For every curse word that had been invented, Anke had spoken most of them. Some were directed at her luck, her own stupidity, and at the number of goblins that she had stumbled upon. Brambles and thorns managed to find their way between the cracks of her leather boots and greaves. Not that they were very thick to begin with, but the stabbing, scratching, and rubbing of the stickers and other sharp objects were digging into her skin. The dribbles of blood were causing the cloth and armor to rub against her legs adding painful chaffing to the stabbing pain she felt in her legs. Normally, she wouldn't have a problem losing goblins or orcs in the forest, she was a full blooded woodman after all, but this land was unfamiliar to her more northern senses.
She was wheezing a bit, her lungs wanted to collapse on themselves. She had considered herself rather fit, but she didn't expect herself to be running miles at a time at full force. She stepped to the side to avoid another patch of brambles onto to have a spear whistle past her head. From behind her the hoard of goblins, well it was more between six to eight of them, whopped and hollered. Anke changed directions again, slipping a bit on some wet leaves. She would have went down if her arms hadn't flailed out, grabbing onto a nearby branch. Well that was until the branch snapped and she went sliding down a small gully.
She landed heavily in the water and rocks below, a mere trickle of water, but enough to soak through her clothing and to cover her with a dense, stick mud. She stumbled to her feet, briefly scrabbling at the wall of the other side of the gully. Trapped, she bit down on her gloved hand to keep from screaming. Before panic could set in, she turned and drew her bow, sighting an arrow on one of the faster goblins. The arrow sunk into the goblin's chest, it let out a gurgled scream before tipping forward into the gully where it laid still.
For a moment this made the goblins hesitant to rush forward, they were unsure of her location, and due to the slight overhang of the bank, she was able to see them before they could see her. Her legs shook slightly as she waited; it was all that she could do. From behind the bank there was laughter and then a small volley of rocks, arrows, spears, and clods of dirt. Anke had nowhere to take shelter and was hit full force. Several rocks slammed into her, one knocked against her skull causing her vision to be over taken by stars as she staggered backwards, slumping against the side of the gully.
Luckily, the arrows were not as well aimed, one pierced her leg, another one her side. She screamed in pain as they impacted the shearing heat of pain almost too much for her. But, there had been a reason she had been chosen to scout the southern parts of Mirkwood. It wasn't because she was not particularly fast, nor a fighter, it was due to her endurance. Anke was known for being able to travel longer distances and remain hearty and energetic the entire time. She had been chosen because despite pain she was still able to function at some level.
Tears rolled down her cheek, she bit down hard on her lip to help her relieve the pain in her head, side, and leg. She drew another arrow, striking a goblin who was getting to bold to the edge. Her breathing was ragged, even with her endurance she was almost at her limit. The goblins giggled and chattered, they were probably preparing another volley of rocks and weapons now that they knew exactly where she was at. Anke sobbed silently, drawing another arrow, preparing for her last stand.
Her eyes widened, a roar shook the air, and two goblins went flying over the gully, another one, well half of another one toppled down landing in the water with a splash. For a moment she wondered if she should stay down in the gully and hide from whatever was up there tearing apart goblins. Either way she was vulnerable, but she might have a chance to run if she was on even ground. Biting down on her glove again, she snapped the shaft of the arrows. Digging her heels into the side of the bank and latching onto tree roots she dragged herself up and out of the gully and on to dryer, but not safer land.
It was difficult getting to her feet, her head swam, and blood trickled from her body from her wounds. She staggered over to a nearby tree; she clung to it as she lifted her head to look over on the other side of the gully. Her vision blurred slightly, she rubbed her eyes furiously with her free hand, and she couldn't believe what she saw. Among the chaos of the screaming goblins, well what was causing the chaos, was a giant creature. Its fur was dark, pitch black; its teeth gleamed with the blood of the goblins as it tore through another one of them. Its body rippled with muscle as it swung out with a massive clawed paw knocking another goblin into the ground.
