[Alcarillo]

Cainenyo felt a slight movement near his shoulder. He stirred with a quiet groan and rolled halfway onto his back. Where was he? He had ran across the stone bridge, comfortably solid underneath his shoes, and then there were sparsely wooded meadows stretching for some distance, and then there was a dark green forest ahead of him. He remembered falling to his knees almost without warning. An orcish arrow? No . . . fatigue. He landed in some soft bushes, fell to the earth, and must've slept under the cover of the wilderness. What time was it now? The sun had risen. It seemed like a blinding light after that darkest night. A stick snapped underfoot nearby, but it was not Cainenyo's. He remembered the hand on his shoulder. Cainenyo rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and half-expected an orc to have awoken him. But after looking over the figure in front of him and getting used to the bright light of the morning, it was obviously no orc, but a dwarf. Cainenyo had met very few dwarves over the course of his life, but he always remembered their thick beards and squat little bodies.

"I’m sorry," the dwarf said, "We’re here to help you, if we can, and get you all out of here before the orcs come back. Can you move, or are you wounded badly?" Cainenyo now sat up and brushed some dirt from his mail armor.

"My ankle is a bit sore, but I can still walk," Cainenyo said. He stood up, surveying the land surrounding him. There were white flowers growing on his bush, and there were other flowers growing across the field. Beyond the field lay the glittering river, and the grey stone bridge. And beyond the bridge stood the smoldering city, sending great clouds of black smoke drifting into the sky. In the opposite direction stood a forest and safety. Three other dwarves were in the meadow, searching for survivors among the grass and flowers. "I am Cainenyo. I was a blacksmith in the city," Cainenyo said holding a hand out to the dwarf. He took it. "I am Bror," the dwarf answered. After a pause the dwarf said, "Did you escape the city with any others? Or do you know where we might find any other survivors?"

"I am afraid not. I escaped alone," Cainenyo said, "But perhaps you can tell me if you have found others. I am seeking my family. I believe they escaped with a large cart of belongings." Cainenyo still had hope; there were wagon tracks in the road to the bridge. And certainly Cainenyo wasn't the only survivor the dwarves had found.

"A cart . . . I'm afraid I don't recall a cart." Cainenyo's hope wavered for a moment, but they soon rose once more at Bror's next words. "But there are some huts in the forest that way. We found some survivors there. You might want to check there."

"Ah, thank you, Master Bror!" Cainenyo felt rather glad despite the grim times. "This way, you said? To the forest?" He bid Bror farewell and headed off towards the forest and the huts, where hopefully Cainenyo's family lay waiting.