The Princess Who Went to War

Chapter 18 - The Nightmare

[Calysta]

Night has fallen and we are still a few minutes away from the gates. Kalah has summoned a fire ball to light our way.

We are riding in full speed as the road and the forest in either side can be especially dangerous not just because of monsters, but also bandits. 

Once we arrive at the gates, we jump off of our horses and find Ser Remnand walking towards us, as if he has been waiting for our return.

"I did not expect you to be back so soon." He says.

"Well, having two sorceresses when fighting a dragon makes it look very easy." Ulysses comments. 

"We were also attacked by goblins." Gabriel informs Ser Remnand.

"Injuries?" Ser Remnand asks as he searches for obvious injuries on each one of us.

"A few scratches. Nothing serious." Randall reports. 

"And the source?" Ser Remnand asks, looking at Kalah and I. 

"We couldn't find it." She tells him. Ser Remnand sighs. 

"Surely, in a few more tries we'll be successful." Kalah adds as she turns to look at me, as if seeking for affirmation. I nod in response. 

"There is another mission tomorrow. You can join the team." Ser Remnand tells us. Kalah and I only nod.

Ser Remand then turns to Gabriel, "Report to the Command Room for a much thorough report on the mission." He says as he turns his back and starts to walk towards the Command Room. Gabriel immediately follows, handing his horse's halter to Randall. 

I watch the both of them walk and enter the Command Room before turning to Maximus and caressing his head. 

"You did very well today." I whisper before handing his halter to one of the squires that accompanied us.

"Please bring him back to the stables." I tell him. He simply nods, stands in attention as he bows, and takes Maximus and the other horses to lead them back to the stables.

"Shall we have dinner?" Gwen asks everyone. 

"Please." Randall replies, holding his stomach.

"I'd rather get out of my gear." I tell them. Gwen looks at me, as if unsure of whether or not she should have dinner or come with me back to the quarters. 

I smile at her, "Go have dinner with everyone else. I'm sure you're hungry." I tell her. 

She reluctantly goes as she keeps on looking back as they walk towards the dining halls. I simply smile as I nod every time Gwen looks back to assure her that I'll be fine. 

I head to the quarters on my own, and visit the baths. While submerged in the warm, relaxing water, I think about the day we've had, and how until now, we could not seem to find the source of the magic that has been sending all these monsters to the border.

I truly believed that it was due to my own incapacity that I cannot track it back. But after today, I'm starting to think that our enemy may be a lot stronger and much wiser than what we think. 

If even Kalah, a sorceress that has lived and trained with another sorceress, cannot follow back the magic to its source, I fear it may take us a long time before we finally find out if the rumors are true. 

After my bath, I change into a simple nightgown and quickly head to bed, very tired.

I usually feel most tired when I use my magic to the fullest. It is in days like this where I immediately drift to sleep the moment that I close my eyes. 

So I close my eyes, and it was as if I could feel the heaviness of my body on the bed, and all at once, it feels like I'm floating away, falling deep into sleep. 

I open my eyes to a hazy sunlight, and I immediately know that I am dreaming. I look around me to find that I am in a wide, green field, filled with different kinds of blooming flowers. I look up to see a hazy, but clear, blue sky. 

I look around once again to see that I am all alone in this field, and that I have no idea how I got here. I have never been here before. I am certain that it is all new to me, but it all felt strangely familiar. 

I blink once, and suddenly find the once blue sky dark, and filled with smoke. I look around me once more only to find myself on a cliff. I look down to see raging ocean waves splashing into the rocky bottom. 

I look around to find soldiers and monsters fighting. I look behind me to see a faceless man, his upper garments torn and his chest exposed, revealing the glowing sigil by his collarbone. 

I squint my eyes to see his face, but fail to recognize him. Around us, monsters and soldiers are slain, and the trees and the bushes burn. 

The man in front of me raises his hand, and it glows. Suddenly, I cannot move. I am lifted from the ground as I follow the motion of his hand. It is as if he is controlling me. 

He flings me into the air, and I fall into the raging ocean. I try to summon the wind to save me, but cannot. It is as if I lost all my powers. I struggle as I try to reach for something, anything to keep me from falling. 

I am but a few inches away from the rocky bottom, when I jolt up from my bed, waking up from the nightmare. I try to catch my breath, afraid at how realistic it all seemed. 

I tuck my hair behind my ear as it had stuck to my face because of how much I had been sweating. 

