"Fifteen... sixteen..." Crow counted.  He was doing push-ups with his hands against the floor and his feet resting on the sill of the barred window.  As he did his exercises, the raccoon, Cooper sat down on the cot and watched his new owner in silence.

"Why did I start doing these again?  Twenty-six..." Crow asked himself before counting off the number of sit-ups he did so far.  He wasn't quite sure how much time had passed since he was first imprisoned and he wasn't sure how long it took before he was out again.  In the meantime, he figured this was as good an opportunity as any to do some basic training.  For what, he wasn't sure.  He was just plain bored.

His thoughts drifted back to the days when he was a member of a team of mercenaries.  He remembered one time when a senior member caught a two-headed fish and how no one wanted to eat it.  Another senior had the bright idea to suggest that they had a sit-up competition and the one who did the least had to eat it.  Crow grinned at that memory.  God that fish tasted awful.

   Walking down the dingy corridor, the Chief Jailor, along with four large guards, approached Crow's cell and leered at him through the bars. Each guard was armed with a nasty looking club and the Jailor wore broad, flat sword with a bronzed hilt thrusting up from a bronze bound leather sheath at his side. Gesturing one of the guards forward, he watched with a crooked toothed grin as a pair of manacles were tossed onto the floor in front of Crow.
   "Put em on, you dirty mongrel. You're coming out of your kennel today, mate. You're for the Sultana, so you are. Hurry up then, we're going to clean you up a bit so's ye'll be presentable to her Highness..hehe. You should feel honoured boy, its not every worthless drifter who is given as an Imperial gift to a Sultana!"
   The Jailor waits until the prisoner dons the manacles before he opens the door...

"Hmm?" Crow looked down at the manacles on the floor before him with a somewhat confused look on his face.  He lifted them by the chains with his index finger and eyed them curiously before putting them on.  After snapping one manacle on, he moved his hands behind his back and snapped the other one on.  With a goofy grin on his face, he asked the jailer, "So it's true?  I get to meet the Sultana?  Heh... I wonder what she's like."

   Leering at the prisoner, the Chief Jailor laughs, a most unpleasant sound. Shaking his head he nods to Crow. He wipes his nose with a dirty hand and grins evilly.
   "Oh aye, ye'll met her so you will. General Von Zinzer's orders. Of course, from what I hear tell of the Sultana and her...appetites' ye'll likely wish you hadn't..hehe. Now hury your carcass out of there.  Wouldn't want to keep her Majesty waiting. Help encourage him lads."
   Two burly guards enter the cell and put their hands warningly to their weapons. They lead Crow down the dingy hallway, other prisoners in their cells cackling, screaming, wailing, and begging behind them, arms reaching through the bars in vain hope of release. The Jailor and his guards mostly ignore them, except for the occasional smack with a club to outstretched limbs in their path.
   Eventually they pass through the iron bound thick oak door and turn to the right, bringing Crow to a small area, barely large enough for one man. Gesturing for him to enter, removing his manacles carefully, they step back, closing the door after him.  Inside on the flagtones is an old wooden bucket filled with soapy water and a rag hanging over the brim. The room is very dark, only the light from the corridor outside giving any visibility at all.
   "Right, wash up then, you scabby cur.  When ye're done bang on door and we'll bring you some clean clothes.  That should be good enough for now.  Then we'll take you to see the General."

"Eh... I... see?"  Crow scratched his head as he stared at the old wooden bucket of soapy water before him.  He watched Cooper move up to the bucket and look into the water.  The raccoon stared at his reflection in the water before dipping his hands in and washing it.  Shrugging his shoulders, Crow removed his clothes and proceeded to wash himself with the rag.  As he washed himself, he hummed a simple tune to himself.

A few seconds into the song and he was singing at full volume.  He didn't have a bad voice... at least not bad enough to warrant a complaint under normal circumstances, anyway.  Once he was done, he grabbed the bucket and poured the rest of the water over his head.  Cooper was in the bucket, so he fell on top of the youngster's head.  Deciding that he was done, the freshly cleaned young man knocked on the door.

"Um... excuse me!  I'm done, so... uh... yeah..."

