Chapter 12: Battle Scars

Talik'Ivaadi

Talik'Ivaadi, or Taliki Vaadi in basic, had been a slave for a long time at this point. She was only 6 when she was kidnapped from her parents and sold into slavery. Then she bounced around from slave market to slave market until she was bought at a secret auction being held on Jasmenerth.

She had spent much of her time taking tickets for whatever show Nak'tul, her owner, was putting on for the day. After all she was to weak and scrawny to do much else. There were times when Taliki questioned why Nak'tul even bothered to buy her in the first place.

All he did was complain about how useless she was and how she was costing him more money than she earned taking tickets to feed, clothe and house her. He insulted her in every manner possible especially in front of his cruel customers. He even beat her on the days when he was especially angry, though he never struck her in the face.

He said she was too pretty to be hit in the face. And that was why she was the ticket taker because her pretty, sweet face attracted customers that would normally shy away from his show. So, he never hit her in the face but he would leave blue black bruises all over the rose-pink skin of her torso and legs.

Taliki hated it there but she knew things could always be so much worse. He could whip her or sell her to the many men who asked about her or put her to work in the salt fields, but he didn't. So, she put up with Nak'tul and his brutish ways.

By the time Taliki turned 15 people were comparing her beauty to that of long forgotten goddesses. Nak'tul had attempted to marry her a few times and she had refused, stating that it would be better to be his slave than to be his wife. Of course, he beat her for saying it but at least she said it and stood her ground.

After her second refusal of his marriage proposal, Nak'tul decided that Taliki was too old to work as his ticket taker. He would find some younger slave to take her place. He had something special in mind for her.

"It's time you start pulling your own weight around here," Nak'tul growled at her.

Taliki came awake to Nak'tul standing over her. She clutched her thin blanket to her chest in an attempt to cover her night clothes from the male. Her heart was thudding in her chest and at first, she didn't know if it was a nightmare or really happening.

"Don't just sit there with that stupid look on your face, girl. Get up and get dressed. You got 5 minutes," he said and she knew it wasn't a dream.

"Yes, master," she said dejectedly.

She usually got to sleep longer than this but as her master was in a mood today she would not give him any reason to punish her. She got up and hurriedly changed into her everyday clothes. She threw some water on her face and went to meet Nak'tul outside.

"If I'm not taking tickets any more, what will I be doing," Taliki asked.

He looked at her in disgust for a second before a creepy, sinister grin came over his face. He tossed a long box at her feet. Then he sneered at her.

"Well don't just stand there, open it," he ordered.

Taliki fell to the ground and hurriedly undid all of the latches around the case to remove the lid. When she saw what was inside she was confused. She had no idea what she was looking at.

After studying it for a few seconds she realized that it was a whip. The thing had a long tubular hilt formed of metal with tendrils that included multiple extensions of leather studded with Mandalorian iron and flexible gem-speckled metal as well as little prongs that Taliki couldn't identify. The thing looked terrifying.

"What is that for," Taliki asked fearing the worse.

She thought Nak'tul was going to beat her with the horrific looking instrument. Her body was shaking with fear as she waited for his answer. Her stared down at her with glee.

"I'm not going to beat you with it. That would be too easy and nowhere near as profitable. No, you are going to put on 3 shows a day in between the fire breathing woman and the sea canine," Nak'tul said as if that explained everything.

"I don't understand," young Taliki said and her voice shook with fear.

"You'll preform a dance with the whip and bring in money. With the clothes you wear males will be lining up down the road to see you dance with the whip. Then you can finally start paying me back all of the credits you owe me," he growled at her.

"I've never danced before and especially not with a dangerous weapon," she said.

She wasn't trying to make him mad she just didn't understand how she was supposed to put on a show when she couldn't dance and had never handled a whip before. She had never handled any kind of weapon before. And why would Nak'tul trust her with something that looked like it could do so much damage.

"You better learn fast. You're first show is in two hours," he said.

He tossed her a record and walked off leaving her there staring at the whip as though she were afraid that it was going to jump out of the box and bite her.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. How was she supposed to learn how to dance and handle a whip in such a short amount of time? There was no one she could ask to help her either since all of the other slaves had their own shows to get ready for.

Taliki began to panic as time ticked away and she still had no idea what to do. Finally she took the long handle into her hands and gently lifted the coils from the box the whip had come in. It was lighter than she had imagined.

She flicked her wrist and the whip snapped just like she had seen it done countless times before when masters had punished their slaves back when she was still being passed from market to market. She felt dirty. Whips were almost the symbol for slave owners. Sure Taliki wouldn't be attacking or punishing anyone with the whip, it was enough to be in possession of one that made her feel dirty.

Instead of trying to get rid of the whip or really learn to handle it, Taliki began working on her dance moves. She turned on the record and began coming up with a simple routine in which she could use the whip as more of a prop and not actually have to do any tricks with it. Nak'tul would be fine as long as the crowd got their show. Or at least that's what she told herself.

Once the time came for her to head into the big tent to do her show she headed over to the performer's area. The others were shocked to see her there and none of them were very happy to see the whip in her hands.

"It's not what you think," Taliki said in a small voice.

"And what is it," the strong man called Batuu asked.

"Nak'tul told me I have to dance with this. Apparently, I'm too old to be the ticket taker anymore," she explained in a small voice.

