29/04/19
Lowenna’s eyes snapped open.
She had felt the prodding and shifting of her body which roused her from her slumber.
Her gaze rapidly darting and dancing, briefly locking onto an unknown face or unfamiliar wood ceiling beam, she felt the panic rise in her chest and she began to force herself upright on the bed, her mind whirling to piece together any sense of logical information, anything she could to rationalise her thoughts, this however, failed. The terror now fully taking over and she screamed!
A hand gently rested on her shoulder, to her right were three people. A greenskin female, an elf girl and a human woman, the latter being the kindly owner of the warm and reassuring hand.
“Shhhhhhhh, there there, it’s alright, you’re safe here, nothing to worry about” the human spoke in an almost motherly fashion, the human then turned away from her, “Could one of you ladies please fetch our guest a drink?”
The elven one politely smiled and nodded, disappearing through the door and returned moments later with a glass and pitcher of water,
“How is she?” Asked the elf
The human responded,
“Given the severity of her wounds when we found her, I would say it’s amazing she’s sat upright, let alone breathing.”
“Where… Where am I?” Mumbled Lowenna as she nervously but wearily lowered herself, returning to a lying down position again, ” I remember the caravan, the sun the trees… THE TREES!” Once again her eyes were wide with fear as she began to remember more details, “Meryn, Chesten, where are they? Are they here with us somewhere?”
The human girl slid her hand from Lowenna’s shoulder and held her hand,
“I’m truly sorry but you’re the only one we found, the only one barely alive”
The Orkish one then spoke up,
“Yeah, da ovas was messed up good and propa, a real blood baff!”
Lowenna burst into tears as the human shot the ork a gaze of silent fury.
“Ummm… I mean…. Sorry. I’m just gonna go check on our bandages or summat really important and well distracting.”
“No! Please stay. I just want people around me, it helps me feel safe, I think” blurted the young lady on the bed, drying her eyes, her body was starting to remind her of the bumps and bruises that had occurred to her, every knock and cut was aching.
“You are in our encampment, within the forest of Tehidith. We are from the town of Chaosgate. We came here last year to aid the Heyl refugees and seem to have settled here, not sure why though, what with all the madness going on around here, probably safer back at Chaosgate town!”
“Yes… I am starting to remember now,” uttered the wounded soul upon the bed, ” I am Lowenna, my brother, Chesten, was head of our caravan. We were on one of the newly established trade routes to here when we were attacked. We were warned that the roads to the village of Newgate could be dangerous but I never thought… ” her mind drifted back to before and she fought back her emotions, ” … Never thought it would be so bad, so… Horrendous.”
The grip of her carers hand tightened in an attempt to reassure her, ” I’m so sorry, yes, we found you on the roadside, we were not completely sure you were even still alive, you were covered in blood and looked so very injured, there was your caravan but it had been ransacked and wrecked, the other …people- she had to stop herself from saying bodies- , well they were definitely beyond our aid. Can you remember what happened ?”
Lowenna paused and searched her thumping head, “We were attacked. It was terrible. At first we thought the very trees had come alive to hurt us but then in the mayhem I realised they were Plantae, but I don’t understand, I thought the Plantae were meant to be so placid and calm, I mean, they LOOKED like Plantae?”
The elven girl then spoke up with a curious voice after handing over a glass of freshly poured water, ” Yes, you’re right, The Plantae are not an aggressive race, at least not normally, maybe the rumours of us out staying our welcome are true?”
Lowenna rubber her brow, ” all I know is whatever they were, they attacked quickly and with such hatred and fury, there were screams and fighting, the horses tried to flee and were brought down to the ground by some of the creatures, my brother and the others tried to fight back, I don’t remember much else because I think I was knocked over by one of them and it started to drag me off by my ankle, one of the caravan guard stopped it and tried to defend me but… His heart, dear gods it pulled out his heart!” Lowenna was so tired and broken but a tear still crept from her fragile eyes.
The human, sensing Lowenna’s sadness, attempted to distract her,
“So, Newgate? Where’s that? Never heard of it?”
The batted frame of a girl managed to crack a pained smile at her,
“Didn’t you know? That’s what some of the people are calling this place, after all, you have a new Chaosgate here! Yes?”
“Oh!” She responded , “yes, I suppose so? Newgate eh? I’ll have to tell the council about that one, maybe it’ll stick?”
Lowenna looked at her again with a serious curiosity on her face, ” so, why did we get attacked? Why are the Plantae attacking anyone?”
I don’t know, but I have a feeling we will soon find out…”
