POV Eliza
“She still hasn’t woken up, huh?”
“No, not yet. She lost a lot of blood and it was a miracle that she survived. Fortunately, the wound on the leg did not become infected. We can only wait.”
“Who shoots a little child, Mimi? Just thinking about her injuries and bruises, unforgivable. I don’t understand humans.”
“You do realize that you are one yourself, Jared?”
“We all have our own stories, Mimi.”
I heard quiet voices reach my ears. So I hadn't died, had I? No, I didn't think so, because I felt my leg hurt. So I actually got shot while trying to escape. I moved slightly and let out a moan.
“There, you see. She woke up. Hey, little one, how are you? Can you understand me?”
I opened my eyes and saw a small hut. There was only a small table, a chair and a cupboard in the hut. I was lying in the only bed. A woman with small, round dog ears in her 30s was sitting on the chair next to the table, while an older man in his 50s was leaning against the wall next to the door.
"Where am I? Coughcough.”
“We found you half dead on the river bank. You were lucky you survived.”
“Don’t scare her. She just escaped death. But he's right. You were really lucky. You wouldn't have survived the next night, as injured as you were. But to your question, you are here in our camp. You don't need to know anything else at first. Get well again first. When you can walk again, you'll find out more and I'll show you everything."
"Thanks."
I couldn't say anything else at first because I had a coughing fit. I felt like I had a bad cold. My nose was running, my head was buzzing and I felt feverish.
“Rest and the illness will get better. No wonder you were lying by the river completely soaked. You must have drifted down the river.”
True, the last thing I remembered was falling into the river. I grabbed my neck and noticed that the slave collar was gone. I looked at both of them in amazement.
“You don’t need that here. Many of us here are former slaves, including me. You will feel comfortable here.”
“Dirty people. And the Lumos fanatics are the worst.”
“Calm down, Jared, or your nose will bleed again. Better get the little one some hot soup. She must be starving.”
Jared left the hut grumbling. In the meantime, Mimi handed me a cup of water. Thirsty, I drank the cup and immediately got a second one. I drank that too. After a short while, Jared returned with a steaming bowl. Mimi helped me sit up because I was pretty weak. After eating I felt myself getting tired and fell asleep immediately.
In the next day I met several more people who either looked after me or were curious about my well-being. I heard a lot of activity outside and lots of different voices. Even children's voices could be heard. It appeared to be a large camp with several dozen people different ages. On the third day I was finally allowed out. Before I had to stay lying down because of my leg wound and the cold. The camp consisted of a dozen huts. Plus two warehouses and even a small blacksmith shop would be here. It was surrounded by a palisade and beyond the palisade a forest could be seen. So we found ourselves in the middle of that forest. I was accompanied by Mimi and everyone we met greeted us and asked how I was. They were all very friendly to me. It was like I was in a big family. I noticed how an internal tension began to leave me. Mimi headed for the largest building in the middle of the camp. When she got there, she spoke briefly to a person standing in front of the door. The person entered the building and returned shortly afterwards.
“You can come in. He awaits you.”
We entered the building and saw a large table in the middle inside, but no chairs. There are numerous weapons on the walls as well as some shields and bows. There were several chests on the floor. I saw a large map lying on the table. There were several people around the table looking at us. What stood out was a man around 40. He was very strongly built, tall and had the aura of a leader, self-confident and charismatic. He had fiery red hair and a large scar on his left cheek. He grinned widely when he saw me and spread his arms. Somehow the scene seemed familiar to me.
“ Welcome to the Scarlett Gang.”