Here is a story of the very early days in Nichneven's life, before her years spent in the Tower of Glass. It is the first meeting of friends, and speaks of the innocence of youth... which is always lost before it can ever be appreciated for the precious gift it is.
Friends, before Freedom’s Loss
They came back for her again, and there was nowhere to run this time.
It was wet in the alley. The girl huddled against the uneven brick wall, as the rain poured down from rooftops and broken gutters. Her tattered cloak of poor cloth was soaked through, the hem trailing above rope sandals that shifted in the noisome mud. The cloak's cowl hid her features, which kept only some of the rain out of her eyes. To either side towered walls of badly-laid brick, the few windows small and far out of reach.
Facing her were three youths, the smallest of which was half again her size. All three wore cruel half-smiles, that of bullies who had trapped their prey and now waited to play with it. The largest of them stepped towards her, his eyes a dead grey under a rat's nest of dark hair. His pudgy hands clenched and twitched as he glared at the trapped girl.
"Nowhere to run now, Red?" he sneered. "Ya gonna climb the wall like last time? Go on, we'll wait.. won't we Tye?" The boy to the leader's right nodded his shaggy brown head. Smallest of the three, the lad's face was dirty even in the rain. His eyes stared a hungry blue at the girl.
"Come on Thio, get her now, before she pulls another demon-trick" said the other boy, his face still puffy from a black eye that marred his cruel fox-like features. His hands were clenched in fists, eager to get on with repayment.
"She ain't going nowhere, Brix. Even demon's can't fly with no wings, and she got none." Thio smiled, pleased with his crude logic, then nodded to his two cronies. "Time to make her pay for takin' our loot. She ain't gonna climb no walls for a long time when we're done." He stepped forward, reaching for the girl who shrank from his grasp against the wall. She tensed to spring.
Suddenly a fifth figure arrived on the scene by way of Thio's back, planting the bully’s face deep into the thick mud of the alleyway. Right after ending the fall from above on the large boy's back, the small form flew at Tye. A black robe flapped in the half-light of the alley as he bully stumbled back, surprise painted on his face. A flurry of blows too quick to follow sent the second bully reeling back to fall gracelessly on his backside in the mud. He folded over and clutched at his stomach, his face turning pasty white under the rain.
Whirling quickly, the new arrival found the last bully boy also curled into a ball. Brix’s hands hid his face as he moaned, out of the brief fight before it had began. The bully's victim was straightening from a crouch nearby, her hands still curled into the talons that had raked the larger boy's face to good effect.
The robed stranger gasped and stopped as he got a good look at the girl. Her eyes held him fast - they were bright yellow, the pupils slitted like a cat's. They gleamed in the poor light of the alley, blazing at him from the depths of her cowl. She still crouched by the back wall, ready to fight her way past him to the safety of the alley mouth beyond.
Another jarring fact leaped out: the girl’s arms that stuck out from the too-small sleeves of her jerkin were the colour of old blood. Yet she had not been injured in the brief fight... that brief thought was lost as she moved to bolt past him.
Words burst from the robed figure, quickly halting the girl's uncertain advance. "Wait, stop - I mean you no harm!" Hands flew to lower a hood, exposing a young boy's eagar face to the rain, his kind features knitted in concern.
"I saw these three chase you in here, and wanted to help. I hate bullies, though Master Yurish teaches us not to hate anyone. I didn't know you were..." The rush of words paused, the boy's brown eyes wide as he tried to figure out just what he had rescued. His hands smoothed down his robes, which the girl noted were well-made and simply cut.
"Were what?" she spat at him harshly. "Fed up? Tired? Hungry? Soaked to the skin?" So saying, the girl straightened up from her crouch, her fingers uncurling slowly. She brushed a long lock of wet hair from her face, its colour a darker red than that of her skin in the feeble light. "I could have handled these three, you know," she said, eyes flicking to the still-moaning forms of the bullies as they feebly writhed in the mud. They seemed to take no notice of the girl or the stranger, intent on their own hurts... for the moment.
"Sure, but three against one...." the robed boy paused, his gaze uncertain as he looked around at the alley. Squaring his shoulders, he stepped to the side and motioned to the alley mouth. "We should go, before they get their wind back. This one especially," he said, toeing the large form of Thio, who moaned anew. "They're going to be plenty mad when they find you again." He smiled, and it was one filled with honest concern to match his voice.
