Role

Chapter 1

Try as she might, Tummel's mother could not support him and his sister by
herself. Nor did she have anyone to turn to, as she had been branded a deviant
for marrying a dark-elf. Since his father was killed by some over-zealous
crusaders who could not see past his drowish complexion, the farm had fallen
into a state of disrepair. The crops failed and his mother could not repay the
family debts. Faced with debtors prison, she knew what would likely happen to her
children. Kirsa, just eight years old, would be relegated to the orphanage, which
was a thinnly desguised brothel for the many perverts that frequent Hamsah's port.
The boy, Tummel, would eventualy be forced into the imperial army to die for the
vanity of an Emperor he would never meet from some palace he would never see. She
had no choice.

As her life was being ripped assunder, she made a desperate decision she hoped
would save her children. The law allowed a debtee's child or spouse serve their
time in prison while they worked to repay the debt. Tummel's mother turned him
over to the court and would sell her virtue on the streets of Hamsah to raise
enough coins to buy his freedom.

He understood why he was going to prison, and that he would be with his mother
and sister again soon, though that knowledge made the ordeal no less lonely and
terrifying for an eight year old boy who had seen a happy life with a loving
family disintegrate in a matter of months. He hated the guards, the "food", the
cell he shared with scoundrels, riff-raff, stow-aways, and just about anyone else
who hadn't done quite enough to warrant their execution. His mother would visit
him every chance that she could afford. The boat ride was not cheap. In fact, she
had a deal with the captain and could sometimes barter her "services" for passage.
At first, she would come every few weeks, then once a month, then every few
months, finally stopped coming altogether. It had been nine years since Tummel
had seen his mother and sister. Still, as he had done a thousand nights before, he
would fall asleep listening to the waves break on the rocks below the prison walls
and imagine his mother approaching the island, waving from the bow of a ship that
would never come.