Part 2 Chapter 3

CHAPTER 12

 

 

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he nightmare is different that night. Instead of Olraym standing in the main dining room of the castle, he is standing in a deep dark forest. There is no sign of any of his family, alive or dead, in fact there is no sign of anyone. Just high trees and moss all around him. He looks up and tries to see the sky but sees nothing but utter blackness. Yet he can still see. He quickly notices a thick fog surrounding him making it hard to see further than five feet in front of him. He feels as if this is his first nightmare, he doesn’t know anything about what is happening or what is going to happen.

  He walks slowly through the forest, careful not to make any noise. He waits for the hooded figure to appear watching for her, listening for her, but cannot find her.

  “Hello! Where are you?” he shouts out, hearing it echo throughout the forest.  He then notices a sweet smell. He stops and sniffs around and finds it is coming from ahead of him. He resumes walking slowly, this time following the smell.

  He comes to a tree that has fallen on its side, sees there is no way around it and climbs over. As he gets to the top he cuts his arm on a sharp broken branch, he looks at it and finds blood slowly seeping from a small cut. But there is no pain to go with it. He reaches the top, now being more careful not tip cut himself again, and jumps down the other side.

  On the other side of the fallen tree the air is thick with the sweet smell.  The roots sticking out of the ground seem thicker and the trees taller and the strange light coming from nowhere seem light. Even the fog seems to Olraym to be thinner. Ahead he sees a figure so he walks to it thinking it is the hooded woman he has seen before. But it is not, it is someone else. A man he has never seen before. The man is looking at Olraym afraid, but not of him, of something else.  Olraym becomes confused and afraid as well, not sure what is going to happen this time, or even if this dream is connected.

  “Change,” the man says in a resigned tone, letting know that this is connected. Then Olraym also realises he has not woken in his bed like before.

  “Change what?!” he asks quickly, fearing he won’t get an answer. He gestures with his hands for the man to answer soon but the man doesn’t appear to notice.

  “Change your way,” the man answers in the same tone of voice. He then looks behind Olraym and points behind him. “Change hers.”

  Olraym looks behind him to where the man is pointing, a short distance to the left of the fallen tree are two figures; one is a woman sitting at a bright fire the other is lying next to her, apparently sleeping. Olraym slowly walks to them. Unlike the man the two figures give Olraym no clue that they see him. The woman is staring intently into the fire then looks down at her hands and even at a distance Olraym can see she is bleeding. The closer Olraym gets the more familiar the woman appears until finally he see that the woman is Trugaime, he looks to the sleeping and finds he is staring at himself. His sleeping self looks dirty and bruised although at a glance nothing looks permanently broken.

  Olraym suddenly hears a twig snapping but it is like the distant echo of it happening far away. Then realises the image of Trugaime heard it too. The image of Trugaime tries with great difficulty to stand, she is holding her side and Olraym sees blood coming from there. With her free hand she takes out a small dagger then takes a semi-threatening pose and watches for an intruder.

  Olraym finds that the image of him has not moved.

  At the sound of a second twig snap she spins around but apparently sees nothing as she spins again and again, Olraym can see she is both afraid and determined and becomes scared for her.

  “Get up!” Olraym shouts to his image self, but the image Olraym does nothing, he just stays on the ground. Olraym is not even sure if his image self is even awake or alive. Then Olraym finds that he is not sleeping but is actually unconscious.

  The image of Trugaime spins around the suddenly falls forward and stops. She and Olraym look down simultaneously to find an arrow sticking through her, from back to front. Olraym can see all the breath has gone out of her as she drops the dagger and falls to her knees.

  “No!” Olraym screams and runs to her. He tries to grab her just as a second arrow goes through her the same way. She then lands face first onto the ground, Olraym gets his hands under her as she falls but she just goes straight through them, as if he is a ghost.   He tries again but with the same reaction. He falls to his knees as she did and watches her die. He looks over to his sleeping image to find a third figure, obviously the attacker standing over him with a long sword clutched in both his hands pointing straight down. The third figure raises his hands and before Olraym can do anything he plunges it into the image Olraym’s stomach. The image Olraym’s eyes suddenly open wide in shock and he groans loudly in pain. This lasts for only a few seconds then the image Olraym dies, his eyes still open looking up at his killer.

