Eritance - Chapter 5
Slowly, my consciousness returned to my body. Without opening my eyes, I slowly became aware that I was lying in a bed. “Where am I?” I had thought to myself. The bed was too soft too have belonged to any of the other field workers, and a distinct smell of lavender subtly permeated the air. I tried to sit up and waves up pain instantly shot through my body. I couldn’t help but release an involuntary groan as the sudden pain hit me. “Don’t try to move right now, you’re too injured, please try to rest some more…” a pleasant voice rang out from somewhere in the room. Somewhat surprised, I slowly opened my eyes and took in the scene before me.
Instead of my usual soft green shirt and worn tan pants, I was instead dressed in a large silk bed-gown. The bed had soft linen sheets on top, and a thick blanket that was currently resting on top of my lap. The room that I was in was huge, at least by my standards, having always lived in a small one room hut prior to this. There was a window past the foot of the bed that gave way to a view of the forest below. I had never been able to see the forest from above, and there was only one place that I knew of where a view like would be possible. “AmI in the Somer Mansion…?” I had asked, somewhat shakily.
“That’s right” replied the pleasant voice. I looked over and standing near the door was an older woman. She had deep creases all over her face, but it was a kindly one nevertheless. She was quite short, perhaps only being around 1.4 meters in height. On her bodice she wore a neat brown dress that was trimmed in gold. Tied around her waste was a red sash that held the Somer Family Sigil on it. Her long gray hair was tied neatly behind her back in a fishtail. “Why.am I here.?” I slowly said, still somewhat in a haze.
“Well, where else would the hero of Hallen be? You saved many lives and were badly injured. This was the best place to bring you to recover” she replied in a kindly tone. “Whatabout. Rosswhere is Ross?” I asked, the image of his bloodied corpse singing my mind. “Who did you say? I have no recollection of a Ross fellow coming in here” she replied somewhat confused. At this I began to panic and stood up, waves of pain wracking my body “Ross! He is my brother! . if he doesn’t get help he will dieI have to find him” I exclaimed as I stumbled towards the door.
I had not taken more than a step though, before the old woman rushed towards me saying “No, no, you need to stay in bed. You’re lucky to have survived your battle with the spine bear”. “I can’t stay here, I have to find Ross” I said. As I said it though a sharp pain went through my head, almost as if it had reacted to me mentioning Ross. “Agh!” I shouted as I held my head in my hands. “You see? You’re in no shape to be moving around, go back and rest, and I will see if this ‘Ross’ fellow is here or not, I don’t know everything about the comings and goings of the mansion you know”. With that the old woman led me back to the bed and had me lie down. My name is Nora by the way, if you need anything, ask one of the maids that come for cleaning later, and I will come and help you. With that my consciousness slowly slipped away again.
The next several days flashed by in a fervor, I would sometimes wake up, and sometimes pass out again. I felt like I was trapped in a series of half remembered dreams. As I slept I tried to recall the strange voice and burning sensation from that day, but just as I reached for it, I would awake, and the memory would fade. Things continued like this for several more days until I had recovered more.
This time when I woke up, there was nobody in the room. The afternoon sun could be seen through the window. I somewhat unsteadily got up and seeing that there were no other clothes in the room for me, walked out into the hallway in just the bed-gown. I slowly moved through the large hall way of the mansion soon heard a clattering sound behind me. I swung around to see what the noise was, and it was Nora. “Oh dear, I didn’t mean to startle you, but I was so shocked to see you moving around, I’ve gone and dropped your soup all over the floor” she lamented. “How are you moving around right now, what kind of crazy recovery speed do you have?” she asked me curiously. “I don’t know what you mean, I’m just a normal guy” I replied to her. “Where are my clothes? I need to go find my brother” I said, carefully avoiding the use of his name. “About that- “she started to say, only to be interrupted by another voice.
I swung around again and there was a somewhat burly man with a thick mustache, dressed in a fine noble suit a way off from me “well, well, well, he finally wakes up” the man had said. “Now that you’re awake, we can have a feast in celebration of the hero of Hallen” he exclaimed in a jovial manner. “Thank you but it really isn’t neces- “I began but was again interrupted, “but first, get the boy some new clothes and have him take a bath, he smells wretched” the man said. With that, Nora rang for two maids to come and lead me to the bath chamber as she left to go prepare clothes for me.
The two maid that had lead me to the bath chamber were quite young, and I think I had seen them before somewhere. It wasn’t uncommon for the poorest of families to either abandon their children like me, or to ask for the rich or nobility to take them on as house servants so that they might work to survive. After drawing the warm bath, the young maids promptly left after telling me that my clothes should be ready by the time that I was finished.