The Caged Wolf

[MamaBearJade 2090]

Bang! Bang! Bang! The loud pounding of hands and feet against the metal door ring through the room. Z’Ress, only five years of age now, continues to fight for her freedom. Her dual colored eyes blazing as she pounded on the unforgiving iron door. “I WANT MALN!” She screamed to the heavens, wanting nothing more that to find her lost father, to be back home with her older brother. “Lemme out!” Despite her small size, the fight in her was starting.

Yes, she had been locked in the cell for nearly two months now. Her sense of time was off. She forgot how she ended up there. The memory was still foggy. She remembered wandering near her home, laughing and giggling after her adventures in the Kha lands. The next thing she remembered was waking in a cell. Her eye black from a random man hitting her in the face. Pain, she could barely register it.

Why? Why was she different? She looked down at her now bloody hands. Pain. Was that what she was feeling? She was told pain stopped people. The only real pain she remembered was the fire in her back. The scars still vivid on her dark skinned back. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the cobwebs from her mind as she pounded hard on the door. “MALN! AEYUS! RATHY! HELP!” she screamed to the heavens.

Yet no one came. At least not right away. It was about a month after she had been taken that a cloaked elf had come, dragging a helpless female elf with him. Z’ress watched as the woman was thrown into a cell before interrogated. Whimpers would escape Z’ress. No, she had to be strong. She had to be brave. She was an Oussana. However, despite how brave she tried to be, the whimpers would not stop.

A caged pup with nothing more than a bed and a hole in the floor. Z’ress watched as the cloaked elf came and dragged her out of the cell. She thrashed and cried, whining and yelping as she was thrown on the table and shackled. “Lets add something to her.” the cloaked elf said as he headed towards a deceased squid. Fear gripped Z’ress in that moment. The looks of a dark elf could not be tainted by the addition of squid parts.

No, they had other plans for her. She was thrown to another, held by her neck as she was forced to watch the newest event. The woman had taken her place. Shackled on her stomach, she was slowly cut by another man. Z’ress tried not to watch but her eyes could not and would not pull away. The woman’s screamed echoed in her young mind as she watched in horror as the man cut symbols into the flesh of the woman’s back.

While the symbols were cut, Z’ress fought as hard as she could to be free. She struggled, she screamed, she even tried to stamp feet. The result left her head spinning. Her face was smashed into the corner of the cell, cutting a deep gash over her right eye. Blood poured from the wound, staining her hair and her face. She stopped struggling and was forced to watch, unable to pull away anymore.

After what seemed like hours, the woman stopped screaming and the man moved away. “Keep watching.” she was told. The man returned and began cutting before ripping off a large section of skin off the woman’s back. Bile rose quickly in Z’ress’s throat as she watched the skin peel from the body. The man, still bloody from his work, soon carried Z’ress away from the body and set her down on a nearby table.

Mortified by what she had seen, Z’ress sat there, watching as the cloaked elf worked at stitching new skin on the back of the elven woman. It was then she finally found the strength to move. Quickly she dashed for her cage and dove under the bed, hiding. No, she was not strong, she was a coward. She trembled as she hid, only to slowly find her strength. In a last ditch effort to become free, she ran for the door.

However, the moment she made it to the open cell door, the cloaked elf had stopped before her, shoving her back. Angry and desperate, she lashed out, kicking at his shin, moments before the cell door slammed in her face. She sulked back to her bed, trembling as she willed the images away. She was an Oussana. She had to be strong. As soon as the men left, she began to vomit in her cell. Slowly she curled up on the bed and waited.

Days passed slowly before she finally gained the courage to face the door once more. The images still burned into her mind. She began throwing herself at the door, kicking and punching the door as best as she can. Pain. Pain was never an issue for her. It did not stop her as she pounded the door until her small fits bled. It did not stop her even as a crack was heard from her foot as she broke a toe.

Pain was not the same for her. It hurt, but it was dull. Her mind not processing it properly as she continued until she finally noticed the blood. “Maln!” she cried out once more. “Haelun….” She slumped down against the door, sobbing as she tried to stay strong. She tried to be a Oussana. Rathina wouldn’t stand for her crying. Aeyrius scowled at her when she pouted. Slowly she wiped her tears and glared at the door.

No, she was Oussana! She was not weak. She slumped down against the far wall, glaring at the door, waiting. She would wait. She was not a “Strong Wolf” for nothing. A caged animal can be far more vicious than the wolf lurking in the darkness. Z’ress would become a wolf. She would become her mother and her father. She would make them proud. The wolf was stronger with the moon in its heart.

The door soon opened and one of the men had returned. Z’ress growled darkly as he stood in the door. “Your sister Rathina has saved you.” he said before pointing to the bed. “Blindfold.” Z’ress growled darkly and lunged at him. She wanted to hurt him badly. However, he was faster and stronger. His foot shot out and sent her reeling into the wall. It wasn’t long before her world darkened once more.

She was soon dumped in front of the delver base. She growled before sprinting off. Home. She wanted her father. She wanted home. Unwilling to stop, she ran, her weakened body fueled by the sweet taste of freedom. After much running, much fleeing, she found Malinor, her home. Rathina found her, growling and snarling at the entrance. After much coaxing, Rathina was able to calm and treat Z’ress.

The young mali’ker allowed Rathina to bandage her and treat the wounds. After a few days, she was allowed back outside, though it was evident Z’ress was no longer the innocent little girl. Every elf with blue eyes she spotted she would growl at. Any flash of dark cloaks made her jump. She constantly scratched at her bandages. She soon found herself back at the well, often growling at the passerbys. She was a wolf. She would not be caged again.

[ĔṀĔŔĨĨČĶ 519]

Kaelys groans as somewhere, unknown to him, another one of his sisters go crazy.

[Baconthief 682]

At her return to home, a familiar figure stands in the center of the room. His weapons are at his side and his strapped to his back. As the news is passed to the patron, his face hardens and his hands turn into fists.

 

"Broodling"

 

Khel advances towards Z'ress, placing himself infront of her. His tone is cold and hard, clearly there is a rage stirring within the dark elf

 

"Your thirst for revenge will not go unmet. You. . .no we /will/ do the same to them, yet tenfold. This is where the journey on the path of strength begins. This pain and anger your heart bares will be formed into a weapon stronger than steal. In time, they will taste the wrath they've instilled into you.

 

Khel gets onto a single knee infront of the young dark elf, he places a tattooed hand on her shoulder

 

"This path you will walk is path of your ancestors, your brood, and your father"

 

Khel then attempts to pull his daughter into a light embrace. Near the end of the sentence his tone shifts, becoming softer than what Khel is accustomed to

[MamaBearJade 2090]

Z'ress at first is unable to move seeing her maln. Her eyes look at him accusingly for a moment. Her face covered in bandages. Slowly she approaches and allows him to touch her shoulder. She trembles as she listens to his words. Her dual colored eyes locked on his dark orbs. "Maln." she whispers. She presses into his embrace, happy to finally be with her father again. She had missed him so much. "I want to be strong, Maln." she says to him. "I want to be like you. Like Haelun."

[Moot 1719]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.