Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-12599067-20140629231702/@comment-11457306-20140701234356

Saga did not appear to be paying attention to anything but her work, but was very aware of everything going on around her. The new prisoners were just like all the others had been. They were fresh and full of fight now, but once the work and short rations took their toll, they would either settle in or die off.

She placed one more piece of ore laden rock on the cart and took up the yoke to haul their second load up the tunnel. As she passed Bjolmar and his new cellmate, the woman turned unexpectedly and they collided. Saga, fully extended into pulling the load, fell hard. When the woman reached down to help her up, her mind was suddenly filled with images.

She no longer saw the mine, but the chaos of a battlefield--soldiers clad in mail and leather and blue sashes and covered in blood fighting other soldiers in red and steel. Shouts and the screams of the dying rent the air. The image swiftly turned to dark figures running through a tunnel toward a distant glow--then finally, the black wings and beak of a raven or crow beating against the bars of a cage until they were bloody and broken.

She cried out and cringed, backing away. ''No! Not now, not ever again! I don't want to know what has happened or what will!''

Tegan mis-understood the younger woman's fear. "I'm not going to hurt you, girl.  I'm sorry I knocked you down.  Are you okay?"

It took Saga a few moments to gather herself enough to speak. "I'm okay.  I--" she stopped when she saw a guard looking at them. "I'd better get back to work," she whispered.

Tegan watched her go with one eyebrow raised, until a guard shoved the butt of a spear into her side. She grunted and turned back to her work.