Hawlen stared at the door as it slowly swung closed, her mouth hanging open in shock. The elf queen was dead. That simple fact brought the war into perspective. Judging by the advance of the warlock army, the elves were most likely wiped out. A strange sense of duty washed over her. If the elves were indeed extinct then she would help them live on in the memories of the people and in histories written by her hand. She clenched her fist in determination then winced in pain. It still hurt to move.
She stared down at the blanket she had kicked to the floor in her excitement and sighed, shivering as another blast of cool ocean wind hit her from the window. She recalled Virion's solemn expression when he had delivered the news of his mother's death. The elf was clearly in great pain and was trying his best to hide it. She stared out the nearby window at the sheer cliff the hospital was built on.
The height brought back bad memories. She remembered her time in Kolbidt forest, leaping from tree to tree trying to escape the crafty gremlins who would attempt to feint and circumvent her, trapping her in position for an easy kill for the warlock magicians who stood on large pillars and sniped all elves and perabels in sight.
Gremlins were odd monkey-like creatures with leathery pale skin and surprisingly sharp, pointed claws at the ends of their long, thin fingers. They would chitter and make sounds akin to laughter as they chased her through the dense forest, obeying the commands of their warlock masters. Hawlen had survived the forest through dumb luck. But it had not been an easy journey once she had left the forest either.
The warlocks had taken dominion of the forest from the small elf towns within it fairly quickly and had sent a team of pursuers after Hawlen. For the last three weeks, after leaving the forest, Hawlen had run from warlock pursuers, raiding warlock encampments for provisions, and killing warlocks whenever she got the chance. The invasion had suddenly started around her and, confused as she had been, she knew that they intended to wipe out the elves as well as the perabels and she felt inclined to try to stop them.
She had run through perabel territory during the height of the invasion on the perabels and she had tried and failed to save several perabel settlements and towns. Every time she would kill several of the invading warlocks alongside the limited fighting members of each town and every time they would be hopelessly overwhelmed as the warlocks commanded the very elements to defeat them in battle.
Hawlen shook her head and stared around at the hospital room she was in. It was not a good idea to relive those stressful memories. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to clear her mind, the clean ocean breeze filled her lungs and sent energy coursing through her veins.
She suddenly heard a noise from near the door. Warlocks. She reached for her knife. It wasn't there. She would have to make do with her bandages. She began to unwrap her bandages as she slowly sat up, ready for the assault. She winced in pain as the bandages peeled off her arms, but she persevered, ready to ambush the warlock who would enter. The door opened and in walked the nurse. She took one look at Hawlen, kneeling on her bed ready to attack, and her eyes widened.
'What are you doing?!'
Hawlen stared at the nurse. There was no warlock. The pain set in and she doubled over on the bed. The nurse rushed over to her and reapplied her bandages. Hawlen clutched her shirt as a strange haze weighed on her mind. She felt slow. The nurse helped her sit up.
'Really, you can't be taking off your bandages, lass!', the nurse said as she tucked Hawlen into bed.
'Look here. I've brought you lunch. Eat and behave yourself alright?', she slid a tray with bread and cheese on it in front of Hawlen.
Hawlen nodded as the pain slowly began to fade.
'That's a good lass. Go on.'
She stared at Hawlen worriedly for a few seconds then turned and left the room. Hawlen stared at the measly lunch. She was provided with a knife and a fork. She palmed the knife. It would be useful for her escape. She shook her head. There was no longer a need to escape. She was home now. Her mind hadn't left the forest and her weeks of fleeing from the warlock forces. She picked at her bread, each movement of her arms sending pulses of pain up into her skull, culminating in a building headache.
Hawlen gave up on lunch. She slid down into her bed and tried to ignore the pain.
'The nurse was nice...', she whispered to herself, 'probably from Tiedow banks, an accent like that'
She chuckled then winced. It hurt to laugh. She stared around at the hospital room, scanning it for traps set by warlocks. She sighed and shook her head. This would take some getting used to...
Comments (0)
See all