Chapter 158 - 158 The recurring nightmare

158 The recurring nightmare

The moonlight lit up in the sky. Brom was sitting on the east gate post, waiting for the permit. When Chikara comes, he knows what exactly he was going to say to him. Choosing to have a discussion with Anne immediately, he asked for an unexpected mission to the mage’s house.

Tonight, the guards were taking a little breather. Since the infected case went around the kingdom, fewer people were entering the capital. One guard came to Brom and gave him a cup of caftea. He gratefully took the cup and take a sip. Looking at the moon with a cup of caftea in his hand was surely a good moment to cherish. He always loves the moonlight, especially on these rare quiet nights.

“Sorry for the wait, captain Brom.” The guard who took his permit to be signed finally back with the signed permission for him.

He smiled at the guard while shaking his head, “It was quite alright, I was the one who complicated things for you.”

“No, it’s my duty, and I am happy to help.” Said the guard, handing him the permit to his hand.

“Thank you, so may I go outside right away?”

Nodding his head, the guard took him to the stable, and help him to prepare for a horse, when someone shouted in their direction.

“Wait! Captain Brom, wait!” said the guard, who happened to be master sergeant Foster.

Brom turned his attention to Foster with curiosity, “Excused me, do I know you?” Said Brom to Foster.

.....

“Ah, no, but I came here to send you a message from captain Xavier, he told you to wait for him.” Foster relayed the message, even though almost out of breath in the process. “Gosh, someone gets me a drink.”

One of the guards gave Foster a glass of water that he drank in one gulp, Brom patiently waited for him to finish the drink before asking him a question, “Why did Xavier, I mean captain Xavier ask me to wait for him?”

“He said that it will be safer to go together because of how dangerous the road is at night.” Said Foster, while asking for another glass of water.

Brom let out a sigh. He cast a spell on Foster’s empty glass, and the water appears on the glass. “There, the glass will always have water inside.”

Everyone around them, two of them and also Foster, just stared at Brom while the mage leaned into the sofa. “I’ll wait then.” The only words that he said.

The guards looked at him with disbelief, especially Foster, who held the glass tightly, safe to say. He never drinks from the enchanted glass anymore.

“Brom, sorry for waiting. I need to get my permit and pack.” Xavier came after half an hour with a bag on his shoulder.

Looking at him tentatively, Brom went quiet and just took his own bag to the stable. They took the horses by walking and rode them outside the gate. They don’t want to disturb the sleeping residence with the galloping horse sound all over the gate tunnel.

“What are you doing, Xavier?” Asked Brom, he knows full well that Vale and Henry refused to give any information to Xavier.

Xavier shrugged his shoulder, “What do you mean? I missed my best friends and wanted to go there. Was it so hard to believe?”

Brom stared at him after they were both on the back of their horses. “No, I will never believe it, so please just tell me, what are you doing, going to an isolation encampment?”

Staring back at Brom, he challenges Brom with his golden eyes. “What about you then? What are you doing going to the isolation encampment? If Darla was your excuse, I just saw her going to her shift with her captain.”

“You… you didn’t tell her anything, right?” Brom nervously asked Xavier.

“Relax, we don’t have a conversation, just a quick nodded to each other,” Xavier said to the nervous Brom. He then chuckles at him, “How about we kept our reason to ourselves? I will never question your motive and you don’t need to question mine?”

Brom gritted his teeth, “Agreed.”

They were riding into the night, trying to reach the isolation encampment before noon. Meanwhile, in the isolation encampment, Henry just as usual, laying on his bed trying to catch up on some sleep, he got like one hour of rest and immediately wakes up when the nightmare begins to haunt him. He wanted to go outside from his tent but was afraid to meet with Sabina.

Not because he was afraid of the woman directly, but because her obsession was terrifying for him. Just from one innocent kiss, she tried to cling to a future hope together with Henry, when he even had no thought of her that way. Henry tried to get some rest when he looks at the moonsun dial, the hours still in the early morning. After two hours of a failed attempt, he gets up from the bed and walked into Justice’s tent.

When he opened the tent, Justice wasn’t alone, a pair of golden eyes with long black hair staring at him.

“Xavier?! What are you doing here?!”

Xavier rolled his eyes, annoyed by his innocence questioned, “How ironic, I could say the same to you, Henry.”

“I came here for a mission! Knights were holding the isolation encampment so the guards couldn’t run away.” Said Henry while he drop himself onto the sofa, right in front of Xavier.

“Well Vale and you could at least inform me, I was panicking because Anne went missing when she was supposed to be my healer.” Gruntled Xavier, he was munching on a cream soup with meat for the breakfast.

“We can’t because we were in a hurry, and you were supposed to be in your isolation chamber, am I right?” Henry strikes back into Xavier’s claim.

Xavier glared at his friend, admitting defeat. “Fine! The good news is they let me go. That’s why I am here today, trying to help.”

“A good news indeed for you, Henry. Now you can get rid of that huntsman girl.” Justice begins to tease Henry.

“A girl? Wow, this is new.” Said Xavier while his eyes goes to Henry.

Henry let out a sigh, and gave another attack to Xavier, “How’s Yasmine?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. The baby wasn’t mine.” Xavier cheerfully tells all of his friends, “The girl tried to trap me into marriage.”

“Xave, I am sorry.” Justice patted his hand, for he knows how devastated he must be.

“It was alright, really? Not that I don’t want the child. If it’s mine, I would gladly help Yasmine, but to do this wicked thing… I feel sorry for the baby.” He buried his face with his two hands.

“Don’t worry so much, for now, be happy that you knew about this before it was too late,” Justice tells him while handing Xavier a glass of water.

Unbeknown to them, Henry dropped his plate to the ground. He felt dizzy all of a sudden. Justice and Henry helped him to rest in bed.

“I am fine, don’t worry,” Henry said stubbornly to his friends.

“No, you’re not. You were fighting monsters, alone, and from the looks of it, you don’t even have enough rest.” Justice said to him while asking for a guard to call for a healer.

“Henry, what happened?” Asked Xavier, he was worried for Henry’s wellbeing.

“I think there’s no more of hiding it anymore,” Henry said to both of them with a bittered smile, “I… I was having a nightmare since two years ago, and it makes me harder to get good sleep.”

“Nightmare? What kind of nightmare?” Asked Justice.

Henry looked straight into Justice and said, “Nightmare about my death.”