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Chapter One


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#1 Guest_Dwagon_*

Posted 27 October 2002 - 10:47 AM

Tanara lay curled up on the hard bed, doing her best to stifle her tears, lest they wake her husband. She had learnt the folly of doing that the hard way. She had not been married long before she realised the punishment for disturbing, or upsetting, her husband in any way. It was peculiar, she thought, for all that her husband went on about her weakness, her pathetic, mewling weakness, he was the one who was so easily upset. Almost anything she did could be guaranteed to send him into one of his rages. And what rages they were, she mused silently...this night's one had been no exception, leaving her body bruised and soul beaten.

The worst of it, Tanara knew, was the fact that though most of the village knew what occurred in the Darson hut, no one would say or do anything to help her. For her husband was the chieftain's son, and the apple of his eye. Had her clan still been alive, she could have fled to them for sanctuary, but they had been dead for over a year now, victims of one of the virulent pestilence's that often ripped across the plains, like a starving wolverine in a frenzy; killing, killing and killing, until none were left. Tradition had it that those whose clans succumbed to such pestilences were forever cursed with ill luck. For these two reasons, none in the Masked Bear clan would raise a finger to aid her. Most ignored her, for friendship with her was sure to invite bad luck upon themselves and their families, and none wished it. Children kept away from her, and none of the other women would stop to draw water with her at the well, or sit with her in the bath tent.

Dar often said his beatings were an attempt to 'beat the evil' out of her 'foul heart'. So often had she heard this phrase that she herself began to believe it. The only member of the clan to treat with any of the respect due to one of her ancient lineage was Emel, a guard in the service of her husband. Emel was seventeen, only a year older than herself, and would sometimes sit and talk with her. She had come to relish those talks, the only time when she was treated like a human being among the clan.

Tanara ran a hand over her belly, wincing at the bruises there, when she noticed a slight swelling. A flash of elation rushed through her suddenly, I am pregnant! At long last! Well, that explains why my bleeding had been late recently. How long have I prayed for this...a child of my own...the highlight of my short, harsh life. I wonder if Dar will stop beating me, if only for fear of hurting his child. Tanara sighed - knowing Dar, he'll just find another way to make my life a living hell. Perhaps he'll even accuse me of adultery, she mused. The Clan penalty for a woman bearing a child that was not her husband's was severe to say the least. The child would be killed, the woman sold into slavery, and the man exiled. No, that is beyond even Dar, she reassured herself, he knows that I am too cowed for that, she thought ruefully.

She stiffened as Dar shifted in his sleep, before relaxing as she realised he was not going to wake up. I will check with the shaman tomorrow, to confirm my pregnancy, then tell Dar. That was her last thought as she drifted into the deep, dark mists of sleep.

Dar awoke, in a foul mood. His stupid excuse for a wife was making him breakfast, but she should have known better than to wake him with her noise. Giving up on sleep, he rose and pulled on a tunic. Marching into the kitchen he saw the ugly cow standing at the table, cutting fish. The disobedient bitch did not even turn to acknowledge the entrance of her lord and master into the kitchen. I have ways to get her attention though. he thought viciously.

Tanara was lost in thought about her unborn child and did not hear Dar's footsteps behind her. A sharp blow to the back of her head drove her face into the table, and split her lip engulfing her face with an all too familiar feeling of pain. She rose, her lip bleeding profusely, and saw her furious husband standing in front of her. She bent before him, murmuring apologies for her lack of respect, but Dar was not in a listening mood. A casual backhand knocked her back against the table, and as she fell back, she felt the hilt of her fish knife dig into her spine.

'What have I told you about not giving me the respect I am due? Well? Answer me you stupid, pathetic excuse for a woman!' Dar shouted, his face white with anger, but his first blow to her face forestalled any attempt at an answer, but Tanara knew answers would not stop him. 'You are a cursed woman, who should count herself lucky that I have not cast her out, but you repay my kindness and consideration with nothing but blatent disrespect!' Another blow followed, this one across the bottom of her face. 'How dare you not give me the respect I am due! Your evil ways need mending, you useless, mewling whore!'

And he began to mend her ways in the only way he knew...with a rain of blows, which worked their way down her body, like the monsoon rains beating on the parched lands of her home.

Tanara was used to such abuses, and did not even cry out, but this appeared to goad Dar's anger. He fastened his hands around her neck, in a tight stranglehold, foiling her attempts to breathe, while his knee drew back, to get a clear hit at her lower body. Desperate with fear, for her unborn child, she clawed at her Dar, her body writhing like a weasel in a sack in an attempt to break free.

'Don't fight what you know you deserve, bitch!' he shouted in anger at Tanara's futile attempts to free herself. Her hand groped across the table top she was pinioned against, and found her knife. Without even thinking while almost paralysed with fear, she grabbed the knife with the last of her strength and stabbed it into Dar's ribcage. The sudden sharp pain caused Dar to rear back, his face white with pain, not anger, as Tanara continued to stab him, time and time again, until his blood covered her arms and hands like some strange red tide on a pale brown sea.

Tanara did not stop stabbing Dar until long after he was dead.

But her screams of rage did not stop until several strong Clansmen pulled her from his corpse.





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