Quiet as a mouse

[Sidonia]

Sidonia tried her best, she knew they had to be quiet. Kay had told her that the Azgeda could still be around these parts of the woods, even though it had been weeks since their village had been attacked. She tried everything she could, but she just couldn't fight against the nightmares that came to her every night, causing her to wake up screaming, making her brother curse and press his hand to her mouth. He could never stay mad at her for long though, barely holding back his own tears. The first few times he'd slapped her because he's been so angry at her and frightened that she might alert everyone close enough to their presence. After a while, he'd just moved on to holding her close as she sobbed, cursing a little under his breath as he did so. She knew he was just scared that the warriors would come back to finish their job and kill them too, he wanted to protect her.

She missed her mother and father, but she just wished the memories of their dead corpses, covered in blood and wide eyes empty as they stared at her, wouldn't come to visit her every night. She began to sleep less and less in order to pose a smaller risk of exposing them and also because she simply couldn't. Just as almost every day before, she got up as soon as there was enough light to see everything clearly in her path so she wouldn't trip over branches and rocks. The girl always made sure not to stray too far from her brother as she roamed the forest, collecting berries and other edibles nature offered them. This was the closest she could come to feeling peaceful since she'd watched her parents being slaughtered. The quiet of the woods surrounding her, the only sounds those of the animals enhabiting the same space as her and of her feet shuffling over the ground.

Tag: ash

[ash]

It was a soft change in the air, in the way the woods responded to alert Roan. Someone was here. But he had to lay low. Roan was not safe with anyone. Banished he was no more than a criminal despite not having committed a crime worth banishment. Then again it wasn't like he could move at all. He came here the night before, hoping to find passage closer to where Flokru resided. He knew they were a peaceful bunch and would not kill him despite his banishment. They weren't killers. Now his own people. They would. And the proof was what he was just stuck in: An azgeda trap. He could not get out of it alone, since it held one arm immobile and it needed two arms.

The movements wasn't an animal, though. The question was if he could risk calling for help. Was it someone he could trust? Roan tried to see who or what it was. if it was someone he could ask to free him, he had to. Then he noticed it. A girl. Maybe he could really ask her.

"Hey!" He called out to get her attention. "Help! Please! I'm stuck." He knew upon closer inspection he would look like a threat, but what choice did he have with his arm stuck in a trap.



Sidonia

[Sidonia]

Sidonia jumped and felt her heart hammer against her chest like a bird trapped in a cage. Where just moments ago, there'd only been the peaceful sounds of the forest, she heard a distinct yell, seemingly directed at her. The voice sounded masculin, but it definitely wasn't her brother. It was strange, because she hadn't heard a human voice other than her brother's for so long. She crouched a little, making herself as small as possible as she approached the direction the cry of help had come from. Her wide eyes, bright with fear and curiosity, scanned the trees and bushes surrounding her but she couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary at first.

After passing an especially tall bush, her eyes fell upon the source of the yelling and she nearly let out a shriek of her own. Her heart beat even faster as she took in the trapped man's appearance, which looked almost exactly the same as the Azgeda warriors who had slaughtered her parents. Despite her fear, Sidonia stepped a little closer, feeling braver knowing that the man could hardly move. She stared at him, the colour of her wide eyes more striking with her face being so filthy, her clothes ripped and as dirty as the rest of her. Her brown eyes pooled with tears as she approached the stranger, who reminded her so much of the day her parents were killed and somehow she thought that he must be one of the warriors who burned her village and murdered her people. She drew the small dagger her father had once given her from its sheath and gritted her teeth as she got closer to the man, her hands trembling.
„You're a killer!“, she snarled at him, her whole body shaking with anger, grief and fear.

Tag: ash

[ash]

It was a girl. It was a young girl, but it was her attire that struck Roan the most. It was dirty, it was torn, it was not the attire of a girl that was care for regularly by a parent. It was the little things that gave away more of her story. She was scared. She was so clearly scared of him, that the connection was easy to make. Her anger mixed in with that only made it easier to deduce what could have happened to make her that way. His clan. Or former clan. He no longer had a clan. He was banished, banished from the lands of all of them. This girl actually had the right to kill him, it was bizarre. Maybe it would help her if she did. 

"I am not." He said, and he meant it. He had only killed a few people, most of them in self defense. His position in the last war made him far away from becoming a killer, a survivor, yes, but he never killed, unless it was in a war, under duress. He was never involved in raiding. "You think I'm Azgeda! They did something to you! I'm not Azgeda. Not anymore. I'm banished. I didn't kill anyone." Hell this was the first time he was. And he hadn't killed anyone in the recent past. He had just tried to survive and that meant avoiding people. "If I was still Azgeda, would I be trapped in an Azgeda trap? I'm hiding from them, too"


Sidonia

[Sidonia]

Sidonia kept her crouch-like position with her dagger in her hand as she stood a few metres from the trapped man. She'd had so many hours of combat training with grown men and women from her village and with other children. But this was a real life enemy standing in front of her, it wasn't just a training session.
Still, he was immobile and unable to fight back as he was caught inside the trap. Doubt still crept into her mind when he told her he'd been banished. But Kay had told her not to trust anyone except him and surely not Azgeda, even if this particular one had been banished. Even if he didn't belong to his people anymore, what would keep him from turning on her as soon as she had released him? He could still hurt her and her brother and take the few belongings they had. Especially if he had to fend for himself just as the siblings did, he needed all the food and tools he could find and the children's small stash could be useful to him.

„Why should I believe you? You'll kill me once I've freed you!“, she said with a trembling voice and took a step towards him, her weapon still held ready for an attack.

