The ice cold water surrounded her as she summoned all her remaining strength to swim up, before she would run out of air. Shoving away the corpse of one of her companions she finally reached a little pocket of air inside the sinking ship. She breathed heavily as her lungs desperately fought for air. She filled her lungs with as much air as she could hold and dived again, searching for a way out, while the ice cold water of the northern sea freezed her to the bone. She swam and swam until she arrived at the door, leading to the hull. She tried to open it, but it opened to the other side and the pressure was working against her. She hastily looked around and saw a little wood cutters axe at the bottom. She swam back, grabbed the axe and with a few desperate swings managed to destroy the door enough to slip through and finally reach the bottom of the now upside down ship. Looking around she quickly found the gaping hole responsible for all this and quickly made her way through and swam towards the surface. She almost passed out as she ran out of air, but with her last strength, she reached the surface and her lungs finally filled with air again. She coughed and breathed heavily while she looked for the coast.

Five minutes later she collapsed at the shore. Breathing heavily she just now realized that she was still clinging to the axe. She pressed it against her breast and hugged it tightly. If it weren't for this axe...she just wouldn't have made it.

"That fucking idiot" it she said with a weak voice. There is a reason seafarer avoid this coastline at all cost, but of course her idiot captain thought too highly of himself and tried it anyways, just to safe a day or two. The young woman stood up, her clothes where dripping. What would be worse? Wet clothes or no clothes this far up north? She decided the latter and kept them on while making her way inlands.

The young woman stumbled through the dark cold forest and startled when she heard a cracking branch behind her. She quickly turned around, only to find herself face to face with a giant, hairy spider that suddenly jumped at her. Thinking quickly she jumped to the side, raised her axe and with one swift strike split its head. But before she could celebrate, 3 more surrounded her "Oh fuck me" She grabbed her axe with both hands and jumped at the next best spider, repeatedly striking down at its body again and again until it ceased to move. one of the other spiders jumped at her from behind and bit her in the neck. The young woman screamed in pain as the poison entered her bloodstream. She wound herself out of the spiders deadly hug, her left hand let go of the axe and lit up with a bright red flame "Zierne!" the ancient elven words burned on her tongue as she spoke them and the forest got lit up by the bright flame incinerating the spider. The woman turned around to face the last spider. The spider jumped at her, causing her to stumble and fall on her back. The spider pinned her on the ground, the gaping mouth right in front of her face. Her right hand searched the ground for the axe and when she finally got a hold of it she slammed it into the giant spiders head, right as she bit her. The woman screamed in pain as she removed the dead beasts teeth from her face and crawled out from under its body. She stood up and continued her way through the forest without looking back.

After a short while she found a little cabin "Creepy..." she said as she walked near it. A cabin in the middle of nowhere, what freak would want to live here? Bandits? Or maybe some cults hideout? Anyways, everything would be better than staying outside. She pressed against the door and suprisingly it wasn't locked. She almost expected to get some more axe action. Inside she was greeted by some rats squeaking angrily as they hushed away, suprised by the unexpected visitor and....a corpse on the floor...nice. Holding back the vomit, she decided to take a closer look at the corpse, but there wasn't much she could see, other than the fact that the rats apparently had a feast. Upon closer inspection his clothes seemed to be in a pretty good state....The thought disgusted her, but then again, looking at her dripping clothes, what alternative did she have? After stripping the corpse and getting changed she grabbed it and dragged it out of the cabin, throwing it down a nearby escarpment and returned to the cabin, hoping that whatever killed the guy, wouldn't come back again.

The woman grabbed some branches and threw them in the middle of the cabin "Zierne" the words tingled on her tongue as a much smaller flame than before appeared and lit the branches on fire. Covering herself in a blanket she found, she sat down next to the fire.

"You know" The big hairy man put down his mug "Firefang Spiders are actually a delicacy" "Oh no here he goes again" laughter went through the room. It was the night after a successful raid and the crew gathered to have a little drink. "Here comes one of Marcos classic stories" The young woman said "You say that as if I'm a liar" Marco said with a very upset voice "I've traveled a lot, and let me tell you I've seen some shit" Marco was the oldest one in the crew and he did see a lot of the world, but his stories where often a bit...questionable "Marco, if those disgusting beasts are actually a delicacy, I'll turn into a dragon right here and now" A young man said and emptied his mug in one go. If it weren't for his inhuman golden eyes, you would've never thought that this skinny boy was a drakling*

"I'm serious, it's an elven delicacy. You cut off their legs, and hold them over fire. The meat inside cooks in its own juice it is amazing"

Why did she have to think about this now...? Her growling stomach was quick to give an answer. "So the options are starving to death or believing one of Marcos stupid stories, huh?"

A few minutes later she was back at the place where the spiders attacked. One of them was still burning a little and the meat unusable, but she cut off the others legs and carried them to the cabin. Sticking them into the ground next to the fire she let them cook "How do I know if they are ready?" She asked into the empty cabin, but of course nobody answered. She sceptically inspected the meat and used her axe to cut a piece off "Please be good, please be good" she said as she placed it in her mouth "Marco you son of a bitch...it's amazing" she said and a tear rolled down her face. Remembering the crew hurt alot. She sat down next to the fire and continued to eat while sobbing over her loss.

When she woke up the next day, she wished that she had died the night before. The freezing cold and spider poison was too much and her body responded with the worst cold of her life and a fever high enough to roast her next meal on her forehead. She layed in the previous owners bed for a while, weighing up her options. Either die alone in this cabin, or try to reach the next city, with a population that is probably very racist towards elves...

Without a map or any idea where she was, she stumbled through the dark forest. An entire day passed without her finding a city or even some people. Only some wolves, that luckily had no interest in someone as sick as her. When she arrived in a clearing she looked into the sky and saw...smoke? A city? A camp? Bandits? Right now even bandits seemed like an acceptable solution. She decided to walk towards the smoke and with her last strength reached a clearing with a little camp, before she collapsed.

She slowly opened her eyes. The sun was shining in her face and the singing of birds filled the air. She looked up and saw the face of a young girl. Her eyes closed, but still pointed at her "Are you awake?" a soft voice escaped the young girls mouth "Ah, seems like you are better now" she looked around and looked at the back of a young man. He was facing towards the fire as he could be heard grinding some herbs "Honestly I wasn't sure if you would make it" he said with a chuckle. The woman took a closer look at him. He had brown, curly hair and was build pretty well. He turned around, allowing her to see his face. Bright blue eyes and a friendly smile looked at her, out of a face covered half by a big burn scar "Sorry I didn't want to scare you. I'm Alej and the girl whos lap you are using as a pillow is my sister Asmira" The young girl smiled down at her "And you are?" Alej continued. The young woman looked at him and responded "Elaine...my name is Elaine"

*Authors Note: Drakling is what the common folk calls the Dragons in their humanoid prison. For most this is highly offensive. They might be cursed too look like humans and lost most of their magic, their immortal lizard bodies and the ability to fly, but they still refer to themselves as Dragons.