Tejara woke up...

She wasn’t actually sure how she managed that. Her limbs felt heavy and her head felt heavier but even through the haze of disconnection from her body she could feel dull, throbbing pain. She tried desperately to move and only managed to rock her head slightly to the side. Her eyelids, heavy as her head, slid open just enough to let in a sliver of light.

A voice drifted to her through ears that felt full of cotton, “good, you’re alive. I have no interest in fucking a corpse.”

The words sent a cold bolt of adrenaline-laced ear through her. Her eyes snapped fully open and she forced herself to move through the strong current of whatever drug that crossbow bolt had been dipped in. And still she only managed to raise her head halfway up before the dull pain felt throughout her body sharpened, her eyesight growing dark in the corners. It seemed on top of the drugged bolts she had taken a physical beating she couldn’t remember. Her jaw tensed as she felt a trickle of warm blood slide down the side of her face.

Still, despite the pain, she managed to take in the appearance of the man who spoke. He was one of the three sniveling bastards that had cornered her. The most pathetic looking one of the bunch, scrawny and barely an adult, the light dusting of a mustache on his upper lip confirming his immaturity.

He reached for her... For the waistband of her loose pants. For the drawstring that held them on.

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Tejara felt her eyes grow wider. Then she closed them, willing herself to just fucking move. “I waited for you to wake up so you better scream pretty for me. It’d be the only thing pretty about you.”

Knuckles grazed her stomach as he slipped his hand around her waistband and tugged. Suddenly and violently the adrenaline overpowered the leaden weight on her limbs and she kicked, likely hitting him square in the chest from the sound of the breath leaving his lungs. She opened her eyes and aimed her second kick. Right at his nuts. He doubled over in pain. She let the adrenaline carry her forward. She hooked her hands around the back of his neck, pulling him down as she pulled herself up. Her forehead collided with his nose. She instantly felt his blood trickle down her face.

She shoved him off to the side and he rolled around on the ground whimpering in pain. She sat up and saw she was still where she was when she passed out and her ax was only a few feet away. She stood unsteadily and stumbled over to grab it. Before stomping back to the whining and writhing man.

She put her foot down on his crotch, putting just enough weight onto it. With a string of curses falling from his lips, he jack-knifed up into a sitting position. He grabbed her calf with both hands and tied, ineffectually, to move her. She aimed for the top of his head as if it was just another log of wood. He froze. “Where are you friends?” she asked, shaking. With rage or fear or just adrenaline she couldn’t tell. And she hoped he couldn’t tell either.

“They went to play with that whore-”

MeiMei...

Tejara’s heart stopped. She stumbled back a few steps then turned to run. Back to her.