Under construction.
Wow. I am so proud. I made this all by myself.
Two ixis huddled in a tiny cave at the side of a black mountain, crouched side by side, sharing what warth they had, sheltered from the onslaught of the raging storm.
One was a pure white buck, his usually sleek pelt ragged and ruffled. The other an ixi doe of pitch black, her fur as unruly as that of her mate. Both looked like normal ixis, though the femme's belly was swelled - she was with child. She was due quite soon, but the couple's problem was finding a place safe enough for her to give birth. The cave was simply too cold, and there was always the risk of a lupe finding them...
Despite all the risks involved, the faint, weak bleats of newborn fawns could barely be heard through the storm many painful hours later.
There were five fawns, two were dark as their mother, one as white as their father, and one a medium gray. Then, the last one was steelblue, a bright steelblue. Fluffy wings hovered over the fawn's back, the dark purple jewel set at the base of each matching the deep hue of her strangely haunting eyes.
The family did not stay intact for long. A week after the birth of the fawns, a hungry lupe had found his way into the cave. The father, in a desperate move to protect his family, charged to attack. He managed to injure the enraged canine sufficiently to send him howling, tail between legs, out of the cave and down the mountain. The buck fell to the ground, his snow-white pelt stained rusty crimson with blood, his frame motionless in death.
Only days after her mate's death, the nervous mother brought her fawns out of the dark, lonely cave. They then started the long journey to Neopia Central.
But the family's unfortunate luck did no end there.
At the Central, the doe managed to get some food, barely enough to sustain the family for just one night.
As the family settled down for the night, secreted away behind a stack of old cardbox boxes, the soft footfalls of humans could be heard, if one cared to listen carefully...
But the mother doe did not heed the humans. Her biggest mistake.
A thick, strong net was cast. The mother heard the soft rustling of the thick ropes, rubbing together, as they slithered down to trap the family of ixi.
The coe opened her mouth and cried out loud, ushering her precious fawns out of the range of the rope trap.
Stumbling through the scrap in the alleyway, the mother hustled her babies urgently on. But a tiny midnight fawn tripped and fell, and the distraught ixi let out an anguished scream as the heavy net fell 'pon the dark youngster.
No!" she cried as the young doe whimpered helplessly 'neath the rope. "Let my daughter go.. Please.. I'm begging you.. please, give her back..
Sorry lady," one of the humans said apologetically, as his colleagues sneered unkindly at him for taking pity on the mother ixi. "We're just doing our job..
Please," pleaded the doe, tears streaming thickly down her face. "Please.. let her go.. I'll trade one of my fawns for Lunar Night.. please.." The mother took one look at the rest of her brood and gestured to the sapphire fawn cowering behind her siblings. "You can take Aletyshia.. but please.. give Lunar Night back.. please..
Taking pity on her, the kind worker nodded. "Um, okay, if the fawn means so much to you." He gestured to a colleague at the controls to release the fawn, and as the net lifted, he bent and scooped up the trembling midnight fawn, placing her with her siblings. "And, um, which one's Aletyshia?" he asked, rather embarrassed at forgetting.
The black doe pushed the steelblue fawn forwards in response.
She's beautiful.." the man breathed, hardly daring to touch the fawn, her jewel-bright eyes sparkling most obviously with fear.
But one of his colleagues was struck dumb by the child's exotic-ness. Rushing forwards, pushing the other man out of the way, he snatched the squealing fawn from the ground. "I'll pay you for her, he hissed, his eyes glittering with excitement. "15 thousand neopoints, yes?
The mother eagerly accepted the money. Now, she thought,now I can feed my babies...
What are you doing, Ronald?!" the first man cried. "How could you just pay her for her child like that?!
She's going to make me lots of money," the man called Ronald cackled impishly, peering greedily at the little ixi in his arms. "She'll probably sell for millions..
Unaware of everything about him, Ronald immediately set off home, possessively clutching his living prize in his arms.
Once back in his abode, the man immediately shut her into a birdcage, the largest he could find.
Tomorrow.." he muttered to himself. "Tomorrow, I go to the slave trader.. see how much this baby can bring in for me.." Chucking obsessively, he rolled into bed and muttered himself asleep.
The next morning, he awoke early. Casting a thick cloth over the birdcage, he stole out of the house, clutching protectively to the container.
The young ixi doe whimpered in her confinement, bunched up uncomfortably in a ball at one corner of the square cage, her tiny wings folded tightly about her. She was young but she quite understood the grown man's words. And she didn't like what she heard, though she could do naught about it.
Charlie heard the infant's tiny cry, and his quick, almost frantic pace slowed a fraction, his selfish actions niggling weakly at his conscience. He almost stopped to release the youngster before he reminded himself that she was probably worth lots of neopoints, points that could buy him a new house, perhaps a new car. If I'm persistent enough, he reasoned silently to himself, I could probably gain enough to afford an extravagant wedding my sweetheart had alway dreamed of. A small smile spread 'cross his face and he hastened down the dark street leading towards the slave market.
