Chapter LXX: Tob and D'krim -Lich

When someone born on the Manaworld undertakes his or her training, they have a choice of two paths, each neither inferior nor superior to each other. The Left Path is the learning of psychic abilities. Markior, Kyle and the Protoss race would be considered of the Left Path. Then there is the Right Path, the learning of Mana manipulation. But stuck in the sand dune, his nostrils the only part visible above it, Lich wished he undertook Left Path training. He would have opened his mouth to grumble, but he decided that sand rushing down his throat would have been a little bit <I>too</I> much of a price to pay.

All he could do is but wait. But wait for how long, was the problem. The Boomerang did have activation for encasement in ice, but not for live burial. Besides, Lich could not open his mouth to issue commands: one of the main failings of the Boomerang. However, Lich's silence would never be a total loss as he could still throw it, and the Boomerang also had some of its functions doubled by the use of touching the jewel, only possible by Lich's hand alone. But with his arms encased in the sand, that would be a near impossibility.

He thought of his Pokémon, still waiting at the Nexus back at the colony. Fortunately, Lich had issued Nessie an emergency PLT in times of his separation from them, and it would probably soon end up around the neck of Markior, he reckoned.

His nostrils, his lifeline, breathed in a cooler air. Time had obviously passed. Lich hated losing track of time. He liked to keep a firm thumb on time, he liked to always know what the time was. But there was no way that he would be counting "one thousand, two thousand, three thousand…."

Out of sheer boredom, Lich had reached "22 minutes, twenty-four thousand". Lich sighed in his mind. With no way to get out of this situation, he considered any possibilities of escape he could think of. Maybe there would be another sandstorm and blow the sand away from around him. Or, perhaps he'd be teleported again. Or, he could just rot away and die. He recalled the fact that Yoshies can survive without food for eight months. Eight months is a very long time, so he could just open his mouth and choke on the sand. He didn't want to die, but if it was certain that he wouldn't be saved, that would be his only and rather undesirable option.

Suddenly, he felt a jarring impact on the side of his nose. He could not hear what was going on, but his nostrils could tell him some things. He smelt the stench of some sort of animal, and another smell of sweaty bodies. Fainter still was the smell of wood. Then, he felt his nose being poked at, probably by some sort of stick. He snorted, and just audible was jubilant shouting. As soon as it had ceased, he felt as if his nose was being clamped, possibly by a group of hands. He then moved upwards, inch by inch. When his bulbous nose was fully visible on the surface, he smelt sisal, and felt a constriction around it. Someone or something was going to pull him out. Knowing that his belongings would be left behind, he made quick preparations. His shifting around had made the sand a bit softer, so he wiggled his right arm down to his side, and clutched the Boomerang. His slowly slid his hand along it, then found the jewel. Although the jewel was a perfect brilliant cut, there were miniscule raised ridges in the facets. He rubbed one of them, and soon there was a pounding in his head. He had activated its beacon: tuned to emit psywaves, but only so Lich could acknowledge them.

The rope around his nose grew taut, and he was being pulled up out of the sand. He felt the belt loosen around his waist, and his feet slip out his thongs. The PLT's clasp started to undo itself from the pressure placed upon it. Soon enough, he was rid of anything that he had on him as he slid onto the surface of the sand, and was being pulled along.

A voice seemed to command for whatever was pulling him to stop, and in the moonlight, he saw human figures and what appeared to be a string of carts, pulled by camels. But crying, wailing and shouting eminated from them, and he could see figures tied up and in wooden cages. Before he knew it, his hands and legs were bound together; he would be unable to call any Elemental powers for help. He was then picked up by a group of hands and thrown into a cage with a group of figures already inside, watching with interest. Whoever had lifted him up slapped him across the face, then shut and locked the door. Then the realisation dawned upon the orange Yoshi: This was a slave train, and he was now a slave.

Eyes looked down upon him in the cage. Lich looked back at them, and gathered that they would be deciding whether or not Lich was another slave or a meal.

A sudden movement from the cart made one of the other slaves fall over on top of him. Lich allowed himself to slip into a deep and pleasant sleep, while the caravan moved on, the beacon on the Boomerang kept throbbing in his mind, trapped in the sand dune behind him.

Lich was sharply awoken by water splashing across his face, and a voice in a language he could not understand commanded him to do something, probably wake up. Lich knew nnot what he was saying - he could not utilise his Mana powers to speak in Rhenzin, as his hands and legs were bound. The other people in the cages could now be seen: humans, crowding in the corners of the cage, obviously scared of him. However, the figure who had slumped onto him the night before was not a human, but a Koopa, the turtle like race of Yamauchi.

