Datasets:

---

theodor1289

/

nyu_100m

like 0

“Don’t speak, rest,” she whispered in an accented voice, moving to his side to make sure the blankets covered him completely. “You and your traveling companions nearly froze to death in the forest. You are safe, but you are very ill. Sleep, human.”

Just before he drifted off into a tormented sleep, Aiden gazed into her eyes and saw they were large and angular — the eyes of an elf.

* * *

A younger Aiden stood once more upon the field of battle, the soldiers of the kingdom clashing with their black-clad enemies who seemed to know no fear. He watched as giant warriors made of metal came forth and began to slaughter the Aielunders, before a shadow grew over the battlefield as something obscured the sun. Aiden squinted against the light to see what was happening and was stunned by what he saw.

An immense golden dragon was descending onto the battlefield, its wingspan easily over a hundred feet across. Talons the size of a man dug into the ground as it crashed to the surface far behind the black warrior making his final stand.

The dragon turned to look directly at Aiden, its piercing eyes glowing with power. Paralyzed with fear, he struggled to pull his gaze away, and focused on watching the cataclysmic fight before him. The gold-clad warrior was slowly being beaten by the behemoth, and it was only a matter of time until he fell.

A dull roaring sound slowly grew in intensity, similar to the sound of cattle stampeding in the distance. When he turned to see what the dragon was doing, he was taken aback when he saw that it was much closer to him without seeming to have actually moved, its head held low as it peered at him with burning eyes.

Aiden felt a pain in his right leg and looked down to see blood flowing from a terrible wound that made him gasp. The noise grew louder, like the pounding of blood in his ears, and he clutched at his leg as a sharp pain shot through it.

When he looked up again, his heart stopped as he looked straight into the eye of the immense dragon that was right in front of him. Aiden screamed and dropped the glowing orb, shattering it upon the ground of the cave.

* * *

He gasped awake, trying to focus on where he was. It was mostly dark, but there were comforting flames coming from a nearby fireplace. Nellise sat at the end of his bed, watching him with concern.

“You’re all right, Aiden,” she whispered soothingly. “You were having a bad dream. I hope you don’t mind, but I mended your leg.”

“Thanks,” he croaked, still shaken by the change in the dream. “What time is it?”

“Just after dawn, two days after we left the caves,” she explained. “We were all in rough shape, but thankfully God was looking out for us.”

“That woman,” he mumbled, looking around for her and spying the elf sitting in a chair on the far side of the cabin.

“Her name is Mona, and she saved our lives,” Nellise explained. Mona didn’t react, seeming content to simply watch him from afar. She wore the same kind of camouflaged leathers as Colt, and a longbow leaned against the wall next to her.

“You’re a ranger?” Aiden asked, struggling to rise to his elbows.

“I aid their cause, though I work independently,” she answered with a honeyed voice.

“You’re a long way from home,” Aiden remarked. “Don’t your people live on the west coast of Feydwiir?”

“Yes, though this region used to be ours, during my parent’s time. The advance of humanity pushed us back to the far reaches of the island, but there are a few of us still out here, watching over specific parts of the land where ancient cities used to be. Children should be watched to make sure they do not hurt themselves.”

“I take it you’re referring to the whole of humankind there,” Aiden suggested, drawing a thin smile from the elegant lady. “What of the others?”

“We’re alive, after a fashion,” Pacian answered from another bed nearby. Aiden looked around and saw the others were all in their own beds, though Colt was sitting up and dressing himself. Sayana, buried under warm blankets, wiggled her fingers at him in reply. Aiden felt genuine relief to see her alive and recovering along with the rest of them.

“This cabin was recently seized by the Rangers,” Mona explained, gesturing at the walls. “A minor lord, Baron Thomas Fairchild, was using it to entertain his wealthy friends with illegal poaching on the king’s land. As I understand it, he’s going to hang for the crime; so it’s worked out well for us, since it saved your lives.”

“When I brought you here,” Mona continued, “I noticed one of your numbers was a devotee of the angel Kylaris. I focused my efforts on her in the hope that if she lived, she could heal you all.”

