Flashback The Price of Bravery [Zadok]

[Nyaela]

43rd Day of Fall, 510 AV

The jungle of Falyndar loomed over the travelers, mysterious and deadly in its own right. Plants and trees more deadly to a non-Myrian than even the most barbaric Myrian tribe grew on every side, covering the paths and remnants of many creatures.

For Nyaela, whom the sight was common, the greens of the landscape still made her feel uneasy. Myrians were stronger and smarter than most things than prowled these jungles, yet she’d known many who had perished within its boundaries – Myrian and non-Myrian – and she'd resolved not to write her name among that list.

She tugged on the length of rope she held and turned around. "We’re almost to the other side. If you don’t hurry up now you’ll be spending the night alone in Falyndar," she snapped in accented Common at the four shuffling behind her.

A woman slowed before heaving a deep breath, “I … I need … break.” She was barely a few years older than Nyaela, but her Chaktawe blood was evident in her weak frame and her horrible grasp of the barbaric Common language, which even a child could learn. Her body shivered as she tried to take a deep breath.

Nyaela frowned, glancing up at the foliage that covered the sky. From what little she could see of the sky, it didn't look as though half of the day had gone by yet. She had little reason to deliver these fools until the next day, anyway - and she was still irritated at having to take the slaves across the jungle in the first place.

Sighing aloud, she tugged on the rope once more for good measure and jerked her chin at the woman. "You have to the count of fif-ty." She sounded out the number 'fifty' slowly for emphasis – and because the Common word sounded so weird to her – crossing her arms and watching the captive carefully. Her gaze trailed past each of the captives before stopping on the Chaktawe woman’s face. She dropped her gaze as Nyaela’s green eyes met with her own.

Good.

"Anyone still sitting by the time I reach fif-ty will be crawling there on their hands and knees."” She lifted a leg and touched her knee to make it clear. These slaves had little in the way of intelligence, she’d found.

Nyaela loosened the slack on the rope and went to stand a few feet away. She still gripped the rope tightly, but this was as much a test on obedience as it was on her being pragmatic – merciful had nothing to do with it. The slaves would not sell for much all sweaty and half dead. Not to mention that any slave that tried to run from her now would be eaten alive by the jungle – assuming they got away from Nyaela in the first place.

She was confident they wouldn’t.

She had to make sure that they were trained not to run, though. If their spirit was broken, they’d be less likely to run, and they would bring more money home. She turned to the left slightly, in all appearances turning her back to some of the slaves and staring straight ahead, but she kept her ears honed for any sounds, her hand drifting to the hilt of the whip tied near her hip in case she needed it to keep them in line. She kept the lead slave in her peripheral vision.

"One …" she intoned, "… two … three …"

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok had been traveling through the jungle for a few days on his own. This was a bad move on his part he was running low on food and didn't recognize the plants in the jungle. He felt his clothes stick to his body from the sweat. His leather trench coat was his prized possession and would die with it on rather than it be taken from him.

Though he was beginning to feel weak. He heard rustling in the distance. He decided see what it was about. He soon found what he was looking for.

He saw a group of people that were tied together in a line. He decided to sneak up to one. "It's ok I'm here to help." The woman looked at him expressionless in a daze. Zadok didn't care he began to cut the rope with his sword.
His body beginning to feel more weak.

[Nyaela]

She was bored by the time she hit twenty. Nyaela knew it was foolish to hope for, but for once she wished one of the cowed captives would tug on the rope and try to fight back.

"Twenty-eight ... twenty-nine ..."

She pulled the whip from where it was coiled at her waist and slowly began to unwind it as she hit thirty. As serious as she'd sounded at the start, making one of these fools crawl all the way to their buyer was not going to help in any way. Not only would it lessen the price on the slave, but she'd be slowed down to at least a third of their current speed, which was already slow to begin with.

That left her with a problem - allowing a captive to walk free after giving them an ultimatum would make her lose face. Even the most cowed slaves lost themselves to hope upon seeing the finality of their fate when they met their buyer in Falyndar, and if they thought she was weak she'd have an uprising before the buyers even saw the captives.