---
What do you mean she's only worth about ten thousand?!" Charlie raged, swinging the cage about, causing the infant ixi to nearly throw up.
I already told you, she's only a baby. It's not likely anyone's going to want an infant to assist in cleaning their houses or cooking their meals," the tall man in charge smirked, examining his delicate nails as if his manicurist did not do a satisfactory job. He was dressed in rather casual garb, a loose cotton shirt, buttoned up only half way, and faded jeans, hanging loose about his waist. His hair was dark, and flowed down. "And besides, personally, I do think she's too pretty to be a slave." The man got up from his seat, as if signalling the end of the interview. "Come back in a month or two. She might be old or capable enough, and I might pay you up to about a hundred K, depending on her condition. If you're really that desperate, yes, I'll pay you about ten to twenty K if you're selling her to me now.
Charlie's eyes sparkled greedily. Twenty thousand was just about enough to finance the wedding and get him a new car, with some few hundred points left over. "I accept!" he hollered, dropping the cage to the ground at the man's feet, holding a hand out to accept the payment.
The man fished his wallet out, wincing as the cage crashed at his feet. "Ten K?" he offered weakly.
Twenty five thousand!" Charlie countered greedily.
The tall man tched. "I said the max was twenty K. I'll give you, say, twelve K?
Twenty, then," Charlie mused.
Thirteen.
Eighteen.
Fourteen.
Seventeen!
Fifteen.
Sixteen.
Fifteen and a half.
Deal!" Charlie grinned, as the man counted out the money and dropped it in his waiting hand.
His wallet considerably lighter, the man sighed, unlocking the cage and gathering the doe into his arms. He planned to keep her. Hurrying into his 'office', a weather-beaten shed some ten metres behind the vast cages that held the slaves that were for sale.
Locking the door behind him, the man deposited the quivering mass of fur onto the worn armchair beside his stained desk. Dropping heavily into the uncomfortably stiff wooden chair behind the table, he spun the armchair, with some difficulty, to face him.
Hello," he cooed softly to the frightened infant doe, stroking her head hesitantly. "I'm Taylor. And I'm going to call you Kiki. Kiki is a nice name, yes?
T.. Tish," the fawn coughed. "T.. Tisha. M.. my n-name Ale.. Aletyshia." Her voice was soft, slightly reedy, and she sounded as if she had a head cold. "Tish...a.
Okay then," Taylor nodded, still patting the infant. "Tisha. I shall call you Tisha. Is that alright?
Y.. yes," she grinned hesitantly, using a silver hoof to bat at Taylor's hand.
But this wasn't Aletyshia's happy ever after.
Two months passed. The steelblue doe had grown. She was now about half the height of her human caretaker, and was able to care for herself in his absence, for he was not able to bring her to his abode, for she wasn't purchased legally, nor was she supposed to be his pet or charge. She had been bought to become a slave, using the profit from the sales of the other slaves. So Taylor was forced to hide her away in his tiny office, which she had now come to call home. In fact, it wasn't small any longer, nor was it just an office. Within the two months the doe had been with him, he had built a few other rooms for the tiny building. Now it had a kitchen, a bedroom, and a lavatory, though the toilet wasn't anything more than a hole, dug into the sandy ground, connected by some slightly unorthodox plumbing to the drain outside. From candlelight, the source of light in the office was upgraded to electrically powered lighting. Curtains were fixed to the single window in the bedroom. The entrance to the tiny corridor leading to the three secret rooms in the office was just behind Taylor's desk, cleverly hidden by a curtain of ivy climbing up the wall into which it was set, though the sudden appearance of the plants had caused some of the young man's assistants to become slightly suspicious.
One dark night, the young doe had bid her caretaker good-by and goodnight as he left the tiny office. He had ceased locking the building up for anything and everything of value had been hid in the ixi's living quarters. She headed to the kitchen to get a mug of milk before she went to bed. She had no idea that her life of meagre comfort would end that unlikely night.
As the young man Taylor left
A shadowed form of a mutant ixi was slumped over the twisted roots of an old oak tall, her form unmoving in deep sleep. The small dark shape of an Anubis stood near her, the tiny canine clearly guarding over its mistress.
.:Regular:.
.:BLUE:.
.:GREEN:.
.:RED:.
.:YELLOW:.
.:Painted:.
.:BROWN:.
.:FAERIE:.
.:GHOST:.
.:GLOWING:.
.:MUTANT:.
.:PINK:.
.:PURPLE:.
.:RAINBOW:.
.:SHADOW:.
.:SKUNK:.
.:WHITE:.
