Amnesia
I came awake; sprawled as ungraciously as possible. My lower half all akimbo amidst leaf and branch clutter; my upper half mostly submerged in a swift running stream. As I was taking stock of all of this it occurred to me that it was a miracle I had not drowned whilst unconscious. In case anyone could doubt it, facing mortality was away more effective a wake-up call then coffee.
I was scrambling out of the stream once my body decided to join my brain in wakefulness. The moment I was on solid ground it occurred to me that my head hurt worse than the morning after my 21st birthday.
Where was I? I looked around, trying to ignore the vicious pounding in my head. I was surrounded by forest, thick and wild in every direction. How did I get to a forest of all places?
“I think I’ve gone batty.” I murmured. Using the nearest tree for support, I pulled myself into a standing position, wincing at the pain which doubled as soon as I stood up. Still, I was in a forest and even I knew enough to know I could die if I did not find shelter.
It was freezing, and though the trees were green, I could smell snow in the air. I took a step and the pain became so terrible, I clutched my head and fell to my knees, crying out in agony.
When I came to it was dark and I was sprawled against the same tree I had used to help me stand earlier. I winced at the memory, expecting the pain to come flying back. It did, but only at an annoying fraction of what it was earlier.
Carefully, I stood again. When I was sure I wasn’t going to pass out, I started moving, keeping the stream to my left side. I was cold and shivering but moving was better than just sitting there. I racked my brain, trying to figure out how I’d gotten to a forest.
I remembered going clubbing with my friend Chelsea and going outside to have a smoke. Then pain. That was it. It certainly wasn’t enough to go on. Did I have amnesia? That might explain some things.
“Put that down and rest a bit.” I froze. A man’s voice only a few yards ahead of me. My eyes widened and I started running. People! Maybe they could help me.
I burst into their camp sight far sooner than anticipated and came to a stumbling halt, blinking at them like a deer caught in headlights. What strange people! They were seated around a campfire, dressed for the world like they were going to a renaissance fair. Were they live action role players or something? One of them, the larger of the two had half risen at my entrance, hand grasping for the sword next to him.
“What year is it?” I meant it as a joke, given their attire. The men shared a confused expression between them.
“It’s the year of the Twins.” The smaller of the men spoke. I furrowed my brow in confusion. What did that even mean? Just then my vision swirled, and I realized it might have been a mistake to run here. As if to reinforce that point my legs chose that moment to give out.
My head was pounding again. The smaller man, the one who told me it was the year of the Twins, walked over and crouched in front of me.
“What is your name, woman?”
“My name?” I wondered, trying to think past the dizziness.
“Aye, your full name if you please.” I shrugged, seeing no harm in telling them.
“Adelina Ravenna De Paredes.” I stated. His eyes widened.
“The name of a noble family! But I’ve never seen you before.” He stood, offering me his hand. I took it, smiling gratefully since everything was still spinning. “Your hands are soft. Then you must indeed be noble as you claim, despite your strange garb. How did you come to be in the Snowsward covered in dirt?”
“I have no clue.” I muttered. I wasn’t about to question him including me in whatever cosplay they had going on. They could be as method as they liked as long as they let me bogart their fire for an hour or two.
“You don’t remember?” He helped me sit on the log next to him. I held my hands over the fire, relieved at the warmth.
“I’ve been trying to. I remember little before waking up half submerged in the stream, with a terrible headache.”
“Ah, methinks you’ve suffered some memory loss.” Methinks? Who talked like that? I looked around and became more wary. Everything, from the saddles, coats of arms on the tents, banner flag, to the cooking implements and weapons looked just a little too authentic. These guys must be obsessed. It was probably best to just play along until I got to a town. That was okay, I could play along. Everyone knew you didn’t upset crazy people.
“You’re probably right. I’m definitely not in Kansas anymore.”
“I’ve not heard of this land, Kansas. Is that where you hail from?” I hid my reaction, but just barely. Who hadn’t heard of Kansas? Dude was nuts.
“Yes, it is.” I murmured. Detroit, Michigan, actually. But that was neither here nor there. They were definitely crazy people. But they had fire and food and I needed both. It was time to play along.
