Tragedy of Rain 6 Chapter 6: Enslaved

It took three guards to pin her down long enough to wrap the leather collar around her throat. She was almost too strong for them, her arms had new strength that was not earned. Still despite the thrashing and clumsy resistance, they finally clamped her arms behind her and collard her. Her protests were met with no mercy, her tears returned by fevered insults. They yanked her out of the cell and led her outside. The sun stabbed into her skin like a thousand needles over every square inch of her exposed flesh.

She screamed! The strength she had before sapped from her as her legs collapsed under her. The sounds she made grew more inhuman as the torrent of pain and agony consumed her. It was as if her very flesh was being burned away.

The guards cursed at her, one of them said something in a foreign tongue that was obviously meant to insult her. They dragged her through the mud and the dirt, her mind finally fading in and out of consciousness. Her clothes being shed from all the dragging only exposed more of the sun to her body.

Finally she was in a steel cage, her skin still seething from the sun. Yet she wasn't dying. Her eyes opened, they were dry and itching. her tear stained cheeks cooled her face momentarily as the ever glowing star in the sky seemed to focus exclusively on her.

The Scepter preached that the earth was the center of all the heavens, the sun and stars its shield against darkness and the oblivion. Right now the sun seemed every bit her enemy, a spiteful and cruel god that languished in her suffering.

The carriage that carried her steel prison jolted and with great strain pushed forward. It was noon, and there's were no shadows cast to provide any comfort. Exposed to the world and all it's cruelty the changes to her body continued to show. Her skin tone had changed again, slowly turning darker. It was now a cool grey, where before she had the pale soft complexion of her mother. Her hair had become even more bleached white, she wasn't used to it covering her eyes.

What was happening to me? She wondered, no one in the alienage had ever spoke of something like this. The marks that had been on her arm had spread to her shoulder and the curvy lines had started to cup her shoulder blades and expand to reveal reaching lines advancing down her upper chest and back.

That's when she noticed just how exposed she was to the elements. She huddled to the corner of the cage, she was shaking as she moved into a fetal position. She could feel every pot hole and crease in the cobblestone as the carriage continued to travel. The light still pained her but...she was getting used to it? The waves of agony becoming part of the background noise that justified her existence.

Her cage was a slave pen, ever since the scouring the principality had banned the use. But the neighbors both north and south continued the practice. It would take a week to arrive to either of them, and from there gods new what was in store. She had heard horror stories of the theocracies breeding programs and the kholon worker pits. Her mother had told her once how she met a former slave in the alienage who had escaped from the south. She told her never to venture there, that the alienage was a haven in comparison.

As the cart was drawn down cobblestone streets, people stopped to stare and whisper amongst themselves. She hated feeling so vulnerable, so naked to the world. And the pain, the seething pain never relented.

She mustered the strength to look at the crowds, the buildings on either side, the monastery with its ringing bells in the distance. She imagined Sir Olsen was there now judging her. What else would be doing?

They soon passed the same road that led to the alienage, it's cobblestone streets were faded and cracked from years of overuse. The innkeep she had foolishly visited lined the side of the road. It's aging roof was slowly caving in, and small denizens of rats scurried at the edge of the door collecting scraps of food.

What is happening? The question was a poison in her mind.

As the cage was carried off further larger crowds gathered to watch the prisoner. Some cried curses, others declared her abomination. The worst thing that was said though was "vile shemlen". The word had been the first name humans had ever received, a slander by the elves during the first ages and the lost epochs. A word only elves used, a word that could have only passed through the lips of those who had once lived beside her.

She was truly an outcast now.

What is happening? She wanted to scream the words, to beg some sort of answer. Someone had to know, someone had to have some answer to this suffering!

They finally made it to a crossroad, a pair of guards awaited the carriage. One was shorter than the other; they both seemed too slender for their uniforms. Her eyes picked up details that she wouldn't have noticed before. Hands that never left their pockets, a cape that seemed more worn than the chest pieces. A boot a different shade of brown and not as well tailored than the other. But the thing that stuck out to her the most were there eyes. A pair of dull grey eyes looked at her with striking similarities. She had seen those eyes before?

Did something move? She could have sworn the pupils in those grey eyes had changed? A mark, not too dissimilar from those on her arm gave shape in the very iris's of those eyes!

The taller guard also looked at her, his head covered as well by an iron helmet that fit loosely on his scalp. His skin was hard to see under the a thick scarf. His eyes were translucent blue like a clear ocean.

Was he smiling? She suddenly had a recollection of the smile that the creature had given her from before. Cruel lips with a torn smile, the though made her stinging skin shiver. But this smile was different, kinder and more sincere...more human?

The carriage stopped abruptly as the guards approached. The crowding peasants hurled things toward her, Rain struggled and failed to find shelter.

The guards drew closer parting the swarming crowds. As soon as they were within arms reach the taller figure shared words with the stage coach. Whatever he said seemed to have worked, as the stagecoach stepped down from his seat. The outrage of the crowd grew making it hard for her to hear.

The stage coach walked drunkenly to the edge of the crowd where he stood silently. The two new guards replaced him, climbing aboard the carriage and grabbing hold of the reins. The horses protested their commands as if partially rejecting their new owners.

With great effort they pulled the carriage carrying the slave pen again. The crowds followed for a time. The overcast never relenting as their jeering and insults followed. The two new stage coaches didn't so much as say a word during that time, although they shared a glance on occasion.

It took an hour before finally reaching the cities walls, the main gate open to the world beyond. The main square was normally a brimming marketplace full of new foreigners and merchants. Rain had never seen it before, she never got this close to the outside. Seeing the gates open and a field of dark green beyond was akin to entering a new uncertain world that was alien to her.

Luckily the main thoroughfare was emptier than expected, the merchants stalls empty and only a few lines could be seen. It seemed strange to have so much space and so few people. The crowds that had been following them had abandoned their march some time before.

Rain was tempted to try and escape before all hope was lost, but her strength had been sapped from her bones. She could barely stand much less find a way to escape her moving prison.

Just as they were about to cross the threshold to the outside she heard one of the guards speak in a soft but foreign accent, "give her the cloak now, she must be in agony for gods sake," the voice belonged to a man.

The smaller guard glanced at her quickly, when she responded her voice was strikingly familiar. "Not until we are out of sight, it's the only way."

The carriage continued for some time, the city slowly fading into the distance. At some point Rains eyes closed for possibly the last time. Her mind sinking into the abyss.

Chapter end