"Templeton. Templeton." A gentle woman's voice soothed through the tiny boy's mind as he slept, curled up, on a soft gray blanket on the floor. "Wake up, it's time."
Soft brown eyes drifted open and he unfolded with a bit of reluctance. "Mommy..?" His voice cracked softly with sleep as he reached his arms out, child's language for 'pick me up.' Hands lifted him lightly and he was soon held against someone else, little arms wrapping about a thin neck decorated by a pretty necklace. He awoke enough to recognize that this was not his mother, but someone else. "Mommy?"
The woman gave a doting, faintly sad smile, gently cupping the back of Templeton's head and stroking his baby fine hair. "She's... not here."
Templeton focused more on the woman's necklace, picking it up and smoothing his little fingertips over the polished stone it was made out of.
The woman gave a small sigh, tilting her head away to hide the slight tremble of her lip. Why had she volenteered for this? The boy didn't even know, he didn't even realize his parents were dead, executed for illegal underground trade with a hated, enemy tribe. Their punishment had been decided on this boy alone - they were in need of a sacrifice. It'd been far too long since they'd last given a child to the forest, and the South tribe grew aggitated, restless and frightened, eyes always watching the giant wall of green, waiting, waiting for some impossible beast to lurch forth from it's unknown confines and burn them all away.
"They..." She clearned her throat and continued to lightly pet the back of Templeton's head. "They went on a trip. They won't be back for a while."
This caught Templeton's attention and he looked up, a frown deeply etched onto his face.
Thankfully she wouldn't have to say anymore as she stepped out into the open air where a group of men in cerimonial garb of reds, blacks, and greens of varying shade. She gently gave the small boy another soft stroke of his hair, placing a small kiss on his forehead, and then let go as one of the men firmly took hold of him. She gave a small wave before turning quickly - may the gods forgive her, but she wanted to live...
"Whosser...?" Templeton now clung to the neck of a particularily large man who wore a frightning mask carved to resemble an animal's face, large black feathers and what must have been cow's horns were also grafted to the wood, giving the apperance a decidedly feirce one. When there was no reply he looked back toward the village. They were moving away from it at a awfully fast pace...
He gave a bored sigh, squirming slightly - the man really was holding him in an uncomfortable fashion, and looked forward.
Heart beat quickened, grip tightened. The forest. His mother and father had told him stories, stories about giant twisted animals that ruled there, cannibals that ate their own and that would gobble up bad little children who didn't go to bed on time.
Except they were right on the edge now, Templeton could smell the foul swamp air, he could hear the eerie chatterings and screeches of things he didn't know. The fear bubbled up in his chest and burst. He struggled against the man's strong grip, thumping his fists against his shoulder and clawing with his dull fingernails. His voice came out in unitelligable shrieks of desperation.
His voice was silenced as they walked beneath the trees, darkness dropping over them like a shroud, and then began with a new fervor. He hit, he clawed, he bit and he kicked, all of which only rewarded him a particularily harsh cuff to the head.
They were stopping now. They were muttering something he didn't understand, they were taking away his clothes no matter how hard he clung to them. The man who'd carried him lifted him up uncomfortably beneath the arms, more words, and then...
His high pitched shriek startled a few nearby birds who'd fallen silent from their perchs, the resounding splash falling dead. Templeton gurggled for a moment, limbs flailing at the reeds and water, vision blurred. Time didn't matter as he fought for breath and to stay afloat, the men had already turned and left by the time Templeton took one last gasp of breath, mouth half filling with water, and...
Found himself securly above the water, something rough and hard beneath him, supporting him, keeping him above. Eyes widened as a scaley, horned head lifted above the water's surface, tilting to the side so one, golden eye could gaze back...
"I am Ssgral."
~
