Saun 10th 716
Faith was walking through a woodlands, the gentle sunlight peeking through the treeline and the birds were tweeting and singing gently. It was beautiful, serene, idyllic and utterly peaceful. She was walking, barefoot, but that was fine because the grass was soft and just cool and wet with morning dew. It was a truly lovely time and as Faith danced around a tree, giggling and throwing back her head in delight. Her long black hair flew out behind her as she spun and she was wearing a strappy black dress which had a tight bodice and a long skirt. It was flowing and pretty and her hair was gleaming clean and cared for. Cared for. That was how Faith felt these trials. She slept on a mattress for the first time, she was fed and she wore beautiful clothes. All in all it was a good time to be her. So, as the birdsong harmonised into a melody, with bunnies bouncing around and holding out her hand for the deer to sniff at her, Faith danced and sang and basically enjoyed herself scandalously.
Singing to herself, she swung around, skipping around a particularly large tree trunk and there in front of her was a man. Large and scary-looking, she skidded to a halt and was so busy focusing on him that she didn't realise that the skies had darkened and the birdsong fallen silent. He looked at her and he smiled; he had no teeth and his grin was not friendly or welcoming. He held up a rusty knife and nodded his head to behind her. Faith felt a sense of dread harden in the pit of her stomach and she turned around to see that the big, burly scary man had three friends with him, who were now surrounding her. Where were the creatures? Where was the singing and the sunslight and the dancing? She tried to ask them, but she could not speak and she looked between them with fear and dread and she wondered if she could run.
But she couldn't run, because her legs didn't work. She was glued to the spot and she tried to scream but nothing more than a hoarse croak came from her mouth as one of them stepped forward with a bag in his hands. As he lifted it over her head, the world went black.
Thrashing around on the mattress she slept on, Faith's dream grew dark and unpleasant. She felt arms grabbing at her, wrapping around her and lifting her off the ground. How were they managing to pull her hair when she had a bag on her head, she wondered wildly, but then she was being carried. The smell of the inside of the bag was rank and smelled like wet fur (in the waking world, Tristan's cat was sleeping next to her - it was that she smelled) and then, she felt herself become briefly, beautifully, gracefully weightless before landing with a resounding, painful THuMP next to and mostly on top of something.
But her hands and legs were bound, so she did not know who or what or where. She struggled, trying to make sense of which was was up and which way was down and all of that other basic stuff.