Chapter 10: Nightmares
"So Khelgar, how did you meet up with the lad here?" Galen asked, nodding to the bedroll in which Gareth lay sleeping. He had been betrayed by his hired swords, and the boy and the dwarf had saved him. As it was getting late, Khelgar had stated that it would be best to make camp and rest before finishing the journey to Fort Locke, which was about a half day's march from their current location. He had contemplated going on alone, but then remembered the rumors of bandits that abounded around the counrtyside surrounding the Fort. It had been those rumors that made him hire the sellswords, which had turned out to be such a mistake.
"He came wanderin' by the Willow, helped me out with a couple of ruffians who thought to beat my gold out of me," Khelgar smiled at the merchant. "Not that they had much of a chance of doin' that. Anyways, after that we decided to swap tales and have a couple, so we go inside the inn. Then, all the hells let loose. In comes these creatures, and they start tearin' up the place, makin' a huge mess. Me and the boy there, we give 'em what for, save the patrons and have a bloody good time too, well at least I did. Then we agree that tis safer travellin' together and here we are."
"I guess you have had a couple of busy days then, not that I'm complaining," Galen finally said, once he had recovered from the rapid tale that came forth from the dwarf's mouth. He looked over to where the boy was sleeping again and frowned. "He looks familiar to me, though I can't recall where I know him from. Did he tell you anything about his journey?"
"Aye, he's on his way to Neverwinter, on some errand," Khelgar replied. "Came from some swamp village he called West Harbor. Said his foster father, Daeghun, gave him a task to do."
"Daeghun! Then he must be Gareth," Galen said startled.
"Keep it down, you'll wake 'im up," Khelgar hissed as Gareth stirred briefly before settling down. "I get the feeling the lad ain't gotten much sleep lately, what with the attack an' all."
"Attack? West Harbor was attacked?" Galen asked in a worried whisper and saw the dwarf nod. "When?"
"Couple days ago, why?" Khelgar asked in return. "You know the lad there don't 'cha, I can see it in your face."
"Well, I know his father Daeghun pretty well, but I haven't seen the boy in a few years," Galen answered. "He's all grown up now. There was some kind of trouble round about six years ago and he up and disappeared from the village. Daeghun never speaks a word about stuff he feels isn't your business, but I could tell that the boy's absence left a hole in his life."
"What else do you know about the lad?" Khelgar asked.
"Not much really," Galen shrugged. "He pretty much kept to himself, had only a couple of friends. The villagers had little use for the boy, seeing as how he was an orphan, and I think it was only fear of Daeghun that kept them from being outright mean to the kid. That time when I saw he wasn't around, I asked his father about it and got the cold shoulder. Daeghun pretty much stated the boy had gone to some monastery for a while and to drop the subject. No one would say much, but the mere mention of Gareth's name caused some of them to give me dark looks and threaten to run me out of town if I mentioned him again."
"So whatever happened must have been bad," Khelgar mused. "But, he seems like a good kid. I wonder what he could've done to cause such a reaction?"
"I have learned that it doesn't take much to piss off the small minded people in these swamp villages," Galen said. "Most of them can barely read and lack any kind of respectable manners as well. I only trade now in West Harbor, and that is mostly because Daeghun gets me the best furs and doesn't ask for much in return."
They stopped talking as Gareth mumbled something and shifted restlessly in his sleep, worried that their voices had disturbed him. Lowering their voices even more, they talked about other things, just in case he awoke and heard them talking about him like a couple of gossiping hens.
Gareth had lain down, hoping that he would be able to sleep tonight, for he was overly tired. It was not just from the recent events in his life, but also from a recurring dream, or nightmare depending on the point of view. He had started having it a couple of months ago, and it was the main reason he had left the monastery for Neverwinter. He closed his eyes and let the quiet voices of his companions lull him to sleep.
"I can't believe you're finally here with me Webb," Gareth said as he hugged the other boy tightly to his body. "I wondered if Daeghun would be able to do it, even though he doesn't make promises he doesn't intend to keep."
"Well, we had to let things cool down for a bit and that took longer than expected," Webb said, smiling down at Gareth. "Daeghun had a few choice words for my parents and Webb and Ward both got punished severly by dad because of it. Not that it did all that much good, 'cause they didn't let me out of their sight for a minute the first couple of months."
"How did everyone else react? Did they blame Amie or Tarmas? Did they treat you badly?" Gareth asked anxiously.
"It hasn't been easy, and the first couple of months made me want to just up and run away, but it is getting better," Webb shrugged. "I've done my best to pretend, just like we had agreed, but I don't think I was very convincing."
Gareth looked up into the blue eyes he had dreamed of for the past six months and felt his heartache ease inside him. At the moment, all he wanted was to take Webb to his room and hold him and love him all night long. Daeghun had said they could only stay a couple of days and Gareth intended to make the most of it. Stepping back and taking Webb's hand, he led the other boy to the small room he had been given. Closing the door behind him, he didn't bother to lock it, knowing that the monks and priests wouldn't dream of entering without permission. Smiling sultrily at Webb, he slowly began to remove the clothes he was wearing, enjoying how Webb's eyes darkened with desire.
