Another Abduction

OOC: This is a continuation of "Merchandise".

BIC:

The first thing Tychicus was aware of was a trickle of something sticky sliding down his face; it was his own blood. He then realized that he had a murderously splitting headache. The next thing he realized was that he'd been stripped of everything but his underpants and that his hands were tied behind his back. Unnng.... where am I...

He groggily opened his eyes and looked around. In front of him was a group of ragged men crouched around a fire, their packs strewn behind them and a messy dinner of fresh deer in front of them. There was a little girl tied up next to Tychicus, and she was unconscious. That's when it hit Tychicus. Drat. I've been caught by slave drivers again! And where am I... oi... they must've drugged me, I can't focus on... nuuungggg.... Tychicus passed out again.

He sank into troubled dreams, mostly about being struck on the head, a bag stuffed over his head, and getting dragged off to a strange place far away....

Get up!

Tychicus was rudely awakened when a whip struck his back. Ach! He sat up as well as he could with his hands tied behind his back. A slave driver shoved him from behind and he staggered to his feet. Another slaver was bringing a whip down on the little girl's shoulders. She whined and tried to get up but the whipping was not helping. Tychicus stepped between her and the slaver and took the whip lashes himself.

The slaver was furious. He kicked Tychicus in the gut and tore his back up, roaring curses some of which Tychicus had never even heard before. He saw to his satisfaction that the girl had managed to get to her feet and was being marched along by one of the other rogues.

And so the group of slave drivers took off. Tychicus realized that they were leaving the grassy hills and heading into a more barren flatland. Up ahead and to their right he could see the looming rubble of... The Ruins? Wow. I've heard it described but I never thought I would actually see it. The people of the Light were magnificent architects...

With the slavers all around and occasionally applying their whips to Tychicus' back, they continued their march forward until they were right alongside the Ruins. It was starting to get hot, and Tychicus noticed that the little girl was starting to stagger from the heat. He made it a point to walk next to her so that she could stay in his shadow.

He overheard some of the drivers talking among themselves in nervous whispers.

We're too close to the Ruins. We need to get further away, it's too dangerous...

You don't actually belive those stories?! They're nonsense!

I'm not so sure...

Shut up, there's a spring up ahead, we'll stop there.

Tychicus gratefully got on his knees and drank from the spring when the slavers finally allowed them to stop. The girl fell over on her face and lay there until Tychicus, whose hands were now chained together in front of him, gently hauled her to the side of the water. She sucked down the water as though she hadn't had any for a lifetime.

Tychicus asked gently What's your name?

Tanzy. She said in a tiny little whisper. As soon as she had finished gulping down water, she curled up in a heap next to Tychicus and fell asleep almost immediately.

Tychicus sat quietly next to her and watched as the slave drivers nervously set up their camp and started a fire. They're afraid of something. But what? I heard them mention something about grasshoppers... do they have giant bugs around here?

He just shrugged to himself and leaned against a rock, keeping an eye on Tansy and wondering where they there were going to be taken...

Beka got up very, very early that morning as the sun was just barely rising and decided to go hunting. She had caught a rabbit and a measly ground squirrel when she spotted smoke. Hmm. Who's encroaching on grasshopper territory?

She grinned to herself as she ran toward it to check out the area. Ah. Just as I thought. A little slaver group. They won't be coming back here again... She scampered back to the storehouse and left her catch on a shelf.

She hopped onto her crate and announced G'morning! Listen, there's a little group of slave drivers on the edge of our territory, 'bout a dozen of 'em. Who wants to go with me to clear them out?

~

Tychicus was fast asleep, having a nice dream for once. Good morning Lu. I made breakfast. Rise and shine sleeping beauty. Farl and Eb are still asleep, I made your favorite... blackberry pastries. Thought you would like them...

Trap woke up grogily, and wobbled over to Beka. "I will... Just let me find that sythe..." He walked past where Lyle was, and felt his anger rise. "just you wait..." he muttered, grabbing his sythe.

lyle decided he would worry about trap later, there were slavers about. " so beka, whats the plan, i assume the same as allways right?"

Beka looked around. Yeah, I'll take Trap and Lyle. Come on Meggs you ought to be up to it, and you Benny. Right, Trap and I will nail any particularly nasty slavers, Meggs you're in charge of getting any slaves they have out free, Lyle I want you picking guys off beforehand and Benny, hop in if anyone needs help. On second thought, I want Cami too, she'll help you with some bow hits Lyle. And I want two little ones; Sean and Liq, you come too.

