<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Nearing the end of Link 1. -LurkingWolf ___ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> Victor had managed to fall asleep before their arrival by some miracle. It was clear by the chaotic state of the bedding, however, that his was not a restful sleep. His face twitched back and forth from fear to rage and back again, never seeming to resolve itself as though even he had no clear idea how he should feel.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Nathan shook his head in concern for the younger scout, but he had no power over dreams to be able to aid the young man in whatever internal struggle he was facing. He silently gave Balrog a friendly pat on the shoulder, and left to go to his own bed across the room. Balrog nodded to his commander, but turned to watch the boy for a few moments more. He could barely imagine the thoughts that tainted Victor’s dreams this evening.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Victor continued to toss, occasionally muttering in his sleep, raising and lowering his voice as though trapped in an argument with an unseen opponent. Finally, as his nightmares reached a fever pitch, he leapt from his bed with a strangled gasp, his hand sliding uselessly across the plain surface of the small bedside table before his momentum tipped his body over the side of the bed and sent him tumbling to the wooden floor in a heap. He was quick to rise back to his feet, eyes flashing about in panic as he searched the table desperately.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “Looking for this?” Balrog, who had taken a seat and made himself comfortable nearby, held out a short knife in a plain leather scabbard. Victor eyed him for a few moments before his face was briefly colored by anger. He turned away, coughing drily as he tried to catch his breath, frowning and ignoring the older scout for a few moments as he walked over to wear a basin of water had been provided for the use of the barracks. He removed the top in a careless gesture that almost sent it rattling to the floor, a fact which he ignored as he splashed his face with the cool water once, twice, and again. He leaned over the small tub for a few moments afterwards, chest heaving as he tried to calm himself. At least his awakening had not roused any of the others in the barracks.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “What good would the knife have done you?” Balrog asked gently.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I dreamt I was being attacked,” the age regressed young man insisted. He wiped his face with one hand and shook it to remove the droplets of water that still clung to his skin. He turned to look at Balrog, the bitterness in his expression readily apparent to the older scout.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “You and I both know that you’re in vain hope of protecting your fearless image,” Balrog scolded. “As it is vain, I suggest you answer my question again, honestly this time.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Victor softened a bit. Although Balrog’s tone certainly suggested a reproof, it was spoken as one man to another, and not as a man to a child as Vic had heard so often before. The fact that Balrog still knew how to treat him as a friend and not as an infant to be punished cooled the fire in his breast, and he took one more moment to settle himself before he responded again.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “You are correct, of course,” he admitted in low tones. He turned away from the basin of water, leaving its lid to the side, and sat on the edge of his bed. He glanced about the large room, glad that no one seemed to have been disturbed by his sudden waking. “I dreamt of the plague.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “What would the knife have done to stop the plague?” the older man asked.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Victor shook his head. “I don’t know. The things I dreamed, the horrors… I couldn’t let them go one. I had to do something, anything to stop it.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “That is why plagues are best dealt with by healers,” Balrog advised. “Against such an enemy, force of arms is nothing. Men like us have our uses during a plague, but against the plague itself we have no power. You and I are the best position we could be in at this time. We have the opportunity to aid the healers by quelling panic without risking the malady ourselves.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “You told me of this already,” Victor observed.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog gave a crooked smile. “Sometimes repetition can help make the first telling easier to recall.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Victor nodded, but his head remained low. He shook briefly where he sat and looked up at Balrog. There was far too much of the frightened boy in his eyes.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I saw my family taken by the plague, Balrog, and I saw myself returning to the Keep only to find that no one even knew where to find their bodies. I said my goodbyes to the ashes of a funeral pyre, to the ashes of dozens burned to save the rest. In other nightmares I can laugh because I know that such things are ludicrous, but this dream I know can be real and it terrifies me.” He managed to avoid sobbing outright, but the tears were already running down his cheeks. He waved his hand as though he would continue, but despite the movements of his lips he could not manage to say anything more before terror stole his voice.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The two sat there for a long while, Balrog quietly giving his friend the time he needed to compose himself, and Victor doing his best to keep from crying aloud and disturbing the others who slept in the nearby bunks. Balrog did notice a few people taking notice of his hysteric companion, but a withering glare turned them away in a moment. Victor was far beyond the point of caring by then, but his companion did not believe that he deserved to be the subject of any negative attention from others. Many of the others in the barracks were likely feeling similar emotions, but had hardened themselves against the full weight of the situation through training, alcohol, or a combination of the two.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> It took some time, but victor finally calmed down enough to stem the flow of tears. He took a few more moments to make certain that they would not begin again, and then returned to the basin to wash away the marks left by the tears.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “How do you do it?” he asked, his voice weak.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “My family is far from the Keep, and even if they were not I would find it hard to wish the best for them. For my friends?” He shrugged. “I have several friends still in the Keep, yes, but last I saw them they were well. I suppose that I simply do not think that there is any sense dwelling on the worst unless the worst should come.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Victor chuckled quietly. “I suppose that I am not gifted with quite so much apathy as you are, my friend.” He covered the basin once more and returned to the bed, slumping in exhaustion. “My family… I don’t have anything beyond them! You and the Commander, you’re friends but that’s a professional necessity, no offense to either of you. Besides patrols and training, my family is my entire life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. How I would live without them…”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “They are still there, Victor. They are still in the Keep, and they are alive,” Balrog said.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “How do you know?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog sighed and played with his beard between his fingers. “I don’t know,” he admitted quietly. “I don’t know it any more than I know that the Keep’s walls still stand. I don’t know them, but I believe that both of them are true.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Victor shook his head. “You’re beginning to sound like a Patildor,” he groused.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The older man shrugged. “It has often been said that every religion was founded on at least one indisputable truth, and the challenge lies in determining what of the rest is also truth. I suppose I would say that faith is one thing at least that they have right. It is patently impossible to live your life believing only in the things that you are able to see. At some point it is necessary to believe in something unseen.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The young man bobbed his head in agreement, although he was clearly still doubtful. Still, he had calmed enough change the topic of discussion. “Did you make any progress with you efforts?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The mage shook his head. “We weren’t able to solve the problem, no.” he paused. “Do you even know what it is that we are doing?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> His younger companion chuckled and shook his head. “Commander Nathan was in too much of a hurry to tell me, and you were just trying to keep up with him. I decided it wasn’t important for me to know.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog smiled, happy to see his friend return to better state of humor. “We are trying to help a man who has had his curse returned to its full force. He is trapped in the form of an animal, and we cannot find the reason.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Vic frowned. “I’m sorry that I cannot be any more help,” he remarked. “I have no knowledge of magic to be able to even discuss its use, though. Perhaps the best way I can help you is simply to let you get some rest. I’m certain that you need to be up early tomorrow to try again?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog nodded. “Yes, we will need to try again tomorrow morning. Are you certain that you will be all right?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “No, I’m not certain,” Victor admitted. “Still, some things you just have to believe, right?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The older scout chuckled and clapped a hand on the younger man’s back. “That you do. Rest well, my friend. You will see your family again soon.” He set the knife which he had taken back on the bedside table before standing and walking quietly towards his own bunk.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “Balrog?” He turned to see Victor still sitting on the edge of the bed. “Thank you for staying by me. I really needed the encouragement tonight.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “Don’t mention it. If we can’t depend on our friends, then who can we trust?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> As Balrog walked away, Victor stayed on the edge of his bed for a few moments. 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