Chapter 1 - How it began.
I can't tell you much about before now, waking up that is. I was your average teen, sort of, who enjoyed making her own clothes, playing trad music on the fiddle or bodhrán, dancing and had an unhealthy obsession with reading - especially Tolkien.
Okay, maybe not so average or normal.
Anyway, this is irrelevant. I awoke to find myself in a field, of all places, with the grass causing my skin to itch and the sun beating down on me. How the heck did that happen? I was sure I got to bed last night after my trad session with the family celebrating my Fathers 50th. I remember passing that night club that's always busy with lots of under dressed girls 'hanging' outside.
Sitting up and groaning as my back ached uncontrollably, I surveyed my surroundings to find that I was indeed in a huge field, maybe even a plain, with trees in the distance and beyond that were mountains. I was on a slight slope, and as I continued to scan my surroundings I saw, a little further down the slope, another head poking out of the grass who appeared to be doing the same as me. She saw me and waved at me like I was a long lost friend. Timidly, I waved back before getting to my feet, ignoring the pain in my lower back. I probably looked like a drunk butterfly as a pang of lightheadedness hit me, making me stagger. She was no better as she stumbled over towards me looking how I felt, sore, head spinning and utterly confused.
"Hey", came a Germanic accent. She was thin and shorter than me, dressed in ripped jeans, a tight white shirt and a leather jacket. She had a sweet face, dark brows in contrast with long light chestnut hair and lively blue eyes.
"You don't mind me asking but do you know where we are?" Her voice chimed with an up-beat positivity despite our predicament. I liked her straight away.
"You may ask, but I have no answer for you. Sorry." I replied, trying to sound as positive as she did but my attempt fell flatter than one of my pancakes.
"Don't be sorry. I'm Kimbela." She smiled, putting her hand forward and I shook it gently, afraid I might break her hand.
"Hi, nice to meet you." I replied, smiling because this situation was awkward enough, good manners wouldn't hurt. "I'm-"
"OH MY GOD WHERE THE F*** AM I?!"
This sudden outburst from a third person made both Kimbela and I jump a few feet into the air.
"What. the. hell. was. that!" I almost growled, clutching my chest as I turned and found myself looking at another girl sitting in the grass in a skimpy black cocktail dress.
'Okay, what the holy heck is happening?' I thought to myself, and no doubt Kimbela was thinking the same, but we extended our hands to this third girl and helped her up. It was no use, because she was hit with the bout of dizziness and her six inch heels didn't help her already trippy balance. She fell on her backside again and squealed indignantly.
"Who the hell are you two?" She scowled as though it was our fault she was here. She was pretty, very pretty. Slim with shoulder length bleach blonde hair which had begun to grow out at the roots showing dark brown hair, the same as her dark eyes, a face full of makeup and enough jewellery to start a small business.
"Good morning to you too, this is Kimbela." I gestured to Kimbela and she waved. "And I'm-"
"I really don't care, okay. Where the hell am I?" She demanded, looking at us expectantly. I could tell right now she was going to be a handful.
"You're more than welcome to help us figure that out." I sighed, trying to mask the fact that she was already rubbing me up the wrong way. We were all in the same situation here and being rude and snippy was just uncalled for. On the other hand, this could be her coping mechanism, who was I to judge?
"You mean you don't know?" She asked, her voice turning slightly panicked. Her eyes widened and she looked ready to cry any moment.
"Unfortunately, we don't." Kimbela confirmed. "We are all in the same boat."
I gave this girl a sympathetic smile before she burst into tears.
"Oh my god…what am I going to do!" She wailed. "I'm in the frickin countryside." She hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face.
"ImabelatefortheUGFFF"
"Um, pardon?" Kimbela and I asked, as all we could hear was a continual flow of muffled words.
"I said I'm going to be late for my manicure!" She wailed, lifting her head so she could be heard, before burying her face again. 'Oh my God, what?' I didn't have to voice my opinion, Kimbela did that for me.
