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Wiping the sweat off of her forehead, Valeria stepped over roots and rocks in the dirt. She hiked through the familiar trail to Lincolns cave. She had been there a couple times before since he'd been banished from their village, so she roughly knew her way. Lincoln wasn't a traitor, like their people had said, he was simply just kind to those who were in need. Even if those were not his people. But Trikru didn't see it that way. They were harsh, cold, but they did what needed to be done. Sometimes Valeria hated how she had to live. But she knew the truth, kill or be killed, survive or die.
As Valeria approached the cave, it was getting dark outside. She stepped inside and her surroundings became somewhat colder than they seemed to be before. "Lincoln?" she called out. Maybe he was on a hunt, or gathering firewood. She searched the dark corners of the cave, picking up a flame torch that was resting on a wall. He had clearly been here recently.
What Valeria never expected to see in Lincolns cave - a place he escaped to so that he wouldn't have to abide by the Trikru rules of killing and violence - was sat, terrified and shaking before her.
A girl was curled up in front of her, quivering with fear, tears brimming her eyes. Lincoln had a captive? Valeria, confused on what to do, just stood before this girl, shocked, to say the least.
She stepped towards her, causing her to crawl back, flinching at her movement, "No, please! Who are you people?"
That language she was speaking...Gonaslenge - she was speaking English. That meant she wasn't Trikru, if she was one of the mountain men the air would've surely killed her by now, so who was she?
Valeria put her hands out to try and show that she wasn't going to hurt her. She didn't blame the girl for not believing her. As the rock she'd been hiding behind her back made harsh contact with the side of Valeria's head, she wasn't too surprised.
Luckily the blow to the head wasn't enough to knock her unconscious, so when she saw the captive using that same rock to bash the padlock on her chains, in attempt to break free, Valeria jumped on her from behind. Her head was still spinning, her vision blurred too, but this girl was obviously dangerous, there was a reason Lincoln had kept her in chains.
"Please! I don't know who you are, I haven't done anything!" she yelped. Valeria stayed silent, struggling to keep the wriggling girl in her grip.
As soon as it had appeared she'd calmed down, footsteps echoed through the twists and turns of the cave. Lincoln was back. "Lincoln!" she shouted, still keeping her arms wrapped tightly around the girl. Stupidly, Valeria became distracted, she paid her price for that when the girl launched herself backwards, sending them both to the ground, and smacking Valeria's head into the hard rock. Again. As much as she tried to fight the sharp pain stabbing through her skull, Valeria's vision blurred, and her hearing muffled, as if the world was splitting around her.
