I peered into the dark jungle, catching a glimpse of a woman, calling for help. I stepped into the jungle and headed towards her.
"Someone help!" she screamed. As I got closer, I noticed that she must have been a noble woman from the city of Tortage. She wore a golden dress with a small dangling gold amulet around her neck. She was slender and quite beautiful. Her hair was white blond and was shoulder length. She finally caught sight of me and her eyes lit up with such excitement.
"Oh! A friendly face amongst so much ugliness." She exclaimed. She smiled with such delight.
"My god, what happened?" I questioned her in a raspy voice. My throat was still dry and crusted with sand.
"Free me, I beg you! Those brutes set upon me in a pack less than an hour ago. Then ran me down as I fled! Those animals!" she said. As she struggled, I noticed that she had her arms and legs sprawled out in each direction, tied to a tree.
"Brutes? Who did this to you?" I asked.
"A scavenger and his raiders. I do not know his name, but he is a petty captain of Tortage. He has made a truce with tyrant of Tortage, Strom, and his Red Hand Soldiers. I was captive by Strom and his minions. Then I ran away from Tortage, to find a home somewhere else. But now I flee from Tortage, only to find myself fleeing back." She said wearily. I reached up and tugged on the chains that bind her.
"How do I set you free?" I said, giving the chains one last tug.
"The scavenger is out on the beach, picking through the leftovers of the ship. He has the key. Please, hurry." She said. I immediately took the broken oar and walked out onto the beach. I spotted the scavenger who was a tall scraggly man with a long black beard. I gripped the broken oar, and did my best to sneak up on him, but the crunching sand beneath my feet didn't help. I stepped on a shell that cracked in two and made a horrible creak. The scavenger turned around and glanced at me,
"HEY! You there!" he said, pulling out a short jagged dagger. He charged towards me. I held with oar, ready for combat. Although it wasn't much of a fight, one swipe with the oar and the oar struck the scavenger's head, making a large dent in the side of his head. Blood spurted like a fountain from his head and splattered on me. At this point, I had not a care for any dirt that had been tracked on me. The scavenger fell to the ground with a loud thud. As soon as he fell, I began to search through his clothes, feeling for anything that resembled a key. I felt through his dirty shirt a pulled a large iron key out that was tied to a leather string around his neck. I pulled it over his head and ran back to the captured girl.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" she said. I forced the key into the lock, and twisted it until it clicked. The lock broke free and the chains fell to the ground. She sighed with relief and massaged her wrists.
"What is your name?" she said.
"Taurtha…" I said, watching her throw the chains off of her feet. I put the leather string necklace around my neck, figuring maybe I could use it for something later.
"I am Casilda. And I will thank the gods everyday for you coming to rescue me. " she said, smiling sweetly. "And when we get to the city, I will forever be in debt to you."
"Oh, no please don't. I don't want to have people acknowledging me for saving them." I said.
"But why would you not want that? Is it because you survived that slave ship accident?" she asked. I stopped, Maybe she is the only one that knows. But if I take her to Tortage, would she dare tell the guards about me being a slave? I was wary at first, but I agreed to take her back to the city, even though I had no idea of where I was exactly or how to get to Tortage.
As we both began to venture deeper into the jungle, I realized that I didn't have a weapon at all. I wouldn't be able to fight off and beast or person that happened to come by with a splintering oar and wearing nothing but a torn gown. But luckily, for about a miles walk, there was nothing but dark humid jungle and the birds in the trees. I talked with her about this mysterious city, Tortage. Never in my life had I heard of such a place.
"It used to be a wonderful city. Plenty of opportunities to do a little deal here and there. And no it's nothing but a trash heap of pirates and Red Hand soldiers." She said, heaving from the humidity as we pushed away the bushes in the paths.
"Tell me more of these Red Hand guards. They seem like terrible people." I said, swatting at the mosquitos that swarmed at my arms and face.
"Oh they are. They don't care about anyone. Women are being mugged by pirates and all they do is stand there and laugh. It sickens me to the bone." She said. As we continued to walk, we spotted a large group of jungle apes. I had become starved within the few hours we walked. At that point, I wouldn't have minded eating a gorilla raw. But I set my hunger aside and walked past the apes, as though we weren't even there.
It had become mid-day, when they sun was unbearable. Sweat dripped from my forehead, and a small bit of sweat had built up on my upper lip. I was now starving for water and food. For one small moment, I had thought about turning Casilda into a feast, but I shook the thought of it quickly and told myself I am not a barbarian. Off in the distance, we began to see a stone structure, nearly 30 feet tall, with bars and spears sticking out in every direction. We moved towards it, hoping it was the gates to the city. As we approached, we began hearing coughing and wheezing, as though someone was in terrible agony. When we reached the gate, I stopped right in my tracks. My heart dropped into my stomach. I had never felt such hate and disappointment in my whole life.
Saddur stood within a few feet of me, with huge gashes and gushing wounds. He leaned over the stairs leading to the gates. Even though he was still alive, I felt a small bit of victory watching him suffer. He turned his head and looked straight at me and Casilda, and stood up instantly.
"YOU! You still live, slave!" he shouted, pointing his finger at me. "You will come to the city with me. And I will send you back to Stygia for a nice prophet."
"NO! I will no longer be controlled by you. You son of a bitch…" I said, sneering at him. My blood began to boil. I would not put up with being his slave anymore.
