(Flashback) Unwillingly

[Tebridiar]

Day 3, Autumn, Year 508

Exhaustion.

She felt like she could barely lift her feet. They ached. Her shoes were too thin for this time of year. Her feet were nearly bleeding, blisters beginning to form. Tears welled in her eyes.

“Tebridiar, stay strong darling.” Her mothers soothing voice was like bells tinkling. She was in human form, she barely had the energy to transform anymore. She had red hair too, but she had it cut short. Her eyes were a pretty, forest green. But they were scrunched in agony of watching her daughter like this.

Tebridiar couldn’t find the strength to reply. This new man had bought them. They had just left the little farming village, where by chance he had been passing through. He had heard of a family of Kelvics being sold as slaves. Lucky them. He seemed cruel already, he didn’t feed them enough, or give them enough sleep. And today, Tebridiar noticed, was her birthday. Her second birthday. And it was possibly the worst day of her life.

[Tebridiar]

“Hurry up.” He called to the small Kelvic family, his croaky voice thick with disappointment. He paused for a moment, looking at the group. He knew they wouldn’t run away, as he owned them. They were too physically and mentally drained to put up a fight.

“Look. I know I don’t know you well, but it seems to me like your old Master was too soft on you.” He sighed. “You’ve been treated far too well. Need a taste of the real world, so you do.” He waited for them to catch up, then he continued on, still too fast.

“Mum…” Tebridiar whispered. “I don’t like him, Mum. Can we go home?” Tebridiar didn’t understand yet. She was young. Her mother didn’t know how to explain that their little owner, who was kind to them and treated them as equals, had died. She didn’t know how to say that they had been… sold. Sold by the farmers son who was glad to be rid of three Kelvic’s that he didn’t want to care for. He could make a few hundred miza’s selling them on, especially in such good condition.

“Tebridiar, if I knew how to explain to you, I would.” Her mother frowned. “But your too young to understand right now. Ill tell you soon.”

[Tebridiar]

The new Master appeared to have heard.

“Well, my little dear.” He came close to her, too close. Whispering harshly, trying to be sweet. “You have to understand. Your not stupid or anything, are you? I am your Master now, and you will address me as such! Wherever I go, is your home. You will be with me forever. I treat you better than most people treat your kind. You should think yourself lucky. Most people kill Kelvics on sight, you know.” He had to manipulate them, make them believe he was saving them in a way. Tebridiar didn’t know any better. How was she to know Kelvics were welcomed in some parts of the world?

Her new Master made her uncomfortable.

“Sir… sorry, M-Master?” She squeaked, eager to try to please him. She couldn’t control her instincts. Her mother and father shook their heads in dismay. Would their precious daughter grow up to be a back-boneless servant, they began to worry.

“Yes, little one. You know what I want, don’t you?” He chuckled appreciatively. Tebridiar began to get that uncomfortable feeling again.

“Well, if you treat us so well, why don’t we get thicker shoes, or more food and water? I feel like my throat its… burning, its burning Master. I fear I’ll die…” She croaked. Her parents smiled. She still had her plucky spirit.

[Tebridiar]

The Master seemed to growl, trying to control his anger.

“You have obviously been treated far too well. Your cheek is evidence of that.” His voice was thick with disgust and venom. “Another toe out of line, and Ill leave you for the buzzards, you hear me?” He suddenly erupted, spewing out a torrent of abuse. “You Kelvic scum! Ive bought you, I OWN you! How dare you show such disrespect for your Master! You will have to learn very, very fast if you want to stay alive much longer!” He nearly slapped her, but Tebridiar burst into tears before he got the chance.

Her mother scowled, and her father moved into a more defensive position, but they wouldn’t fight. If they were dumped out here they would be too weak to fend for themselves. But they were unhappy, and deeply disturbed. They had heard of this treatment before, and they knew it could severely damage their growing daughter, damage her not physically but mentally.

Tebridiar just didn't understand. She just couldn't grasp human concepts well right now. Why was this man so nasty to her? She had only passed a comment. If he was so kind, why couldn't he get her family these things they needed?

[Tebridiar]

They trudged on for a few more minutes in silence. They didn’t say anything, but the silence spoke for itself. The family were no longer comfortable speaking in the company of this man, he seemed… suppressive. He didn’t want them to have a say in anything. He wanted them to keep quiet. He treated them just like… pets. And pets didn’t speak.

“Well, soon we’ll make a camp, and rest for a few hours. And Ill give you some food, if you are so famished.” He seemed to be making fun of them, he had slight tones of sarcasm.

The word Ravok changed the mood. It seemed to shock everyone. Tebridiars mum gasped, and her father growled.

“You wouldn’t… dare…” Terranir, her father hissed, trying deeply to control his mounting anger.

“Yes!” The Master laughed, a horrible tinny sort of sound. “I really would.”