"Thirty-two ... thirty-three ..."

So the best option was to scare them into obedience and avoid such a situation. She readied her whip, waiting to hit thirty-five before she turned around and coaxed them into standing.

"Thirty-f-"

Nyaela heard a small rustle, which confused her enough to pause the count. There was no tug from the rope, which meant none of the captives had moved since they'd sat down.

Unbeknownst to Nyaela, Zadok came toward the captive Chaktawe woman at the end of the rope. She shied away at first when the human bared steel near her. Her eyes grew wide as he started to cut away at the rope, and she shook her head furiously. "It late! Too late, save you first, go!" The woman whispered angrily, trying to save at least one person from the bitch before she stole his life too.

Before Nyaela could ponder on whether or not it was an animal, she felt the tug in the rope as a slave moved.

Quickly, she turned around, yanking the rope towards her and causing a chain effect with the slaves, who were too weak to pull back, pulling them out of their crouching to tumble to the floor and away from the newcomer. The woman captive that Zadok had initially tried to help fell back with a cry, waving her hands in front in a frantic sign, telling him to leave at once.

Finding the perpetrator was not difficult - indeed, he was the only one standing, a blade held in his hand as if to cut the rope.

Nyaela couldn't suppress a snort of disbelief. Even from her distance she could tell the man was weak - and not just because he was a mere human. He couldn't stand up straight, and if she wasn't wrong, he looked feverish. No wonder. Her eyes narrowed as she realised he was wearing a gigantic leather coat that clung to him, mostly drenched with sweat and dirt.

What creature with even an ounce of intelligence would wear animal hide in the jungles of Falyndar? Sure, it provided some protection in fights, but that was a poor tradeoff for heatstroke and dehydration.

"Touch her once more and I'll rip that blade from your dead corpse, she called out softly, walking towards him. She didn't bother with caution; the captives were far to weak to help him, and it looked like he couldn't fight as well as some of them either, given his disposition. "Why don't you drop that hunk of metal you call a weapon and come here? You look like you're lost. I can show you the way out of Falyndar." A slow smile crept across her face. "If you're good you might even get there in one piece."

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok couldn't believe the woman's confidence. "This hunk of metal was crafted by one of the finest Smithers in syliras and had been in my family for generations." Zadok felt he had nothing to lose so he walked slowly over to the woman in control. He used his sword to prop himself up. "I am lost I tried to follow a map given to me but I seemed to of misread it. That's not the point. I can't let you do this. You are taking these people's lives away from them. Each one has a chance to do what they wish. Just like you or me I beg you now to let them go." Zadok fell to his hands and knees panting. His exhaustion was to great he knew he could not win this fight. That he would either be carted off as one of the people he tried to save or die in the jungle. After those last thoughts zadoks mind blacked out.

[Nyaela]

"I can't let you do this. You are taking these people's lives away from them. Each one has a chance to do what they wish. Just like you or me I beg you now to let them go."

Nyaela grinned at the human as the sword he'd been so proud of a moment before dipped to the ground in an obvious effort to keep him standing. His words amused her even more. "You beg me? You know your place, human. But you're still foolish enough to try to persuade me to let these fools go ... for what? A chance at life in the jungle?" Her eyes rose to the leafy foliage above them and she spread her arms out dramatically. "Look at you. You can barely stand. They are going to new homes where they will be put to use, guarded along the way by one of Myri's own people so they will not fall prey to the many dangers of the forest. Then you come along and try to release them into the wild?" Nyaela huffed in mock sadness - it was obvious she was toying with the human. "And you think I'm the bad one here."

She'd barely gotten a few paces before the human fell down to his knees before her. "See now. You wouldn't be in this state if I'd met you earlier," she started to say, just as she saw his eyes roll upward into his head. "Oh."

She placed her hands on her hips, coming to stand a mere few feet away from the human and tilted her head at him curiously. Sighing aloud, the Myrian lifted a foot to nudge the human. "Well what am I going to do with you now?"

