Darn, she passes out a lot doesn't she? Just a note, Siobhan is pronounced 'sheh von'. In case you're wondering, it's Irish (well, kind of).
Just a couple revisions, now she doesn't remember falling asleep before waking up in the forest. It will be significant later on.
Chapter 2: Angels?
Her shoulder ached with a fury so intense that she was not at first aware of the dull throbbing in the back of her head. The sounds of unearthly shrieking echoed in her head. Then for a while, all was silent.
She thought she heard the faint whisperings of melodious voices, speaking in a language that was strange yet not entirely unfamiliar. 'Angels?' she asked herself. 'Am I dead? No, I hurt too much to be dead.'
She rolled onto her right side, whimpered in pain a little. Though she did not realize it, she still had a piece of spider leg protruding through her shoulder.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" a lilting voice with a strange accent demanded from somewhere above her.
"Huh? My name is Siobhan O'Reilly," she answered in a weak voice, without bothering to lift her head to see who it was that spoke to her. "And as for what I'm doing here, your guess is as good as mine."
"What is that supposed to mean?" another voice sneered.
"I don't remember how I got here. I don't even remember falling asleep . . . but suddenly I woke up and was about to be eaten by giant spiders," she explained sleepily, her eyes still closed tightly.
"Do you truly expect us to believe such a tale?" the first one scoffed.
"Believe it or not, I don't care. But, it's the truth," she sighed. "Why would I make up such an unlikely story?"
Again, Siobhan heard whisperings above her. The voices seemed to be having an argument of some kind. She opened her eyes slightly, and though her head was swimming, she saw the figures of four men standing over her. They all seemed to be glowing, but she dismissed the sight as mere hallucination. She had hit her head, after all. Then she noticed that they stood with bows drawn and arrows pointing at her.
"Do you really think that I am a threat to you like this?" Siobhan giggled softly. She was becoming slightly delirious from the pain. "If so, I am flattered but I'm afraid you overestimate my fortitude."
She heard a few soft words spoken and suddenly their weapons were lowered.
"Come, human . . ." one said softly, as he crouched down next to her face.
'What kind of an epithet is that?' she wondered to herself as she struggled to open her heavy eyes further. Though her vision wavered in and out of focus, she could still see a definite aura of light about the strange man. He seemed to glow with a heavenly light that made her think of angels again.
"We shall bring you to King Thranduil's Halls. There, it shall be decided what is to be done with you. But first," he said with a soft smile, "I shall do what I can to sooth your wounds."
"Thank you sir," Siobhan whispered quietly before closing her eyes again. She was getting quite sleepy, and though she knew that it was never a good idea to sleep on a concussion, she could not help herself.
"Though you will likely be cursing me before I am finished," the man continued, oblivious to the fact that she was no longer listening. "This shall hurt quite a bit." He proceeded to break off the spider leg as close to her shoulder as possible and then grasping the other end of it, swiftly pulled it from her body.
"Ai! Siobhan's eyes snapped open and she screamed out in pain, tears spilling from her eyes. She then sank back into a quiet semi-consciousness where she was only half aware of what was going on about her, where everything looked and sounded strange and frightening.
"Do not worry, young one," the strange man whispered in her ear. "The worst is now over. These herbs should slow the bleeding and numb your pain." He took some dried herbs from a small pouch in his jerkin and packed them into her wounds before binding her shoulder with strips of cloth one of his companions had ripped from his tunic.
"That shall have to do for now," he sighed, still speaking in the girl's language. "We should be going, the road ahead is long." He gingerly picked up the young woman, cradling her within his arms then set off to the north, his companions following silently behind him.