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 Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:19 pm
The lady did not respond immediately to his request, but simply had him led into a covered carriage and chained there. The other slaves gasped as they decloaked him in the carriage, but they also followed their mistress' orders to chain him without a peep. If she did not already suspect something, she would know soon enough.
As for Sih, her cage, a large woven basket, was tied firmly to the top of the carriage.
Because the carriage was covered, they were able to bump along past whatever compounds and outposts lay on the main road without causing a stir. As long as they were in the carriage, the lady would not permit his cloak to be returned to him. It was humiliating, or so she hoped. A slave capable of such an outburst as she had witnessed need to be kept firmly, gently in his place.
She was also more interested in his story after his full strangeness was revealed, although she did not ask much outright. She announced to him her name, explaining that he could not know how to address her otherwise. "Lady Charel," he was to call her.
It was not until bedding coming to a stop for the night that their conversation expanded beyond such trivial things as names and meals. They stayed in a relatively busy hotel of sorts that was smashed between the active centers of two compounds. It was about as close as you could get to a regular city without going to the capital itself. There were people running to and fro at all hours.
Lady Charel's slaves were to sleep all in the same room a door apart from her own, but first she isolated Arril to speak with him. At that point he had his cloak back on, as they had been in the sight of others. "What else should I know about you?" she demanded simply, an open-ended question.
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Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:38 pm
Arril wasn't humiliated at his de-cloaking, but he was puterbed(sp) at the fact that he was unable to conferr with Sih at all, in the long carriage ride. It was boring, it smelled strongly, discustingly, of the slaves that rode with him. Enclosed in such a tight space with the people kept him from nodding off, for the smell. They may have smelled nice to their normal brethren and to the lady, but Arril could smell their secreted odors under all the perfume and soap, and by the end of the ride, he was feeling sick.
Having explained how he had become the way he was, what he had been doing for the better part of his life after it to the Woman, Lady Charel, he stood before her, slightly angry at the bindings still on him. "You have what is dear to me, and you have control over spirits. Why must I stay in bindings all of the time? My 'skin' is not like yours, smooth and without rough patches. I have scales, and I feel that some of them have rubbed off in the journey here. It's worse than a splinter." He said, sighing.
He didn't want to tell her of his ability to communicate with canines, or his skill with a bow and a knife, fearing that she might take the skills away with her spirits. He had intentionally told her he had been only able to communicate with reptiles, since she had seen and removed Sih. He had heard many strange stories about spirits and their ways, through the many animals he spoke with. He didn't want her to cast another one on him.
"What do you wish to know?" He asked, looking around a little aprehensively. He was tense, uncomfortable, and he wanted to know if Sih was alright. He wanted Sih with him, more than anything.
He clenched his teeth together, looking around at the surroundings. There were noises coming from everywhere outside, and he was weary for sleep and his familiar. He longed for his knife, not to use, but just to have -some- security in this unfamiliar place and situation. He curled his tail between his legs, keeping it close to his body. It was going to be a long night.
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:31 am
"You have told me enough," the woman answered soothingly, "and your pet will not be harmed. However, she is large and must stay in her cage. You do not understand the ways of Feretris yet, but you will. Answering me was a good thing, an important step. You have no reason to fear death as long as you continue to comply. Wait here."
She left him tied for the moment, but when she returned with another woman, they both untied him. He was then led to a place to sleep, a room all to himself and the new woman, who would watch over him as he slept. He had somehow made himself important to these people, but not feared enough to be loosed. Sih was kept from him, though Cheryl assured him that the snake would not be harmed.
"In the morning we travel," the new woman informed him, "so you had best sleep. We take you to a place where you can belong."
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:01 am
Arril got as far from the new woman as he could. He didn't feel safe with these women at all. They spoke soothingly and tried to entice him into security, the promise of a "place to belong," but he belonged in the wilds. These women reminded him fiercely of the flytraps thay lured their prey in with false promises of nourishment. There were very little differences.
He watched the new woman, unable to sleep for the disturbing feeling Sih was somewhere, and he knew nothing of her health, her comfort. He had pushed himself before, last winter when they were stuck in the mountains. He had stayed awake for three days, keeping them both warm by constantly adding logs to a quickly dwindling fire. By the time the storm they had been stuck in was over, he had almost exhausted every log he had cut.
this time it would be different.
He resolved himself to escape and find Sih, whenever the opportunity became available to him.
"Your supposed to watch me when I sleep? How do I know you wont bother me when I close my eyes?" He said to the new woman, narrowing his eyes at the lady.
He rubbed the places around his shoulders that had an almost unnoticable hollow in them from the weight of his familiar.
In the distance he could hear a dog barking. if only it were nearer...
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:12 am
Arril was taken as swiftly to the capital as possible. There were no more conversations between him and women. As long as he was quiet, he was treated as a compliant slave or child who needed food and watering. It was many days along the main roads, yet not quite a week. He learned only that they were going to the capital, and that the other slaves were excited. They would not talk to him more than necessary, though, because of his strange appearance. He saw Sih sometimes, as she was kept on top of the carriage in a cage. When they arrived at the capital, a messenger boy came to greet them. Word had gone ahead of them to whomever mattered. (go here! http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=11266023 )
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