• Mature • If You Go Away [Southern Gauthrel]

Memory Solo (713). Mouse is stolen from her master.

This is a forum where you can write threads in the wilderness of the Western Continent
User avatar
Mouse
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 6:04 pm
Race: Human
Renown: 20
Character Sheet
Templates
Wealth Tier: Tier 4

Milestones

Miscellaneous

If You Go Away [Southern Gauthrel]

Image
81 Ymiden, Arc 713

Mouse landed in front of the dais where her master lounged on a chair of monster bones and stretched hide of scaly creatures. Her knees stung from the impact to the rough stone. The Lotharro behind her, a man she hardly knew other than he often followed the orders of her master, kicked his heel into her shoulder so that she bowed lower.

Next to her master, she did recognize the three men at either side of the barbarian throne:

Ugnakros, one of the many son of her master, who looked almost worried for her with his hideously scarred face in a contorted expression. It wasn't concern for her though, but for his baby growing inside of her.

The shaman, who had made the baby's presence known, with his blackened clawed fingers and gaunt sneer, peered past his bestial skull headpiece.

And the one-eyed man with the eyepatch, who had stolen what little dignity she clung to for a few moments while Ugnakros had been busy.

She trembled under the four powerful Lotharro gazes upon her. Gazes that were: Ugnakros of worry, Shaman of disgust, One-Eye of pity, and her Master... of fury.

The master spoke in a booming voice, in a language she didn't understand. Words exchanged quickly between him and Ugnakros. She heard her name, she heard words she'd come to obsess over. Words like free and slave and mother and child. She didn't dare glance at the hunter who stood behind her. There was nothing for her to do except remain kneeling, remain quiet, and wait for whatever was happening.

The words grew louder. Shouts echoed off the throne hall of the fortress. Her Master stood in a rush of his layered furs and hides. She noticed One-Eye set a hand to a dagger on his belt.

Ugnakros spat at his father's feet. He pointed at him, then made a fist, and said something...

...something that had clearly been a terrible mistake to say.

Her master's face turned ruddy with anger. Though he was far more handsome than his son, his expression of hatred made it far more ugly. She heard metal drawn from leather behind her. Mouse looked over her shoulder and saw the shadow of the sword.

The blade loomed over her head.

This would be how the slave would die.

Mouse didn't close her eyes, but she did feel sudden fear paralyze her. She watched the sword arc downward, then gasped when it landed with a clatter beside her.

Ugnakros hurtled into the guard. He forced the disarmed man to the ground, with a fist slammed fatally into the other man's head. The crunch of bone into brain, and the executioner crumpled lifeless to the ground. Ugnakros roared, grabbed Mouse by the arm. He tossed her over his shoulder, then ran out of the throne room with the shouts of his father following behind them.

As simple as she tried to be, as dumb-downed as she made her mind to survive trial by trial in slavery, Mouse realized what was happening. Ugnakros and his father had disagreed to the idea of her freedom. Her master had denied it, to the angered point of demanding her death. She had offended him, and it could only be because of one reason. She held onto Ugnakros' shoulder and glanced over to see that a row of archers had lined behind them.

Mouse patted on his shoulder, but he kept running. The arrows went loose. Many missed, but one landed in her thigh. She cried out from the sudden impale of pain. Another couple of arrows had landed in Ugnakros' back but he kept going as if they weren't even there.

Her eyes widened when she saw where he was running... up the battlement steps to the fortress outer wall. Another stream of arrows passed them by, dodged through a sharp turn. He sprinted along the ramparts, picked up speed, and then jumped over the crenelation.

A scream almost broke free from Mouse. She clung to the Lotharro, buried her face in his chest, and felt the air whip up around her dress and hair. They plummeted down, past the fortress walls, and... they splashed into a moat. Mouse lost her senses for a moment, underwater and closing her eyes. She heard the dive of arrows into the water around them. The feeling of being tugged, and then she was lifted out of the water.

Mouse coughed, and barely recovered before Ugnakros had her on his shoulder again, and was sprinting again. The Lotharro hunter bounded away from his father's fortress, stealing away the slave, and headed into the neighboring wilderness of Gauthrel.

Above on the ramparts, turned around this time so she could look behind, she saw the archers. They did not fire though. Someone had raised a hand to stop them. She squinted, and then she recognized who it was. The One-Eyed Lothar... he made a gesture and the archers left upon the command. Yet One-Eye remained, arms crossed, and he watched them flee until they were out of sight.

