æolyn (aeolyn) wrote in thedas, @ 2010-11-26 07:04:00 |
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There was nothins particularly special about the day, but when Æolyn awoke, her mother had greeted her in one of the best moods she'd seen her in for quite sometime. "Mama, why are you so happy?" she'd asked, her head tilted to the side slightly as she watched her mother prepare breakfast for her family before Lyn's father set out on a hunting trip. "I'm not sure, Lyn," she's answered, moving the strips of deer meat from the skillet on the fire to a clay plate. Standing from the edge of the fire, she walked over to her daughter, handing her the plate before bending down and kissing her on her forehead. "Today just feels like a good day to be happy." Taking the plate from her mother, Lyn ate her breakfast in silence. She watched as her mother prepared a plate for her father and then one for herself. She watched as Yolita gathered the plates when everyone was finished, setting them aside for a trip to the creek they'd purposefully camped near to be washed. She watched as Tamrail gathered his things for the day's hunting trip on which he was about the embark. "Now you take care of your mother while I'm gone," he told Æolyn before he left. Bending over, he wrapped his arms around his little girl and lifted her from the ground, holding her close for a moment before setting her back down on the ground again. "Stay safe," he told her, kissing her cheek lightly before bidding his wife farewell and heading off into the forest. Lyn watched him fade into the forest and was brought from her thoughts by the sound of her mother gathering the dishes used that morning. "Lyn, come. Let's wash these before they attract animals," she said, beckoning to her daughter. The creek wasn't far off from their caravan. At the edge of the water, you could see the large wooden structure. The family ox stood a few yards down from them, drinking the fresh cool water the creek provided. Lyn helped with the dishes as best she could, though she was more interested in playing in the water. Periodically, she would dip one of the dishes under the water's surface and bring it back up parallel to the ground. With a small amount of water collected on it, she would tip it slightly to the side and watch as the liquid slid easily from the clay surface and returned to its home. Yolita didn't chide her daughter for playing instead of working, she was only ten after all, but after a moment she'd take the dish from her and finish the task. Lyn would simply pick up another one and continue to try helping. Once the dishes were washed and rinsed, they gathered their things and headed back to the caravan. "Mama, can we play today?" Æolyn asked as they reached their camp. Yolita smiled down at her daughter, caressing her hair softly before she answered. "Of course we can de--" she started, pulling her gaze from her daughter's mid-sentence only to find that they were no longer alone. The camp they had made was in a small clearing - they could have fit three of their caravans in it at the most - and on the opposite side of their clearing stood two men. They were dressed in rather ratty clothes and their faces looked as if they hadn't been washed in weeks. They smiled at the two elves with crooked grins. The man on the right was taller than his companion and had short, dirty blonde hair. It was hard to tell if it was naturally dark blonde or if it just hadn't been cleaned ever. The man beside him was a good head shorter and bald. On his face, crossing over his right eye, he had a giant scar- like he'd be cut with a knife. His lid was closed over the eye and Lyn fleetingly wondered if he could open it. "Well, well, well. Look what we got ourselves here, Thanus," the tall man said, taking a step further into the clearing. The shorter male followed a foot or two behind him. Clearly, the man who had spoken first was the leader. "Two uv them elf ladies," the short one grunted, running his tongue over his lips as if he were looking at a giant feast. "Theys shure are prettay." The leader ignore his comments, not really caring what he had to say. He continued towards the elves, a sneer plastered on his face. "And just what are you two doin' out 'ere all by you lonesomes?" he asked though he didn't expect an answer. By now, Yolita had moved Lyn behind her protectively and was holding a hand out as if to stop them. "Don't come any closer shems," she demanded as authoritatively as she could manage. Her voice betrayed her, however, and there was a slight tremor to her words. The tall male laughed loudly at her direction and stopped, only to look over at his friend. "Would you listen to that, Thanus? She thinks to scare us away," he said with another laugh. Thanus laughed as well, but didn't make a verbal response. The blonde male turned back to Yolita, his face no longer smiling and laughing. "Boys," he said in a very serious tone, and out of nowhere, five more men appeared on the outskirts of their camp. Startled, Yolita gasped and moved her daughter in front of her, trying her best to protect her. She was skilled with a blade - she had daggers hidden in each of her boots - but she would never be able to take on this many men at once. She crouched down slightly to whisper in Lyn's ears. "Æolyn, listen to me. I want you to make for the caravan and get inside. Don't come out no matter what. You hear?" Æolyn nodded at her mother's words and she began creeping slowly back to their