Post by DarkAffair on May 12, 2006 16:48:22 GMT -5
The Roku were not uncommon here in the lands of Telflam, but neither were they common place. One could be seen with regular visits to the Blue Market, hawking their wares from distant exotic lands and at no better prices. But in these lands you were more apt to find one in the shadows of some building or in cages of some flesh market.
Koji once knew those bars, those leather lashings of servitude, those hollow empty eyes shadowed in hung faces and broken spirits. He knew….. he knew the beating for asking for more food, the ridicule from those helmed faces that carried the whips, he knew their story as well as he know his own. Anger swelled in him as he saw one of these helmed men kick a small girl for slipping and then backhanding the woman that hurried to help her up. Livid, but the skulk didn’t dare leave the shadows, because that was not his goal this evening and if you wished to live it was never by attacking head long. Obaban would say, “When darkness descends, a man must find allies in the shadows” and since escaping his captors he had spent most of his time in shadow.
These helmed faces were all the same, the same ones here dragging off this woman for reacting to a clumbsy child, were no different then the ones that took him from his homeland not 7 years ago. And her punishment would leave her scarred far longer then it would take for the wounds to heal. He knew…. he knew how long it takes for scars to heal.
In the dark cold sets in if you don’t keep moving, especially in these damned lands of the west. The warm fertile lands of his homeland raced through his mind as he saw him self as a child lying beneath the shady fawns of his favorite hiding spot, sun shining and the sweet aroma of cherry blossoms wafted over him. Anytime he could get away from his Grandfather and his continuous ramblings on what this plant cured and how this powder burned, Koji would slip away to this small hideaway, just beyond the bamboo and below the old hut he had know for most of his life. But now it was his stillness that served him best. And in shadow is how he worked best.
Only briefly was he overcome was the floodtide of the past, before the stale stench of discarded trash and refuse brought him back to there he truly was… there would be no cherry blossoms… not here… Here all there is was snow and the constant knowledge that tomorrow if he disappeared, not a soul would care. Ozîsan’s voice rang in his ears, “The only true test of courage is the last one” and since he has entered Telflam. It seemed like courage was all he had left and it was being tested daily.
Sundown was almost upon them and his work would soon begin. And his mark would soon be taken. The roku slid along the building and entered the home. Passing from room to room in silence until finally reaching his destination, koji snuck in found his prize and exited the room. Moving through the home as a ghost.
A stifled whimper caught his ear and the Ghost froze. Unmoving until he was sure that the sound was not the reason that the sound was made. Slowly he again crept through the room as he had done before. Finding the ravaged slave on the floor of a dark bared cell.
Again the anger swelled…. And the roku darted past the cage. She would not survive in this town, if he let her go and she would be hunted for sure. His mind wrestled as he stole another quick glance of the limp form on the cell floor. Angered he could not do more he had a new mark.
He snuck along the corridor. Until he heard the commotion of the guards that he know were the the ones he watched from the darkness earlier. And he knew… he knew their end. Koji waited again in cold stillness and when the oil burnt out and the snoring of men that did not know justice had found them.
Shadows flashed and twisted and fell limp, but now the ghost watched as this helmed face struggled for air and the salty metallic taste hit the back of his tongue.
Life was hard here in his new world… and he slipped into the dark streets the had come to know. Desperate men will employ desperate measures and again his grandfather’s words came to him “Do not be wary of men who take risks with titles and lands, be wary of men who have nothing to lose. The way of darkness always brings great power. The way of darkness always brings a great price. "
And he knew…he was right.
Koji once knew those bars, those leather lashings of servitude, those hollow empty eyes shadowed in hung faces and broken spirits. He knew….. he knew the beating for asking for more food, the ridicule from those helmed faces that carried the whips, he knew their story as well as he know his own. Anger swelled in him as he saw one of these helmed men kick a small girl for slipping and then backhanding the woman that hurried to help her up. Livid, but the skulk didn’t dare leave the shadows, because that was not his goal this evening and if you wished to live it was never by attacking head long. Obaban would say, “When darkness descends, a man must find allies in the shadows” and since escaping his captors he had spent most of his time in shadow.
These helmed faces were all the same, the same ones here dragging off this woman for reacting to a clumbsy child, were no different then the ones that took him from his homeland not 7 years ago. And her punishment would leave her scarred far longer then it would take for the wounds to heal. He knew…. he knew how long it takes for scars to heal.
In the dark cold sets in if you don’t keep moving, especially in these damned lands of the west. The warm fertile lands of his homeland raced through his mind as he saw him self as a child lying beneath the shady fawns of his favorite hiding spot, sun shining and the sweet aroma of cherry blossoms wafted over him. Anytime he could get away from his Grandfather and his continuous ramblings on what this plant cured and how this powder burned, Koji would slip away to this small hideaway, just beyond the bamboo and below the old hut he had know for most of his life. But now it was his stillness that served him best. And in shadow is how he worked best.
Only briefly was he overcome was the floodtide of the past, before the stale stench of discarded trash and refuse brought him back to there he truly was… there would be no cherry blossoms… not here… Here all there is was snow and the constant knowledge that tomorrow if he disappeared, not a soul would care. Ozîsan’s voice rang in his ears, “The only true test of courage is the last one” and since he has entered Telflam. It seemed like courage was all he had left and it was being tested daily.
Sundown was almost upon them and his work would soon begin. And his mark would soon be taken. The roku slid along the building and entered the home. Passing from room to room in silence until finally reaching his destination, koji snuck in found his prize and exited the room. Moving through the home as a ghost.
A stifled whimper caught his ear and the Ghost froze. Unmoving until he was sure that the sound was not the reason that the sound was made. Slowly he again crept through the room as he had done before. Finding the ravaged slave on the floor of a dark bared cell.
Again the anger swelled…. And the roku darted past the cage. She would not survive in this town, if he let her go and she would be hunted for sure. His mind wrestled as he stole another quick glance of the limp form on the cell floor. Angered he could not do more he had a new mark.
He snuck along the corridor. Until he heard the commotion of the guards that he know were the the ones he watched from the darkness earlier. And he knew… he knew their end. Koji waited again in cold stillness and when the oil burnt out and the snoring of men that did not know justice had found them.
Shadows flashed and twisted and fell limp, but now the ghost watched as this helmed face struggled for air and the salty metallic taste hit the back of his tongue.
Life was hard here in his new world… and he slipped into the dark streets the had come to know. Desperate men will employ desperate measures and again his grandfather’s words came to him “Do not be wary of men who take risks with titles and lands, be wary of men who have nothing to lose. The way of darkness always brings great power. The way of darkness always brings a great price. "
And he knew…he was right.