Chapter 2 - Resurrection

It had begun snowing again. Ulrich squinted as he looked into the sky, captivated by the flurry of onrushing flakes, dancing through the air. He shifted slightly, to relieve the aching pain, where the coarse rope cut his wrists. Parts of his body had gone numb as he had been sitting on the cold stones. He was thankful for that, at least it drove away some of the pain. His eyes fell again to the naked cowering figure in the center of the plaza. 
Alana had stopped shaking a while ago. Her eyes were closed now, although Ulrich thought he saw her eyes flicker beneath her lids. Her already white skin had become even paler, and Ulrich felt rising concern that she would freeze to death before she ever woke up. Then again, he wasn’t certain she was sleeping either. The chaos warrior’s punishment had left distinguishable marks on her body. Red bruises marked her skin, where violent inhuman hands had grabbed her. Her punished groin had taken up a deep red color. But there was something else as well.
What he had taken for a scratch below her belly button at first, had developed into a glowing purple mark. A purple circle with a thick shaft protruding away in a diagonal angle, connecting two crescents, facing away from each other. It seemed distantly familiar to Ulrich, although he wasn’t certain how. Branching from the mark, humming purple veins stretched a few inches in every direction. 
There was another mysterious change on her body, that Ulrich couldn’t quite pick out. A braided leather leg brace around the upper part of her thigh. It looked opulent, the leather shiny and the weave was tightly fit. No craftsmen Ulrich knew would have been able to craft something quite that elegant. Although Ulrich could have sworn, she hadn’t worn it when she had been undressed by their demonic assailants, it looked as if it had been there for a long time. It seemed too tight, as if she had outgrown it, as it was constricting the soft flesh of her thigh visibly.


It pained him to see her like this, so he turned away. He felt a bit of hope rise up in him, as he caught the first glimpses of the distant rising sun. A weak glimmer broke through the murky grey sky. And with it, Alana began to stir.


Ulrich shifted, watching her as she pulled her limbs together. Almost instantly, she began shivering, as the cold bit into her regaining consciousness. Then, with a violent flutter, her eyes opened. For a second, she lay there, frozen, like a wounded animal.


“Alana…” Ulrich almost didn’t dare whisper a word. Somehow pulling her back into reality felt like a violation.


Alana didn’t react at first. For a few seconds, they both stayed as they were, her gaze focused on something infinitely distant with her head turned away. Him, watching her, not daring to move.


Then, with an audible exhale, she pulled herself together and sat up, pulling her trembling knees to her chin. After what felt to Ulrich like an eternity, she looked over to him, registering him there for the first time. Ulrich swore, he saw alarm in her expression. It took a few seconds, until the nervous fright dissipated from her gaze. What he saw in her then almost hurt him more though. Something in her look was missing. A light, the spark of life, that had drawn him in, was gone.
Without saying a word, she got on her feet and took a few faltering steps over to where her clothes lay in a ragged heap. After putting on her boots and yellow dress, she threw her fur coat over her shoulders. Then, looking back to Ulrich, she halted for a few seconds, watching him hesitantly.


“Are you alright?” The second, the words left his mouth he felt stupid. “Sorry…”
He let his head fall to his chest, unable to meet her eyes.
He felt her round the post that he was tied to and undo the knots on his constraints.
Slowly and in pain, he got up, stretching his stiff back and shaking his limbs. It took him a while to feel his limbs as he dusted himself off as much as possible. 


“Let’s go home… ok?”, he asked her softly. Slowly, she nodded, still looking at him in a manner he couldn’t quite read. As if she was trying to read something in him that she just couldn’t quite make out. Then, she seemed to notice how she had been staring at him and turned her head west, from where they had come.


And so, they began walking westwards, away from the rising sun. For a long time, they walked silently. Ulrich felt ashamed and guilty for not being equipped to deal with the aftermath of her ordeal. He felt the only fair thing was to leave her alone, until she expressed something. He assumed, in her position, he would have wanted silence too.


“You think, they would have gone south?” It struck him how weak her voice sounded. It shouldn’t have surprised him, of course, given the circumstances.


“... I don’t know”, he had to clear his throat, as no sound came out at first. 


“Do you think... Gradsk…” He heard the tremble in her voice. The thought caused trepidation in him as well.


“One thing at a time…” Was all he could think to say.


They returned to silence again as they strode back, down the old winding path, heading over hills and through forests. As the dim winter daylight broke through the clouds, illuminating the winter landscape, Ulrich felt some life returning, as their steps quickened and Alana held her head a little higher. Only a few times did they stop that day. They had few rations left, some apples and dry meat. It was enough to get back home, if they rationed wisely. Ulrich made efforts to entice Alana to eat, but all he got was an aloof headshake.


Then, suddenly, Alana stopped in the middle of the pathway. Ulrich didn’t realize it at first, but halted as he missed her familiar footsteps beside him. He turned around, seeing her look down a pathway that forked off the road. Tears were streaming down her face. Her sudden display of emotion filled Ulrich with fire and he dropped his travel sack and rushed back to her.


“Hey…” he spoke gently, taking her into his arms. She recoiled violently at first and he was about to let go, as she put his hands around him and began sobbing uncontrollably. Ulrich was glad that she couldn’t see his face, as tears welled up in him as well. If only he knew what to say…
As he held her close, he looked back, searching for what had caused the sudden well of emotion in her. 
He recognized the path they had taken to the waterfall. Yesterday. It felt like an eternity ago, that they had jumped into the icy creek. Joking and teasing, with not a care in the world. It seemed so unreal to him. Unfair even. The memory hurt him more than the images of Alana, that had been burned into his brain. Images he tried to drown out. He remembered the feelings he had, watching her being ravished. He remembered the arousal and the desire that it had caused. Horrified by himself, he tried breaking away from whatever had woken up in him that night.


