Several months ago…

Breathe, gotta remember to… breathe….

I warily close my eyes as I feel the lingering fear from my nightmares slip away. Well, I'm not sure I'd really call them nightmares, nothing that occurred was fabricated by my mind, all of it are things that HAVE happened in the past.

…that thought only makes it worse.

I squeeze my eyes shut and focus on sounds other than my still rapidly beating heart.

I can hear the wind blowing through the trees, the trees swaying as a result of said wind. I can hear the soft, lapping sounds of the nearby river. I can hear the musical thrilling of the birds echoing through the entire forest. I can hear… the not so distance murmur of voices; happy and content. Well, mostly, I can faintly pick out disgruntled muttering; no doubt that little dink Billy got caught doing something he shouldn't…again.

With my heart no longer feeling like it's going to beat right out of chest, I slowly open my eyes once more. I'm met by a wall, of course. I'm always met by a wall, id more concerned if I wasn't, that would mean that someone had stolen my walls! Well err, one of them, but I'd guess I'd say I'm particularly attached to this wall and id be devastated if someone stole it.

Hrmm… how WOULD someone steal a wall? And not wake me while they did so? Probably a mage and priest duo, the mage skilled in teleportation and priest specialized in silencing magic… or perhaps a warlock…

Ah! Focus Chelinka! Come back from lala land, who in their right mind would steal a single wall? Makes much more sense to steal ALL the walls! Especially if that someone is a paladin, then they could…

With a violent shake of my head, I pull myself back from spacing out, wait was I spacing out over? Something about the... floors? Ugh, my poor mind, I'm lucky it's still vaguely intact after all that I…

There is no escape…not in this life… not in the next….

My eyes spring open in alarm as leap out of bed, looking wildly around for the source, only to remember that it's in my own head.

With a sigh, I shut it out, a practice I've gotten the habit of, and is now second nature. Now if only they would stay locked away…

Bah! No use dwelling on it, time to start the day, before I get bored and start talking to the wardrobe… again.

Hmmm… what to do, what to do?

Maybe I should visit the Maclure's, their less than five minutes away. I could give Billy a hard time for being caught being a dumbass again. Maybe go listen to Maybell gush about her latest 'secret' outing with Tommy Joe. Or conjure up some water for farmer Tiller, and chat about the recent going ons of Elwynn. I swear that man is more of a gossip than his wife.

Or perhaps go visit, the Stonefield's? It's always amusing to watch poor Tommy Joe try to spit out details about him and Maybell, most of the time he just sputters incoherently while grinning like an idiot. Ah young love, the only thing I've seen that's blinder and more idiotic are the blowhards in Stormwind.

Hmmm… no, I don't want to sully their juvenile love by comparing it to those pricks.

Speaking of, Goldshire is definitely out of the question for a while. My heated err; 'argument' with the Marshal Dughan did not end well… well for him. Still don't get why I'm the bad guy in that. I was simply defending myself, the blacksmith shop catching on fire was a result of his pompous attempts to guilt me back into service. Not that he'll be doing that again anytime soon, it's hard to strong arm someone when they're not there….

…The fact that I broke his jaw might make it tricky for him to strong arm anyone else into service either. Guess they'll have to get someone else to send the newbies to the kobold filled mines.

As I grin fondly remembering the less then gentle beating I gave that jerk, something else intrudes in my mind, and it's not one of…them…

It's the wards.

When I had first bought Jerod's landing the first thing I did was put up a bunch of wards surrounding the entire property. Nothing says 'stay away' like living in a house on the edge of the forest surround by a crapload of magical wards. Seriously, if that doesn't do it I might be tempted to start putting heads on spikes outside my door. I suppose Billy isn't using his... and I doubt the Stonefield's or even his family will object….

Ah! Right! Wards!

The wards aren't meant to keep everyone out, I've made a few exceptions to who can come and go without getting a face full of arcane barrage from those things. That being said, the list is still relatively small.

Just as I'm pondering who it might be, someone knocks rather forcefully on the door.

"Yoo-hoo! Open up Sparky, it's your absolute fav-orite adorable gnome, me: The incredibly adorable Pixie!"

I can't help but grin, she's right, she IS my favorite gnome.

As I throw open the door my smile falters a bit. Instead of her favored vivid pink dress she usually wears when she comes to see me, she's in full gear, daggers included.

"What's up Pixie? Leading a raid on my house?"

It's a joke of course, but I notice the flicker in her eyes as I say it.

"Uh, you're not actually here to raid me are you? I swear there's no loot here that's shinny enough to appease you."

With that her face breaks into a grin, if albeit a rather forced looking grin.

Crap, what's gotten Pixie so spooked that she not gonna give me the "I'm not a loot whore!" speech?

"Sorry to have to do this to you love, but my hands were tied in this"

Its then I notice that she has a scroll clasped tightly in her hands. It has an official seal on it; the kind only used by nobles and military blowhards... people I try to avoid.

Ah hell.

"Alright Pixie, I'm not mad, just tell me who the ahole is that paid you to deliver this and how much they paid you and I'll pay you double to say I wasn't in."

She shifts nervously, refusing to meet my eyes.

"I wasn't."

"Beg pardon?"

"I wasn't paid, I was ordered."

That throws me for a loop, pixie is almost as bad as I am, WAS, for following orders, she wouldn't do it unless someone REALLY high up gave her a direct order.

Ah hell!

"Who?"

She twitches nervously before she says it, careful to stay out of imitate swatting range.

"Mattis Shaw. I'm supposed to serve you these summons and escort you directly to SI:7"

…ah hell