'Ah… my neck hurts.'
The thought surfaced naturally as I regained consciousness. It felt like something hard and sharp had cracked me right across the neck — the kind of pain you get from sleeping at a completely wrong angle, except worse.
A small frown fell on my face as I opened my eyes... because this scenery was different. Not quite what I was expecting.
First of all, I was in a forest. But a silent one. The bonfires were gone, and it looked like I'd been abandoned in the woods while I slept.
But that wasn't quite it either. The woods themselves had no signs of the caravan — no trampled grass, no ash circles, nothing. This was a forest all the same… but definitely a different one.
I tried to straighten up from my prone position only to find out that I was completely restricted.
'I'm tied?'
"Finally awake?"
A cold, flat tone reached me. The speaker wasn't in my line of sight — the voice was coming from behind me.
