"You there! Stop! I see you!" The older man was having trouble keeping up with the younger gypsy.
Roza was short of breath, but she still managed to mutter a sarcastic comment to herself. "Yes, just because you see me means I'm going to stop and surrender." She zig-zagged through the trees, the dress-costume she'd been wearing to perform getting torn to pieces by the branches and brambles she darted past.
"Hey!" Another voice called to the man chasing her. "Let her go, we've got one."
Both Roza and her would-be capturor froze. "Alright." The man called back. "She was a shrimpy, homely-looking little wherry anyways."
Roza went red in the face. "Shrimpy....little....I'll get him good!!" She checked her temper though. The other man said they'd got one. Was that one one of her friends or were the slavers playing a trick to get her to come back?
She stood a few minutes in indecision. Amard Hold or slavers? In the end there was no competition. She swore under her breath as she jogged back towards the slaver's camp. "Stupid friends...get themselves caught...I outta..."
She slowed her pace and stopped muttering as she got closer. Through the trees she could see a large bonfire, accompanied by a few stolen wagons. There were about 25 slavers sitting around the bonfire. Roza scanned the wagons for her friends, not seeing them she sighed and turned to leave. As soon as her back was turned she heard a scream. Lilika! Her mind screamed the name as she whirled around and searched for her friend. She soon spotted her being dragged out into the light of the bonfire by a strange slaver, and the man who'd been chasing her. They chained her wrists and bound the chain to a stake driven into the ground. One of the slavers tried to kiss her, but Lilika bit him. The man yelled and hit her across the face hard. Lilika collapsed. They returned to their bonfire and supper, leaving the dancer chained where she was next to the wagons.
Lilika... She pleaded silently, begging something to happen, some great and magnificent miracle that would give Lilika a chance to escape. No miracle forthcoming, Roza crept foreward slowly, praying that the slavers were too tired, too drunk or too stupid to notice her.
She hid in the shadows between two of the wagons and called out softly to her friend. "Lilika...psst...over here."
Lilika turned quickly and looked right at Roza. The right half of her face was swollen and already showing signs of blue and purple. "Roza!" She whispered, surprised. "Get out of here! Now!"
"No." Roza crept closer. "Not without you. Move your hands so I can see them. Do I need a key?"
Lilika looked as if she was going to order her away again, but thought better of it. She looked back at the slavers to make sure they weren't paying attention. Seeing them happily torturing their livers with alcohol, Lilika faked a yawn and stretched her hands out towards Roza's hiding spot. "You'll need either a key or something to spring the lock."
Roza nodded once and began searching her pockets for any piece of metal, anything she could use as a lockpick. She finally removed the wire from the decoration that she'd tied in her short hair and bent it into a usable shape. Her hair had definately not been cut by a professional and as it escaped the deocrative clasp and fell around her cheeks that became obvious. It wasn't anywhere near even. She crept foreward slowly into the light, hoping the slavers didn't bother looking at them. She stuck the lockpick in the lock and twisted. Just open! She pleaded with the lock. Just open so we can get out of here. Roza was well aware that she'd made it this far on luck alone.
She was also aware that sometime soon her luck was due to run out. "Hey!" The man Lilika had bit jumped up and pointed right at the two gypsy girls. "Stop that!" The other slavers turned there heads. Those who weren't intoxicated or were only minorly incapacitated stood up and rushed them.
"Go!" Lilika yelled. "Now!"
"No!" Roza continued to fiddle with the lock.
Lilika, with a burst of strength Roza wouldn't have imagined from her lithe friend, stood up and flung Roza backwards. She turned to face the first slaver. "Run!!" She yelled again. "There's no sense in us both getting caught!" As the man charged her, Lilika lifted her arms up and wrapped the chains around his neck. "Roza!" She pleaded. "Run!"
Roza had been paralized by shock of her friend's actions, but Lilika's pleading gaze snapped her back into reality. She began backing away slowly, watching the slaver's face turn blue. Lilika, intent on the man in her grasp, didn't notice the slaver coming up from behind her. He hefted a large branch and swung it with skull-cracking force into the back of Lilika's head. The dancer crumpled, unconsious, probably dead. Roza clenched her teeth together and balled her fists. "You killed her!" She yelled at the slavers and approached them menacingly. There were 5 of them and 1 of her. She didn't like those odds, but she'd be threadscored before she let them get away with this.
One of the slaver's laughed. "Yep. Would have made a pathetic drudge anyway. Probably couldn't lift a plate." His companions began snickering as tears came to Roza's eyes.
A rock flew through the air and cracked into the man's forehead. He fell, unconsious, to the ground. Two of Mother's guards seemed to appear out of nowhere and grabbed both of Roza's arms. They lifted the small girl up and retreated back into the forest under the cover of flying rocks. They met up with two other guards, no doubt the rock throwers, and ran off in an easternly direction, masking their trail so the slavers wouldn't follow them.
