The Story Of Shadonhess
This story might also be found in FA under by my other internet name, WinterSky13.
This little bit you are about to read is something about my characters past, as well as something that might be incorporated in the final book... Some characters names, origin, and roles may change by the end however. If I do write the book, the following will more or less be a side story, or a kind of flashback, nothing too serious.
I have been working on this idea for a while, but this is the first time I actually written it out. If there are grammatical or spelling errors within, sorry... Also, this is more like a summary anyways, so if your wondering why not much time was put into it... well I guess that is not a very good excuse.
This was sometime before Rains rise to power.
Shadonhess is a male northern sergal (also my main character) in the Tribe Eltres (I dunno yet what clan). When he was really young, he spent most of his time alone, despite having the perfect opportunity to mingle with the other young sergs. Because of his non-social attitude, the other young ones would whisper rumors to one another about him that seemed to change as the wind does. His attitude made problems because he would not work well with others, preferring to instead work alone. This was not out of spite, nor did he think that working with others would slow him down. He just simply did not like being and working with others.
Still young, a small group of traveling sergals, one by the name of Eru from Tribe Decardet, had come to the relatively tiny village in which Shadonhess lived in hopes of finding a new home. They had gone off to hunt one day, and upon returning they found the camp empty of all life. They even looked at the tracks still fresh in the camp, and many seemed to just simply stop in one location or another, like they disappeared or were picked up from the sky right where they stood. After much discussion, they were allowed to be a part of the Tribe Eltres, although for a time they were watched closely to see if there was any trickery invloved.
Eru took an interest in Shadonhess from the moment he first encounterd him. Exactly why even he did not fully understand. Maybe it was because of how far apart Shadonhess distanced himself from others. Whatever it may have been, Eru tried to persuade Shadonhess to speak more, and to work more with others, in hopes to better understand him.
Eru was a healer, so often he tried to share what he knew about plants and the such with Shadonhess, in which he was pleased to discover the young man rather enjoyed.
Things took a turn for the worst as about the equivalent of one year came to pass. Eru's dearest friend, Mal, had a issue with learning language, so other than the sounds he might make when in danger, happy or otherwise, he rarely spoke words, though he was quite intelligent. He often made signs with his hands, like using his two fingers like they are walking and then pointing, meaning "go over there". While most of the signs he made were quite easy to understand, he was still often misunderstood. Yet he was kind and helpful in many ways.
He had a son who he had taken with him to hunt that day their camp disappeared, whose name was Amil. Amil was an albino sergal who was given special goggles by a trader so the light would not hurt his pink eyes. Although he was some years older than Shadonhess, they became great friends almost from the start.
One night, Mal had taken a torch, and running to and fro, caused many of the buildings to go up in flames. By the time it was realized what was happening, it was too late to try and stop him as much of the village was burning. What mattered most to the people at the time was surviving. Eru was able to find him amid the chaos, quite by accident. Mal was at that time attempting to focus all of his efforts at arson on one particular building... the one where Shadonhess was sleeping in. Not knowing who he faced, Eru took grabbed hold of the torch and used it on Mal, but as he fell, Eru then realized who it was.
In anger and shock, Eru started to choke Mal but could not. Mal would tell Eru in his imperfect speech as he cried that he must leave but Eru refused and instead, ignoring the heat and smoke and obvious impending danger, insisted Mal tell why he did it. Mal refused thrice, and angrily Eru used the torch to burn Mal's face, who then cried that Shadonhess would want to die and that he told him through means even he could not understand. He had said this in almost perfect speech. Eru was even more angered by this and used the torch again until he realized what he was doing to his friend. Even more shocked, he stopped and left Mal where he was, whose cries and whimpers from his burns could even be heard over the roaring fires as clear as day.
Eru, hoping to save Shadonhess if he was indeed in the building, went in and found him, Amil, and two young sisters still alive but choking on the smoke. Upon leading them out of the building through a window, Eru noticed Mal was nowhere in sight. While leaving the village, Eru looked for him but was still unable to find him.
In that one night, more than half of the village's population perished. It was concluded that there was more than one man or woman responsible for the fire, as too many fires were being started at that one time, but Mal was the only one who was seen. When the remaining villagers regrouped, they made plans to go back to the village to see if there might be anyone or anything still there. Yet the fire had spread into the wood, causing them to have to wait for a few days in order to return safely.
Most of the buildings had fallen completely in the flames, while others where blackened, charred, and falling apart. The sight angered the villagers and some of those of the Eltres Tribe lashed out at the now very few Decardet, thinking that they had planned this all along. After one of the Decardets were killed by stone, order was finally found, but the remaining, including Eru and Amil, had to stay in a small group bound at the arms and hands to each other for a long time. Shadonhess spoke up here, trying to take up for the remaining Decardet Tribe. While many were suprised at his sudden will to speak, his words still did not matter.
And so the story begins...