Before dawn, Layla awoke to a loud knock on her door and had instantly been thankful she had packed a bag the night before.
"Hurry up miss!" A guard rushed her from outside the door, "Lord Rahl will be waitin' for ya!"
Layla dressed quickly and grabbed her bag and was out the door before the guard had even finished his sentence. She met Rahl at the stables by the gates with her sentries following closely behind.
"Gentlemen," Rahl addressed her guards, "We won't be needing you to come along today."
"Yessir!" The men said in unison before taking their leave. Before they were fully out of earshot Layla heard their plans to spend the day drinking until they passed out in the barracks. She was just glad to be rid of them for a day. They had started to get on her nerves. They were always bickering over pointless details and she could hear their unchecked and loud voices from inside her room late at night.
"So where are we headed?" Layla attempted to ply Rahl for more information, but Layla only received a brief grunt warning her to stop asking questions.
Rahl's humor from the day before had certainly faded. Layla climbed into the carriage, concluding that this would be a quiet journey to wherever it was Rahl was taking her. As she climbed into the carriage Layla noted that it was not of the grand calibur of most of Rahl's possessions. The deep red draperies and grand candles within the palace had symbolized a finer taste and deeper pockets than did the small wooden carriage painted a simple black. No one would suspect that this meager carriage belonged to the fearsome Lord Rahl, which was likely the point of their humble mode of transportation. She applauded the cleverness behind the trick, but it also served as a reminder of exactly how dangerous it would be to become friends with Darken Rahl.
"I hope wherever we're going isn't too far," Layla tried to chat with Rahl one more time which rewarded her with a look so cold that her bones chilled. Clearly Rahl was not a morning person. Layla resorted to gazing out the window for entertainment rather than trying to spark any sort of conversation. Prior to her journey to the People's Palace many months ago she had never travelled outside of her village. As the carriage rolled along she saw green hillsides and dense forests and blue skies blanketing the earth. She had always thought of D'Hara as an exotic wonderland, but she now realized how it really wasn't that different than the lands of her own home.
Entranced by the view outside of the palace, Layla dosed in and out of sleep throughout the ride. It wasn't unusual for her to be a bit groggy in the morning since she had such troubles sleeping and the night before she had been unusually restless. Her mind kept wandering back to the cryptic nature of their journey. When she was awake in the carriage she made a few feeble attempts at conversation, all of which utterly failed.
As morning crept into the afternoon, Layla realized that Rahl's sour grogginess had passed. He was no longer avoiding conversation because of his distaste of mornings. Rahl was distracted and anxious like he was just waiting for something to throw a wrench in his plans. Whenever they passed another horse or even travellers on foot Layla could see his body tense until they had passed out of sight. These observations made Layla nervous about finding out what Rahl had planned at the end of their journey.
Eventually, Layla's sleepiness overpowered her concern about Rahl's anxiety and she dozed off once more. In her dream, Layla was lying in an empty clearing surrounded by swaying trees and rustling branches. The ground was soft and she squished soft damp grass between her toes. She heard a voice rustling in the wind, or was it just the sound of the branches moving with the trees? Layla looked up to see the stars, but there was only blackness. As Layla looked down again, the blackness followed. She was no longer surrounded by swaying trees and soft grass, but intense never-ending darkness. Nothingness. Had she lost her sight? Her chest tightened and breath quickened and she looked out at the expanse of black nothingness before her. She could still hear the wind and the rustling trees calling.
"Ssssssssss…." they hissed, calling to her. She turned to look for the voice calling her. She saw nothing. Was it coming from the trees? Were they still there?
"Ssssseeeeeee…." they whispered once more. Layla felt sure these voices were calling from the trees. She knew it in the same way you know things in dreams without knowing how you know.
"See it," the voices drew the words out long and slow so it sounded like the words of a snake.
"See what?" Layla shouted, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration. "I can't see anything!" she yelled at the voices as they started repeating themselves.
"See it. See it. See it. See it," they chanted. Each word felt like it lasted a whole minute for the voices to say. But then the voices started to grow louder.
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Layla hollered covering her ears, but the voices didn't stop.
"See it! See it! See it!" The voices were shouting back now with no sign of stopping. Layla felt her body curl into a ball on the ground. As her body met the Earth she felt the grass beneath her, but still could not see it. With her hands cupped firmly over her ears, she bowed down with her nose touching the grass beneath her. The shouting voices felt like a weight pressing down on her.
"Stop. Stop. Stop….Stop…," Layla whispered as the voices rang out in her head.
"SEE IT! SEE IT!" they repeated over and overfilling her mind with nothing but those words and her own feeble resistance. She knew now that the voices weren't coming from the trees, but from her own mind. She tried to push the voices away and force herself awake, but the voices only pushed back harder. They grew louder and she could feel the weight of the sound pushing her body even farther into the ground. Layla wept and shook waiting for the dream to be over.
She felt a soft touch on her shoulder lightly shaking her. She pulled back, afraid of what new feelings would take hold. Warm breath tickled her ear and she felt the soothing presence of someone nearby. The voices vanished. Layla gasped in freedom.
As Layla's eyes opened she saw Rahl's face inches from hers with his brow crinkled in concern. Her eyes met his and she flinched at the seemingly unending darkness of his own eyes. But he held her gaze and she didn't dare look away. She saw something else within that darkness, no longer masked behind it. Spots of warm golden brown sprinkled Rahl's irises. So light and soft you could only see them if you got close, and no one, until now, had ever been this close to Darken Rahl. For all Layla knew she might have been the first person to see those golden brown spots in Rahl's eyes. As she took in his whole face, Layla saw an expression of worry and panic that she had never seen before. Almost as soon as she noticed, it had flitted away and Rahl blushed ever so slightly before replacing that wrinkled brow with a harsh grimace.
"I hope you're alright," Rahl straightened returning to his practiced cold demeanor. Layla felt calm as she realized that no matter what happened she had seen something no one else had; a Darken Rahl that cared about another person. He could act as nonchalant and aloof as he wanted but she knew there was more to him. Something about that relaxed her and set her at ease.
"I hope we're here," Layla said in mock exhaustion. Ignoring her, Rahl stepped out of the carriage lightly. Layla watched him from behind as he set his hands on his hips and examined the scene before him. His figure was like a dark shadow silhouetted by the setting sun.
"We are here," Rahl responded with a note of uncertainty in his voice.