Anke hung against the branch staring at the creature, it was a bear, a massive bear, but she could not recall ever seeing a bear so savage and huge. Perhaps, she had been hit harder on the head and she was going mad, seeing creatures much larger than they really were. The beast paused slightly, it looked directly at Anke causing her to freeze, no, she was sure that this was not her imagination. Keeping an eye on the beast she slowly backed up into the forest. When she felt she had enough distance between the bear and herself, she began to make her way through the forest. She wanted to find somewhere safe to lay low, maybe to find some herbs for her injuries; she had lost most of her supplies in the chase. Every breath became more and more labored as she stumbled across rocks, shrubs, and under growth. She closed her eyes just for a few seconds to clear her vision.
When she opened them again she found herself home again. She let out a laugh, clapping her hands in excitement. She was dressed in fine clothing, before her was a feast of venison, winter vegetables, and desserts. On both of her sides her two older brothers were sitting, across from her was her grandfather, and beside him were two older people she didn't recognize. She laughed and tried to understand the conversations around her, though much of it was greatly muffled. The lighting of the room would switch from being unbearably bright, to slightly too dark. Anke turned her head to say something to her brother, only to see that half of his face was eaten away. She opened her mouth to scream, everyone, everyone around her was dead. She remembered now, her brothers had died during an orc attack, her grandfather during a rock slide. Dead, all of them, which meant, was she…
Anke's foot caught on a rock, her eyes snapped open as she went head over feet down a small incline. She let out a groan as she slid to a halt among the leaves and twigs. For a very long time she stared up at the branches of the trees. Slowly the stars began to twinkle from between the broad trees. This fascinated her, and it was a long time before she realized how cold she was getting. Perhaps she was dying; at least it was in a beautiful spot. Sometime later she became aware of a crashing noise nearby. She lifted her head as it drew nearer, she let out a small cry as the beast came over the hill, sniffing here and there at the trail of blood she had left.
She tried to get to her feet, only for her legs to give out on her. With having no choice she began to crawl, her mind thick as she tried to recall some words of wisdom to help her. Bears, bears, what didn't bears like? Arrows to the face was one, but at some point she had lost the quiver full of arrows on her back to the forest. The bear was coming closer, Anke flipped over to face the beast, her back hitting the hard, rough bark of s tree, which she used to press against to help her to her feet.
The beast stopped a few feet away from her and stared at her. Anke let out a small whimper, the only weapon she had to draw was an empty bow. The bear lifted itself onto its hind feet, towering over Anke; it then let out a roar that seemed to shake her down to her very soul. She clung to the tree the best she could, turning her head away from the creature. Then, she did the only thing she could think of as she beast settled down to four legs again. She stood up as straight as she could, lifting the bow high above her head.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed at the beast waving her hands and bow in the air trying to appear larger than she was. From somewhere deep in her addled mind she could only remember that bears hated loud noises, and to always appear larger than the animal attacking her. Which was laughable, even as she screamed again, there was no beast larger than the bear in front of her. She continued to scream and wave her hands until she was hoarse and her arms were too heavy to wave.
The bear in front of her stared at her for a very long time, so long that Anke was sure that her legs weren't going to hold her up much longer. Then the beast let out an odd coughing sound, which she might have thought was laughter, maybe it was calling for even more large bears.
"Well come on then!" she croaked at it feebly swinging her bow, "If you're going to kill me, then do it!" she challenged to creature which made it cough even more. The bear took another step forward, Anke flailed her bow again, only for her to lose her grip on it and it went flying off into the forest. Had she not been about to be killed and eaten by the giant bear she might have found this funny. Instead, she side stepped to try to put some distance between her and the beast, only to stumble over her own feet and fall face first into the ground. Finally, her whole body seemed to relax as she began to drift into unconsciousness. Before she passed out completely, she had one more thought.
"Playing dead can convince a bear to leave you alone," her mind went blank for a moment before she thought, "Shut up brain," and then she slipped into darkness.