   "Right then, outside," the Jailor growls, looking at Crow meaningfully and tossing him the manacles once more. "If you're done with all that wailing and carrying on, we'll be seeing General Von Zinzer now. This way lad."
    With guards behind him, and the Jailor in front, Crow is lead forth, out of the dungeon and into the daylight, dazzling after so long in the dingy prison cells. Striding at a good clip, the Jailor makes his way to the training grounds, keeping his head high as he tries, unsucessfully, to look important. Looking over his shoulder at Crow he chuckles.
  "I should think the Empress will be wanting to see her gift to the Sultana, want to make sure its worthy. Course the General will decide what's best, its not for me to say. You're out of my charge, you shiftless dog, and I'm done with you just as soon as we reach the training field. You'll see some real men there, I'll wager."

<To Barracks & Training Fields in the City of Milath>
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:38, Mon 05 Nov 2007.

Cooper the raccoon scanned the hallways, choosing to stick to the shadows and out of sight.  He slipped through a doorway and scanned the room, searching for the items he was looking for.  Once he realized he was in the wrong room, he slipped back out the door and continued on... following the trail of the right kind of scent.

OOC: From the Palace

"This is the punishment for your actions, girl," Marcus said to Shigure. He kept a hand on her shoulder, leading her through the bustling streets toward the slave pens. "Count yourself lucky that the Empress did not sentence you to death."
Moving through the busy streets, Marcus eventually lead Shigure to the slave pens. Several dozen slaves were being held there in large pens, perhaps a half dozen to each pen.
"You're under my command for the enxt year. Get used to it."

From Palace

Shigure follows through the streets as best she can, dodging most people and mumbling apologies to those she runs into. As Marcus leads her past the slave cages she looks at them distastefully, "Ugh. I'm not going to be put in them am I?"

It didn't look like fun, and those in the cages looked... dirty. She grimaces at the cages, she liked being clean and appealing. Surely he wouldn't waste her in those cages.

"You're hardly going in there," Marcus told her, looking with a grimace at the pens. He tried to keep them clean. Keeping the pens clean, however, was like trying to teach a cripple to walk...You just couldn't do it.
"Empress Sidi said you would be going with us to Valkandis. You will cook and clean while on the road, as well as anything else I deem appropriate. There could be no better training than what will come."
He came to his own 'office' within the pens, a one room building with a cabinet, a desk, and a chair inside. Reaching to a peg on the wall, he produced a dark leather collar, as well as shackles for both arms and legs.
"Put these on," he told her, tossing them to the ground before her.

Shigure shrugs and sits on the floor, relieved she wouldn't be left in one of those crowded cages. She looks at the shackles and picks them up, studying them briefly before attaching them to her ankles. She had to remove her boots, but then again, she had been told to dispose of her clothes anyway, eventually she would lose it all. It didn't really matter to her, not anymore, she would do as she was told... most of the time anyway.

She smiles again as she stands and attaches the collar around her neck, pulling it tight she locks it. Lifting up the remaining shackles on the floor with her toes she picks them up with a hand and drops them on the desk. Presenting both her wrists she looks expectantly at Marcus. "Please."

Marcus watched as Shigure attached the collar and ankle shackles. Little emotion showed in his eyes. This, to him, was more business than anything. These little street urchins needed to be taught a lesson. If executing a few, or putting a few into shackles, would put teh rest in line, then so be it.

As she dropped the wrist shackles onto his desk, he raised a brow. He had reached into a drawer in the desk, producing a length of chain, a sort of leash for her collar.
"You want to know what happened the last time somebody did that?" he asked her. He meant, of course, the last time a slave had asked him to put the manacles onto their arms. "They punched me in the nose and tried to run."
He grinned slightly. "I killed them."

Weather or not he was bluffing was difficult to tell. All the same, he walked comphortably with a sword at his side, and was undoubtedly familiar with the whip at his belt.
He picked up the manacles, and slid one ofer her left wrist, closing it tight around her slender arm.

Shigure's smile widens at his story, but watches the whip on his hip uneasily as he walks closer to her. She doesn't flinch as he closes a cuff around her wrist, she probably could have done it herself but she was reluctant to 'seal' her punishment by locking the last restraints herself. She didn't think og struggling, or escaping, remembering those in the cages and thinking that it could always be worse than it was.

