Wars of Eredhar: The Dawn of Darkness

"Village of Lenav"

The sun was shining brightly through the open window of the room, bathing it in its warmth. The chirping of birds could be heard from outside, as a blackbird flew on the window sill. It gracefully glided inside, landing on the edge of the bed, where a woman was lying down, breathing slowly. A young man was sitting at the edge of the bed, watching over her, while a few other people could be heard arguing outside the door.

"Will she wake up?" a child's voice asked, as the door slowly opened. Dee carefully walked inside, gently closing the door behind her.

"She will, little one. Why don't you go outside and play with the other kids?" Dean looked at Dee, smiling as she sat down at the edge of the bed, next to him.

"Is she going to be alright?" she asked, her voice shivering slightly as she saw Luna's blood-stained bandages.

"I...I don't know. Only time will tell, but we need not lose our hope, little one."

"Please be okay..." Dee sighed, taking Luna's hand in hers, gently brushing her thumb over the top of her hand.

"Whatever is out there will be coming for this place!" Aselajar's harsh voice was heard from behind the door.

"Our town is safe, there is no need to alarm anyone!" an elderly voice replied, softer in tone.

"Listen up, for fuck sake! You are not safe! No one is safe!" Jack exclaimed, before being quickly interrupted.

"You three need to take this somewhere else, she needs rest and with you screaming like that, she's not going to get any!" a burly, middle-aged man said as the door opened wide to reveal Dean.

"What's the fuss out there?" Dean asked as he looked beyond the man, seeing Aselajar and Jack argue with an elderly man.

"Ignore them. Tell me, how has she been doing? Any changes while I was gone?" the burly man asked as he looked at Luna, who was slightly sweating.

"Not really, Ven. She has been like this for the past two days..." Dean sighed as the healer looked at Luna's bandages, carefully placing his hand on her forehead.

"She's burning up..." he said, taking the bandages off; they were stained with blood and the wounds looked sickening to the eye.

"That's not good", Dean mused as he turned Dee's head away, for parts of Luna's flesh around her wounds stuck to the bandages when he pulled them away.

"That means she..." Ven looked at Dee, walking to her. "Could you help me with something?" he asked her, smiling.

"Sure thing, what can I do?" she smiled back, standing up from the edge of the bed.

"I need you to go to that wooden building outside, the one on the left. Once you are there, ask the woman with grey hair to fill this bowl with hot water.

"I can do that!" Dee said confidently, taking the bowl and walking out the door.

"She's barely hanging in there..." Ven took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her forehead.

"But how can this be happening?! You said that she'd recover!" Dean shouted at the man, eying him.

"Listen, I said that she could recover. I didn't say that she will recover. She had several cuts on her body and two deep wounds. I tried cleaning them as best I could and sewing them closed, but my remedies failed to repel the infection..." he shook his head, as he carefully touched her wounds.

"Well, give her something else! There must be something you can give her!" Dean looked at Luna's infected wounds. The door opened as Dee walked back with the bowl of water, placing it down next to the bed.