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<blockquote data-quote="havenstone" data-source="post: 4752842" data-attributes="member: 61094"><p><strong>Part Two: City of Dragons</strong></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The Rules of the Cage</span></strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">THE MORNING LIGHT </span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">filters dimly through the smoke billowing from the ruins of Guardwatch. Mud and ash cover the thousands of stunned prisoners who sit mutely in the non-noble corral; their captors’ display of brutality and arcane power has broken any will to resistance. Shortly after sunrise, screams rise from the entrance to the thorn ring as dozens of armored strangers run in and begin pulling the captives to their feet. The moment of hysteria subsides as it becomes clear that the soldiers are not marshaling the surviving Northerners for execution, but splitting them into groups and shepherding them south toward the great wheeled cages.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">As the soldiers draw closer, Carwyn notices with a sharp twinge of dread that they are systematically dividing any individual prisoners who try to stick together. “Don’t touch me,” she whispers to Lune, edging away from him. Atrix looks up from where he has cradled the exhausted Kay through the night, not comprehending until it’s too late. The brusque soldiers pull Kay away from him, beating him half unconscious as he tries desperately to pull her back.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Nina notices almost too late that Agerain d’Aramant has drifted away from the rest of the group, allowing the soldiers to pull him into the same cluster as Kay. “No!” Nina gasps, running toward Agerain. He is met by gauntleted fists and dragged off alone into a third group. Agerain’s eyes follow him with poisonous malevolence, then drift back to Kay.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Each group is marched to one of the huge cages. The bars of the cages are made of a segmented, hollow wood, flexible but tremendously strong, which the Northerners have never seen before; the wheels are reinforced with smooth bands of iron. Atrix curses helplessly as Kay and Agerain are lost to sight in the center of another cage, while Nina is ushered away to a third. The rest of the group – Ash, Atrix, Carwyn, Darren, Kyla, Lucian, Lune, Meeshak, and Ontaya – are confined together. </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">There are 26 other captives in the cage with them. It is clear they will have no real privacy while they are locked up together; if all of the prisoners wanted to sleep at the same time, there would be barely enough floor space for everyone to lie packed closely together. Most of their fellow prisoners are wounded soldiers; there are also several captured servant girls and merchants from various countries. One of the captives is a young man with the small stature and light brown skin of the Jendae -- a nomadic race, like the <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4354425-post13.html" target="_blank">Sufza</a>, who travel throughout the barbarian plains and the southern reaches of the civilized realms. The Jendae are a deeply reverent people, renowned for their gifts of prophecy as well as their more prosaic skills as tinkers. This young man is silent and has a haunted look about him.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Staring dully out through the bars, Kyla notes that most of the Arawai host do not seem to be talking to or even acknowledging the presence of the alien armored warriors any more than absolutely necessary. At mid-morning, the northern Arawai tribes strike camp and ride off to their respective home territories. Baby T’harai begins to wail hungrily, but when the strangers ignore her entreaties, there’s nothing Kyla can do but rock him until he whimpers himself to sleep.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Around noon, a silent golden-skinned warrior slides three buckets of millet porridge and some skins of water between the bars of their cage. A beefy, dangerous-looking Caragond soldier grabs one of the pails and begin wolfing down the food with four of his friends. Lucian and Ontaya get to the other food buckets first, and ensure that a fair division between the weaker captives gets underway. Then Ontaya walks over to where the five soldiers are devouring the contents of the first bucket.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Curago,” mutters one of them, elbowing the Caragond ringleader.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Curago scowls up at Ontaya. “What are you looking at?”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“If we turn on each other, we’re not going to get through this alive,” Ontaya says simply.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Some of the soldiers look guilty, but Curago bursts into a short, harsh laugh. “Little girl, have you ever been in a war before? The winning side takes prisoners. We’ll be held until our country decides to ransom us back -- and until then, we have to make our own rules.” He wipes the millet from his stubble and stands, casting a voracious stare around the cage. “Now, I see this as a lucky break. The Arawai aren’t the ones holding us. The strangers have taken too many of us to kill, but the domineering nobles have all gotten the chop. Those of us who remain get a big cage, with plenty of women and food for the strong.” </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Ontaya reaches out and grabs his wrists. Curago tries to pull away, then lashes out toward her knee with his boot, but Ontaya dodges and keeps her grip with ease. Ash, Lucian, Darren, and Atrix move quickly over to deter the other soldiers from joining the fight. “That’s not how it’s going to work,” Ontaya states in a calm, loud voice. “Here’s what the rules are going to be. Until we get out of this, everyone gets an equal share of the food. The women sleep alone, in their own quarter of the cage, unless they choose otherwise. No one gets violent, and no one gets hurt. Understood?”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Curago utters a vile curse and jabs at her eyes. Ontaya sighs and knocks his legs out from under him, bearing him to the floor of the cage and twisting one arm behind his back. “Understood?”</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Gnnnn... just let go of me,” the Caragond veteran snarls.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ontaya says. “By the power of Ain, be healed.” Curago’s wounds close, and he gasps in shock. “We have ten thousand enemies outside this cage. We don’t need any more.”