5 7 09--A New Slave

Characters: Sandfur, Vermin Spoofs, NPC Kahlyn, Sandiss

Location: Broadstream near Ruingate, Ruingate slave compound, Skull and Candle Tavern

Sandfur comes down the path, whistling a tune. She spies the water and goes over to it, splashing some on her face. She shakes a few droplets of water off her long eyelashes and pulls out a canteen. There is a sudden CRACK in the bushes behind her, and she whirls around, but after a few moments turns around and fills her canteen with water.

Sandiss was coming from the other direction when he heard the, "crack". Frowning a little he goes over throught he bushes toward the sound, relaxing some as he just sees the squirrelmaid once he steps into the clearing. "Oh. Sorry." He says quietly, paw falling away from the knives he is wearing.

Sandfur pulls her paw away from her knife as well and says, "Hello." Placing her canteen back in her satchel, she walks across the clearing and says, "Who are you? Where are you from?"

He frowns a bit and takes a tiny step back from her; blue eyes scanning her figure. "Here and there...Yourself?" He asks, voice still quiet. Well, it always is. He glances away from her to gaze around the area, ears flicking faintly.

Sandfur shrugs. She notes his gaze and looks behind her, then looks back and says, "Me, too. I don't care to remember where I grew up." Her ears twitch at a noise, but she identifies it as a bird.

"I'm Sandiss." He says as he looks back to her, a hint of a smile in his eyes as he continues. "And I would say that you should watch out." He swiftly sidesteps her and pulls the bow from his shoulder and nocks an arrow on it with surprising speed before sending it speeding to the chest of a rat leading a small horde who had just burst from cover; fully armed.

Sandfur gasps, but recovers and whirls around, knife out. "Where did they come from?" She cries, then glances back at him, suddenly wary of him, as well. "Who ARE you?" She whirls a loaded sling and lets it fly, smashing the paw of a ferret.

Another arrow is sent from the assassin's bow and this one pierces a throat, followed by a dying scream. "I just said. I am Sandiss." Is the level reply as he steps in front of her, taking several steps back to heard her out of their attacking range; using his own body as a shield. "You should probably run." He says dryly.

Sandfur glances wildly at him, then tries to sprint out of the clearing, but is followed by a rat and a weasel. The weasel dives on her, but she stabs him in the throat. Struggling to rise, she is grabbed by the rat.

Sandiss sighs in frusteration and mutters that females can never do anything right as he turns and brings the bow up, felling the one rat with a shaft right below his ear. Too late Sandiss realizes that he had been flanked and an enemy was close at hand as a fox leapt in a flying tackle toward the squirrel. Instead of trying to dodge the assassin just lets the fox hit him high in the chest before rotating his own body and using the added momentum to flip the fox in the throw. Sand was just reaching for the katar when a slingstone slammed into the base of his neck and he staggered back; dazed.

Sandfur grabs her sling and is about to load it, when three more rats and two ferrets come rushing toward her. Gritting her teeth, she yells, "Die, you scum!" And lets a stone fly, hitting a ferret. She is about to load another stone when a rat comes up behind her and hits her on the head, knocking her out.

Sandiss grunts and shakes his head, drawing both of the long knives and slashing out. Noting that the female had been overpowered he ducks a blow from a weasel and darts to the edge of the treeline. They couldn't follow him here and he knew he would have no chance of helping anyone if he was dead...

Two Days Later--Ruingate Slave Compound

Kahlyn roughly tugs on his newly-bought slaves arm, disregarding the fact that she is female along with being...Small. "Come on, witch!" The Marten mutters, "Time to get you suited up." He says, giving a faint sadistic chuckle at this as he leads her toward the area where branding and such would take place...

Sandfur bites her lip, struggling to keep back the cry that has been building up inside her for the past two days. She doesn't know how she got here, and that squirrel? She shakes her head and stumbles along with her new "owner".

Sandiss stood quietly on the sidelines, blending perfectly into the crowd, his figure covered by a heavy green cloak. He moved slowly as the Marten lead the maiden to...Sand shivered faintly. That place.

The Marten steps into the small wooden building, half shoving half throwing the girl into it. The room was dark aside from the light cast by the fire...Which was used for heating the branding irons. The only other things in the room was a scraggly looking weasel by the fire, a pair of shears, a pile of headfur and two different piles of clothes. "Okay witch, place your right arm on the table." Kahlyn hissed, waving toward the tiny table.

Sandfur stumbles into the room and catches herself on the table. She looks fearfully at the weasel, glances back at Kahlyn, and slowly places her right arm on the table. Squinting through the dim light, she sees the branding irons and begins to withdraw her arm.

