Tales of Awreythia - Chapter I

Tales of Awreythia

by Matthew Killmer

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Chapter I

The morning sun burned away the fog of the swampland surrounding Raventown.  The wooden village was built upon stilts to keep its citizens protected from the vileness of the underlying swamp and its denizens.  Shops began to open and the townspeople walked went about their way across the wooden walkways.  The town was mainly populated by half-Elves descended from the Elves that came from the Great Forest of the south and the Men that came from the lands of the north.  The one exception to this was a singular young Dark Elven woman—Laeylafey Oudiina.

Laeylafey was situated upon the platform in the center of the town's courtyard, tied to a post as punishment for her crimes, to give an example of what happened to lawbreakers in Raventown.

Laeylafey was an oddity in Raventown, not just in her being a Dark Elf.  Her grey face was patterened in traditional tattoos that framed her features and a scar slashed over her left eye down to a freckled cheek.  Her short, silver-white hair fell down the left side of her half-shaved head.  Laeylafey came to the town when she was too young to remember and grew up to be a talented mercenary operating all across the Northern Holds.  Her contracts had always been of questionable legality, but a slip-up on her most recent job had resulted in her landing in custody.

Laeylafey's red eyes opened to see a young girl standing in front of the platform, staring intently at her.  Laeylafey's mouth turned up into a wry smile at the welcoming sight. Laeylafey playfully gave an air-kiss and the girl giggled back before her mother sternly called, "Alyia, come here!"  The girl looked back at Laeylafey before running off to her parents who were amongst a growing crowd around the courtyard.

Marching boots sounded across the wooden walkways.  Laeylafey looked towards the Ravencross, the bridge that spanned over the river, and saw Breyldar Grenelis, the Jarl of Raventown accompanied by his entourage.

"Rejoice, good people of Raventown!" he announced as he stepped onto the platform, his very breath dripping with condescendence and hypocrisy.  "For today, justice is served!"

The unsure townspeople applauded half-heartedly as they all nervously awaited the proclamation of the sentence of Laeylafey Oudiina, the only one to have ever stood up to the Jarl.  The Jarl of Raventown was a sallow, rat-faced man who paid little attention to the hardships of his poor citizens and was more concerned about the presentation of his ill-conceived grandeur than protecting his hold from the creatures of the swamp that surrounded it.

"You all know Laeylafey Oudiina, she who had made herself infamous across the Northern Holds for being a bloodthirsty plunderer and murderer," the Jarl began his speech.  Laeylafey rolled her eyes in disgust.  "She corrupts this noble town with her very presence, turning neighbor against neighbor with her deceit, disrupting the sacred trust that we all hold so dear."

The townspeople's eyes all shot daggers at the Jarl and his empty words.  They knew that though Laeylafey's occupation wasn't the most smiled upon, she did what she could with what she had in these lands.

"But no more, says Raventown!  For we cast this evil into the Pit!  May she never again see the light of day!"

Gasps were heard amongst the crowd followed by a series of murmurings.  The young girl looked at Laeylafey with great fear as a pair of guards undid Laeylafey's  bonds and grabbed her roughly by shoulders, carrying her over the bridge and to the dreaded Pit.  It was a fenced-off three meter-wide hole in the ground dropping off into a dark cave, feared by every citizen of Raventown.  The Jarl took a key from his pocket and unlocked the fence gate and motioned for Laeylafey with a crooked smile.  The guards tossed her down into the abyss and as she tumbled down into the stony cavern, she was knocked unconscious and everything went black.