<div class="floatleft">(http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy199/Supias/a420e1ca-edf1-4c42-9fdc-7cb06089357c.jpg)</div><br/>Character:  Kahrumour Volundar (Kahru)<br/>Location:  Outside the gates, and then South of the Arena<br/>Concerning:  Entering Ar, and finding the lower arena pens.<br/><br/>Bathed in a blood red glow, the first of the three moons had risen over the hazy horizon.  Somewhere a city was burning.  Kahru stretched up in the dark kaiila’s saddle, lifting the horn to his lips and giving a quick two pulsing signal to the group behind him.  He moved the swift beast with a squeeze of his thigh and kick of his heel rather than any reigns as he unsheathed the longsword from his back.  Something wasn’t right.  He could feel it.<br/><br/>Scanning the darkening field, his unusual golden eyes searched for whatever it was that had set him on alert.  He had learned to trust those instincts wither upon the hunt or upon the battlefield.   He set the beast to a fast canter to the left of the caravan and between whatever it was that had set him to worry. The kaiila might have been one of the fastest beasts without wings, but the draft tharlarion would not stand a chance.  However strong they might be, they lacked a speed that a cavalry of high tharlarion and their raiding riders would find too irresistible to pass up.<br/><br/>Kahru’s dark kaiila raced pass the bulk of the caravan yelling back to the head cart to keep the group together and moving as quickly as possible without allowing for stragglers.  If they had to, they were to circle and defend. The dirt under the kaiila shredded under the sharp claws of the beast as it ate up the field heading towards the back two carts of the caravan; Kahru’s own cargo.  A sharp protesting bellow bounced Kahru in his saddle as the kaiila neared the cages enough for Kahru to lean in and release the latches.  Inside the sleen had already picked up on something and sensing Kahru’s mood they hissed back a warning to the kaiila to stay out of their way.  It was time to hunt.<br/><br/>Kahru’s free hand with drew the long whip from his belt and gave a shrill whistled to the sleen to begin the search.  One last glance to the group behind him.  His responsibility.  If a single hair was harmed upon this trip it would be because he had let them down. All other guards were to stay and protect the Free Women and Men and then the beasts and slaves.    Beyond the front of the line Kahru could make out the outline of the protective towers of Ar and atop the turrets a flag remained drifting in the breeze.  They could make it.  He had to make sure they would make it.<br/><br/>“HURTA!” He called and raced out in the direction of his sleen.  The lean beasts were low to the ground, fast, and practically invisible in this light.  And they were deadly.  Many a sleen trainer had lost their lives to the very beasts they handled.  That made the Man to command them had to be stupid or crazy.  Kahru guessed he was a little of both as he leaned forward standing in the saddle, the shift in his weight and the kick of his heel telling the kaiila where to go as he kept up a steady low whistle to sleen to keep track and give them directions. Then all was silent.  Even the clawing pads of the kaiila became quiet and slowed as the group neared a ridge where a cloud of dust billowed into the twilight.<br/><br/>There!  Riding along the lower winding ridge, a group of six riders in pursuit. In pursuit of…?  Upon the curve a cart rattled along as fast as the poor panting draft tharlarion could go.  They were toying with it.  The lead of the pack held out a lance even now, pulling back the curtain of the back of the wagon.  A second of the raiders now joined the first, cracking a whip and laughing.  Damn.  He caught her.  The raider pulled back on the reigns of the tharlarion.  From the back of the wagon a slender slave shot out of the wagon with the force of the stop.  She would be lucky if she were not dead from the impact.  Then again, perhaps she would be lucky if she were.<br/><br/>Kahru didn’t debate longer. His Caravan had plenty of guards to take on the other four raiders without him should the old gods decide it, but he wouldn’t stand idle with bastards like that about.  He guided the swift kaiila down the steep incline to come up behind them.<br/><br/>As the lead raider stopped and dismounted to inspect the slave, a second moved to join the man.  A shrill whistle startled the roosting birds in the hedges as the kaiila barreled between the two men.  Kahru’s sword swirling in a circle as he struck beast or Man, he didn’t care.  From all around the scent of musk filled air, the only warning that the sleen were attacking.  A marveling twenty-foot leap into the air, the beasts easily dismount the men.  Kahru dismounted among his beasts, his golden eyes flashing in the heat of the last rays of the setting sun as he stalked the man, still fumbling with the tethering whip, now unsure if he should drop it or draw his sword.  Amid the harrowing screams of the fallen raider the other men scattered, save for their leader upon the ground at Kahru’s feet, and disappeared into the night.  “I am Kahru of Anango.”  The rolling tembre of danger was there in his voice as Kahru’s steps quickened and even the sleen looked up from their meals to make sure it was not directed towards them.<br/><br/>CRACK!<br/><br/>The sound of the whip.  One ihn the man was standing and the next he would have felt the squeeze and yank of the whip and then the crack of his head hitting the ground, just as he had done to the slave had moments ago. It was a fitting justice, Kahru thought.  The splitting ring in the head would likely have left a daze much longer than the bloody oozing wound Kahru’s sword had left the man with.  Kahru hoped he had prepared for death before the raid.<br/>Scooping up the slut he tossed her upon the back of his kaiila.  He didn’t bother with untying her.  It was up to the gods or priest kings or whatever she believed in wither she would live or die but he would give her the best shot.  Mounting the kaiila he set out at a run, the sleen flanking out behind him as he raced towards the gates and towards the physicians tower.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>~*~*~*~*~</strong></div><br/>Days had passed since Kahru had passed through the great gates of Ar with his caravan of beasts and Women and Men, all having dispersed through the labyrinth of streets to celebrate and barter until the end of the festivals.  The slave had been settled well with the physician and it looked as though perhaps she would live, though her Master in the cart was proving more difficult to find.  The sleen were restless as they passed their cages within Kahru’s personal wagon, and a large portion of his payment had been given to him upon the safe passage to the great city.<br/><br/>His hand rested upon the pommel of sword, the other upon a scroll that protruded upwards from a brace along the thick dark leather belt upon Kahru’s hips.  He’d been to the library, but all of the cartographers were enjoying the festivities.  Kahru wasn’t much for celebration, but he found himself wandering towards the Stadium of Blades, moving away from the entrance and the gathering of tourists and towards the holding pens.  As he did so he passed beside many a poor merchant, some nothing more than a barker with his wears upon old, if well swept carpets.<br/><br/>It was among these carpet markers that Kahru found himself facing the little leather shop.   “Is this the way towards the lower holding pens of the arena?”  He asked the elder man and his busy assistant.