"Girl are you serious? You just woke up in a strange field, no food, no water and no shelter and all you can think of is your nails?"
"Do you have any idea how much a good manicure costs these days!" The nameless girl shrieked before rolling onto the ground and balling her eyes out some more.
"Someone really needs to sort out her priorities." Kimbela said looking a bit disgruntled.
"Um…look if we work together, we may find our way home sooner." I said, trying to comfort the balling teen in front of me.
"You don't even know where we are!"
"No, but we can find out if we try." I reasoned, or I tried to. She just rolled onto her back, sat up and through her streaked makeup yelled abuse at the sky, or at us I really couldn't tell, at the top of her lungs. So Kimbela and I stepped back and let her vent her frustration.
We sat a little further up the slope and watched over the girl as she sat sobbing into her knees. We spoke of where we could be, as it was obvious we were not where we were supposed to be. We remembered being around the same place, funnily enough. She had been visiting Stockholm the same time my family were out celebrating, but she couldn't remember which street she had wandered onto before ending up here. I suddenly realised one of my DM's was undone.
"Love the shoes." Kimbela complimented as I tied the laces.
"Thanks, yours are cool too." I said, looking at the thick almost knee high combat boots she had on.
"Do you think she's calmed down a bit?" She asked and I shrugged.
"No clue, but we need to do something about shelter and food." I said as I glanced at the darkened clouds behind us. "And fast."
Kimbela hummed in agreement. "If we move to the forest we can find the materials we need."
"I'm up for that, I have some idea of how to survive, but not much." I admitted.
"Thats okay, my dad was a survival trainer, ex military. As long as no one does anything stupid, we should be okay. I can't fix broken bones without the right equipment." She spoke calmly. I liked the fact that she was so calm about everything like she was in control, yet she hadn't tried to assert herself as the leader. She simply had a plan of action, which was more than I did. If she knew how to build a shelter or catch a rabbit I was more than happy to listen to her instructions.
"Well, let's do our best to avoid broken bones then." I smiled at her, glad when she returned it.
"Maybe we should make a move." I suggested, glancing behind us to see how close the dark, rain laden clouds were. The answer being closer than we would like, plus by now the cocktail dress girls wails and sobs had quieted somewhat.
"Yes, we should."
We wandered down to where we had left the third member of this party, relieved to find Glenys, as she introduced herself, was willing to listen.
"Basically, our plan is to find shelter in the forest over night and search for help in the morning." Kimbela explained as I took off my 'jacket' and gave it to her, because she looked like she was rather cold and I had a few more layers than she did, so I was in no immediate threat of freezing.
"Thanks" Glenys mumbled, looking at the jacket in mild disgust before pulling it on. "I don't wear animal fur. Its cruel." She snorted, even though she was wrapping it tighter around her.
"It's fake, no animals where hurt in making that cloak." I said, my tone flat. Kimbela had not mentioned my attire so I had forgotten I was in one of my favourite creations. A grey velvet cross between a tunic and a dress, ankle length and thin shoulder straps letting my white 'medieval' style shirt show its slight baggy sleeves. It also had slits in the front, allowing more leg room to run or climb. Most people overlooked the Celtic embroidery and focused on the black leather and metal corset I wore with such ease it may as well be my third skin. The look was completed with brown leggings and my DM's.
"Still, no-one wears things like this now-a-days." Glenys sounded rather resentful at being handed my hand made cloak, and to be honest I had no clue how to react to her outbursts, so I decided not to let her words bother me.
"Well, lets get a move on shall we?" I suggested as we helped Glenys to her feet, and began walking towards the forest.
"Wait! I can't walk all the way over there in these!" Glenys protested.
"Well then, take them off," Kimbela called back to her. "We are not stopping until we get to that forest."
"Seriously, you're just going to leave me here! Do you know how much these shoes cost!"
