Legends of Belariath

Phaedre

Darkness fell heavy the night Phaedre was born. Many cowered in fear of the inky blackness that crept across the usually cheerful land of Ditl. A scream pierced the silent town. This wasn't the scream of a child, but the scream of the woman who bore her. Midwives scattered to the four corners of the room and kneeled in prayer to any God or Goddess that would hear their pray as the life of the young mother slowly ebbed away. One midwife remained true to her profession and stood holding the child that was the result of a vicious rape by a raiding party. As she cleaned the child, the midwife spoke in a soft soothing tone. After seeing to the child's nourishment and getting her to sleep it was decided that Mairee would rear the child as her own. Mairee and her husband, Tomas, were unable to have children of their own and were ecstatic to finally be parents. Even if the child wasn't theirs. She would grow and call them mother and father.

Years passed and the girl grew to tower over most men and women in Ditl. No one ever questioned the phenomenon. No one except Phaedre that is. At the age of 16, she began to question her parents. For two years, her questions went unanswered. Everyone refused to enlighten her as to her past. Until that fateful day when the same raiding party from 18 years ago rides into Ditl. Sitting astride a glorious black stallion was a man with hair as black as a raven's wing and eyes the color of the purest emeralds. At last she knew at least part of the reason she was unlike any other within the village. While others ran to various hiding places, Phaedre stood her ground staring at the leader of the pack, almost as if daring him to harm her in any way. The majestic stallion pranced ever closer to her. Perhaps the man she now knew to be her father thought to frighten her into submission. Seeing that his threatening advance was getting him no where with the girl, he whirled the stallion around and rode into the waning dusk.

Finally having found the truth, Phaedre walks stoically to the house she had known as home and confronted her parents. They, of course, thought that what they had done was for the best. She thought otherwise. Arguments ensued in the following months. Angry words were exchanged. Then Mairee and Tomas fell ill. A travelling troupe brought a fever to the small town. Almost all within Ditl were ravaged by the fever. Her parents weren't so lucky. Late one night in one of their more lucid moments, Mairee and Tomas begged Phaedre to take their lives to save them the painful death they knew was coming. Unable to deny their so simple request, she withdrew the dagger her father had always carried and systematically slit their throats one at a time. Moving as if in a daze, Phaedre gathered her belongings and disappeared into the night. For seven years, she wandered never staying anywhere for very long at a time. She happened upon Nanthalion strictly by accident. At first, the town had little appeal. But, as with all towns, it grew on her. She has made many close friends. . .and enemies as well.

After two years, the human girl has found her niche in life. She is finally at peace with herself, or as at peace as she can be considering her calling as a pyromancer. She is, to date, one of only two female members of a Brotherhood run by the Barbarian known as Krom . . . a barbarian that started out trying to kill her when she had first arrived in Nanthalion. She and Krom have discovered that their feelings go deeper than just mutual respect, though it did start out as that in the beginning. Both Phae and her slave, Killian, have taken up residence in Krom's castle, Stromgald, for the time being.

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