02-25-2018, 11:05 AM
Cold.
So cold...
...
And pain...
As a grim irony these feelings were the only things that let Karil feel she was still alive. Like the thinnest thread of spiderweb they connected her to life.
Karil believed not in an afterlife. She thought not that there was a paradise beyond death where she would meet her parents again and be happy forever. She hoped not for a reward that would be given to her by a higher power if she lived a good life, or for a punishment that would befall those who did evil. She had not saved the human pups for that reason. When death came for her, it would be the end. She would be gone.
Yet, she longed for it. She wanted the torture to stop. Each breath meant another sting of pain through her lungs, each movement felt as if her chest was torn open anew. She wanted the thread to snap. She wanted to be released.
But the thread refused to listen to her pleas. And so Karil was forced to continue living.
A distant voice spoke to her. She could not make out its words, nor could she reply. Her body did not obey her. All it did was hurt.
...
She could not say how time passed. Her brief moments where she was conscious enough to grasp a thought, she floated through darkness. Sometimes the voice was there and though its words she could not understand, they sounded friendly. Was it someone not from the human pack? But who then?
In the state she was in, she could not find an answer before unconsciousness overtook her again. But eventually she came to again, and this time she opened her eyes.
Though all she saw were muddy blobs of color, blurred shapes and motions mixing these colors further she felt relieved at the sight. It meant that her eyes were working. Her nose and ears also did, and they were sharper than her eyes. The smell of mud, of stone, of rotting twigs and... of fire surrounded her. Above her she saw specks of blue among dark... the sky? It must be daytime, then. She tried to take in a deeper breath and was promptly punished with a painful sting through her chest that forced her to exhale. She tried it again, this time slower and shallower. Yes... the mud and wood scents were very near. All around her, too... was she still in the forest? Or perhaps in some form of shelter?
A stick snapped in half, causing her ears to perk. Then she heard crunching of leaves someone was stepping on. And the steps were getting closer, but they were so loud and clumsy that they could only be a human's.
"Oh!" a familiar voice exclaimed. "You've opened your eyes!" The crunching happened faster, then a shadow obscured the blue above her. Someone was leaning over her. The scent gave them away if the steps hadn't already: a human. "I thought you might never wake up again... can you hear me? Just, uhm, blink if you can."
Karil breathed a little deeper again, even though it hurt. "You... human..."
"You shouldn't talk, you know. It's a miracle that that arrow I pulled out of you missed your heart and lungs, but even so your life was hanging by a thread for a while."
"Why... why you... help... Karil...?" She wanted to sound stronger, but she felt weak. Even now she struggled to stay awake, to not just close her eyes and drift off again.
"Is your name Karil? Well, I... I couldn't just leave you out to die like that, could I?" The human shuffled around and Karil felt something being brought up to her maw. The scent of fresh water filled her nostrils. "Can you drink?"
"Yes... thirsty..." Her throat felt dry and itchy, she felt. She was very thirsty.
"Okay, I'll slowly feed you water. Be careful... here it comes." With that, slow and careful mouthfuls were poured into her maw and she swallowed. She had no idea she had wanted this much.
"How long...?"
"You mean how long since I found you? Ten days, almost. Gosh, you emptied the whole jar."
Ten days! She shuddered at the thought.
"You've been feverish for a while, and that bloodloss really weakened you... I thought you'd keel over more than once. You're gonna be okay now, though."
"Th... thanks..." Karil murmured. With her thirst sated she felt her spirits liven up, but her strength was exhausted for now. She needed to rest again.
If someone had wandered the forests of Camelot, and if that someone had left the path and come to the forest a a few miles from the Pale Moors gate, they may have been greeted by the sight of the lifeless body of a wolf with antlers on its head laying at the foot of a hill, near a lake. And why would they not stray from the beaten paths of the forests of Camelot? There are no predators to fear.
If someone had wandered the forests of Camelot, and if that someone had left the path and come to the forest several miles away from the Pale Moors gate, they may have been greeted by the sight of a young man in a makeshift shelter made of rocks, wood, bark and leaves, caring for a wolf with antlers whose chest was wrapped in bandages and who looked dead, if it weren't for her slowly rising and falling chest. Yet the only ones who stray from the beaten path are those who do not fear the predators, because they are the predators themselves.
