To all who reviewed, thank you so much!
All the suggestions you made have been noted and I try to update every evening but homework is starting to pile and I'm getting home quite late now due to after school sports etc! But I'll keep updating as often as I can! Please keep sending in your reviews! They are really helpful!
Mrs Billie Joe: Woah pretty cool eheh! I first flaunted the age thing so people would go easy on me hehehe! Everyone's been nice though, so I now have no excuse L Lol! I come from East Sussex by the way.
Anakin's blood pounded in his temples like a throbbing drum, he opened his eyes only to be greeted with
A violent shock of bright sunlight and immediately closed them again. Sleep was one of the things he had
Not been able to do the previous night, and though he'd felt as if half a lifetime had drifted by, he was
Certain that no more than several hours had passed, it had to be sometime in the early morning, yet the
Brilliant heat was enough to make his head spin, and his clothes to become sodden with perspiration, one
Thing was for sure, this wasn't going to be a good day for him, he dreaded to think what a day in this
Heat, still in all his heavy clothing, inside a swelteringly hot tent would be like, especially being bound
In such an uncompromising position, it certainly was not going to be the most dignified of imprisonments.
He looked up as the overhang was pulled back, and another wave of light hit him in the face. Anakin
turned his head as far as the noose would allow, trying to shield his eyes from the blinding sun.
The blissful shade was once more regained when the overhang was released, and it took a few moments for
Anakin to realize that there was someone in the tent with him. Once the fuzzy dots in Anakin's eyes had
Cleared, he was able to look upon his visitor more carefully. One of the guards, who had escorted Chief
D'agri into the tent the night before, was busying himself about the tent, fiddling with lose fixings on the
Thin material walls, and hammering bent nails back into the centre structure. Anakin suppressed a smile,
For a being so strong in physique and attitude, he was certainly lumbered with the most degrading of tasks.
"I'm I going to be fed sometime today?" The question was implied innocently enough, but was taken as
A personal insult. He was replied with a gruff 'No.' Anakin, slightly taken aback by the answer,
Nodded and tried to shift himself into a more comfortable position.
"Stop squirming or I'll really give you something to squirm about." Anakin wanted to groan aloud, and
Retort with something insolent, but upon realizing that it wouldn't help his situation further he decided
Against it, he merely shook his head, and continued to watch the pitiful fellow attempt to scrub the caked
Mud off the tent walls.
"You might try using bleach or something?" 'Oooooh, maybe not clever?' Anakin mused frantically
As the guard threw down his hammer and about faced to glare at Anakin, he marched towards him and
Stopped just a few inches short of Anakin's face.
"Say what you will boy, by this afternoon you won't be feeling so chatty." and with that, leaving his
Hammer, and dirty rag, and a somewhat flabbergast Anakin, he stormed from the tent, letting the overhang
Flap closed with a rather lulling 'swoosh'.
This afternoon? Why? What was happening this afternoon? Even though Anakin was fairly certain
It wouldn't be tea and buns, he still was left growing increasingly anxious about his new predicament.
No doubt it had something to do with his and D'agri's 'little talk' the previous evening, or maybe even
Obi-Wan's, he only hoped his master hadn't said or done something to land him in it, though he knew
He was perfectly capable of doing that himself, it certainly wouldn't help him if Obi-Wan contributed in
Any way.
For the next few minutes, Anakin was left relatively undisturbed, spare for the odd few voices erupting from
Beyond the tent, or the large silhouettes of the tribesmen standing outside, murmuring quietly in a dialect
He did not recognise. But his moments of peace, were brutally disrupted as D'agri, clad in a large, patched
Cloak that seemed to have been woven out of many animal skins, possibly from his 'many' hunting
Successes. Anakin would have thought this as peculiarly normal, had the chief not been accompanied
Into the tent by three large, bulky guards, dressed also in animal skins, and armed with the most
Hideous looking weaponry Anakin had ever seen, absently, Anakin pondered as to whether these people
Realized exactly how brutal the temperature was out there, and how they could possibly survive in such
Rough and potentially boiling garments. His train of thought was abruptly derailed when one of the guards
Spoke up in a gruff, and thickly accented voice.
"Come Jedi." Anakin twisted his head slightly as if to look over his shoulder, and shrugged as much as his
Cramped limbs would allow.
