Just Another Day in Pinedale

"Nevy!" The girl to Neffydd's left was agitated. She kept leaning over the table to look out of the Pinedale Inn window. "I think our friend is in need... She looks distressed. She may need our help."

Neffydd looked up from her chess game with her sister's lover, an elf with giant bloodlines, Fia Minaya Onorata, to face the human Nord, Floki, directly. She was looking out the window again so Neffydd leaned over a bit to look out, with her.

Shael was in the courtyard speaking with the mercenaries who had gathered by the fire. She seemed agitated, but Neffydd knew she had things under control. She sat back down and made her next move at her sad little chess game.

"If there's one thing Shael is good at, it's getting men to do her bidding." She winked at Fia, who smiled back and took Neffydd's rook off the board. The innkeeper's husband chuckled with the traveling games master and said something just the polite side of lewd.

"Oh..." Awe tinted Floki's voice. "She found someone..."

"Just one?" Neffydd looked up in disbelief.

"No. Five." Floki's eyes were following the group as they passed the window and marched down the well-worn road. A few minutes later Fia had nailed Neffydd's king to the wall and Neffydd was finished with her ale.

"Let's go see if they still need help." Floki begged Neffydd.

"OK." Neffydd pointed down the road. "They went this way."

They hiked up the path to the crossroads and started to turn right, toward the voices of a group who seemed to be in a heavy discussion. Neffydd heard Floki gasp and turned to their left to behold a pair of hideous creatures baring down on them.

No sooner had Neffydd drawn her sword, than she realized that the creatures were Bagmen and if she were to be hit by their fear spells she would be held, powerless to stop them for injuring her and Floki then looting their valuables.

She started to run toward the people who were gathered in the common yard of a grouping of buildings just down the path.

"Help us!" She was all she could scream before her world turned into a nightmare.

Icy fingers of apprehension gripped Neffyd's spine, sending tingles into her body and clasping her lungs in a vise-like grip. She fell to the ground and the people morphed into monsters. She could hear the terrified screaming of her compatriot and the hungry growling of the monsters as they gathered around her body, paralyzed in fear. She covered her head as one of the beasts reached toward her. She screamed for help, hoping the noise would scare the creature away.

She felt fingers brush her shoulder and a warmth flowed through her body. Be calm... The thought flowed through her, chasing her terror away.


"OK... I got ya." A gentle voice said from above Neffydd. "Calm down. Are you hurt?"

Neffydd took a deep breath and a mental inventory before shaking her head. She looked up, into the lean face of her elven savior.

"N-no..." She stuttered. "Just... Just the fear, I think." She pushed herself up, off the ground and stood on shaky legs. She took a few deep, cleansing breaths and followed the elf into the common yard. Floki was escorted by another and they were set on a bench to wait for an escort back toward the Inn.

"Does this happen often?" Her breathless companion asked.

"Every time I visit this forsaken place." Neffydd sighed. "At least it's not raining... Yet."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

O/C 5-8-14:

Do to popular request and gaining permission to use the proper place name, I have changed the name from 'Springdale' to 'Pinedale' to reflect the Kingdoms of Novitas' town.

Some of the characters are recurring people in my blog, (& life, for that matter,) therefore some things about them may deviate from KoN cannon. Please understand that this is a fantastical retelling of my life, so most of the posts are going to be out of KoN cannon.

Thanks for reading!
 ~:}Y{:~
Leigh