</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="havenstone, post: 4752842, member: 61094"] [b]Part Two: City of Dragons[/b] [B][FONT=Verdana]The Rules of the Cage[/FONT][/B] [B][FONT=Verdana]THE MORNING LIGHT [/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana]filters dimly through the smoke billowing from the ruins of Guardwatch. Mud and ash cover the thousands of stunned prisoners who sit mutely in the non-noble corral; their captors’ display of brutality and arcane power has broken any will to resistance. Shortly after sunrise, screams rise from the entrance to the thorn ring as dozens of armored strangers run in and begin pulling the captives to their feet. The moment of hysteria subsides as it becomes clear that the soldiers are not marshaling the surviving Northerners for execution, but splitting them into groups and shepherding them south toward the great wheeled cages.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]As the soldiers draw closer, Carwyn notices with a sharp twinge of dread that they are systematically dividing any individual prisoners who try to stick together. “Don’t touch me,” she whispers to Lune, edging away from him. Atrix looks up from where he has cradled the exhausted Kay through the night, not comprehending until it’s too late. The brusque soldiers pull Kay away from him, beating him half unconscious as he tries desperately to pull her back.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Nina notices almost too late that Agerain d’Aramant has drifted away from the rest of the group, allowing the soldiers to pull him into the same cluster as Kay. “No!” Nina gasps, running toward Agerain. He is met by gauntleted fists and dragged off alone into a third group. Agerain’s eyes follow him with poisonous malevolence, then drift back to Kay.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Each group is marched to one of the huge cages. The bars of the cages are made of a segmented, hollow wood, flexible but tremendously strong, which the Northerners have never seen before; the wheels are reinforced with smooth bands of iron. Atrix curses helplessly as Kay and Agerain are lost to sight in the center of another cage, while Nina is ushered away to a third. The rest of the group – Ash, Atrix, Carwyn, Darren, Kyla, Lucian, Lune, Meeshak, and Ontaya – are confined together. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]There are 26 other captives in the cage with them. It is clear they will have no real privacy while they are locked up together; if all of the prisoners wanted to sleep at the same time, there would be barely enough floor space for everyone to lie packed closely together. Most of their fellow prisoners are wounded soldiers; there are also several captured servant girls and merchants from various countries. One of the captives is a young man with the small stature and light brown skin of the Jendae -- a nomadic race, like the [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4354425-post13.html"]Sufza[/URL], who travel throughout the barbarian plains and the southern reaches of the civilized realms. The Jendae are a deeply reverent people, renowned for their gifts of prophecy as well as their more prosaic skills as tinkers. This young man is silent and has a haunted look about him.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Staring dully out through the bars, Kyla notes that most of the Arawai host do not seem to be talking to or even acknowledging the presence of the alien armored warriors any more than absolutely necessary. At mid-morning, the northern Arawai tribes strike camp and ride off to their respective home territories. Baby T’harai begins to wail hungrily, but when the strangers ignore her entreaties, there’s nothing Kyla can do but rock him until he whimpers himself to sleep.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Around noon, a silent golden-skinned warrior slides three buckets of millet porridge and some skins of water between the bars of their cage. A beefy, dangerous-looking Caragond soldier grabs one of the pails and begin wolfing down the food with four of his friends. Lucian and Ontaya get to the other food buckets first, and ensure that a fair division between the weaker captives gets underway. Then Ontaya walks over to where the five soldiers are devouring the contents of the first bucket.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Curago,” mutters one of them, elbowing the Caragond ringleader.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Curago scowls up at Ontaya. “What are you looking at?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“If we turn on each other, we’re not going to get through this alive,” Ontaya says simply.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Some of the soldiers look guilty, but Curago bursts into a short, harsh laugh. “Little girl, have you ever been in a war before? The winning side takes prisoners. We’ll be held until our country decides to ransom us back -- and until then, we have to make our own rules.” He wipes the millet from his stubble and stands, casting a voracious stare around the cage. “Now, I see this as a lucky break. The Arawai aren’t the ones holding us. The strangers have taken too many of us to kill, but the domineering nobles have all gotten the chop. Those of us who remain get a big cage, with plenty of women and food for the strong.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Ontaya reaches out and grabs his wrists. Curago tries to pull away, then lashes out toward her knee with his boot, but Ontaya dodges and keeps her grip with ease. Ash, Lucian, Darren, and Atrix move quickly over to deter the other soldiers from joining the fight. “That’s not how it’s going to work,” Ontaya states in a calm, loud voice. “Here’s what the rules are going to be. Until we get out of this, everyone gets an equal share of the food. The women sleep alone, in their own quarter of the cage, unless they choose otherwise. No one gets violent, and no one gets hurt. Understood?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Curago utters a vile curse and jabs at her eyes. Ontaya sighs and knocks his legs out from under him, bearing him to the floor of the cage and twisting one arm behind his back. “Understood?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Gnnnn... just let go of me,” the Caragond veteran snarls.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ontaya says. “By the power of Ain, be healed.” Curago’s wounds close, and he gasps in shock. “We have ten thousand enemies outside this cage. We don’t need any more.”[/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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