Chapter 1
The slim figure stumbled and kept running. Behind her trailed a clump of nearly twenty dark shadows that were moving at a reckless speed. The young girl jumped over a continuous line of logs and branches that blocked her path and wove around those too tall to leap. Her breath caught heavily in her throat and her lungs ached for more oxygen. She tripped again but this time didn't rise, she gave up. No way could she outrun them, she had had a three day head start now all she had was less than a few seconds. She curled into a ball except she had her fingers laced together in front of her face.
"Please! Please help me!" she cried to herself and continued to whisper into her hands. She was soon surrounded by the shadows.
"We've been looking for you Narami, the master says your disobedience is hurting Harumi, and he knows how you dislike that." The tallest wraith hissed.
"A jamais je serai le vôtre, juste me permettre d'aller, juste ne pas blesser Harumi!" You mutter into your hands loud enough for them to hear.
(sg: message me if you want to know what she says in French)
"I don't think we will be able to work that into the agreement," the same wraith chuckled, he motioned to the other shadows and they slowly closed ranks around her trembling form. Two grabbed her arms and tied them behind her back and another put a leash around her neck. She barely struggled; she couldn't find the strength, they slowly led her away and she trudged on behind them, to weary to care.
In a different location:
The council hall was large, dwarfing its occupants and still seeming to leer at them. The king's council was gathering, the king's champion, his wild mage, the commander of the own, and other men and women of varying degrees of importance but they all played an important roll nonetheless.
"Everyone! This meeting of the King's council has begun!" Shouted Jonathan, the king, they all came and gathered at the circular table set in the middle of the hall.
"As you all know there has been some shadowy happenings at Fief Thoki, odd messengers have been seen running towards the Fief at a speed no human I can watch. We also have not seen the Lord Thoki since his wife's death three years ago." Jonathan looked at his council and they all nodded. "Now, last council meeting I told you I wanted information on his doings. Do you have any?"
"Yes," Daine the wild mage said simply, " a new breed of immortals was seen running around Fief Thoki and the animals surrounding it are terrified, no mice even dare to live in the kitchens for fear of these beasts." She looked at her husband, Numair Salmalin, and he nodded.
"We intercepted one of these creatures on its way with a message to the Fief and it fought our hold with claws and a sword. These new immortals are intelligent, it spoke to us and shouted insults, it also fought with an odd looking sword and in a style unknown to many." He finished and the rest of the council looked intrigued by his news.
"What do these animals look like?" Asked Lady Alanna, the king's champion, "We should bring one in for questioning, perhaps they aren't as loyal to Thoki as we thought."
"They aren't anywhere near animals, they have human bodies but this one had ears and a tail, black ones as it were, and it was a female. Most races tend to try and keep their females protected, this one doesn't agree with that motion apparently." He finished and hugged Daine's shoulders
"I don't agree either," laughed the queen and all the other women at the table joined in with little giggles and chuckles of their own.
"What else can you tell me? George?" Jonathan turned to a lanky hazel-eyed man seated next to Alanna.
"They have over three hundred fighters located inside and around the Fief, very much over the limit of forty, they all look like mercenaries but some look like the immortals Master Salmalin just described." George turned his head and stared directly at the king. "These immortals know what they're doing. My spy said he saw one barking off orders to a battalion of fighters as if he'd done it all his life, this one had a horn sprouting out of his forehead but no other unusual markings."
"We should send an emissary over to talk with Thoki and get more information, it should be under the guise of something casual of course, like a friendly gesture made by a concerned king." Thayet, the queen, plotted out loud and they quickly had a plan formed to send Daine and Numair to the Fief on a 'vacation' that was much needed and much deserved. They had loved Thoki's land so much when they first saw it that they had to come back a second time. It sounded workable, and believable, they just hoped they could pull it off.
In a different location:
They threw her into the little storage room and she never said a word. Again, she had failed to escape, to save her sister, to win her freedom. She had already attempted it five times. Each plan had failed and she had been brought to this little room, again. She looked around the walls and ran anxious fingers through matted hair, scratch marks lined the door and a pile of straw in the corner was supposed to serve as a bed. Narami examined her talons and decided they needed to be sharpened; she dragged herself towards the wall and began to slash. Great gashes covered the doorframe and wood splinters sprinkled the floor. Contented for now Namari curled into a tight ball and settled into a corner, she was tired, tomorrow would come soon enough and she needed another plan of escape.