From a very early age, Yoshies were taught that Koopas were their main enemies. In fact, they were told that they can even be eaten - it was be socially acceptable. Even though he was brought born and bred on Fa'Diel, Lich was also taught this. However, a large group, though not the majority, believed in tolerance, and Lich sided with this group upon his arrival on Yamauchi. However, stuck in the cage and after crossing a desert, with no food for three days, the first thought which passed through his mind was his hunger, and remembering the lessons of his mother and father, his eyes set on the Koopa in front of him.

Lich unfurled his tongue with a snap around the Koopa, and was soon holding it tight, wrapping his tongue tighter and tighter. His conscience was telling him a blatant no, but his thoughts and his stomach were telling him yes. In another portion of his mind, he was thinking about whether or not he would sprout wings upon eating the Koopa, as the toxic chemicals giving the Koopas' shells their colours mutate Yoshies for a small length of time, no more than an hour. A black market had formed in the Yoshi Archipelago selling shell shavings as drugs.

But as he wound his tongue around the unsuspecting turtle, it started screaming in Koopan, pleading with him not to eat him. The normal Koopa reaction would have been to dart inside its shell, however, this one stayed out, and was soon saying something which sounded like, "Tychh p'ban chhrü tor!" which Lich recognised as the Koopan for "I can help you!"

The harsh sounding words were like a spear prodding his mind, and soon Lich released his grip, but not entirely.

"Let go, please, I mean no harm."

Lich's eyes communicated distrust.

"I'm bound at the hands and at the legs. Do you expect me to be able to hurt you?" the Koopa asked.

Lich slid his tongue back into his mouth and gulped the bulk of it down his throat. He was certain that the blue chemical from the Koopa's shell was making him feel a touch lofty, and his back itched where wings would have grown suddenly. His eyes darted to the others in the cage, who had huddled further into the corners away from him.

"They will do nothing, they are scared of you," the Koopa said. "It's the Tullabanarigans you must be scared of."

"Tullabanarigans?" Lich asked in Koopa, putting the question syllable "grchh" on the end.

"The slave traders, and who we will be sold to in the town where we're going. They will rename you there, and you will be referred to by that name. I am known to the Tullabanarigans as Tob, but I used to be known as Telg B'ralku. Who are you, Yoshi?"

"I am Dyluck Thanatos Yoshi von Kippo, but everyone calls me Lich for short."

Tob suddenly looked at Lich in surprise. "Not the same Dyluck Thanatos Yoshi von Kippo, Guardian of the Cyan Arc?"

Lich returned Tob's countenance. "Yes…how do you know about that?"

"I used to be a member of the KBT; we had been tracking your movements for months after you - let's just say - borrowed one of Bowser's teeth."

Lich groaned as he recognised the letters KBT, short for "Koopat B'krakt'gotopekt Tograk'lok", Koopan for "Committee for Koopan State Security": the Koopan Secret Service. They were basically an unseen shadow to many people upon Yamauchi who had crossed paths, one way or another, with Koopan affairs. Their skills were excellent, outstripping the skills of the KIA, the "Kingdom Intelligence Agency" of the Mushroom Kingdom. Agents of the KBT were everywhere. You didn't have to be a Koopa to join, just a willingness to be against whatever authority and hero you desired.

Lich stared at the former agent. "And I suppose you want that tooth back?" he asked in a sigh. "It wasn't for me, anyway, it broke a curse placed on someone I helped out. I suppose you know already that I'm not part of the KIA nor any other organisations, however, I have been conscripted into the Pandoran army upon the Manaworld for a while."

"We knew that, too."

"'If a tree rustles its leaves in the wind…'"

"'…the KBT will know about it before you do,'" Tob said, finishing off what was said of the organisation. "That saying holds true, except we wouldn't worry about trees unless someone was in one," he finished, then flashed a smile.

"Well, agent, since you would be practiced in such things, tell me all you can about these Tullabanarigans, and what is going to happen to us."

"First and foremost, you're going to be sold to someone. Then, you'll spend the rest of your life as a slave, working day in, day out, unable to fill expectations placed upon you, subjected to beatings, then, when you finally die, you'll just be dumped out in the desert for the Rekammin, flying bird-like things, to eat your corpse. The only way that you would get out is for some traveler to come by, if he even makes it past the slave traders first, to buy you and take you away from here, and set you free. Sounds depressing, huh? You'll get used to it, believe me."

