From The Journal Of Tzen'e Ishkarat
Week III, Jik'harra and Shame
Author's Note: I believe Espagra has been reading my journal. I found meat juice on an entry a few pages back.
We arrived at the surface in due course, and were immediately set upon by a flock of grotesque flying creatures. Ren took out the book to see if he could banish them and they attacked him, wresting the book from his fingers. They organized a canny defense and we were unable to recover the book before they flew off into the severe blizzard that surrounded us.
With no other alternative left to us, we returned to the Cloudrunner to report our loss to the Air Marshal.
Once aboard the ship, we noticed that the crew had discovered a stowaway in the hold of the drakkar. Apparently a traveling companion of ours by the name of Vai. We rescued her from imprisonment and gave our full report to Drismby, who was dismayed to know that Kathleen was horror-marked.
Suddenly, I heard Kathleen's shrill voice from behind me cry out, and a heavy blow smote me across the back of the head. I was reeling, once again jolted back into the past.
--
My mother was asleep in front of me, thrashing beneath the torments of the being which was slowly destroying her sanity. My face was still bruised and bleeding from the beating she had given me earlier.
This had to stop.
Clutching the paring knife I had brought with me from the kitchen, I walked towards her pallet. She stirred at my approach and opened one eye.
"Tzen'e?"
"Yes, mum?"
"I'm so sorry, my son."
"I know mum, I know."
I leaned towards her and caressed her face. When I was naught but an eggling, she had been so strong. It's no easy task to raise youngsters aboard a slave ship, but she managed by sneaking food from the kitchen for me and my sibling. She once commented that she was blessed to have such a productive clutch, but I believe we were cursed. My clutchmate died before kaissa, thrown against the mast by a Theran slaver. Such loss... and now this.
"Do it, Tzen'e... please..."
"Yes, mum."
As I brought the knife down, my mother's eyes flared open and I could see the beast behind her grossly dilated pupils. Suddenly her hands fastened around my throat and began to twist.
"Mother! Stop! Pleas--"
"THIS PAWN IS MINE, MORTAL!"
The voice was hers, but the timbre was all wrong. Her hands were twisting my neck, and I could hear the music of my life ending in a single dissonant chord. I could not let her... I would not...
"I will not be destroyed!"
---
The red haze lifted. There was a weight on the end of my sabre. I looked up in time to see the last light fade from Kathleen's eyes. In that last spark there was something. Alas, I shall never know what it was.
The crew was staring at me, open-mouthed to a man. I freed my sword, dropped my sword to the deck and held out my hands for the shackles.
There is much else to tell, but I shall leave that to my compatriots. I have renounced the names of my teachers. I am not worthy of the lessons they taught me. From now on I will be as my mother knew me.
-Tzen'e Ishkarat
Author's Note: I believe Espagra has been reading my journal. I found meat juice on an entry a few pages back.
We arrived at the surface in due course, and were immediately set upon by a flock of grotesque flying creatures. Ren took out the book to see if he could banish them and they attacked him, wresting the book from his fingers. They organized a canny defense and we were unable to recover the book before they flew off into the severe blizzard that surrounded us.
With no other alternative left to us, we returned to the Cloudrunner to report our loss to the Air Marshal.
Once aboard the ship, we noticed that the crew had discovered a stowaway in the hold of the drakkar. Apparently a traveling companion of ours by the name of Vai. We rescued her from imprisonment and gave our full report to Drismby, who was dismayed to know that Kathleen was horror-marked.
Suddenly, I heard Kathleen's shrill voice from behind me cry out, and a heavy blow smote me across the back of the head. I was reeling, once again jolted back into the past.
--
My mother was asleep in front of me, thrashing beneath the torments of the being which was slowly destroying her sanity. My face was still bruised and bleeding from the beating she had given me earlier.
This had to stop.
Clutching the paring knife I had brought with me from the kitchen, I walked towards her pallet. She stirred at my approach and opened one eye.
"Tzen'e?"
"Yes, mum?"
"I'm so sorry, my son."
"I know mum, I know."
I leaned towards her and caressed her face. When I was naught but an eggling, she had been so strong. It's no easy task to raise youngsters aboard a slave ship, but she managed by sneaking food from the kitchen for me and my sibling. She once commented that she was blessed to have such a productive clutch, but I believe we were cursed. My clutchmate died before kaissa, thrown against the mast by a Theran slaver. Such loss... and now this.
"Do it, Tzen'e... please..."
"Yes, mum."
As I brought the knife down, my mother's eyes flared open and I could see the beast behind her grossly dilated pupils. Suddenly her hands fastened around my throat and began to twist.
"Mother! Stop! Pleas--"
"THIS PAWN IS MINE, MORTAL!"
The voice was hers, but the timbre was all wrong. Her hands were twisting my neck, and I could hear the music of my life ending in a single dissonant chord. I could not let her... I would not...
"I will not be destroyed!"
---
The red haze lifted. There was a weight on the end of my sabre. I looked up in time to see the last light fade from Kathleen's eyes. In that last spark there was something. Alas, I shall never know what it was.
The crew was staring at me, open-mouthed to a man. I freed my sword, dropped my sword to the deck and held out my hands for the shackles.
There is much else to tell, but I shall leave that to my compatriots. I have renounced the names of my teachers. I am not worthy of the lessons they taught me. From now on I will be as my mother knew me.
-Tzen'e Ishkarat