[ToG starter for @kingcenred]
Lilé had known disaster was coming the moment she had heard the Valg - or rather, felt them. Her shadows hissed a warning, and her blades materialised as she stood ready on the ship. The captain had known it too, and urged her to stay below and stay safe. But she was a seasoned warrior, and was not about to leave them undefended.
It did not matter.
Something broke the ship so thoroughly that none of them had a chance. Lilé fought desperately to protect as many as possible, but the Valg swarmed the ship with ease. Never would she forget the screams of the crew as death enveloped them, or the sounds of wet flesh tearing, the scent of the iron-rich blood. Lilé had seen war before, but not like this. This was… animalistic.
The last thing she remembered before something hit her body was the captain shoving her off the ship to save her life.
She drifted through the night, unconscious, away from the smoking wreck of the ship that had been intended to seal an alliance. Awareness briefly surfaced, making her grasp weakly onto a broken board, before she fell into oblivion once more.
The morning would find her body on a warm sand beach. Pain lanced through her, forcing her dimly awake; ribs were broken, that much was obvious. Her muscles screamed. Somebody was nearby - possibly somebodies - but she did not have the strength to turn to look. Whatever had knocked her out had sapped her energy; even her shadows were listless, fading noiselessly back within her.
“Help me,” she whispered through salt-chapped lips to whoever stood close. “Please. Sanctuary.”
The princess slipped into darkness again.
