| Irai sat in her tent, relaxing as she sipped on her herbal tea. It had been a week since she came out of the cave, and ever day of it she spent waiting for Ren to appear. She looked down at her tea sadly, thinking back to every moment she had spent with him. This tea doesn't taste like the one he makes... I wonder where he is. Irai sighed. Her hand reached up and touched the rune on her forehead as she continued thinking. Ever since she had returned from the cave, she had been pampered by everybody. She was given her own tent that was much larger than she would ever need alone, brought food, and even looked up to by her elders. Men who wanted her tried to court her made many attempts, but she ignored each and every one as they brought gifts ranging from pelts to clothing to flowers. Twice her healing abilities had been called upon since her returned. One time, it was just a man who had cut himself during the hunt, but the other was far more severe. A boy had broken his leg playing around on the cliffs near the cave, and would have not been found had Irai not been waiting for Ren to appear out the cave. Each time she healed, her rune sent waves of pain into her, and with the body, she felt that she would almost pass out due to it. Irai finished off her tea before laying down on her blanket. The air felt cold against her fur as she wrapped her blanket around her, sighing and closing her eyes. The sun was setting as she started to hear the crickets chirping in her ears. The melody of the small critters caused her to stop thinking for a moment and enjoy the music as she closed her eyes. Then the chirping stopped, only to be replaced by the sounds of footsteps. As she opened her eyes, she saw one of her clansmen holding another in his arms, noticably wounded and bleeding. She watched him as he was laid down in front of her before her blood covered clansmen ran out of her tent. Irai looked over her patient for a moment. She paused for a moment as she realized that her patient was Bara. He had suffered many puncture wounds all over his front, but none were near anything fatal. Her hands hesistated in touching his bleeding wounds as she thought back to the beginning of the rite. She shook her head for a moment. That shouldn't matter now she thought to herself as Irai started healing him. Pain racked her body causing her to shudder as the bleeding slowly stopped and the wounds closed up. The rune felt hotter and hotter as until at last she was done. Her body was sweating as she started to breathe heavily, laying back down on her blanket. Irai wondered if what she did was right. During the rite of passing, Bara was ready to rape her after he had beaten her into the ground, but his overconfidence brought him to his demise. She looked at his sleeping form and thought about the rite for a while longer when a second patient arrived. As she examined him, she realized that it was Yako, but his wounds were the same. Irai took less time to heal Yako, but the pain was no less. Her body felt almost exhausted as her bones ached. The pain took its toll on her as waves of dizziness caused her to fall backward. She held the rune on her forehead as the burning faded while she rested and relaxed. Her rest was short lived as a third came in, sliced up but walking under his own power. He fell in front of her as he began healing him immediately. The pain felt strong in her body, however, and as she finished healing him, she reached her limit of agony. Irai blacked out, unable to heal any longer. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Irai opened her eyes slowly, looking around in her tent. At first all she could see was blurred visions in her eyes, but after a while her eyes focued on many figures around her. They were all clanswomen of her tribe, she noticed, when her gaze shifted to in front of her. Yako sat in front of her, remaining in between her and Bara, who seemed rather angry at the moment. She shook her head clear for a moment before sitting up, yawning and stretching her limbs out. Irai slowly stood to take a better look around at her tent. Irai could feel the amount of fear that filled her tent. She didn't have to second guess herself as she started wondering what was going on. She took a seat by Yako as her eyes focused in on Bara, who was now staring at her. "What's going on Yako?" "Slavers." Was the simple one word reply. Irai blinked for a moment. Up to now, the only humans she had seen were traderes and travelers, and though she had heard of slavers before, she had never hoped to experience any slave raids. The fear that generated from around her was, no doubt, a direct result of the slavers. All the men were either looking around or guarding her tent. Looking at Bara's mood, she thought to herself for a moment. "Why is your brother angry like he is?" Yako looked at her and shook his head. " He had some wild ideas that I disagreed with while you were asleep..." "Thank you." " I should thank you, Irai. You saved my life... twice now. It was the least I could do in return." Irai smiled at Yako before returning to her blanket once again. She closed her eyes and relaxed, waiting patiently for sounds outside of her tent. The area was almost silent to the point that she could hear herself breathe. She could feel the tension rise with each moment as the slight sound would startle her as moments seemed to take hours to her. Suddenly the men outside the tent were cast into alert. Irai rised and got her ankle sheaths, putting them on before she started to walk to the flap to her tent. Bara stood in her way, however, glaring daggers at her. "What do you think you're doing?" The rune on Irai's forehead began to glow faintly as her eyes narrowed. "I refuse to be protected anymore." Bara blinked at her as he moved out of her way. Irai exited the tent and looked around as the majority of her clansmen stood in front of the exit. In front of them stood a small army of humans. Each man had a sword, but they held clubs or nets as their main weapons. At the command of one of their leaders on a horse, the humans began marching forward. Irai watched as her clansmen spreaded out. Any moment, she knew, chaos would errupt when the battle began. She watched and waited patiently as the humans got closer and closer. Her clansmen made the first move as Irai watched them charge, swords and spears ready. She watched nets fly as the sounds of battle filled her ears. The human army stood firm while cries of pain and death filled her ears. She watched, wanting to return to the tent while at the same time wanting to join in on the struggle. In horror, however, she watched her clansmen begin to break slowly as the number captured or dead rose quickly. Most of the army started chasing after the retreating foe into the forest while the rest, lead by the man on the horse, advanced into her village, razing all the tents while circling and surrouding hers. Irai's anger gradually built up as she watched her village burn. The rune on her forehead began glowing brightly. In her anger, she screamed out as the bright light filled her eyes. Her mind raced as she lost control of her body. Eventually the light became darkness. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Irai woke up in darkness. She could barely move as the sounds of people around her barely reached her ear. Her body felt sore and worn as her eyes began to slowly adjust. She mumbled to herself as she tried to roll over onto her stomache. The sounds of chains jiggling caused her to wake up as she was unable to roll over. She found her arms, neck, waist, and legs bound to the floor by chains as she looked around frantically. Irai could only see walls with small holes around her, but she could not see outside because she could not look out. She started trembling as she realized that she was a slave. Irai cried softly as tears rolled down her cheek. Her arms and legs struggled against the chains to no avail. As she stared at the ceiling of her prison, Irai's mind became focused on Ren. Irai wondered where Ren was to protect her now. |