"Wait." Roza objected, demanding to be let down. "Stop! No! We've got to get Lilika."
"She's dead." One of the guards said in an uncaring tone. He nodded and the two who were carrying her put her down.
Roza colapsed, staring straight out into nothingness. "Dead?"
"Yes." The same guard replied. "Just like us if we don't keep moving. Now stand up or we leave you behind."
"Nik, C'mon...give her a moment..." The youngest of the guards touched the other's shoulder.
Nik glared at the guard until he backed down. "So," He turned back to Roza. "Are you going to stay here and die in this forest like your friend?"
Roza bit her lip as the tears poured down her cheeks. "I can keep up." She rose quickly and clenched her fists.
"Good." Nik turned around and began jogging through the trees. The other guards followed him, obviously trusting him as their leader.
Roza followed, barely keeping up with the larger men, but refusing aid at the same time. They left no trail where they passed, save for the tears that Roza cried all the way to the new gypsy camp.
* * * "You'll ruin your voice with all that sobbing." Mother walked into Roza's new tent without knocking, startling the grieving gypsy.
"I don't care." Roza glared at her pillow, needing something tangible to blame.
"I've got good news." Mother offered, trying to cheer her up.
Roza tried not to look interested. She began fiddling with the edge of her skirt.
"They didn't catch Amaryliss. He's probably somewhere hiding in the forest. We'll go look for him." The old gypsy woman sat down on the pile of furs beside Roza. "We'll find him."
Roza sighed and gave her adopted mother a small smile. "Okay."
Mother put her arm around Roza and rubbed her shoulder. "I know you're still upset about what happened with Lilika. I am too. But you can't throw the rest of your life away over that. She wouldn't want you too."
"I know Mother." Roza pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, effectively turning herself into a ball. "It's just...we were always together...it seems so odd without them...like I'm missing part of myself."
Mother smiled. "Do you want to sit here and sulk somemore or do you want to come and let me show you something new?"
"Can I sulk a little longer?"
"Of course." The older gypsy got up and walked towards the tent flap. "Sulk as long as you need to."
* * * "Roza?" A voice woke her from her sleep. She couldn't quite place it, but it sounded familar.
"Huh?" She rose drowzily from the furs, still in the clothes she'd been wearing that day. Her head pounded and she felt sore and dirty all over. Crying oneself to sleep is not conductive to waking happily the next morning... Realizing that it was dark in her tent she quickly added, ...or waking happily in the middle of the night. She stumbled around the new tent for a candle.
"Roza?" The voice was being very persistant.
"Jus' a minute." She slurred her words as her sleep-filled mind tried to make the jump from sleep to consiousness. She crashed into a table, stubbed her toes, bruised her skin and swore loudly.
"Do you need a light?" The voice snickered.
"No!" Roza yelled back, the pain serving as a method to banish any drowziness. "I'm fine in the dark!"
The voice snickered again. "Fine. I'm not. Can I come in?"
Roza finally recognized the voice. "Nik!!"
"Yeah. Can I come in?"
"No!" Roza through something off the table at the tent flap. A crash from outside the tent told Roza she'd connected with the awful guard from the night the slavers attacked. She stepped on her flint and steel, picked it up and groped around on the table for her candle. When she couldn't find it, she figured out what she'd decked the guard with.
She debated staying in the dark and letting Nik keep the candle, but decided that would be petty and immature. She stormed to the tent flap, flung it open and found Nik on the ground a few feet away from the tent, holding her candle, in it's metal holder, in his left hand and a swelling bump on his head in his right. He looked up at her. "Why didn't we have you chucking the rocks?" He touched the bump again and winced.
Roza glared at him, bit back a few choice words and grabbed the candle. "Serves you right. You've got a lot of nerve coming here."
The guard looked up at her, slightly annoyed. "Why?"
Roza threatened to hit him with the candle holder again. "Why?! Why?! After everything you did to me the other night you dare ask why?"
Nik stood up quickly and knocked the candle holder out of her hand. "What I did?! I saved your life, you ungrateful little gypsy! And now I come to apologize for being a little rough with you as I saved your skin and you hit me with a candle!"
Roza balled her fists and glared right back at the guard, even though he towered over her. "A little rough? You snapped at me and were downright rude! I surprised Mother doesn't have your ears removed for cruelty to her daughter!"
"She's the one who sent me to save your life!! She's grateful I got one of her children back alive! You're the selfish, stubborn, little, threadscored wherry that doesn't understand how lucky she is!" Nik balled his own fists.
"Why I outta..." Roza couldn't think of anything bad enough to say to Nik.
"What?" The guard demanded, pulling back into a fighting stance.
