Dark Skies

It was a sunny morning.

Maron woke up to the sounds of the town; the nearbye bakery was opening up, the patrols were readying their horses, and his fellow students at the college were getting ready for a day of learning. Today there was a lecture by the prince's advisor on strategy and no one wanted to miss it. Maron's father was a knight and had earned enough to afford him an education from a college. Maron at 15 was doing quite well in his studies and was working towards becoming an advisor or even a general. There was no way he was going to miss this opportunity.

Maron got dressed and walked down to the bakery for some bread and then made his way to the courtyard for the lecture. As Maron approached the courtyard he saw people moving away in a hurry, and there was a fair amount of shouting going on. Getting closer Maron started to make out what was happenning; the lecture has been called off, there are enemies marching towards the town, less then a day out.

Maron walked up to Darrel, one of the heads of the college who was informing people of the events;

"What's going on? Who is attacking us, and why are we only finding out now?"

"It's the empire, we had a peace treaty with them and they were just passing through, but at first light they began marching for us, the prince and his men are rallying for a defense, we are lucky at the college that we aren't considered fighter material or we would all be conscripted and likely die. You may yet keep your life."

Heeding Darrel's words, Maron began preparations. The empire was no small matter, a single town would mean nothing to any of its armies. He went back to the students quarters and changed into more comfortable travelling clothes. He then gathered some clothes as well as a bedroll. Having what possessions he needed he then went to the streets to try to find food. The princes men had focused on recruiting so he was lucky and some of the shops were still open, word hadn't travelled too fast. He managed to grab some bread and then made his way towards the gates, he needed to leave before the town was raised, Maron would rather take his chances outside the walls than inside, at least there he might be able to escape the empire's men. As he made his way, the city bells began to sound, then enemy was close, which meant they may attack before nightfall.

The gates were crowded with people seeking to leave and Maron couldn't get close, stretching his head he looked over the crowd and saw that all the gates were shut tight, and no one was being let out. There had to be another way out. Maron thinks about all the possibilities, how people would attack walled fortifications, and it strikes him, he can leave through the water supply. It may be tricky, but with all the chaos maybe he can get passed the guards by the reservoir.

Making his way towards the reservoir he passes many people hurrying to various secure buildings or to the gates, either hoping to avoid the fighting and that the enemy would show mercy, or to escape. The first option may have worked with some forces, but the empire rarely chose to be kind when it started attacking other states, rather choosing to raise the first few cities or towns it defeated. All of the people would either die or become slaves. He would choose neither, and the reservoir's entrance was just ahead with no guards in sight.

Maron stopped, and looked carefully. Seeing no one he rushed for the reservoir making it through the sturdy gate, his breath catching up to him he let out a small cheer on reaching his goal unfettered.

*THUNK*

Maron feels a sharp pain to his head and falls flat on his back. A tall man wearing guards armour and a dark cloak walks out from behind the entance to stand over him,

"Look what we have here, a traitor or a deserter. Doesn't matter, chain him."

A second taller man in black brought chains over. The man cuffed Maron while ignoring his cries of innocence, and then dragged him down to the cells, locking the door with a laugh,

"Your lucky, if there weren't enemies at the gate I'd be torturing you right now."

The tall man went back towards the reservoir after securing Maron, leaving him alone in the only occupied cell. Maron gave out a multiple shouts to be let out, but to no avail, and eventually reserved himself to the silence before the fight that was to come.

Maron's cell had a small window, too high to be reached, but it let in the light, so he could roughly tell time. As the early evenning hit, he could already here fighting, the enemy was through the gate, it was fast, they must have been let in. Before it was time for dusk the skies went dark from smoke and the sounds of fighting were right on top of the cells. Maron knew the city had fallen, the last resistors probably desperately defending their lives. Eventually soldiers came down to the cells, and there he saw them, 5 men wearing the curaiss and colours of the empire, green with black trim.

The first of the men approached the cell with Maron in it and looked him over,

"look what we have here, fairly well built, already in chains, perfect for the fights!"

With that, the others came forward, they unlocked the cell, pulled Maron out and began moving him towards the gates he sought to leave earlier. Resigning himself to his new fate, Maron knew what was to come. Looking up as they pulled him along through the streets he saw the skies, black clouds loomed overhead, the town was burning, and blood flowed along the streets. Looking towards the sides of the streets there were bodies of men, women and children with fatal wounds clearly made by the swords of the empire. The empire called them dead towns, a symbol of their power and what befalls their enemies.

Once outside the gates, Maron's chains were attached to a string of others, none that he recognized though, it seems that they had little use for the few shopkeepers and students he had gotten to know. Tears started falling, one for each person who died in the town Maron told himself, and he let them fall. That night he slept on the ground while in chains, they didn't want them to sleep well, they wanted the slaves to be tired.

The next day Maron awoke to Dark Skies. The city was still burning and the clouds hid the sun. Maron as well as the other chained slaves were hooked up to a wagon which started moving away from the army with a small detachment of guards. A couple times Maron got lost in thought or thoughts of escape, but he would recieve their was a slave driver behind them with a whip, lashing any of them who started slowing down. His only thought became avoiding the pain, tired and thirsty he resorted to putting one foot in front of the other with all his strength just to keep going. It became his life for the next few days, each day he was more tired then the last, his feet became blistered but the pain of walking on them was better than the sting of the whip on his back. The sun was hidden behind the clouds for those days, and on the third day it rained, the rain brought even more trouble as it became even harder to sleep and it took more energy to trudge through the mud.

The guards gave the slaves some food each day, not much, just enough to keep going. They had plenty of provisions on the wagon, mostly for the luxury of the drivers and the guards. After five days of journey they reached a solid road, while it was easier to walk on, it meant the wagon sped up, and so must the slaves. As they began travelling on the road, the whip once again became a familiar sound, as the slaves were adjusted to the new pace. Ten days later they reached a large city, with towering walls and a grand gate, Maron and the other slaves could barely take it in, they were tired and worn out from the harsh conditions of their journey, they were silently driven into the city, vanguished.

Maron gained a his first reward in a long time, he got to stop walking and recieved a roof as he was put in a cell with a heavier meal than he'd had in weeks. After eating he fell straight to sleep.