The Chaktawe woman Zadok had originally tried to save cried out and crawled over to him, placing her fingers on his neck to check his pulse while Nyaela watched her. "He alive still." She glanced up at Nyaela, then back down quickly, "Miss don't hurt him. He just a boy." It was obvious she felt responsible for his current demise.

Nyaela clicked her tongue, sending the woman scurrying away from the human, and squatted down beside him, rolling him over and reaching out to pull the sword away from his grasp, her eyes locked on his face. She was quite sure this was a trap, so she turned herself sideways to make it less easy for him to attack her as she did so, the fingers in her other hand curling into a tight fist in case he was too strong to be subdued. At least if he was still conscious it would mean that she didn't have to carry (or drag) him all the way through the jungle.

OOCWasn't sure if Zadok was playing or actually down so I ended it here to let you decide.

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok looked to the sky seeing the tree branches above. He hated to admit that she was right to a point that if he had freed them the would of died. Inside his mind he is now questioning if he was doing the right thing. He tried to reach out to grab his sword but was too weak to do so. He looked over to the woman he tried to save. She seemed to be afraid of what will happen next. Zadok felt a need to comfort her. He looked over to her and the rest giving them a small smile "Hey it's going to be ok. I'll find a way to help I promise." He said in a warm, trusting voice. He then looked over at the slaver. "You might be right they may of died here, but what your doing is worse then death. The point of being alive is that we are able to decide how we live. Our lives are defined by our choices. You enslaving these people taking away their choices and humanity is what truly kills them." Zadok attempts to get up but can barely move and yells in frustration. Realizing he must submit for now until he gains some strength back he looks up at her. "...ok I submit what must I do to get out of this alive."

[Nyaela]

Nyaela grinned mockingly at the human as his fingers fell short of the sword she pulled away from him. She hefted it, feeling its weight as though seizing up something she might buy. Shrugging, she stuck the sword point first into the ground beside her and readied the rope to tie around Zadok.

"Hey it's going to be ok. I'll find a way to help I promise." The Chaktawe woman smiled wanly at him through a teary face. Nyaela frowned and grabbed the human's hands, forcing them together and binding them roughly, making sure that he was bound next to the man in the front of the line so he'd have as little chance to converse with the others as possible. Wrapping the rope around him tight enough to chafe his wrists should he move them, she completed the tie by looping the rope around each foot separately as well, then knotting the loops at the front of each ankle so he could move just enough to take small steps.

"You enslaving these people taking away their choices and humanity is what truly kills them."

Obviously she cared little for his preachings, but she'd need to step around his words carefully if she wanted to make this journey successful. He was beaten, she knew. Some part of him knew it as well. It just hadn't fully registered yet.

"Kill? I told you before - I do not kill them, I save them." She stood, pulling the human roughly to his feet. "The fact that they live is because of me. You will learn this too, human. I said before - the only way you safely travel Falyndar is in the company of a Myrian."

"...ok I submit what must I do to get out of this alive."

If there was ever a warning bell, that was it. When someone like that willingly offered themselves up, that was never the end of it. She'd have to find a way to quash the man's remaining spirit before he realised he still had some fight left in him.

She smiled, though it did not touch her cold green eyes. "Oh, you will know, I promise. You will soon find out what it is you must do." She gathered the remaining rope in her hand and pulled the human's sword out of the ground. "Now, you are going to tell me what it is you are called," she said conversationally, positioning the sword on her belt so that it hung on her hip. She had no use for a sword, but she could probably sell it along with the others.

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok looked at the slaver with distaste. "My name is zadok shadows. Why does that matter to you. I bet you never bother to learn the names of your other captives. So what makes me different?" Zadok began to pull on the ropes defiantly. "I may agree to be in submission right now but there is no way for you to break me. I have traveled over syliras and the deserts of Eykotal. I have faced many foes and I will promise you three things. First thing is that I will break these ropes. Two I will retrieve my sword and three I will show these poor souls that there is still hope because you will not break me!!" He carried a grin on his face. He had one last trick up his sleeve. He was gifted in reminacy. More specifically pyrokenisis. All he needed was time to regain his strength and he would set his ropes ablaze. He looked foreword. "Oh move on our master of fate." Zadok said in a mocking tone.