“Smart move,” Colt grunted, with a hint of admiration in his voice.

“Lean back, and I’ll finish my work,” Nellise instructed Aiden, who did as he was told while the others continued talking.

“None of you should be in this area, least of all you, Dante,” Mona responded, leaving Aiden unsure whom she was speaking to until he realized she was talking to Colt.

“It’s nice to see you again too,” he answered gratefully. “We were exploring the ruins of Ferrumgaard, but things didn’t go so well for us. Thanks again for saving our backsides.”

Mona didn’t answer straight away, choosing instead to exchange a searching look with Colt who, after a few moments of scrutiny, swore under his breath.

“Look, can we speak in private? There’s things that need saying, and I don’t talk well with an audience.”

“This cabin has but one room,” she replied distantly. “In your condition, it’s too cold to go outside right now, so why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind?”

“You know what,” Colt growled as he pulled his leather tunic over his bruised body.

“Say, do you two know each other?” Pacian asked with exaggerated innocence.

“She’s the reason I was kicked out of the Rangers,” Colt grunted, which Mona seemed to take issue with.

“Am I to be responsible for the choices of others?” she asked pointedly. “If those around me act out of passion and misguided feeling, am I to blame?”

“Don’t get subtle on me; you know I can’t follow you when you do that,” Colt complained.

“Look, I’ve had many admirers over the years, but around here they were predominately uncouth frontiersmen, interested in only one thing. I rebuffed all advances and kept to myself for decades, until I met you. Forgive me for speaking of such things in front of your friends; I do not mean to embarrass you.”

“Oh, it’s quite all right,” Nellise assured her. “Just pretend we’re not here.”

“You know what would be better than that?” Colt asked in a restrained voice. “Actually not being here. Why don’t you try that?”

“Because this is more fun, Dante,” Pacian chided.

“Nobody but Mona calls me that,” Colt growled, leaning in towards Pacian threateningly. Mona sighed in exasperation.

“There it is again,” she remarked. “And you wonder why I didn’t want to be with you after the incident.”

“What, because I defended your honor?” Colt exclaimed, turning to face her again. “I’m not a regular bloke, Mona. Sure, I’m a little rough around the edges, but don’t ever doubt that I love you.”

An uncomfortable silence descended upon them for several seconds as Mona locked eyes with Colt.

“You can be quite endearing when you want to, Dante, so much like a little boy in some ways; yet you can’t hide what you are deep inside. More than once, you’ve proven yourself to be as brutal as your predecessors, and striking Commander Armin just because he was being nice to me was so very human. I couldn’t even voice how disappointed I was, Dante.”

“For some reason, you thought the world of me, Mona, but I never asked you to,” Colt muttered. “I’ve never tried to hide who I am, warts and all. So I’m gonna ask you a question, and I want a straight answer. After that, we’ll know where we stand.”

“I’m listening,” she replied, a hint of anticipation in her voice.

“Do you love me enough to forgive me?”

The question hung in the air for a long moment as the attention of everyone present centered on the tall elf-maiden.

“I do forgive you; but Armin has made his intentions clear,” she answered. “I’ve started seeing him on a regular basis. I’m sorry Dante.”

Colt nodded, evidently not trusting himself to speak. Aiden saw the look in his eyes, though; he was barely holding himself together.

“Armin is a kind, stable man,” she continued, “and frankly, he’s a little closer to my age. I mean, when you think about it, you and I being together is almost like robbing the cradle, right?”

“Yeah, makes perfect sense,” Colt replied unemotionally. “Well, if you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Mona smiled faintly, then stood and reached for her equipment. “I’ve hurt you, I can tell. Now that you and your friends are recovering, I think it’s best for me to take my leave. I’ve left food and warm clothing here for you to use, but don’t stay here longer than you need to.”

“You should probably be aware that we were chased out of those caves by some dwarves who’ve been holed up down there for a long time,” Aiden advised. “I don’t know if they’d try to follow us, but you should keep an eye out.”

