Desnuerhiel

Chapter 2

The first thing I feel when I start to become aware is that I am cold- very cold actually. Still unsure of what happened, I go through a mental check of my body. The crushing weight is gone. My eyes are too heavy to open, but my hearing seems to be returning slowly. I can hear people talking but their voices sound like they're coming from a great distance away. I try to concentrate on what they are saying.

"Do you think she's okay? She's taking a long time to wake up..." says a soft voice.

"Who cares? She's just going to be another nuisance", another girl says.

"Natalie, that's mean. She's just a prisoner like us" a third girl scolds.

A prisoner? Where in the world am I? I try opening my eyes again but to no avail.

"Yeah," says a new voice, "but you know what the older girls say about girl number one hundred. They say that..."

"Aliyah, don't, they might be listening" voice number three says briskly.

The voices go quiet for a moment. I try to open my eyes again, and this time they slowly flutter open. Everything is dark as my eyes try to adjust.

"Oh, guys, look! She's waking up!"

"Holly, shush, you know her hearing will be sensitive."

My eyes adjust enough that I could see four girls standing over me.

"Welcome, number one hundred, to Desnuerhiel" says a curly haired girl to my right.

"Don't welcome her Aliyah, she's just a lowly prisoner like us" a girl to my left says snidely.

"Natalie, why do you have to be so rude? Welcome number one hundred, we are all glad you are okay...well, most of us anyways" she looks pointedly at the girl named Natalie.

"My name is Holly," the girl continues, "to your left is Natalie. To your right are Aliyah and Violet. What's your name?"

I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. Frustrated, I try again and manage a slight wheeze.

"Oh, your throat must be dry. Hang on." She walks out of my line of vision but comes back a second later holding a small cup in her hands. "Here, drink this," she says handing me the small cup. I take it and put it to my lips, taking a small sip in the process. It was water. The cool liquid soothes my throat, so I drink the rest of it.

"Thank you, my name's Katherine..." I say, my voice sounding raspy. I hand the cup back to her and look around. I'm in a small room that looks to be made of stone. There is a fireplace in the corner with a pot hanging over it. A stone archway next to the fireplace leads to another dark room. It all seemed sort of... medieval. I look down at myself to see what I was laying on and realize why I am so cold- I was naked. I gasp and quickly cover myself with my arms.

"Oops, sorry. Guess we should've covered you up," says Holly as she walks over to the fireplace. She reaches into a basket and pulls out a thick fur blanket. She walks back to me and drapes it over me. I pull it close to hide my body.

"Thanks.... Now, where the hell am I? And why am I naked?"

Holly frowns a little and the other girls look away uncomfortably.

"You don't remember?" She sighs when I shake my head. "Well, I'm sure you experienced some strange stuff the day you were taken. Things like an intensely bright light, major nausea, and well, I guess the best word would be invisibility."

When she says invisibility, I suddenly remember that day in front of my apartment, when I thought I was dying.

She nods when she sees my eyes spark with understanding. "And you're naked because the Dragon priests inspected you," she says nervously, as if she was unsure of how I would react.