So cold...
...
And pain...
As a grim irony these feelings were the only things that let Karil feel she was still alive. Like the thinnest thread of spiderweb they connected her to life.
Karil believed not in an afterlife. She thought not that there was a paradise beyond death where she would meet her parents again and be happy forever. She hoped not for a reward that would be given to her by a higher power if she lived a good life, or for a punishment that would befall those who did evil. She had not saved the human pups for that reason. When death came for her, it would be the end. She would be gone.
Yet, she longed for it. She wanted the torture to stop. Each breath meant another sting of pain through her lungs, each movement felt as if her chest was torn open anew. She wanted the thread to snap. She wanted to be released.
But the thread refused to listen to her pleas. And so Karil was forced to continue living.
A distant voice spoke to her. She could not make out its words, nor could she reply. Her body did not obey her. All it did was hurt.
...
She could not say how time passed. Her brief moments where she was conscious enough to grasp a thought, she floated through darkness. Sometimes the voice was there and though its words she could not understand, they sounded friendly. Was it someone not from the human pack? But who then?
In the state she was in, she could not find an answer before unconsciousness overtook her again. But eventually she came to again, and this time she opened her eyes.
Though all she saw were muddy blobs of color, blurred shapes and motions mixing these colors further she felt relieved at the sight. It meant that her eyes were working. Her nose and ears also did, and they were sharper than her eyes. The smell of mud, of stone, of rotting twigs and... of fire surrounded her. Above her she saw specks of blue among dark... the sky? It must be daytime, then. She tried to take in a deeper breath and was promptly punished with a painful sting through her chest that forced her to exhale. She tried it again, this time slower and shallower. Yes... the mud and wood scents were very near. All around her, too... was she still in the forest? Or perhaps in some form of shelter?
A stick snapped in half, causing her ears to perk. Then she heard crunching of leaves someone was stepping on. And the steps were getting closer, but they were so loud and clumsy that they could only be a human's.
"Oh!" a familiar voice exclaimed. "You've opened your eyes!" The crunching happened faster, then a shadow obscured the blue above her. Someone was leaning over her. The scent gave them away if the steps hadn't already: a human. "I thought you might never wake up again... can you hear me? Just, uhm, blink if you can."
Karil breathed a little deeper again, even though it hurt. "You... human..."
"You shouldn't talk, you know. It's a miracle that that arrow I pulled out of you missed your heart and lungs, but even so your life was hanging by a thread for a while."
"Why... why you... help... Karil...?" She wanted to sound stronger, but she felt weak. Even now she struggled to stay awake, to not just close her eyes and drift off again.
"Is your name Karil? Well, I... I couldn't just leave you out to die like that, could I?" The human shuffled around and Karil felt something being brought up to her maw. The scent of fresh water filled her nostrils. "Can you drink?"
"Yes... thirsty..." Her throat felt dry and itchy, she felt. She was very thirsty.
"Okay, I'll slowly feed you water. Be careful... here it comes." With that, slow and careful mouthfuls were poured into her maw and she swallowed. She had no idea she had wanted this much.
"How long...?"
"You mean how long since I found you? Ten days, almost. Gosh, you emptied the whole jar."
Ten days! She shuddered at the thought.
"You've been feverish for a while, and that bloodloss really weakened you... I thought you'd keel over more than once. You're gonna be okay now, though."
"Th... thanks..." Karil murmured. With her thirst sated she felt her spirits liven up, but her strength was exhausted for now. She needed to rest again.
If someone had wandered the forests of Camelot, and if that someone had left the path and come to the forest a a few miles from the Pale Moors gate, they may have been greeted by the sight of the lifeless body of a wolf with antlers on its head laying at the foot of a hill, near a lake. And why would they not stray from the beaten paths of the forests of Camelot? There are no predators to fear.
If someone had wandered the forests of Camelot, and if that someone had left the path and come to the forest several miles away from the Pale Moors gate, they may have been greeted by the sight of a young man in a makeshift shelter made of rocks, wood, bark and leaves, caring for a wolf with antlers whose chest was wrapped in bandages and who looked dead, if it weren't for her slowly rising and falling chest. Yet the only ones who stray from the beaten path are those who do not fear the predators, because they are the predators themselves.