[Nyaela]

"What makes me different?"

Nyaela clucked her tongue at him. "Don't think you're this special that I only need your name." She stepped closer to him and grabbed his chin with one hand, her fingernails digging painfully into his skin. "I ask because this is the last time you will hear it. Your name is now ..." She tilted her head at him, her eyes narrowing like those of a cat ready to pounce. "... worm. Worm is your name for today. You are not who you used to be. Remember that or I will make sure you can't forget it."

She let him go forcefully, pushing him backward with her hand instead of letting go of his chin. He needed to be pushed and prodded until his breaking point, at which time she'd show him who was really in charge.

"Three I will show these poor souls that there is still hope because you will not break me!"

She paused from where she was a few paces away, picking up the rope to gather her captives in a line so they could start off again and slowly turned to face Worm, the calmness of the second before a terrible storm hits mirrored in her brilliant green eyes. She started off with a sharp backhand across his face, then yanked the rope that was tied at his wrists, twisting them so the rope would dig into his skin. She then pulled him, forcing the human to bend forward so that he was on eye level with the much shorter Myrian. The height difference didn't matter, though. She drew herself up to her full height, her eyes demanding his full attention.

Her face was smooth, and she spoke very quietly and softly, almost as if she was having a conversation with the human about the weather in Falyndar. But her eyes flashed with the full fury of a Myrian savage, within them a promise.

"Now listen to me - carefully. I am letting you walk only because I don't care enough to drag you through Falyndar myself. But you gave me a promise, so I will give you something stronger. I give you a Myrian's vow. On my word, if you so much as try to cut through these ropes and free the others, that woman will be the first to go." Her accent, which she didn't bother to cover at this point, slurred the words together but it was obvious that she meant what she was saying. Her eyes cut to the Chaktawe woman Zadok had originally tried to save, then followed the line to the other captives as she listed them out as well. "I promise I'll sacrifice them all to Myri while you sit here weeping as I eat her heart out in front of you. Then I will break you before I sell you off to some Kalean barbarian. You think you can stand any pain - this is good!" She grinned dangerously, "You don't need your entire ... corpse ... to work in Kalea." She added, unknowingly mis-translating the Myrian word for body. "Shall I show you how?" She let go of his bonds for the last time, pulling sharply on the rope so the captives gathered in a line behind him and then tugged once more to set them into a slow shuffle.

"This I promise, worm. Cross me and watch everything you care for burn to ash."

[Zadok Shadows]

Zadok took in the information he was given. He would prod too much. He was ok with himself being killed but he never wanted anyone to die that was innocent because of him. He kept his face expressionless. He then grinned from ear to ear. "I highly doubt that you would kill her or the others just for little old me. It would be a waste of these people and in your profession the dead don't make a good product. What am I? I'm nobody. I'm just a traveler who knows that at any moment he could die far away from his homeland. You also assume that I still care for anything. I used to have so much mercy. Not anymore. I do this purely for redemption, and in the name of peace and what's right. If you untie me and lead these people to safety without selling their lives away that will be the end. If not you will regret it. Who knows you may like me once you get to know me. I am a good drinking buddy." He prepared him self. He felt that now if he needed to he could burn the ropes off and at least try to give the others a fighting chance. "Also on another note. WORM are you serious. That is the worst slave name ever. The thing is my name is one of the few things I have you can't take from me so that was stupid of you. And while we're on the subject of stupidity. Why didn't you check my trench coat. Nobody ever checks the trench coat. I can never understand that about people. I would always check the coat or pockets for stuff. Bear in mind all I got are herbs, a journal, a map, two sticks, a cutting knife for bread, and what's left of my food rations but its still very stupid on your part. Frankly I'm a little disappointed. I'm not crossing you. I'm just criticizing how you coordinate yourself." Zadok started to chuckle to himself.