Cast Aside

A human caravan guarded by heavily by the imperial patrol carried supplies to a new location. They traveled some way before reaching foreign territory near the Drakin's homeland. They traveled along without interruption until a young child slipped into the wagons and stole some of the food they carried. Upon her exit of the wagon she was discovered, caught, and brutally beaten nearly to death then left on the side of the dirt path like roadkill. The Drakin may notice the caravan and come to investigate.

A group of 23 Elghasek ,or drakin Rangers, saw the caravan and moved in. They waited till it was farther away after they saw the girl get beaten and even though they were distrustful of other races this was a small girl and their code of honor commanded them to save her. Three rangers went to her, sitting her up gently. One of them with blue-ish hair and scales smiled at her and handed he a small flask of water "Are you alright little one? My name is Michael."

The other 20 drakin disappeared back into the shadows and moved incredibly quickly toward the caravan. 12 voices would shout out in drakin "FAL JE DARK" and blasts of invisible force flew from the shadows battering and splintering the caravan as the quickly moved in bringing their claws to bear, indiscriminately killing humans the saw, ripping them apart wherever they could with such speed and power it would be nearly impossible to stop them with the caravan being surprised.

The caravan was hit hard and fast, and was hardly able to retaliate before most of the damage was brutally inflicted. Guards that were positioned within some of the horse-drawn carriages and marching alongside quickly rushed out to defend, but even this mix of merchant mercenaries and imperial guardsmen was outnumbered and overpowered against the swift attack. They drew swords and held up their shields to fight back, trying to protect the unarmed merchants and traders inside the caravans. Some of the mercenary guards tried to flee once they realized the fight was a lost cause, but most of the imperial guards stayed to try and fight it out.

She laid helplessly by the side of the road until the Drakin came. She pulled away as they sat her up but with her injuries she could barely move, decided she had no other choice she tried to trust these strange creatures. She tried to drink some but ended up coughing most of it out because it hurt even to swallow. She whispered though trying to talk normally two words.

"It hurts."

Any fleeing mercenary guard was quickly hit by another shout, Imperial guards were disarmed as fast as possible, the drakin were trying to leave at least some of the guards and traders alive so they could brutally execute them in front of the drakin city. The guards were outnumbered, and out matched. The fight was quick and painless for the drakin rangers moving quickly and fast between guards weaving their way from swords and shields taking out their legs, then their heads.

Michael nodded and held her steady he smiled "Alright, i'm going to help you, trust me" He gently laid her back down and his hands began to glow as he began his healing spell, he focused on her torso first.

She watched the glow closely, having not seen magik before. Snow wolves lived in the most northern area of Aerrath where the air is so frigid that a tear could freeze while rolling down one's cheek. Snow wolves did not practice magik and only a select few ever left the villages.

The guards were taken down by the Drakin, with a few of them being incapacitated (like Francis after a long night out at the bar), and others being captured to be taken prisoner for the Drakins' execution ceremony. Within a matter of a few minutes, the entire caravan was completely immobilized and wiped out. The surviving humans were left completely at the mercy of their Drakin assailants.

After he finished healing her michael smiled and stood up, gesturing for her to stand too, supporting her and smiling sweetly at her "Where are you from little one? The empire has no love for you, and your obviously not human." He said as he helped her up slowly.

the survivors from the empire were dragged back to where michael as bound and tied like animals. One of the rangers smiled and looks at michael "Lord Kain will be please with this, a whole new round of human scum ready to be executed in the square."

Okami stood slowly, stumbling a bit but she was able to move. She looked up into Michael's eyes, trusting him more than she had anyone before.

"I...I'm from the snow region, where my village was...destroyed by them," she said, laying her wolf-like ears back and tilting her head toward the humans. "They burnt them."

Michael nodded and gorlwed low at the humans "And now so shall they, bring them to the city to be executed." The other drakin roared and smiled dragging the humans back to their city, Michael looked at the girl "Do you need help getting to a different village of your people? Ill gladly bring you, it it the duty of Drakin Rangers to aid those who need it."

Her ears fell forward in sorrow. She did not draw tears but one could tell that she would have been if she could.

"I have no one left."

He looked at her and smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder "Do you wish to come back with me? The drakin will accept you if you tell our lord kain what happened"

She nodded slowly, still weary of these new people who had saved her. She waited for them to move and she would follow.

"I'll go with you," she smiled only slightly in that she would have a new home. In the back of her mind, though she trusted Michael, she did not know what to think of his people.

Michael smiled and helped her walk as they moved to the drakin village, the few human dogs in tow. As they arrived the drakin seemed to not be cautious at all around her, maybe because she was so small and then sensed no danger, but maybe because she was with michael who was still making sure she was perfectly alright. Once they made it to the 'capital' of the city the human were given over to Drakio, the guard leader, and michael brought her before kain so she could explain her story to him in as much detail as possible.

She followed close behind Michael as they entered the "capital" of the city. When she was brought before Kain she looked to Michael for support. She did not want to overstep her boundaries and did not know when it was appropriate for her to speak. She awaited a smile or nod that would tell her it was alright to speak or to wait for Kain to begin.

Kain looked at her, with calculating, cold eyes and said "Speak little one, tell me what happened to your people, ive heard rumors from the rangers already but rumors are not enough for a king to base his opinion on."

Michael whispered to her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder "Dont worry, he is really friendly after you get passed the official side of him, just tell him the truth"

"M...My name if Okami from the Snow Wolf tribes in the north..." she paused. "The humans they...they...they burnt our villages and killed my people. I don't know if anyone else...I just don't know." She was beginning to let her feelings get the best of her, she looked as if she were about to cry but again tears never came.

Kain raised an eyebrow "Snow wolves? The drakin haven't seen one of your kind in...years" When she said the rest he growled low to himself as a dragon "Damn them, the murderous humans. Waste of flesh and blood..." He smiled sadly at her standing up and putting his hand on her shoulder "You may stay her amongst the drakin for as long as you wish, we wil keep you safe from those...beasts that call themselves people." He smiled at her and then walked past, going to execute the humans.

Michael smiled at her "See? he is nice..sort of"

She smiled nervously as he placed his hand on her shoulder. She sighed a bit, finally she had a place that welcomed her. After so long being mistreated by humans and having to fend for herself she had found a place to call home. She whispered quietly to herself.

"Is this what you wanted for me, Brother?"

Michael's ears perked a bit hearing that and he smiled sadly "You had a brother? I'm gonna assume he helped you escape and get away before the humans could hurt you am i right? I'm sure he just wanted you to be safe, he didnt care about where are how. Atleast thats how i was with my family...before human hunter came this far north that is..." He still smiled, but it was definatly a sad smile.

"After the first flames he and I went to another village, he was all I had there...but...they followed us there. They burnt our homes and killed the survivors. He...he pushed me into a cave and told me not to make a sound...the last I saw him...he glanced back and smiled as they...they took his head." She looked shocked that his family had been killed as well. "They did the same to your family?"

He nodded his hand still on her shoulder comfortingly, he was taller than her of course and knelt down next to her "That sounds terrible...it was very similar for me except i tried to protect them but..i failed. Two sisters and 3 brothers of mine were with me when we were walking outside the mountains looking for a special herb that grew far away so we could transplant them here and grow them. We were caught by human hunters. They beat me and then killed all of them in front of me and...." he stopped for a second to keep from choking up "took their scales, the younger, the shiner and more...jewel like they are. I was older and my scales were this duller shade of blue, still beauitful by their standards but they wanted the brighter ones. They tried once after that to get mine buti killed a few of them and escaped.."