Sandiss sighed and knew he couldn't follow, so he just shrunk back and waited. Meanwhile, inside, the weasel reached out with his left paw and gripped the girl's arm, slamming back onto the table. Hard. The other held a glowing stick of metal that gave his eyes an eerie light as he lowered it close to the soft flesh on the inside of her forearm. "Well me beauty!" He snarled, "Not often I sees the likes of a pretty one like yew 'round here!" With that said, he plunged the brand down, held it a second, then withdrew.

Sandfur nearly screams aloud, but keeps it back, and, her eyes filling with tears, she looks down at the still-glowing brand mark on her arm. She picks her arm up and staggers backward, gritting her teeth in pain.

"Not done yet." Kahlyn says with a grin, reaching out and holding onto both of her arms to keep her still while the weasel comes up behind her, permanatly fixing a heavy metal collar around her neck before stepping back once again, eyeing the Marten on what he should do next...

Sandfur feels the large collar around her neck as the weasel picks up the shears at a nod from Kahlyn. Pulling Sandfur forward again, he quickly snips off her lovingly-cared for curly headfur. It falls in locks at her feet, and she just stands there, trying to keep back the cry. The weasel shoves a bunch of rags into her paws, and snarls, "Go change over there." pointing to another room off to the side of the one they were in.

Sandfur stumbles to the room she is directed to in a half-daze. Once there, she changes into her new rags, which is difficult with the new, heavy collar, and, picking up her clothes, goes back to the branding room.

A cruel smile dances around the Marten's mouth as he looks over his new slave and he gives a nod, reaching out and grabbing her by the arm, yanking her toward the door. "Good. You start work in five minutes!" He gives a wild burst of laughter at his own joke as they both step out into the miserable drizzle outside. Sandiss notes the door opening then looks down quickly, mostly out of respect for the transformation given to the squirrelmaiden.

The Skull and Candle Taverns: Iron Guestroom--That Night

Sandfur quietly comes into the room, pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies. Her eyes cast down, she takes the broom off her cart and begins to sweep the floor. Finally looking around, she sees no one, but sighs to herself at the size of the room and continues to work.

Sandiss could never sleep in a bed anyhow so he was crouched in the corner, still not sleeping. Of course, he rarely slept anymore. The door opened and he jerked his head up, even though he knew that he could not be seen because of the shadows. Well, he had been wanting a chance to talk to her anyhow. He rises and pads over to the door with silence of only an assassin, closing it softly he turns to regard her. "I guess knocking isn't something beasts do anymore." He says dryly, leaning back against the door with his arms crossed.

Sandfur whirls around. Her eyes widen in suprise, then fury. "You!" She cries, and rushes to attack him with her broom, with no regard to her current position.

Moving almost lazily, he steps forward, one arm coming up and blocking the broom while the other circles her shoulder, restraining movement almost completely, even though the gesture /did/ appear close to an embrace...It wasn't. "Settle down." He muttered. "What else could I do?

Sandfur shrugs off his arm and picks up the broom again. Leaning on it, she mutters darkly, "You were in league with them. You're HERE, aren't you?" Without waiting for an answer, she turns and begins to sweep the floor again.

"No. No I am not here. This really isn't me." He replies as he scans her new, "do" silently. "You look nice." He remarks sarcastically, raising an eyebrow as he watched her. "Not much fazes you, huh?"

Sandfur fixes the strange squirrel with a level gaze, and says, "If this is not you, then who is?" Her ears flick in annoyance as she hears his remark. Fingering her headfur, her guard slips slightly, and she almost lets out a sob.

His face softens somewhat as he notes this and he bows his head a little but doesn't apologize. "Sit down. I am sure your owner doesn't want you wearing yourself out yet. I'll sweep this." He says rather gruffly, but if you knew him he was actually trying to be kind to her.

Sandfur is slightly surprised by this, but is too tired to do anything, so hands him the broom and goes to sit down on the bed, putting her head in her paws. She watches him sweeping and, after a time, asks, "Why ARE you here?"

Sandiss merely gives a few brushes at the floor before leaning the broom against the wall, giving a shrug. "Does this mean you would rather I left you here? If you think this is bad, you should wait until a pretty little girl like you starts waitressing." He said calmly, making his point rather bluntly, studying her for the umpteenth time for her unbroken spirit was surprising him.

Sandfur stands up and puts the broom back on the cart. "Are you saying you want to get me out of here? Because I don't trust you. And yes, I know what will happen when I become a waitress, which I probably will." She opens the door, and pushes the cart out. "Good bye, sir." She shoots behind her somewhat sarcastically, recovering some of her boldness. She allows the door to slam behind her and is gone.