Dreams at Twilight

The sun was setting a glowing red and gold when Gaeljwen stepped up onto one of the broken parapets and studied the landscape about him with a grim sigh. The wind was softer now, but still blowing, gently tugging at his cloak and pushing the dry snow about a little. Some still blowing in the air, it almost seemed like it was half-misty as the young, strong youth sat down.
The boy seated himself on a piece of fallen stone, drawing his cloak about him as he lay back against the broken wall, his face a picture of serious puzzlement. In the distance, just a little ways behind him, he could still hear the voices of the men echoing dimly.
The entire castle…gone. Destroyed. He surveyed the wreckage of stones and ash yet again. Kire’falraedis…the Fourth Pillar of Savarica. How? How in Creation?
Though he already had a good idea how, Gaeljwen merely needed some time to accept it, to let the information settle in his mind. Things like the complete destruction of one of the Six Pillars was openly taught to be impossible by all accounts. Though of course, someone working inside the castle might be able to undo what made it so powerful…
“Ach, my poor mind.” Gaeljwen grumbled and shook his head. He had never had the fastest, most clever mind, and he knew it. Men like the commander, or the Huscarl General. They knew what to do almost instantly. He merely shook his head at the unreal possibility of it all and took orders. Even still his mind was whirling, full of questions.
A dragon? Could a dragon break the castle? Maybe.
What was a dragon doing attacking Kire’falraedis? I thought it was elves?
But elves cannot approach the castle to begin with! Impossible…isn’t it?
And then there’s…that Amaras man.
The last part turned the boy’s thoughts in another direction. It wasn’t that Amaras were unheard of even in a far north place like Savarica. Perhaps it was merely seeing one for the first time that made him so unreal too, as though Asa was also part of the madness. All the same, he certainly seemed real enough. And he bore…the same mark as Gaeljwen on his forehead. What was that about, then?
The boy was tempted to get up and return to the warmth of the fire, back to familiar voices and to let his thoughts play out there, when as he looked up, his eye caught something unusual. He froze, fixing his gaze on what appeared to be a shadow fading from out of the gentle snowy wind. He laid his hand almost instantly on the handle of his short sword, fingering it nervously as a slender figure approached.
By now the sun had lowered a little more, striking the snow and everything else with a gentle, dim red color. The sun itself was merely a fiery orb half hanging beneath the horizon, like a great red eye. Off in the distance, the peaks of the high, silvery mountains glittered in the twilight. It was a beautiful picture, though Gaeljwen was too suddenly on guard to notice it immediately.
Until the figure came clear out of the wind, and the boy took in a sharp breath. His heart skipped a beat.
It was no slender elf figure that appeared coming towards him, apparently not yet seeing him among the ruins. It was a girl. A girl that looked no older than Gaeljwen, at most, making her way back towards the ruined castle, gazing off towards the sunset and singing a low tune to herself as she came. The boy remained motionless. Instantly his gaze was captive.
In far north Savarica, a person like this girl was almost never seen. Her hair was dark, black as night, coming down to her waist almost in length and free in the wind. Even though she was hardly close enough to see yet, the boy could tell her face was dark also, a tanned complexion that no one born in Savarica ever had.
She wore a strange dress, colored not unlike Asa’s own strange choice in colors. Her skirt being blue and shirt and vest a dull white, she mostly hid in a rough gray cloak, that blew wildly in the wind even as she tried to hug it closer about her.
As she got closer, Gaeljwen could hear her voice more clearly. Something inside him thrilled when her singing voice reached his ears, a soft, silvery sound. A beautiful, fascinating sound. The poor boy wasn’t sure he had ever heard anything so wonderful before. She seemed to walk lightly over the snow and ice rather than through it, as though there was some magic about her that lifted her above normal ground. Gaeljwen’s simple, noble heart beat faster and grew warmer.
“…Oh…oh my…” He whispered, managed to gasp out a sound. He was half afraid that if he spoke too loudly the dream-like visions would disappear. Was it even possible that something so enchanting, so entirely beautiful as that creature could exist?
As she got close enough, the dying sunlight glinting in her hair and her large, dark eyes, the singing abruptly stopped. He had been spotted.
