The pain was burning. Blood was dripping quickly from the wounds on his shoulder and forearm. He pushed his hand onto the bloody gash as he ran through the thick forest. He was still reeling over the ambush, particularly the sheer number of enemies this close to the capital city of Atrana. His entire company had been killed, horses included, by countless archers. He probably could've fought back if he hadn't been so caught off guard that he lost his own horse and sword. He chuckled dryly at his own silliness and blinked as his vision began to blur. 'I've lost too much blood...' he thought to himself as he grit his teeth. He could hear the heavy footsteps of the enemies draw closer.

    His ears began ringing and he lost control of his legs for a moment, tripping over a tree root and falling sideways over a small cliff. Pain shot up from his ankle. He groaned quietly. 'Great, definitely sprained if not broken.' As he began hearing the voices of the assassins, he half-crawled and stumbled his way under the edge of the small bluff. There was a thin cave that was partially covered by vines in the side of the cliff. He shuffled as quietly as he could into it, his head beginning to swim in bright light. He sat inside as he began to feel the numbness in his body. He heard the enemies shouting and running by above him, but only barely. He was losing consciousness. 'So this is how I go...' he thought as he faded from awareness.

    For just a moment, his eyes tried to squint open as he felt jolts of pain in his shoulder. He didn't know how much time had passed. He could barely make out a face in front of him, and there was a veil over everything but the eyes anyway. The person didn't seem to be landing a death blow. After determining that this was probably not an assassin, he lost consciousness again.

    It was bright. Painfully so. His eyes snapped open and he flinched at the sunlight glaring down at him. He sat upright abruptly. He was on a cot of some sort and his wounds were bandaged, although still aching terribly. He was in a tiny cottage with no roof amidst the forest. The windows also had no glass and there was no door in the frame. Which made it pretty easy to see the woman walking inside.

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    "You're finally awake. I was about to leave you to your fate if you hadn't," her voice was highly sultry. As was her straight black hair that swayed down to her thighs, contrasting to her very fair skin. She wore a black dress with long sleeves and a black veil covered her face, only leaving her bright, honey-colored eyes visible beneath long lashes. "I brought your armor," she continued, realizing that he wasn't going to speak. She gestured to the armor on the ground next to him, which clearly bore the insignia of Otha country. "I had to take it off to get you here, it was too heavy. You slept all night." She paused again, waiting to see if he'd answer. He did not. Her eyes squinted momentarily, annoyed. "Fine. I won't ask any questions since you evidently won't give me any answers. I don't want anyone to know I was here either so if you agree that you never saw me, then I will do the same. Deal?"

    She held out her hand to him, which he reached out to shake until he noticed how covered in grass stains and blood she was. He looked up at her with bewildered eyes. He was actually quite handsome beneath all that dirt and blood. His hair was a light ash blonde and those guarded eyes were dark green. And she knew from having to half-drag his practically lifeless body to the cottage that he was very tall and almost too well-built. She looked down at her own dirty hand.

     "Ah... Sorry, the river is on the other side of the mountain so I didn't have time to wash my hands after tending to you. I'll just take it as a yes." Her golden eyes seemed to flash a smile sheepishly as she pulled her hand back. She walked over and grabbed a basket with plants sticking out of it from the tiny table in the cottage. There was a second basket with fruits in it that she did not pick up. "You can eat those if you get hungry. I prevented you from dying but you need to rest here if you want to heal up. Try not to walk too much, you sprained that left ankle." She turned and walked out of the empty door frame as she waved without turning around. "It was nice not meeting you!"