Ashur wearily raised his head from the ground and surveyed the carnage around him. His head hurt.
Although this was his ninth war with the Oudromore Kingdom's army, he was hard pressed to remember the last time they had fought in such dense forests. The Earl of Rekrat's cavalry had tried to follow his company across the light meadows outside this stretch of woodland but had been turned back by the archer platoons hidden in the brush.
Unfortunately, the mounted soldiers had been closely followed by their own infantry; armed with heavy shields that absorbed or deflected arrows with relative ease. Rekrat's brown and grey sigils became steadily more visible to the retreating archers as the foot-soldiers purposefully crossed the woodline.
From there it had been a nearly even match between the two forces with Oudromore's men slowly working their way around to flank the intruders. The archers that had been set up in tree stands helped to winnow down Rekrat's men, but the dense forest made clear shots difficult. Eventually, it had come down to sword, shield, and individual close combat technique.
As Ashur looked around, he could see that he was one of very few of either side that were moving. His head throbbed from the blow behind his ear which had knocked him unconscious. He was fortunate that he had been dodging from his opponent's thrust at the time. Had he stood his ground and parried, the soldier who had moved up behind him would have been able to solidly connect with a mace.
Lucky dodge or not, his gorge rose as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. The world wavered around him. Part of him was aware that he was in a bad position to defend himself from an attacker, but his body didn't seem to care and he fell over onto his side.
Some interminable time later, he decided that he was up to moving again. The screams of battle had dimmed to a cacophony of groans and cries from the injured and mortally wounded. Ashur's vision was as blurry as his thoughts as he got his feet under him. He remembered that he had been somewhere near the edge of the battle but with his mind fogged by concussion, he wasn't certain. With his ears still lightly ringing, he stumbled forward toward what he fervently hoped was the Kingdom's command area. Moving from tree to tree, his addled mind failed to register that he was leaving the noise of the battlefield behind and drifting deeper into the forest.
Eventually, all he could hear was the high-pitched tones in his ears and his own shambling footfalls. His head had cleared just enough that this fact could slowly insinuate itself into his consciousness. Ashur cursed lightly and, realizing that he had wandered off from the main body, turned to the direction he thought he had come from and started moving again.
Still forced to use trees for balance, he had covered nearly thirty feet when the rotted elm he had fallen against crumbled inward. His own weight, off-balance from the unexpected movement, pulled him forward into the hole uncovered by the disintegrating wood. His surprised cry was cut off as his head struck a rock jutting out from edge of the pit.
His eyes opened again in the dark as consciousness slowly tried to take hold of him once more. They were heavy and didn't seem to want to obey him. His stomach roiled worse now from two head injuries which made rising to a kneeling position one of the hardest things he had ever done.
In the distance he could see a faint light growing larger as it moved towards him. Eventually, he could make out a slender, feminine figure holding the light. As she approached, a bright smile lit up her face and she leaned down; reaching out to him with both arms.
"Welcome O Chosen Receiver of the Secrets of... EWW! WHAT THE FUCK?"
Falling forward, Ashur lost the battle with his stomach. His last view was of her drenched feet and dress as his face hit the dirt floor.
***
He ached. Oh, how he ached! The dull throb of his skull felt as though it was the source of shooting pains down his back and into his body. Ashur briefly curled up into a fetal ball before stretching out to his full six-foot two length. Turning his head from side to side in an effort to stretch cramping neck muscles, he opened his eyes.
His first terrified thought was that he was somehow blind. After a moment's reflection, however, he realized that he could see a dim source of light from somewhere distant. Groaning as he sat up, he began to take stock of his situation. His last conscious memory was of the battle. How had he ended up here?
Where was here?
Ashur's nose took in the damp smells of earth while his exploring fingers found loose soil beneath him. Looking around gave him few clues as the subdued light did little to brighten whatever small room he was in.
Feeling slightly chilled, the injured man slowly realized that he had somehow been stripped of his armor and outer clothes; leaving him in nothing more than his linen under-shorts. Off to the side, he could just make out a rough blanket that he had apparently thrown off during his pained slumber. Pulling it around his shoulders, he gathered himself to rise.
With a sharp grunt, the soldier finally made it to a standing position. Although his efforts were rewarded with a new wave of nausea, he felt that he was otherwise okay to continue and started making his way toward the source of the light.
After a few steps, Ashur reaffirmed his earlier conclusion that he was somehow underground as his hands brushed soft dirt and stones from the wall he used to steady himself.
He soon stopped with a mild curse, however, as his bare shuffling toes rammed into flagstone and his nose and forehead collided into an invisible wall. Confused, he raised his hands to push against whatever was keeping him confined.
Increasingly harder thumps with his fist failed to break down the unseen barrier and it was no more than two to three minutes before he had reached the limits of his depleted energy. The weary soldier momentarily considered calling out but decided that he was unable to deal with an unknown captor at the moment. He was tired, hungry, and, above all, thirsty. He let his legs curl up and sat down against the earthen wall. Laying over on his side, he closed his eyes and slept again.
Something brought him back to awareness some undetermined time later. He was wrapped back up in his meager blanket and had curled up against the wall in his sleep. His foggy mind told him that the feeling of being watched was what had woken him.
Ashur blearily turned his head to the invisible wall and his eyes widened, then narrowed as he saw a woman unceremoniously sitting with her legs crossed on the stones beyond the barrier. Her perturbed and disgusted expression did little to distort her striking features. He was slightly shocked to realize that those features, as well as the rest of her body he could see, were a dark blue hue that bordered on black with an underlying crimson tint that shifted with her expression. Her eyes appeared to follow along with her skin; sapphire with red tinting the inner circle of her irises.
