This chapter is a bit short. I really haven't been in the mood for writing. I had to put my dog down last week so pretty much all of my emotions are showing in this chapter. I know it's not living up to my previous chapters but I really don't care right now. Sorry.

Kayleigh forced her eyelids open. Though she seemed to constantly scream to herself to awaken, it never seemed to happen fast enough. These dreams -these nightmares- trapped her in this alternate world. It was hard to tell if it was just her guilty mind torturing her or if she were really being haunted by her brother's murderer and former master. Whichever it was, it was a battle just to bring herself to consciousness. Sleep was exhausting.

"Here," Dagonet helped raise her into a sitting position and pressed a cup of water into her hand.

Kayleigh's arm shook with effort to bring it to her lips, taking a sip of the cool, soothing liquid. Water had never tasted so good to her parched tongue.

"Not too fast," Dagonet warned, taking the cup from her.

She let her arm drop into her lap. "What's wrong with me?" Her cracked voice was barely a whisper and the sound of its weakness unleashed a flood of tears unwillingly.

"You are just tired," he said, giving her a comforting smile. "You will regain your strength and be good as new soon."

Kayleigh shook her head. "No, this is not me," she said, touching her fingers to a wet trail of a tear on her face. "I have not cried since I was a child."

"Then it is long since coming," Dagonet said, touching her shoulder. "There is only so much one can hold before it spills over."

"And how much do you hold?" she asked, knowing his life had not been an easy one either.

"Much," he admitted. "But I have brothers to help me with the burden."

"You have had fifteen years to gain their trust," she pointed out. "I haven't been here two years yet."

"And what do you see that makes you doubt their worth?"

Kayleigh hesitated.

Dagonet patted her leg as he rose. "Think about that as I fetch you some supper."

After finishing her meal, Kayleigh fought to stay awake for fear of what visions sleep would bring the next time around. With her belly full and warm for the first time in weeks, it was a losing battle.

Fire burned along the horizon. The steppes, once a green wave of tall grass, were engulfed in a storm of fire. All of its people with their flocks and herds were nowhere to be seen. Kayleigh coughed, choking on the thick smoke, the cloud burning her eyes. The flames licked the skin on her legs and she jumped back, a scream in her throat. Instead of burning, the flames felt like the breath of winter, cold and biting.

Crying out for the help that she knew would never come, she began running blindly, desperate for a way out. Suddenly, the smoke cleared, the flames disappeared before her and she stepped out into an eerily still and silent world.

Kayleigh took another step and felt the crunch of snow beneath her foot and heard the groan of weakening ice. Bending down, she swept the snow away to reveal a frozen lake. Movement under the hard surface caught her eye. She wiped the frost and dirt from the surface and jumped in surprise to see Dagonet's face staring back at her from below the surface.

"Dagonet!" she cried, as she pounded on the ice, its shards cutting through the skin on her knuckles. Though it seemed as thin as glass, she could not break through. Dagonet's hand spread, pressed against the inside of the ice. Kayleigh halted and mirrored his gesture, the sheet of ice cold between their hands. All hope lost, Dagonet let the last breath in his lungs out, three bubbles rising as his body drifted down into the dark depths.

"No! Dagonet!"

Kayleigh shot upright in bed. She couldn't catch her breath and her heart was racing.

"Dagonet is fine," Gawain assured her from the chair beside her bed. "It was just a dream."

Kayleigh put a hand on her chest, trying to keep her heart from jumping out. "It didn't feel like a dream." She fell back down into the pillows with a sigh.

"Do you need anything?" Gawain asked.

"No," Kayleigh replied absently, still trying to make sense of the strange dream. At least that Roman murderer hadn't invaded her dreams this time around.

"Dagonet would want you to eat and drink," Gawain startled her from her thoughts.

"Fine," Kayleigh said, throwing a blanket off. There were an unusual amount of blankets and furs covering her. "Is all of this really necessary?"

Gawain shrugged. "The only thing you haven't said while you slept is whether you were cold or warm," he said before leaving her alone in the room.

Kayleigh wondered what exactly she had been saying, and whose ears had heard it. Did it even matter? Dagonet was right. She did trust the knights, though there were some things that they were better off not knowing, for their own good.

Gawain returned shortly with a plate of food and some water. "I'm glad you're doing better," he commented as he watched her pick at her meal.

Kayleigh nodded.

"I was really worried."

Kayleigh smiled and patted his shoulder with her free hand. "Dagonet says I will be good as new after some more rest, though I don't know how much more of that I can handle," she said with a snort.

"If I had known what would happen… I never should have left you out there on that hill injured."

Kayleigh, confused, was quiet for a moment. A short burst of laughter escaped from her throat and Gawain looked at her wide-eyed with surprise.

"I'm sorry, Gawain," she said at last. "That is the last thing on my mind. I told you to leave me there. You shouldn't feel bad about a decision I made."

"I do."

Kayleigh grasped his hand, suddenly. "I almost forgot!" she exclaimed. "My boots! Get my boots!"

Gawain hesitated. "I really don't think you should be going anywhere."

Kayleigh chuckled again and the sound of it made Gawain smile. "It's the only place the Saxons wouldn't find it."

"Find what?" Gawain asked, handing her her boots.

Kayleigh searched for a moment before pulling out a long gray cord. "This! Sorry, it's a bit dirty," she said, brushing it off. Then she leaned over and pulled her small bag of belongings from under the bed, half surprised that it hadn't been stolen. After rummaging through it for just the right piece, she finally withdrew a horse pendant and threaded the cord through it.

"It's for you," she said, presenting it to him.

"Me?" Gawain asked, stunned.

Kayleigh nodded. "See the cord?"

Gawain took it, looking at it more closely. His bright eyes looked back up at her. "Is this…?"

"Yes," Kayleigh said. "You didn't see me cut the lock of hair from her mane, you were in shock and delirious."

Gawain remembered that tragic event all too well. The Saxons had cut his horse down from under him on the battlefield. His chest hurt now just to think on it. He had thought he lost everything, but here he held in his hand a part of his beloved horse and the pain didn't cut as deep.

"I didn't have much else to do waiting for you knights to rescue me," she said with a shrug, trying to make light of the moment.

"Thank you," Gawain said, feeling that those two simple words would never show how much her gift meant to him.

"You're welcome," Kayleigh replied with a smile. She looked around the room and groaned. "Could you do one more thing for me?"

"Anything," he replied.

"Will you open the window? These walls seem to close in on me farther every day."

"I know how you feel," Gawain said as he walked across the room to the window. "I would be suffocating if I were in here as long as you have."

Kayleigh cocked her head. "I haven't been in here that long, have I?" she asked.

Gawain laughed. "Time must pass more slowly in whatever dream world you've been living in," he said as he opened the window, a few flakes of snow drifting in. "You've slept through two seasons."