Kana's Fate
Another quickie I've had rattling around in my brain for a while.
Kana rested the branch on the ground as she watched the wolf watching her, looking for an opening. As a weapon it left a great deal to be desired, but given the time and resources at her disposal it was the best she'd been able to come up with. Silently, she cursed the city-folk for their cruelty in not only robbing her of all her possessions - the itchy, probably flea-infested blanket they'd given her was a poor substitute for the cloth woven by her own tribe - but also ruining her body, leaving her as she was now a gross parody of her former self. Gods, even just standing up too long was tiring now, which didn't give her much hope here, but still, she had to try, had to do everything possible to survive. With her end seeming near, however, she couldn't stop her mind wandering back to that fateful time...
Kana glared fiercely at her captors, unable to do much else thanks to being bound wrist and ankle to an upright log. The group before her consisted of four individuals, two guards, well armed and armoured, and two others more sumptuously dressed, one decidedly fat and attired in very colourful coat and trousers, the other thinner and clad in plainer clothes, though with a long robe. Finally, the fat one spoke, in understandable, if not good Kierling, "you have words for protection?", which she took to mean "you have anything to say in your defence?"
"None to you," Kana replied.
"Very so," the fat one said, then spoke to the robed one, though what he said Kana couldn't understand.
Suddenly, the robed one raised his hands to her head, she tried to wriggle out, perhaps to bite him, but stopped moving when she suddenly felt the cold, sharp tips of two sword on her neck. The robed one quirked his mouth at her expression of impotent rage, and placed his hands on her forehead-
Kana shivered as her mind returned to the present, though memories of her raids, including the very bloody attack on 'the women's place' still played in her mind. The fat one and the robed one exchanged a short conversation, and then the fat one turned to her, "you very savage."
"And you're fat," Kana replied, "and if you're expecting me to beg for my life, don't bother, take your pound of flesh."
"Take," the fat one said, "we not take, we give."
"What," Kana asked, what d'you mean by that?"
"As punishing you given one pound each war kill, two pounds each [unintelligible] and one pound each baby," the fat one said, smiling, "then we see who fat." Kana struggled to work out what the fat one was meaning, his broken Kierling was good enough for simple statements, but this sounded more complex, and more threatening. But what did that mean? She didn't have long to wait though, as the robed one began chanting, which went on for perhaps fifteen seconds, before he reached forward and touch her forehead with a hand.
Suddenly, Kana felt herself balloon out, as dozens of pounds of extra flesh flowed onto her lithe but well-muscled frame. Looking down, she found she could see little past her pendulous breasts, but what she could wasn't encouraging. Soon she did see though, as the fat one stepped forward and pulled out an object, which turned out to be what she'd heard was called a 'mirror'. She grimaced as she saw her face now, rounded and heavy, and knew that it was but a small part of what had been done to her. Momentarily, she felt movement behind her, but before she could panic, she felt first her left, and then her right ankles freed from their bonds, quickly followed by her wrists, for which she was thankful, since her arms were now burning with pain.
Once free, she summoned her anger and advanced on the robed one, to make him turn her back. Unused to her new weight however, she managed to get but one step before falling forward, landing painfully on the palms of her hands and her knees, "aaah!" She quickly made to get up, but found it impossible thanks to her lower legs no longer responding.
Suddenly she was confronted the fat one, who crouched in front of her and smirking, said, "now who fat?"
"Go to Terath," Kana replied savagely. Shifting her weight, she lifted a hand to make a grab at his throat, but he moved quicker than she did, grabbing her wrist. She struggled, trying to free her hand, but his grip was too strong. Nevertheless, she continued struggling, until he suddenly raised his hand and slapped her across the face, "aah!" Then the fat one stood, leaving her holding her stinging, plump cheek, and spoke to one of his companions, who immediately left.
After a few more minutes, Kana finally recovered enough to be able to use her legs again, but even then, standing up from hands and knees without assistance proved to be nearly impossible, handicapped as she was by the excess weight recently imposed on her. Things got no better either, when very soon after, the guard who had left, returned, with a folded piece of cloth, and a metal hoop on a chain. She watched hatefully as the guard approached, wondering what was going on, and then struggling greatly when the hoop turned out to be a collar. She raised a hand, trying to get it off as it was locked in place, but then the other guard stepped on her good hand, lightly, but with the expression on his face that he could press down heavily is he wished, such as if she didn't stop struggling. Shooting the guard a hateful look, she nevertheless acquiesced and stopped moving, allowing the collar to be done up, the cold metal chilling her now rather sensitive neck.