The girl edged slowly past him, stepping lightly over the groaning bodies as she headed towards the street. Locking gazes with her rescuer as she passed, she grimaced. Shaking her head, she said "This is the third time they've tried to corner me, and every time I get away they just try again." A sigh, then: "I've even offered to share some of what I find, but they..." Her voice paused and gained a suspicious note. 'Hey, why DID you help me?" the girl said as she turned back to face him. Her fists planted themselves on thin hips as she narrowed eyes to look up into his face.
"I, uh...." the boy stammered, and then caught himself. Folding his arms into the sleeves of his robe, he tried to emulate one of the monks at the monastery. He answered "My name is Elrian. My order teaches us to help others in need, and you looked like you could use some help. I was passing by, it’s that simple." He left out the part about how he had climbed up a nearby balcony in the rain to literally get the drop on the bullies. The boy looked at her calmly, the rain dripping from his nose failing to lessen his quiet dignity. “What are you?” he asked her softly.
With a start, the girl realized that he was of an age as she, despite his size. To have taken on three older boys as he had in defense of a stranger, was something she would not herself have considered. It was... What was the word Papa had used? Honourable... though Papa would have also said foolish, and punished her for thinking such things. She yearned to find out about the things he had warned her against. Things she had heard the other children talking of, listening from her hiding places in the city as she did the work Papa wanted.
Elrian, the apprentice monk, was still staring at her. She saw that his look was not one of fear or disgust, but of curiosity. Nobody had ever looked at her that way before. Even Papa had only ever seen her as a tool, a way to increase his take. This boy Elrian was the first to ever ask about her; it stopped her in her tracks in a rush of unfamiliar feelings.
Turning, the girl straightened and moved her hands to her hood. Despite the rain, she lowered it and watched for the boy’s reaction as her face with its crimson skin was revealed. The brow above her delicate features creased, causing pointed ear-tips that poked through rough braids of hair to twitch.
"You're not.... human," Elrian breathed, his eyes wide. 'I thought you an elf, from your size, but your skin...” The boy stepped back, not noticing the distance he sought unwittingly to put between the two of them. He gulped air and repeated “What ARE you?"
Disappointment flashed in the girl’s eyes, but was quickly lost in familiar emotion: anger. Jerking her cowl back into place, she spun and walked towards the alley mouth. The rain hid the tears that began their hot trails down her cheeks.
"Don't go, please..." Elrian’s voice stopped her a moment, honest pleading and a note of apology tugging at her lonely heart. Turning her head, she spoke to him over her shoulder, the noise of the increasing downpour making Elrian strain to catch her words.
"Nichneven is my name," she said in a voice bitter for one so young. "As to what I am, Elrian... even I do not know." She paused and mastered herself, hunching deeper into her tattered cloak. "I am in your debt... so I'll see you again." Those words carried cool promise as she turned to him with a quick smile. It flashed white within the dark depths of her cowl.
Then she was gone into the rain, leaving the monk-to-be alone in the alley with the three feebly groaning bullies. Elrian tried to make sense of what he had just seen, but he had too little experience with the world outside the Order. Master Yurish had been right about the city: it contained wonders and mysteries beyond understanding, especially for a young monk-in-training. The monks would not be pleased that Elrian had wandered from his strict instructions to deliver a letter to the old Abbot.
Yet perhaps… Master Yurish might be able to explain what the girl was, when Elrian told him what had happened in the alley. His thoughts as he left the alley were elsewhere, on crimson skin and a bright smile that hid a mystery. Now at least he knew someone out here, outside the monastery. Yet by the Great Hand, she was outside of ALL of his understandings. Though he was not often in the city, he would make a point of asking for more errands here – mayhaps he would see her again, soon enough.
With such thoughts parading through his head, Elrian set out towards the old abbot's house, unaware he was being watched through the grey downpour.
From a nearby balcony sheltered from the rain, a pair of yellow eyes followed the boy as he walked into the crowds. They were curious as well... and knew too much already of the world the boy had just discovered. Crimson skin flashed as the girl faded into the growing night - she had her own tasks to complete tonight, for Papa was far less forgiving than any bully. But those three would be a while in leaving the alley, and she knew where they had stashed their recent loot. With a knowing grin, Nichneven slid into the coming night to do that which she knew best.
