Valin (Book 3 of the White Lily Trilogy)- first draft

Chapter 31- Arrival for war

Sorry this took a while. I've had a very busy month, with moving to this new location and doing training to do this job for 8 months I've not had much time to focus on my writing and spent the better part of a few weeks without internet to upload it. But I do now!

Are you there, can you hear me...can you feel me?

"Who..." Isi asked.

Let your mind slowly wake, take it slow. It took Isi a rather lengthy time to realise that the voice was all too familiar.

"Lily...is that you?" she croaked out loud. Everything felt warped like her mind and body was floating. A thick fog blanketed her mind, making it hard to find any of her thoughts. She was laying on her back, that much she felt, but she felt nothing below or above her, similar to floating in a stream and not knowing the direction she was gong. Any time she tried to move anything, even a finger, it sent shooting pain through her body, and she wanted to cry out in agony, if her throat didn't hurt too much in the first place. Things were so quiet, for the first time in weeks, months or had it even been years, she didn't know anymore, but everything was so quiet. Was she dead? For all the voices and torment to be over must mean she had to be dead. There was no way the shadow would be gone, there was no cure. But would death hurt her physically so much?

Can you try and open your eyes?

"Where are we? What happened?"

Take your time, focus on opening your eyes. Opening her eyes, that she could try and do. It worried her how much effort that took. When her eyelids fluttered everything was a blur, dark and light colours merged together into one big mess. She blinked several times, many times in fact before they outlines separated and she realised she was looking at a cave ceiling. There were a lot of smells, herbs, healing potions, blood, and many creature odours, but currently no noises, which only made her uncomfortable.

She began trying to move, starting with fingers and toes and even then she let out a faint, audible gasp at how much it stung. Any time she tried to move anything, it hurt.

Don't push yourself. We are incredibly weak. Do you remember anything?

Her lips parted and this time she felt how much they cracked, like badly dried parchment being stretched out.

"Weren't we..."
We were, but those clever creatures found a cure...it was finally possible Though the removal was far from painless

For a brief moment, she was in stunned silence, but then she felt a wash of relief consume, so strong she let out a sob in both shock and joy. A veil was lifted, and for that moment she did forget about the situation around Valin and the humans, right now she was focusing n herself.

"It's...gone." She croaked in relief. She wasn't going to become one of those things. She winced again as her breath jumped in her chest. Her mind suddenly flashed with images. Blood, chains, the sound of that ringing, the pain of the saw. White Lily did her best to calm her down, to blow the images away.

Keep calm, deep breaths. We aren't there anymore. She didn't give a reply, but she took the advice. We suffered more injuries than what we originally received. Lily went to explain. During the comatose period, our body was subjected to pain and torture in an attempt to weaken us further.I imagine it will be difficult to recover from, physically and emotionally.It will take time.

"That explains...a lot." She said, her breaths still quite shallow in her chest. It would explain the pain and aches she kept feeling when in that illusion, it reflected the wounds on the body. And then there was the shadow....