She hopped off the box and picked up her staff. Let's go!

Beka took off at a sprint toward the place she had seen the smoke. It took a few minutes to get there and she stopped behind a rock to catch her breath and check out the situation. There were eleven slavers, and she could see one little girl tied up next to a spring. And... a full grown man? She had seen very few adult slaves before. This will be interesting.

Beka signalled for Lyle to get shooting with his bow. In the meantime she slithered behind another rock, picking up some of her Flamin' Flies and promising herself that she wouldn't set EVERYTHING on fire this time.

twang, twang, twang, twang. 'did they even notice im hitting them?' no one seemed to notice that there friends were dropping dead, he signaled for cami to aim at the guy furthest left, then he hit the guy next to him, by the time anyone noticed 8 were allready down and dead.

this was to easy, although his part was over, he fisted cami and they both hoped trap and beka could finish the job.

Beka snorted with disdain. Must be newbies at this whole abduction business. How many did Lyle and Cami hit, six?

She decided the Flamin' Flies would only cause unnecessary chaos and stuffed them back into her belt pouch. She sprang out of cover with her staff and decked one of the rogues. She decided some yelling would add a nice barbaric touch. AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE GRASSHOPPERS!!!!

~

Tychicus sat up and gaped. His two guards had just fallen over with arrows in their backs, and the slavers were dropping dead everywhere. A swarm of little kids had come tearing out of the bushes and were... beating up the slavers?! They must've drugged me pretty bad...

Trap Weilded his sickle with his left hand, and as a club. He right arm was still injured, and he didnt want to open the wound. Swinging the Sythe at a mans ankles, he kicked at his face viciously. Then, when the man didnt move anymore, he clubed his temple, inserting the poison directly to his head. "Next..." he said, and ran at another man, this time being less vicious, and more to the point. After being swung at and hit by a club, Trap couldnt take this fight any more. He wasnt healed enough for this.

Casting Dark missiles at every man he could, he slowly began losing more energy. "Darnit Lyle," he cursed, and cast Drain at a particularily large man. Feeling a little better, he kept to that spell, as he gained himself more power.

this wasent funny, this hilarious, watching the rouges run when they heard bekas battle cry, lyle was busting up, this was to much.

Beka swung her staff and brought down another rogue. She looked around to assess the place. This was too easy. She walked back toward the spring and found a little girl tied up next to a rock. Beka bent down, pulled out one of her daggers, and cut her loose. What's your name?

Tanzy. She was very dirty and had whip marks all over her arms and shoulders.

Beka held out her hand and helped her up. We'll take you back to our camp, Tanzy. Welcome to the Grasshopper Clan.

Wait, wait, you have to cut him loose. Tanzy pointed at the man who was chained nearby.

Beka looked at her strangely, but ran over to him.

~

Tychicus was feeling murderously annoyed. He had just realized that the slavers had gagged him in the middle of the night, and because he couldn't say any spells, he couldn't use his iron magic get loose. Foiled by a bit of cloth!!!

He watched as a red-headed girl cut Tanzy loose and then came running up to him. The red head tore his gag off, and as soon as he could croak he had said a quick spell, sending all of his chains into a perfect, iron cube.

Beka sprang backwards in surprise, her staff bursting into flames.

Tychicus held up his hands Woah, easy there. Thank you for freeing me, miss. If you'll excuse me a moment I'd like to get some decent clothes on... He dug through one of the slaver's packs and reclaimed his pants, belt, and shirt.

Beka lowered her staff and stopped the fire spell. She watched the man carefully and decided that if he made any wrong moves she'd clobber him unconscious.

He paused and looked around in amazement. Weird kids. He glanced down and asked Tanzy, are you okay?

Tanzy ran over to Tychicus and hugged his leg.

Tychicus patted her on the head. I'll take that as a yes...

Beka shouted orders Grasshoppers, everybody grab somethin' and get over here. We'll be headin' back to the storehouse in a minute.

lyle walked over and when he say this guy, he wasent sure what they were doing, then he saw a little girl try to trackle him, lyle thought he was trouble, he strated running, when he got close he taceled the guy as hard as he could and they both hit the ground. lyle stood on the man and said "HA" then looked at beka and smiled as if expecting some kind of reward...

Beka was livid. LYLE! YOU IDIOT! WE JUST RESCUED THAT GUY! GET OFF HIM! She then let loose such a stream of curses and tongue lashings that burned even Tychicus' ears.

