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After what seems like hours later, they came to a small ruined abbey in the middle
of the woods. The roof was partially collapsed and heavy growth surrounded the whole
stone building.
She looked at it and simply said,”It’ll work.”
Letting go of him she scooted back a bit to get off the horse. D stepped down off
the horse and looked around quickly, pulling the horse with her still on it into the abbey.
“My father showed me this place, long ago,”he explained.
Getting off the horse she landed with a quiet thump as her shoes hit the ground.
She walked over to it,”Wow. I bet it was a beautiful abbey once.”
As her voice trailed off D stated,”It was destroyed by bandits.”
“Terrible,”she whispered.
“It is the course of things,”he said simply,”Shall we?”
D gestured towards the chapel area which seemed totally destroyed.
As Kat walked towards it picking her steps carefully she replied,”Sure.”
D led the way carefully, stepping over the fallen blocks of marble and shale,
making his way to the altar as Kat :followed behind him, holding her things to her with
one hand, the other at her side. Upon reaching the altar he reached under it, pressing
down on a hidden lever which opened the trapdoor behind it.
“Down here,”he said quietly.
Looking down into it awe Kat followed him. It was completely dark as they
descended into the faintly lit hallway. As they walked down the hall, at one point she
placed her free hand along the wall for a few seconds, and ran it along then quickly
removed it again.
“What's down here?” she quietly asked as the hallway split before them. D led her
down the right fork and picked up a torch on the wall. After receiving no answer from
him she shrugged slightly,”Ok. I guess you don’t have to tell me.”
As they slowed to a stop they entered a large victorian style chamber, forming a
sort of apartment. Though it reeked of age and had cobwebs hanging everywhere it had
been well kept.
She looked around the place in wonder, commenting quietly,”This place is
amazing.”
“This place houses many of the restless dead,”he explained as he walked over to
the fireplace and threw the torch in, a roaring fire jumping to life.
“This place is protected,”he continued,”Though not very well.”
Giving a nod the large brass doors behind them slammed shut as he said,”We will
be safe here until morning.”
Kat was still looking around and jumped slightly when the doors closed,”Ok..”
Her voice trailed off as she focused on him and walked over to the fire. D sat
down by the fire, leaning his back against a nearby couch. The heavy pattering of rain was
heard from above as Kat sat down by the fire, sitting her things beside herself. As Kat sat
there she held her hands out infront of her toward the fire to warm them. As she did this
the shirt, which was too large for her, slipped down off her shoulder a bit and the one
sleeve slid down to cover her hand slightly. As she began to roll the sleeve up again she
spoke up.
“So....”
As D sat quietly by the fire he said after a moment,”You must be tired. You can
use the bed if you like.”
She looked at him, the shirt still down off her shoulder,”That’s ok I’m fine on a
couch, and you’ve probably been traveling for a while so you need the good night’s rest
more than me.”
“I'll be here. If any of the restless dead happen to break through the wards, I'll have
to deal with them,”he explained as Kat shuddered, thinking of the implications.
“I'd help fight with you but.. I don't have any weapons,”she said as she looked
down at the ground.
D was silent then said,”Get some sleep. we have a long fight tomorrow.”
Kat played with a ring on her finger as her hand lay in her lap. She looked up at
him then and asked,”But what about you? You’ve been... er well You’ll have to fight
without me for a bit...”
She struggled to find some excuse but failed as D sat there in complete silence.
She looked down and with a sigh said dejectedly,”Fine...”
She carefully sat the flute in a safe place on a nearby table, fluffing the dress
remains up to use as a pillow. With this done she curled up on the floor by the fire,
snuggling her head down into the dress. D gave her a sidelong glance and shook his head,
then turned back to watch the fire.
She sat up a bit and looked at him as she explained,”If you're not going to be
comfortable then I won't make myself any more so.. I'd feel bad after how nice you've
been if you had to suffer an uncomfortable night while I was comfortable.”
“Your self sacrifice is admirable, but foolish,”D said quietly,”Sleep where you
want. I'll be here.”
A slightly annoyed look crossed her face as she almost yelled at him,”You are
probably the most stubborn, quiet guy I’ve ever met.”
When D didn’t say anything in repy she continued as she shook her head,”Oh well.
Not much I can do to change that is there...”
She lay back down and snuggled into the dress again. As she began to drift into a
sleep she quietly mumbled up,”Good night D...”
In an equally quiet voice with a hint of some hidden emotion he replied,”Sleep
well.”
She made a contented little noise and fell asleep after that. D simply sat there
watching the fire, alerted to any noise around him. A few hours later she moved a little in
her sleep, nothing out of the ordinary til an odd frightened look came over her face. D
didn’t really notice til she began mumbling a few incoherrant things and turned over a few
times in rapid succession, not waking at all.
At that point he merely glanced over at her, watching her for a moment. She
mumbled a few things, mostly quiet cries of ‘no’, ‘mother no’ and ‘leave her alone.’ A
few moments later another quiet cry escaped her lips as a tear rolled down her cheek. D
reached over and gently touched her shoulder and in her dream her agressor grabbed her
shoulder. In the wakeful world she began to thrash as she did the same in her dream
combining it with mutterings of ‘get away from me’, ‘no more’, ‘leave me alone’ and the
like. As she began thrashing D caught her arm and shook her, trying to wake her. As the
nightmare took a turn for the most horrifying part she woke suddenly, still thrashing for a
moment in D’s strong hands.
As she looked straight ahead her eyes were wide, a few more tears had fallen from
each and in D’s hands she still shook a bit from the horror.
D was silent then quietly said,”You had a nightmare.”
She closed her eyes and looked down, trying to slow her breathing as she
whispered,”I have them all the time. One would think I'd be used to it after so long but....”
As her voice trailed off she shook her head slightly, trying to erase some of the
images. D sat in silence as she mostly calmed down though every so often she still
shuddered a little as another vision surfaced for a moment. Finally she made eye contact
with D and he saw her eyes had a haunted quality to them.
She looked down again, somehow knowing he either didn’t know what to say or
wouldn’t say anything. D instead sat up and with his hand still resting on her shoulder
said,”Try and get some rest.”
Shaking her head she replied,”That's impossible now. I can't sleep after that. I can
never sleep again after the nightmares come.”
“Tomorrow will be a difficult day,”D stated.
She sighed and said,”I know, believe me, I wish I could sleep.. I wish I wasn't
plagued with all these damned memories.. no... not memories.. nightmares. But I'm not
that lucky.”
“Look not to the past for demons, but the future for answers,”D said, trying to
find something to say to help her.
Shaking her head she stood, letting his hand fall from her shoulder.
“Somehow I knew you’d say something like that. I’ll be ready to go in the
morning when you are,”she said as she looked at him, then turned and picked up the flute.
She went to sit in one of the chairs in the corner, sitting down and just staring at
the small wooden flute as D merely nodded then turned back to the fire. As the night
droned on towards morning the last words he heard her utter were a whisper.
“Mother....Father......”