Talan and Kiata rode double on their horse, Solas. The couple newly wed on their first ride togethor rode through across the vast plainslands in the moonlight. Talan could feel the cool wind against his face as Solas galloped across the plains, he could hear his horses feet as they pounded into the ground. But most of all he could see the eyes of his beloved, her gorgeous amber eyes contrasting sharply with the dark night. "Ar vaas ettan ti beritara(I will love you forever)", she whispered softly to him. In return he said with in a tone he has not spoken in some time, "Ki vaas ar nami sheretta(As will I, my one love)"

In another moment Talan was on his knees a brand freshly made on his chest still burning as he was forced to watch his home, his people, and his wife burn to death. In his lust for power he destroyed everything he hoped to gain...and now the only thing he anticipated was death. A man stood before him, blocking his view of the fires only to speak the last words Talan would hear in his tounge, "Ti rem doreth. Ti rem gradem, et chitak mra ye drohat hast viir!(You are nothing. You are filth, an insect to be killed when seen)" The towering Kahldari struck him with the butt of his khopesh shocking Talan awake.

It was just a dream, visions of the past. Ever since that night he has been haunted by visions of that night. The night he lost everything. Sitting up from the pile of hay that substituted for a bed he shed no tears for what he had done. Although he was greatly saddened by the loss of his wife and tribe he had no more tears to shed. The time to mourn the dead has long past and now was the time for Talan to replace what he had lost. However he would probably never be able to find another wife for himself. 

He got up from the ground and walked over to the entrance of the holding chamber, he could hear the faint footsteps of the guards as they approached the door to change shifts. Once the new guards were at their stations Talan took it upon himself to learn what he could about this new land he was in. "Did yuh hear the news?", one guard asked to his partner. The other simply replied with a puzzled look on his face. "Word is there's been a battle at the village up river near Stag's Rest. The Queen's Guard against some raiders", the guard continued on.

"Raiders? Maybe Jethan's boys?", the other asked. 

"Maybe or it could be the king's men, either way I'm just glad we didn't get dragged into that mess"

"Thank God for that", there was a short silence before the guards spoke again. This time about something of more interest to Talan. 

"Say ain't the Queen's Guard them band of mercenaries?", one of the guards asked. The other scoffed at the remark, "Oh you mean them lot of cutthroats n savages? If they be the Queen's Guard I might as well be the high lord of his mightyness the king!", the two idiots laughed before continuing their conversation.

"Where'd you s'pose they get their men? There ain't no men like they got here."

"Prob'ly from the far east the savages beyond the mountains, or the centaurs across the Howlin' Sea. I hear the ones beyond the mountain live in deserts and jungles and such." 

"Ain't one of these lot a centuar?" The guard peaked through the gate into the chamber and right at Talan who was almost right next to them. The guard jumped back and aimed his spear at him, "This one's a sneaky little shit. He don't look like no horse man though!"

The other guard lowered his partner's spear, "Relax he ain't going no where, they ain't that kind of centaur. They called that because they ride horses all the time. I read they ride horses when they just little babies, start 'em young so they are real good at ridin" 

The spearman snorted as he relaxed his speararm, "Since when were you the savage expert" he turned to Talan with a stupid sarcastic look on his face, "Is that right, centaur? You real good at ridin'?" The two guards laughed hysterically but Talan didn't say a word. He simply walked away from the gate and into the dark recesses of the chamber. He knew what he was going to do. These "Queen's Guard"-whatever that was-have made travels to Rannos from what he heard. If he could get to them he could get one of their ships to take him home. Finding them would be easy, the fools at the gate said they were up the river. The hard part was getting out of this prison. 

While the guardsmen stayed at their post passing the time chatting away about whatever idiotic topic came to mind, Talan was preparing for his escape. He fashioned a shiv from a piece of metal he found laying around the chamber. With it he used it to saw away the chains that bound his hands togethor. Unlike the ones on the slave ship, these chains were actually thinner-unusually thinner-as if these had been used for some time and were worn away greatly. However the act of cutting the chains was a tedious one and took quite a bit of time, usually a few days but the drive Talan had in him made try harder than normal sawing away as fast and as hard as he could almost getting heat or sparks from the friction. He stopped right before the chain would snap so as to maintain the illusion he was still in binds. When then time was right he'd break the chain, kill the guards and the one who whipped him, then be on his way to this "Stag's Rest".