"What, you've done this before?" Lich asked.

"Yes, I'm a recaptured escapee. They were too good for my KBT trained skills, which came as a very large surprise to me, and as I can see from your face, yourself. Perhaps the only place where they are humane is where they will re-capture you the first time, but the second they will kill you slowly and painfully, how I don't and don't want to know."

"So how did you end up here?" Lich asked.

"Well, I was over in Spiral Mountain, keeping an eye on that bear and bird duo, when I was attacked by one of the 8-foot carrots, and pushed down a hole which ended up with me falling into the desert, probably about 9 months ago. I was found by the Tullabanarigans, I escaped, and now I'm back here."

"So, basically, I have the chance of a good fortune the size of an ice cube in Hell, right?"

"Try a hydrogen one. That's the chance you have."

In the distance, a city characteristic of the desert sprung up. At first, Lich thought it was a mirage, but it was most certainly real.

"Welcome to your grave, Yoshi, as I have reached mine too," Tob told him. In their travelling, he had taught him some important words of the Tullabanarigans, like "Blarkum" - "Come here", and "Rrmpo gekker" - "scrub the floor". Lich filed them away in his mind after Tob told him that failure to recognise the language was no excuse for not carrying out orders.

The city had a thick wall around it, with sentries posted every 10 paces along it, and a gate with four portcullises. Obviously, the city was built not only to keep invaders out, but its slave prisoners in. Even though he had his hands tied, Lich could still detect Mana forces, and a Double Wall was set up around the entire city; it would have looked like a basin on the Mana field. Teleportation was impossible into or out of the city, however, mind contact would only be possible if the person was nearby, and the throbbing of the Boomerang's beacon inside Lich's head could just be detected if Lich concentrated hard enough, a fair distance to the southeast.

Everyone in the city had a weapon showing of one sort or another - even the children had knives visible. However, there were those who did not have any, and they were the slaves. Most of them looked underfed, nothing really more than skin and bones, but kept alive enough not to start to die from starvation.

The city itself was built like a fortress. The houses did not have many windows, and all of them were made from stone or cement. The streets also twisted, even though the city was on a perfectly flat plain. Lich looked up at the buildings, and saw that many of them on top had cannons, probably high energy ones like plasma or ion.

They were carted through the town, across the square, and into another fortress looking building, except this one looked more reinforced. The carts queued to enter the building. When it was their turn at last, they were unbound, then pushed and shoved into a dark room. After going through dimly lit twisting and turning corridors, they were in a reasonably bright room, lit by torches on the wall. Guards stood around the walls of the room, and in the middle of it, a man at a crude desk glared at them for a moment, his eyes telling that he controlled their fate, and that he was not to be questioned. Lich waited behind Tob in the line.

"Tob," he said, looking at him. Lich was only able to pick up a few of the man's words like "escape" and "death".

Then Tob was beaten about by one of the guards with a stick, the cracks sounding like coconut husks clamped together as it hit his shell. Tob cowered in fear on the floor, bringing about his arms and his head receiving the scolding, before he was pushed very roughly aside.

It was then Lich's turn to step forward to the desk, and as he did, he was trembling. The man looked at him questioningly, trying to work out exactly what Lich was. There was some whispering between the guards.

"I'm a Yoshi…" Lich started in Tullabanarigan, with a few words taught by Tob, knowing why the man was perplexed. Lich's words then brought about a whack with the stick across his stomach, winding him.

"D'krim," the man then stated, giving Lich his slave name. He then said some words that he did not understand. Lich was then dragged by one of the guards towards Tob. The two of them were then pushed along another dimly lit corridor that sloped downwards, before they were stopped before a grill. Lich had recovered from his winding by now. The guard standing before it talked to the guard with them, then it was opened and they were pushed through to more corridor, then eventually another barred room which was opened for them by the guard, then they were firmly sat down on a wooden bench against the wall. Their legs and arms were then placed in clamps and shackled. The guard then turned, shut the grill door with a squeak followed by a resounding clang, locked it with a set of keys, then went back the way he came without a comment. The two of them were alone in the room.

"Welcome to Tullabanariga, D'krim," Tob told him. "I guess this city is where you'll spend the rest of your now considerably shortened life."

"Is D'krim my slave name, like Tob is yours?" Lich asked, and was replied to with a grim nod.

