A muffled cry escaped her and she flailed, eyes popping open. Her vision blurred, she made out the white of the sky and a bunch of blobs of black and brown. A split-second later she landed hard in the dirt on her hip and elbow. The impact was shocking, and jarred her from head to toe. A metallic taste in her mouth and the sting of her cheek told her she’d bit herself. Thank God, she’d managed to twist in time so that her already injured arm wasn’t further damaged. In addition to the gash from a wayward sword, she was almost certain it was broken. Her hip and elbow were most assuredly bruised, but at least they were still whole. A cloud of dust surrounded where she’d landed, filling her lungs. She coughed, sneezed, and willed herself to hold back her sobs. Pain throbbed in her injured arm. She feared moving, not knowing where she was. Nothing about this place looked familiar to her. “Lady Mariana,” a cool, uninterested male voice cooed.
