Broken Wings

Beginnings

Coming to after being unconscious is very different from waking up from normal sleep. Aside from the expected confusion and disorientation, there's also nothing restful about being out cold. I was utterly exhausted, and this made it even harder to piece together where I was and what had just happened. None of the impressions or sensations assaulting my beleaguered mind fit with the few memories I could grasp. All I knew for sure was that everything hurt.

Shooting spikes of electric pain assaulted my entire body as a head-splitting ache pulsed and throbbed within my skull. It was cold, and there were meaningless noises coming from all around adding fuel to the fiery agony behind my eyes. I wanted to cradle my head in my hands, but my arms wouldn't move like I wanted. Neither would my legs. I tried several times to move in any coordinated way, but nothing worked.

"What the fuck?" I moaned. Or I tried to, anyway.

My tongue and mouth weren't moving right either. I was clear enough by then to understand how bad that was, and the flash of fear this realization brought flared into a beacon of radiant certainty to pierce the fog pervading and dulling my mind. As my thoughts quickened and the rest of my memories came flooding back, I tried moving again and recognized this time that the continuing pain had nothing to do with my disobedient limbs. I was restrained! My legs were tied together at the ankles, my wrists were secured behind my back, and a foul cloth gag was stuffed into my mouth! I forced my eyes open, dread filling me as I realized I must have been left behind in the Sylvan camp! But if that was so, what I saw around me still didn't make any sense.

The open sky was plainly visible from where I laid, unobstructed by the leaves or needles of any trees. A layer of clouds blanketed night, illuminated from behind by the bright, full moon. Cold flecks of snow kissed my exposed face as a flurry drifted down from above, invisible in the darkness except where the flakes were silhouetted against the diffuse moonlight above. And stretching up into that cold, snowy sky was a tall, scaffold tower of metal beams festooned with antennae and dishes and topped with a bright red beacon flashing on, then off, then on again.

I had made it to the radio tower with Faolin, Steel, and the others after all. So why in the nine rings of hell was I tied up?! There were a few sets of voices engaged in hushed conversation, but a second's worth of eavesdropping revealed that these were neither sylvan or any of their slaves that might have followed us here through the anchor. These were the lucky humans who Faolin had managed to send through before Os'tarell had arrived. They were all in some level of shock, but the overwhelming tone was relief. We... No. They weren't under attack.

Like a sinkhole opening up to swallow a building, fact after fact, observation after observation undermined and destroyed any possibility, any hope, that the Sylvan had somehow captured me again. These people, my people, had done this. I started making noise. If I'd been able to form proper words, I wasn't sure if I'd have been cursing or not. Beyond the dread welling up within me, I was more bewildered and confused than anything. Faolin and I had helped them! We'd risked our lives to rescue them! Why would they do this? They turned on us?! WHY? God! Please, please, please don't tell me they killed Faolin!

"Captain Walker," someone nearby called, noticing I was awake. I winced as his speech grated against my nerves like metal talons scouring glass. "He's up."

"Oh shit," Steel muttered under his breath. "I'm coming," he called back, louder. "Adrian, just... hold on. I'll explain everything." Expl- WHAT?!! He knows about this?! My hands and feet went numb and tingly, and not from the cold. I felt a physical ache in my chest as my heart raced, and I had to focus to avoid hyperventilating or puking. Steel, my friend, a man I looked up to, knew I was tied up. Did that mean..? Was he on board with this? I rolled onto my side to try and sit up, but someone grabbed my shoulders as soon as I moved.