“I will; thank you for the warning,” Mona answered. “Commander Armin is still quite put out with you, Dante, so I suggest you steer clear of the area for another week or two. If you find it within you to apologize for knocking two of his teeth out, I’ll put in a good word for you when it’s time.”

“I’ll consider it,” Colt said with a shrug, as stubborn as ever. “Take care of yourself, Mona.”

“Be well,” she said, in a husky voice. On her way out the door, Aiden thought he spotted a tear rolling down her cheek, but he couldn’t be sure.

“You knocked his teeth out?” Pacian blurted as soon as the door was closed.

“He was moving in on my woman; what’s a man supposed to do?” the big man grunted.

“Use words instead of fists,” Nellise advised, clearly unimpressed with his actions. “All right, Aiden, that’s as much as I can do for you now. Take it easy for the next day or two and you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks,” he replied, distracted by the growling in his stomach. He dressed in his dry clothes, and together, the group ate the stew Mona had left for them. All things considered, everyone seemed to be in fairly good shape as they finished off the contents of the pot and rested next to the fire.

“That hit the spot, but our supplies are ruined and there’s nothing else to eat,” Colt grumbled. “If we’re all able to move now, I think we should get back to Bracksford right away. I dreamed of roast pork last night and after what we just went through, I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit around here all day and go hungry.”

“I suppose they’d have fresh supplies coming in by now,” Aiden mused. “Maybe we can have a drink in the memory of Clavis MacAliese, without whom we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

“In more ways than one,” Pacian added caustically. “And before you get cross with me, remember that he tricked us into going with him, with lies.”

“You wouldn’t have that axe without him,” Aiden reminded him, pointing at the gleaming axe lying next to Pacian’s bed. “You know it’s going to be worth a fortune when you go to sell it, so don’t try telling us you didn’t benefit from all this.”

“I don’t even care about the axe,” Pacian shot back; “it seemed a waste to leave it there, that’s all. His family might like it back, maybe.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t try selling it to them for a king’s ransom,” Colt growled sarcastically.

“You know what? I don’t even want this damned thing anymore,” Pacian yelled with a rising temper. “I didn’t take it to get rich, but you don’t want to believe me? I’m fine with that. Here, Sy, have a priceless heirloom.”

He grabbed the axe and passed it over to the wild girl, who was starting to look like she wanted to run away from this heated argument. “Okay,” she offered weakly, clutching the magnificent weapon.

Pacian glared at Colt. “There, happy now? Oh, wait, I forgot who I was talking to for a moment there.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Colt growled dangerously.

“I think we should cool things down a little,” Nellise offered, becoming distressed by the direction of the discussion.

“You know what I mean,” Pacian continued. “Pining away over a woman so far out of your class you wouldn’t have a shot with her even if you had a thousand sovereigns to your name,” he continued, making Aiden wonder if he was referring to Pacian’s own infatuation.

Colt’s answer came in the form of a fist smashing Pacian in the nose with a loud crack, making him stumble back as Nellise moved between them, arms held high to keep them apart.

“Enough of this!” she ordered. “We’re all tired from the ordeal we went through, and this is not the time to be throwing around either wild accusations or fists.”

“Good point; we did go through an ordeal,” Colt agreed, but with an edge to his voice as he turned to look at Aiden. “You were in favor of it from the beginning, weren’t you, Aiden? When we fought those bloody borer things and were thinking about turning around, you were quick to make us keep going.”

“Colt, this isn’t helping,” Nellise chastised.

“You were up in that little room for a long time, Aiden,” Pacian added, his voice sounding odd because of his broken nose, which he was tending to with a bloodied piece of cloth.

“You were looking for something, right from the beginning, weren’t you?” Colt accused Aiden. He glanced briefly at Sayana, who slowly nodded her head in answer to the unasked question — it was time for an explanation.

“Settle down; it’s not a conspiracy,” Aiden assured them, trying to calm the situation. “I had come to Bracksford to buy a book from the local antique shop. In this book, I had hoped to find some answers to a problem that’s plagued for me for years.

