Osran

Osran thought the Dragon Lord must truly favour her. How else could she explain the fortunate circumstances that had lead to her freedom? Certainly she had taken action when opportunity had presented itself, killing Marathot had been surprisingly easy. She had dreamed of killing her band’s war-leader since she had been a child. Now Marathot lay dead, his body and those of the slain warriors that had followed him were abandoned in an unremarkable field to the north. Now she had freedom.

Lothi and she had half expected to die with the others of her band who had not managed to escape to the east. However, it seemed that her act of defiance had saved the two of them. The red-haired war leader, the one she called GreatBow, had spoken and the others had listened. Even the metal clad Ashlord had obeyed, her band had raided his lands for as long as anyone could remember, by rights he should not have shown them mercy. That was the thing with GreatBow though, he was very compelling. When he spoke, everyone heard, everyone listened. GreatBow had witnessed Osran’s fulfillment, seen her take the axe and cleave her war leader’s skull and he, GreatBow, had spoken of her deed.

Osran had been allowed to keep the axe and had been free to pick through the dead and take what was needful, the orc dead, those of her band who had fallen. The Ashlord’s dead were set to one side, the meat and the useful things were left under the trees. Then GreatBow had taken them deeper into the greenlands, away from the wasteland to a hill with star-stones and many bones.

Shaman-girl, Berri she was called, had fed them with silver-scales from the running waters. Osran had thought Berri was GreatBow’s shaman, but that was not the case. When GreatBow said it was the time of choosing, both she and Lothi had readied themselves for the men. In fact, Osran had hoped that GreatBow would chose her, she had been tingling with the anticipation of receiving his shaft. However, that was when the sand-skin woman said no. When Ijah spoke, GreatBow heard and he listened. Then the strange woman had taken them to the star-stones and Berri had told them they only had to go to their knees for a man they wanted to be with. They also could chose to go where they wanted, free to stay with the band, or travel the many-lands, they could even join another band or make their own. Berri, it seemed, was Ijah’s shaman-girl.

Lothi had chosen to go with the other softskins, she hoped to be able to rejoin her lost kin who lived somewhere to the north. Osran had been sad to leave her friend, but happy the woman might find her true family. Osran had no family, but she had been too impressed with Ijah not to ask Berri if she could travel the many-lands with them. When Berri told her that Ijah was not a war-leader, Osran had been confused. Though, by the next morning she had resolved to learn the ways of the many-lands and she knew that she would have to better understand the softskin language.

Osran had watched her two new companions throughout the day. To her, they acted as shaman and war-leader. Berri babbled about strange and diverse things, often talking to the horse, birds and other animals as if they understood her. Ijah was wary of her surroundings, alert for possible dangers and when she grew sick of hearing Berri talk, a dark scowl silenced the girl. Typical behaviour between war-leader and shaman.

What was not typical were the dawn stretches that they had done, nor the lack of bluster from Ijah. There was no boasting, no threats and there did not seem to be the same division of labour that would have been present within her band. They both carried their own needful things and they had both lead the horse at various points through the day. Berri behaved like a gatherer at times and neither of them had asked her to do anything. A proper war-leader would have given Osran a good beating to make sure she knew her place and all the tasks of carrying the useful things, cooking and providing pleasure would have fallen on her shoulders.

Ijah mostly ignored her. Berri talked to her a lot, but as with other shamans, the things she said often made no sense. All things considered, Osran figured she could have been in worse circumstances, though the situation was certainly confusing and sometimes rather uncomfortable. During the second day, as they traversed a broad path that ran alongside a gurgling brook, Osran decided to test the limits of her new found freedom. Gradually she allowed herself to fall behind the other two, when she was no longer in sight of them she headed off to the southwest, cutting through the woodland.

After a long while, there was no sign that either of them had come looking for her. She stopped and listened, the greenlands were full of all sorts of animals and lush vegetation. There was no scent of wood smoke in the air and no other signs that anyone was anywhere near her. Osran could not remember ever being alone like this, certainly not for so much of a day. It was both thrilling and disquieting. If there had been a dune of fine sand around she would have stripped down and taken a bath. The ground here was not sandy though, rich with death it held dampness, all manner of insects and was full of all the little plant feet.

An unusual feeling crept through her, she felt like laughter should happen or like she had been given meat still hot from the flames. She gave a deep bellow, roaring with exhilaration and started to run. She cared not for being silent nor sneaky, she was free, so she ran. She raced between the trees, crashing through the greenlands, birds and small animals fled from her path.

She ran until she could no longer do so. When she finally came to a stop her heart was racing. She felt good. The sun was high in the sky, near the middle of the day. She had stopped on a tree covered hilltop and discovered the tallest tree she had ever seen. Its skin was a silver-grey colour and it rose twenty paces above any of its neighbours. With reckless abandon she started to climb, this was no soft skinned tree, her rough nails barely marred the outer layer. She made it nearly to the top before she was forced to stop, the upper part of the tree swayed disconcertingly and she nearly lost her grip.

She laughed with joy and looked around in all directions. The greenlands were beautiful; trees, hills, isolated glades, rocky outcroppings, winding brooks and steams, small pools and distant homesteads of the softskins could be seen in all directions. The wind was strong and the tree swayed gently back and forth. She shouted and bellowed until her throat felt raw, somewhere not far off a wild cat gave a cry of protest. Smiling, Osran quieted, enjoying the view, breathing heavily from her exertions and the thrill of her new found freedom.

Eventually she scrambled back down the tree, when she reached the ground she took the time to watch and listen. It was entirely possible she had attracted unwanted attention but she did not detect anything of concern. She retrieved her needful and useful things that she had left at the base of the tree and then headed generally southeast. It took a long time before she found the trail by the brook and she could not find her companions tracks, though she did see that a number of goblins had passed through the area, cutting across the path, then down to the brook. She did not bother to see where they had come out along the brook, instead she headed north along the path.

Eventually, as the sun was sinking into the hills, she found her companions. They had made a small camp near a modest falls with many pools of water among the rocks. Berri was cooking silver-scales over a fire and Ijah was sitting quietly nearby, her eyes mostly closed, her breathing slow and deep.

Osran was not surprised to see a few crows skulking within the nearby tree branches, she figured the black birds were Berri’s totem animal. She momentarily felt some trepidation. What if her absence had upset Ijah? Would she be punished?

Ijah did not stir and Berri glanced up casually with her foolish grin and asked, “You hungry? The fish are nearly ready. There’s some really nice pools, deep and full of fish and good for taking a bath. After we eat we’re going to bathe and clean some clothing. Was your day good?”

“Most good. Glad to come with you twos to the many-lands. Happy.” Osran sat down near the fire, across from Berri.

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