Lora drifted painfully out of her dream, and opened her eyes to pitch darkness. She shut them, then opened them again, but the black outside her eyes was thicker, if possible, than the one within.
My head… what happened? Where am I? I'm so sleepy… there's no air in here. Wherever here is.
The suffocating darkness weighed on her, and she thought perhaps she was still in her dream, that the air in her mouth and nose was really sand. Always wondered what happens when you die in a dream… maybe this is it. I should shout or something... no, I'm too tired to move. What's the point? I'm dead, there's no light anymore…
A husky voice spoke quietly into the stale air, "Lora". Lora. That's my name. Somebody calling me. Nobody calls me in my dreams. Only a man called Dain who walks through the forest, and follows me wherever I try to go…
"Lora, are you awake?"
Yes. Yes, I'm awake, ranger of the North. I will be awake.
Lora forced herself to raise her head. She was sitting against something hard, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her hands seemed to be stuck together - she could not feel her fingers.
"I'm tied up", she muttered, pulling her cold arms from around her legs and trying to find the bonds with her teeth.
"So am I. Don't try to bite it, it's strong cord. Try to come towards me - I cannot reach my knife."
Surely he can't see me?
Setting her jaw against the pain from her head and back, Lora rolled onto her knees, balancing with difficulty on her bound wrists, and shuffled the unseen two feet towards Dain's voice. He was sitting still, his knees drawn up and his back straight.
"It's in my left boot, on the inside heel", he whispered, much closer than she had thought, startling her. Lora hastily scrabbled around the top, her fingers losing more feeling by the second as she searched. Finally she touched something hard and smooth, and pulled at it; she nearly dropped it back into his boot, it slid out so easily.
"Cut yourself free first - my hands are behind my back".
With great difficulty, Lora manoeuvred the knife to saw at her bonds, trying desperately to keep control of her icy hands. Even if I did take a finger off, I probably wouldn't notice, I can't feel them …and it was in his boot all along. Ridiculous place to keep a knife.
The last loop of the cord broke, and Lora's hands sprang apart. Her ankles took less time to free. She turned to Dain at last, more confident now with her hands loose, and the not-altogether-unpleasant sensation of having the ranger powerless before her. "Turn around, so I can reach your hands", she said, brusquely, rubbing her legs. He hesitated, for the first time. " …I can't. There's no room".
Lora paused, unsure, then, reaching for his wrists, awkwardly put her arms around him. He was warm; she could feel the strength in his shoulders as she gradually leant against him, wanting so much suddenly to rest there. His breath on the bare skin beneath her ear made her shiver, and she fervently blessed the thick darkness as heat rose to her face. It seemed an eternity before the bonds around his hands parted, but Dain could have been a statue for all the notice he took of her, of how close she was to him. And suddenly he was free, and Lora moved away quickly, aware that her control might not last much longer. She sat, silent, as he freed his ankles.
I'm just tired, and cold, and weak. He is strong, and I need that. It's nothing. Nothing I can't handle, it'll pass. I hope it passes, because I don't think I can get away from him again…