As Annara came to, her memories of what happened were vague.
She remembered Skye rearing and throwing her off as the arachnid monstrosities rose from the earth, bolting in sheer terror as she stared up at them, no less mortified.
She remembered seeing Lothren on the ground, the knight nowhere to be seen, and running over, shaking him and screaming at him in her fear, urging him to wake up.
She remembered pain exploding in her right side as one of the spider-like beings swiped her away with one of its legs, breaking her ribs and sending her flying. Then... nothing.
Now... now... now, a loud groan escaped her before she could even open her eyes. Her left arm hung limply from her side and hurt worse than it ever had before and when she tried to move it, it only sent a wave of red-hot agony in response. Every single breath she took was torture and every muscle and bone on her left was throbbing and aching. But all of that was nothing compared to the blinding anguish that was her head - it felt like it had been split open, nausea washed over her in waves and blood, her blood, was gushing out of a wound at her left temple, dripping from her hair. Dripping... Why dripping? Why was her arm 'hanging'?
Somebody is carrying me.Labored breaths, her healthy right arm slung around a neck, her legs swinging back and forth... Annara slowly opened her eyelids and was greeted by painfully bright sunlight and the face of Aust, as close to her as if they were in the middle of a play again.
But every thought, every pain, every word on her mind was forgotten as the low rumbling in the ground drew her attention, made her turn her head just in time to witness...
Annara had been to Vicenna twice - once with her father's caravan and once more before she met and joined the band of 'mummers'. Vicenna was a strange place to her, not only because it was lush and green compared to Areta but because its cities felt different. Generations of war and darkness had made many of its inhabitants humble and friendly; they knew all too well what hostility could lead to. Of course, one or two of the few mages she met seemed arrogant and distant but most of the others, at least the ones willing to talk to her, saw their powers as a responsibility to protect their people, not a birthright to rule them.
To her, 'home' had always been a group, the men and women she wanted to be with. Her last trip to Vicenna was the first time she thought she understood the notion of 'settling down', the idea that 'home' could be a place.
And here she was, witnessing the end of that nation. It was a sight so bizarre that she thought she was dreaming. How else could you explain that miles and miles and miles of firm soil seemed to break away, flow and fall as if they had been swallowed whole by... by what?
What could be big enough?
But she knew that she was awake. She knew that, as impossible as it seemed, she was watching the death of millions.
The world began to spin, faster and faster, a carousel of colors, then intense whiteness. Annara felt lightheaded and all strength left her. She heard the elf speak her name with urgency as her head fell against his shoulder but before she could answer, the Eretol woman was unconscious again.