Tanzy just let out a whine and sat down on the ground.

Tychicus laughed nervously. Sorry to cause trouble, young sir. He was starting to realize that he couldn't dismiss these kids as mere children; they were brutal, having learned to live in a world that had been nothing but wretched to them.

Trap stood back, glaring at Lyle murderously, not even glancing at the man. "Nothing worth taking in my books. I am going back to H.Q Beka. I promise i wont make any detours though, so don't try stop me."

Turning to walk away, he kicked a man that he had hit with his drain spell, and he groaned. Trap sighed, and forced him onto his back, so he could speak face to face. "Listen up guy, I am going to tell you this one time, and thats it. Tell your friends if you like, i dont care..." taking out two small dagers, he Slashed the letters G and H on the mans cheeks. "We are Grasshoppers. Do not enter this land again." quickly cutting something in the mans forehead, he grinned. "Tell your friends Trap sent you when you wake up..." nad with that he slammed the mans head with the hilt of his daggers, leaving him knocked out.

lyle shook his head. 'nothing is going right this week.' he left quietly and retretead to a hidden spot were few knew of, and only one knew how to get there. he always went there when he needed to think, and he needed to think a few things over thouroughly. like, did the grasshoppers really need him, and weather he was really a asset to anyone, or just a fluke like his parents had said...

Beka watched Lyle walk off looking sad. Great. I've gotta work on my temper. She wrung her fingers and then walked over to the recently-rescued captive and offered him a hand up. I'm Beka, leader of the Grasshopper Clan. Um, I guess you'd better come with us.

Tychicus stood up and then bent over to kiss Beka's hand. Tychicus, at your service Miss Beka.

Beka twitched. Nobody had done that before. Ummm nice to meet you Tychicus. She turned around and barked Grasshoppers, everybody grab somethin' and head back to camp!

Beka said to Tychicus We all grab loot and then divide it up when we get back to camp. You follow the others, I have to go find my friend.

Tychicus gladly helped the Grasshoppers scoop up armfuls of extra clothes and weapons. The little kids soon made good use of the grown man as a pack mule. Smiling at their attention, Tychicus patiently listened to their chatter as the children took him back to the storehouse.

In the meantime, Beka was tracking Lyle's footprints. I haven't been very nice to him lately. Trap was getting on my nerves and I took it out on Lyle. She sighed and quickened her pace when she realized where he was going. Oh Lyyyyle. Where are ya?

ooc: better not let Trap to lyle, or he may just crush his spirits.

Trap was wwittling wood when he felt sickening desire to return to the Shamans. It was so overwhelming that he couldnt control it, but before hand, he had to find Lyle and return the favour of wounding him before. A quick fight and he would be off. Or at least he hoped. This Tych-whatever guy better not try stop him. He was an adult, he had no right to even try to talk to him.

OOC: Sorry took some liberties with Lyle's location...

BIC:

Beka found Lyle on top of the ruin of a broken pillar, sitting silently and staring off at the grasslands beyond the Ruins. She scrambled up next to him and sat down. Hey buddy. Sorry I was short with you. You okay?

~

Several of the little kids had welcomed Tychicus into the storehouse. He had carried at least five kids' load of stuff, and was very popular with the very small children as a result. Tanzy hadn't left his side. A nice girl named Cami had brought him some water and a chunk of bread, which he had accepted with a politeness that the kids had never seen before.

Tychicus sat down on a small wooden box and concealed a smile when the littlest kids sat in a circle around him. He quickly and gratefully finished the piece of bread and then looked around. So... where are all of you from?

MY mommy and daddy live in ThunderClap Hills!

My daddy has a shop in... MY parents have a biiiiiiig house in Laderdale!

My parents are dead.

There were a few solemn, sad nods, and Tychicus realized with a jolt that every one of these kids didn't know where their parents really were. Most, if not all, were orphans, and this place was their only home...

The clever-looking girl named Meggs piped up Tychicus, where are YOU from? This question was echoed loudly and boisterously by all the little kids.

He smiled and waved for quiet. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains. My father was a carpenter, so I can do that and I'm pretty good as a blacksmith. I have two older brothers and one younger sister. He turned to look at the heap of stuff the kids had left in front of a giant crate in the center of the room. So what's that?

Meggs answered When Beka gets back she's going to split up the stuff. The kids nodded.

Oh. Well then... what else do you want to know? There was a choruse of cries for everything from his favorite color to his scariest story. Tychicus was kept busy for a while...

