Michael Liddle: H'ashwa Begins

Chapter Two

Gradually, Maddy gained a greater awareness of her surroundings—but she felt strange all over. And for some reason, her blankets were as tight as a shroud about her, and seemingly, pulled up so high they had wrapped themselves entirely about her head. And where had her pillow gone? Blinking drowsily, she made to rub her eyes, but her arms felt heavy, unresponsive. Blinking again brought her room more into focus. As if she was still dreaming, her bedroom ceiling receded into the far distance and transformed itself into an intricate set of carvings made up of ornate swirls and images. "How odd," she thought muddily.

Turning her head slightly to the one side, her lips touched something wet, something with a foul taste—and pungent, smelling like a swamp. Maddy jerked her head away. Or she tried to. It was like her head was inside a box. She attempted to pull herself up but that proved impossible. Because she was tied down!

Desperately, she bent her chin inwards and down, glimpsing the edges of a pool...filled with slime. And I'm in the middle of it! Struggling, pitting herself against her hidden bindings, she tried to cry out, but all she could make out with her mud-covered ears were strange and half-strangled sounds. Her tongue felt like a fat slug. Then she began to gag.

"Easy there. Easy. Sorry, I stepped away for a moment. I'marld informed me that you'd be waking up fairly soon," a gentle female voice said off to Maddy's right side. Moments later, a face came into view above her own, smiling down at her, sharp featured but pleasant in its own way. "I know you're frightened. Confused. That's to be expected. Just give me a moment to have this sludge drained away. I'm sure it isn't the nicest experience for a girl to wake up to. Then I'll untie you and we'll get you all cleaned up. By the way, I'm M'rell, a friend of Michael's, but I imagine he hasn't mentioned me to you." The woman's full lips lifted into an impish and, considering the circumstances, an almost imprudent grin.

Maddy attempted to take better control of herself, to trust this woman, when memories of what had happened to her erupted from out of the recesses of her mind: being abducted by that brutal and mutilated man, then like magic ending up at what must have been Smith's Falls, and—and Michael just as miraculously appearing just before her leg was broken, the searing pain of it snapping drowning out most of whatever Michael and that man were saying to each other, not that any of it had made any sense. Images of the fight which had ensued flickered into her mind. Then, somehow, they had all ended up in a different place and the day had turned into the middle of the night—and—and—Michael had been hurt and—and then shot! And...oh! Blood, blood everywhere! He was dying in her arms!

Struggling to cry out, her voice continued to refuse to work. All she was capable of making were grunts and strangled noises, none of which she would ever associate with herself. Unbidden, tears began to leak from her eyes.

"There. There. It's OK. Everything will be OK. You're fine now. Safe. I have something here which will make it easier for you to talk. You've been in this healing bath for quite some time now and a side effect is your mouth turning numb. Good! The mud has mostly drained away, as much as is possible. I'll get right in here with you and untie you. It'll just be another moment. Promise."

This strange woman smiled down at her again, but it did nothing to reassure her.

Maddy felt the straps which bound her into the pool become undone. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she found herself covered in a thick layer of foul-smelling and slippery slime. And this young woman, who called herself M'rell, wasn't much cleaner. The short, golden robe she was wearing was mostly a soiled brown now. She slipped out of the pool and positioned herself behind Maddy and pulled her up and out of the mud. "There, step one accomplished," she announced brightly. "Here, I have a drink for you. Let me hold it. You just drink...all of it. Give it a minute or so and you should be able to talk."