Shadows Of Lehon - Chapter Two

 Chapter Two

Hours, Days...? How long had it been since those metallic doors locked her into this hold? Since then she managed to get a full belly, and fresh clothes - even new boots! Although, she didn’t have a clue as to how to tie strings, so she just left them to hang loosely. 

Even so. As great as it was to be in clean clothes and full on food…being stuck in here forever wasn’t ideal. There was a droid wandering about and who knows what else occupied this ship beyond the hold she was in…eventually, she was bound to be found out. And yet, based just off  how many times she had fallen asleep…she figured at least a week had gone by…Maybe…

It was during one of these blissfully restful times that the freighter had finally made its destination. Gently setting down on a small platform outside a great structure.  Doors opened and droids helped to unload the crates. 

It was standard procedure for the crew to check the hold and ensure nothing was lost in transit - It was during this inspection that there stow-away was found, sleeping soundly amidst empty ration packages, wrappers and rumpled goods. 

“Oy!” a loud, booming voice broke her adventurous dreams, followed by a set of hands as one of the crewmen dragged her out from under a mound of blankets and empty wrappers. “Hey fella's look what we got ere!” The man dragged Triss out of the freighter and out into the blazing hot tropical morning that painted the docs in a reddish hue “A Stow away!”

Triss found herself struggling, shouting and was more than just a little confused from being woken up so suddenly.  Pounding her fists into the man's chest and kicked at his shin’s.  He seemed completely un-bothered by her attempts to escape.

“I ‘aint done nothin wrong!!!" She lied "Let me go you overgrown peace of-”

Her protests were cut short as her captor shoved her down onto her knees, locked her arm behind her back and yanked her head up roughly by her hair.  All around them were his crew, each of them held blunted weapons of some sort, and each glowered at her like she was a bug under their heel

“Ahh. Okay…I lied…But! I'm sorry alright!? I didn’t have a choice! Th-this guy was chasing me and…I…” This was too much. She had dealt with all kinds of bad encounters but not with this many involved… her nerves were failing her. How was she supposed to get out of this one?!

These guys were a rough looking, rag-tag of a crew. Mis-matched armor both in color and design and all worn from battle. These weren’t your everyday dock workers and she doubted a teary eyed innocent act was going to work on them.

“L-look…guys…” Triss stammard and tried to force a convincing smile “Tell’ya what. L-let me go and..I’ll..work it off! Yeah! I’m good at carrying boxes, I could be useful…”

“Ey! Boss!” another of the crewmen ran out from inside the ships hold “The Rations! She ate nearly all of it! There’s hardly any left!

“That!” Triss shouted in defense but was cut off as a sudden, sharp sting flared up on her right cheek bone, vision shattering to a million pieces as she tasted blood. “Shut up ya little twerp!” One of the men snarled fiercely, a large pipe in his right hand “We never asked ye to talk in the firs’ place” 

Just as Triss was recovering from the first blow,  another sting bolted across her other cheek, the force was so hard she felt herself crumble into a helpless pile as her captor let her go. Another one of the mercenaries reached down and grabbed a fist full of her hair, lifting her up so that she was forced to look into his scarred and mutilated face “What ye have to say for yerself, girl!” Triss was entirely frightened by now, never had she been so mistreated in such a brutal way before. A part of her wanted to curl up and cry like any little girl should when being abused or mistreated. But she had such a defiant and rebellious nature that she did what her innermost instincts told her to do. A wad of blood and spit splattered on the merc’s eye and slowly dripped down his cheek. Unfortunately for her this only served to anger both him, and his comrades more! All she could do was curl up and cover her face with her arms as they proceeded to beat and kick at the lump cowering beneath them.

Eventually one of them forced Triss up onto her feet, the very movement felt like all her bones had just shattered. Everything was so blurry by now, it was difficult to remain conscious…squinting her eyes she looked up, she wanted so much to fight these men, to defend herself, to show them that she wasn't just some weak pathetic child, that she could hold her own. But she didn't even know where to start, all she knew how to do was run, and in her current condition she couldn't tell which way was up, and which was down.