When Maddie regained consciousness again, she was lying face down on damp ground. She could hear the rain still pouring, but she didn’t really care. Every part of her body hurt abominably, and it was painful even to concentrate on hearing things. She took a deep breath and winced as her lungs stretched. Pain was stamping every other sense out. Maybe that’s why she was smelling damp earth and musky scent of pines instead of the salty sea breeze. She could hear coarse laughter and tinkle of metal against metal, and thought, they found the bag…that’s the police…with the handcuffs…

“Look, Burg,” A gravelly voice pierced through her fuzzy brain. “The wench is stirring.”

“Good. Now we can have some fun with her.” Another voice growled. There were some shuffling sound, and the next minute she felt a blow to her rib cage that was beyond pain. She gasped and crunched up into a ball.

“Get up, you dirty whore!” a voice bellowed above the laughter. “Let’s see who’s so proper and prim now!”

“Show us what you’ve got!”

Maddie didn’t hear them. The pain was unbelievable. She slowly opened her eyes and looked away as the intense light blinded her. It was still there, the lightning bolt, but now it was a blazing golden yellow. She was now a little more aware of her surroundings, but she still couldn’t figure out where she was. Everything was dark around the intense light, and she could just make out shadows silhouetted against the night sky. Someone kicked her again, and more laughter followed.

Suddenly there was a surprised grunt then a yell. Maddie could hear the thundering of horse hooves above the melee that followed. People screaming, shouts, yells, more screams that died off in a strange gurgle…but she was already slipping into unconsciousness. It must have been a part of her hallucination, but she could’ve sworn that she saw a man on a horse covered with steel from head to feet. He got off the animal and headed towards her just as the world darkened and blacked out.

***********************

Nick slowly opened his eyes, not daring to move. He could see the dark forbidding shadows in the hazy surroundings. He had to be dead. People didn’t survive being struck by lightning. His thoughts wandered to his family. How would they find him? Where would they start? He would make headlines in the papers. Well, you went the way you wanted to go, he mused absently. Go out with a big bang. Only… damnit, did it have to hurt so much?

As son as his numbed brain snapped onto the thought of pain, the agony took over. He could feel his limbs dissolving and tearing at the same time and it was only by sheer will that he got to his knees at all. Shaking uncontrollably, he leaned against the tall tree, closing his eyes. Okay, time to readjust thinking. He wasn’t dead. He hurt too much to be dead. He was about to be dead, though. Yes, he thought through waves of numbing pain, he wasn’t just over the edge yet. A sound filled his ears- like some sort of a roar, getting louder and completely engulfing his senses. It was very close, whatever it was. At first he thought it was the waves pounding against the rocks of the cave, but as seconds ticked by, he could distinguish other noises amid the general roar. Some people shouting, sound of a large group running, and soft thudding noises accompanied by great cries and crash of metal against metal. He inhaled deeply, wincing against the stabbing pain, and the smell of acrid smoke and coppery, peculiar smell registered in his befuddled brain. Unable to stand it any longer, he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked once, then with a hoarse cry lurched to his feet, shock and horror making him forget his pain for one second.

In front of him, about two feet away, was a man with his body cut nearly in half. He could clearly see the entrails starting to spill out onto the ground. Some hot, sticky liquid hit him fully in the face, and Nick finally realized what he had been smelling.
Blood.

Blood was gushing everywhere, spraying and staining the shrubs around them. The mutilated body was thrashing madly, in his last death throw- the most sickening part was that the head of the man was lying not far away, his glazed eyes staring straight at him, wide and vacant. Cold sweat broke out on Nick’s forehead and he began to tremble violently. He felt sick. He turned around, mainly to tear his eyes from the bloody corpse so that he won’t throw up and came face to face with a man charging at him, his face slashed and cut, his crazed eyes wide and wild. He was wearing a strange helmet that looked conical at this angle, and his clothing looked like something from Robin Hoods. He was also swinging a thick chain ending with a metal ball studded with spikes.
For a split second Nick wondered if there was a gang hiding out in the cave- but caves didn’t have trees. Then where was he?

The stranger saw him, then he faltered uncertainly. That was all Nick needed. He ducked away, then tripped upon the dead man’s body. Gasping, he stumbled back, his mind reeling.

All of a sudden, he felt a terrible, stabbing pain in his left shoulder. It was a pain that he had never experienced before. It was as if someone drove a red hot spike into his shoulder. He stiffened, then looked down at himself dazedly. Bright red blood began to stain the front of his shirt. The world began to spin crazily. The yells, screams and cries slowly faded away into a hollow roaring in his ears. Oh my God, he thought dizzily, I think I’ve just been shot.

He could see himself slowly sinking to his knees- Voices drifted through his eardrum, words that didn’t make any sense to him. “…Get him, the bastard!….”

“The Prince! See to him! He’s wounded!”

“…. Davrak! Find the archer!…”

“No! it’s not me! It’s him!…”

“…ambush! Ambush in the woods! Retreat…”

“Someone get a healer!…”

“Quickly! Retreat!…”

Nick’s vision clouded, and he toppled into the muddy ground, mercifully blacking out.