"Leave the girl alone. She's gonna have a rough enough time on that stage as is," the old wise alien woman known Xavia said. Before Taliki could ask what Xavia explained, "Most of them are too young to remember the first girl to wield that whip before you. Just do your best and come see me afterward."

Her words did not comfort Taliki but they did make everyone else back off. A few even looked at her with sympathy. She was more nervous now as she waited for Nak'tul to announce her act. She took deep breaths to slow her heart rate so she didn't faint but it didn't calm her nerves and she jumped when he called her name.

She stepped out onto the stage and was momentarily blinded by the lights. She regained her composure and went to the center of the stage. As she waited for the music to start she looked over the crowd and was relieved to see that it was mostly males. Her seductive dance would surely appease them even if she hated to do it.

The music began and she put on an easy smile as she landed the moves she'd come up with earlier. She was so into the dance that she flicked the coils of the whip a little too vigorously and they snapped back biting into her legs. The prongs cutting into her skin, she tried not to cry out and kept going with her routine. The crowd seemed even more into it now and Nak'tul was giving her one of his best demented sneers.

Taliki ignored them and tried to picture herself somewhere nice. Her body moved to the rhythm of the music even despite the pain she was in thanks to the whip. Then she went to twirl the coils around her head and they caught her skin again.

This time she did cry out and dropped to the ground to remove the prongs that had dug into her arms, legs and hair. The crowd began to clap and cheer at her misfortune. Taliki felt tears burn in her eyes. She refused to give them the satisfaction of crying right there on stage. She went to run off stage when Nak'tul grabbed her arm.

"What do you think you're doing," he hissed at her.

"I'm hurt and need to tend to these wounds," Taliki said in a small shaky voice.

"After your show you can do that. Now get back to it. This song still has 3 minutes left," Nak'tul said cruelly and pushed her back toward the stage so hard that she fell to her knees.

The whip trailed behind her sounding for all the world like a snake slithering along the ground. It was even more unnerving. As much as Taliki wanted to break down or run off stage, she didn't because she knew that if she angered Nak'tul she'd be in even worse pain.

So she plastered a smile on her face and continued her routine. The coils of the whip continued to slash and catch at her skin so that by the end she was covered in cuts and blood. When the music ended she ran off the stage even though the crowd cheered and clapped as though she'd just put on the best performance they'd ever seen in their lives.

She found Xavia in her tent waiting. The older female looked over the sorry state that Taliki was in and immediately felt sorry for the youngling. Xavia patted the spot right next to her on the cot. Taliki dropped the whip right inside the tent and went to sit with Xavia who immediately opened her arms so that the younger woman could weep in her embrace.

Xavia just let Taliki cry until her body shaking wails turned into dry, hiccupping sobs. Taliki didn't know why Xavia was being so nice to her when they'd all barely acknowledged Taliki for the 7 years she'd been here. Not that she really cared. This was the first comfort she had received since being snatched from her parents almost 11 years ago.

"Now, now, I know it hurts but there's no need to weep your life away," Xavia said and pulled a mortar and pestle with a thick green paste in it from under the cot. "This will make it all better," she said.

"What is that," Taliki asked suddenly suspicious.

"This medicine will help your wounds heal overnight and keep them from scarring you," Xavia answered.

"Did you know this was going to happen? Why didn't you warn me," Taliki asked disgruntledly.

The older woman laughed and shook her head.

"Yes I knew it was going to happen and I couldn't warn you because Nak'tul would have punished me for it," Xavia said.

Taliki looked at her trying to figure out her role in all of this.

"How did you know it was going to happen," Taliki asked. "It's not like I tried to do any whip tricks or anything."

"I knew you were going to get hurt because that's what that thing is made for and that is exactly what our master wanted to happen. Those people paid to see you get up there and hurt yourself," Xavia said.

Taliki looked at her like she had no clue what she was talking about but after thinking about the way the crowd reacted, it made sense. Those people were never happier than right after Taliki had hurt herself. The thought made her shudder.

"How do you know all this? Did you see it in your crystal ball," Taliki asked, sarcasm dripped from her voice.

"My daughter Tavia was the first one to dance and wield that whip. Nak'tul put her on stage with the same intentions, to profit from my only child hurting herself. Tavia was too stubborn and never tried to master that whip. She said it went against everything in her to hold the symbol of our oppressor for any reason," Xavia said and began applying the salve to Taliki's numerous cuts.

"What happened to her," Taliki asked, because she felt the same way that Tavia had and she was curious as to where the girl was now.

"Eventually she perfected the first dance routine and was able to get through the whole song without letting the whip touch her. So Nak'tul would add a new song everyday so that there was no way she could come up with a routine that would allow her to walk off of that stage completely unscathed. She died on that stage from injuries she suffered from the whip. On the day she died, Nak'tul made her dance for two hours," Xavia explained.

Taliki's heart began beating faster in her chest. If she didn't learn to master the whip she would probably end up just like Tavia. Xavia finished wrapping Taliki's arms and legs and sat back. The older woman stared at Taliki's face.

"What are you thinking," Xavia asked.

"That I need to learn how to control this thing even if Nak'tul beats me for it. I don't wanna die on this godforsaken planet as a slave dancing and bleeding myself to death for someone else's entertainment. I will not be covered in battle scars when I've never been in a real battle," Taliki exclaimed.

From that day on Taliki worked harder than ever before in her life to master the whip.