Chapter 2 : A chance encounter
It all happened so fast. One minute, the town of Shizontania was sitting in distance, bathed in the deep orange
color of dusk, the next, Roslyn heard screaming coming form the front of the caravan.
"Stay inside the wagon." The driver instructed. She did so while holding Emma tightly in her arms.
"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay" She whispered to her little girl. Emma clutched her doll tightly. She
could hear the sounds of battle echoing outside. Explosions from the magic, the cries of the dying and terrified.
What scared her of course, was the growling of the monsters that were no doubt right outside the carriage.
The ground was shaking slightly. Roslyn closed her eyes tightlty. She was scared too, but she tried to put on a
corageous front for Emma's sake. Somethng tore through the carriage and latched onto the other side. Roslyn
opened her eyes . The thing before her was nothing more thne a glowing red mass. She saw bits and pieces of
other monsters stuck into it, along with various sticks and twigs form the forest. "It absorbed them?" She
thought. All of a sudden she grew worried for the knights outside, whom she knew would have to fight this
thing.
The carriage jolted with sharp tug. Roslyn's grip around Emma tightned as it shook more violently. She couldn't
even think, or breath as she felt the entire thing tip over with another sharp pull. The crates inside the carrige
tipped over, shielding Emma, Roslyn allowed herself to mauled by several, one of them knocking her in the
head. Almost as soon as she w as hit by several of the boxes, the carriage suffered one more violent tug that
sent Roslyn flying out. She couildn't move, everythng was spinning and her entire body was in a tremendous
amount of pain. "I have to move. I have to get up or I'm going to die" She thought to herself. The sounds were
still the same. Magic, swords, knights yelling orders. The only thing different was that every sound was muffled.
She felt herself get pulled up, she wanted to scream from the pain but her breath immidietly escaped her. She
tried hard to listen to what was around her , trying desparetly to regain her footing.
"Get everyone back into the town! Hurry!" Someone yelled. His voice was louder. He must have been the one
holding her up. He slung her arm around his shoulder. She could feel cold metal against her skin. Armor. She
looked up at him as he they tried walking away from the carnage. Roslyn finally saw everything clearly, and the
ringing in her ears slowly faded away. But every small step she took was painful. She tried hard not to think of
the condition she could have been in if the knight wasn't helping her walk. She thought of everyone else in the
fight who might not have been so lucky. Everyone else. "Oh no...Emma!"
"My daughter, she's still in the carriage" She said. The night looked at her then back to his other knights.
Roslyn saw that one of them along with a dog were quickly making their way to where Emma was sitting.
"C'mon we need to keep moving." The knight said. They slowly walked to the gate , and stood by the side. He
must have known that she wouldn't go any farther without her daughter. She hunched over as breathing
suddenly became painful again. She couldn't stop herself from leaning on the knight , catching herself in his
arms. " I hope her injuries aren't too serious" Jurgis thought. He looked up and saw Yuri running toward them
with the girl in hand. The woman he was supporting slowly broke away from him and wrapped her dauyghter in
her arms. A few of the men from the caravan stepped by the two of them .
"Roslyn ! Hurry we need to get behind the barrier." He said. He was a big guy so he easily hoisted Roslyn into
his arms. He knew she was having a hard time walking. She couldn't help but look at the knight who saved her.
He had beige colored hair, and compared to the man carrying her, he was small in stature , though while he
was carrying her she could tell that he was athleticly built. She wanted to thank him,but he darted off into the
forest, with a few other of his men, right after the boy who rescued Emma.
"Please be careful." She whispered.
Right away she and Emma were taken to a doctor. Roslyn had a hard time moving on her own, but thankfully
Emma looked fine save for a few bruises and scratches. Roslyn was forced to lay down , while Emma sat by her
side,. Her breathing was heavy, and with every breath her body rang out in pain. It felt as if her own bones
were crushing her insides.
"Momma...are you going to be okay?" Emma asked. Roslyn opened her eyes and looked at Emma with the best
smile she could muster.
"I'll be fine. Go get some sleep honey"
Roslyn scooted over and made room for her little girl. Emma was reluctant to climb in, knowing that her mother
was in extreme pain, but she joined her anyway. Roslyn put her arms around her daughter and closed her
eyes. The warmth coming from her small body was actually comforting.
It was a long day. And not a particularly good one. Jurgis stepped into his small room, covered in blood. The
smell and feeling of it almost made him want to puke. He immidietly stripped himself of his gauntlets and metal
greaves. "I'll have to clean those up later" He thought to himself. He carefully put his sword away and set to
cleaning himself up. It was over, but he was still in a bad mood. They lost good men, and three of their best
dogs. He was hoping that the captain wouldn't be put in as bad a mood as he was in because of this. "But a lot
of the people survived" He thought to himself. He finally laid down and stared at the cieling, thinking of all those
civilians who survived. " Hisca and Yuri, and that woman and her daughter...I wonder if either of them are alright
though." . The thought was short lived, as sleep overcame him all to soon. His final thought, was of how
tomorrow was going to be another long day.