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Lady Railly

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She felt horribly exhausted because of her hunger and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to spend in the tattered clothes of hers. Her greasy hair was in tangled clumps around her face and her sapphire eyes did not have the energetic look that Scarlett remembered. Emma grasped the handle and pulled open the door to find that what she had assumed to be ‘sunlight’ was something completely different.

--

13-May-2012 08:32:33 - Last edited on 23-Jun-2012 21:40:44 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Emma let out a quiet gasp as she found the real reason why it seemed to be daytime. Hovering above the house were two or three tiny lanterns. They did not seem to be controlled by anything – they were not even moving. The strangest thing about the lanterns was that although they were small they gave off such a bright glow that Emma could not stare directly at them. Therefore she was forced to turn her head and quickly rush back into her home.

“Scarlett! Look at this!” she ordered. “You need to!”

“What is it?” Scarlett questioned as she was led out of the house. Emma did*’t respond as she stood there in stunned silence, her mouth slightly open. A finger was outstretched towards the thin air where the glow used to be. “B-but-” she stuttered before her friend took her hand and dragged her back into their home.

“I’m telling you, that hunger problem is going to your head,” Scarlett remarked, sighing. “I think they’re serving breakfast right now though, Lorja and his villagers. Do you think we should go along?”

“Yeah,” Emma replied after a period of silence as she exited the building. Scarlett followed before quickly walking faster and crossing in front of her. The girl took one last glance at the roof of her house; she could have sworn that there was something. She needed to get some nourishment soon. Why was Scarlett in such a hurry to get to the fire? Food was more of a priority for Emma.

Shortly after sitting down the food was passed round, and this time she was the first to eat following Lorja. It was cooked scorpion this time and Emma tore about half of the flesh off before passing it along. As she munched, she wondered how they managed to get all of their supplies. She did*’t understand where they got the wood that fuelled the fire from. There were no trees in sight, only cacti circling the village. That led her to her next thought; where did they get the water from?

13-May-2012 08:33:04 - Last edited on 24-Jun-2012 21:39:23 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Obviously they must have gotten it from the plants but surely that couldn’t be enough for the entire village?

After breakfast was over, Lorja walked over to Scarlett and Emma. “You’re not going to stay in this village forever, are you?” he asked, scratching his forehead. The travellers shook their heads in unison. “I thought not. Well, it’s been a pleasure to have you here, even though you’ve only stayed overnight. I noticed that you have little water with you at the moment so I’m going to give you this. Hold on a minute.” He disappeared inside of his house and returned with several plastic bags and rocks.

*What’s this for?” Scarlett said, sounding slightly confused.

“Well,” Lorja started, “you dig a hole in the sand when you are running short of water. You mustn’t have run out completely because this process takes a few hours. This is just to refill your water supply. When you’ve finished creating an indent in the ground, cut the bag so that it is just one sheet of plastic. Place the flask in the centre of the hole. Then hold the plastic completely over it and secure the sheet with two rocks. Place the final rock over the flask but on top of the sheet of plastic. Do this several times, and it will grant you a reasonable amount of water for each hole.

Also, a few other things you must do; seal the plastic sheet with sand so that there are no gaps at all otherwise it will not work. Secondly, you must dig deep enough so that it reaches the moist soil underground. Finally, you must leave space between your flask and the plastic sheet so that the moisture can actually drip into the flask.” He paused for a moment, allowing Emma and Scarlett to take in the information. “I’m afraid I don’t have any flasks or bottles with me. You will have to find those yourselves.”

“Thank you for the information and the… things,” Emma said, gesturing to the rocks and the plastic bags. Lorja had handed them to Scarlett.

13-May-2012 08:33:10 - Last edited on 24-Jun-2012 21:39:53 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

She walked into her temporary home and returned with her leather satchel.

“I suppose it’s time to leave,” she murmured to her friend. The wounded girl nodded and cast her eyes onto the landscape. It still looked as plain as ever. “And if you ever lose any of the bags, you can still use any plants for water,” Lorja added. “I am guessing that you are going now?"

Emma nodded for the second time, before sighing and turning her back to the man, as did Scarlett. “Goodbye,” they both called out to him, slowly walking away from him and into the sandy terrain. It was a pity they did not turn back to see him one more time as they would have noticed the grin on his face.

After what seemed like days but only lasted about a few hours, the pair were struggling on their last drops of water when they came across a strange formation in the distance. Emma glanced over at Scarlett and it appeared that she had noticed it as well. They stepped closer, and eventually the vague object turned out to be a pile of supplies. The friends had found some foliage to hide in and were now peeking out, inspecting the scene. They were in the middle of an opening, with greenery arranged around the packages in a semi-circle.