[Tebridiar]

Tebridiar was curious. Ravok? She has never heard that word before. It sounded a bit like a place a bird would live, she imagined it as a city full of nests, with pretty black ravens, eagles and owls flying everywhere, going about their business.

“Mum…” She whispered, snuggling close to her. “What’s Ravok? Can we go there!” Tebridiar started to get excited. She could meet all sorts of birds. She had heard there was a city of eagle riders. Was Ravok where they came from?

Tebridiar’s mother and father looked shocked.

“Tebridiar, don’t say things like that, please!” She whispered urgently. Her daughter didn’t understand.

“Why, mum?” She seemed disheartened. She only wanted to see the magical birds she had crafted inside her mind.

“It’s an evil place, Tebs.” She said. “People rule there, anyone who is different… anyone at all, Tebridiar, are sold as slaves, or extremely quickly made to leave, or worse. Its ruled by a cruel organisation. You don’t want to go there. I hope you never, ever do.”

[Tebridiar]

The magical, friendly birds vanished in an instant. She tried to retrieve the lovely image of Ravok from her memory, but she couldn’t. Now all she could imagine was an evil, dark place. It was full of horrible, inky black shapes that writhed in the shadows. In the centre of a town square, was a person.

She saw the shadows of watching people, cruelly laughing. There were so many, they filled the whole square, except for a small area in the middle, where the person was. The person in the middle was writhing in pain, arrows sticking out of its skin, gaping wounds all over their body. They screamed, begged for mercy. The people just laughed even louder, spitting on the person. Tebridiar mind now told her it was a woman.

She got closer, and closer. And then she screamed.

She knew the woman. She knew the woman better than anyone else, and no one in the world except her truly understood this person.

She was looking at herself, and she made eye contact. Those furious blue eyes, bloodshot but still beautiful. Even in the moment of her death, Tebridiar still had an obscene beauty about her. Her flaming hair was matted with blood, her pale skin was tainted. And even as the last drops of blood dropped onto the cold ground, she still managed to shine.

[Tebridiar]

It was so real. It was so, so real.

Was that why she was on the ground? Was that why she was screaming like this?

Her parents were huddled over her. Her mother held her head, and her father frantically looked to see what had made her shriek like that.

“What’s wrong! Tebridiar, its okay! Its okay, shh! You don’t have to be afraid!” He said to her, grasping her jittering little hands. She suddenly came back around, fully aware now. She still could barely speak, the dream had felt like reality. She had saw herself dying in Ravok.

She tried to go back over it. She remembered herself surely, but she had looked far older. Tebridiar currently looked like a little girl of around eight or so, and she felt a bit older than that. But the girl she had seen looked like a teenager. But it was definitely her.

No one else had hair so vivid, or no one else she had seen. No one else had eyes like that, strange, almost slightly too beautiful. They stared too much, they were unnerving. They were like crystal daggers.

“Mum, I saw… I saw… I saw myself in Ravok! It was horrible…” She gasped, clutching her mothers arm. Then the Master came over, growling.

[Tebridiar]

“What the hell are you doing? Are you having a fit or something?” He yelled, pushing Tebridiars mother and father aside in order to see what was going on.

“Get up!” He said roughly. He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her upwards. She was wobbly. “Dear gods, Ill stop soon or one of you will end up dying or something. You need to toughen up.” He started walking, motioning with his thick arms for them to do the same.

“Tebridiar, you had a vision? Of Ravok?” Her mother whispered, helping to steady her. Tebridiar had sort of visions. They weren’t really proper visions, but she always had an over-active imagination. And sometimes she got stuck in them, and couldn’t distinguish between reality and what was inside her head, or sometimes she just seemed to forgot what was real. She hoped she would grow out of it, as it got quite annoying, and sometimes dangerous.

Tebridiar nodded to her mother.

“I saw myself, mum. I was on the ground. People were all around me, I was dying, I had been stabbed and shot and… I looked into my own eyes. And she looked at me like I had… I had betrayed her, mum. Like I’d betrayed myself.” She croaked. She couldn’t make sense of what this meant.

[Tebridiar]

Her mother looked thoughtfully at her daughter.

“It’s okay, darling. Its only a dream. You wont be going there, ever. Mark my words.” She swore. Tebridiar looked worried.

“You promise?” She whispered. She already knew the answer. Her mother laughed, but it wasn’t the most carefree laugh she had heard. But it still lightened the mood, fought against the silence for a bit.

“Yes, Tebridiar, I promise. And hopefully we will get away from this man soon. Your father is being unusually quiet. He’s plotting, Tebs. I know he is. So just you wait.” She smiled reassuringly at her daughter, who seemed to have a boosted morale now, if only by a tiny bit. It was still something.

“I hope we leave him soon mum. I have a feeling about him. Something’s not right.” She sighed. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something about him… something menacing. The way he seemed to focus on Tebridiar when he talked, the way he looked at her… it was unsettling.