It was late in the afternoon before Hawkasuma again gained
consciousness. He opened his eyes and saw an elf standing over him making sure
that he was alright. The elf was from the Koosha clan which was obvious because
of his appearance. He wore a wolf’s pelt around his waist and had a large tattoo
across his chest which marked him as a merchant of the clan. He was one of
merchants that were supposed to arrive within the next week to trade with the
people of Joven that always came around at this time of the year. There were
several of these elves, two of which were pulling their boats on to the shore.
The man
spoke, “You must be one of the boys from Joven. Why are you so far away from
your home?”
Hawkasuma
lifted himself up and rubbed his face. Then he slowly recalled the events of
the night before. It was almost as if the events were a dream to him, he didn’t
want to believe that they had occurred nor did he actually think they had.
Never the less he told the man, “Yesterday I was attacked.” He stopped talking
for a moment. He choked on the words for a moment and continued. “I saw my
father die trying to keep the men in dark clothes away. Then they killed my
mother and took away my brother.” Tears erupted from his face and he sat back
down with hid head buried in his hands.
All of
the elves stopped what they were doing and looked at Hawkasuma. The man
standing next to Hawkasuma asked for his name and introduced himself as Lugon
the merchant. Lugon called to his men to help calm the boy as he thought of how
to handle the problem. They wrapped a blanket around Hawkasuma’s shoulders and
brought him some food to help calm his nerves. Hawkasuma ate it quickly. Having
not eaten anything the entire day he realized that he had become very hungry
and enjoyed every bite of it.
As
Hawkasuma sat alone he could hear the hushed voices of Lugon talking to some of
the other elves. Hawkasuma couldn’t make out much but one of the men mad a
small gesture in his direction making it clear that they were talking about
him. He overheard them whispering about
a clan of bandits called the Serpents. After a few minutes of conversation
Lugon walked back to Hawkasuma and kneeled in front of him. “Can you tell us if
these men who attacked you wore a serpent upon their breast?”
Hawkasuma nodded his head, “they all had a white
serpent on their chest. And they all carried large weapons.” There was a slight
look of fear in Lugon’s eye as he exchanged glances with his companions. All of
the others simply shook their heads and gave Hawkasuma a look of pity.
Hawkasuma’s heart dropped, ‘what more is there to know?’ he wondered.
Lugon tried to tell him easily,
“Child. I am afraid that you may be the last from Joven. These men are known
for leaving none alive. Your brother may never be seen again.” Hawkasuma
returned his face to his hands and began to weep again. “The dead should be
honored. Come with us and we will help you bury those who fell.” Hawkasuma
nodded and they all returned to their boats and began their journey to Joven.
They traveled for the rest of the
night and into the rest of the next day before they arrived in the burnt
remains of the town. The bodies of the dead lay everywhere and the grass had
been painted red with the blood of all those who used to live there.
Hawkasuma’s stomach churned as he saw all of the carnage. The elves began to
pile up the bodies and dig graves for all of the dead while Hawkasuma searched
through the wreckage of his home. Host of his old belongings had burnt to
ashes, but amongst the rubble he found his sword and his mother’s flute still
intact. His mother used to play it for him all the time when he was younger and
the very sight of it brought a small sense of happiness to him. He placed the
flute in his pocket and threw the sword onto his back. Once they had buried all
of the dead they gave a small pray to usher them onto the next life before starting
their return journey to their village.
For three days they followed the
current of the Joven River to their home taking Hawkasuma with them. Lugon had
decided to take pity on the child and raise him as his own son. Their village
was located deep within the heart of the forest where the trees grew to a
dizzying height and were nearly as thick around as a house. As they approached
a small dock on the river Lugon pointed above them into the tops of the trees.
For a second Hawkasuma was puzzled, but when he looked up he was both amazed
and surprised. Not only did the elves live in the forest, but their homes were built
in the tops of the trees. Wooden bridges linked the homes together in what
looked similar to a spider’s web. Lugon and the others got out of their boats
and tied them to the port. “Are you coming?” asked Lugon. “You don’t have to
come with us if you don’t want to.”
Hawkasuma answered quickly, “Yes I want to go. I just can’t believe my eyes.”
Hawkasuma answered quickly, “Yes I want to go. I just can’t believe my eyes.”
Lugon smiled, that was the first
time in days that Hawkasuma had noticed anything other than his feet. “Good to
see you’re getting better.”
Hawkasuma shook his head, “I will
never forget what happened.”
“Just don’t let it rule your life Hawkasuma. You should do what your parents would have wanted to do and live your life.”
Hawkasuma looked at Lugon and replied dryly, “you speak as if you knew them.”
“Just don’t let it rule your life Hawkasuma. You should do what your parents would have wanted to do and live your life.”
Hawkasuma looked at Lugon and replied dryly, “you speak as if you knew them.”
Lugon replied somewhat sternly,
“all parents want to have their children live a good life.”
From above a large platform was
lowered to the ground. The large space allowed for several people to be carried
at a time and goods to be transported up and down the trees. Lugon and
Hawkasuma stepped onto the platform and were slowly hoisted up into the sky.
Hawkasuma watched as the elves who were still below began to look like ants. He
felt slightly uneasy, but seeing the others as calm as they were he hid his
discomfort with a false smile. When they reached the top Hawkasuma saw the families
lying in wait for the return of the merchants. They had expected a great number
of trade goods to have come home, but were sadly disappointed to hear the
tragedy of Joven. Hawkasuma was quickly recognized as the sole survivor and
Lugon announced that he would be taking Hawkasuma as his own child.