Several thoughts ran through Emma’s mind. Why would a massive load of supplies be in the middle of the open without any visible dangers? She scanned the desert floor around the bags and sure enough she found something questionable. There were small mounds of earth sitting atop the ground, presumably hiding something underneath.

“There are free supplies there! What are you waiting for? Let’s go and steal them!” Scarlett was urging but Emma quickly shushed her.

“Don’t be so hasty, Scarlett. It might be dangerous.”

“Well, I’ve got something to test if it’s a legitimate pack of supplies or not,* she responded smugly as she brought out of her satchel an average-sized throwing dagger.

13-May-2012 08:33:16 - Last edited on 25-Jun-2012 21:16:29 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Where did you get that from? Why did*’t you tell me you had that?” Emma queried, sounding slightly irritated.

“I did though. When you woke up bleeding in the middle of the desert and I told you what happened, I took all of the things I had with me out of the bag. You obviously did*’t notice.” She chuckled.

“Do you have a penknife?” Emma questioned. Scarlett’s response was clear as she reached inside of her satchel and removed it. The wounded girl’* expression changed to a smile as she diverted her eyes back to the other supplies.

“Do you want to throw it or shall I?” her friend asked.

“You can. I’ll keep watch.” Scarlett closed one eye as she raised the dagger over her shoulder, her elbow almost at a right angle as she carefully aimed before throwing it. It soared straight over the packages and Emma presumed that it had landed behind them.

A sudden voice was heard but from a seemingly invisible place. “Who’s there?” it asked, sounding agitated. He revealed himself to the pair, and they did the same to him. His hazel, green-outlined eyes checked the foliage in front of him. It did not take very long for him to spot Emma and Scarlett. “You!” he uttered with gritted teeth, stabbing a finger in their direction as he ran towards them. For a second, the pair both thought that they would not be able to survive.

However, the man was so concentrated on catching up to the girls that he did not notice the small mound of sand he was about to step on. Scarlett’s eyes widened as she desperately ran for cover; as did Emma but she was less fortunate. The last sound she heard before she tumbled to the ground was a crack – and then a sound that almost burst her eardrums.

“Emma? Are you all right?” a voice asked when her friend regained consciousness. Emma slowly sat up; immediately her mind was filled with a horrendous picture – the foliage a short distance away from her was set alight.

13-May-2012 08:33:24 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2012 21:28:06 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“You scared me again. Stop doing that!” Scarlett joked - but the wounded girl could clearly see the tears lining her eyes.

*What happened?” Emma queried as she glanced at her friend for a moment before returning her eyes to the destruction.

“That man who was about to chase us stepped on a landmine… I think? Whatever it was, it caused a huge explosion and set the plants alight. The supplies also proved to be flammable, so they have probably smouldered by now. I ran out of the foliage as fast as I could because the flames were catching up to me and that was when I realised that you were missing.”

“So what did you do then?”

“I went back into the forest and found you. You were unconscious and I was frightened but I had to get you out, so I picked you up and carried you away.” Scarlett tried to smile, but in her attempt a couple of tears fell from her eyes.

“Scarlett?” Emma murmured, standing up with a concerned expression on her face. “Don’t cry; you have nothing to cry about. I should be sobbing right now because you had the bravery to rescue me.”

“I – I’m fine,” she stuttered as more teardrops appeared and descended, falling upon her rosy-cheeked face.

“You clearly aren’t-” Emma started to say when she noticed the burns on Scarlett’s back. They were quite small but looked painful nevertheless. “Is that why you’re crying?” she asked gently, gesturing to them.

Scarlett simply nodded, unable to speak. Her friend opened her mouth to say something again but she was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

“What happened here?” a furious man demanded, emerging from the burning greenery. It occurred so suddenly that both Emma and Scarlett were not able to utter a single word.

In response, he slowly walked towards the pair with a menacing grin on his face. His eyes were filled with anger as he unsheathed a tiny but dangerous iron dagger. It was rather miniscule but even so it was made of an incredibly sharp material.

13-May-2012 08:35:39 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2012 21:29:25 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“You… will… pay…” he whispered through gritted teeth as he broke into a sprint. Even though she was injured, Scarlett, along with Emma had one word on her mind: to run.

--

13-May-2012 08:35:45 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2012 21:31:33 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Running; she had to keep running. She did not know where to or what she would find, she just wanted somewhere to hide from her follower. Emma assumed that he was probably chasing after her – the thought of him possibly attacking her weaker friend first had never crossed her mind.

