Ernest watched the surroundings carefully from her position on the roof of the carriage. They had entered the forest earlier that day, and already it was making her edgy. The dim light and unfamiliar sounds kept her alert. She wondered where they were going. She had just meant to get away from the village a little faster.
The never-ending rustling of something moving caught her attention and she tried to reassure herself that it was only animals. At least, she hoped it was only the animals. If there were people there, watching her… She shuddered at the thought.
A flicker of deep red caught her eye- a strange colour she had seen nowhere else so far. She turned to look, but it was gone. Odd, she was sure she'd seen something. She turned her head back to where they were going, waiting for something to happen, and hoping desperately that nothing would.

This time, for the poor and unwary travelers in the carriage, the animal, insects and tribemen were not the only menace. Oh, no, absolutely not. This time, unfortunately for them, the ruthless dictator Tacitus Silanus was in search for loot. And what other way of getting loot, than sacking carriages travelling in the road? He and no less than 20 of his loyal troopers wandered in the untrustworthy depths of the Laeto Rain Forest, awaiting for their first victims of the day.

And here they are, the people they would attack in this peaceful day. Poor of them, heedless and careless of their surroundings. One would expect that will all the huge insects and hostile tribemen that sometimes dared to attack the roads, travelers would learn that coming un-armed here is a death sentence. However, they were quite lucky to encounter Silanus, in fact. Since they seldom kill their victims, unless they fight back, of course. Usually, the Fratians enslaved the merchants and travellers and sold them to other tribes and villages in the Highlands. And this time, it wouldn´t be different. 

The silence was interrupted by the sound of a horn played by one trooper. After that, the horde of soldiers appeared from everywhere, until they surrounded the carriages in the caravan. In the upper lands, crossbowmen and archers were aiming at the travelers, just in case any of them attemped to flee. The spearmen and swordmen had their weapons ready, not only to prepare themselves if any of the travelers had a weapon and tried to fight back, but also to intimidate them. Tacitus Silanus, with his arrogant, confident smirk on his face, walked nearby them and yelled to the travelers: "Oh, don´t worry, you all! If you stay there and let us peacefully sack whatever loot you are carrying in your carriages, nobody will be hurt. I can´t promise you will be released after we´re finished sacking you, but we´ll see! Now, men, do your job." As he finished talking, some soldiers approached to remove anything valuable they could find in the carriages. Everything was going perfectly for the Fratians.

Ernest glanced around, pulling herself high enough over the edge of the carriage that she could see around. A horde of men stood in a circle around the caravan. Further back, a row of archers stood, pointing their bows at the caravan. She watched each one carefully, making sure that none of them had their weapons pointed at her. None did. For all intents and purposes, they probably hadn't even seen her - no one expected someone to be hiding on a carriage roof. 
She spotted a branch a little to the left of the carriage roof. It was far enough away that she would have to stand up and jump for it. She would need a distraction. And just as she thought that, one of the men - he looked like the leader - started speaking. She didn't wait to hear his words. She pulled herself to her feet and leapt for the branch.
((OOC: Feel free to say he notices her and gets his men to pull her out of the tree. It would be kind of boring if she just escaped.))

The spearmen got closer to the caravan, which had now surrendered and agreed to let the Fratians steal their goods. However, just as the troopers were beggining to loot the carriages, one marksman saw something moving, right above one of the carriages. A girl was there, and she was escaping!

Quickly, the marksman shot his crossbow bolt at the girl, aiming at her head. However, the young one was lucky and the bolt merely hit the tree branch, causing it to break. If she fell off the tree, the soldiers would swiftly catch her. 

