THE TATTOOED WOMAN - Cast
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Chapter 6: She is mine!
Cassie sat near the fire and ate her stew. As she did so she would occasionally glance across at the strange woman sitting next to her. The little slave girl's threadbare clothing was still drying on the bushes nearby and the woman had draped her cloak around her while she herself simply sat there nude, still seemingly untroubled by the weather, or the looks cast her way by a few of the other slaves.
She had eaten her own supper and now seemed content to stare into the fire. Cassie saw the flames reflecting not only in those unblinking green eyes, but also illuminating the scales of the strange serpentine tattoos that coiled about her body, and she felt herself shiver. The woman glanced at her, and the spell was broken, "Are you cold, girl?"
"No ma'am, but surely you must be, I can share the cloak."
The woman gave her a small smile, "No need, I'm warm enough."
Cassie watched the flames herself for a while as her thoughts whirled in her head until eventually, she found the courage to speak, "Their Captain said that you were my sister now, what does that mean?"
The woman grinned, "She's cunning, that one, she thinks that by putting you in my care she can hold your safety over me, that I'll behave to protect you."
The little slave swallowed, "Will you?"
"Behave?"
"Protect me?"
"Ah."
The woman was silent for a while before drawing a breath and releasing what sounded like a sigh of regret, "I'm a poor choice for protector girl, for I am not lucky. Sometimes I think misfortune follows me as though I'm bound to it, and ever have I tended to inflict more harm than good. Like as not you'd be better served with Maggie the cook, she's the sort of hale and hearty creature who'd be good both to you and for you," she looked up into the eyes of the young slave and gave her a sad smile, "but still, you've been kind to me Cassie, and I pay my debts. I'll not let harm come to you if it's in my power to prevent it."
"How is it you speak the languages of Elves and Orcs, that seems a strange thing?"
"My mother taught me."
Cassie stirred the fire with a stick, "I never knew my mother."
The older woman looked up at the stars overhead, "Mine was tall, raven-haired, both cold and passionate, and some say she was fair to look upon, but in truth, I don't think I knew her any better than you did yours. She was stubborn though, we both were, and we quarrelled often."
"But she loved you surely?"
"We loved each other after a fashion Cassie."
"Then you're lucky enough, luckier than me at least."
"Perhaps."
In the distance a wolf howled, it was a mournful cry and Cassie shivered.
"What do you think will happen when we reach their lands?"
"They will sell us and put us to work."
"Will they hurt us?"
"No."
"But, how can you be sure?"
"I don't think I'll let them."
Cassie looked across at the woman. The statement seemed either strangely bizarre or simply one of sheer bravado coming as it did from a manacled slave, but the woman said it so casually that the little slave found herself almost wondering.
As if sensing her confusion, the woman looked up at her from the fire and winked.
...
Nyx swore like the trooper she was, muttering a long sulphurous tirade of curses as she considered the tortuous, never to be sufficiently damned, snail's pace they were making on their way back to the trail, and their main camp.
She and her party led a cluster of more than a dozen mixed-blood children through the dense woods. Some were little more than toddlers and even with the two novice nuns chivvying them along and doing their best to keep the little bastards together and moving, their pace was horrendously slow. The weather had taken a turn for the worse with a miserable cold drizzle that soaked everything it touched within minutes, and already a couple of the young ones were sneezing.
Ashunara had dispatched Azure to scout out the best trail and to locate a good campsite and she herself struggled along carrying a toddler on her shoulders.
At her command, Orc warriors had bundled the slowest of the youngsters upon their backs and they moved through the trees seemingly untroubled by the added encumbrance. Tallis still nursed a broken arm and even though Lashelle was much improved by her night of rest she was still limping and had developed a wheezing cough the Sergeant didn't like the sound of.
She moved across to her commander who acknowledged her approach with a nod and a wry grin, "Our pace troubles you Sergeant?"
Nyx sniffed, the Captain had a spectacular black eye, and bruising that covered half her face yet she still had time and energy to give the older woman a wry smile so she bit her tongue, "We'll get there Captain, might take an extra couple of days, but so be it. I'm a wee bit worried about Lashelle though, I wonder if she's a broken rib that maybe nicked a lung or somesuch for I don't like the sound of her cough and she looks a touch fevered."
"Any healing draught left?"
