LANA
Child, may the God’s let you live.
Lana was curled up on the bed, arms hugging the faint bump on her stomach. Rin was sleeping next to her, his arm mingled with hers. It should have been enough to comfort her and allowed her mind to shut off for the night. Instead Lana’s thoughts turned to the day’s events like an unrelenting torrent of water. The slaughtered Centaurs, her pregnancy being discovered, Sylis’s constant nag about how to fight better, and another brush with death.
A suppressed sob made an escape. Quickly Lana’s hand went to her lips to silence the wave of emotion. Rin shifted, but remained asleep. Carefully Lana exhaled and inhaled as she tried to not think. She closed her eyes, but visions of her companions’ eyes bore into her eyelids.
All of them stood around watching her- questioning her- with their worried stares. Lana was on top of a Centaur, her dagger and hands covered in gore. Sylis was the only one who didn’t seem perturbed by her loss of control, but she couldn’t help feeling self conscious. The high slipped away like it always had and all she could feel was sick for having been so brutal.
Lana quickly slid from the Centaur’s lacerated back and rummaged through her pack for a potion to give Don. Sylis had asked if she had one for the Druid, which was what snapped her back to her senses. Lana had only killed the creature because a friend of Don’s, a Centaur named Kodiya, was being pursued by her kind. She was only trying to help protect the Druid’s friend.
As she walked over to Don, she began to channel her magics to clean the blood from her hands and clothes. Her mind fought for control, to keep the tears at bay as she wondered what the others were thinking. Did they wonder if she was losing it? Or would it be cause for a write up with the guild for using excess force? She only had to last long enough to finish the competition, win the prize money, and finally be rid of her debt she owed Rasuvius.
The thing that broke her from her internal reflection was Don’s hand suddenly sliding from the proffered potion to Lana’s wrist, wrapping tightly there while his other hand was placed firmly on her stomach.
“What are ya doing!?” Lana demanded. She knew what he was doing, but her mind was in too much of a frenzy to tactfully warn him to keep his mouth shut.
Don opened his eyes that were barely visible behind his elk skull mask. They were full of admiration as a grin stretched across his face.
“Lana, I didn’t know you followed the traditions that the women of my tribe uphold!” he announced. Don then released Lana to reach into his own pack.
With eyes all on the two of them, Lana shrugged her shoulders, replying, “I guess, but let’s not worry about that. We have bigger game to find if we’re to win the King’s Hunt.”
Don, and the others, agreed, but as they began to move, the Druid placed into Lana’s hands a bag of herbs with instruction to brew some tea with them every morning.
“Why?” Lana asked thoughtlessly.
“You do know, don’t you?” Don questioned.
Lana cursed herself, especially when Sylis jumped in, asking, “Know what?”
“Don’t worry about it Sylis,” Lana tried to intervene.
“That she’s pregnant,” Don answered anyways.
It was as though time stopped at the statement. Everyone was lost for words momentarily. Lana wasn’t sure which was worse, the truth being made known or the silence that followed. With Rin, when she had told him a week ago, he was quick to show his joy at such news. But Sylis, he stood in disbelief.
“Are you really pregnant?” Sylis asked Lana.
Breathe. Just breathe, Lana told herself. It took everything inside her to not lash out at Don for revealing her secret in front of the party. But it was pointless to try and lie about it any more. With a smile, she acknowledge the truth Don spoke.
Sylis wrapped his arms about Lana, tears forming in his eyes. She would have been touched by the show of emotion if she knew it was solely Sylis’s child that she carried. Instead, that was just another secret Lana suppressed.
The moment was soured though as they continued on their search for the Dao (an earth elemental like creature) that was said to be roaming the woods freely. Kodiya said the elemental was in distress, having been transplanted to the King’s Woods for the holiday. The Dao was having a negative effect on the forest because of that, which could leak over into Sharn.
