Sorrentegra the Half-Breed

They called her a half breed, one who didn’t belong in the world. Many people said she shouldn’t exist and that she was a disgrace. They called her kind, even though she was partial they called her a monster, but the real term was demon.
Any person that had the power of an animal, or was an animal but looked like a human was called a demon. Those that were full blooded were the ones to be feared. People started up groups to hunt them down. At first they killed them, but then they discovered that their strength could be put to good use so they controlled them with their machines and potions. The lands became divided, and the weaker demons began to band together, something unheard of in the world. Not only did the demons not mix with the humans, but they also did not mix with each other. The stronger demons were the ones to be feared. When they tolerated the humans, they now began to attack. The times were divided, the times were full of danger.
One night, the demon hunters were after a powerful snow wolf. He was a ruler of most of the western lands and one of the three most dangerous in the world. He escaped badly injured and ran through the town, his blood spilling everywhere. In his rage and dying state he attacked a woman in the forest just behind the village. He ran off after and died.
A few months later the woman gave birth to a little girl, but birthing a child so strong was unnatural for a human and she too died leaving the girl alone. An old woman apothecary took the child in, having her suspicions about the little girl. The village accepted her reluctantly. They thought something was odd with her. She had silver hair but they didn’t know a demon was her father.
The woman taught the girl how to make powders and potions to ward off demons. The girl always had a strong reaction to the powders and found it hard to be around when she had to make them. She pushed herself because the old woman needed help, so eventually she gradually became used to the toxins. When she turned 12 she began sprouting a nub on her back and her ears began to take an odd shape. Only a year later when she was thirteen did the village realize that she had grown a tail and ears of a demon. Her fingers were always caked with dirt from digging in the ground for herbs and leaves for healing that they didn’t realize the sharp claws on her hands.
They wanted to throw her out of the village, thinking that she would draw the other demons near. The old woman tried hard to convince them that she was tame. She had grown up with morals and learning about the dangers of the demons even thought she was one. It didn’t help her situation much the little children in the town would pull on her tail or on her ears and tease her. She wasn’t welcome anywhere but in the old woman’s house. She began only to venture out at night smelling out the spices and herbs the old woman needed. He nose was quite strong and she was able to go out at night and find them. She didn’t need her eyes to find them, even though she discovered she could see quite well in the dark.
As time went on there began to be news of bandits attacking villages and taking the young girls. People were becoming bolder now that there weren’t many demons around and they decided to act on their own wills. This particular group of demon wranglers was the largest around, but they had captured so many demons that they were nearly out of work. Instead they turned their attention to their own desires, pleasures and money. They began ransacking villages for girls to sell.
The woman dressed the demon girl, whom she called Sorrentegra, as a boy. She couldn’t bear to lose the half demon that she grew to love and depend on. Nearly a month passed after receiving news of the attacks on the villages and suddenly one night they were attacked. The group of bandits was large and heavily armed. Many of them proudly sported their wounds of demon battles or fights. They began grabbing the girls that were around. Sorrentegra left the house and, even though she did not like the people of the village she tried to help the girls.
“Get out of the way, boy” they said and knocked her to the ground. They had huge dogs that smelled of demon. Sorrentegra smelled them, they had a scent of dog but also lacked the rusty scent that normal animals had in their blood, like humans. They set the dogs loose in the village, the people escaping into their houses. Sorrentegra growled and felt an ache in her finger to slash at things. She attacked one of the dogs and it howled in pain.
Suddenly someone threw a liquid on her and it hit her face and seeped into her eyes. It burned like she was on fire and she couldn’t see.
“Don’t waste that poison on humans!” one of the men said. That night the woman had dyed Sorrentegra’s hair black. She tried many things to make her look more acceptable. Sorrentegra fell backwards in pain but was pulled up by one of the men. Her tail was hidden down in her pants and her ears were covered in her hair by a braid. The dogs were rounded up and the girls were brought out. Suddenly Sorrentegra heard the men talking behind her.
“We should get that wretched demon out of here. Let’s trade her for all of our girls.”
“We can’t let them know she’s a demon- they might think we have more or side with them- we could get in more trouble.”
“Then we’ve got to make her look like the best thing this village has.”
The men rounded the corner and started pleading for them to let Sorrentegra go. They asked the men to at least spare this one person because they just couldn’t live in the town without her. They also begged to have the girls stay but if they took both to please just once have compassion and leave Sorrentegra.
The men were intrigued and after some deliberation they finally agreed to just leave with Sorrentegra.
“Alright, we’ll just take the boy for now- we’ll probably be back later anyway, without your precious guardian we could have all the girls we want anyway.”
They tied a rope around Sorrentegra’s hands somehow not noticing the longer claws that didn’t resemble a human’s fingernails at all. She was still blind and wanted to go back to the safety of the woman’s home but they pulled her along.
