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He had woken last night in the quiet hours of
the morning, from watching someone he did not know die slowly at the hands of
soldiers with steel. At first he had been unsure of who he was; were the
memories of his life or someone else’s? He had looked around the room wildly,
afraid to his deepest depth that he would not be able to recall who he was. The
sight of the familiar room and its stationary slowly brought him back to his
reality. He wept then, and promised himself that he would tell uncle Jon
everything, no matter if his uncle could help or not. But in the morning he
could not muster the determination again and shied from his uncle lest he
notice something was wrong.
    So he tried to stay busy, and kept his thoughts
even from his cousin. There was no reason to burden Connor with any more of it.
    By the time Alexis returned he and Connor were
sitting and playing at marbles. Adrian rose to take care of the horse but
Alexis waved him back down.
    “At times I miss taking care of my own horse.”
     Deprived of his duty and feeling a little
useless Adrian rejoined the game, thumbing his marble against the wall and
attempting to strike the larger marble in the center of the circle they had
drawn in the dirt and dust.
    Alexis unsaddled his horse and fed and watered
him before stabling him. When he was done he came to stand over the boys, watching
them play with an amused smile.
    “Do you want to play?” Connor asked at last.
    Alexis grinned. “Why not?”
     He joined in their game, turning out to be a
better player than Adrian had expected.
    “I used to play often as a child,” he offered as
way of explanation.
    “Where are you coming from?” Connor asked
curiously.
    Alexis thumbed the marble against the wall. It
missed. “Carlstown.”
    There was a clear interest in Connor’s voice as
he said, “That’s not too far from Grandal, is it?”
    “No, not too far.”
    “Have you ever been there? To Grandal.”
    “I’ve passed through it a few times,” Alexis
said. “But I hardly find myself traveling west these days.”
    “Why is that?”
    “More profit to be had in the east. Especially
in Teihr and Arath Dar.”
    “Arath Dar? Is it true the queen has a
Queensguard full of only women?”
    Alexis shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you, I’ve
never been there.”
    Connor continued questioning Alexis and their
conversation overrode the simple actions of the game. Adrian listened with only
half-an ear. It was fascinating to hear about the distant countries, but what
good did it do him? He tried to question his own lack of curiosity in their
talk, and thought: Maybe it’s because Connor’s so bent on leaving this place .
But that was only a part of the truth. The unspoken fear within him, he knew,
was that the dreams were stealing a part of his soul. How much longer before he
lost interest in all life around him and spent every waking moment gripped in
the clutches of the nightmares?
    Connor and Alexis were sitting beside him, but
Adrian felt then as though he was in a world of his own, separated from them by
a thin membrane that was enough to keep him closed off with only his thoughts.
When he forced himself to join their world again, Connor was asking Alexis if
he was going to the Festival of Lights.
    “Perhaps,” Alexis answered.
    “You should come,” Connor said. “You’ll enjoy
it. There’ll be fireworks..”
    Alexis smiled. “Well. Then I guess I’ve got no
choice, do I?”
    They played a while longer, until the boys were
called away to saddle the horses of two departing men.
    Alexis rose with them, brushing his hands on his
knees. “It was nice spending time with you two.” He turned to leave, and then
stopped and looked back at them. “How would you two like to join my friends and
I for dinner tonight?”
    Adrian exchanged a surprised glance with Connor.
He opened his mouth to politely decline Alexis’s offer, and was cut off by
Connor.
     “Sure. We’d love to.”

Chapter