Luk by Don Taco

 Luk  by Don Taco

 

  And yet another character origin story from the DragonQuest RPG universe

 

 

  Most of the town gathered in the square when the slaver vessel docked. Visitors are rare in tiny island farming villages. There was whispering, bordering on the conspiratorial, in numerous places in the crowd. Small groups of men unceremoniously ushered a few individuals away from the gathering, and saw to it that they did not remain in the small crowd. One surly gentelman took great umbrage at this, but after a bit of a beating, chose to decide that he wouldn't be attending this event.

  The slaver chieftain knew that sales were unlikely in such a small and poor location, but while his men replenished their water from up the river mouth, he brought out his goods. Not wasting any time saving the best for last, he paraded out a comely young wench, in chains, fiery and unbowed. She was darker of skin, and had the arm tatoos of an unrecognized village or tribe or island. Not unusual in this vast sea of small islands. Probably the victim, or spoils, of a raiding party, and not a participant of one of the long-standing inter-island wars.

  One young farmer called out a very low bid. The entire crowd remained completely silent. After a few minutes of cajoling the crowd, and receiving no response, the slaver decided that a few pennies were actually better that feeding the hand that bites you, shrugged, and made the sale. Tying the woman's hands behind her back before releasing her from the chains, he handed her over to the young farmer. The crowd quietly dispersed. The ship's crew finished their task and sailed off for better markets.

  Now, slavery is common in many cultures, and isn't always brutal, nor it is necessarily a dishonor. The farmer led her back to his home and untied her hands. She was bright, and had some training in Military Science. She had already decided that she needed to get the lay of the land before making any plans. The way the man was treating her, she could easily slip away, but she would still be on an unknown island with few resources beyond her native skills, and no way to achieve passage back to her own island home.

  Ushering her inside, they were met by a village girl of about twelve, rocking a tiny infant in her arms. Handing the babe to the man, she and he bowed to each other, and she scampered off. Handing the infant over to the woman, he began to mimic childbirth. She spoke. "My name is Marya, and I do have some small skill in your language, and in several other of the local island languages." He explained to her that his wife had died in childbirth, leaving him with this baby and a toddler, with no prospects in the village or nearby to help raise them, and crops in the field needing his attention. He put it simply. "We are struggling."

  When Marya slid down her top to see if the babe would suckle, he wept silently. Saying only that he must return to his fields, he turned and strode away, never even glancing back. An hour or so later, an old woman quietly appeared, with a child of perhaps two years, perhaps one and a half. She began opening cupboards and containers, showing Marya where things were kept, and together they prepared a meal.

  Leto, the young widower, turned out to be a kind man, and their life was gentle that fall. Within a month, it became obvious that she had arrived pregnant. By winter, she had accepted him into her bed, and they knew the joy of any such young couple, but with a deep shadow of circumstance behind them. Her child was born in early spring. Eventually they had several others. She never looked back, and rarely spoke of her home.

  Marya named her child Luk. Coming from a matriarchal and matrilineal clan, she refused to call him by Leto's patronymic, and she disdained using her own family name since she had been ripped from her home. She never told anyone, not even Luk himself, what the name meant, only that it wasn't the word for good fortune that it sounded like.

  When he was old enough, Marya explained to him that names held power, and that a man who knew your name held power over you. Especially one who was gifted in or had studied this field. She further explained that this was why he was called by a homynym of a common word in the local language. It was like wearing a disguise.

  She also passed on her love of languages, teaching him all three of the island tongues that she knew. "The ability to communicate," she told him, "is what separates us from the animals. Especially those who walk and talk like men, but can't be bothered to think."

  Marya encouraged Luk to study the skill of Military Science, as she had. "Knowing the ins and outs of strategy and tactics will never harm you, and leadership skills are born of knowledge and practice, not of charisma. A man cannot defeat you if he cannot out-think you."

  And she set him off on a path of wisdom and knowledge that served him well.