Chapter 12

I dreamed that night. Not just nightmares of the Boss' betrayal and the shooting of Richie. I had another peculiar dream...

I woke in a building, feeling heavy. I looked down and noticed I was wearing a full suit of medeival chain mail armor. Suddenly, a man wielding a hand axe rushed towards me. I instinctively brought my hand up, and the sword I didn't know I carried had been pulled from my belt,gently pushing the axe right past my head, making a Whoosh! sound as it slashed around my ear. I continued the arc of my blade, and buried the light weapon in the man's chest. He fell to the ground, coughing up blood, and in that moment, reminded me of my former leader's treachery. I continued to walk forward through the stone hallway, occasionally passing a mounted moose's head or two swords crossed behind a shield hung on the wall. The roof started curving about twenty feet in the air, so gently that the torches that lit the halls could not remove the shroud of darkness above. Suddenly, I heard a clapping sound. I whirled around, and saw a man who held himself in a way that said, "Respect me, Fear me, Worship me." Acting almost against my will, I kneeled down in front of the man, handing him my sword above my head. The man, who appeared to be in his thirties, but with wise eyes much beyond his years, spoke to me in a voice that sounded like many talking at once; "You have done well, but defeating a senseless brute is nothing at all like facing a trained warrior. I looked up, expecting to see the man in the dark green robe he was wearing before. When I looked up, however, I saw he was glaring at me with smoldering eyes of hatred, with his angry head set upon his shoulders, where the cuirass of armor he was wearing began at his jugular. I heard a Shink! sound as the sword I had presented him with was pulled out of it's scabbard, this time around the man's belt. I stared cross-eyed at the point, which was touching my nose so gently and gingerly, it didn't even break the skin. I pushed myself backwards as he pushed the blade forward, the previous being a miniscule amount faster. I rolled backwards, and did an akward kind of dance as I dodged his thrusts, backing towards the wall. The wall!!! I remembered the swords crossed behind the shield, and hurried towards the nearest set. I kicked the wall, but these ancient sandals don't do much in the way of toe protection. The only thing I managed to do was hurt my foot. The man charged at me; I sidestepped and he collided into the wall. I saw he kept a cool face the whole time. Dang. People get reckless when they were angry. Kind of hoping on that. When the man collided in to the wall, a shield fell loose, but no sword. I blocked an attack or two, but that thing was heavy, so I had to drop it. He swung towards me again and a sword fell this time as I jumped out of the way. I picked it up as I rolled forward, getting between his legs. I brought my sword up hard and fast, catching him on the wrist. The sword flew into the distance and I heard it clang on the floor far away. I quickly swung my sword a few times at his chest, and the light blows brought him to his knees. He looked at me, not pleadingly, as one might expect, but questioningly, as if saying; Well? What will you do? I answered his unsung question by raising my blade. As I brought it down, however, I noticed it feeling lighter and lighter. I looked up, and the sword was fading out of existence! As it was less than an inch from his neck, the sword dissapeared entirely, and my hand was an empty fist. He looked at me with a cross between an all-knowing look and a smirk. "It is time." the man said calmly. A bright light suddenly filled my vision, as if a flare went off. I started to feel woosy, and I was unconscious before I hit the floor...