More to come... I can but write only a few of the tales whispered to me over ale at The Blessing. And as some of you well know, the deeds worth telling are most worth waiting for.
It was wet in the alley. The girl huddled against the uneven brick wall, as the rain poured down from rooftops and broken gutters. Her tattered cloak of poor cloth was soaked through, the hem trailing above rope sandals that shifted in the noisome mud. The cloak's cowl hid her features, which kept only some of the rain out of her eyes. To either side towered walls of badly-laid brick, the few windows small and far out of reach.
Facing her were three youths, the smallest of which was half again her size. All three wore cruel half-smiles, that of bullies who had trapped their prey and now waited to play with it. The largest of them stepped towards her, his eyes a dead grey under a rat's nest of dark hair. His pudgy hands clenched and twitched as he glared at the trapped girl.
"Nowhere to run now, Red?" he sneered. "Ya gonna climb the wall like last time? Go on, we'll wait.. won't we Tye?" The boy to the leader's right nodded his shaggy brown head. Smallest of the three, the lad's face was dirty even in the rain. His eyes stared a hungry blue at the girl.
"Come on Thio, get her now, before she pulls another demon-trick" said the other boy, his face still puffy from a black eye that marred his cruel fox-like features. His hands were clenched in fists, eager to get on with repayment.
"She ain't going nowhere, Brix. Even demon's can't fly with no wings, and she got none." Thio smiled, pleased with his crude logic, then nodded to his two cronies. "Time to make her pay for takin' our loot. She ain't gonna climb no walls for a long time when we're done." He stepped forward, reaching for the girl who shrank from his grasp against the wall. She tensed to spring.
Suddenly a fifth figure arrived on the scene by way of Thio's back, planting the bully’s face deep into the thick mud of the alleyway. Right after ending the fall from above on the large boy's back, the small form flew at Tye. A black robe flapped in the half-light of the alley as he bully stumbled back, surprise painted on his face. A flurry of blows too quick to follow sent the second bully reeling back to fall gracelessly on his backside in the mud. He folded over and clutched at his stomach, his face turning pasty white under the rain.
Whirling quickly, the new arrival found the last bully boy also curled into a ball. Brix’s hands hid his face as he moaned, out of the brief fight before it had began. The bully's victim was straightening from a crouch nearby, her hands still curled into the talons that had raked the larger boy's face to good effect.
The robed stranger gasped and stopped as he got a good look at the girl. Her eyes held him fast - they were bright yellow, the pupils slitted like a cat's. They gleamed in the poor light of the alley, blazing at him from the depths of her cowl. She still crouched by the back wall, ready to fight her way past him to the safety of the alley mouth beyond.
Another jarring fact leaped out: the girl’s arms that stuck out from the too-small sleeves of her jerkin were the colour of old blood. Yet she had not been injured in the brief fight... that brief thought was lost as she moved to bolt past him.
Words burst from the robed figure, quickly halting the girl's uncertain advance. "Wait, stop - I mean you no harm!" Hands flew to lower a hood, exposing a young boy's eagar face to the rain, his kind features knitted in concern.
"I saw these three chase you in here, and wanted to help. I hate bullies, though Master Yurish teaches us not to hate anyone. I didn't know you were..." The rush of words paused, the boy's brown eyes wide as he tried to figure out just what he had rescued. His hands smoothed down his robes, which the girl noted were well-made and simply cut.
"Were what?" she spat at him harshly. "Fed up? Tired? Hungry? Soaked to the skin?" So saying, the girl straightened up from her crouch, her fingers uncurling slowly. She brushed a long lock of wet hair from her face, its colour a darker red than that of her skin in the feeble light. "I could have handled these three, you know," she said, eyes flicking to the still-moaning forms of the bullies as they feebly writhed in the mud. They seemed to take no notice of the girl or the stranger, intent on their own hurts... for the moment.
"Sure, but three against one...." the robed boy paused, his gaze uncertain as he looked around at the alley. Squaring his shoulders, he stepped to the side and motioned to the alley mouth. "We should go, before they get their wind back. This one especially," he said, toeing the large form of Thio, who moaned anew. "They're going to be plenty mad when they find you again." He smiled, and it was one filled with honest concern to match his voice.
