Zarina

She was christened Zarina, and her parents were Bardel and Asha. Her parents were simple people. Bardel made jewelery and Asha worked in the fields outside their village with the other women. In the summer of her eleventh year, Zarina and Bardel journeyed far from their village to collect the gems that Bardel used in his jewelery. While they were away, a group of raiders attacked their village and killed everyone but the prettiest young maidens, who were taken to be sold as slaves. Upon their return, Zarina and Bardel were devastated at the scene that confronted them. The bodies of their villagers lay where they were slain, hordes of crows already picking at them. They found Asha in the remains of their house, an arrow lodged between her shoulder blades, obviously fired at her as she tried to run from the raiders. The fletch of the arrow that had killed Asha was made from black crow feathers, and Zarina pulled a feather from the arrow and tucked it into her belt. Straightening her simple blue tunic, she slipped her hand into her grieving father's and led him away from the carnage. As Zarina took his hand, an image flashed into her mind. It was Bardel, sitting at a low workbench, his jewelery-making tools spread in front of him as he created a brooch.

For many moons they travelled, stopping at various towns, but never feeling completely at ease. Shortly before her fifteenth birthday they stood high on a hill above a small village, and Bardel turned to look at his daughter. "This village will be our home now, Zari" he whispered to her. Bardel set up his business in the village and quickly became very popular.

Images such as the one she had on the dreadful day they had discovered her mother dead continued to come to the young girl. Images of her father galantly fighting large men cloaked in black, of herself sitting high above the world, her with a young man from the village, faces of people she had never seen before...they troubled her, but she dared not mention them to Bardel, fearing that he would have no explanation for her. A young man named Morrak had begun to court Zarina. He was a gentle man, just a year older than herself, and they spent many days together sitting by the lake or in the woods. He was a skilled axeman, and worked often with the other men of the village felling trees. Not long after her sixteenth birthday they were married, and Zarina thought at last that her father was happy again. And he was, for in Zarina's marriage to Morrak he saw a chance for her to put the dark years following Asha's death behind her. On Zarina's wedding day, Bardel presented her with a brooch made from very rare rose-colored topaz and gold. "Keep this with you always, Zarina" he told her. "It will protect you and help you to overcome whatever shall befall you."

For almost a year Zarina and Morrak were very happy, although Zarina continued to see the images in her mind as she had since her mother's death. Now, though, they contained Morrak as well as Bardel and this troubled her more than she could express. Not long before she turned seventeen, she was sitting by the lake with a girl from the village, while Morrak felled trees. In her mind an image of her father flashed and at that moment she knew the village was in danger, her father probably already dead. Without a word she jumped up and ran to the village, calling for Morrak and Bardel as she ran. She stopped short behind a tree, seeing her father encircled by men in black leggings and jerkins, silver helms on their heads. She stood mortified as Bardel was cut down, and an arrow thudded into the tree above her head. Shocked, she saw that the fletch was made from black crow feathers. She hid behind the tree until the men left, her heart pounding in her chest. Tears stinging her eyes she ran to the clearing where Morrak had been, but found him dead also, an arrow lodged in his throat. Angrily she pulled the arrow from her husband's still body and cradled his head in her lap. She kissed his brow and pulled a feather from the arrow, tucking it into her belt as she had done so many years before.

Zarina left the village shortly after, and for almost a year she wandered, aimlessly. Many times she came close to death, but found that she had the ability to heal herself, and also that on some occasions magic flowed from her, though she knew not how. On a particularly overcast day she set off from the latest in a long line of inns, and a feeling of despair washed over her. She knew she was going to die soon. As she came into a small clearing, she was ambushed by at least a dozen men wearing black leggings and jerkins and steel helms. She knew it was time. A searing pain shot through her, and she let herself be engulfed by it.

Many days later Zarina awoke. She lay staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, and panicked as she realized she had no idea where she was. Sitting beside her was a warrior, not much older than herself. He smiled as she turned her head to look at him, and introduced himself as Judas. He explained that he and some of his companions had been in the woods the day she was attacked and they had managed to kill all of her assailants - there had been fourteen. Zarina had then been brought back to their town, whose name she learned was Algeroth.

Since that fateful day almost five years ago, Zarina has resided in Algeroth. Alot has changed - many have come and gone, the world outside the town gates has grown steadily and she and Judas have married. Together with some close friends they created the clan known as Eternal, and to this day they adventure together helping to save the town from the many invaders who come from near and far, and they will continue to do so for many moons to come.