"Gladly, but I appear to be rather……incapacitated at present?" The guard, who appeared to understand
Very little basic, looked plainly dumbfounded, he turned worriedly to D'agri, who roughly shoved him
Forward and bellowed at him in slightly better basic.
"Untie him you fool!" The guard quickly fumbled at tearing through the chords with his primitive, yet
Deadly looking knife, As the final strand around his wrists was cut lose, Anakin's breath came out in a
Painful 'whoosh'. He tried to flex his shoulders and arms slightly but they gave out at the slightest
Movement, he grimaced, he'd have to take it easy for a bit, assuming he'd in any position to do so,
He thought, as he looked at the four men who were slowly gathering around him. Anakin stayed sat on the
Ground, not overly keen on hurrying vents along, he rubbed his deeply burned wrists gingerly, and hoped
He'd be spared for at least a little while longer, until he remembered what it was like not to be bound for
Hours. His hope was short lived, two of the three guards came forward and took Anakin under his arms and
Hauled him upright, he complied, oddly satisfied to discover that he was a good few inches taller than one
Of the guards, one of them, but it was comfort enough. D'agri stepped up to him and tilted his chin
upwards, as if to prove to Anakin that he was indeed, larger than him.
"Shirt off Jedi." Anakin pulled a face, this was definitely not going to be a good day, he looked down at his
Crumpled clothing, before returning to meet the angered Chieftain's gaze.
"Why?" The chief flailed his arms in an exasperated manner.
"Your place is not to ask why, and unless it is your desire to spend the day impaled upon my guard here's
Machete, then you'll do as your instructed!" Anakin sighed, not being the self-conscious kind, he tugged off
His hefty, sweat-sodden tunic, and dumped it half-heartedly on the floor. His hands were once again retied,
But this time, in front of him, giving a little leeway for his sore and aching shoulders. 'That's a start.'
Anakin mused bitterly. A guard took each arm, and he was led through the overhang and out into the open
Air. The hope of maybe feeling some sort of coolness from the air on his already burnt skin, was quickly
Dashed, as the full, blown, power of the sun, beat down on his exposed skin, threatening to burn him to a
Crisp. The air was sticky and thick, and a nightmare to breathe, and it was only then that it occurred to
Anakin how desperately thirsty he was. This was not good, he had no idea of what was to be in store for
Him, but whatever it was, he knew that dehydrated, he would be foolish to put up any form of resistance.
He was led to a large wooden frame, that stood upon a small platform, Anakin swallowed, and nearly
Gagged for the dryness in his throat, he knew what this was, he knew what it entailed, and knew that it was
Not going to be a very attractive experience to say the least. He let himself h half pulled half dragged onto
The platform, and stood silently as his arms were tugged above his head, and tied tightly to the peg atop the
Frame. The guards then bent down to firmly attach his boots to the wooden stand in the same manner, to prevent him from collapsing, at any rate. As he waited for the guard to finish, he scanned the whole area in a
Swift glance and took in everything he wanted to know, his master wasn't there. Anakin didn't know
Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, but he hoped that his master's fate would be a little
Less painful than Anakin's was going to turn out to be.
All to soon, the guards stood and left, and an intense feeling of vulnerability began to seep into Anakin's
Bones, he heard the shouts and jeers from the small crowd of natives that had gathered to watch, and then
The cry of their very own leader, Chief D'agri, who appeared to be giving some form of speech. Anakin
Took this time to compose himself, he took a long, deep, and steady breath, and allowed what little of
The force he was able to muster to fill him, and calm him. He would not fail himself, not today, not here,
As undignified as this was, he was going to remain as dignified as one could in his position, he tried to
Maintain his resolution as he heard the sharp crack of a whip behind him, but couldn't help but flinch, as
The sound of the whip breaking onto solid concrete sent a collective shudder throughout the crowd.
This was it, he realized, he was clueless as to why thy would do this to him, but he was certain the had their
Reasons, they always did. A sharp crack sounded as a baton connected with the thin stretched sheet of a
Drum, and before he could even brace himself, Anakin felt the first lash fall on his back. The pain was
Acute, and it lingered, and Anakin wished desperately, despite his difficulty to breathe, that they had
Gagged him, he had to strain for all he was worth to suppress a groan as the second lash connected with
Flesh with a loud snap. The third came, and the fourth, and it continued, relentlessly, until eventually,
Anakin could do noting but cry out in agony.