The girl edged slowly past him, stepping lightly over the groaning bodies as she headed towards the street. Locking gazes with her rescuer as she passed, she grimaced. Shaking her head, she said "This is the third time they've tried to corner me, and every time I get away they just try again." A sigh, then: "I've even offered to share some of what I find, but they..." Her voice paused and gained a suspicious note. 'Hey, why DID you help me?" the girl said as she turned back to face him. Her fists planted themselves on thin hips as she narrowed eyes to look up into his face.
"I, uh...." the boy stammered, and then caught himself. Folding his arms into the sleeves of his robe, he tried to emulate one of the monks at the monastery. He answered "My name is Elrian. My order teaches us to help others in need, and you looked like you could use some help. I was passing by, it’s that simple." He left out the part about how he had climbed up a nearby balcony in the rain to literally get the drop on the bullies. The boy looked at her calmly, the rain dripping from his nose failing to lessen his quiet dignity. “What are you?” he asked her softly.
With a start, the girl realized that he was of an age as she, despite his size. To have taken on three older boys as he had in defense of a stranger, was something she would not herself have considered. It was... What was the word Papa had used? Honourable... though Papa would have also said foolish, and punished her for thinking such things. She yearned to find out about the things he had warned her against. Things she had heard the other children talking of, listening from her hiding places in the city as she did the work Papa wanted.
Elrian, the apprentice monk, was still staring at her. She saw that his look was not one of fear or disgust, but of curiosity. Nobody had ever looked at her that way before. Even Papa had only ever seen her as a tool, a way to increase his take. This boy Elrian was the first to ever ask about her; it stopped her in her tracks in a rush of unfamiliar feelings.
Turning, the girl straightened and moved her hands to her hood. Despite the rain, she lowered it and watched for the boy’s reaction as her face with its crimson skin was revealed. The brow above her delicate features creased, causing pointed ear-tips that poked through rough braids of hair to twitch.
"You're not.... human," Elrian breathed, his eyes wide. 'I thought you an elf, from your size, but your skin...” The boy stepped back, not noticing the distance he sought unwittingly to put between the two of them. He gulped air and repeated “What ARE you?"
Disappointment flashed in the girl’s eyes, but was quickly lost in familiar emotion: anger. Jerking her cowl back into place, she spun and walked towards the alley mouth. The rain hid the tears that began their hot trails down her cheeks.
"Don't go, please..." Elrian’s voice stopped her a moment, honest pleading and a note of apology tugging at her lonely heart. Turning her head, she spoke to him over her shoulder, the noise of the increasing downpour making Elrian strain to catch her words.
"Nichneven is my name," she said in a voice bitter for one so young. "As to what I am, Elrian... even I do not know." She paused and mastered herself, hunching deeper into her tattered cloak. "I am in your debt... so I'll see you again." Those words carried cool promise as she turned to him with a quick smile. It flashed white within the dark depths of her cowl.
Then she was gone into the rain, leaving the monk-to-be alone in the alley with the three feebly groaning bullies. Elrian tried to make sense of what he had just seen, but he had too little experience with the world outside the Order. Master Yurish had been right about the city: it contained wonders and mysteries beyond understanding, especially for a young monk-in-training. The monks would not be pleased that Elrian had wandered from his strict instructions to deliver a letter to the old Abbot.
Yet perhaps… Master Yurish might be able to explain what the girl was, when Elrian told him what had happened in the alley. His thoughts as he left the alley were elsewhere, on crimson skin and a bright smile that hid a mystery. Now at least he knew someone out here, outside the monastery. Yet by the Great Hand, she was outside of ALL of his understandings. Though he was not often in the city, he would make a point of asking for more errands here – mayhaps he would see her again, soon enough.
With such thoughts parading through his head, Elrian set out towards the old abbot's house, unaware he was being watched through the grey downpour.
From a nearby balcony sheltered from the rain, a pair of yellow eyes followed the boy as he walked into the crowds. They were curious as well... and knew too much already of the world the boy had just discovered. Crimson skin flashed as the girl faded into the growing night - she had her own tasks to complete tonight, for Papa was far less forgiving than any bully. But those three would be a while in leaving the alley, and she knew where they had stashed their recent loot. With a knowing grin, Nichneven slid into the coming night to do that which she knew best.
More to come... I can but write only a few of the tales whispered to me over ale at The Blessing. And as some of you well know, the deeds worth telling are most worth waiting for.