With my left arm I slid up to get into a sitting position, the light partial blocked by the fabric all around my cage, a tan hue to brown and gray confines. I put my good hand to the lock, pulled energy to it and stopped. I had no clue where I was, which way to go and no water. Escaping would be almost suicidal… so I moved back to the center of this cage. I would see what my captors were like first. After waiting for some time I decided to knock on my wooden floor. There was a change in the noise and one of the small smooth skins lifted the fabric to look at me. I raised my good arm to block some of the drastic change in light for a moment. Then the fabric went back down and in one of the mewling languages I heard the higher pitch speaking from likely the one that looked at me. Minutes more passed before the fabric was lifted up again and I saw a different small smooth skin, well smaller. It was thick and stocky in a way that seemed like it compensated for its lack of height. Its dark hair was braided, both coming from the top of its head as well as the bottom. It pulled out a wooden cup then put a little water from the skin it had into the cup before speaking in the common language of the smooth skins.
[Blakil] “I am blakil, this is water for you. You are our prisoner for as long as we decide, the girl that came with you says you’re not as bloodthirsty as your kin so I’ll say this once. As long as you don’t cause us trouble we will keep you fed and give you water.”
I nod and take the cup, happy to feel the chill of water on my dry throat. Once finished I set the wooden cup at the edge of the cage. He nods and takes it, dropping the fabric back down as he leaves.
With some work I get into position where I can grab at the cloth to move it aside and allow me to see a bit of the world around me. What I see is sand, and dust. As we keep moving through the day, I’m able to catch sight of some other carts or the like in front and behind of the one I’m on. Though I can’t see much more than the very sides of them and the smooth wooden, boards? That they are supported on.
Days pass by, most of the smooth-skins in this caravan speak a language I don’t know. Once morgan passes by but doesn’t speak to me. The meat I’m fed is less than I need though the water is enough. More than a week passes by of this hot wasteland, dull and unwelcoming despite it allowing my arm to heal. Halfway into the next week the caravan stopped early, I peaked out from under my cover and saw a town… no city in the distance, beyond there was water, a great body of water.
[Al] “ahhh we’re at Aush Kira. No doubt these caravaners will try to sell you.
I move to the lock again, putting my good hand to it and drawing power.
[Al] “don’t, it’s the middle of the day. They will spot you easily and turn you into a corpse if you’re to troublesome. Wait it out a bit more”
“so I can be in an even worse position?”
[Al] “worse? Being in this caravan saved you. Your abilities are limited right now so you need to be careful and clever with their use. Wait it out for now, no one knows what you can do so hold onto that until you really need it”
My jaw clicks against my skull a couple times before I nod, he was annoyingly right.
A few of the caravan people head out to the city and at night they return with others, riding horses.
Some specially shaped wooden planks with a deck of others above them is what I’m put onto with my whole cage being moved. Then Morgan comes up, moving briskly and a certain look I couldn’t decode.
[morgan] “he was bought that quickly?”
[smooth-skin in finery] “yes, property of the wizards”
[morgan] “will I be going with?”
[smooth-skin in finery] “why? You are of no interest”
[morgan] “I can translate his tongue”
ugh, as if I would have one of those, disgusting, wet, tentacle-like monstrosities of the soft-skins and their-
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[smooth-skin in finery] “done, you will follow us to the city, hop on the sled”
She took a seat beside my cage, wait… they called this a sled? Didn’t sound right for something meant to move, if anything it sounded like something made to stop movement. The sled lurched as we started moving.
[morgan] “bet you’re glad not to be dead”
“so you’re going to say that you somehow made it so the caravan would keep us alive out of the kindness of their hearts?”
[morgan] “no, they did it cause I bartered some of MY potions with them and promised that a living warbug would fetch a higher price. It worked”
“your potions, is that what all of them call my kind?”
[morgan] “yep, bugs of war. A ravaging ever conquering plague that has to be stopped before it grows out of control.”
“sounds like they got the roles reversed”
[morgan] “really? Well, what do you guys call yourselves then?”
“we are the firstborn, the eldest of the great mother's children”
[morgan] “firstborn, seems a bit grand for what you guys do”
“it’s accurate”
[morgan] “and so is warbug”
she shifted so her back was fully to me… after a minute of silence I figured she was done talking.
We passed the cities out walls and once inside my cage was moved from this sled to a wheeled cart. In the dark of night I was moved into a large stone structure that I couldn’t fully see. Morgan quietly with me as we were locked in. minutes later a door opened and a smooth-skin with robes that had arcane writing inlaid in a silver color entered, a long gray beard flowing from their jaw. Face, wretched to look upon with all the wrinkles their elderly get. Morgan didn’t seem to mind and hopped up.
[morgan]“hey there!”
[mage] “ahhh! … don’t scare an old man like that!”
[morgan] “oh sorry, so I can translate what the bug says”
“why don’t you use my name?”
the mage shifts to me, a glow starting up before dying out as he almost used a spell. I sent power to my eyes, seeing what magic there was… this mage was like my peoples blue mages.
[morgan] “he just wanted you to know his name is moonshadow. He can understand the common trade tongue… at least most of it”
[mage] nods “very well, will he cooperate?”
[morgan] “well?”
“why should I cooperate?”
[morgan] “what’s in it for him?”
[mage] laughs “well I guess somethings are the same no matter the individual. It will receive proper food, water, and lodging. What It will need to do is answer our questions to the best of it’s ability”
[Al] “and once they’ve gotten everything they can from you, they’ll kill you just to see how your insides work. Not necessarily in that order”
I nod “accepted”
[morgan] “he’s good with that”
At that point the mage cast some spell unfamiliar to me and the cage's lock was undone.
[mage] “both of you will follow me. Once it’s quartered we’ll find a spot for you miss..?”
[morgan] “names morgan thank you very much. I’ve been wanting to properly study the arcane arts rather than what I could glean by transcribing books.”
[mage] “interesting, we’ll have to learn more in the morning”
As I walk through the tower I see all sorts of magical auras. Some on the mage as he had enchanted items, some on parts of the tower and after walking for a while I could tell that the entirety of the tower must have enchantments as well. Before long I was set in a small room with a cot, some blankets and a few pots, one for waste and another filled with clean water. I sat on the cot and the door was closed, the sound of it locking reverberating in this small space as a portent of doom.
“so, could I bust it open if I needed too”
[Al] “maybe, but it could be tricky”
“well in a way this is worse, just as I said”
[Al] “and yet it’s also better. Look we have time now, these scholarly types will make sure to exhaust every bit of knowledge you have first”
“what makes you… yeah, I would do that too”
[Al] chuckles “see? You’re starting to get why you need to understand what others are after. So, when you get a bit more time at night you need to practice your powers. For tonight enough has happened, get some sleep”
“no, I need to be prepared. I should practice now”
getting up as his response comes.
[Al] “suit yourself. But you need to be alert tomorrow as well, need to keep an eye on what’s going on around you so an escape can be planned”