There was a blackness, thick and dark, sucking at her body, pulling her down into an embrace she could not escape. A feeling of being held by crushing arms made her fight, but the tight grip continued.

Then there was fire. A blazing warm fire burning through skin and bone and soul, turning her being into ashes. The small glowing pieces of her mind lay smouldering, desperately trying to remember the name of the existence she once had.

Her hands searched around her, looking for something to hold, and was grabbed by another hand, a big, soft, warm hand. It held her fast as she once again was pulled down into the darkness.

When she surfaced from the fever the next time there was stillness all around her. She could not move, every breath sending sharp pain through her body. There were voices in a distance, soft voices talking in a language she felt she should know, but she could not grasp the words.

Her mind was burning like a forge and she knew she needed to find something to cool her down before her body would burn away.

Limbs complaining, she crawled over the earthen floor, towards a weak light from somewhere beyond the room. As she fell, whimpering in pain when her body could not move anymore, there was a sudden hush from where the light was, and then a ruckus of voices.

Then all she could feel was hands touching her, lifting her and carrying her back to where she had been laying before. There was something very familiar about the faces her dizzy mind noticed, but she could not find what it was.

Through all the noise she noticed one voice in particular, a deep, commanding voice which soothed her. As she closed her eyes, giving in to exhaustion, she felt a hand holding hers again, telling her someone was there.

This time there were dreams in the blackness inside her mind.

First there were wolves, hunting her through a forest, and then there was an excruciating cold and pain as the sky broke into a thousand pieces and rained down on her. She bled fire from the cuts and set the forest ablaze in seconds. In a desperate attempt to kill the flames she stomped on them, but this did only make it worse and now her feet were burning too.

As the inferno ate its way through the forest, killing everything in its path she tried apologizing and explaining to the gods who suddenly had showed up to reprimand her.

"They scared me!" she screamed and was shocked to see her own face looking down at her from the shattered sky.

"Who?" she asked herself.

"Them. There was someone. The wolves. There was someone chasing me."

"Are you sure? Can you remember?"

"I don't know! There was someone. Someone…"

The face in the sky looked at her thoughtfully and with pity in its eyes.

"There was someone," the mirrored girl up there mimicked teasingly. "Someone important. Someone who tastes of wind and wilderness."

***

She sat up and gasped for air, frightening those in the room. Looking at them she was filled with a terror that froze her body.

There were five troll around the fire in the small hut, their eyes watching her intensely as she tried to move. One of the trolls, a large male with more tattoos than he had skin, came over to her and carefully shoved her down between the pelts again.

Some of his words seemed familiar to the girl, making her head spin when she tried to understand how she could know the language of someone she knew was the enemy.

The two troll children in the hut had hid behind their mother when the human awoke, but soon they crawled up to her, their eyes big and curious.

Cassandra, her inner voice told her. You are Cassandra.

Having a name helped, knowing who it was doing the thinking was a step in the right direction. Still, the terror the sight of trolls caused in her mind was clouding her reason and thought. She knew there had been trolls long ago, in a village, and they had killed her family.

One of the adults tried giving her something to drink, but she pulled away, shivering in fright.

Again they talked in the strange rhythmic tones of the language she felt was so familiar, and one of them left the hut, letting Cassandra have a quick look out past the pieces of skin that hung in the opening to keep the cold from coming in.

While trying to figure out how to escape, Cassandra studied the that were trolls left.

They were all very pale, hair silvery or an icy blue, and their eyes were cold and grey like steel. There were no visible weapons in the room, but Cassandra did not feel this would do much difference if she would try to escape.

Sighing, she settled down between the pelts again, thinking it would be better to save her strength in case she would have to fight, and at the moment the trolls did not seem an immediate threat.

After half an hour the female who had left came back, this time bringing with her another troll. The newcomer was different from the others in every way. He was taller and leaner, his hair flaming red and the intelligent look in his red eyes made Cassandra cringe in fear. His gaze fell upon her and at once his face split into a huge grin.

"How ya feelin', mon?" he asked while coming over to where she lay, and crouched down beside her.

Cassandra looked up into his face and an ocean of feelings flowed over her.

"Tired," she answered eventually, hoping he would stop looking at her if she said something.

The troll nodded, taking her left arm and lifting it. It was covered in bandages and Cassandra winced as he examined it.

"Ya fell long way, mon," the troll told her. "Into water. Jandi find ya and bring ya here."

Closing her eyes she could remember the feeling of falling, and the cold embrace of the water.

She pulled her hand out of his grip, ignoring the pain the motion caused. There was something about the troll that scared her more than the terror she had felt for the others, he brought out some feelings inside her, feelings telling her she knew someone who grinned like that.

The flamehaired troll took her hand again, pushing a cup of water into it. In Cassandra's mind the touch was both unwelcome and familiar, and she did not know what to think of it.

He let her drink a little before packing the pelts around her again.

"Rest, mon," he commanded, and she recalled the voice she had heard in the fever, the hand that had taken hers. "Jandi not let anything hurt ya."

****
As I said: I had no control over what was happening at this point, and suddenly, out of the blue there is this spunky redheaded hunter showing up, and I though.... Wait a minute... Jandi? (for those that do not know him, he's the twin brother of Kor'alli, who I borrowed from KraeHi (aka Darkspear Koralli) for another fic.)

So. Thank you KraeHi for letting me borrow him! And don't worry, the next chapter is already up and I *cross my fingers* hope everything will be alright again!