Riah

Summary- Riah is a redish-brown furred squirrelmaid with brown eyes, and the main protagonist of A Twisted Reality. She wields an ornately carved bow with a quiver of green fetched arrows, but uses whatever she can get her paws on if need be. Generally she is a fairly peaceful creature, but will fight back if anybeast dares to hurt her friends or those she cares about. 
=== History ===
Warning: The following contains major spoilers if you have not read ATR. *Spoiler Alert*
She was born to a caring family, and started with a few seasons of happiness. Her father was a renowned warrior, and they lived in peace for some time. But the joy was short-lived, soon the dark wolf Emperor, Cerberus Ahgorrun, overtook their home. Her family was captured, and Riah was sent to work on Vitra Isle (Also known as Emperor's Isle.) When she became old enough, she was sent to become an oar-slave on Captain Firestreak's ship. (All Captains were a rank below Cerberus.) There, she met a young Salmandastron hare named Zevquain, who had left home and been captured by chance while near sea.
One day while rowing, Riah daydreamed a little to far, deep in thought, she had slacked on rowing fully. Before she could fix the mistake, she was caught by the slavedriver, Mugra. Zev and her were hauled off to visit Captain Firestreak, and sentences to the lower ship dungeons.
Nobeast expected the attack from the Bilgespray. Zevquain and Riah took the advantage, luring a couple of corsairs down with a clever phrase from the young hare. They knocked the two vermin unconscious, and disguised themselves as corsairs.
While confusion reigned, a dark weasel-like creature slunk where they were help captive, and gave Riah a necklace, an arrow, and a message. The manner in which the weasel spoke was peculiar, but the squirrelmaid knew it was important nonetheless. Then, the black furred creature was gone.
Still disguised, they crept up the stairs, looking upon the scene of ghastly carnage.
There were only three creatures on board, them and the weasel. The slaves had been taken captive by the other ship, and all the rest had been killed or surrendered sides. So, they were stuck on the sea, with one obvious way to go. The weasel introduced herself as "Lus", and helped them reach their destination. She recognized where the ship was headed, Emperor's Isle. Reluctantly, the poised as a pair of slaves and a Seer when they landed, Zev and Riah were captives again.
Cerberus's previous Seer had been killed, and so Lus became his new Seer. Riah and Zev were set in prison cells inside the fortress. While inside the dungeon, the young squirrelmaid had a flashback, about her parents, and how her father had been killed by Cerberus after a fiasco in the Arena. Little did she know that was going to come forebodingly close to repeating itself.
Then, the Arena event came. Several slaves were taken to the arena, and the hordebeasts all gathered in the stands. Cerberus chose his new land of conquest, Mossflower and Redwall. Then, Riah was sent out to face her opponent, armed only with a flimsy spear. As it turned out, the creature she was supposed to fight was another squirrel, one she had seen before, but did not recognize. When the two refused to fight, Cerberus became enraged. The wolf told them to fight or die. Out of desperation Riah formed a plan, aiding the other squirrel to flee into the sea.
She herself was captured, but the other was free. But doom was nearing. Cerberus sentenced her to be drowned on the pier of a bridge for punishment and to make an example. But once again, the Emperor's plans were foiled. A swallow-tailed kite by the name of Silwark (Of the South Seaward Cast) came to her rescue, and Riah was free once more. The bird took her to the hidden side of the Island, and they attempted to land. They weren't the only ones there, and suddenly an arrow came from the foliage, catching Silwark in the wing. They tumbled to the ground, rather softly with the squirrel instincts Riah had. (Using a vine on a tree to steady their fall.) A group of five hedgehogs came out, each armed with crossbows.
As it turned out, they were more peaceful than they looked, and Riah quickly became allies with Scral and his band of hedgehogs. They were led to their home, and Silwark's wing was patched up neatly by Scallopbloom and the other healers
The next morning, Riah set off once more, this time on a dangerous mission to rescue her friend. Cunningly disguised as a grey squirrel with the help of Scallopbloom's dye. It was a crazy plan, and lacked the details it needed, but the squirrelmaid was bound and determined. Without telling Silwark, she crept off into the forest, and set out toward the fortress.
On her way, she stumbled into something. The orginal hiding place of her father's bow. It was the hiding place, however the squirrel could find nothing of interest. There were fragments left behing. ones that pointed to Cerberus had taken the bow. No doubt it was in the fortress. 
So, she continued on her mission, and for once everything started to run smoothly. Once inside, she met a young hedgehog by the name of Val, and waited for dawn. 
Once again, Riah became an oarslave, and it was the same routine. Cerberus was not pleased, his creatures had not seen the storm on it's way, and it broke as they sailed, day after day the wind and rain grew worse. AS if in a giant battle the ship fought back... But like in any battle, it took blows, and finally the main mast toppled into the sea. Then, the ship began to fall apart. 
The squirrelmaid managed to free others around her, so they would not drown, and rushed up-deck as the water was rising. Then, everything went dark... 
When Riah woke, she was lying face up on the sand, two familiar faces standing over her. Silwark and the squirrel she had saved the life of. They had spotted her while sailing after Cerberus's ship, and dragged her out of the water. Apparently she had been floating for quite some time before they had found her. 
Out of the forest appeared another familiar creature, a black weasel-like corsair and Seer by the name of Lus. Mysterious as usual, she handed Riah a map, which had been marked to show where Cerberus was headed, then departed. The other squirrel summed up their goal, to reach Redwall before Cerberus. 
Silwark flew back to guide the ship to their location and the two squirrels stayed behind, setting up a makeshift shelter. Once night came, Riah spotted a glint of metal at the water's edge, and went to investigate, realizing it was an ancient chest that Cerberus had brought with him to store something valuable. She dragged it onto the shore, and then opened the lid. 
TBC~ 
Category:Females
Category:Squirrels
Category:Slaves
Category:IllusionOfOblivion's Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Oarslaves
Category:ATR Characters
Category:Lus's OCs