lieh's feet. Sadesh raised his dark eyes and Lieh saw the flash of recognition in his face. Through all the screaming and fighting, Lieh heard him order several of his guards to fetch her for him. He said more, but it was drowned out in the chaos and Lieh turned to run, but there was no place at all left to go. It was as if Madev's palace had become a nest over run by an invading army of fire ants.Her hands found the batons that were belted at her side, and unconsciously her body slid into a fighting stance as she tugged them free and turned back towards the oncoming men. Adrassiv had taught her fighting, and though she could not use a blade like he could, she knew how to use her batons well enough. "They will under estimate you because you are female, and soft skin females in Maj'Dul are meant to be weak, useless things...not fighters. Use that to your advantage, inky. It will serve you well someday..." his words echoed in her mind now as one of the guards laughed outright to see the small, dark figure of the Tier'Dal girl poised to fight. Lieh felt her lips press together in a sudden rage at the mocking chuckle, and her eyes narrowed."You've got to be kidding me..." the soldier grinned broadly and made a gesture towards Lieh "No wonder this was so easy. Madev hires girls to guard his palace? Ha!"With a careless charged meant to knock her down with the butt of his spear, he came at Lieh, still laughing. That mocking sound ceased as one of her batons cracked him upside the jaw and the snarl of rage was just as abruptly silenced when the other stick met his throat, crushing his windpipe. The rest of the soldiers stopped their joking then as well; they had been smirking and snorting their contempt. Now they stared at their stricken companion, who was rolling in the dirt and clutching his throat as he tried to suck in air, and anger began to fill their eyes. Lieh hissed more of her lessons Adrassiv had lectured on over the years; "...and never wait for them, girl. Never give them a moment's respite. " She sprang at them, batons whirling in a blur of motion, and there was no laughter at all this time... only the sound of hard ash wood against bone and flesh, and the grunts of pain that issued forth from bloodied mouths. No matter which way they parried or thrust their blades or jabbed their spears, she seemed already a step ahead and hammering blows from a dozen directions at once. A whirling kick sent one flying half a dozen feet, smashing him to the wall and knocking out several teeth, which sparkled wetly with blood as they bounced off the stone tiles. Lieh didn't have time to admire her work. As soon as that one was down, another was at her with his sword, chopping huge hunks out of her fighting batons as she parried frantically with them to avoid being hit with the deadly blade. He struck too hard once, and the sword was wedged for an instant in the thick wood. With a jerk of her arm, the caught blade was wrenched out of the soldier's grasp and sent sliding with a metallic hiss over the smooth stones. When her cane found its mark on his jaw the next instant, there was an audible snap as his neck was broken by the force of the blow. The guard toppled forward, already dead before he hit the ground.It was then a wave of them began to crowd at her all at once, and a dozen lances and knives were coming towards her in every direction. Lieh's arms were already going numb from having landed so many strikes against hard armor that made her batons vibrate and jarred her shoulders and wrists. Now it was all she could do then to keep her attackers from dragging her under in a sea of grasping hands and waving swords. Frantically, she swung her canes and felt them bouncing off a few skulls, but there were too many to fend off alone with mere sticks. One baton caught the edge of a guard's shoulder and glanced off, making Lieh lose her balance momentarily. The next instant, she had regained it, though she was left with only one fighting cane, and it was badly cracked from so many hard strikes. She felt light headed as sweat dripped into her eyes, stinging them. A spear tip brushed her ear lobe as she twisted out of the way of a sword that was coming in a wide arch towards her, and she felt a trickle of hot blood drip down her neck where the spear left a nick. She could not keep this up much longer. There were too many.More guards were rushing towards her and in great surge of heavy bodies, Lieh felt herself losing her footing and sliding backwards towards the broken gate wall. Someone grabbed her from behind and started to drag her downward with arms too strong to break free of. Two or three more soldiers landed on top of her as she fell, and she felt a rib snap as they crashed into her. Her head collided with the hilt of a sword as she thrashed and clawed desperately to get free. It all seemed to be happening so slowly, like in a dream, but at the same time so fast it made her head spin. She let out an involuntary cry as a searing, red flash of pain raced up through her chest and throbbed in her left temple. Lieh could taste blood at the back of her throat, and there were hands and arms pinning her from all sides, bruising her and pulling at her. A great weakness came over the Tier'Dal then, and her thrashing slowed and finally stopped all together, though her chest heaved and hitched with pain at every breath she took. Everything ached, and her head felt sticky with blood from where she had cracked her skull on the sword hilt. The faces of the soldiers all became blank, dark masks against the glare of the bright sky above them, and Lieh felt a dizziness coming over her. It had happened so fast...the attacks... the fighting... why? Somewhere, she heard Sadesh Opeij laughing that he had put Madev's head in the same jeweled box that had earlier held the gold he'd paid the merchant with. Then the voice was lost in the uproar, and the screams and sounds of dying became one long, low drone. She was only vaguely, dizzily aware that the dark, featureless masks above her were slowly drifting away , one by one, like flower petals being severed and tossed to the wind. Strange, vibrant streaks of red were painting the sky, and Lieh felt her head throbbing again as what looked like a streak of silver lightning flashed before her eyes. The red streaks became a sunset to her fluttering eyes, and she though it must be night because it got very dark and very quiet.She knew nothing after that until she woke up several hours later, with a heavy chain around her neck and manacles on her wrists and ankles.