Light from the bonfire flickered over the various colored fabrics draped throughout the caravan circle, the sound of joyous music and happy voices echoing the clearing. Miri had stood on the outer edge, watching the travelers rejoice in life, unsure of why she was there. This couldn’t be right. None of it made sense. It all looked familiar, but it couldn’t be.
She remembered that night, clear as day…
She remembered coming back from one of her explorations, finding her adopted human family celebrating, and had offered to go hunting so that they could feast.
She remembered returning with some game, only to find that the entire caravan was in shambles. Blood throughout, as well as the bodies of those who had taken her in when she had been left on their figurative doorstep as an infant.
She moved now,in this dream- through this destruction as it flickered from the joyous scene, remembering clearly, the bodies butchered like animals… strewn alongside the bodies of orcs.
Only this time, instead of her gifts of meat for the feast, she held her bow, strung and ready as she stepped over and around those she had loved, and those orcs who had fallen victim.
As she checked the remnants of wagons and tents for any signs of life, she had come to realize that not much had been taken, which did not seem the norm for orcs. She had not noticed this before and now she had questions that she was not sure that she would ever have answers for.
Gripping her bow, she set off from the caravan, treading down the broken path through the woods… anger and frustration driving her to one goal…
The dream seemed to speed up, like she was now watching it from far away. She could see her form, up in a tree on the outskirts of the orc encampment, watching them celebrate their own sordid victory.
With her bow in hand, she let loose arrow after arrow, calculated rage in her eyes. Alarms sounded, signalling the clan that there was danger, and they had begun to spread out into the forest in an attempt to find the threat.
This had been a bad move, as they made it easier for her to slip through the trees and pick them off, and eventually, she started to play that classic game of cat and mouse. Toying with her prey.
At times she would not even use an arrow, but her skinning knife. Boldly cornering, prodding and picking at her target until they were furious enough to rush her, in which she would deliver a deadly wound and leave them to suffer. Just as she had been sure that her own ‘family’ had, at their hands.
There were some that she did take pity on, those who seemed to be servants who had fled out of fear. She made sure that their ending was quick, but not entirely painless…
The little half-elf did not stop until she was sure that the entire clan was dead. And to be extra sure, she had used herself as bait, running openly through the trees and picking off stragglers as she had wandered the entire area.
By morning, the forest floor was soaked with blood from her deadly hunt…
~*~
Miri woke to the sound of the lone candle sputtering out on the table before her, her head on her arms, which were resting on piles of maps and parchments pertaining to her recent tasks. Something was in her hand, and as she looked down, she had come to realize that it was the talisman that Pridbor had given to her after finding it on the corpse of a drow. The Elven etchings were somewhat faded as she ran her fingers over them in thought.
The caravan that she, Cloelia, and Eleanor had happened upon roused the memory of that night many years ago, she was sure. But then she remembered something that had been mentioned about Drow joining forces with orcs and other sorry ilk to further their means, and she wondered if it was all somehow connected to her past.
Had the drow targetted her family’s caravan for some reason and used the orcs to wipe them out? They had not taken much, if anything, so it seemed plausible. But why? Now she had more questions than answers and she had to plan her next course of action…
She rose, tucking the talisman away into a hidden pocket and wiped away a tear that must have fallen while she had dreamt, and set out to start her day.
Soon she would find answers. She could hope, after all. Hope and plan. But for now, she would finish this job. She had given her word.
