Varrelle

17 year old Varrelle was feeling happier than she had in a long time. And that was saying something. Usually Varrelle was a joyfull, radiant girl, but today she was luminous. She had run away. Now you might think that most girls would be scared, or only idiots to run away from a warm, loving, supportive family. But Varelle had no warm, loving, supportive family to run away from. She was a slave. A slave of war to be exact. Of course now, she was free. Completely free, and heading for the border of Marovia. She was from Marovia, and although she wasn't thrilled by the fact, it was still home.
Her village was near the border, which was why she was taken as a prisoner in the first place. If she had lived further in, this might have never happened. But there, it did happen, and she just had to get on with it. Anyway, she couldn't just pretend that there still wasn't some risk. She was still in Siltinia, and she could not afford to forget it.
She wondered whether her family was still in the same village, whether the survivors had built a new one. She had a brother, 2 sisters, and cat, along with her parents, that were involved in the raid, and she was worried. It had been at least 2 years ago, but maybe everything was alright again. She knew, however, that there was a risk that her family may have moved on. She knew that none of THEM had been taken as slaves like she had, so the must still be in Moravia. She was nearing the border, and she hoped that she could reach it by night-fall. There was, of course, the risk that there would be guards at the border, but she doubted it. The Siltinians were spread thin. Too thin. She had overheard some of the guards at the slave pens talking about it. They both believed that the war was escalating, and that Siltinia had no chance. That was when she knew she had to make her bid for freedom.
The slave pens she was kept in were about 150 kropogs from the border. That was one night's long walk, and she thought she could make it. She had been a hard labourer for the past 2 years, due to the fact that she was young, and ablebodied. Her skills now included, although were not confined to, hard running, camping, lifting heavy objects, and now thanks to an old Moravian soldier who had been a captive with her, some lethal hand-to-hand fighting. Of course, she could still cook and sew, though only enough to do rough mending, and cook for a few people over a rough fire.
The hard muscle in her arms and legs were accentuated by her lack of proper clothing. The only clothing she possessed at that moment was a rough toga of sheepskin, and some ichy, ill-fitting underclothing. Well, she could survive for a little longer, after she got home she could get some proper clothing. The sheepskin only came to her knees, and showed all of her arms. Thus, you could see the rippling muscles in her calves and upper arms.
She had a rough sack over her shoulder, and in it was a map (stolen from the guard chamber), a water bottle, (also stolen, although the water in it wasn't) and some rough food (most of her rations from the previous week) and some flint, picked up on the way, although she didn't see what good it would do her, as lighting a fire on the run was impossible.
Her sapphire eyes, dark skin the color of chocolate, and her long, curly, ebony hair had turned heads no matter where she was, and now wasn't any different. At 17, she had grown into her beauty, and was not thought odd by fellow children, who had never understood how she had such startling features, and labeled her strange, not understanding her gifts when she was younger. Of course, she was gifted. Her mother had even thought her strange, but it had only happened 4 times in her life...... Ah well, musn't think of that now. She had to focus. The trees began to thin, and she saw the bands marking the border. She was almost there! At last, she crossed into Moravia, and began to run. She would be able to reach Julupe by daylight! And then.......well, she didn't know did she? But she was willing to find out......

(Once again this has been written by Guineagal. I have done a little spell checking but otherwise it is unaltered.)