They seemed to walk for days. Sorrentegra had never walked that far but finally the men settled down. They were all on horses.
“So the boy is able to keep up with the horses,” they mused as they dismounted and began getting the camp preparations ready. Sorrentegra was still blind from whatever they used on her, though she was regaining a little vision day by day. She wasn’t sure whether it was daytime or night time. She was surprised that even though she had traveled for so long but she wasn’t too tired.
“The other part of the group is supposed to be meeting up with us tonight. We’ll stop here and camp.”
One man must have been holding on to Sorrentegra’s rope because she continuously was dragged around the camp while the men worked. Finally it seemed they were all set up.
“Alright let’s see what was so interesting about this boy that we had to leave all the girls in the village behind for him.” One of the men said. He pulled hard on her rope and she fell over into the dirt. She stood and felt the men pace around her.
“Well, boy- what use are you?” one asked. She felt someone put his hand on her chin and jerk her head towards his.
“He looks normal enough, a bit more handsome than the ordinary. I’ve never seen eyes like that.”
Sorrentegra jumped back from them, scared of them. She had never been comfortable around humans and she was now surrounded.
“heh heh so he’s got a bit of fight in him- doesn’t make a sound though. Maybe he’s defected.” They pulled on her rope again and this time she slammed into someone holding the rope.
“Kinda short for a boy wouldn’t you think?”
“I think they tricked us-“one of the men said, suddenly they all seemed to realize the fact at the same time.
“They gave us this little creep, not worth anything- not even food. Let’s get rid of him!”
Sorrentegra jumped back pulling the rope with her. She pulled one man over but she figured it was just because she caught him off guard.
“Why you-“
“THE OTHERS ARE COMING!” the watchman said running towards the group.
Sorrentegra heard wheels of a carriage scraping across the ground and breaking twigs and such, the sounds of crying girls were added to the chorus of girls they already had in their own carriage. There was also another sound that Sorrentegra picked up. It sounded like something was snarling. When the carriages stopped the men went over and greeted one another. Sorrentegra could hear what sounded like sticks being thrust through metal bars. The roaring and growling was loud and menacing. Were they poking something in a cage to provoke it?
“Well well well, what have we got here?” The man holding Sorrentegra’s rope asked and slapped the bars of the cage. The creature inside growled at him.
“This is the great Dog demon leader- quite a hard catch. We lost a great many men out there. All we had to do was kill off some of his tribe and wound the others to draw him out. He took the bait and got himself captured.”
There was some laughing and more jabbing of sticks in the cage.
“Anyway- we plan on getting a nice price for his body- and that fur- I have never seen finer. A man could live off just a piece of that for a lifetime. They’ll probably have him growing it in the slave houses.”
The men joked around some more. Sorrentegra was horrified and disgusted at their demeanor. How could men be so mean?
“So we’ve been traveling with him for a couple weeks- we haven’t fed him yet- trying to weaken him up, but as you see he’s still strong as ever, probably pretty ravished, though. Got anything to feed him? We’ve been betting on how long it would take for him to rip through something.”
“As a matter of fact-“ the man holding Sorrentegra’s rope said and pulled her forward, “Some village tricked us into taking this worthless boy off their hands, we left the girls behind in trade for him. He can’t do nothing, though. Can’t speak, two scrawny- just worthless.”
“All right- he’ll do. C’mere boy,” Her rope was pulled on again but she was frightened. She didn’t want to die for entertainment. She didn’t want to die painfully like it sounded she would. She jumped back and again the man fell holding her. She dug her heels into the ground and began moving backwards. To her surprise he was easily dragged back. At first the men joked with him as to why he couldn’t hold onto the scrawny little thing.
Then another man grabbed her rope. She stopped for a minute at the added weight but continued to dig her heels in and surprisingly kept moving. Where was she getting this strength from? She worked her wrist out of one of the loops, getting a rope burn in the process. She continued to move backwards and try to free herself. Two more men grabbed onto her rope. She wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
“So he’s got strength-“one of the men groaned, “No matter- they can duel it out in the cage.” The men continued the tug of war but she wouldn’t allow them any closer. She almost had her hand free when someone came up behind her. He grabbed her around the neck. She sunk her teeth into him but it gave the others time to come over to her. They wrapped the rope around her arms and legs.
“So he’s a fighter- no matter. Can’t do anything else, couldn’t even defend his village.” They all laughed but apparently didn’t realize she was a demon.
“Alright everyone cover your mouths I am throwing on the powder. Suddenly there was a ripping open of a sack and the powder rained over the carriage. Quickly they opened the cage door and she struggled to get free but they threw her in. The powder hit her full in the face and covered her body. It was less potent than what the woman and she used to make, but it was still strong. It made her dizzy because she didn’t expect it. For a moment she was incapacitated. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and suddenly was reminded by a low growl that she was in the cage with a demon, and not only that, a strong ruler of some sort.