[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

Farien didn't know she'd slept until she woke up. She and Eregiath had sat up talking, plans to escape flickering through their minds like flames. Eventually, though, they'd decided not to do it yet. The children couldn't run, couldn't hide. It was too dangerous. She'd clutched Arrin's sleeping form till the girl woke up and cried. Farien shushed her before the orcs could come and scold. Eventually she must have fallen asleep, head on Eregiath's shoulder, because that's where she'd woken up, to the harsh prods of an orcs' foot.

"On your feet!" it snarled at them. Holding Arrin, Farien rose slowly. Eregiath was beside her, carrying a still sleeping Serra. Telmir remained huddled on the ground by his father's feet. Farien reached down for his hand and pulled him upright. The boy made to protest, but thought better of it.

It was still dark, but barely, and Farien cold see in the distance that other people were moving, all in one direction, away from the settlement. She caught her breath, Where are they taking us?

The orcs herded her family in the same direction as the rest. Eregiath went first, then Farien, pushing a sleepy Telmir ahead of her. At one point Serra awoke and shreiked at the sight of a sneering orc face right in front of her. The orc snarled and slapped her. Her head snapped back and she was silent except for the sound of sniffling as giant tears dripped down her face.

They came into a clearing in the woods a good distance from the city. The orcs tents were pitched around the central clearing. This must be where they were camped. The orc holding Farien gave her a rough shove into the center of the clearing.

A group of other women were gathered there. Georelelia, Farien recognized immediately, holding her daughter Emilia's hand. Farien's lips tightened. She wasnt fond of Georelelia, the pretty widow with her flirtatious ways. But as she looked harder, she realized that Emilia's younger brother, Tonguir, was missing. Farien caught her breath and held Arrin tighter, touched with pity for Georelelia.

Another woman, young, with her face hidden was weeping silently into a bundle of fabric. The bundle squirmed, it was a baby. The crying mother hushed it, and continued to weep.

Eregiath steered Farien to the other side of the clearing where a woman they both knew was crouched over the bodies of three motionless men. Iavas held Herlion's hand as he lay unconscious, Iavas clutching her two small sons close. An older man and a soldier were also lying on the ground as dead. Farien watched as the Iavas handed her baby to the crying young mother who now held two children in her lap. The older boy clung to Iavas' skirt as she tended to the wounded men.

Farien shivered. Their plans of escape were useless now. Eregiath's sword was with the other weapons still... in the town. She set Arrin down and moved to help the young woman with caring for the children.

[ April 08, 2003: Message edited by: Sophia the Thunder Mistress ]