After the collar was in place, the guards moved in and grabbed Kana under the arms, helping her roughly to her feet, after which she was given the folded cloth, which turned out to be a large, itchy woollen blanket. The fat one stepped in front of her and said, "you go." He then spoke to the guards, who then proceed to half lead, half drag her over to the door, along a corridor, and to the bottom of a staircase, the excess flesh she'd been cursed with jiggling distractingly at every step. She looked up it doubtfully, with her new weight, even the short journey to here had had a not great, but not-unnoticeable affect on her stamina, so climbing this staircase...
Kana, however, had no opportunity as the guard in front of her drew her forward with the chain on her collar, while the one behind prodded her with his sword. And indeed the stairs proved to be as difficult as she'd feared, so that by half way up, she collapsed, too tired and sore to go any further no matter how much tugging and prodding was done. Silently, she cursed these city-folk, particularly the fat one and the robed one, before she'd have climbed these steps in a matter of moments, but now it took her more than a minute, and she had to stop for a rest half way up!
After about a minute, Kana was ready to finish her ascent, and was slightly gratified to find that in such a tight space, she was able to get up on her own, which was fortunate since it was too tight for either of the guards to offer much assistance had they even been inclined to. By the time she got to the top of the staircase she needed another rest, as much to rest her aching limbs as to catch her breath from the short, but hard ascent. As she sat there, the fat one and the robed one came up behind them, and passed them by, the fat one giving her a smirk and little wave as they turned a corner up ahead.
A few more minutes brought Kana and her escorts to the ground outside the palace, not at the front, but somewhere at the side, and another rest stop. Steps were bad news she decided, painfully hard to go up, and just painful to go down. Not that she had any choice in where she was led, her destiny wasn't hers to decide any more, she was no longer a feared and respected Kierling warchief, but a fat, weak, powerless woman with no skills that she could actually use any more.
By the time Kana made it to the gate of the old town perhaps a quarter-hour later, she was virtually spent. Not only was she utterly exhausted, but her legs felt like they were on fire, not only at the joints now, but now along their entire lengths, as her muscles joined in the protest at being forced to bear her immense weight. Nor had her legs been the only parts of her to suffer, for even though the streets they'd passed along had been far from the busiest, there had nevertheless been more than enough people around for her to feel self-conscious about her situation, especially when they actually deigned to notice her.
There was no respite however, as the guards continued to urge Kana on, caring only for the inconvenience she was causing them, rather than for her wellbeing. And so they continued, she now having to struggle not to cry out at every step from some ache or pain in her legs. Despite her initial hopes that they might just leave her on the edge of town, the guards take her some distance beyond the last serious habitation before finally letting her sit down. The road is fortunately almost deserted, looking more like a farm track than a major civic artery. Quickly, the guards finally remove the collar, and hurry back towards the town, leaving her alone.
Kana suddenly felt tears begin to roll down her plump cheeks as the guards disappeared from sight, no longer having a need, even in her own mind to hide her emotions. The nearest permanent Kierling encampment was at least four days away, four days by horseback, so how long it would take her only the gods knew, a whole moon? More? And even if she did make it, how would she be treated? Kierlings disdained fatness, it was felt to be weak, unbecoming of a warrior, so how she'd be treated even if she did make it how was something she didn't want to speculate on.
It was almost ten minutes before Kana felt ready to move, both physically and mentally. she'd stopped crying now, as some of her old determination had returned, shed find a way to get lose this extra flesh, even if it took a moon or more. Her determination wavered slightly once she was upright - once an action nearly as simple as breathing but now a not insignificant task - as she felt her full weight. Nevertheless, she would succeed she told herself, she would make back to her people, would regain their respect, and once she'd done that, well, she might just see how well this city burned...
Kana's thoughts were interrupted as the wolf made another feint, this time to the right. Hastily, she swung the branch around, and almost managed to fend the animal off, except that her foot slipped on a mossy patch on an exposed root, and she suddenly found herself falling sideways. And worse was to come, as her foot caught in a crevice between two roots and in the moment she had she was unable to free it. She started to scream as her ankle snapped, but it petered out as blackness overtook her even before her unconscious form came to rest.