A Look into the Past (Part 1)

The crying sound of the infant awoke the Drow that night.  The Drow were at war with others though and this did nothing except cause hatred and despise amongst the clan for fear of being discovered.  The mother, having given birth alone, saw this child as merely a further reason to hate the one that had helped in the creation of this runt.  Though there was hatred for the child itself, the thought of using the child to cause pain to the father was stronger.  Thus the child was saved if by nothing more than blind rage.  Unfortunately for the child, as he grew older, he displayed less and less the birth signs of a Drow and more of his Eladrin father.

The mother, fearing retribution from her clan, cast the child out into the wilderness praying to the Queen of Spiders that her sin be forgiven and the child killed.  Whether luck was with the child was undecided, as it would happen he was picked up by humans and sold into slavery at his young age. 

Bread and water were his nourishment and he spent many years toiling to the needs of his masters.  There was never anything unnatural of him, his hair and eyes having a brown colour, he was dressed in rags and his hair held a wild look.  His skin was light, his ears somewhat elvish but quickly being hidden by the growth of his hair.  Knowing nothing else he took pride in his ability to serve others, he smiled his boyish smile to those around him, often causing people to think him foolish or delusional.  When he could not smile, for fear of a beating, he smiled inwardly and would bite his lip to hold back any other feeling than hope. 

Every day was the same for the young lad.  One particular day the master chose him to deliver his orders and scrolls to the temple.  The boy having been giving such recognition smiled more than he had ever.  He made quickly to the far side of town to deliver news for his master.  As he paced himself along the path to the temple, he took notice of a carriage coming up the same road.  He kept his pace but moved over to let the carriage take full use of the road.  As the carriage passed slowly he took notice of the humans in the carriage discussing a great war.  It was a man dressed in magnificent deep blue robes with a bird that sat upon his shoulder and looked about everywhere.  Beautiful could not describe the lady that sat across from him; however the boy was not so much interested in the lady as he was in what he believed to be a well trained bird.

“Excuse me, sir” the boy spoke aloud but not enough to startle anyone.  The two in the carriage to acknowledge the lad walking beside the carriage, his smile certainly didn’t seem to match his appearance.  “How did you train that bird to sit on your shoulder and appear so calm?”

The man looked incredulously at the boy and said “You can see this bird here?  And what of my companion, can you see her pet?”

“Yes sir, he seems like such a nice bird and her ferret looks neat” the boy spoke after a moment.  He thought it strange that the man would act as though he should not have seen those pets.

The man asked the carriage driver to stop and stepped to the side and held out a hand to the boy.  “You seem so young and intelligent and yet, you are dressed as though you are a slave.”

“I am a slave sir, my master lives back up the way,” and he turned and pointed at the large mansion surrounded by large fields.

The man shook his head in disbelief, “Come, I wish to purchase you from your master.”  The boy hesitated, looking back at the mansion and down the road towards town, knowing that if he did not finish delivering the scroll to the Temple he would be severely punished.  Decidedly, he led the carriage walking back up to his master’s mansion wondering what trouble he would be getting himself into.

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