The relieved eighteen-year-old girl came across what looked to be a promising cave; however, she was slightly disappointed after inspecting it to find that it was the opposite. It was simply a deep hole in the ground that had a tiny overhang - but Emma thought that it would be best to stay there until she was sure that no-one was following her.

She did not have the best of luck. The sound of footsteps that kept appearing outside seemed to go on for hours and eventually Emma decided that it would be too dangerous to just stay there. People could easily just be wandering around and could suddenly spot her crouching in the shallow indent. She turned around, staring for a moment at the wall and with her hands she dug a hole into it. Emma crawled into it and at that moment the sand behind and underneath her collapsed.

Her sapphire eyes were now viewing quite a long passageway with torches on both sides, creating an eerie atmospheric effect. It looked safe – but Emma’s eyes were rather deceiving. The girl’s mind told her to simply stroll along the walkway – and that was exactly what she attempted to do.

As soon as she was about to walk along the path, a flurry of arrows shot at her with incredible speed and embedded themselves into the stone underneath her foot. Surprised, Emma took a step backwards as a series of thoughts rushed into her mind yet again. Clearly this was a trap, but by squinting she could see a faint object in the distance. It resembled a bag-like shape but she was not sure nonetheless.

The girl suddenly had a brilliant idea; it was not one to simply ignore. Some of the pieces of fabric that were previously part of Emma’s shirt were hanging on by a few strands of thread.

13-May-2012 08:35:52 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2012 21:32:05 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

She tore them off one by one and consequently threw them onto the pathway. The smaller pieces were where she stood so that they would not float as much as the larger pieces that were located further away. The traveller stood back proudly as the dispensers repeatedly fired their ammo and soon ran out of arrows. She was now safe to cross part of the walkway.

Emma’s routine was effortless and quick so before long she was at the end of the passageway. As she had observed, a bag was situated against the wall, accompanied by an opening to the desert. The aperture had no overhang so she would be easily seen if anyone happened to go by - she had to make this quick.

The girl was pleased to see the bag in the first place; she had nothing with her. That was the very moment when she remembered Scarlett.

What had happened to her? Where was she? The thoughts were tightly wrapped around her mind and were not ever going to leave her head. Emma felt so guilty and selfish to have left her behind. Why hadn’t she gone back? Why hadn’t she thought of Scarlett when she was sheltering in the shallow cave?

Trying to push the questions out of her head, she grabbed the bag and searched for its contents.

There were none.

Her fingernails continuously scrabbled against the slightly rough bottom of the bag but eventually Emma decided to give up. Clearly there was nothing to gain; someone must have found the opening she was now at before her. Still, she had a useful container. Sighing, she slipped the strap over her neck and climbed the rocky walls until she reached the desert floor.

Emma’s eyes widened in shock as a familiar figure came into her view. It was a sight that would be forever captured in her mind.

Scarlett lay motionless on the ground, a small pool of blood forming around her chest. Her forehead and shoulders also oozed with the crimson liquid and for a moment the world around her seemed to slow down.

13-May-2012 08:35:59 - Last edited on 30-Jun-2012 22:03:44 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

What was left of the greenery in the distance seemed to sway ever so gently in the breezy air that previously had a much stronger force.

During that time a mixture of feelings dashed around Emma’s mind, filling every possible thought. The main emotion was hatred; not for the person that killed her but for herself. Her best friend was now murdered; Emma would never be able to experience anything with Scarlett ever again. If only she had made the decision to not go with her instincts, to stay behind and attack-

The world returned to normal speed as she noticed something next to her unmoving friend. It was her satchel.

Strangely, when Emma examined the contents she had everything with her, even the plastic bags and the flasks. As she opened the bottle and sipped the last of the drink up, she wondered if the man was actually what had killed her. Surely he would have taken Scarlett’s belongings? His supplies had just been destroyed and he had nothing left, so if he had slaughtered her then why did he not bother to take them?

With a sigh, Emma gingerly removed Scarlett’s satchel and replaced it with the empty bag. As the traveller wrapped the handle around her friend’s neck, she noticed that another pool of blood had formed underneath the bag. There was a jagged hole going through her back and Emma turned to wince. She was thankful to see after doing so that only a spot or two of the liquid had spattered onto the satchel.

She remembered that she had some plastic bags and some rocks in the satchel. The girl had nearly run out of the water in the flask so instead of travelling some more she decided to stay in the cave for the night. Slowly climbing down the ragged edges of the cave exit, she dropped her bag and then retrieved the objects that she needed.

13-May-2012 08:37:27 - Last edited on 03-Jul-2012 22:08:03 by Lady Railly

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