A Whisper of Night

18.3 || MAJAEYRA ❄️

"Oh, heavens above. She's awake - get someone - she's awake!"

Blearily, she blinked her eyes open. What...where....

"My Lord - "

"She's awake - "

Something rattled - her lungs, she thought - she inhaled and something dug its claws into her chest, burrowed its way into her skin - she exhaled, wheezing -

"Get her up. Raise her torso - "

She let out another anguished breath as hands pushed firmly at her back, as the world swam hazily before her.

She was on a bed. Straw rustled beneath her fingers -

Straw.

She was not in prison.

A gasp flooded her lungs, soon overtaken by a racking cough. "Ma'am?" said a nervous, stuttering voice. "M-ma'am, are you all right?"

She blinked - something was gluing her eyelashes together -

The room blurred into view. Before her was a mud wall, yellow bricks patched together. Pale light streamed through the thatched straw roof....

"Where am I?" she rasped. Her voice sounded a thousand years old, disused and discarded.

"Relax, ma'am. You're hurt - "

"Where am I?" Her head was pounding - she could only remember the white of the river, the panic flooding her head, the water flooding her lungs....

Had she struggled? She couldn't remember. All she could recall was...darkness. The pain and the darkness -

In the corner there was a metal rod - no, a poker. There was a fireplace before her; the flames were bright, smearing the walls a lively gold.

And before her stood three men, all clad in purple.

Purple.

Skeynvald.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

The man in the center hesitated. His face was pale, almost pasty, and his black hair tumbled in matted locks around his heart-shaped chin. "I...I'm Elsking," he said.

Her eyes widened. No. No, this is impossible - "Elsking...Elsking Valchtnalla?"

A pause. And then he nodded. "Y-yes," he said. "T-that is my name. And what is yours?"

"Jae," she said simply, trying to keep her voice even. Her eyes flickered to the men at Elsking's sides - bodyguards, no doubt. "Where are we?" We have to be close to the river - it's only midday, and I fell in the morning - but maybe it's been days, weeks....

"Rustle Town," Elsking said. "It's close to Saelia."

"Saelia...?" She looked up in bewilderment.

"Skeynvald," he said quietly, glancing away. "Old Skeynvald."

She was silent. "How many days was I out?"

"Only...only one, ma'am."

"You may - I mean, you can - call me Jae. How...what...what news is there? From any of the other kingdoms? I mean - Lady Astnorden - " She saw Elsking flinch at the name, " - is she doing anything? What about Queen Lleona? Isn't she annexing Slagvald?"

"Yes," Elsking said hesitantly. "Lady Astna - my sister - is advancing through Masseig. She's winning all her battles. And Queen Lleona..." He looked helplessly at his guards. "...she's annexed Slagvald, too."