"Try and get some sleep. Next time they come back, it's probably so we can be sold."

Tob slouched against the wall the best he could and shut his eyes. Lich, now D'krim, followed suit. Sleep did not come easily for the Yoshi slave, so he said, "This city's built like a fortress."

"Indeed," Tob said, his eyes still shut.

"I wonder who would attack someone in such a remote place as this?"

Tob opened his eyes and turned to him.

"It's built like a fortress not only to keep people out, but to keep us slaves in," he said. "Anyway, two months ago, the city was attacked by an alien force, I presume. Failed."

Lich became interested. "How come?"

"Well, although we didn't see it, there is a very large gathering of sorcerers or other such magicians. Also, you saw all those cannons, right?"

Lich nodded.

"Ion and plasma ones. This alien force had aircraft, and any attacks that were directed at the cannons failed to connect. I was outside at the time, hurrying to a shelter, and I saw that the attacks hit some sort of invisible barrier which flashed yellow as it was hit, and the attacks dissipated."

"Lucid Barrier," Lich whispered in Pandoran, recognising the spell. He saw Tob look up at him and said, "Keep going."

"Well, there was those attacks, and I also saw other ones, must have been of a magical nature or something, and they hit another magical barrier which surrounds the city, causing green flashes."

"A Wall and Lucid Barriers around the cannons," Lich stated.

"What do you mean?" Tob asked.

"I am a student of Mana, Tob, as you KBT people have probably worked out. All people born on Fa'Diel either study psychic or elemental powers, and sometimes both. I studied elemental ones, and those are protection spells of which you speak. The Wall will cancel out the magical and psionic attacks, and the Lucid Barrier protects the cannons from the physical attacks."

"Well, that explains everything, which I think the KBT worked out as soon as the warp was opened to Fa'Diel, though it's not my department and I didn't need to know exact details. The magicians constantly reset the spells on the city and the cannons and they protect themselves by both Wall and Lucid Barrier. Oh, by the way, I wouldn't suggest trying to use your Mana Powers to get out. Even if you Lucid yourself and set yourself up behind a Wall, the Tullabanarigans will get you."

"After the spells wear off?"

"Yes, most likely. They will detect a fading Wall or a diminishing Lucid, then set up a spell or attack to get to you the microsecond it disappears. I've seen it happen. As I said, if you want out, the only way is going to be a traveler who's been lucky enough to get into the city and buy you."

"Well, if that Wall's there, they won't be able to teleport in," Lich sighed. "And the guards at the gates would spot them, right?"

Tob nodded. "You would be seen climbing the stone wall, there must be sentries posted every twenty paces. And, attack one of them or the guards at the gates, then the whole city guard, sorcerers, magicians and everyone else who has a weapon of some sort will be out to get you. Which is practically everyone but the slaves. Chance of getting out is very, very close to - let's even just say it is - zero, nil, nix, nothing what so ever. Now go to sleep, they'll be here in the morning to sell us."

The next morning, after a restless sleep for Lich, they came out of the dungeon, and were marched up to the square with other batches of slaves to be sold to prospective buyers. A tent was set up, and they were crowded into it, along with more guards. Then the same man who was at the desk yesterday got up on the wooden platform set up outside and started to announce to the world his wares for sale, namely, them.

A crowd had gathered in front of the stage outside, and was soon yelling. The man played with the crowd like many sellers would, but his goods were alive and intelligent.

He called towards the tent and one of the human slaves, no more than a boy of around seventeen, was dragged by the ear by one of the guards onto the stage. The crowd grew excited, and shouts were thrown. The man then started to turn into an auctioneer, and after some hurried rattling in Tullabanarigan, not understandable to both Lich and the crowd, he then pointed at someone towards the front, bringing his hand down into his palm, karate chop style. A woman then came up on stage, spoke to the seller, then to the slave, then the two of them were escorted to another tent. Lich could not see what was happening after they entered.

A few more humans were put forward individually, and they all went with their buyers to the tent.

The seller then said something to the crowd that brought on an unanimous noise of interest.

"He's talking about me," Lich thought, "he's talking about me."

The man then called "D'krim!" into the tent, and Lich was dragged onto the platform by the arm and forcibly stopped him beside the seller. The crowd fell into a state of whispering, its members looking up at him occasionally before whispering some more. The man then talked to the crowd, then called for Tob. Obviously, this was going to be a two-for-the-price-of-one offer. As the Koopa appeared on the platform, the whispering became more frenzied, before a cry from a young man offering his price cut through the noise.

