Chapter 30: Stolen Sleep

Finn shot up in the darkness, his hand reaching for a dagger in his belt that wasn't there. He sat there in bed, drenched in sweat and panting. It had only been a dream. It had been vivid, but still a dream. He had had the same dream before. It was more a replay of a memory, one he wished he could forget.

I'm sorry mother.

“Get away! Get away from me!” The voice was a woman's and came from downstairs. He was up in a flash and his light feet sprung him down the hallway and downstairs with ease.

Velajn was on the floor in the middle of the living room, her straight hair a messy, hawk’s nest. Tears were streaming down her face and she was backing away from the couch as if an invisible creature was right there, coming for her.

Almost instinctively, he went to the couch and kicked the air where she was looking. Nothing was there. He threw himself onto his knees next to her and wrapped an arm around her terrified body.

“AHHH!” She screamed into his ear as she tried to wriggle from his grasp. He was strong enough to hold her but thought better of it. Instead, he grabbed onto her arm before she could get fully away from him.

“It’s okay, it's only me.”

She stopped tugging away from him and her eyes relaxed, her heavy breathing slowing. “Finn?” She looked into his eyes and saw a very small hint of purple in her irises, a sign of Vixen heritage.

“I- I’m sorry,” She whispered, her throat raspy and thick with snotty tears.

“Don’t be sorry, it's okay.” He let go of her arm but she didn't pull away from him. Instead, she scooted closer and pulled her arms around him. He held her like that, repeating that it was okay as she began to cry into his chest.

Several moments went by like this when a soft hand touched his shoulder. He glanced up to see who he already knew it was. He nodded to Hazel, “It’s okay, tell everyone to go back to bed.”

She nodded.

“What the bloody hell is goin’ on in here?” Hedge yelled, staggering out of his room and then stopped in his tracks as he locked eyes with Finn.

Without another word, he backed back into his room and quietly shut the door. Hazel made a nonconsenting chuckle and went upstairs to the others.

Velajn wasn't crying any longer. Her breath was now surprisingly calm and her grip around him loosened. As a small whistle came from her mouth, he knew she had fallen asleep. He may have not been very strong but even he could pick her up.

As carefully as he could, he placed her back on the couch and whispered, “Get some sleep. May your next dream be peaceful.”

It was.

#

Even with whatever happened in the middle of the night, I slept so well that nothing in my body even ached. Oh wait, that’s just how I am now.

I rubbed an itch on my leg with my cursed shoes and then got out of bed, putting my clothes on and taking a swig of my very own cleansing wash. Even with nothing aching, though, I still did a good old morning stretch. It still felt good, even if it was just a placebo.

I felt my long hair as I did so, it was a tangled mess. I realized then I hadn’t actually looked at my reflection since I came into this world two days ago - or was it three? - my hair had to be a rooster’s nest.

I began to slowly brush with my fingers as I walked into the hallway. Gronan was just beginning to go toward the stairs. “Who’s the sleepy head today?” I asked with a smirk.

“You still got up after me.”

I went downstairs with him. Hazel, Finn, and Hedge were already sitting at the dining table sipping on large mugs and eating bread while Velajn was fast asleep on the couch. “Good morning,” I whispered.

“Mornin’,” Hedge whispered back and got out of his chair, losing half his height in the process. He went to the counter and poured me and Gronan each a mug and took a slice of bread. I took a sip from the mug. Ale, of course. I took a bite of the bread and through my chewing, I said, “That’s some good sourdough, Hedge.”

“Thank ye, it’s my grandma’s recipe.”

“Well, she knew what she was doing,” I sat down next to Hazel at the table. I knew the answer was going to be of no avail, but I had to ask nonetheless. “Hedge, do you know what coffee is?”

He gave me a smirk. “Hehe, sorry lad, but I don’t think coffee is in this world or anywhere in Gandria.”

I sighed and took another sip of my ale, “It was worth a shot.” I pointed my mug toward the couch, “Was she the one screaming last night?”

