Siege of Gundabad RPG

[Firefoot]

Adranel came to herself a few seconds after hitting the ground. What had happened? There was shouting, and soldiers were crowding around her. She seemed to remember being attacked... but it had happened so fast that her mind was fuzzy. One minute she was sitting on a stump, talking with the strange man who couldn’t speak well, and the next she was on the ground with a blanket over her head. The suffocating blanket had fallen away, and she could see her surroundings, or at least she would have been able to if the men would get out of her face.

“Get away from me. I’m fine,” mumbled Adranel, struggling to rise. She immediately fell back again at the sharp pain in her left side and the sudden feeling of dizziness to her head. She figured she must have hit it on the log when she fell, which would be why she had blacked out momentarily. Through a gap she made out the man - Innema? - being held back bodily by a couple of the soldiers. Suddenly it clicked: he had attacked her! But why? He wasn’t very smart, but he hadn’t seemed aggressive. He seemed very bewildered now, as if she was the one who had randomly attacked him. She scowled at him. She had been nothing but polite to him, giving him company when he was all alone, and he attacked her for no good reason! Then, to top it off, he stood there looking confused.

Adranel realized she was having trouble breathing, and the air around her was stuffy from the crowd of bodies. Again she tried to speak, “Go away,” but either her words were incomprehensible or they simply chose not to listen. One voice rose above the others: “Back off, everyone! Give the lady some room!” The soldiers obliged, and a single form came into focus. She struggled to put a name to the face - she thought it was the captain, come to see what the fuss was about. She struggled to remain conscious, but her head and side were giving her a great deal of pain. As she felt herself fading, she seemed to hear another familiar voice calling her name - was it Beluf?

She was no longer in the army camp. Up ahead, she saw her family and Hergon. She called out to her older brothers, Balder? Allagon? She began to run to them. Father! Hergon! She was nearly there when a wall of flame leapt up between them and they vanished. The dream began to repeat itself, though with variations. In some, she reached her family. In others, they disappeared even as she greeted them with hugs and happy words. It always ended in fire, however, and she began to dread the nightmare. The days spent in cold weather and damp clothes began to take its toll on her. She felt hot, feverish, murmuring the names of her family in her sleep. She sought solace and found none in her restless dreaming. She tried to awake, but each time she came close to consciousness the pain in her head or side knocked her out. Finally, she became fuzzily aware of her surroundings. They were unfamiliar, and she felt dizzy.

“What happened?” she muttered. “Where am I?” She found herself to be alone, and the entire sequence of earlier events flitted through her mind. Experimentally, she reached over with her hand and gingerly touched her side. It pained her, but further examination showed that it was merely brusied, and all her ribs were in place. This relieved her greatly. Her head hurt, but the fever had run its course and she was otherwise healthy. She sat up slowly, eager to be out of this tent and once more independent of others' care. With painstaking care she made her way to the entrance of the tent and pushed through the flap. By the position of the sun, she could tell that several hours had passed. She was near the edge of the army camp, and wondered what to do.

"Are you all right, milady?" she turned at the sound of the kind voice and found it to be the captain's. She just looked at him - what did it look like? She had attracted the attention of the nearby soldiers by now, but she ignored them. Holding herself stiffly erect - for that was the only comfortable way to walk - she decided to head for Sjorging's camp, having no where else to go. Beluf was missing, and Adranel had to admit she would still rather not see him. Sjorging and Gelding were talking quietly, and Adranel did not interrupt. She eased down onto a stump a little ways away.

Her thoughts turned to Innema, the strange man. Sore as she now was, she was not inclined in any way to visit him again. Still, he intrigued her, and she would like to know his story. She was quite torn between her desire to meet with him again and her dread of him. She supposed it would be best to wait and see, and if the opportunity presented itself she would decide then. She glanced at Sjorging and Gelding, wondering what they were going to do, for she would go with them, whichever way they decided.