Canisa & Ruke

Chapter 1 The slave Canisa reclined in the cell. While she couldn’t say that her current life in prison was unbearable, exactly, dark doubts did still linger and distract: What exactly was her purchaser, a human mage, up to? Everyone was locked up here with nothing to do every day but be examined with all physical changes carefully recorded. Canisa stretched languidly, her gaze flickering across the other slaves. She’d only been here a few days, and was only now more or less familiar with the others. She spotted the figure of Ruke lurking amidst the shadows, only to find him looking right back at her. She couldn’t help but glare at him, but he just smiled contemptuously and rattled his chains by shaking his glorious mane, of which he was so proud. Despite everyone being equal prisoners here, Canisa still clearly recalled the atrocities committed by the Leonine against the Satyrs. The two clans lived at the opposite ends of a tributary in Dura’s Gift, and bore long-standing historical enmity. Many of Canisa’s kin had perished in battle against the Leonine and, after their clan’s defeat, many of those who had been taken prisoner became slaves. So it was that Canisa had been passed through the hands of many slave traders, only to end up here. She’d never expected to see Ruke here and, from his appearance at least, life is not so easy for Leonine now. Canisa held her head high in reply, but just then happened to catch sight of the skylight embedded in the ceiling. The sun had just set, and while the sky was still ablaze with the afterglow, the Burning Plume of Obsiornis at the zenith was particularly dazzling. Canisa woke with a start in the middle of the night. The full moon shone brightly, making it easy for her to spot Ruke’s furtive actions. Ha! No wonder he’d skulked in the shadows all day, preventing anyone from getting too close- it appeared there was a small hole in the wall! “Ahem…” Canisa cleared her throat quietly. A nearby bearfolk, lost in slumber, made an incoherent noise and rolled over irritably. Ruke paused, his head turning immediately towards the door of the prison. When no guards were seen, he looked around and was faced with Canisa’s sly smirk. The next day, Ruke intentionally picked a fight with a nearby centaur, who eventually moved off indignantly to the opposite corner. Seeing this, Canisa immediately stood up and began to sneeringly mock Ruke, while arrogantly gathering her chains and moving across to sit beside him. The whole while, her face bore an expression which seemed to say “And what are you going to do about it?” That evening, Ruke continued to subtly pry bricks from the wall using a link of his chain. He would remove each one, before placing it gently back in the hole. In this way, although the hole in the wall appeared only the size of a single brick, in reality a sizable area had been loosened. “One big push and I’ll be out of here! But you…You’ll just get stuck! Stuck in the hole and waiting to die ahaha!” Canisa spoke softly, watching in satisfaction as Ruke’s expression darkened, as her hand continued to toy with the loose bricks. The third day, the corpse of a Jackalman was placed in front of the cell door. It transpired that he had been a prisoner in another cell, who had caused a little trouble and taken advantage of the commotion to attack the guards. Alas, he had not considered that the heavy iron bars could have been enchanted with a terrible curse, which led to a horrible and agonizing demise. The human mage who had collected them all here place the Jackalman’s body at the door of each cell, as a reminder to behave. The whole prison was abuzz with the news and, according to a Falkin, this Jackalman had been betrayed by another prisoner, apparently as part of some feud between their clans. When she heard this, Canisa couldn’t help but glance over at Ruke, and the two of them eyed each other suspiciously. Just then, a snake which had slithered in between the bars and wrapped itself around a Centaur’s hind hoof was violently shaken off. Everyone else was distracted by this, and the grabbed torches to drive the snake off. Canisa, however, looked away and remained silent. When night fell, the two of them began shifting the bricks once more. Neither of them said a word. Canisa estimated that, barring any accident, it would take another three days for Ruke to be able to break through the wall. After that, she would no longer have to spare a thought about her Leonine enemy. Chapter 2 An accident, however, was soon to occur. There was something very wrong with the food today. It was like some grubs or worms had found their way into it- and thence into the body of whoever ate it. Canisa shivered and shook her head, hoping it was just her imagination. But it didn’t take long before she was wracked with a jolt of searing agony, and she felt as if all her innards cramped at once, her organs all twisting and constricting around each other. Looking around at the other prisoners, she saw their faces contorted and pained too. Was it possible they were afflicted with the same sickness? As she collapsed to the ground, Canisa gazed up at the skylight in despair, the Finch Tail constellation blurring and fading in her vision. “C’mon, hold it together.” A gentle, supportive voice spoke in her ear. As Canisa slowly swam back to consciousness, she saw the speaker to unexpectedly be none other than the human mage. Shocked, she could not even muster a response, but only look around at the several torch-bearing doctors who stood nearby and surrounded the human mage, and they all seemed poised and waiting for something to happen. “The filth in your veins will soon be cleansed, and the Ya will recover their pure humanity. Be patients just a little longer, we are on the verge of ushering a new era of peace.” His tone may have been gentle and kind, but Canisa felt as though she’d just been sucker punched. She finally understood the reason behind the constant physical monitoring. Suddenly, a furious roar came from the prison. It was Ruke! No, not just Ruke. The Falkin, Bearfolk, and Centaurs were roaring too…And Canisa. A guttural despairing wail came from the throats of every prisoner as they endured the seething pain which boiled within. They struggled to reach the human mage or even bite him, but were too exhausted. None could get close to him, let alone inflict a wound. He only looked upon them arrogantly, his expression expectant. A final surge of regret hit Canisa, as she lamented how generations of internal Mauler conflict had caused them all to forget their greatest foe. Had they but one more ally, they would have escaped long ago. But as it was, she and Ruke did not trust the Bearfolk, nor the Centaurs, and thus the were now reaping the consequence of this distrust. The snake undulated easily in between the bars. It looked at the fallen prisoners, lying in pools of blood, and closed its eyes. It inhaled long and deeply, seeming to relish the iron tang of blood in the air. “What a rich, delicious aroma! So many humans…Such intense hatred.” “No! Not human!” Canisa screamed in silence to herself. It was too humiliating, a Mauler warrior perishing not on the battlefield, but in a ridiculous experiment arrogantly designed to turn Maulers into humans! The Hypogean chuckled cruelly, as if taunting Canisa: “But your body has really changed…I wonder, if you’re truly human now?” No! No! Not human! “No? Very well then… If you surrender yourselves to me.” Chapter 3 Canisa felt a little strange when she finally woke up. She turned her head, and say a wing erupting from her arm, a wing eerily reminiscent of those of the Falkin…She did a double take, as it didn’t appear to even be her arm. As for her leg…And, uh, what about her tail? The snake rippled into sight from behind her, flicking its forked tongue at her. Canisa couldn’t help but laugh, as was this her new body? Her Mauler brethren were with her now, she could feel herself brimming with their strength! Never again would she dread the frail human form… “Hey, your horn poked me.” Canisa looked to the other side, and came face to face with Ruke. They looked into each other’s eyes. Ha! Just as well. The Maulers could never really have been joined any other way. She and Ruke would have a good long time together. Long enough to argue their fill, and settle old scores. The next moment Canisa was laughing as she smashed the chains with her giant Bearfolk paw, while Ruke snatched the mage’s torch with his teeth and began setting the whole prison systematically alight. "Who would want to become human?! Arrogant idiot!"