Ernest was almost away when the branch snapped beneath her. She slid downward, catching the edge of the tree with her fingertips, attempting to pull herself up. She hung there, swaying for nearly a second before reaching up to the next branch. She almost had it, but it was farther than she had expected. She couldn't quite reach it, and, her balance upset, she tumbled to the ground. 
Her eyes darted to and fro, searching for an escape route, but the men had nearly surrounded her. Tugging out her dagger, she stared down the men coming toward her. If, somehow, she could get up higher, she could escape, but she found that thought unlikely.
((OOC: Ernest isn't much of a fighter. If she can't get in a lucky stab in the first few seconds, she's likely to be defeated.))

Most of the marksmen aimed their weapons at the retreating woman, also, she was surrounded by other troopers. It seemed impossible for her to escape. One allied orc, who was a good friend of Silanus, looked at him and asked: "Why don´t we just put her down and make her serve as an example for the other captives? It´d be much easier." Silanus, as serious as before, watched carefully at the struggling girl and then answered: "And waste a pair of working hands? Do you know how much would the Northern tribes pay for a young, healthy gal like her? Nah, I don´t think so." As soon as they heard that, the soldiers lowered their spears and let their leader walk among them.

Tacitus smirked arrogantly at her, and pointed at her with one of his open palms. Then, the dictador said: "Come on, you. Drop your dagger, you won´t do much with that butter knife. I´ll promise you that, if you cooperate, I´ll sell you to the most civilized tribe we can find, instead of some ruthless savages. Now, that´s quite an offer." The leader felt somewhat pity at her and the other captives. Sometimes at the long nights, his sleep was troubled by the tiresome thinking. What would happen to them? Is that the right thing to do, let the big cultures crush the little ones? Two more soldiers walked towards the woman, ready to grab her arms and tie her with the rest of the prisoners as soon as she dropped her dagger.

Ernest scanned the crowd again, searching for a way out, but there seemed to be none. She sighed. For some reason, this man seemed to think selling her to a nicer tribe was going to convince her. Not a chance. The only deciding factor here was that she would probably live somewhat longer if she was willing to let them capture her.
Just for now, she thought. She dropped the dagger, not without a pang of regret. She loved that dagger - it had belonged to her uncle. Out loud, she simply said, "Fine." 
She extended her arms, letting them tie her up. She had the feeling it would not go well for her if she resisted. Inwardly, however, she seethed with frustration. It was so annoying to give up her freedom. She wondered what they would do to her. She had heard many stories of slavers, and they rarely ended well.

Tacitus Silanus grinned as he saw how quickly she surrendered and gave up her freedom. As he was walking away back to his horse, he spoke to everyone and said: "Alright, let´s take those people to the nearest tribe. Let´s see, the natives of this Forest, right?" Silanus had made a deal with the native tribes of the Silvas Region before and many of them were willing to pay good silver or trade food for a bunch of slaves, which seemed to be a good deal. "And don´t forget to sack and then burn the carriages, let the nearby travellers know what happened to the others who crossed here without my permission!" Said the general once again.

All the slaves´ hands and feet were tied to each other and at the same time to a donkey the Fratians had brought. A man was riding the donkey, leading the slaves´ way. The first tribe was a near one, a tribe of mostly hunters and fishermen, who prefered to build simple houses and stay out of the traveller´s way. They traded some salted fish for some of the slaves, an offer good enough for the Fratians, since Winter was approaching and they needed any extra food they could have.

The second stop was at a group of pillagers and brigands, who accorded to pay gold they had "found" the last week for a good quantity of slaves. They needed people to sacrifice to their gods and clean their weapons, so instead of doing the hard work and finding some people, the tribesmen decided to make a deal with the Fratians. However, they were not willing to pay gold for them, instead, why not capturing the armed troopers instead? More people for the gods, of course!

The small wooden gates opened and the Fratians entered with their slaves. Silanus stepped forwards and spoke to the man who seemed to be the leader; the general knew how to speak their language, so communication was way easier. "Here we are, as promised. Healthy, young slaves for your gods, shall you show us the gold you… Sacked last week?" Asked Tacitus. Few did he know what was going to happen. Silanus continued talking, this time to his comrades: "Give them the rest of the people. All of them." as he was talking, he turned his gaze towards Ernest, then he said: "Oh, don´t worry it´s for your own good! This way, you won´t suffer a life of slavery, instead, you will be murdered inmediately instead!" 

