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BlueHistoryHistory of Blue My parents were happy folk, but it was not always so. They both grew up near the city of Southport and lived fairly sheltered lives. My granddad on my da’s side was a merchant. He grew up fairly close to the city, watched by his ma because his da was gone a lot. Now, my ma, she was a farmer’s daughter who lived near Southport too. Her ma had died when she was young yet and she never talked about her ma much to me. She grew up helping out her father on the farm a lot and she was strong because of it. Well, Ma and Da met often on account of my granda’s shop, and my other granda’s need to buy things. My parents grew up as friends and soon they figured they started liking each other and when they were old enough, they got married. Like I said before, they were pretty happy, but about this time they didn’t like their situation too much. The political situation in Southport was getting worse and worse as the Emperor started to exercise more control over the people. Ma and Da didn’t like this too much, so they left their families and headed north to my uncle’s farm in the Ravynne Wood. They made a good living for themselves there, and when my uncle died, they stayed, working the farm and hunting and trapping in the wood. And this is where I come in. I was born on that farm. I already had an older brother, Dhom, and shortly after I came, Ma had my sister, Cerra. It was a happy childhood, far from the cities overlooked by the emperor’s army. My younger sister and I would help around the farm a lot, while my da, often accompanied by Dhom, would go hunting in the forest. Occasionally, Da would have to go to town to buy supplies, or sell our crops and furs. He even let us come with him when we were older. I loved visiting Velarien with him. The sea was exciting and the sights of the city were a wonder to me. Sometimes we would even travel to Liranth. That was especially grand. We would often cross the Erev’lei near Misty Falls. Our land was beautiful despite the turmoil of past years and the war. I was definitely a happy child. As I grew older, I gradually saw my ma and da worry more and more about what went on closer to the cities far away from our farm. I would hear Ma and Da talking late at night about things my da had seen while he was away, or what he had heard from other travelers on the road. Things were becoming less and less peaceful all the time. Then the day came that changed my life forever. My da was away on another trip to Middenheim. Dhom, who was in his nineteenth year, had gone hunting to provide us with some meat while Da was gone. It was just Ma, Cerra, and me at home when the three Imperial soldiers came. They said they were traveling from Middenheim to Velarien and had stopped for food and shelter. They sure frightened Cerra and me, but Ma was bold and strong. There wasn’t much we could do, except give in to their demands. Ma told us to keep working on our chores but I stayed close to her in the house while she prepared the soldiers’ food. I should have paid closer attention to what the soldiers were doing and to where my sister had gone. Soon I heard screams from outside, my sister’s screams. I ran out into the yard and looked about for Cerra. My sister had gone out to the barn to tend to the animals and one of the soldiers had slipped out and followed her there. I ran into the barn when I heard her scream again. She had climbed the ladder up to the loft trying to avoid the none-too-kindly advances of the soldier. The soldier pinned her to the ground with his body and I clambered up the ladder and pulled the man off of her. I wasn’t much of a fighter, but this was my sister! How could he do this? The soldier knocked me into the hay and I kicked back. I caught the soldier on his leg and he lost his balance. I glanced at Cerra. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she stared at her attacker. Following her stare back at him I saw the wide eyed look on his face. Time seemed to slow as I saw him careening on the edge of the loft and then as he fell backwards off the high platform. His body hit the ground smartly and my sister and I scrambled to the edge, only to look down on his still surprised stare. Ma and the other two soldiers abruptly arrived, Ma with worry on her face, and the soldiers with anger on theirs. Cerra told Mother what had happened as the soldiers looked on incredulously. At this point the remaining two soldiers grabbed me. I kicked and hollered but they insisted that I had committed a terrible crime against the Emperor. They knew it was an accident and that I was just defending my sister, but they were infuriated. Dragged from my home, my hands were bound as they took me to Velarien. I never saw my family again. I don’t remember well what later happened. I figure they must have put something in my food to sedate me because it is all a blur of faint memories. I know we arrived in Velarien; I remember hearing the sea and the sounds of city life. They kept me locked in a cell for a day or two maybe more, I can’t be sure. I remember the guard telling me that I was better off with where I was going, that I could have been put to death for what I had done. They again dragged me, this time from my cell to the outside. It was very hard to see in the bright sunlight after being in the dark for so many days. But the sun wasn’t much of a comfort. I was thrown into another dungeon. This one rocked and swayed and smelled terribly of mildew and sweat. When I next saw light, I was pushed out of the boat onto the docks at Puddleby. I was thoroughly unprepared for the new life ahead of me. Eventually, over time, I made friends with others who had suffered the same fate as I. I grew to love the town of Puddleby and the island it is on. Who knows if I will ever be able to see my family again, or if I will even be able to go back to the mainland? Who knows if I will even want to? |
