"I won't go back"
Disclaimer I don't own LOTR etc. Belongs to Tolkien/ New line
Sara and any other originals are mine.
Chapter 1 Sara
She looked out the "window" gazing at the moon. Thin as a nail paring it rose high above the forest that stretched out before the mountain in which she had been imprisoned for who knows how long. She couldn't see the forest through the tiny crack she called a window but she knew it was there. The fifth time she had tried to escape she had made it into the forest. For one whole day she had hidden in the trees and they hadn't found her. But in the end they had and she had been whipped until she had passed out. The only reason they hadn't killed her was they wouldn't have had anyone to serve them then. She was their slave.
She hadn't always been this way she knew. When she lay on the pile of straw she slept on sometimes there would come unbidden memories of happier times. Memories of no work, of love, of family. But they were only fragments and as soon as she tried to remember what had happened the memory would go. In the end she had decided not to chase them but just to let them come as they pleased and to enjoy them while they lasted. That was how she had remembered her name. Last night she had been dreaming and in her head she had heard someone calling her. "Sara, Sara," they had called. Maybe it wasn't her name but it was a name and she had decided to make it her name. That was it she had decided no one with a proper name could be a slave.
She couldn't remember how long it had been since the day she had woken in the forest glade surrounded by the black, bloody monsters she had been imprisoned by they had forced her to be their slave at first she had been slow and had earned many hard knocks and been whipped but soon her body had learned to hurry up and to work harder than it ever had before. Seven times she had managed to escape but she had always been recaptured. Three times she had heard a fight outside her cell and had prayed that she was going to be freed but all that had happened was that another clan had attacked her masters. Twice she had been captured by the attackers and had changed masters but they were the same as the others. Great hulking brutes with black skin and covered in blood that worked her from dawn to dark for the bare minimum of food. Well no more she would escape and she would succeed.
She would have to steal the keys to her cell, then during the night sneak out and then when they found her cell empty and they ran out into the forest to find her, sneak out and run. Thinking about it, it was ridicules. How could it succeed? How could she make it? How would she get the keys? Wouldn't they find her as soon as ever? How could the fact she had a name protect her? She didn't know she just knew that she had to get out. People with names weren't slaves. They were free, they did things because they wanted to, they could stop, give up, they could breathe the free air, they could, they did… They just were free. A strand of hair fell into her eyes and without thinking she pinned it back up. As she did she felt the pins in her hair. Suddenly she realised something.
Pulling her pins out she looked at them. Could she? Would it be possible? But if she could… slowly she stuck one of them into the keyhole. After twisting and turning it a little she heard the lock click as it opened. She pinned her hair back up. As she did so she looked at her hair. It was so dirty and matted that no one could have known what its original colour was. She herself didn't even remember. She had never seen her own face. She didn't even know what colour her eyes were. It saddened her as well as making her more determined. She didn't know whether she was pretty or not, she didn't even care. She just knew that not knowing her own eye and hair colour was not good.
She heard a scuffle outside her door. It was another attack. What should she do? She smiled. This was the best thing to ever happen to her. In all the confusion she would be even less noticeable. She opened the door and looked out. There was no one around.
As she walked along the corridors she tried to remember how to get to the entrance. She was grateful she had walked this corridor so often she could walk it blindfolded. She came to the main hall where a huge table stood where the monsters had sat down to eat. The dishes on the table still had half eaten food on them and all along the floor there was apples and bread and cups dropped as their owners had run to meet the attack. She realised that whoever was attacking had surprised them. That was odd; among themselves the attacks were very overt and pre-empted. Maybe there were other creatures in this world. What made her say that? Of course there were how else could she have come to be here?
Then from the main hall she followed the trail of food until she found the main passage. It was dark but, maybe it was her imagination, she could see at the end of the passage the dark was less dark. She stayed close to the wall and followed it. As she looked straight ahead she saw the moon in front of her. There it was! The entrance! If who ever had killed her masters didn't catch her here she was free! Carefully she looked out the "door". There were various figures standing around and checking the wounded but none of them looked like the monsters. Blessing the thin moon she slipped out. None of the figures seemed keen on getting to close to the mouth of the cave. Breaking into a run she made a dash for the nearest bush. Just as she got there and hid an arrow came flying after her.
"Stupid" she mentally berated herself. They had just fought a battle and still hadn't searched the cave. Of course they would have posted a sentry, unless they wanted to die which, judging by their fighting skills, she didn't think they weren't particularly keen on at this moment in time. She heard one of them talking to another. She didn't understand what they were saying. It wasn't cruel and evil sounding like the monster language she had heard daily without understanding, but she still didn't understand it. As silently as she could she ran as fast as she could deep into the forest. She didn't know who these were but she had no intention of finding out.
She ran and ran until she found a deep thicket. Hiding in there she soon fell asleep. As she slept she dreamed a strange dream. A little girl playing with a ball, a woman with short dark hair watching her, the same girl, older, crying the woman lying in a brown box with soft sheets, then the same girl with lots of other children all in one room sleeping, and finally the girl falling into a deep pit, falling and falling but never hitting the bottom.
She woke up gently. There was something strange in the air. Then she realised for the first time she could remember she was not woken up by the harsh shouts of her guards. As she crawled out of the thicket she suddenly felt hungry. It was already mid-day and she realised that she had never slept for so long. Looking around she saw some birds eating the berries on a bush. Sure than it was safe she went over and ate some. Hearing water made her realise how thirsty she was. Following the sound she found a small brook. Knelling down she drank her fill. She wondered around the forest for a few hours feeling the sun on her skin for the first time since she didn't know how long. Then she lay down in the sun enjoying the sensation of true freedom. With no work to do and safe in the knowledge that she was free she soon fell fast asleep.
When she woke the sun was going down and there was a chill in the air. Realising how painfully inadequate her clothes were she found a pile of dry, dead leaves and fell fast asleep.