Slowly, the Vadirska recruit stood up, his own cloak being battered about his large, tall frame as he took his hand away from his sword.
After a moment’s silence between them, he suddenly remembered decent manners and bowed. Low.
“M…Madam.” He offered, stumbling for the right words. His mind had reached a screaming halt.
The girl, though surprised, apparently was not afraid. For a moment this surprised Gaeljwen, but he soon forgot that small detail. She fixed her dark, questioning eyes on him carefully, studying him carefully as though deciding whether or not he was dangerous. Only then did Gaeljwen notice she wore a slim dagger in her belt.
“Who? Who are you?” She gingerly backed up a step, like a surprised doe in a forest glade. The poor boy felt his face growing warm as he dared look into her beautiful eyes.
“Me? I’m…I’m Gaeljwen. Gaeljwen of her Ladyship’s Carl Force.” The recruit bowed again, not remembering he had already bowed. Until a second later. “I…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
The girl didn’t move, and still looked like a startled doe about to bolt. Though he didn’t understand it at the moment, the boy suddenly realized that he did not, under any circumstances, want this beautiful angel to disappear or run away. It felt like something would die inside him if she did.
She cocked her head to the side, just slightly, still studying him. A hand went to her belt.
The boy thought frantically. “I’m here with a scout group. We’re here to see the castle.”
Idiot. What castle? He told himself. His face grew more red. You mean the wreck you’re standing on?
“Oh, I see…so you’re from Savarica?”
This caught him off guard. Where else would I be from? “Yes.” He answered.
Her hand moved away from the belt, and a small smile appeared on her lips. It seemed to light up the evening. “Ah, I see…a soldier.”
Gaeljwen nodded slowly, smiling a little too. And glad indeed to see her surprise melt away. “Yes, I’m a soldier for Countess India. Are you…with the Amaras?” He pointed back towards the dim glow of the fire in the main keep ruins.
She nodded and gave a slight curtsy right there in the snow, her hair falling about her face in no order. His smile grew wider when she caught herself from nearly slipping on the ice.
“Ach, careful!” He motioned, coming down from the stone as if he would go and personally help her across the treacherous snow.
“I’m not used to this cold snow and ice!” Her smile widened, and her eyes laughed. Gaeljwen’s heart melted, any resistance he had now gone.
He laughed with her, as she came closer, apparently now trusting him. “So you met Asa, then?” She asked, still studying him.
The boy nodded vigorously. “Yes, the Amaras man. Asa. We met him.”
“We?”
“Oh, me and my scout troup, two others. Here to see the castle.” He repeated, and promptly mentally beat himself over the head yet again. Idiot!
“They’re with him now, talking. I just came out to keep watch and think.” He offered her help over the fallen stones and back into the reach of the ruined walls, where the wind slowed considerably. Though the sun was gone now, the sky was still a dull, velvet red.
“Ah.” The girl’s smile faded just a little, though not out of fear or worry. Rather she seemed puzzled by this sudden turn of events.
“You’re his pupil then? The one he told us about?” Gaeljwen’s mind whirled. This gorgeous, wonderful angel of a girl…the student of a veteran Amaras warrior?! What madness was next?
She looked up at him and nodded. “Yes, I’m his pupil. So he told you about us?”
“A little.” The boy shrugged.
She looked back towards the glowing fire, reflecting dimly in her eyes. “Then he must trust you…that’s all.” She looked back at him again, this time a genuine smile of honest welcome on her delicate features.
“I’m Diana.” She informed him, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I…just can’t be sure. Asa always wants to be careful…and we don’t know who to trust in these lands.”
“Oh, of course, of course! Very wise!” He honestly felt as though there was nothing this creature could do that could possibly offend anyone, let alone him!
“And he didn’t expect visitors here, he told me that.” She went on, a quirk of a smile on her lips. “I’m sorry. Is here with your…your people then?”
“Yes, at the fire.”
She smiled faintly. “Alright. Thank you.” She let him lead her towards the direction of the warm fire and low, quiet voices as the darkness set in with all force dropping a siege of darkness upon the windswept landscape.