Sofia the Runner

Sofia stands in line, waiting to be presented on the platform and sold at the slave market. She notices the Slaver arguing with the auctioneer.  It's now or never, the chance of a lifetime she pines, and she takes it. She makes a run for freedom, leather slave collar and dangling tether. Running as fast as she can, she cuts through the maze of back alleys and yards, trying her best to stay hidden from sight.

Eyeing the tree line ahead she stops, crouching in an alley, waiting and watching to see if she is being followed. She shakes so hard, her teeth rattling.  Believing it is clear, she runs into the woods as fast and as far as she can.

Jack sets out early this morning, ax in his left hand and the big sled strapped to his shoulders, along with Hank, to secure the day's ration of firewood. He cuts and chops for two hours, believing he has enough for three days. Tossing his ax on the pile, he calls out to Hank. It was at that precise moment that Hank, his faithful wolf hound, goes on alert.

"What the hell, Hank?"

Jack mumbles as he strains his eyes, catching a glimpse of a tiny figure with blondish hair moving not so silently amongst the trees. Jack whispers to Hank.

"Get em boy!

Hank runs down the prey in no time flat. Pouncing on its chest, snarling, fangs flashing, drool dripping on the small human's face, primed to kill in an instant. Jack comes upon Hank calling, "Easy boy!"

The filthy thing cowers in absolute fear as the one hundred fifty-pound beast snarls and drools, standing on her chest. The first thing Jack notices is the thick leather collar locked around her neck.

"Jesus. A female runner! Why are you trespassing in my forest?"

The girl attempts to struggle out of simple fear. Her fight or flight response kicks in and she chooses to fight. She struggles so hard the wounds on her back, many fresh, open up and begin to bleed. Hank smells the blood and grabs her arm in his

mouth, turning her over. The blood is mostly matted but also freshly running, soaking the dirty rags she wears as substitutes for clothes.

"Jesus!" Jack exclaims. The site before him is hideous. This skinny thing, obviously a runaway, rolls away from Hank's snarling fangs, exposing the raw wounds on her backside. "Easy Hank", Jack says, realizing the situation. Another damn runner, only this time a female. He grasps one of her wrists and the collar around her neck, pulling her to her feet.

"What's you name you filthy smelly rodent?"

Jack growls while pulling her off her feet to his eye level!

The girl, trying to hide the pain raging up and down her back is too scared to speak.

"Hmmm...did they cut your tongue out?" Jack says loudly and harshly.

"Well Hank, I think we got us a live one...not the normal type that we can work in the fields...maybe this one can cook and clean...of course if we can clean the funk off it first!"

Jack grabs her collar and hoists her emaciated body over his shoulder and tells Hank it's time to head home. Hank doesn't seem to think much of that idea, but he knows who feeds him, so he just snarls and heads out at a slow gallop.

"I don't want any trouble out of you, you vamp. Do as you're told, and if I can scrub the nasty off of you, I may let you live."

Suddenly, in a very soft voice...

"I'm Sofia."

Jack barely hears a squeaky soft voice mumble the name Sofia. He stops treading through the woods, long enough to take a break from dragging the sled full of firewood.

"Sofia huh? Well Sofia, I'm Jack. It seems, at least for the moment, you are in my possession. Should you decide that you would like to live, you will abide by my rules. You address me as Sir, until I decide if you may address me otherwise. Now climb on the sled. We got 3 miles to the house."

Sofia slowly climbs on the sled, unsure of the situation, but she is still alive and not being beaten then dragged back to the slave auction.

Jack watches as the scrubby girl climbs aboard the massive pile of wood. He isn't concerned that she might make a run for it...Hank will quickly stop any attempt to escape. Besides, this supposedly female, Sofia, is hurt, tired, and hungry. Since he hasn't beaten her or killed her so far, he is confident she is seeking any type of solace she can find.

He slides the sled yoke around his neck and with a herculean effort, the sled moves forward along the three-mile road through the dense forest to his house. After a quarter mile, he glances over his shoulder and notices the waif curled up in a fetal position, fast asleep. Jack grins, shaking his head as he thinks about the women in town strolling along with their babies in a wheeled basket...you never hear one crying, He is sure the same principle applies to this one.

One should realize that Jack is a mountain of a man...standing 6-foot, 5-inches, weighing in at about 240 pounds. His body is made up of sinewy muscle, not a shred of fat. His long greyish/white hair is thick and long flowing down to his shoulders. His ice blue eyes, and 3 days of stubble growth which makes him look like a very sinister operator. His fur clothing, made from the skin of the animals he kills for meat, fits him impeccably, topped off with a black belt around his waist. He carries his weapons tucked inside the belt. A razor-sharp throwing knife, 2 tomahawks, and his bow slung across his shoulders with a quiver of arrows.

Jack's mind wanders back to the previous "Runner's" he has come to possess.

As he trudges along, he filters each through his memory. Ori, a youngster, not quite 15, but who really knew. He broke free from his master after bashing him on the head with a rock. He showed up on Jack's doorstep, pleading for help, tired, hungry, and desperately clinging to life. Jack hid him away and treated him like the son he never had. He was cut down one day by the slaver's arrow, while on a supply run to town. Thats when Jack realized how he had failed to cover up or hide the telltale markings/brandings these cruel slavers place on their property.

Next, he thought of Maliki. A twenty-year-old strapping kid. A Runner that had a heart of gold, who Jack found in a ditch along the road one night under a full moon. Hank actually found him, howling for Jack to come see his find. Jack nursed him back to health and as with Ori, Jack became a father to the young man. His heart was broken when highway robbers killed him for his horse, leaving him in a bloody heap not a mile from the house. Both are buried in the backyard on a high piece of ground. One the sun shines on every day, so their bodies may bask in warmth for eternity. Jack knows their spirits have ascended to a celestial place.