Webb felt his breath catch in his throat at the heat in Gareth's eyes. He followed Gareth's lead, removing his clothes, all while never taking his eyes off the vision standing before him. When they were both naked, they climbed into the narrow bed and simply held each other for a long while, kissing and enjoying the feeling of being skin to skin again after so long apart. Having closed his eyes to savor the moment, he suddenly realized that his chest was wet and then realized that Gareth was crying. "Hey, hey, why the tears?" he whispered, tilting the other boy's head up to look into the dark brown eyes.
"I didn't realize how much I missed this until just now," Gareth whispered. "I've felt so lost and alone these past six months, like a part of my soul was missing. Now, I have found it again and it just makes me so relieved I can't help crying."
Webb felt his heart lurch at the pain and sorrow in Gareth's voice. While it had been tough for him, he had still had Merring, Daeghun, and others to talk to. Gareth had been seperated from his family and friends, shut up in a strange place with strange people, worrying about whether he'd see those he loved again. Deciding the best way to ease the pain was to replace it with love, he slowly began to make love to Gareth. Carding his fingers through the silky, brown hair, he held Gareth's head firmly in strong hands while his mouth ravaged the smaller boy's.
Khelgar looked up at another murmur from the bedroll and chuckled at the smile he saw on Gareth's face. "Must be a good dream if he's smiling like that," he said, directing Galen's attention to the boy.
"I don't recall ever seeing him smile like that before," Galen said in amusement. It wasn't long before the amusement faded to concern as the smile disappeared from Gareth's face, to be replaced by a look of distress, perhaps even fear.
It was just like he had dreamed, Webb holding him, making love to him. It was finally real and Gareth moaned as Webb's hot tongue lapped at his nipples, the teeth biting just hard enough to elicit gasps of surprise and send tingles running down his spine. Then he felt it, a darkness coming, reaching out and the next thing he knew Webb was being pulled away. "NO! Let him go!" he screamed even though he had no idea who or what he was yelling at.
"Gareth, help me, please, help me!" Webb's voice echoed like that of a ghost out of the darkness.
"Webb, where are you?" Gareth cried, turning round and round, eyes searching the darkness for some sign, anything to point the way.
"Gareth, I love you, I need you, help me!" Webb's voice cried again, sounding fainter and farther away.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, hang on Webb," Gareth cried and began to run in the direction he thought the voice came from. "Just hang on Webb, I'm coming!" he cried again and then suddenly felt as if arms were dragging him back, keeping him from Webb. He screamed and thrashed, struggling to get free. Webb needed him, he had to get to him.
"Lad, wake up! It's just a bad dream!" Khelgar shouted as he tried to hold down the thrashing body beneath him.
Gareth opened his eyes with a gasp and slowly became aware of his surroundings. He was lying on a bedroll beneath a sea of stars, his companions looking at him in concern. Sitting up, he pressed his face into his hands, trying to regain control of his emotions. It was the nightmare again, the same one he'd had over and over again since before he had left the monastery. It was always the same. It started with the joy of his first reunion with Webb and ended with the suffocating darkness descending to rip them apart. He didn't know what it meant, and the only thing the monks could tell him was that the answer would be found in Neverwinter.
"You okay Gareth?" Galen asked, his hand coming to rest gently on the boy's shoulder.
Gareth nodded, not trusting his voice to work properly just yet. After a few more minutes, he finally looked up, meeting the gaze of Khelgar. "Sorry."
"Nothin' to be sorry for kid," Khelgar waived him off. "We all have bad dreams once in a while, though I get the feeling this was a particularly nasty one."
"Yes, it was," Gareth agreed darkly.
"Want to talk about it?" Khelgar asked, concerned by the haunted look in the kid's eyes.
Gareth looked at him and hesitated. He had told no one but the monks about the dream, not even Daeghun. While the dwarf seemed sympathetic, he couldn't trust that the truth wouldn't repulse Khelgar. He wouldn't be able to explain the dream without revealing the nature of it, and given the reaction of the villagers six years ago, he was leery to be on the receiving end of such treatment as Webb got. He liked Khelgar and hoped they could become good friends, but that wouldn't happen if the dwarf learned he was gay, so he decided to say nothing.
"Thanks, but it's not something I really want to think about now," he finally answered. "Look, I don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. Why don't you two lie down and get some rest yourselves. If I start to nod off, I'll wake one of you." When they hesitated, he uttered further assurances that he was fine, urging them to seek their own rest. Finally they did and he was left alone with his thoughts. Picking up a few small branches, he placed them on the fire, stoking it a little to get it to blaze anew. It seemed childish, but he felt that the fire would help keep the shadows at bay, and took a small measure of comfort from that. Of course, he would not truly find peace until he found out what happened to Webb. Most would probably say it was just his worried mind playing with him because he had not received a written letter from Webb in so long. However, the other monks felt as he did, that the dream was being sent to him for a reason. He knew in his heart that something had happened to Webb, hence the journey. He would find Webb, and when he did, they could truly begin to build a life with each other.