A Dark Secret

I ran down the hall quickly, not daring to look back. My breath came in heavy, short bursts, and I heard the soft, but quick, patter of footsteps behind me. I turned a sharp corner, and continued running, hoping, begging, that I could make it out alive, but knowing deep down that I wouldn't make it. As I neared the exit I also knew I was nearing the end. Suddenly I felt a quick rush of air pass by my neck, and the beast behind me screamed in rage and, from the quickening rush of steps, begann to attack me. Again I felt the same rush and then a soft thud, and all was silent. I stopped, almost reluctantly, and turned around. There behind me lay a wolf of immense proportions. Once glowing runes were now dull and dripped blood. Two arrows were buried in it's barrel-like chest. It was dead, but now another question arose. Who was my savior, and what did they gain by saving me?

I was suddenly reluctant to even move. My first instinct, and action, was to crouch down and move into the shadows, hoping that whoever it was didn't see me. As I did so I heard the soft shuffle of leather on stone and something blocked the light coming from the door.

"I know you hoped I didn't see you, but I did. You can come out now. As you can see your adversary is dead and if I wanted to kill you, I would have."

Still reluctant to be seen, I had to admit to myself that he was right. So slowly, cautiously, I moved into the light and stood up, keeping one hand tight on my bow the whole time. I looked into the eyes of my savior and opened my mouth to speak before he cut me off.

"Not now little one. There is a time and place for questions, and answers, and tales; however, that time is not now. Run with me. We must reach camp before nightfall."

Closing my mouth I nodded acceptance and ran out the door, and into the sunlit sand dunes. The man, or creature as I had still not seen his face, had already started running to the south, so I took off after him. We ran for hours. By the time we reached his camp, then sun was almost to the horizon.

"Eat first, questions after." He said suddenly. "Crew, come meet our guest."

At these last words the shadows shifted suddenly, and about 5 more men and women appeared next to him and looked at me smiling. A tall, graceful-moving, woman approached me and hugged me.

"Welcome, friend. It is good to hear that our efforts, or rather Zeos', were not wasted. Welcome to our camp. I know you must have many questions, but as Zeos said, now is the time to eat, and then you may ask us what you please."

I couldn't deny her request, because I was indeed hungry. I took a seat by the fire and was served a bowl of steaming, hot soup, which I gobbled down greedily. After I had eaten 4 more bowls, I sat back and closed my eyes while I waited. After a few minutes I felt a heavy silence press around me and I knew it was time to talk. I opened my eyes and looked around me into each of person's face.

"I would tell you my name, but I have a feeling you already know it."

" I could tell you where I came from, my childhood memories, but I will start with how I got to where I am. I left my homeland, the province of N'mael at the age of 17, which was around 4 years ago, I am not sure how old I am, or when I was born, for not too long after I left home I was ambushed and drugged and kidnapped, taken to the Dark Lands in the north. I don't remember much of the trip there, but being shoved and chained. Shuffling along slowly, I only recall the smell of my captors, who I found out later were the hideous goblins of Ik'nish. I judged the days by how they fed us. Which was about every 3 or 4 days. It took roughly a year to reach the shadow border. By then half of the other captors had dropped dead, their bodies broken and emaciated. I was barely alive, but within a few days we entered the Nemesis' palace. We were then bathed and fed, every day.
After.....I forget how long it was.... They put us in training, for an army I assume. Soon after I got strong enough, I was a renowned fighter in my home country, and shortly became renowned in the arena, I escaped"

"I managed to borrow a horse from a guard I was on good terms with, and as they began to close the arena gates, I ran. The gates were large, heavy pieces of metal connected to immense stone walls that stood near a hundred feet high. As you can imagine it took the gatekeepers a while to close, but I still only barely made it through. As the doors boomed shut behind me, I could hear the faint tumult that had erupted with my departure, but I did not stop, nor did I look behind me. I rode on until I felt my horse needed a rest. I found a cave in southern regions of this very desert and broke camp for the night. Finding food was easy, as I grew up learning to hunt these animals and shortly I was eating scorpion drinking cactus water. I then fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up the next day the sun was already past its peak, so I took that as my hint to start riding again.
I must have ridden a great many leagues that day for soon I was in unfamiliar territory. That was when I first noticed them.
At first I didn't even know if they were people, they moved quickly, almost like shadows. But when I caught my first glimpse of one of them I noticed they were indeed people, but other than that I paid no attention to them. I assumed they were just curious about the stranger in their territory.
Shortly after nightfall I noticed a large building in the distance. I decided that I would ride to it and ask for a place to stay the night. By then the people had left me, so I broke into a fast trot.
When I reached the building the first thing I noticed was how broken down and dilapidated it was. The large stones were covered in moss and many of them were chipped or cracked. A large pedestal next to the entrance held two large stone feet, the remnants to a great statue of, what I imagined, was some great deity or leader. On the opposite side of the entrance was a broken sign, the letters wiped away by the sands of time.
Instinct told me to turn away, but I decided it would be safer than nothing, so I tied my horse up outside and stepped through the entrance. I walked maybe a hundred feet before I found the first room, luckily there was some straw in it, so I decide to sleep there. I spread the straw across the floor and pulled my cloak around me, and I slept."

"It could not have been more than a few hours when I was awoken by a loud blast, and a burning sensation touching my cheek. I opened my eyes to see three cloaked men standing over me and a hole in the wall behind me. Immediately my survival instincts kicked in. I pulled out the knife I had stuck in my boot a cut open one of the men's calves, laying open the muscle and bone. As he went down screaming I rolled away from the strangers, and just in time, as I hear a loud clanging noise, like that of metal on stone, behind me. I jumped up and ran down the corridor I had come through not but a few hours prior. One of the two uninjured men must have stayed back to assist his fallen comrade as I only heard one set of boots shuffling along behind me.
I didn't dare look back. My training had taught me that is how you die, so I kept running, mentally retracing my steps to the entrance. And then, well you know what happened next. One of your people saved me, and then I was brought here."
"That is my story, now would you care to tell me why you have brought me here, and better yet, who you are?"
I looked around at each of their faces and then to the man that had brought me here. He then looked at the woman who had spoken to me first, who nodded.
"Come with me." The man muttered, in a barely audible tone.
He stood up and without warning, started walking off. I followed in haste, careful not to be left behind.