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THIS IS THE FIRST SECTION OF THE STORY


TARRANNA

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Tarranna. Unfortunately for Tarranna, her life started out as an ugly and appalling horror story. 

Tarranna’s father molested and badly beat her. No, that’s wrong. The bastard savagely beat and raped her. Repeatedly. 

After a particularly vicious attack Tarranna recovered slowly, but with steadfast determination to change her life. His usual mode of operation was he’d beat and use her, leave her alone for a few days to heal and repeat. So she knew she had a few days to escape. 

While Tarranna waited, she began to steal food as she was barely given enough to keep her alive. She began to hoard little things that’d help her when she left, like an old flint set to make a fire.  

Too few days passed before she saw the warning signs. He came home drunker than usual, ranted about how useless she was and belittled her endlessly.  Tarranna knew she didn’t have long so she watched covertly until he sat at the table. As he downed the last of his cheap alcohol, Tarranna crept up behind him. She belted him across the back of his head with a frying pan. The force behind the blow wasn’t enough to knock him out for long, but it gave her enough time to cut off his entire ‘package’. Tarranna left him to die and scream in a pool of his own blood. 

Tarranna’s mother stumbled in the door of the house just as her daughter was about to leave.  When she saw her man on the floor, she proceeded to scream profanity at the girl. The mother knew what her husband did to her daughter, but blamed the girl. She hated her beautiful daughter with intense passion. 

The woman attacked Tarranna with drunken ferocity. Tarranna wrestled gamely with her drunken mother, they shattered the cheap furniture under their falling bodies. Tarranna pushed her mother with force gained from fear and sent the woman backwards onto a broken chair. The woman clutched feebly at the wooden stake that stuck out of her guts. She continued to swear at the girl. 

The drunken whore lived long enough to tell rescuers exactly what’d happened. She spent the tiny piece of her remaining life struggling to comprehend why no one tried to help her live.

Tarranna was suddenly a ten year old girl who’d murdered two people and acted accordingly. She ran and hid. For the first time in her life, Tarranna was free of mental and physical abuse and was better fed than ever. For the first time in her life she thrived.

Tarranna quickly learnt how to live on the streets. Her determination to survive led her to watch and learn from those around her. Tarranna observed mercenaries and soldiers whilst they trained. She developed her own unique style of swordplay and forged her body into a lethal weapon. She learnt how to blend into her environment until she became a shadow and a chameleon. She watched and learnt from thieves and became one of them. She incessantly picked a variety of locks until she could open anything in her way. 

Tarranna used her skill with locks and stealth to break into homes of the wealthy business men. She ensured she only ever took small amounts of coin so it wasn’t missed. Her self-restraint and forethought meant Tarranna was never caught or punished.

Tarranna eventually found a small place to call her own. It was under the stairs of a rarely used business. Crates and rubbish provided the security and privacy she craved. At night, with a piece of old rag wrapped around her, she dreamt of a life where she was loved and cherished. In the morning the dream quickly dissolved but lingered deep in her memory.

At fifteen years of age, Tarranna joined the town army. She quickly rose through the ranks until she led over two hundred men and women. By the age of twenty she commanded the Queen’s army. 
The abused child had turned into a brilliant General who led an army that increased in size on a weekly basis.  Tarranna conquered nearby lands and increased the size of the Queen’s realm ten-fold. The battles for land were fierce and her reputation as a ruthless warrior grew as quickly as the Queen’s treasury. 

After several years, soldiers from other lands happily abandoned their rulers and headed for hers.  If the turncoats were later found to be spies, the punishment was extreme. A traitor could expect to have their tongue cut out and their still living body sent back to their leaders, piece by piece. Her soldiers learnt quickly that Tarranna’s creed and strategy were straightforward. If you were on the opposing army, you died. If you broke her rules, you died. 

Simple and very effective.

The ruler of Tarranna’s country was a spinster Queen who flatly refused to marry or have children. The Queen didn’t love the warrior as a daughter or mate. She did love the land and treasures the soldier brought to her treasury. On her death bed, the Queen named General Tarranna as her successor.

At the ripe old age of twenty two years Queen Tarranna was born.