A woman with a wart on her chin on the other side of the crowd called hers, and soon the trader was auctioning them off, his voice rattling like a bullet train on clackety rails. A reasonably short man in the centre of the crowd called out his, then another man who couldn't be seen from the platform except an arm further back. A young and fairly attractive woman at the front called hers. The first man called another price, then the woman at the front called another, and soon it was a race between the two of them. The man then called a price, and the woman fell silent, not willing to go any further. The trader then did his karate chop-like motion onto his palm, pointing it at the man. The deal had been set, he was now belonging to this man.

He then came up onto the platform and spoke to the seller. He then asked them their names, something Lich could understand.

"Tob," Tob said.

"Dyluh…D'krim," Lich said, correcting himself.

"I am Theutes," the man said. "You are now my slaves, and I…" the rest Lich could not understand.

A guard then came over and escorted the three of them over to the other tent, the crowd's gaze following them until they entered. Once inside, Lich saw hot coals and branding irons on the end of a stick. He tensed up and tried to flee out the flap of the tent but two burly guards blocked his way. He was then dragged over to another muscly man, stripped to the waist. He called to Theutes, who called out something in reply, then he got one of the irons out. Two guards came over and forcibly restrained the struggling Yoshi, one wrapping his arms around his legs, the other holding his head and his left arm behind his back as the man with the iron held his right arm tightly.

Lich could start to feel the heat of the iron as he stared at the roof of the tent. In times like this, his mind was clouded by instinct, and the first thing that he wanted was, obviously, out. Knowing that he was restrained, he remembered his tongue, and shot it out. He rolled his eyes back and wrapped it around the guard who was holding his head's neck. He expected a surprise reaction, but was greeted by the guard only looking slightly alarmed and holding tighter.

Suddenly, there was a smell of meat, and a sear of pain shot up from his arm and into his head. Lich loosened his tongue's grip and screamed the loudest scream he had ever done in his entire existence. He writhed, still in the guards' grip, and saw a black mark that appeared to be a spear and an intertwining snake, Theutes' symbol of ownership, burnt into his upper arm.

A bucket of water and some pain-killing mixture was splashed onto his wound, and it relieved him slightly. The guard holding his legs then let go, and the other guard let go of his head, and pulled both arms behind Lich, then dragged him over to another corner of the tent.

Next, it was Tob's turn. He was able to duck into his shell, but this did not stop the man with the branding iron from poking it into the hole where Tob's right arm shows itself to the world. There was shaking from within the shell, then the bucket was poured down the hole. The guard then set Tob down on the ground, still in his shell, and kicked him over to a guard next to Lich. The two guards then started to play a kicking game with Tob, and would have continued if it wasn't for Theutes commanding what sounded to be a stop. He then came over and said to both of them, "Blarkum terg," meaning "Follow me".

Tob's limbs and head re-appeared, and he got up, a little woozily, and the two of them followed their master out of the back of the tent and through the twisting streets. They came to a reasonably large house, and Theutes entered first, followed by Tob and D'krim. They walked down the entrance hallway, which twisted and turned inwards, then they entered what would be called a living room.

From what he could judge, Theutes was reasonably wealthy man as there were a few gold objects set on good quality wooden furniture, and rugs, which must have taken months to work on, lay on the cement floor, providing colour to what would have been bleak grey. He called out, and a woman just entering her mid-years and a son of no more than thirteen entered the room from side doors.

"D'krim, Tob," he said, pointing to the two slaves, then he pointed to the woman and said, "Sacho." He then pointed to the boy and said, "Fauako."

Theutes then commanded Lich and Tob to follow him, and he took them to their room, set in the house's basement. Two crude beds of straw were the only furniture present in the room, except for a bronze pipe which opened to be a speaking device, crawling across the ceiling and ending in an opening on the wall. Theutes then left the two slaves.

Lich sat down on one of the straw beds, and was immediately bitten by a flea. "Great," he thought, then concentrated, and heard a plinking noise in the corner of his mind, followed by a realisation of "two hundred and thirteen degrees, forty kilometres." The Boomerang of Light stated its location. Lich then lay back on the bed, trying to get some hard earned sleep, when, three seconds later, Theutes voice commanded "D'krim, blarkum" through the pipe. He then got up, shrugged his shoulders at Tob, and began his life as a slave.