Legends of Belariath

Devidial

The adorable feline, Devidial, was born to to a largely nomadic family though not all were related by blood she grew up with many brothers and sisters. The group had a sort of pack mentality with one clear exception, if or rather when raiders invaded the group to steal away its members everyone was on their own. This event was so common place that when it was over live quickly slipped back into the everyday pace. The idea the it takes a village to raise a child was wholly embraced in the small community. The group lived and learned and played communally sharing in all things. Devidial learned along side the other children about hunting and trapping as well as tracking and other needed skills for a group that was always on the move all taught and demonstrated from the time the children could walk and talk. The children rarely got individual attention within the community it was more a task of handling them as a group. Though that was the way of it and the children knew better than to complain all except Devi that the rambunctious orange and black feline was constantly stirring up some sort of trouble to draw attention to herself to which she was always warned 'If you're not good the invaders will get you'. The child paid little mind to the warnings since she hadn't yet seen these invaders because the youngest of the children were kept in the most protected places of the community and were under constant watch though it never seemed like they were being guarded at least not to the children so Devi had no fear of this imagined threat.

That imaginary fear that the adults tried to instill in the children most of all Devi became quite real on the tenth year of her life. By this time the children in her age group were considered trained enough to help in the hunting parties. It was one of these hunting trips that the realization struck her. While they were hunting the wildlife another group of hunters was hunting them though none would know until it was to late. There group was small only three young hunters and three adult ones the group that stalked them as at least twice that size. The feline hunters having stopped to reset their sprung traps the the other hunters made their move. Charging from the dense wood around the larger group overwhelmed the feline hunters. Devi had been tucked away in tree above the trap setting the tension rope it was this fact alone that had saved her. All she could so is watch as the other two young hunters were quick overtaken and bound. The adults from the group though fought a good fight two of them severally injured in the struggle making them unsuitable for capture but the last was subdued and bound. With the attacking group having their bounty they left and the frightened kitten Devidial leapt down to see the the injuries that had been suffered at the hands of what until then had been an invisible threat.

That fateful day would change the young feline's life dramatically, while she never thought for a moment that being bad brought about such things she knew the threat was real now. She had been previous sheltered from the full truth of these attacks that as it turns out were a lot more frequent than she'd ever thought. Even as their group migrated from one place to another they were under the constant threat of attack. The group as a whole knew the facts it was something they'd all grew up in and had learned to expect it and soon enough Devidial would be lulled into the same mindset. These invasions came every few weeks or months depended on the time of year and area, warmer weather or more populated areas always brought with them a greater threat. Sometimes the hunters were skilled and walked with several of her family other times they weren't and left empty handed. The invaders were sometimes many or only a few, striking at their home or amidst the hunting parties the one thing that could be counted on was the unpredictability of these encounters.

And such was life for the feline and her family by the age of thirteen Devi was charged with tutoring a group of the younger children that were now learning the skills she'd grow adept at. Her troublesome ways forgotten at least then as she worked to help prepare the youngest of her family to face the troubles that would comes same just as when she was their age she never specifically mentioned true danger of the invaders. Even among the adults of the family the why and what was never spoken of or even speculated about where the invaders were concerned which seemed strange to Devidial but the kitten never questioned it. During Devi's sixteenth summer she was put in charge the newest class of feline hunters to be. The new responsibility gave the feline a purpose and served as a grand distraction from the thoughts of attacks and invaders. She devoted all her time to her lesson and to seeing that the new students were well taught and prepared. She fell into a bit of a routine after a while and sought a change even if only a minor one.

Her chance at change came one lean winter a couple years later when they had to send more hunting groups out just to make it through. It was on one such trip that her group was attacked. They had not expected it since the attacked tended to slow to practically nothing when the weather was bitter cold. The hunting party was just a small splinter group a mere three members of the family making it up so it was easily overwhelmed and the whole group was captured. As Devidial and the others were bound and carted off she would find out for the first time what she and all the others before were fated to .... the slave trade.

As it turned out the trek to the auction block would take them a couple weeks since the captures had been made in such a remote area and they would be traveling on foot. The slavers, if you care to call them that, used that time to teach the slaves to be to teach the furred captors 'manners'. The training was something of a rushed effort and nothing that would stick with them long term but the group figured they'd get higher coin on the auction block for 'trained' slaves. They were taught a handful of basic commands such as to present themselves or kneel and even one they called humble yourself, each was associated with some hand gesture or trigger word. There weren't many commands to learn perhaps a half dozen certain no more the commands were reinforced with a mild discipline though nothing that would mar the flesh and thus lower their profit. By the thirteenth night they'd set up camp on a hill that overlooked the city to which Devi and the others were being brought. The young feline knew by then that at daybreak they'd be dragged into the city to be sold off into slavery. This thought was reinforced by the sight of the large wooden stage surrounded by torch light at the center of the city past the hill.

The night gave way to the celebratory indulgence of the slavers who ate and drank until contented. When darkness fell on their eyes and they passed out behind the night's celebrations Devi saw her opportunity for escape. Working herself free of the ropes that bound her she immediately sought her fellow felines. Much to Devidial's dismay they'd been bound in chains and she wasn't able to get this free and was forced to leave them behind. After all that was the way of things in the family when it came to the invader's it was everyone for themselves. Fleeing into the night she put as much distance between her and the slavers as quickly as she could. Making her way into a small town a day's travel from from where the slavers had taken the others she had had to determine a way to support herself. Devi turned to theft to support herself her stealthy nature coming in handy to swipe coin from the pockets of the unsuspecting passers by. Devi was on the run for nearly a year in this fashion stealing what she could and keeping on the move until the fear of being capture faded and she decided to make a home somewhere.

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