The Flame of Catalina

Nightmare

Chay's POV

I came back to the cottage cold but cleaner. I entered through the back door shivering and saw the squirrels roasting over the fire. Garin was sitting in front of the fire, and when I approached him, he stood.

“Tell me what happened” Garin’s bright blue eyes focused on me.

“I already did.” I looked him in the eye before looking to the fire. Its warmth would be needed as I thought of the past few nights.

Garin seemed unimpressed with my answer and his brow furrowed. “Chay.”

 I signed and replied with the details of stealing the crops and getting caught. I told him about the cell but kept my attack to myself. I told him about the guards taking me to the coach and how I escaped. While I spoke, Garin got the squirrels off the fire and offered me a stick. By the time I finished, he looked equal parts panicked and confused.

“Why were they taking you somewhere else? You just took a satchel of vegetables. At most, they should have given you a lashing. Are they going to look for you now?”

“Breath, Garin. I am home and safe, and I will hunt locally with you while we put this behind us. I am sure they were just trying to use me as an example. Please try and move on. I want to.”

He stared at me and after a few beats, he shook his head and grumbled his agreement. “You must be exhausted. Do you want to go lay down?”

I nodded and moved to the hay-filled bed I slept on. I snuggled under my thin wool blanket and closed my eyes to rest.

******

I opened my eyes back in the cell. I was chained by the ankle again and in my tattered shirt. My hands were tied together with rope behind me and the cell door was wide open. Panic sank in as the guard opened the wooden door of the prison chamber, smirking across his thin lips. I tried to scream but couldn’t find my voice. 

He approached me, herding me back into the corner of the cell. I hit the wall and he claimed the small distance between us. I tried to look away but he grabbed my hair and forced me to look at him. His foul breath fanned across my face. I began shaking and tears silently rolled down my cheeks as his hands roughly fondled my small breasts through the ripped fabric. His hands traveled down to the waistline of my pants. He pushed them down just enough to expose me to him. He shoved his legs between mine to open them up, bringing himself even closer to me. I felt the leather of his armor on my skin and then his hands moved from me to him to free himself. I find my voice and scream…

“Wake up!” Garin yelled shaking me from my dream.

My eyes snapped open and I tried to regain my panting breath. I looked around the inside of the dark interior of our cottage and focused on the low glow of the fire embers that remained from Garin’s dinner fire. My face was wet from sweat across my brow and my heart felt like it was trying to beat out of my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I said once I got control of my breathing. “It was just a dream.”

“Can you please tell me what this one was about? You haven’t slept through a night in three days. I need something so I can help.” Garin pleaded to me with tired eyes.

I couldn’t tell him about this. It is something he would worry about when it wouldn’t happen again. We would make do this winter and find new stealing grounds this spring. “Losing you in the woods,” I lied easily enough.

He sounded exasperated as he informed me that he didn’t believe me and stood up from his position kneeling next to my bed. He moved back into his and fell asleep several minutes later. I stayed awake listening to the crackle of the embers burning low until it started to grow light outside.

I don’t remember falling asleep but when I woke, the fire was blazing and Garin was dressing to go outside. I sat up and my rustling pulled his gaze to me. 

“I’m going to hunt for something to eat. We need more meat. The plums we found yesterday aren’t enough for today as well.” He noticed me starting to get out of bed. 

“No, I can go. I won’t be far from home, and you look like you’ve been from Hel and back.”

“If I’m being honest, I feel it. Don’t go past the stream and be back no later than mid-day.” I said laying back down. Garin hadn’t been wrong when he said it was the third night of not sleeping. I couldn’t though, not after how helpless I felt, and how close the guard got. Sleeping for long led to dreams that brought me back to that moment. Maybe I did need to talk about it but it couldn’t be with Garin. I closed my eyes and fell in and out of restless sleep until I heard one of the doors to the cottage close.

I stretched my arms up over my head with a smile that slipped off my face when my eyes met the light green eyes of the cloaked man. I froze in place terrified to speak, confused how he knew where to find me. He seemed proud of himself to have startled me and began speaking in that deep voice I remembered. 

“Your cottage is surrounded by men of the royal Baivorii family. We have your broth-“

I jumped out of bed at the mention of Garin. “How do you have my brother?! He has nothing to do with my crime. I was the one who stole the vegetables.”

“If you come with me, we will let your brother go.” He said that smug look, not leaving his handsome face.

“Where do you plan to take me? I am the only one here for Garin. He isn’t even thirteen. I will never touch anything of the Baivorii family again. Ple-“.

“Enough!” The power of his voice silenced me, and I broke eye contact to look at my feet. He held such authority at such a young age, and he terrified me. “You must appear before the crown. If you come without a fight now and promise to stand before your king, your brother may come with us.”

I took a breath to build my courage and looked up. I simply nodded and went to put on my boots next to the back door. I moved past him to the front of the cottage when he stopped me. 

“Put the cloak Guntherson gave you. It is cold out there and you don’t look like you can handle the two day journey without.” My breath caught in my throat as my heart thundered in my ears. His name was Guntherson.

I had stopped so the cloaked man grabbed the cloak and handed it to me. I reached to grab it with shaky hands and slipped in on. I had to take another deep breath to keep the bile back. I looked at the man to see his intelligent eyes studying my actions. I tucked my hands under the cloak and walked through the door. 

Outside I faced four soldiers on horses and a soldier on the bench of a horse-drawn coach similar to the one I escaped. This one, however, had windows. I saw Garin banging on the glass, trying to get out but the carriage door was clearly locked this time. I walked to the door and the soldier moved from the bench to open the door for me. Garin tried to push through but he saw it was me, he sat back down and moved over to give me room to sit on his side. He looked over at me as I watched the guard close and lock the door.

“What’s happening?” the anxiety in Garin’s voice matching how I felt. I explained that we were going with them together and to stay calm. The cloaked man opened the door a crack to speak to us.

“We will start our journey to the castle. It is a few says trek, so we'll stop right before nightfall to make camp.” He went to close the door, but I stopped him. 

“Wait, what is your name?” 

He looked me in the eyes “My name is Finnr” and he closed the door, got on the bench with the other soldier, and signaled us off on our journey.