“Instead, I found clues which indicated that what I was looking for was deep within Ferrumgaard. Once I heard it was a long-abandoned city, I knew I’d have trouble getting in there without help. Clavis offered to join up with us, for his own reasons, of course, which I knew nothing about. But it’s true, I haven’t been completely honest with you. I’m sorry, so sorry for getting you into this mess.”

Colt took an ominous step towards him, which was disturbing in itself, but made even more so by the fact that Nellise didn’t try to stop him.

“So yes, I was striving to get to the information I sought the whole time,” Aiden admitted, “but like Clavis, if you were all adamant about not pressing forward due to the risk, I would have gladly turned around and left with you.”

“You cold bastard,” Colt spat. “This kingdom is tearing itself apart, yet you have us on some wild goose chase in an old abandoned city, on the slim chance you might find some musty old book that tells you ... what, exactly?”

This was the part Aiden had been trying to avoid mentioning in the first place, but now he had no choice. So he told them of his thirteenth birthday, the day he had fallen down into that strange cave, discovered the glowing orb that let him see the Battle of Fort Highmarch, but not as it appeared in the historical records.

“All of that was traumatic enough, but the recurring dream I’ve been experiencing ever since ensures I will never forget it,” Aiden finished.

“Except that it isn’t a dream,” Sayana added, speaking for the first time in a while. “That shard of crystal he wears around his neck carries a strange power. When he has that dream, it glows, and I was unfortunate enough to be drawn into his vision.”

“Regardless, the writing I’d seen on the orb before it shattered is unique,” Aiden continued, trying to keep things grounded in reality. “I spent years researching languages and arcane tomes looking for a clue, so maybe I could find out what the orb was, and why I see what I see.”

The only sounds to be heard after he’d finished speaking were the crackling of the fireplace and the wind blowing through the trees outside. “This is all very dubious,” Nellise said after a long minute of digesting this information. “Fascinating, certainly, but to risk all that you have over a dream?

“And one that isn’t even accurate, either, for nobody has seen a dragon in these lands in centuries, and definitely not at the Battle of Fort Highmarch. I’m sorry to say this, Aiden, but this is more likely due to the trauma you suffered in that cave than any other factor.”

“But what gets me,” Colt added with a disappointed voice, “is that you risked our lives over this, and you didn’t even have the guts to tell us what was going on.”

“As a boy, I told people about this after it started happening,” Aiden countered, “but they all thought I was crazy, even my parents. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t go around telling people that the dragon in my dreams wants to eat me, and that I have to get it out of my head.”

“You should have trusted us, Aiden,” Colt muttered, heading back over to his bed and grabbing his gear. “You don’t go risking people’s lives, your friends’ lives, without telling them why. It just isn’t done. I’m going to head back to Bracksford and get drunk, and I’m not interested in anything any of you have to say about that.”

With his gear strapped on, Colt opened the door and stepped out into the bitter cold of the Calespur ranges. Nellise turned and started to tend to Pacian’s broken nose, while Sayana looked to Aiden for what to do next. He didn’t have an answer.

By the time they had packed and left the warm confines of the cabin, none of them were really talking to each other. Nellise was cross with Pacian for his behavior, and Aiden for his duplicity.

In the end, Aiden could see that everyone was tired, stressed, and trying to cope with events they had barely survived. His guilt at lying to them wasn’t helping either, and he wondered if they were going to accept his apology and forgive him.

Sayana seemed to be okay with him, though she remained quiet as she walked nearby. “People are complex,” she answered when Aiden asked if she was okay. She wasn’t wrong, and remained silent for the rest of the journey.

The weather was gloomy as they reached the outskirts of Bracksford at twilight. The gates were still open, and the militia guards welcomed them on their way through, though Aiden didn’t recognize any of their faces.

A number of large merchant wagons were parked nearby, surrounded by townsfolk busily buying up everything in sight, indicating a return to normal life for the men and women of the small farming community.