  Olraym looks back to the man hoping he will help but he is gone, in his place is the hooded woman he has seen many times. Her arms are folded in front of her.

  “Help!” he shouts but she does not move. He stands and walks back to her. While still walking he looks back to see the attacker take his sword from the stomach of his image self, wipe his blood off it and leave, quickly becoming part of the fog. He looks back to the hooded woman, stops just a few feet from her. “Why didn’t you help?”

  She says nothing, and then turns her head and he feels her looking at him. She unfolds her arms and lets them fall to her sides.

  “Why didn’t you help?” he asks again this time angry. Again she says nothing.

  “It is not my place,” she says, Olraym takes a step back, surprised she spoke. “I can only show you this; it must be your choice to change it.”

  Olraym looks back to see nothing but the forest, the images of him and Trugaime, even the fire, are all gone. Just the fog and the blackness are remaining.

  “But how?” he asks, sounding desperate, “how can I change it?”

  “The two of you must come here, as like in the images. With the foreknowledge gained you can change the outcome.”

  “That is it?” he asks, she nods.

  “But I can’t leave Tov’ra now; I’m going to be King soon.”

  “You must leave your city soon. You cannot become King yet.”

  “What why can’t I?” Olraym says, now becoming irritated at her.

  “You are not ready.” This stops Olraym’s anger, knowing her to be right. He is not ready to rule The Highlands yet.

  “Ok… but wait, where is this place?” Olraym can feel himself waking up. He looks around and sees the lights fading, being consumed by the darkness. He distance between them grows even though neither of them is moving; she raises her hand to him in a goodbye gesture then he can see nothing but blackness.

  “Divinwood,” is her final word to him before he wakes up to a cloudy morning.

  After considering his options Olraym decides to obey the hooded woman in his dreams and, as unsure as he is, he decides to take Trugaime with him. He immediately dresses in warm layers, finishing with a fur cloak, then takes out a large sack and fills it with everything he thinks he may need. Not knowing how long he will be gone he also fills some pouches with gold coins and attaches them to his belt.

  He puts the sack over his shoulder then, as a last thought, he writes a note telling his family and all others that he is leaving for some time and will return as soon as possible. He takes his sack and leaves, trying not to be too noticeable while at the same time not caring too much.

  He soon gets close to the exit but is forced to stop at the sound of a voice calling his name. He turns around and for a moment doesn’t recognise the man coming towards him. It takes him a while but he finally realises him to be Relon. This shocks him since he rarely sees Relon without his armour on. Olraym forces a smile as Relon gets closer.

  “Greetings Prince Olraym, or should I say King Olraym,” Relon speaks proudly then notices the sack strapped across Olraym’s shoulder. “Why are you holding that?”

  Not sure what to do, Olraym just shrugs, hoping Relon would not ask for more. But he does, he asks again with the same questioning tone. Olraym becomes self-conscious but tries to keep the smile. Then after seeing that Relon does not seem to be about to leave he, unable to hold onto it all anymore, lets out to Relon about his dreams and his most recent one. And, finally, tells Relon about him witnessing his own death in Divinwood.

  Relon becomes blank as Olraym tells him of his dreams and what he plans to do. Once finished, Relon’s face holds an expression that Olraym does not recognise and feels that it was a mistake telling him.

  “You are going now?” asks Relon, making Olraym think he is going to let him go.

  “Yeah, I was leaving when you stopped me.”

  “What of the Cultist woman?” Relon sounds all together curious, suspicious and apprehensive.

  “…I will be taking her with me,” Relon doesn’t look too happy about Olraym’s answer, making Olraym think he may go a little over the line with him or may tell others of Olraym’s plan to leave, but doesn’t say anything about it.

  “Very well, I will help you with releasing her and getting out of the city. But no further”

  This shocks Olraym; he never thought anyone would help him with this crazy theory of his. But he would never refuse so he nods gratefully and the two of them leave through the main entrance. 

 

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After leaving the tavern, getting a sideways glare from the owner, he walks briskly to the castle, under a blanket of white clouds, but to Harke the distant sounds suggest the clouds won’t be white for much longer. He watches the castle entrance at a distance for several more hours Harke learns that entering is impossible; there are too many guards there and they never seem to leave. Harke walks to other areas hoping for a better entrance but there are too few and all seem to be guarded.