Tag: ash

[ash]

He could not blame her. He couldn’t blame her one bit. He knew some of Azgeda could not be trusted and, well he couldn’t advice her for trusting him. He could betray her and ultimately, if it was his life on the line, he probably would – unless he owed her his life. It looked a lot like he would owe her his life soon. Then again right now it wasn’t about survival soon. He had his life to lose and she thought she had hers to loose. But he didn’t intend to take her life. What would be the point in that.

“Why would I take your life? Even if I was a killer from Azgeda, there is no glory in killing someone without having a way of parading the kill. And I was never that kind of Azgeda warrior. You have the advantage over me. I believe in honor. If you help me, I owe you my life. For that alone I would not harm you.” But she would probably not believe him. “Look, I am helpless here, you can go, take my weapons, arm yourself with them and then you’re sure to be safe from me. And maybe you could tell me what happened that made you so distrustful.”

Sidonia

[Sidonia]

His words did seem to make some sense to the girl, even though she could hardly hear anything else than her own heartbeat drumming inside her ears. The handle of her dagger felt sweaty in her shaking hands. Of course she'd been trained along with the other children in her village, all of whom were dead now, but at her young age she'd only just begun learning how to face and she'd never been faced with an opponent like this one – a strong young warrior twice her size.

She continued dancing from one foot to the other in front of him, drawing closer and retreating again, for a while longer until she finally found the courage to walk up right in front of him. Seeing how tightly his limbs were bound, unable to move, made Sid feel a little more at ease. She scrutinized his garments and robbed him of each weapon she could find – a small hatch, one dagger that was a little longer than hers and another one slightly smaller. She frowned when she noticed the quality and design of his clothing as well as of his weapons. He could hardly be a mere warrior with these tools in his posession. She knew Kay would have cursed her for even given the stranger the time of day, advising her to stay clear and not make his situation her business, but she was just too curious.
„Who are you?“, she asked, that confused frown still etched into her face as she kept running her fingers over the knives she'd taken from him.

Tag: ash

[ash]

“There’s one in my boot, too.” He supplied. “Tiny one.” But sharp and long enough to kill with if he needed it. He figured it would only serve him to tell her of it, gain her trust in that way, enough so she would free him and then be allowed their separate ways. He still had no intention of harming her. Why would he? He would owe her his life if she freed him. Maybe that should make him linger then. Because how could he repay a life debt if he didn’t even learn her name. Then again her question might make that unnecessary. It was the knives, he was not surprised. He had been allowed them – though it might technically have been against the regulations. He guessed it was one of the few perks of being royalty.

“My name is Roan.” He supplied then. No point in lying. “I used to be the prince of Azgeda. I was banished after the war, to punish my mother.” Who was leader of the crimes of Azgeda while he stood behind, sometimes stood by as a general in fights, but that was is. In the end he was punished for crimes that were never his. “And who might I owe my life to?”

Sidonia

[Sidonia]

Confusion rippled over the features of the young girl's face when the trapped man revealed the location of another blade he was carrying. Why would he admit to Sidonia that there was another knife hidden in his shoe. She wasn't sure whether she should move in again and take this weapon as well or if she should stay where she was. Maybe this was just his attempt at getting her close enough because so he could get one of the blades she was now holding back. Maybe he'd somehow come up with a plan to free himself that involved her standing right in front of him. But if that was the case, then why hadn't he acted just a moment ago when she'd rid him of his weapons? Sid felt so overwhelmed by the whole situation, she hadn't had nearly enough training for a confrontation of this kind. Her parents had always told her to be brave and to never shy away from a challenge, but since the attack on their village, Kay kept telling her she should keep away from strangers.

Taking a deep breath, the girl walked up to the tied up man once more and slid the dagger out of his boot while holding another knife up to his neck so he wouldn't get any bright ideas. She retreated just about two steps and tried not to let the shock show on her face when he revealed his identity. Sid recalled the faint memory of hearing the adults talk about the young Azgeda prince's banishment before they were killed. Still, that did not proof that what he was saying was true, he could as easily have heard the same story.
„My name is Sidonia and YOUR people killed my parents and everyone in my village!“, she said in an angry voice, almost screaming by the end of her sentence and gripping the handle of one of the knives so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
„So why should I believe you that you won't kill me too if I let you go?“, she asked in a snarl.

Tag: ash

[ash]

His people killed her parents. He could believe that. But why? Why would they attack a single town? There had to be a bigger purpose to it than that. Fear. Maybe it was all about fear and dominance. Maybe it was a quiet, yet kind of effective way to undermine them all. It was the only theory that made sense to him right now. It was the only thing he could imagine happening there. It was also the only reason why he could tell her for sure, that he would not kill her.

“Like I said: There is no glory in killing you. You must know, you saw how my people are after killing someone for glory. Nobody is here to see. Besides I am not Azgeda anymore. I was. But I am free of those affiliations. Seriously, I have no reason to kill you. None. I’d have more reason to trade with you ore help you than to kill you. I am an opportunist.” And he would remain that until he got back home. Then he had to do politics.

Sidonia

[Sidonia]

All the alarm bells inside her head and especially the voice of her big brother told Sidonia to run away and just leave the trapped man to fend for himself, make him somebody else's business. She shouldn't care whether he starved to death in that trap he'd got caught in, after all he used to belong to those people who'd killed almost everyone she'd ever cared about. But that was just the point, he used to belong to them but if she believed his words, he didn't anymore. She didn't think anyone make up such a story as he'd told her, especially men were far too proud to admit that they'd been banished from their tribe even just for the purpose of saving their own life.

That was why she slowly stepped closer again, still a fierce expression on her face, hands held out defensively and both of them holding a knife now, one was her own small dagger, the other one was one of those she'd taken from the stranger. She jumped to his side and cut the ropes binding him with one swift movement, regaining a safe distance equally as fast.

Tag: ash