“Then it must be far away for us to not have heard of it. Who rules there?”
“Oh, Barack Obama.” I blurted out the last president I could think of with my head spinning and on the spot. I needed to be quicker. They had to think I was in on whatever weird play acting they were into.
“That’s an odd name. He must surely be a foreign King, and Kansas distant indeed.”
“Yes, very distant.” I agreed. About as distant as this dude’s sanity.
“Tell me of your travels.” He demanded, though in a curious gentle sort of way.
“I honestly can’t remember.” I bit my bottom lip, trying to buy myself a little time to make something up. My mind locked onto the last video game I played, and I drew from there.
“I think I remember the ocean, a great ship; canons and a black flag.” This had a greater effect on them than I thought it would. Both the men’s faces grew grave. The big man sighed, shaking his head.
“If what you recall is accurate, My Lady, then it is a miracle you managed to survive.” The smaller guy agreed with a nod.
“Indeed. If you came upon the Galarshian fleet, it’s a wonder; but it explains how you came to be alone and injured with not a sisk to your name. Do you recall why you were coming here? What madness drove you across the dark Lord’s waters?” Well crap. What was I supposed to say now?
From the serious grave faces and tones of voice I could tell that they though Galarshia was a pretty bad place. This sounded like some sort of Arthurian legend to me. I was a voracious reader. I knew the general plot. I could roll with this.
“The nobles of Kansas had a sacred duty to protect the spiritual isle of Avalon which was next to our island. You see, the Isle of Avalon is a great source of magic and spiritual power. The dark Lord of Galarshia coveted that power and descended upon us with his fleet of dark sailed ships.” They were both captivated and I had to force myself to look sad. I was surprisingly good at his LARP thing. I was kind of getting into it.
“Did Kansas fall, and Avalon?” The smaller man asked, eyes wide.
“Yes. We couldn’t withstand his might. My father put me on a ship to escape the slaughter. Everything after that is a blur.” I kept my expression grim. There was a moment of silence and then the big man whistled.
“Fear not. You shall be safe. You’ve managed to make it to Kanova.” The smaller man smiled.
“This large fellow is General Liam Chun. I am crown Prince Samson Kanova.” My eyes widened. Aww the poor insane man thought he was a prince. I covered my disbelief quickly.
“Prince!” He took my exclamation for surprise as I’d hoped.
“Not to worry, gentle lady, given what you’ve been through I think we may forgo the niceties for the moment. The general and I shall get you to the De Paredes family where you will be safe and cared for amongst your own kin.”
“Thank you so much.” I murmured. They were nits, but they were nice and helping me, so I wasn’t about to rock the boat.
They let me sleep near the fire and shared their food, which both my aching head and empty stomach were grateful for. When morning came, I woke feeling groggy, dirty, and heavy. Man, what I wouldn’t give for some coffee right now.
We started packing as soon as everyone was awake and fed. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to expect me to help with it at all. Then, I was hoisted up onto one of the horses. They seemed to find my protests to this manhandling of my person amusing, especially when the prince hopped up behind me and I blushed. Normal. Act like this is normal.
If I imagined I’d be totally fine once we got to town, I was very mistaken. A short ride brought us to a massive stone wall, with pennants hanging every hundred feet or so. I gasped. Where was I, the Great wall of China?
But these weren’t Chinese men and those weren’t Chinese flags. They were like something from a medieval movie with a symbol consisting of a laurel crown framing a red star on a yellow background, trimmed in black. As far as I knew, no country claimed such a flag. Not that I was any kind of expert, but still I began to feel fluttery and nervous. This wasn’t a prop wall.
Where were the roads and cars? Where were the suburbs and bus stops? Now that I thought about it, where was the white noise sound of electricity? We came to a large bridge and crossed over an honest to goodness moat.
“Is that a moat?” I gasped.
“Do you not utilize such defensive tactics in Kansas?”
“No.” I murmured. Instead of being full of water, it was full of sharp wooden spikes. I shivered. I’ve only ever been told about them.” That at least was no lie. I had heard about moats. In history class. Where the hell was I?
