Karg: 771 BCThe Old Mill was crowded, the halls filled with the sound of a dozen people breathing and the handful of discordant notes of the few who snored, every room had people in. Early enough in the morning that the tavern downstairs had finally emptied and the owners had mostly retreated to their rooms Lorianna slept quietly and comfortably on the rooms single bed, the lack of rooms had forced them to share a room. Though there had been some debate over both of them offering to take the floor, she had in the end lost and earned the bed. He was always clever enough to make sure she couldn't easily refuse his chivalry, and if she was honest she did not really want to, she rather liked being treated as though she was someone important, like a princess, especially since he never made her feel helpless. As the night wears on however, soft grunts and the sound of someone turning restlessly on the floor begin to disturb her. It's not until he screams that she finally wakes, jolting upright trying, and failing, to sleepily remember where her sword was. Before realising the screaming came from the scared looking man on the floor
Lorianna drops off the bed, brushing unruly blonde hair behind her ears only to have half of it fall forward again as soon as she lets it go. Kneeling next to him she rests a hand on his shoulder looking into his eyes she speaks gently. “Are you alright?”
The door bangs as someone hammers on it and the Darkonese voice calls out in accented and irritated common.
“What's going on in there? Is everything alright?”
He soothes his features and looks to the door, “All is fine, I just fell and cracked a rib, I think.”
The light tautness in his voice from waking in such a manor makes the ruse fairly believable, grumbling is heard from the other side of the door. “Try to wake the whole inn next time why don't you...”
He takes a few deep breaths, watching the door as footsteps are hard retreating down the hall and a couple of doors slam shut. “Please would you tell me what really just happened?”
She asks as she sits on the floor next to him, when he returns his attention to Lorianna she finds no trace of the previous terror she thought she heard from him.
"It's nothing to worry about, milady. I am completely fine, just a bad dream is all."
He grins, but Lorianna can see it's off, even if she'd be hard pressed to put her finger on how. “I might not have gotten much opportunity to see this lately, but I know what it should look like, and I suspect that rather more than a bad dream is required to cause you to scream so.”
"Just a bad dream, I assure you. I am usually quite used to them, but I panicked this time for some reason... My apologies for waking you up."
Lorianna sighs. “This is why you didn't want to fall asleep around me isn't it? Please tell me about it.”
She pauses then adds hastily, “I mean if that is helpful or not too upsetting for you, you don't have to if that would upset you.”
She frowns looking down at her knees. "Are you sure you want to hear it? It is not exactly pretty or pleasant. As for it being helpful or not, I haven't a clue. I never told anyone before."
She continues to frown, but nods, “Quite sure, yes.”
"There was a siege, or rather an assault on the walls of a city that stands alone on barren lands. Ladders are raised, arrows fly, people die... I see some of them die. One of them gets crushed by his horse after it gets shot by an arrow in the eye and falls down. Another, he is the first up a ladder... He loses most of his neck. A dozen or so die to arrows, a young man gets disembowelled...”
Lorianna sighs and leans against him, resting her head on his shoulder as he talks. He automatically puts an arm around her, idly fiddling with the sleeve of her sleep shirt as he continues.
“After a while and a lot of death, my vision shifts. I find myself running together with a group of other people, inside the city walls. We are not running very fast, most of the group is either too old, too young or too tired. It doesn't take long for us to be seen by a group of three soldiers, wearing the armour of the assaulting side, looting the spoils of war no doubt. We get rounded up, like two dozen sheep and three shepherd hounds.”
Lorianna’s gaze shifts to his hand on her sleeve and she smiles faintly despite the dark story. “Stopping for the first time, I get a chance to look at myself. I am young, a child of 12 years old at most. Everything is dead quiet as the soldiers discuss how they are going to deal with us, except for an old man. He is wheezing, trying to suck in what little air he can after all that running. One of the soldiers yell something, probably telling him to stop, but the old man doesn't hear it, or can't stop. A second warning doesn't come, instead one of the soldiers grabs the old man by the collar of his dirty clothes and drags him over to his friends, in front of us. He lets go of his spear and draws his sword, but one of the other soldiers has a better idea. They drag him over to the nearby sign post and tie his hands above his head to the signpost with his own shirt. They start to play with the old man, poking him with their spears and cutting him with the sword, a little deeper each time... The old man can't even scream, he is still wheezing, gasping for breath, and the three men laugh...”
Lorianna winces, shifting her arm behind him, half hugging him and reaching her other hand across to grasp his, earning a gentle hand squeeze. Before he begins idly stroking her hand with his thumb now that her sleeve is no longer close to his other hand. “I find myself getting up; I see them some of the sheep are sobbing, or turning their head. I start walking towards the soldiers, they are facing away towards the sign post. I can see the hilt of a dagger on the belt of the one with the sword, and before I have time to think about or even realize what I am doing, I start running and grab the dagger, stabbing the soldier with the sword in the side. He lets out a muffled curse and slashes behind him with the sword, but he swings too high, or I am too short, and I jump back. There I stand, a small boy with a dagger in his hand shaking like a leaf in the storm, against three trained soldiers.”
His thumb stills a moment and Lorianna squeezes his hand. “At least it's quick, before long I am lying on the ground with blood spreading around me, and through my vision. All I can hear is the soldiers laughing, it rings in my ears as the red turns to black. It is strange that I can taste the blood, my blood, but I cannot smell it. I can never smell blood in my dreams..."
Lorianna sighs as he finishes recounting the dream, “That's horrible, I'm really sorry, that happens every night?”
"Don't be, please. It happens most nights if I let it, but I usually do exercise of some sorts before I sleep. I found that it helps if I am too exhausted to dream."
Lorianna frowns, tiredness weighs on her and the night is still pitch black so she knows she has not been asleep long. She leans back against the bed, pulling him with her he ends up leaning on her. “It's still early, I'm tired and I need to sleep, and you cannot go exercise after saying you cracked a rib.”
She pauses a moment to consider before continuing. “Let me help, I'll wake you before it gets too bad.”
"Thank you, milady. You needn't worry yourself, I'll be fine. I am sure that was it for the night, I should be able to get some sleep now."
He says closing his eyes. Lorianna sighs and pulls the pillow over to the edge of the bed to rest on and in short order, falls asleep. With Elric feigning sleep for the rest of the night...