Once the manacles are secure she shakes her hands, wondering at the sound the chains make, wondering if she would ever get used to them. "When do we we leave?" She lifts a hand and scratches at the collar around her neck, "What do we do till then?"

"We leave tomorrow," Marcus told her, closing the second manacle about her wrist. "Bright and early with the rising sun. Ten hours march, then pitch camp with the setting sun."
Marcus grinned at that. He'd been in the army, once upon a time, so a good march was no trouble for him. He didn't tell Shigure, of course, that he would be on a horse, and she would be in one of the supply wagons.
"Until then, I have no idea. You could hardly know anything about cooking, cleaning, or the other things which a proper slave should know. You are pretty enough to enjoy physically...Though you've no doubt numerous diseases...Probably fleas, too."

Shirgure gasps in surprise, "I do not have fleas!" She frowns, looking a bit insulted, "I keep clean. I have no disease." She looks Marcus over, "I bathed not even a day before I got caught, no doubt it has been some time since you had time to wash."

She smiles, going from insulted to excited in a matter of moments, "I know! I could wash you." She grins, "It'll be a while till you next get a chance."

"Despite the lack of sophistication among these people, we are not all like the good General and the commoners of Arn."
Marcus bathed nearly every day. When working amongst the filth of the Pens, it was difficult to stay clean and pest-free, so he made it a task at the end of every day to bathe.
He would forgive the girl her words for now. In time, she would learn to stay quiet and subservient.
"A bath does sound good," he agreed. The road to Valkandis would be without such luxuries as baths, the water being used for more important tasks.
"Come then," he said, giving the chain at her throat a light tug.

OOC: To Marcus' chambers

Shigure follows obediently, not that she had much of a choice anymore, collared as she was. Not that she noticed, but she had already forgotten the noise and weight of the restraints.

To Marcus' chambers

  Rinaldo Eyed the market from a side street as if he were looking into a pit full of vipers and hungry lions. Just a momentary pause as he and Stardancer walked from the Estate to the bazaar.

He wore a particularly non-descript cloak over the light hand tooled and tailored leather armor he wore under it. And his knives were out of sight as best he could manage. Only the slim razor edged sword he carried rode obviously visible to discourage the foolish.

"I was thinking now that we have a few coin to rub together we find you something You like, and I replace a bit of my kit that I lost when I was flitting about chasing  snails."I have to visit a few specialist merchants first." He motioned to the sea of stalls, kiosks and peddlers showing their wares "somewhere in this sea of scoundrels we should find  someone who has something you are comfortable in."

Stardancer grinned.  "I will be ever present at your side unless you ask otherwise.  After all I am your bodyguard" she reminded him.  In the large market she felt more...confident than the last time she was here.  "I wonder if we might find the gypsies Master Judos spoke of.  I know Jolanta spent time with them.  I would like to tell them of her and her companion" It had been a long time.

"Finding gypsies in a market is a bit like finding sand in the desert." Rinaldo sighed and chuckled."It's the finding of a specific band of Gypsies that's the tricky part.

Putting this on flex time so you can do this and join the mage tower thread too if you wish.

"In a human city this large I don't think it would be easy either.  Still I would like to try" She smiled as they walked about, she for one just happy to have 4 legs again, the night before was most interesting though. "I was thinking that if what happened last night should occur again ....perhaps I should have atleast something suitable to be in public with.  Don't you agree?"

"We'll give it a try. Even if we can't find them we should be able to find out where they went." Rinaldo paused and smiled for a moment." I think we can find clothing for you. You might even want to pick up a few nice things while we are out. After all, we can't go around dressed like ragamuffins no that we are Nobles."

he led the way into the Bazzar with a smile and whistling a merry tune. keeping  one hand on his purse, and the other near a knife.

Stardancer followed no more than 5 steps behind Rinaldo at most.  Crossing the wide avenues crowded with stalls and carts selling various things.  It had been so long since she had been in the Bazaar.  Still she did spy a seller of clothing, one she had bought a few of the blouses Zahid liked at the time.  She said nothing though, the past was past.  "If need be I can sew something useable.  If we find nothing, then perhaps a bolt of cloth"