I struggled not to roll my eyes before turning around and asking her;
"Do you want my shoes too?"
"No-"
"Then take them off or walk in them" I said, sounding a bit like a mother scolding her child. With a groan, Glenys took off her heels and followed us. We slowed down enough for her to catch up. I felt a little bad for her. It was no more her fault than ours that she landed here and she was in party clothes. To be fair, we were more than halfway there when she gave out, complaining of her sore feet. Kimbela may be smaller than Glenys and I, but boy was she strong. Kimbela and I carried Glenys the rest of the way to the trees where we put her down so she could nurse her sore feet.
"Right. First, we need shelter." Kimbela started to list off all the things we needed, like branches, branches with leaves on, fire wood.
We got to work, well I say we but I mean myself and Kimbela. I was dragging a large branch full of leaves when I heard something. I stopped and looked around. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but I saw nothing but trees and a few moss covered rocks. I tried to convince myself there was nothing out there, but I couldn't shake the chilling feeling that there was something very…off about this forest. Almost like I'd seen it before in a dream, or in a book. I decided it was probably a deer or another big forest animal. It wasn't like there was an animal that big in the tree tops. Thinking this, I quickly looked up, but again, saw nothing. There was an ominous clap of thunder from above and I decided to continue on my way.
I reached the tree we had left Glenys sitting under as the gentle pitter patter of rain hitting the canopy above us began, signalling the eventual downpour headed our way. Glenys was still sitting there hugging her knees and looking utterly miserable.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, dropping the branch in a heap along with the other branches I'd collected.
"Yeah." She replied, still sounding as disgruntled as earlier.
"Chin up, we'll find a way home." I said, trying to be friendly and cheerful. If she wasn't going to make the effort, then I was. We were in this together whether we wanted to be or not.
"Shouldn't you be out finding fire wood? I'm freezing." She spat.
So much for that.
"And find something to eat while you're out." She added, trailing off like she'd only just realised that she sounded quite rude. I hummed in acknowledge. Food wasn't a bad idea seeing as my stomach had passed the growling stage and was now hitting my spine.
I turned to head out again when Kimbela's voice called out from the small hill she had vanished over about half an hour before.
"Hey!"
"Heya." I smiled, walking over to meet her as she jogged down the hill.
She had found a river not too far away and suggested we move location, much to Glenys' moaning and grumbling we moved, dragging the leafy branches with us.
Kimbela had found a small river with a deep pool by some overhanging rocks, making a little cave almost. Roots from the surrounding trees grasped onto the rocks as if to keep the rocks in place. Kimbela and I got busy with tying the branches to the roots, using the rope from one of her bracelets. I thought it was cool how three inches of knotted rope could turn into a few meters of para-cord.
Glenys sat herself on a dry rock in the little shelter we had made and complained endlessly about her nails and empty stomach. I had contemplated many times asking her why she wasn't doing anything about it, but thought better of it. I didn't feel like having my head bitten off for trying to help.
Kimbela and I went on a hunt for fire wood and being in a forest there was no shortage of wood.
"By the way, I didn't get your name." Kimbela pointed out as we took turns trying to light a fire by twisting a stick to cause friction and hopefully start a fire. I let out an embarrassed chuckle.
"Gunda-Toril, but most people call me Gunda."
x x x
High up in the branches above, a pair of keen eyes caught sight of the trio enter the forest, and with a subtle signal, several more pairs of eyes were trained on the three girls within minutes - the Wardens of the forest and lands the girls had unwittingly entered. Watching their every move intently like hawks watching their prey. Their uncanny hearing caught every word spoken between them. They observed how two of the three seemed to be doing all the leg work, yet they did not treat the third like a Lady, nor did she have the mouth of a lady. She whined incessantly, making one of the three brothers present in the group wish he could shoot her in the leg to actually give her something to complain about. But a warning glare from his older brother, the March Warden of Lothlorien told him to do no such thing.
