[GaladrieloftheOlden]

Evren was hiding... hiding from orcs. They were running after her, and suddenly she realized that she was no longer behind the bush where she had just been. She almost screamed with terror, her breath coming in shallow gasps or not coming at all, and ran for some shadow... but as she neared it she saw that it was not a tree but the back of an orc that she was sliding towards, slipping on mud. She turned and ran, but they saw her, and, finally finding the tree she had been seeking, she reached up and grabbed the lowest branch- but the orcs were coming so fast- she was slipping- she pulled herself up and breathed a sigh of sudden relief, forgetting that the orcs might easily fell the tree, or burn it, taking her down as well. Something protruded over the next branch, so she grabbed it- and screamed as it grabbed her back, an orcish face coming out of the foliage above her and leering at her as she struggled in its hands...

Evren awoke painfully and biting back a screech, hurting all over, unable to move, and suddenly feeling that she did not have enough air to scream. She gasped- and the welcome air came into her mouth, cooling her down a bit. Her head hurt as though it had been bludgeoned with an axe- and suddenly Evren remembered. It had. She suddenly remembered the fight, and hoped fervently that she was alive and would stay so, for a while at least, and the same for her two companions, who seemed yet to be, from the human moans she heard, echoing her own. She knew now that the jolting sensation she was experiencing and the cricks running through her body was caused by the fact that her ankles and wrists were all tied together in a knot from a rope thrown over an orc's back, and the rest of her was bouncing on the rocky road, turning her more black and blue than she already was. Managing to turn her head a bit, she saw an orc on either side of the one she was tied to, each carrying one of the soldiers. Pherdur was on her left and Don on her right, both seeming just barely conscious. She managed a weak, terrified, and slightly concerned smile and nod to Don, (for he looked about as badly hurt as she), he answering in the same way, and was just turning her head towards Pherdur as "his" orc noticed her awake, and slapped her upside the face, making it burn terribly, his hand slipping in her blood. He wiped it contempuously on her clothes and turned away. She managed to keep her consciousness, though with difficulty, and tried another weak smile, which was this time lost in the blood on her lips. She felt a terrible state, and probably looked it too, the ropes digging into her skin as she struggled, her clothes torn, her hair stained with sticky red. Suddenly, Evren thought she saw a pair of eyes- or perhaps it was more than one- peering from the side of the road, staring at them with pity. Those eyes looked too human to belong to a forest deer or other animal... she nodded to Don and Pherdur, though every movement of her neck was a terrible effort, and pointed with her chin towards the bushes, then fell back in her bonds, exhausted from keeping her weight up so long...