alaklondewen – Easterling
NAME: Lyshka (LEESH – ka)
AGE: She knows she is close to twenty years, but whether she has passed the mark yet or not, she is unsure.
RACE: Easterling
GENDER: Female
WEAPONS: Lyshka has no possessions whatsoever.
APPEARANCE: Lyshka’s long face is framed by short, thick, uneven black hair that one of the men she had worked alongside chopped with a crude knife in return for a blow she administered to his gut after he touched her inappropriately. Her small, dark-brown eyes peer over a short pointed nose with a visible scar across the bridge. Her lips are full and firmly pressed together. Lyshka wears a stern expression and has not smiled since she was a small child.
Lyshka is tall for her gender and her frame is so thin from starvation combined with hard labor that her dark skin appears to be simply stretched over her bones. The filthy, torn rags that cover her body do not hide her flesh and provide no protection from the elements.
PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Lyshka is tough, but she’s had to be. She’s had to protect herself in the fields of Mordor, and she sports several scars as trophies to her grit. Once there had been the spirit of a loving and beautiful little girl deep inside her heart, but now she was hardened, cold, and eroded.
Every person Lyshka trusted in her life betrayed her and she eventually pushed the pain so far down that she was numb. Numb is how she remained. She trusts no one, especially men for they have done nothing but use her.
HISTORY: Lyshka came from a family that lived with a group of wayfarers that traveled in the southern lands of Middle Earth. Her mother was distant and emotionally detached, and her father made his living through thievery and gambling. One night her father made a bad bet to some Southron soldiers on their way to Mordor. Not being able to pay the men and facing death or torture because of it, Lyshka’s father gave them his little girl to pay his debt. Lyshka was only five years old at the time.
The soldiers abused her and took her to Mordor where she was made to work in the fields in the south. As she grew she gained more attention from men, not only guards but those that worked and housed beside her. She had to learn to fight to protect herself from their advances, although she still lost occasionally to them, especially when they would gang up and several would attack her.
One evening as she made her way back to the stall where she slept, a guard waited for her and as she passed him, he attacked her. Caught off guard, Lyshka tried to fight back but he was too big, too strong. They had struggled for several minutes, when her eyes and hands found his short dagger. Before he knew what was happening, Lyshka stabbed the guard several times until she could push his limp body from hers.
The Orc guards that found her considered killing her on the spot, which in truth she would not have minded, but instead, they decided to send her to Cirith Ungol where she would wait until her turn came to be fed to the beast in the mountains.
~*~
alaklondewen’s post
Lyshka had heard the commotion in the tower, but paid it no heed. Her cell was dark with shadows and the floor was cold as she sat against the wall with her long legs tucked beneath her chin. Her eyes stared blankly into the darkness as her mind simply worked to pass the time quickly so her body would not feel the pain of hunger.
Then, her ears began to pick up on a sound that was unexpected…the jingling of keys and the swinging of the iron doors. The prisoners around her called out and the first sounds of joy she had heard in many years flooded the dungeon. Lyshka slowly pushed herself up with her hands and crept to the door. She peaked through the window, but kept herself hidden in the shadows.
A young man was freeing the other prisoners. One cell at a time he inserted the key, turned it, and let the door fall open. Lyshka watched as he made his way one by one to her cell door. She stepped backward. Only her face was not consumed by the darkness. The man stepped forward, and she heard the shift of the lock. Still, she would not allow hope to rise in her, and she touched the door and studied the young man’s face with suspicion. Sensing her movement, he met her gaze with dull blue eyes, and then he turned from her and continued his task.
Lyshka held her breath as the door slowly opened. She knew nothing of freedom and taking a step toward it was one of the most terrifying actions she ever made.
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