  Harke becomes irritated and is about to retire back to his rented room at the tavern when he hears the main entrance doors open with a loud groan. He rushes back to it and arrives back in time to see it closing and Olraym and some other man leaving. The other man is clearly a knight even though he isn’t wearing royal armour Harke can tell by his stance and the way he carries himself. Harke follows Olraym and the other man but decides that he won’t try to kill either of them yet; not wanting to make any mistakes too soon like Trugaime.  Olraym and the other man are talking in hushed voices obviously talking of something important.

  A little too late Harke realises they are heading to the dungeons. He wonders why they are going there, and then remembers Trugaime. He moves quicker, wanting to know what they are talking about, thinking it may be important not just to them but to him as well, he thinks of scenarios of what they are going to do in the dungeons but then slows down again as Olraym and the other man arrives at their destination.

  As he sees them enter he finds a hiding spot with a good view of the dungeon entrance and waits for them to return. He thinks of trying to enter the dungeons and find out what Olraym and the other man are doing in there, but quickly throws those thoughts away and hunkers down in his hiding spot.

 

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Olraym and Relon enter the dungeons with Relon a few steps ahead. At the sight of Relon the prison guards smile and greet him with a few slowly standing in attention. But when Olraym enters the smiles disappear and all shoot up to stand. The guard captain asks the two if they are in the dungeons to see the Cultist, to which Olraym responds with a yes. A different guard walks over to a table and takes the set of cell keys. The guard gestures for Olraym and Relon to follow but Olraym gestures for him to stop, he does so but gives his captain a look. The guard captain acknowledges this.

  “Is there something wrong?” the captain looks to Relon for help before settling on Olraym.

  “I need the key to her cell,” this remark spurs a flow low mumbling between the guards, only Olraym, Relon and the guard captain are silent.

  “Why?” he asks, not sure if it is a good idea.

  “I am authorising you to release her into my custody for the time being,” this creates a greater set of mumbling and curious stares. The captain hesitates then with a nod orders the guard to give Olraym the cell keys. The guard nods back and puts his key-holding hand at arm’s length, Olraym takes them, Relon opens another door to get a set of shackles and some of Trugaime’s equipment, then Olraym and Relon go through the door to the cells.

  Trugaime is sleeping facing the back wall, but she wakes at the sound of the door opening and waits for the footfalls to reach her. When the sounds stop she turns around and finds Olraym standing there and thinks of more questioning coming from him, but then looks at Relon and wonders why he is with Olraym. Thinking something maybe dangerous might happen she stands and takes a somewhat threatening stance.

  “What is going on?”

  Olraym takes the cell keys and opens the door, Trugaime’s stance increases in its threatening pose. Relon puts a hand on Olraym’s shoulder which makes him hesitate. All three stare at each other until Olraym opens the cell door.

  “I have authorised your release for now,” Trugaime smiles at her newfound fortune, “you will be in my custody for the time being,” Trugaime’s smile falters, not sure what to make of this information.

  “Why?” she asks. This again makes Olraym hesitate, wondering how much to tell her so soon.

  “We have business to attend to,” he says hoping that will satisfy her.

  “What, you want me to be your sex slave?!” she says, finally taking notice of the shackles, which are small since they are only for the hands but have a long chain attached at the middle for Relon or Olraym to take hold of, “just couldn’t wait to get inside me,” Trugaime’s voice becomes that of an innocent child as she slides her hands up and down her sides in a mockingly provocative way. She rushes up to Olraym and slams her cell door closed.

  “No!” Olraym yells out quickly and reopens it. Relon is smiling, being amused by this which neither Olraym nor Trugaime take any notice of. “Just something I need your help to sort out.”

  Trugaime thinks of what is happening, of what he truly wants with her. ‘Am I right, or is he telling the truth’.

  Relon cautiously walks into the cell with the shackles. Trugaime looks around then, seeing no other option, she resigns herself and lifts her arms in a surrendering pose. Relon puts the shackles on her wrists then pulls at them lightly making sure they won’t break with ease. He then backs out keeping his unblinking eyes on Trugaime, to which she returns the gesture.

  Olraym moves aside to let her out then with a after a hesitant moment she does slowly, her eyes drift back and forth between Olraym and Relon until she is out and the cell door is closed again and locked.