"Come now, before you anger me further. I'll clamp irons around your throat if I have to." Said Saddur. He looked at Casilda and smiled. "Ah, and another slave I can send back as well. You will make fine miners again."
"But I'm not a - -" Casilda tried to talk back, but I interrupted quickly.
"You leave her out of this. She isn't a slave." I said. I felt my skin begin to crawl with anger and excitement. I began to feel dark feelings, things I had never felt before. My back began to sting. "You look as though you've been attacked by a bear, you fat piece of filth."
He laughed, "It was no bear you fool! It was those damned Pict warriors, up the hill. They robbed me, and stole my passage back into the city. The bloody key is in the hands of those devils."
"You're a lying bastard." I said. "You have the key! And your trying to get to the city before me, just so you can leave me here to rot. But I will kill you now, to ensure my safe passage there."
"Ha! I would enjoy seeing you try!" he said. "Now come, Saddur can be a reasonable man. How about I take you to Tortage, and sell you there. Is that not fair, slave?"
I could no longer stand it. I lifted up the oar and charged at him instantly. He swiftly pulled his dagger from his sheath, but it was no match for my bulky broken oar. With one graceful swipe, I pounded his head, causing his bloody turban to unwravel. I batted him with several times more, causing his flesh to turn a deep purple and his wounds to rip open. I began to scream with delight as he fell to the ground, choking on his own blood. I thought for a minute that I had gone mad with blood lust. I heard Casilda gasp, and yell my name, begging me to stop. But nothing could stop me. I was vengeful. I was going to make sure that Saddur died painfully, for all the years he tortured me, for all the slaves her acquired, and for all the people that died because of him. I began to feel a dark aura around me. It was beautiful and evil at the same time. Large rays of red and purple darkness began to swirl within and around me. It was pure ecstasy. The aura had stopped, and I stared down at Saddur's bloody, beaten corpse. I looked back at Casilda, who gazed at me with mouth wide open in complete shock.
"You are a Dark Templar aren't you?" she said.
"A what?" I had no idea what she meant.
"A Dark Templar! Have you never heard of one? They are the guardians of the dark. The use their dark powers for good." She said. "Where did you learn such magic?"
I stood there, confused. I had never learned magic, or any fighting skills at all for that matter.
"Where are you from? Where did you learn such wonderful magic?" she asked. I opened my mouth, only to have nothing come out. I forgot. Forgotten everything that I once was. The only things I could remember was being a slave. I forgot my home land. I forgot my family. What had happened to me? Had I been completely raped of my memory? I was so confused and so unaware of what was happening to me. I began to hope I was dead, and that this was all just the empty thoughts inside my head.
"Taurtha? Are you alright?" she said, touching my shoulder gently. I nodded, still trying my best to remember where I came from. Was it Stygia? No it couldn't possibly be Stygia. I was lost inside my own mind.
I bent down and search through Saddur's clothes. The was absolutely no sign of a key.
"He wasn't lying. They did take it. It's not here." I said, sighing deeply. I picked up Saddur's schimitar, figuring I would definetly need it.
"No. There must be another way! We cannot go into a Pict camp! It's dangerous! We will be killed for sure!" she said. "Picts are the lesser men of the world. They kill anyone that is not of their own clan."
"Casilda, we have to. It's the only way into the city." I said, standing up continuing to walk down the path to the Pict camp. Casilda followed ofcourse, groaning not just of hunger, but the fact that this place could be the end of us. There were two pict men that stood within a few feet of us, both brown, with white war paint covering their faces, and strange splintered bones that pierced through the cartilage of their noses. I had heard of the most inhuman men before, and these must have been them. I charged towards them, stabbing both of them furiously. I began to feel the ecstasy run through my veins again. I was obsessed with blood lust now. I wanted to kill these bastards. Every pictish man I killed, I searched for a key. But no luck, until I had reached the end of the path, where a large black monster, with rotten teeth 6 inches and nearly 15 feet tall, had inhabited a temple of ruins. It was sprawled out onto the stone floors, with it's tongue, as if it was asleep. My jaw dropped instantly, and I could hear Casilda gasp behind me. What was this beast? Was this the thing that had attacked Saddur and stolen the key?
There was only one way to find out. I slowly walked up the beast, wondering if it really was asleep. I pushed it with my foot slightly. I could smell the beast's horrible stench. It smelt of burning wood and dead flesh. I got closer, figuring that this was an easy task to kill a monster in it's sleep. I steadied my arm over the beast's head, and as I was ready to plunge the schimitar in, the black monster had opened it's beady yellow eyes and took one glance at me. My heart dropped instantly, thinking that it was the end. The beast stood up at spider-like speed and snarled at me. I readied myself, holding the schimitar tightly. I charged towards it, but it kicked me nearly 6 feet back with it's hind legs. I stood up again and went for the beast. Now he made me angry.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Casilda began to throw rocks that the beast. One had bounced off of it's pelvis, the other thwacking it in the face. I began to feel the dark aura surround me again. I gave a loud yell and charged towards the monster. Nothing could stop me now. I thrusted the schimitar within the beast's gut and pulled down as hard as I could, exposing the monster's internal organs. The beast screamed in pure agony as it's black blood showered my face. Pulling the schimitar out quickly, I backed up, letting the monstar fall to the ground in it's own puddle of blood and organs. I noticed a glimmering object, dangling from the beast's black hand. It was the key to Tortage gates. I smiled as I wretched open it's hand and took the key. I turned to Casilda who had an array of awe, fear, and victory spread across her face.
"Shall we open the gates?"