The Scot

Chapter 2

Something prickled her closed eyelids. She felt a light breeze tickling her hair and strange smells wafted through her nose. Wrinkling her nose against the strange smells she tried to open her eyes. However, it felt like she had tons of weight on it. The prickling sensation grew and she tried opening her eyes but to no avail. She tried to move her hands - first right then left then both simultaneously - but felt no sensation. Not a single muscle in her body moved. Trying to calm her panicking state she tried to discern and distinguish her surrounding with the only sense she had at the moment. Her sense of smell. Strangely, this sense of her worked!

Painstakingly, she tried to assess her environment. She was all of a sudden hit with sweet and savory smells. The fragrance of cooked chicken and some kind of meat along with baked goods wafted through her nose. She also detected a scent of tarts. More specifically they were apple tarts. Her favorite. Slowly she felt her sense of hearing return. Her ears that were first ringing were now able to notice different sounds and voices that were going around. 

She heard boisterous laughter along with clinking of cutlery and glasses, scraping of chairs and slaps and pats. She also heard a voice. A song, perhaps. The melody chorusing through the area. The voice seemed to belong to a woman. She heard people quieten and listen to the singing voice. The song was short and sweet and then it stopped. She wanted the voice to continue singing because it at least made her feel connected to reality. As soon as the song finished she heard loud applause followed by cheers and more laughter. It seemed like a celebration was on. Again she tried to focus on the task at hand and that was to move a finger, a muscle anything! At this moment she could not be picky. She again tried to move her toes and fingers and finally she felt sensation. It was like a slow slithering snake that crept towards its prey with great caution. Then the sensation turned from a slow slithering snake to a lightening bolt, running through her and leaving a searing pain in its wake. The pain was so excruciating that she gasped. The sound from her mouth shocked her.  Finally, her limbs moved.

By now her eyes flickered. She tried opening them and the sunlight pierced her retina. She closed her eyes on another gasp. Slowly, turning her head so as to avoid the blaring sunlight she again tried to open her eyes. This time the sun did not hurt as much and she was able to open her eyes a fraction. At a snail's pace she opened her eyes and tried to look around. 

Her eyes could not see clearly. All she could see was blurred vision, like a translucent curtain was veiling her eyes from the situation at hand. Trying to shake her head, which resulted in excruciating pain that writhed through her entire body, starting from head and ending to the tips of her little toe. Sucking a startled breath against the pain, she discarded the idea of moving her head. Little by little she moved her eyelids. This time however, the vision was a bit clearer. Trying not to strain her eyes too much she very slowly opened her eyes. At last the feat was completed. Checking her surroundings she could not understand them at first. Blinking for a couple of times she tried to grasp the reality which seemed to be seeping through her mind like sand seeping through hands. 

She was mad. Truly she was going mad. This could not be real. She saw men and women gathered around in a large hall. Men were sitting around three or four large tables with benches. The women were moving about serving them food. What struck her as odd was the clothing and the overall environment. Men wore the strangest of clothing. They wore shirts and around them wore some kind of patterned cloth wrapped around like a skirt that came to their knees. The skirt wrapped around their waists and then wound around one shoulder and was pinned to the other side at the waist. The women were wearing the same cloth. However, the wore it over long frocks. That was the best way she could describe the dresses. The environment at the moment was the strangest of all.

It looked as if she was in a historical place. The stone walls and the rushes on the ground. Strange indeed, she thought. There was a huge fireplace which was lit with real logs and a few men were at intervals feeding the fire with logs. Tapestries were woven on the walls and the picture on it was weird. It was of an old man. The man wore a cap of sorts. But the most distinguishable feature was the long white beard that almost reached his navel. It was a thick bush of a beard and decorated with even longer white mustaches. No lips could be seen. Also he had quite a pointed nose and slanted nose. One of his hands held a long rod type thing and the other hand held a book. Behind him the sun was rising as if giving birth to a sage. 

Before she could look at any thing else she heard a loud gasp and a loud clang to her left. The clang rattled her ears and she winced. Then she heard a loud shriek. Whipping her head to the left she saw a woman shrieking in a high pitch. The celebration stopped and within seconds the woman was surrounded by men who at the same time drew swords that glinted in the bright sunlight. However, the sudden whipping of her head had not proven to be a good idea. Her head was pounding. Pounding like a jackhammer. It was like her brain was moving up and down like a bouncing castle which was bounced upon by millions of children at the same time. Head reeling, the last thing she heard before unconsciousness grasped her were cerulean gray blue eyes. And she fainted.

(A/N) So the second chapter is here. Sorry for the wait. Hope you like it. Comment what you think of the story so far.

Peace out.