  The three walk out side-by-side, each man holding one of Trugaime’s shackled arms. The guards watch them as they leave and Trugaime’s particularly notices the eye of the guard who insulted her earlier after Queen Moira left, she turns her head to him and gives a triumphant smile. He glares back with a look that promises that they will meet again. Despite this Trugaime believes that he is wrong.

 

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Harke keeps his eyes on the dungeon entrance, waiting for Olraym and the other man, Relon, to return. He hasn’t moved and inch since he found a decent hiding spot but he does move as Olraym and Relon exit the dungeons with Relon holding onto a long chain, and then Harke is surprised by the sight of a third person at the other end of that chain. The third person is obviously female but from his distance he cannot recognise her. Then it comes to him: Trugaime. What are they doing with her? He thinks. But before he can make any answers, they start to leave.

  He follows as close as he dares, staying in crowds whenever possible, and wonders where they are going and why bring Trugaime with them.

  Suddenly they stop; Olraym and the other man are talking to each other, then they smile and Relon walks away. Olraym and Trugaime watch him leave then continue on their way. With Olraym now holding onto the long chain Harke finds that Trugaime is not trying to slow their progress by lagging behind but is only a few feet from him. At first Harke thought it is because she plans to finish the contract herself, it wouldn’t make her a Cultist again but it may put her in good spirits with the Cult Elders. But no, instead she walks silently onward, making no move to either escape or kill Olraym.

  The two head to a small stable near the city entrance Olraym wraps the chain around his belt and Harke moves in close enough to hear some of what Olraym says to the nearby stable manager. The manager is a small but heavy old man with a stubbly white beard with flecks of hay stuck in it. He stares at the two newcomers until he realises who Olraym is, then walks quickly towards him and greets him with more than Olraym believes is necessary. Olraym asks for two of his best horses, which the manager walks back to get them, looking back bowing continuously to Olraym along the way.

  “He’s a bit over enthusiastic isn’t he,” says Trugaime as more of a statement than a question. Olraym nods in agreement then hears the sound of hooves slapping the ground and spots the manager returning with two horses. Olraym pays the manager, who then leaves them alone, and Olraym helps Trugaime onto one of the horses. Then, taking hold of the long chain again he gets onto the second horse. The two travels toward what Harke knows to be the city’s main entrance and once far enough away Harke goes to the stables and buys a third horse for himself. He asks the manager as innocently as he can if he knows where those two are heading but the manager says he doesn’t. He pays and gets on the horse and follows the Olraym and Trugaime. The two don’t appear to notice him but he stays behind just the same.

  The two soon come up to the entrance gate but have to stop due to the high levels of traffic going both ways. Harke backs away and lets others trying to leave Tov’ra to go ahead of him to give more distance between him and his target.  Soon they are able to move again and within minutes all three as well as others are outside Tov’ra.

  Once outside there is immediately shuffling between those wanting in and those wanting out since there is only one path out of Tov’ra and not much room to manoeuvre in. After lots of angry shouting and pushing and moving carts back and forth Olraym and Trugaime are able to remove themselves from the crowd.

  For Harke it takes longer to get out and finds that Olraym and Trugaime are almost out of sight and although he stays silent he is barely able to control himself and comes close to kicking and punching all those around him to get them to move, but finally gets free himself and rushes ahead to find Olraym and Trugaime only just reaching the top of the path. The two turns left, onto the Guardian Road. Named because Tov’ra guards use it most when travelling the Highlands, and occasionally help any who are in some sort of trouble.

  To Harke this means that since Trugaime is going with him seemingly willingly they might be going to Burden. This makes Harke begins to worry, thinking Trugaime has actually talked to Olraym and maybe others and that is why she is out with him. But then reconsiders this as there are dozens of towns and villages as well as other places they could be going to. Then his fears of them going to Burden resurface and he breathes harder and harder, he begins to sweat and his vision begins to blur slightly.

  He shakes his head and his vision returns, his gains control of his breathing and he rubs his head with his arms, but the fear stays, he knows what is in that direction and so does Trugaime, so it stays and after thinking of it the more it slowly grows because in some old village near Burden the Starlight Cult hides from everyone else and lives together and eats together and trains together to serve the Cult.

  They may be going to Harke’s very home