"So where do you think we are?" Spoke the chestnut haired female with a strange yet musical accent.
"You know, I don't know. There is nowhere in the Swedish countryside that looks anything like this…" replied the tall slender girl who not a moment ago had introduced herself as 'Gunda'. She had strong angular features, pointed nose, high cheek bones and delightful hazel golden eyes, matched by her long earth brown hair which turned an unusual coppery colour when it caught the suns beams (when the sun was out). She wore clothes similar to that of their own kin, yet it was different in the strange accessory she wore around her waist made of leather and metal.
Silently summoning his brothers to him, Haldir ordered them to notify their Lord of these uninvited guests.
The female with the strange accent glanced up at the dripping droplets falling from the leaves, then back to their non existent fire and sighed.
"At least we are dry. But you really have no clue as to where we are?"
"Not a clue. I have not seen a forest this lush for a long time, if ever." Gunda said, her voice trailing off as if her mind had just detached itself from her body. "I have only seen a forest like this in dreams…sounds odd I know, but I can't help but feel there is something…strange about this forest…haven't you noticed the lack of leaves on the ground… yet I found branches with leaves on the ground…"
Kimbela glanced around but shrugged it off. "Don't over-think it, over-thinking never got anyone anywhere. Come, this fire is going nowhere and we're better off dry and cold then wet and cold."
Gunda nodded in agreement and they retreated into the dry half hut they had made. Unaware of the grey cloaked hooded figures that ran through the tree tops, ever watching.
x x x
I sat up, unable to shake off the strange tingling, or pain, in my spine. I wasn't sure what it was, I just go the feeling it wasn't good. Kimbela sat next to me and Glenys had finally decided to shut her blabbermouth after she realised that neither Kimbela or I were going out foraging for food.
I busied myself with trying to remember what had happened before waking up. Every time I retraced my steps, I got to the same conclusion. I was passing by that nightclub, but there was more, like I should have a memory, but in that memories place was an empty space. How odd. I asked Kimbela about it, and at the mention of a club, Glenys joined in.
"You remember the nightclub?" Glenys asked, more like interrogated.
"Somewhat, but I feel I should remember something else too…but I can't…its just a blank."
"Strange…" Kimbela mused. "I have that same blank. Like someone's tampered with my memory."
I looked at Glenys and asked if she had the same. The panicked look I received was answer enough. Yes.
"Great, just great. Someone's drugged us and left us out here. Are they spying on us too or what?"
Glenys practically exploded into a frenzy of tears and hyperventilation.
"Calm down, they can't have drugged all of us. I wasn't inside the club." Kimbela said, rubbing circles on her back to try and calm her.
"Neither was I!" She sobbed.
"Neither was I." I admitted in a low tone, before groaning as my back burst into flaming pain. I arched my back and rubbed it with my hand.
"Back pains?" Kimbela asked, still aiding the frantic Glenys. I nodded, not wanting to open my mouth least I cry out in agony. Kimbela gave me a sympathetic nod.
"It seems to have stopped raining, go and see if you can't stretch it?"
It wasn't bad advice. I crawled out and stood, pressing both my hands into my spine to try and crack it. Nothing seemed to help it, not stretching, not bending over forwards or backwards. The pain seemed to crisscross across my lower back, which was strange because I'd never before suffered from back pain.
Suddenly, the pain stopped and was replaced by a strong tingling sensation. I looked up again as my nerves shot through the roof. There was something here, I knew there was, but as to what it was or where it was, I was clueless. I let my hands fall to my side as they were doing nothing for my back and only serving to give my upper arms cause to complain and ache too. As I released the pressure my hands exerted on my back, I felt something hard press against my back, in the shape of a crisscross. At the same time, Kimbela called out;
"Hey has anyone seen my spear necklace…I swear I had it a minute ago."
Before I could process Kimbela's question, or even my back, which seemed to be doing something hinky, I was pushed to the ground as an animalistic roar ripped through the the air.