Finn nodded, “A nightmare,” His voice was soft and I saw he had deep bags under his eyes. If he had slept, it hadn’t been very good. “It’s understandable, given what she has been through.”

As if on cue, Velajn sat slowly up from the couch. Finn was to her in an instant. “Huh,” I said as I watched him begin to talk to her about something I couldn’t hear.

“He is not always an asshole,” Hazel answered my unspoken question.

“He wasn’t a complete one last night, either. When I was going to my room, he gave me a genuine apology.”

She lifted her eyebrow at me, clearly surprised herself, “Really?”

“Yeah, shook my hand and everything.”

It was her turn to say, “Huh.” We all watched Finn take Velajn by the hand and pull her slowly from the couch. He took a small vial of clear wash from his pocket and handed it to her. “He has always been sweet on women.”

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“I see, so does he take this as his chance to flirt.”

Hazel laughed and tried to hide it behind her mug but failed.

“What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. But I do not think it is like that. I do not really quite understand what it is, honestly. For my twenty-eight years alive, Finn has always remained a bit of a fascinating mystery.”

“You’re twenty-eight?” I knew the question had been a mistake as it came out. I straightened. “Sorry, just meant you look really good for twenty-eight.”

She let out another small laugh, she didn’t try to hide this one. “Us elves, well half-elves, we do not age as quickly as humans. We start out at about the same rate as humans but as we age it slows down, so by the time I am in my eighties, I will look as if I am in my forties. Though,” She looked at her hand wrapped around the mug. “I may never quite age again, depending on how high leveled we become as Adventurers.”

I looked into my mug and could see a small reflection of myself staring back at me, the first time I had truly looked at it this whole time. I tried to remember what I looked like before but couldn’t, even so, I knew something was off.

It’s called having someone else’s body.

If we survived long enough to become higher-level Adventurers, this body that already wasn't mine would maybe never age. “You know,” I looked away from the mug to Hazel. “I don't know how old I am.”

“Really? You must have some sort of idea though?”

I thought about it, “I'd say that on Earth, I was probably around twenty-three. But I might be off a year or two.”

“Would you like a mug of ale,” Hedge asked as Velajn came to our table.

She looked at the pot for a moment. “My mother always told me drinking is for fools,” She said quietly. “But, I feel like a fool right now.”

“Sometimes being a fool builds character,” Finn said, pouring her a mug before Hedge could get up and help.

“Then your character should be the best built I have ever seen,” Hazel remarked.

He ignored her and gave Velajn the mug.

She took a sip, “Oh wow, that’s really good. Did you make this, Hedge?”

“Sure did, it was the only alcohol the previous master approved of.”

We all finished our bread and drink with only Velajn still having her breakfast. I thought it might’ve been hard for us to keep Velajn in here as we journeyed outside but when Finn told her she seemed actually glad. “We’ll be back by dark, okay?” Finn asked.

“That’s okay, Hedge has a library in his room so I’ll occupy my time with that.”

“You have a library?” I asked.

“O’ course, readin’ is important.”

“How did you get the books, though?”

“Mostly from the master before the previous one.”

“There was a previous one?”

“O’ course, there were four of ‘em.”

“Huh, the more I learn about this place, the more confused I become.”

We left and the robe pulled itself onto me.

The journey down the path was long and honestly a little boring. It was just the same trees with the strange, swirling pattern that made up the bark all around us and the small river flowing beside us. The day went on, the sun slowly beating down on us. Though, I had to say that as an Adventurer, the heat wasn’t as bad as it used to be. Plus, I wasn’t in Texas where the sun radiated a solid one hundred degrees or so every summer afternoon. “Wait, do you call the sun, sun?”

“What does that even mean?” Finn asked.

I pointed up at the sky toward the shining beacon. “What do you call that?”

“Oh, it's the Svun.”

I had to stifle a laugh. “The Svun?”

He shrugged, “It comes from some ancient goddess.”