As they walked, Sylis couldn’t stop talking about the reality of the new life inside Lana. It was a conversation Lana wished could have been savored from the comforts of their guild room. She had rehearsed the moment in front of her mother’s epitaph for days, trying to get herself to believe that the child within was solely Sy’s. Funny enough, while there, she noticed the leaves and overgrowth obscuring Emma’s headstone. Lana cleared the debris away and revealed something she hadn’t noticed before: The truth will set you free.
It’s enough to say Lana did not heed the words of her mother. Rather she continued to torment herself by keeping her secrets.
In their search, Sylis noted another companion in the woods, their fellow guild member Shard. Lana looked about but saw only Sylis, Don, and their new companion, a Teifling named Kari. The Wizard continued to lead the skeptical Lana around a cliff face to show that the Warforge indeed was there. Once Shard came into view, Lana was eager to go greet him. All thought about the Dao and pregnancy were far from her mind as she called out to him. She proceeded to run in her excitement but ended up running into a wall.
If the stinging in her nose wasn’t enough, Sylis’s words were like daggers. “That’s why we don’t go running into a fight,” he scolded.
“I was running to Shard!” Lana snapped. She looked at the pillar of earth that she ran into, wondering where it had come from, for it wasn’t there just moments prior.
Right then a strange, earthy growl rippled across the scene. Upon the cliff stood a creature so large, Lana was surprised she hadn’t spot the Dao sooner. In spite of her irritation with Sylis, Lana quickly went into training mode.
Stealth is your best friend. Strike and hide, Sylis’s instructions sounded in her head. Quickly Lana maneuvered behind the pillar of earth, waiting for the Wizard to join her.
It would have been a lie if Lana said she wasn’t scared. A fight had never been truly daunting when it was just her. Now she had to think about a child. Yet thinking was a luxury as the Dao unleashed its wrath. Pillar after pillar of earth kept sending Lana and Sylis up a few stories. They managed to slide down the sides every time, there free running antics playing well into their safety.
Sylis then took off, leaving Lana behind. She called after him only for the Wizard to tell her that she needed to catch up. Right then a fourth pillar sent her sky ward. In her rush to meet up with Sylis, Lana landed roughly on the ground, scraping her knee and jarring her wrists.
Lana worked through the discomfort, running after Sylis. She even threw another bolt of fire toward the Dao, missing it. That was the tipping point of Lana’s wits. For the past minute, every opportunity she had, Lana would try throwing her fire magic at the Dao, but kept missing. So, scared and frustrated, she began to mutter irritably under her breath as she took cover under the cliff.
“Point and shoot! POINT AND SHOOT!” Lana began as she hugged the cliff face, trying to find Sylis, “Simple as that! And where the hell are ya Sylis!? ‘Stick together’ ya said. ‘Don’t run into battle’ ya said. Well where the hell are ya now!? It’s not like I’m carrying a child- AH!”
In the midst of her murmurings, the ground under Lana’s feet gave way. She ended up falling into a very deep pit. In the narrow space, she began to shout and cry out her frustrations. Amidst her lamenting she made the mistake to temp fate as she sobbed, “At least it can’t get worse.”
Lana had been working her fingers into the earth, pulling herself up toward the top of the hole slowly, when the ground trembled and dirt began to fill the cavity. Shaking the dirt off as fast as she could, Lana attempted to ride the rising earth to the top, but the dirt was relentless. It clung to her and began to fill her mouth and soon her vision of the surface vanished. Still, she wasn’t about to give up. Lana wiggled and scrapped at the dirt that encased her. She coughed and sputtered in her effort for freedom.
Her attempts were beginning to seem futile when light pierced through and revealed Sylis. His face was etched with worry, but the fire that was Lana’s anger blazed on.
“Are you okay?” Sylis asked, reaching out a hand to help her out.
“What do you think!?” Lana shrieked, “You left me! You didn’t even follow your own advice! You-” but Lana’s accusations fell short as the earth trembled once more. All air left her as the earth crushed her ribs. Unable to breath and her body screaming out in agony, Lana blacked out.
✻ ✻ ✻ ✻ ✻
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