Dragon's Siege

He woke up with the stench of burning flesh filling his nostrils his mouth salivating over the smell of it. His stomach growled and he tried to prop himself up, a sudden feeling of agony shooting through his right arm into his shoulder as he attempted to move it, he gasped and shuddered as he tried to rise from the dirt that he had passed out on. Blood filled his mouth as he bit his tongue, warm and salty, nourishing though not all together tasty. Even through the agony and the want to scream in pain he didn't make a sound. He even managed to sit upwards against the stone wall behind him where he had been when he closed the wound. How long had he been asleep, How much had changed, and what was with that nightmare?
Eadric stole a glance outside of the cave to see a bright white sun glaring down at the world with such a heat it was as if the creator was sending his wrathful flame down onto the Earth as if to purge it with fire. Death was in the air, the stench of corpses was carried with the wind into the small cave.

"I need to move, now." Eadric whispered to himself. Seething between his teeth as he tried to move. Every movement he made brought a new spike of crimson agony through his stiff body. He could barely sit, let alone stand. Moving proved difficult at his current state, but he must move before the Dark spawn found him and finished the job their brother had started. He cursed himself as he reached out with his left hand to grab the long sword that had fallen on the ground beside his right arm where he had laid. Fumbling with the grip of the sword he finally managed wrap his fingers around the hilt and grabbed it with a strangling grip.
He turned the blade in his hand inspecting it, it was worn with notches in the blade, the steel faded to a dull grey. "Worn and used." Eadric said quietly to himself as he dug the tip of the blade into the ground and forced himself to stand up strait, screaming in the back of his head, cursing himself silently as every movement of every part of his body sent a jolt of pain through his body. He felt like an old man, as if he had slept a lifetime asleep, his life had only counted twenty four name days he couldn't be as old as he felt, surely.

Slowly he moved from the cave towards the light, his right arm limp and convulsing with such an amount of pain he had to bite his lower lip in order to keep from screaming. He was using the worn long swords as if it were a walking cane, digging the tip of the blade into the ground to hold his weight up, Grunting at the effort of moving forward. His legs were like stone, clumsy and hard to move, heavy to life and difficult to lead. The going was slow due to the pain in his arm and the fitful sleep he had the night before. He was now standing at the mouth of the cave, a great grassy field littered with torn, swords, spears and bows, corpses all about it, black and red blood forming dark puddles on the ground, reflecting the sunlight. It looked almost pretty, with the swaying grass being blown casually in the afternoon breeze. The sun was high in the sky, beaming down over him. Eadric enjoyed this moment of solace, feeling the sunlight upon his skin, letting the flames warm his body. For a moment, he had forgotten all about his pains, his woes, his life. Then he opened his eyes and saw the corpses once more, his green eyes scanning over the bodies slowly. Most of the corpses littering the field were Dark spawn, some were decapitated and disemboweled men, carrion crows pecking at their eyes and hanging intestines.

Eadric drank a deep breath of the wretched air, the smell was still fresh, he couldn't have been asleep very long. Eadric cursed quietly as he made his way from the cave and down a slope to the grassy field below, the grass reached up like thousands of arms reaching for salvation. Eadric's imagination picked up then and the grass itself turned into the dead grey and black limbs of his fallen brothers, reaching for him to drag him into hell with them for being a craven and running from the fight. "I didn't want to die!" he heard himself yell out, crows that had flocked around a large corpse, more then likely an ogres suddenly flew off into the air and snapped him back into reality. He stood there for a long moment, looking at the grass. his right arm was numb now and he couldn't feel any pain from any part of his body, it was as if he were a walking corpse. Eadric made his way away from Ostagar, away from the slaughter, away from the dead and most of all, away from the Dark Spawn.

He made good time despite his disposition, his body was healthy and young it was neigh near midnight when he decided to make camp. By this time a light rain was falling and he was forced to search for something that would keep him dry for the night. he was walking along the dirt trail that lead towards Red Cliffe when he noticed a large shrubbery, looking well preserved with what appeared to be a hole dug under it to crawl under. Quickly Eadric made his way to the shrubbery and went through the mud and dirt, it was a quick crawl to the other side and when he popped his head up he found himself in a wooden structure secretly hidden by the shrubbery. The house was abandoned and looked as if it had been raided recently, but there were logs in the hearth with flint and tender and Eadric counted himself lucky. He found some old straw in a room to the left and moved it next to the hearth.
It took him at least two score tries to light the flint and tender with one hand, but finally he struck it and the logs crackled into flames, laying down upon the straw he watched as the flames danced. The warmth of those flames consumed him, and he was lost within a dream before he knew it.