Original Submissions by Barzelene

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  Almost True Story of Eems, The Raider, The
  Added on Feb 2, 2005

  A girl tells the story of a famous raider to the crew she has fallen in with.

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  They gathered around the fire. Outside the cave, the wind blew and tumbled. Inside, the smell of roasted scrab permeated everything. The two wind-tattered time worn men huddled around the roasting meat and with them a little girl. They were all thin, and they all drooled as the meat cooked.

  All three looked up when the thick one walked in. Since they wouldn't tell her their names, she thought of them as the tall one, the skinny one, and the thick one. Mekuria stood and walked toward him. "Here he is!" Then to the thick one, "You got away."

  The thick one said, "I 'ad ta deal wit all of 'em, got lucky an lost 'em all but one." The thick one had distracted the gith as the rest of the group escaped back to their cave, or home as Mek liked to think of it.

  Mek said, in her squeaky little voice, "I was so scared I thought I'd pee on myself."

  The thick one looked for a long moment at the tall one, who understood in the way that men who work together for a long time understand without words. The thick one told Mek, "Ya wanted life in tha wastes...ya got it."

  The thick one settled in close to the fire's heat, and pushed back the hood of his dusty brown aba.

  The thin one turned the slab of meat, exposing a perfectly browned underside. Mek sat forward and watched the cooking meat, with sleepy eyes. "Being a raider is tiring."

  Peering up from the meat, the thin one said, "How old are ya, eh?"

  "I'm twelve. How old are you?"

  As he fiddled with the spit the thin one said, "'Round forty somewhere."

  Mek nodded and said, "That's old."

  The three men had another silent exchange then one asked "Where is yer parents?"

  With an insouciant grin, Mek said, "Home saying, 'Where is that girl?'"

  Laughing, the scarred, thick one said, "You ran away from home?"

  "They want me to 'do something with my life.' And this wasn't what they had in mind."

  For a moment, the only sound was the sizzling of the meat and the abrasion of sand on stone. Finally, one of the men opined, "You should go home...yer lucky to 'ave a mother an father."

  "This aint an easy life."

  "Go home and say what? 'Yes I'll go be a merchant and learn to sew and sit in a shop till I'm dead?'"

  The thick one said, "Yer missen out on a lot if you stay with us."

  Mek said, "I hope so."

  Holding out a bit of perfectly roasted scrab, the thin one said, "Eat this."

  Around a mouthful Mek said, "You'll be glad you let me stay. I've always wanted to be a raider."

  "Aint an easy life...aint like sayen "I a'ways wanted ta be a noble"."

  Mek said, "I wanted to be a raider ever since I heard of Eems. Since I was little."

  The tall one said in his creaky voice, "You're still little."

  Waving his comment away, she said, "Of course, we're going to need veils, but we're on the right track."

  The thick one chuckled and took another bite of his meat. "Been doen a'right without 'em fer 'bout twenty years."

  Mek shook her head adamantly, "No, to do it correctly, you have to wear a veil."

  Breaking into a grin that showed broken teeth, the tall one said, "Oh, really?"

  "Oh yes. Like the story."

  "What story is this, little one?"

  Rolling her eyes as she lost patience, Mek said, "Eems the Raider. You have to know it. I can't remember it all, so I have to make some of it up. You tell me if it sounds right." Then Mekuria began to speak, at first with her mouth full of scrab, and later as the fire burned low, with lips that held just a residue of grease.

  "A long long time ago, in a city in the south lived a man named Eems. Eems worked as a guard for a rich and powerful woman. They spent most of their time together; he escorted her everywhere."

  Thin said "No, no, 'worked as a guard'....was head guard for something better than just worked."

  Mek nodded and said, "Was personal guard for?"

  Thick said, "Tha works."

  "Eventually he became her confidant and later her lover." Mek's voice skipped a little on the word lover, and she had to cover her mouth to stop an impending giggle. The men waited politely for the girl to continue the story.

  "At first, everything was fine, but as he became more devoted to her, she became more careless with his affections."

  Tall interrupted, "Average woman."

  Mek glided over the interjection, though she gave Tall a meaningful look. "Broken hearted, Eems decided to resign his post. Now, while this woman (And personally I think she was probably a Fale) did not return Eems' love, she did not intend to let him go. They argued bitterly and eventually she had him beaten."