caravan. "C'mon now, we can either do this the hard or the easy way," the man said, motioning for his henchmen to come in closer. Each of the men took a step closer to the center of the clearing just as Lyn felt herself hit the caravan. Chancing a glance backwards, she saw the steps and started inching her way in that direction, praying that the men would just leave them be. She would have no such luck however. When Yolita didn't respond to his threat, the blonde just shrugged and turned away. "Guess we're doing this hard then. Get 'er!" he said, directing his last statement to the men surrounding them. As soon as he'd turned his back, Yolita had bent down and unsheathed her daggers, readying herself for the attack she knew was coming. She easily dodged the first few attacks, and parried a few blades. After everyone had made their initial, rushing attack they came back for more, one-by-one, and she was ready for each of them. The first carried a large two-handed cleaver. Though the weapon could have easily broken whatever part of Yolita's body it touched, she was far too fast for it to ever make contact and instead felled the wielder in just a few strikes. Her daggers struck fast and true as she fell her first three attackers. As Lyn scurried up the steps on the caravan she felt someone reach up and grab her by her ankle and turned to fight back. She was looking into the face of the bald man with the scar on her face. He had that same crooked grin on his face and a hunger in his eyes that didn't settle well with her. "Let go of me! Let go of me!" she shouted again and again, struggling to free herself from his grasp. Alarmed by the screams of her daughter, Yolita paused in her defense to look back at the caravan. "Æolyn!" she yelled as she rushed at the man holding onto her only child, but before she could really make any forward progress she was blocked and engaged by another attacker. She quickly fell him only to be engaged by another. At this rate, she'd never reach her daughter. But Æolyn wasn't completely defenseless as her mother believed. She beat upon the man's head with her fists, demanding he let her go at once. Of course, the fists of a ten year old girl did nothing to the man besides make he laugh at her futile attempts. It was what happened next that caused him to let her go. Frustrated that she could do nothing to help stop this attack, tears began to slowly run down Lyn's cheeks and she screamed in a child's rage. As she let forth that high pitched sound, something surged through her body she couldn't control. Reaching out, she grabbed the man's wrists and held on tightly, her teeth gritted and bared, and as she held onto him she watched as his expression turned from one of enjoyment to one of confusion and then to one of pain. He dropped his grip on her quickly and pulled his arms from her grasp, seizing and convulsing as he did. Seeing this from the peripheral vision, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the man, staring in wonder. At first glance it would simply seem like the man was just having a spell, but as you looked closer you could see small white bolts shooting from his fingertips to other parts of his body and it looked as if he were glowing in the shadows of the trees. He collapsed to the forest floor, convulsed a few more times and then stopped moving all together. "Maker's balls!" one of the men exclaimed. "She's a mage!" he said, pointing at Æolyn. Almost in unison, all the men dropped their weapons and turned tail to run away, leaving Yolita and Lyn standing in the clearing by themselves save for the dead man at Lyn's feet. "Lyn..." Yolita called softly, panting heavily as she tried her best to catch her breath. She watched her daughter as the little girl held up both her hands in front of her face and looked them over, her blue eyes wide in wonder. A mage? She could do magic? How was that possible? Yolita had been raised an Andrastean, but had never really been that devout and so had never really taught her daughter anything of the Chantry. She knew what her daughter being a mage meant and she wasn’t about to let it happen. Quickly pulling herself from her thoughts, Yolita sheathed her daggers and came to her daughter’s side, scooping her up into her arms. “Here, you pack the dishes while I grab the ox. We need to move camp,” she directed, spending no time to explain before she dashed off to catch their beast. Lyn did as she was told, all the while wondering what all this meant. She knew very little about mages except that they were special and lived in a special tower. They had often visited Kinloch Hold, providing a few wares to the people that lived outside the tower, but she knew nothing more of the place. Would she have to live there eventually? When everything was packed safely away and Yolita had hitched the ox, the began the task of moving camp, slowly making their way back to the road they’d come on to pick a new spot. “Mama, what of father?” Lyn had asked. When Tamrail had left this morning, they’d been at the creek camp. When he was finished with his hunting he’d return to the same camp only to find they weren’t there. “He’ll find us, dear, don’t you worry,” she answered without looking at her daughter. She was took intent on finding a good place to set up camp, trying to keep her mind off what would happen if The Chantry found out about her daughter. She couldn’t let them take her away. She wouldn’t let them take her away. She’d find a way to save her daughter. |