Lugon then introduced Hawkasuma to
his wife Faelbes. She was about the same height as her husband, five feet tall
and had long dark hair with exotic violet eyes. That was quite common for an
elf, usually they could grow as tall as five and a half feet tall at the most
and their eyes existed in exotic colors compared to that of humans. Hawkasuma
was also introduced to Lugon’s daughter Gelien who was his age, and his twin
sons Himion and Uerion who were three years older than he was.
Himion
and Uerion sized Hawkasuma up and examined him closely in curiosity. Neither of
the twins had ever seen a human up close. They looked into Hawkasuma’s green eyes
and touched his blonde hair gingerly. Hawkasuma backed away from them
nervously, unsure of what to think of these strangers. “Want to play?” asked
the twins. Hawkasuma nodded his head
slowly. The twins then grabbed him and pulled him along with them. Gelien
followed them close behind.
They
walked across the web of bridges to a platform which had been built for
children to play. Faleon, one of the twin’s friends, was waiting for them. He
had short dark hair and bright green eyes. He introduced himself to Hawkasuma
kindly. “Hi. I’m Faleon the son of Saelon. What’s your name?” Hawkasuma
introduced himself calmly. “Come on, let’s play!” Faleon threw a ball to
Hawkasuma and they began playing keep-away.
Dakisuma
struggled to keep pace with the other children in front of him. It had been
three weeks since the attack on Joven.
He was bound by the neck to the other children and forced to walk when
all e wanted to do was rest his weary legs. In front of him was Drake, a fat
and sluggish child that was having an even harder time than he was. Drake
stumbled and fell to his knees.
One of
the bandits noticed Drake slowing down the others and pulled out his whip. He
began beating Drake with it commanding him to get up and walk. Drake tried to
lift himself, but his weak legs gave out underneath him and he fell back to the
ground. Dakisuma rushed to Drake’s aid and helped him rise to his feet. Drake
whispered a thank you and they continued to struggle along.
Just on
the fringes of the horizon Dakisuma could see a large bustling city. The
bandits seemed to relax a little more than usual. One even cheered, “Finally I
can find some real comfort.”
“First
we need to make sure these little runts fetch as a nice price,” replied
another. They continued to march into the city. A large crowd formed as the
children were herded through the city. The bandits guarded them closely to make
sure no one tried to take one of their slaves before they received payment.
They were led onto a stage and a type of auction began. Each child was
displayed one by one at the front and then forced to stand next to the rest of
the children again. Dakisuma hated the feeling of all of the hundreds of eyes
inspecting him, judging him, evaluating him.
Then a
man wearing very elegant and expensive attire walked through the crowd and
greeted the leader of the Serpent clan warmly. “As we agreed, you may have the
first pick my lord Baltizar.” Baltizar grinned widely and began to inspect each
of the children closely. He checked everything from their teeth to their eyes
and limbs. After a long period of inspection he chose to purchase two of
Dakisuma’s friends. Jennifer and Marco, whom he had selected, were unbound from
the rest of the children and given new leashes which were handed to Baltizar.
Jennifer gripped onto her brother who had not been purchased tightly and cried.
Though she struggled to keep her grip on him they were pulled away from each
other and she was dragged away.
The
rest of the children including Dakisuma watched in horror as she disappeared
from sight along with Marco. Soon after more men came onto the stage and
inspected the children. A man wearing fancy clothes similar to that of Baltizar
took a special interest in Dakisuma and bought him quickly. Dakisuma’s wrists
were bond together and a leash was wrapped around his throat. The man pulled
him along firmly to a carriage on the other side of town. This carriage was pulled by two magnificent
horses and just behind them sat the driver. Dakisuma was pushed into the
carriage and forced to sit across from his owner.
The
carriage lurched forward and began the journey to his owner’s home. Dakisuma
could not help but wonder why he had been purchased so once a few minutes had
passed he asked, “sir, why did you pick me?”
The man
said nothing, but began to stare at Dakisuma and would not even move his eyes
for a long period of time. Dakisuma didn’t know why, but he began to feel an
ice cold shiver going down his spine and the feeling only grew stronger the
longer his owner stared at him. The man then diverted his eyes and pulled a
small veil from his hip, it contained a light blue liquid that was thick like
ooze, and drank deeply from it. He wiped his mouth and put the veil back into
his pocket. He began to smile slowly and looked into the palm of his hand. A
small flame erupted from his hand and flashed into an array of colors. He
turned his gaze to Dakisuma and said coarsely, “If you ever disobey me your
punishment will be to face the torment of my magic.”
Dakisuma’s
heart jumped into his throat. He wanted to get away from this maniac, but
didn’t know what he could do. He decided that he would escape the first chance
that he got. Until then however he would need to behave himself and make sure
not to cross his owner.
The
carriage kept moving north until they had reached a small inn late that night.
His owner pulled Dakisuma by the leash into the inn with him. He ordered the
inn keeper provide him with the finest room that he possessed. The inn keeper
obliged him and charged a large fee for the room which was paid easily.
Dakisuma was then ordered to retrieve all of his master’s baggage and bring it
to the room. His owner released the leash and promptly watched as Dakisuma
began to retrieve the baggage from the carriage.
The
baggage was found in the trunk and there was a massive amount. Dakisuma looked
at the road for a moment and considered running for his freedom, but then he
remembered the flames that his owner produced from his hand and instead began
hauling the baggage to his master’s room.
He would have to be patient and wait for a proper chance for escape.