“A goddess’ son, actually,” Hazel said. “Her name was Satie and her son was named Svun. He sacrificed his life to glow bright enough to illuminate the world. So the myth says. Does your solar system have a star?”

“You know what a solar system is?”

She reeled on me, “Of course we do, why’d you assume we don’t understand even the most basic of science?”

I put my hands up, “Woah, uh, sorry I offended you. We do have a star, we named it after some Roman God named sol. Over the years though, we began to call it the sun.”

She made a small laugh, “Sol’s Sun and Svun’s Svun suck the sage Adventurer's souls.”

I blinked, “Did you come up with that on the spot?”

She shrugged, “I used to make tongue twisters as a kid.”

Eventually, the Svun was straight up in the sky and as it began to fall back down, the trees began to peter out until we were in a grassland, the river still flowing next to us. In the distance, we could see a town, this one as big as Thandesia had been and even had a small, stone wall surrounding it.

Immediately, the twins spotted something wrong. “Be careful,” Hazel said.

“There’s a hole in the wall,” Finn said.

Everyone pulled their weapons out and I could feel the energy inside of me begin to slowly thrum through my body into the staff as I became weary of a battle to come. I focused on the wall and saw the hole they were talking about. It was big and as we got closer to the walls of the town I realized just how big it truly was. The hole was almost perfectly round and went to nearly the top of the wall which had to be at least twenty feet tall.

We were nearly to the walls, only a few more minutes of walking and we’d be at the front gates. Someone appeared at the top of a wall, an archer. Then twenty more. “Who goes there?” One with a red plume yelled down toward us.

I relaxed a little. If there were guards here, maybe whatever had broken through was no longer alive. “We are Adventurers!” I called out.

“Why are your weapons drawn?”

“We saw the hole in your walls, has there been a problem?”

“Not anymore!” A deep voice called from behind us. We each turned around in sync to see a tall, lightly purple-skinned man with massive, muscular arms walking toward us. He had one long scar that ran from the corner of his forehead, past one eye, and through his large, bushy beard. Wrapped around his left arm was a big chain to which he held the hooked, bladed edge to. In his other hand, he held another chain which held at the end of it - many feet behind him - a massive, furry, round creature that looked almost like a mix between a rat and a mole. The creature was lying still on its back with wounds all over. “I have slayed the beast!” The man yelled to the guard and then in one smooth motion, hurled the monster-attached chain over his head. The monster whirled into the air and crashed back onto the ground next to us with a heavy crunch.

As I stared at the creature, my world slowed:

Gardel:

A large creature and a large nuisance as these beasts often enjoy burrowing holes into the ground that are big enough to swallow houses. Not only this, but once they create a home, they become quite protective of it.

I could see it closely now, all of the wounds jagged, clearly coming from this man’s blades. The creature’s mouth was contorted in pain, its eyes bloodshot with pure hatred and rage. “And now, you can feed your entire town for a week!” The man yelled.

The guard nodded, “Very well, thank you, Adventurer!”

The man pulled on the chain and it tore from the creature, sending blood to fly across the ground. I felt a fleck of the gore touch my cheek. I wiped it away, watching as the man wrapped the chain around his arm in a practiced manner.

We each stood still, watching him come to us. He let go of his bladed chains, letting them fall beside him, and outstretched his hand toward me. “Good to meet some other Adventurers out here.”

For some reason, I felt the urge to not shake his hand but did so anyway. Immediately, I understood my apprehension. His hand was crushingly strong and I was surprised when he let go that my hand wasn’t broken. “What is your name?”

“La’Quet.”

His eyebrow stretched upward, “An interesting name, but you seem to be a fine leader.”

I was taken aback by that, “We, uh, don't have a leader. We're just a group,” I pointed at each member individually as I called out their name. “Finn, Hazel, and Gronan.”

He nodded but kept his attention on me, as if he were still certain I was a leader. “If you had been here a day earlier, I could’ve used your help tracking down this beast. But, that’s okay,” He gestured toward the creature and gave a sly smile. “Clearly, I had it handled."

Arrogant bastard.