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dragovianknightI cram this morning's writing online wehre I can find it later if necessary.
Ariel woke to a pounding pain in her head and a burning pain in her leg, face down on a muddy hummock of land. Around her was silence, none of Thundarr's grumbles or Ookla's growling, no sounds of horses or foes or even insects.
/This/ she thought as she slowly pushed herself up on her elbows, /cannot be good./
She had been dumped in some sort of garbage pit, she discovered, and the way plants were reclaiming the refuse around her meant that either the pit had not been used in some time, or the plantlife here was far from normal. That thought was enough to get her on her feet, and she turned a slow circle, taking stock of the situation.
The vine-entwined mound a few yards away, she discovered, was - had been - Ookla's equort. Ariel swallowed hard and forced herself to complete her initial survey of the area. It would be easy enough to climb out, she decided; the top of the pit was only a few feet above her head, and even if magic was denied her for the moment - which the throbbing behind her eyes assured her it was - she could use the vines themselves to escape if she had to.
But first...
She made two complete circuits of the pit, searching past the twining, eager plants for what she didn't want to see. The first circuit revealed what was left of Thundarr's horse; something had fed on him well before the plants took their turn. Of her own horse, and more importantly, Thundarr and Ookla, there was no sign.
She squared her shoulders. Well then. If they weren't dead, and they had allowed her to be carted off like garbage, there was a fair chance they were in need of rescuing themselves.
Of everything in the pit, the equort provided the largest and sturdiest support. With a silent apology, Ariel ignored the pain in her leg and took three running strides, using the animal as a jumping off point, catching the top of the pit and dragging herself out with a combination of will and momentum.
Where the pit had been a riot of green, of life reclaiming death, the surface was blasted clean and dust-dry. Ariel coughed a little as grit invaded her nose and throat, burned her eyes and blurred her vision. She couldn't be far from Traplodin's fortress, if she was still in lands magic-blasted to desert.
She sat up, and immediately wished she hadnt', pain exploding through her head. Head down, she sat in the dust and waited for the world to stop spinning around her. Rescuing Thundarr and Ookla was going to be harder than she had thought, if climbing out of a pit was taxing her strength. And she couldnt' exactly wait to recover, not without shelter or supplies.
Thundarr would just charge in, were their positions reversed. Then again, she vaguely remembered that charging in was what had gotten them in this position to begin with.
She sighed. There was nothing to be done without first seeing exactly where she was, so she pushed herself up and, praying that this look around wouldn't reveal anything as disturbing as the last one had - scanned the land around her.
Traplodin's fortress stood in the distance; it was hard to be sure past the blowing dust, but she thought it couldn't be more than a good hour's walk away, maybe two hours injured.
Ariel woke to a pounding pain in her head and a burning pain in her leg, face down on a muddy hummock of land. Around her was silence, none of Thundarr's grumbles or Ookla's growling, no sounds of horses or foes or even insects.
/This/ she thought as she slowly pushed herself up on her elbows, /cannot be good./
She had been dumped in some sort of garbage pit, she discovered, and the way plants were reclaiming the refuse around her meant that either the pit had not been used in some time, or the plantlife here was far from normal. That thought was enough to get her on her feet, and she turned a slow circle, taking stock of the situation.
The vine-entwined mound a few yards away, she discovered, was - had been - Ookla's equort. Ariel swallowed hard and forced herself to complete her initial survey of the area. It would be easy enough to climb out, she decided; the top of the pit was only a few feet above her head, and even if magic was denied her for the moment - which the throbbing behind her eyes assured her it was - she could use the vines themselves to escape if she had to.
But first...
She made two complete circuits of the pit, searching past the twining, eager plants for what she didn't want to see. The first circuit revealed what was left of Thundarr's horse; something had fed on him well before the plants took their turn. Of her own horse, and more importantly, Thundarr and Ookla, there was no sign.
She squared her shoulders. Well then. If they weren't dead, and they had allowed her to be carted off like garbage, there was a fair chance they were in need of rescuing themselves.
Of everything in the pit, the equort provided the largest and sturdiest support. With a silent apology, Ariel ignored the pain in her leg and took three running strides, using the animal as a jumping off point, catching the top of the pit and dragging herself out with a combination of will and momentum.
Where the pit had been a riot of green, of life reclaiming death, the surface was blasted clean and dust-dry. Ariel coughed a little as grit invaded her nose and throat, burned her eyes and blurred her vision. She couldn't be far from Traplodin's fortress, if she was still in lands magic-blasted to desert.
She sat up, and immediately wished she hadnt', pain exploding through her head. Head down, she sat in the dust and waited for the world to stop spinning around her. Rescuing Thundarr and Ookla was going to be harder than she had thought, if climbing out of a pit was taxing her strength. And she couldnt' exactly wait to recover, not without shelter or supplies.
Thundarr would just charge in, were their positions reversed. Then again, she vaguely remembered that charging in was what had gotten them in this position to begin with.
She sighed. There was nothing to be done without first seeing exactly where she was, so she pushed herself up and, praying that this look around wouldn't reveal anything as disturbing as the last one had - scanned the land around her.
Traplodin's fortress stood in the distance; it was hard to be sure past the blowing dust, but she thought it couldn't be more than a good hour's walk away, maybe two hours injured.
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 08:39 pm (UTC)