Ugnakros ran and ran. Until they reached a treeline. He stumbled past a few trees, then crashed to his knees in exhaustion. Mouse tumbled off his shoulder, then stared at him with wide eyes. Her leg hurt from the arrow still in her thigh, but the ones that impaled the Lothar's back worried her more. He looked pale, like he had lost blood. Mouse had no medical training, no understanding of what to do about such things but what else was she to do? She placed her hands gingerly near the arrow shafts, then tugged to get it free. It proved far more difficult than she expected, as the flesh clung tight to the metal arrowhead.

A quiet huff sounded from the brunette. She tried to twist the arrow head out but a hand slapped over her wrist. Ugnakros wrenched her away with a stern shake of his head. Sweat dripped off his misshapen, broad features. In the dying light of the evening sun, he looked uglier than she'd ever seen him before. His nostrils flared, his yellowed teeth grimaced, and the contorted lines of his face seemed more twisted than usual.

He said something, but she didn't understand what it was. Haltunga, but she was at a loss for what he was trying to convey. The only word she understood was her name: Mouse.

Ugnakros wrapped his muscular arms around her waist, and pressed his beastly face against her stomach. He continued to murmur in a way that tickled through the thin coarse fabric of her slave's tunic. Mouse did not think he was talking to her, anymore... but the child-to-be that Ugnakros assumed was his.

Mouse felt sick. She wanted to press him away, but how could she? ...she was, though, alone with the lothar in the woods... she could deny him. It was a thought. A thought that she'd never entertained before. Not so truly in a way that she even pushed at his shoulders until he lifted to look at her. He stared, confused, and said something else that she didn't understand. Then he grabbed onto her leg and looked at the arrow in her thigh.

Tears gathered in Mouse's eyes but she tried not to let them fall. She trembled against his grip; a grip still so strong though he was so exhausted, and tried not to think about how he could snap her leg if he so desired. What would he do if he found out that the child might not be his? Would he still have fought for her life... or would he run the blade through her, himself? Would he have rather chopped her head off like he had that one pointy-eared slave... and would he try to kill One-Eye as well? Or would One-Eye go unscathed and only Mouse would bear the humiliation and punishment of harboring the potential of more than one man's offspring?

She cried out, when the arrow was pulled from her thigh. Blood welled and trickled over her slender limb. Ashen pale, she nearly fainted at the sight for how nauseous she felt. Ugnakros tore her tunic, making it shorter, and tying it around to bandage the wound and stem the bloodflow.

What would he do...

Mouse opened her mouth, to speak, but when she tried, all the slave could manage was a squeak of her high-pitched voice. Ugnakros laughed at her, then gathered her up in his arms to cradle and hold like he enjoyed. She shivered, feeling so cold, though the evening Ymiden air in Gauthrel was quite warm. Unable to look at him, she turned her head and stared at the nearby trees. She felt his kisses on her tear-stained cheeks, so full of affection and devotion, and Mouse did her best to not vomit.
word count: 1511
User avatar
Pig Boy
City Moderator
City Moderator
Posts: 5940
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:54 pm
Race: Prophet
Profession: Rharne City Moderator
Renown: 666
Office
Templates
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 1

Featured

Contribution

RP Medals

Staff

Events

Re: If You Go Away [Southern Gauthrel]

Image
Image
Image
Mouse

Experience: 10 No magic xp

Knowledge:

Endurance x3
Detection x3

Renown: 5 for being the baggage in a daring escape by Ugnakros

Skill Usage: Appropriate to level.

Loot/Losses: none

Injuries/Conditions: wounds will take time to heal within the timeframe given, for about a couple weeks. Sooner if she gets proper attention from a skilled healer.

Consequences: none

Comments: I've very much enjoyed these vignettes from Mouse's past, and so I'm glad that you brought the character back for however long she sticks around. The poor girl hates Lotharro so much, and yet Ugnakros loves her almost as much as he disgusts her. It's a terrible situation for Mouse, and drives home how alien in nature the Lotharro are to the rest of humanity. You do a very good job of portraying the Lotharro's native culture.

The escape over the battlements was a pretty exciting sequence, and I found it very realistic and fitting that they got peppered with missiles, one of them even finding purchase in Mouse's leg.

Good thing she had a big strong Lotharro to pull it out. Sleep tight Mouse!

Great writing, enjoy the rewards.

If you have any concerns about this review, please PM me about them.
word count: 210
Avatar provided by the wonderful Pegasus
Post Reply Request an XP Review Claim Wealth Thread

Return to “Western Heights”