  Thick said, his tone bawdy, "I wonder if she's still available."

  Raising her voice, Mek went on. "Determined that Eems never work for anyone else she had his cheeks branded with her house sigil."

  Thick muttered, "My kinda girl."

  Even louder, Mek repeated, "Determined that Eems never work for anyone else she had his cheeks branded with her house sigil."

  The three men tossed smiles across the fire, but kept silent as Mek took up her tale once more.

  "Eems' passion had shifted from affection to loathing, and he stole from the estate one night with a bag full of valuables, his armor and a slave named Gaidon."

  Thick, unable to resist, asked, "How'd 'e get the slave in a bag?"

  The tall one could no longer hold back the laughter. "I love how "a slave" is on the list of stuff he took with him like a slave is a bag of tubers."

  And the thin one contributed, "P'raps 'e was a talented packer."

  Sniffing indignantly, Mek lay down and worked at fixing her cloak so it covered her totally. She rolled the hood into a small pillow and prepared to flounce into sleep. From the fire came a question. "What was the slave's name?"

  "I'm not telling you."

  A deep voice rumbled, "Gaidon."

  Mek sat up and crossed her legs under her. She nodded and said, though a bit petulantly, "Yes, Gaidon. Now pay attention. Eems and Gaidon left the city to live in the wastes and for a time everything went well. But eventually they ran out of sid. Eems sunk into despair and Gaidon was left to deal with the practicalities of how they were going to make it on their own with no sid to speak of. One day while Gaidon was out hunting scrab, he came across a soldier, sleeping in the sands. Now, Gaidon, had no affection for the city's soldiers so he tied the soldier up and walked away with everything he owned."

  Thick nodded and said, "I like it so far."

  "Where was I?"

  "Tied 'im up."

  "Yes. Well, Gaidon returned to Eems with sid, supplies, and a new lightness in his heart. Turned out robbing that soldier was the most fun he'd ever had. Gaidon figured this was just the thing to draw Eems out of his funk."

  "We're sunk inta despair, let's go kill and loot!"

  "Shh, let da girl speak."

  "Eems had reservations about turning to a life of crime. For one thing, it seemed rude, and for another with his branded face he was easily recognized. Gaidon convinced him to tie his veil over his face and try it just once."

  "Again with the veils."

  "Mek just spoke louder and went on with her story. They waited on the road until a traveler came by. They hailed the man but when he stopped, Eems found himself unable to knock him down and take his belongings. Instead, he engaged him in conversation."

  One of the men laughed. "Conversation."

  "No, I like it."

  "They talked about the weather, and the political climate. Eems asked the traveler where he was headed. Gaidon asked if he wouldn't like to give them a few sid. When the man refused Eems lopped off his head, and they took his kank and his belongings."

  Tall said, "Just like that? Maybe the man should be belligerent. Ya went from 'Eems found himself unable to knock him down and take his belongings' to 'When the man refused, Eems lopped off his head.' How'd that happen?"

  Thin said, "'E needs to make a comment on 'is past lover."

  "Yeah."

  Mek nodded, and then went on. "Ok, so he becomes this big raider politely engaging people in conversation and killing them when they're rude. He only ever took half their stuff if they were nice. He meets a beautiful woman and convinces her to live in the wastes with Gaidon and himself. The people they like the best they ask to join them in the wastes. One day the stumble upon his old employer, and even though she's rude they do not kill her. They leave her naked and sidless in the road as they ride off into the horizon."

  "What do you think?"

  Tall said, "Leave a naked woman?"

  Thin said, "Are they crazy?"

  Giving up on the men, Mekuria settled back into her cloak. She soon fell into a deep and still sleep. She woke to a small insect walking across her cheek. She sat up and brushed off her face. The rays of the sun crept into the stone home, illuminating the men. All three had covered their faces with bits of torn cloth arranged to look like veils.

  They gathered around the fire. Outside the cave, the wind blew and tumbled. Inside, the smell of roasted scrab permeated everything. The two wind-tattered time worn men huddled around the roasting meat and with them a little girl. They were all thin, and they all drooled as the meat cooked.

  ...

  
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