I look at the other side of the room and find Gwen sound asleep on her bed. It must be past midnight. Disturbed, and too afraid to go back to sleep, I slowly open our quarter's door, careful to not make a sound. 

Once outside, I look left and right to make sure that there is nobody else on the hallways at the moment. I then proceed to tiptoe through the halls, afraid that I might wake anyone and they find me in my nightgown.

Once I finally get out of the quarters, I look up to see the full moon shining so brightly. I run my hands down my own arms as I embrace myself, realizing how cold it is at night. 

I start to walk, unsure of where I am going. I find myself looking at the wall and the towers, seeing clearly the soldiers stationed facing out. I think of a way to get up there without being seen, worried to be spotted at this hour in just my nightgown. 

There is usually no one guarding the length of the wall the connects one tower to another. So I decide to walk as close as I can, and use magic to get myself up. 

I summon the wind, lifting me up into the air. I let myself up and onto the wall very slowly, and as quiet as I could. Concentrating on not making a sound or attracting any attention to myself, I failed to notice a man standing there, looking into the forest. 

He goes into the defensive the moment he sees me, and in panic, I stop using my magic, causing me to fall down onto the hard floor of the walls. I wince in pain as I land on my behind. 

"Calysta?" I look up to find a confused Gabriel, looking down on me. 

"Why is he always wherever I am?" I ask myself, embarrassed that he is the one I run into at this moment. 

"I—" I am unsure of what to tell him. He holds out his right hand, offering to help me up. I reluctantly take it, and he pulls me up to stand. 

"Why are you here in this hour? And not taking the stairs?" He asks me. I look at him, and realize that he too, is wearing his sleeping garment under a cloak. It is, after all, the middle of the night. 

"I just wanted a bit of time to think." I answer. He only nods.

"You have your sword?" I ask as I realize that even though he is in his sleeping garment, he is still wearing his belt. 

He grabs its handle, as if conscious of its presence as he says, "You can never be too sure."  

I look to the foggy forest, trying to avert his gaze, unsure of what to say next as I wrap my arms around myself, still feeling cold.

I jolt when I feel something over my shoulders, only to realize that Gabriel is draping his own cloak on me. 

He chuckles at my reaction, probably taking notice of how on guard I am. 

"It's alright. You can use it." I tell him. He does not listen, and fully drape his cloak on me. It looks small and thin on him, but now that it is on me, I realize that it is fairly heavy and warm. 

On me, the cloak's ends touches the ground, considering our height difference. I look at him to see that he's down to his thin, white shirt now. 

"What did you need to think about?" Gabriel asks me as he also looks at the forest below us. 

"I awoke from a bad dream." I answer, honestly. I feel him look at me, likely intrigued. 

"It can be hard for me to fall back into sleep when I wake up from bad dreams." I add as I also turn to look up to him.

"How do you deal with bad dreams at the Palace?" He asks me. I smile as I remember.

"Lilianna." I reply, "I usually sneak into my little sister's room and lay with her." I tell him. This conversation just made me miss Lili all the more. 

"You're close?" He asks. 

"I'm closer to Lili than I am to Atticus." I confess. He laughs at this, and I do too.

"Does it make sense?" I ask, still laughing. He nods. 

"Your brother is very hard to comprehend. He's strict at one moment and aloof the next." He tells me. I nod. 

"Exactly." I agree. And then, it all became silent again.

"I should probably head back." I say, cutting our conversation short as I turn to face him completely. He too, turns to face me.

"If Gwen awakes and finds me missing, she is bound to go out running." I say as I look to the inner side of the wall and at the building of the quarters and chuckle. 

I start to take off the cloak from my shoulders, ready to hand it back, when Gabriel places his hand on mine, stopping me. I look at him in shock of the sudden contact.

He says nothing and only looks at me in the eyes. I open my mouth to say something when—

"We are under attack!" We both quickly turn when one of the soldiers standing guard by the tower exclaims and the tower bells start ringing, alerting those who are sound asleep. At an instant, soldiers and knights run out of the quarters. 

Squires run to the armory to fetch weapons for the soldiers. The healers head out to see the commotion, only to run back inside the infirmary, probably to set everything up to get ready to receive injured soldiers. 

"Look out!" Gabriel exclaims as he unsheathes his sword and slices a goblin's head off. It was climbing over the wall. I look down at the wall to see dozens of goblins making their way up. I look to the forest to see more than a dozen of giants emerging from the woods. 

I cannot believe my eyes at the number of monsters attacking, as I get summon the winds to defend myself and the wall.

The border is under siege.