Jack shakes his head, realizing he is nearing the house. The 3 miles went by in a blur. His shoulders ache a bit as he drags the sled the last few feet to the side of the house. The runner, Sofia, does not stir. Jack stares at her for a few seconds, then scoops her up and kicks open the door to his one room hovel. He places her in the corner, on a bed of straw that served his other two runners as their designated sleeping place. He wavered for a minute before deciding to place the leg iron around her ankle, and then he did, just in case as one never knows if this may turn ugly when she wakes. Jack carries some logs to the hearth and stokes the flames.

Hank curls up between Sofia and Jack's bed, standing guard for his master for the night ahead, one eye on this Sofia. He will give his life to protect Jack.

Jack scratches Hank's ears and says, "Have a good night, Sir Hank, I trust you will be on guard my friend."

With that, they settle into a slumber, wondering how the morning will go with their new "house guest!"

When morning came, Sofia very slowly opens her eyes and immediately begins to panic before remembering where she is and that this man Jack stated he would protect her. She decides to trust him as he hasn't turned her in yet. She slept soundly, something she had never experienced. She glances at Hank, who lifts his head, staring at her with his dark eyes. He slowly wags his tail, and Sofia smiles before drifting off to sleep again, feeling warm and safe.

Jack wakes early. Thats nothing new. He's always been an early riser. He sits up and swivels his feet to the floor, wincing at how cold it feels. He glances at the embers of the fire he stoked the night earlier...and then turns his gaze toward Hank, who was stretched out on his back in the middle of his bearskin sleeping rug.

"Mangy mutt," Jack says softly.

"Would it be too much to ask you to throw a log on the fire every now and then?"

Hank rolls over and gives his master that look. The one that translates into, "Where is my breakfast?"

Jack shakes his head before shifting his gaze to the small figure curled up in the corner.

"Still here so I guess this waif may come in handy. Today we will test her Hank, just to see if it will be worth the effort."

He stands and loads the hearth with dry wood. The crackling noise and eruption of flames immediately warms the room.

He stirs the pot of venison stew and then hangs his metal pot to make coffee. Knowing he must journey outside and down to the stream for water, he swallows two heaping spoon-fulls of the meaty concoction from the cast iron pot to warm his innards. He dresses quickly and ladles out a portion of stew into a bowl and gives it to Hank. The wolf hound makes short work of his breakfast and nuzzles his master for a second helping. Jack reminds him that he was negligent in his fire tending duties overnight so he would have to wait.

He then fills a bowl and sets it on the floor beside his guest. He checks the skinny things leg iron and pats his leg for Hank to follow.

"Cmon boy, let's go fetch the days ration of water...plus a bunch to scrub the filth off the skin and bones runner Sofia."

As he closes and locks the door behind him, Sofia, who had been awake for a few hours, sits bolt upright. She eyes the bowl of stew and attacks it like a famished beast. The display of gnashing and snarling noise she makes is akin to a pack of wild dogs fighting over their latest kill. She shovels the food into her mouth with both hands and licks the bowl of every spec. She could not remember ever tasting anything so succulent. She belches loudly and then doubles over, as she had never had that much food to eat at one time. Her body revolts and she feints, the protein and nutrients course through her body, overwhelming her system.

After a few hours, she wakes and stretches being reminded of how sore her back is. She then notices the chain on her leg and lets out a soft sigh.

Slowly she gets up to walk around some and see just how far she could go with the chain on my ankle, which isn't far.

Jack loads his big water troughs onto the sled and starts the short journey to the river, not more than 200 yards to the south. Hank playfully trots ahead, always

happy to play in the water. Hank is also a good fisher. He has never failed to wrestle a big fat bass or catfish for he and Jack to share for the evening meal.

It took no time to get to the riverbank with the light sled. Jack knew the return trip would be rough...as water weighs a bunch. He dutifully uses his bucket to fill the troughs, one more than his usual haul. The waif will need a good scrubbing and Jack has no desire to make the trip twice

Jack finishes his work and yells for Hank. True to form, he appears with a thick wiggling 6-pound bass. Bigger than usual, as Hank knows there is one more mouth to feed.

Jack praises him for being such a contributor, scratching his ears and pounding his side. "Jump on the sled Hank...you deserve a ride back!" Hank wags his tail furiously and sprawls in between the two large vats loaded to the brim with fresh river water.

Meanwhile back at the hovel...Sofia recovers and opens her eyes slowly. Again, she wonders what she has gotten herself into. 'Did I trust this person too much?' she wonders while inspecting the chain around her ankle and hoping she hasn't jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The buzzing in her head seemed to die down to a bit of a hum. She wonders if it was the food. She had never had that much food at one time as far as she can remember. Her previous owners mainly gave her one- or two-day old bread.

She excitedly inspects the bowl thinking maybe her latest shackler might have refilled it. She was disappointed to see it was licked clean. She stands up and tries to reach the big pot in the hearth, but to no avail, the chain around her ankle is short.

Suddenly she hears noise outside the hut. Hank is barking and howling, eager to show his catch to the house guest. Jack parks the sled in its normal spot and stretches his arms and shoulders. "Easy Hank, we don't even know if this one made it through the night."

Sofia scrambles back into her corner, shivers of fear rake over her, not knowing how her first day with this giant of a man and his large wolf dog will go.

Jack kicks open the door and Hank blasts through, dropping the huge fish in front of Sofia...He wags his tail and barks loudly, his large K9 teeth glistening slobber.