"i'm...ok i guess. its just today and last night went preety bad, im not sure what i should tell trap, i mean, i dident mean to hit him with the arrow, and hes fine ayway, and then i hit you with a rock and takeld the new guy, i though he was going to hurt you, i just did it cuse i thought i was the right thing to do at the time." lyle hoped she would understadn, she usually did, it was trap who he was worried about. 'well, at least i can hit him with an arrow before he even gets close.'

Trap began hunting Lyle out, fist clenched. He could easily follow Beka, and where there was Beka, there was lyle. But he would come prepared, in case that idiot tried to shoot him again. Slipping on some random leather armour, he gave the kids a farewell wave and was off.

Beka patted him on the back. Hey, I forgave you for hitting with me a rock, I'm sure Trap will get over it. And if he's being peevish I'll pound the idiot. He should be a little angel right now, after that weird incident with that sword thing. She swung her feet against the pillar and watched the sun rise higher into the sky. It was late morning now. And I don't think Tychicus minded that. He's... a nice adult, isn't that weird?

"well, then im fine i guess, we should get back, i dont trust this tych charicter just yet."

OOC: Thought you liked long posts? ^^

BIC:

Beka shrugged. Yeah. I've gotta divide up the loot, too. Let's get going. She sprang off the pillar and picked up her staff, then started to walk with Lyle toward the storehouse. Anything else you want to talk about Lyle?

~

Tychicus had told the kids that, long story short, his brothers didn't like him, so he had left his home and gone on a long journey. His enthralled audience was hanging on every word of this weird, nice adult with a cloth tied over half of his face. And THEN, I heard this weird crackling sound, like rocks shuffling around, so I hid in a bush to see what it was. It was a man named Alexander, climbing up the cliff. He had heard me, so he told me to come out of the bush, but before we could do any talking, this snow leopard sprang out of NOWHERE onto his shoulders, and...

Tychy, what's a snow leopard?

Well, it's a really big cat, with teeth the size of your fingers and a really bad attitude. They also have really long claws. Other than that, they're very beautiful animals, with white fur and these black spots. Anyway, like I was saying, this leopard pounced on Alexander...

ooc: i hope hes not going to recall our entire adventure. ^^,

"no im good, lets head back." lyle wanted to check out this new guy and he wanted to get a good spot in line for the spoils.

he jumped down and began to walk back when he ran right into trap, "hi trap, hows it been" 'im dead.'

OOC: Meh, Blade's slowing us down here, let's head straight back, shall we?

BIC:

Beka walked up and gave Trap a more-or-less-friendly shove. Hey. You out hunting already? Nice going. I guess we'll catch you later. Find us a nice ptarmigan, they ought to be out this time of year. Come on Lyle. She hurried past Trap, dragging Lyle by the sleeve to the storehouse.

She tore open the doors and stalked inside, springing on to her crate. She looked around in astonishment when she saw Tychicus telling all the Grasshoppers a story. All the kids were sitting around him in a circle, like he was... a daddy. For all of us. Beka sat down on her crate and listened for a moment.

...and then Myrda finally set me down. I was so happy to be back on the ground I fell over and kissed the dirt. The kids giggled, and Beka listened quietly for several minutes. She realized that her clan was happier than they had been for a while... happier than when they had extra food, happier than when the weather was kind, even happier than when they found the occasional toy... she looked over at Lyle, and at some of the other kids in her clan, thinking of all the depression problems she had to deal with. Lyle for one, she knew was upset because his parents had been unkind to him. Other kids had seen their parents brutally killed, or couldn't even remember them, like herself. Beka had an idea...

Beka stood up on her crate and interrupted the story, saying Tychicus, um... listen, we haven't rescued any adults before, and well... I, er, we were wondering if you'd like to stay with us, and be, um, a daddy for us?

Tychicus blinked in surpise. He looked down at the childrens' dirty faces, the rags they were wearing, and the happy little sparkle in their eyes just from hearing him tell a story. He nodded slowly. Yes, I'll... I'll stay here and look after you, if you want me to.

Tanzy let out a happy squeal and ran up to hug Tychicus. Two of the really little kids ran up as well, and before Tychicus could protest, he was being squeezed to death and officially adopted by about thirty kids.

Beka had one more question. But how long are you going to stay here? What if your friends come looking for you?

Tychicus shrugged. They can help me take care of you, or they can come and go... I don't exactly have a home to go back to anyway. He patted Tanzy on the head and was sucked into another giant group hug.

Beka nodded to herself and stared at the wall for a little while.