“Hey, everything will become alright. It might take a long time, but it will.” He wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or himself at that moment. When Alana’s sobbing grew quieter, he felt like the words had helped, however empty they seemed.
“We’ll just focus on getting home now, ok?” Alana nodded softly at that.
“You’ll see, soon you’ll find it funny throwing apple seeds in my face again.”
This time she chuckled between sobs. She let him go after that, wiping tears out of her red eyes.


“It was horrible, Ulrich” her quiet, broken voice made him well up again.
“I had a vision in the middle of all that.”


“Don’t think about it now, Alana.” he said. She nodded at that, letting him go now. She took his hand and they began walking again. Slowly then, they began talking. Ulrich did his best to steer the conversation to topics that would distract her. They talked about their childhood, their families, and their businesses. As the sun set, they found an inlet between two rocky outcrops. It wasn’t quite a cave, but Ulrich was certain a small fire wouldn’t be seen. Besides, he wasn’t sure how many winter nights they’d survive without one.


So they sat on either side of the crackling fire for a long time, talking sometimes or just remaining silent. But Ulrich felt that some measure of peace was gently returning. 
Then, Alana winced, as if in pain, laying her hands on her thigh.


“What’s that?” She asked, her forehead wrinkled in pain.


“What’s what?”


Ulrich blushed as Alana opened her coat and began pulling up her dress. He turned his head, acting like a spot on the rocky wall demanded his unwavering attention.


“It’s not like you haven’t seen me…” He felt the blood rising to his cheeks.
“What the fuck…? ULRICH! What the fuck is on my leg?” 


He turned to face her now. She had pulled her dress far up her thighs, revealing the braided leather bracelet. 


“What do you mean? You didn’t have that… before…?”


“No!”


They both stared at it for a while.


“It’s too tight. I need to get it off.” 


She tried pushing it down her leg, tried squeezing her fingers underneath it, but it would not budge.


“Help me Ulrich. Please." There was annoyance in her voice now.


“What do you want me to do?”


“I don’t know… just get it off me…” he heard fear and pain rise up in her voice now. 


Awkwardly, he scooted up to her, trying to grip the band without touching her. He wiggled it, tried rolling it down her leg, but it was too tight.


“I can’t… It’s too tight Alana…”


“Please…”


Hearing her pain and vile disgust at the thing that didn’t belong on her, he went back to his traveling sack, grabbing his knife. Carefully, he began slipping it underneath the material. All the while Alana didn’t move a muscle, watching him intently. Ulrich began sawing at it in gentle motions. However, he didn’t feel it cut the material…
Then Alana grabbed her lower abdomen, exhaling a sharp painful breath.


“Alana? Everything alright?” He asked carefully as he stopped moving the blade.


“What the…” Was all she managed, as she began arching her back, whimpering. Ulrich put a hand around her back, trying to hold her. As he put his other hand around the blade grip to remove the knife, his eyes noticed something odd.
The leather bracelet was moving. Its leathery braided coils had somehow undone themselves and were slithering around her thigh. With disgust, he tried grabbing some of the leathery tendrils, but they were pushing too deep into her soft flesh to allow him a grip. 


“Ulrich, please, get it off me…” Alana moaned between painful gasps. It was useless. With growing panic, he watched as the tendrils grew up her thigh. No! Not again… He didn’t understand what exactly was happening, but he knew it was connected to yesterday's events. 
The coiling strand disappeared, slithering up the inside of her dress. With a gulp, he pushed her dress higher, trying again to grip it. By now, her dress barely covered her triangle and Ulrich was frozen, uncertain what to do. Then, he saw it buck, lifting away from her flesh. As he went to grip it, it surged forward, between her legs. 
Alana spasmed under the intrusion and began shaking, as she had during that horrible night. Cursing, Ulrich pulled up her dress to her waist, exposing her privates. The thin living leather strand had plunged itself into her pussy, extending out from between her folds like a thin stick. Her lips, either from yesterday's punishment or from whatever this was, had taken up a sore red color. He grabbed the thing and began pulling. He did feel it move. Meanwhile, Alana was shaking violently again, as she lay on the ground with only the whites of her eyes exposed. The harder Ulrich pulled, the sharper her gasping breaths became. Then, she began lifting her hips in the air, arching her back and spreading her legs. 
With a violent pull, Ulrich managed to retrieve the coiling strand, which retreated instantly and before he knew it, it had formed the leathery brace again, betraying no sign of life. With its retreat, Alana came back to her senses, panting hard.


“What the fuck was that…” She spit out between shallow gasps. “Why does this…” Unconcerned about Ulrich, she lifted her dress above her abdomen, exposing the purple mark. Then, exhaling in utter despair, she let her head fall back, still clutching her lower stomach. 


“We’ll find someone who knows what all this means. I won’t leave you Alana, okay? Well, find someone and we’ll get rid of all this… I promise…” He was at a loss for words.


“Who… I don’t think anyone that has an understanding of all this … shit … would help me. If anything, they’d…”


“We’ll go to the temple of Shalia first. If they can’t help, they’ll know who can…”


That seemed to give her a small measure of comfort. After calming down from the shock, they lay next to the fire, both with dark questions and distant thoughts swarming their minds. Alana stayed close that night, snuggling herself into Ulrich’s frame, who kept his arms protectively around her.