Roza took a step back to balance her own stance when she stepped on the candle. She realized how stupid they must look. Her, a five-foot-two singer, taking on him, a six-foot-four trained fighter. She hid a smile beneath a look of mock ferocity. "Hit you with a candle."
He dropped his fists slightly and gave her a wary look. "Hit me with a candle?"
Her mask broke at his look and she smirked. "Again."
They stood facing each other, fists up, trying not to smirk. Finally they both cracked and collapsed to the ground in laughter.
"Truce?" Nik asked when he could finally catch his breath.
Roza nodded. "Truce." The shook hands formally and helped each other up. "Friends?" Roza asked, slightly timid.
He smiled at her "Friends."
* * * Nik grabbed Roza's arm as she passed. "C'mon. There's something I want to show you." He began dragging her towards the supply tent.
Roza raised a brow and smirked at him. "Oh. The supply tent. You think I don't know what goes on in the supply tent?"
He smirked back at her. "Good little girls shouldn't, but that's not why I'm taking you there."
"Alright. Why?" Roza asked as he pulled her into the tent.
"Look." Nik pointed to a large earthen dish sitting ontop of a fire.
She approached the dish and lifted the lid, seeing nine firelizard eggs. "Eggs!" She was slightly shocked to see them there.
Nik nodded. "One of the other guards has a little green who disappeared for a couple days. We hunted high and low for her with no luck. She finally came back on her own and when she clutched we realized what she'd been doing."
Roza replaced the lid. "Have you told Mother yet?" She sat down beside the fire.
The guard shook his head and joined her. "No, and we don't plan on telling her. If she knew we had firelizard eggs she'd demand that she get one, and her favourite performers get one, and her pet gypsies get one and soon there wouldn't be any left for us." Nik saw the look that Roza gave him when he mentioned 'pet gypsies' and cringed. "Sorry, sliped out."
"Nice to know you respect us." Roza rubbed the side of the jar, feeling how warm it was compared to the night air around it.
"Can you blame us?" Nik asked, staring at the fire. "Sure she pays us for the work we do, but after she deducts rent and food costs, the pay's practically nothing." He sighed and looked right at Roza. "You don't realize how much she favours her gypsies and how she pampers them. The best food, the best tents, the best of everything and we get treated like drudges. Somehow I never figured 'guard' included packing up your tents and cooking your food."
Roza bit her lip, rather uncomfortable with the change of topic. "If it makes you feel any better, we still think of you as big and guard-like, despite the other jobs you do."
Nik smiled. "Sorry. We'll change topics."
Roza nodded. "Okay."
They sat in silence for a few moments. "What shall we talk about?" Nik finally asked.
"How about the eggs and they're hatching!" Roza could feel the rocking through the jar that her hand was still resting on.
"What?" Nik jumped to his feet. "I've got to go get the others!" The guard headed to the door. "Stay here! Don't let any of them get away!" Nik disappeared out the tent flap.
Roza searched the supply tent for some dried meat, finally finding some just as the first guard raced into the tent. He was taken aback by the gypsy's presence, but quickly grabbed the meat that was offered him and an egg.
After distributing the meat to all the guards that entered Roza began to watch the hatching. Nik ran into the tent and stood behind her panting. "I think I found them all."
Roza watched as the first blue broke his shell and impressed to the waiting guard. "How'd you guys decide who got the eggs? There's more than nine guards."
"We drew straws." Nik crouched beside the fire. "Good thinking with the meat."
"Thanks." Roza smiled. "Guess I'm not a pet after all."
"Guess not." Nik grinned back. "Catch." A green firelizard had hatched and wandered off towards Nik. The guard had deftly picked it up and handed it to Roza.
"What?" She accepted the gift of the tiny creature and quickly gave it something to eat. She smiled as she felt the hatchling's small mind touch her's.
The rest of the guards returned to their own tents, leaving Roza and Nik alone in the supply tent. The tiny green firelizard curled up in Roza's arms and went to sleep. "What are you going to call her?" Nik asked, sitting across from her.
"Lilium." Roza smiled at him. "It means lily."
"I know." Nik smiled. "Just don't tell Mother where you got her, okay?"
"I'll tell her it was a wild clutch." Roza nodded. A thought suddenly hit her. "You guys drew straws for the eggs! Whose egg did I get? Is he going to get mad at me?"
Nik laughed. "No. He's fine with the twist of events."
"Oh." Roza turned back to the tiny Lilium. "Good." She stood up and, cradling Lilium carefully in the crook of her right arm, brushed her skirt off with her left hand. "Tell him I said 'Thanks.'" She left the supply tent to return to her own.
Nik smiled as he watched her leave. "You're welcome. Any time."
Roza and the gypsy caravan move on...
* * *
Background from Myrror Images.
Lilium's picture from Dark Moon Weyr.