As soon as he finished talking, one arrow hit one Fratian´s eye, obviously, killing him. The soldiers un-sheated their weapons and raised their shields, but got ambushed from both sides by outnumbering quantities of natives. They donkey was frightened, so it ran away, carrying the slaves with it. However, a sharpened stick that was buried in the ground cut the rope, so the slaves were practically free, of course if they were not captured by the natives. Silanus and a bunch of his soldiers, after opening a way through the hostile natives, found them. He was not interested in them anymore, instead, he wanted to escape from there with his fellow troopers. 

Ernest wanted to punch the leader out when he told her being a sacrifice was for her own good, and she probably would have had her hands not been tied. With a glare, she followed the line of slaves into the village. 
The next second, it seemed, all hell broke loose. She barely had time to register that one of her captors had been shot before the donkey leading them burst into a run. Ernest barely kept her footing, and when the rope was slashed, she lost it entirely, tumbling to the ground. Hurriedly, she got to her feet. 
She was too late, or at least in her mind. The troopers had already found them. She did the only thing she could - she ran pell-mell towards the exit. The troopers were running behind her, and she was sure they were about to catch her. It was much to her surprise, then, when several men ran right past her. They were fleeing, too, she realized! 
Despite that knowledge, she did not slow her pace. The fact that these strong warriors were fleeing said a lot about how capable the men behind them were. She could hear them calling in the distance, now, chasing the large group of running men. Ernest tried to gather her thoughts. If they wanted sacrifices, and a lot of them, they probably wouldn't notice one person running off on her own. She glanced around, and after a few seconds, dove through a gap between two berry bushes.
After a few minutes of running, Ernest paused, listening for anyone behind her. For a moment she heard nothing but birdsong and the buzz of insects. She was almost certain she was free. But then, in the distance, she heard footsteps - coming her way. She knew she had no real allies here, so she grabbed a handful of stones and climbed up the nearest tree, waiting to see who was following her.

Those natives fought like demons. No remorse, no fear, it seemed they were impossible to tire. When a Fratian killed one, another took it´s place, just like trying to kill all the bees of a hive with a single stick, most likely a waste of time. Their commander, Tacitus Silanus, had time to fall back and try regroup his forces. This… This was an humilliation for him, for all his people; treachery is the worst of all things you could do. And, for such thing, they had to be punished, just like the animals they were.

Silanus, with a javelin in his hand and his shield in the other, ready to take vengeance for his fallen men. Four other soldier accompained him, all of them hiding in the bushes, ready to begin down their ambush on the nearest tribesmen that walked through there. While waiting, some other bushes were shaking; somebody was in there! Preparing to throw his javelin, Silanus was waiting for the perfect moment to show up, and pierce the native´s heart.

Silanus finally saw it; the woman they had captured before was climbing a tree, with a handful of stones. Of course, he would not throw her a javelin, there was no reason to. "Lower your javelins, men. Use them in a savage, not a refugee." As he commanded, his men followed and hid once again. In no time, a small group of 8 savages arrived, seeking for any survivor. At the beggining, they did not see the hiding girl, but her feet revealed her. A barbarian approached to her, ready to hold her foot and throw her at the ground.

Silanus, taking advantage of this situation, yelled: "Throw your javelins!" and threw his weapon at the approaching barbarian. The other soldiers followed him, throwing theirs. A small battle began, but ultimately the Fratians murdered them all. Now, that the battle was over, Silanus looked firmly at the hiding girl and, mockingly said: "Oh, you can come out of there. Everybody sees you, anyways. We won´t waste time capturing you or whatever, not this time." A small smirk appeared in his face. Enslaving people was the last thing he´d do in this situation, anyways.