Disclaimer: All LoK characters belong to Crystal Dynamics.

To Find My Way Home

Chapter Five

I had slept through most of the night. But it wasn't a soundless sleep, I can tell you that. As I slept, I had experienced more of those same weird dreams again.

At first, it seemed I was watching myself again. I watched as two heavily armored men took me from a prison cell and led me somewhere. I was curious as to what was going on, so I followed. I realized they couldn't sense my presence there. I followed as the guards took my dream self up several stories and into a large chamber.

I slunk to one of the far walls, staying out of the way, yet still having a good view of the events unfolding. Although they couldn't see me, I still felt safer off to the side. I watched the guards throw my dream self to the floor before taking posts at the only exit. My dream self rose to her feet, fear in her eyes.

Suddenly, a third man appeared from the shadows, but he was different from the two guards. He wore less armor and held a rather arrogant posture. I suppose he was of high ranking. One thing about him kind of caught my attention; the long, gray drape that hung from his shoulder. It had a symbol on it, looking kind of like a horizontal line with two fangs protruding downward.

This man approached my dream self as she cowered in fear. She knelt down to her knees and bowed her head in submission, an obvious sign that she acknowledged his dominance over her.

"Please... Please milord, do not kill me. I beg of you," I could barely hear her mutter. Her voice did not sound like mine. She had this noble accent to her words. I began to wonder...

The man suddenly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to meet his gaze. He scrutinized her for a moment before dropping her on the ground. "Cowardly wench! Is this how the daughter of a human governor acts? No matter. Kain shall be quite pleased with the bargaining chip my men happened to stumble upon. Return her to her cell! We shall be leaving for the sanctuary when night falls."

"Yes Lord Zephon," the guards answered.

Kain! Zephon! My father- er... the governor... had said that those were the names of some of the 'vampires'. I watched helplessly as the guards towed away the girl that looked like me. I wasn't sure, but I think she was the Danielle of this world.

My dream changed then, and I could no longer reflect on the identity of the girl. I now found myself being the one hauled around by guards. Only I was no longer in the same building as the first part of my dream. It wasn't as dark here and everything was on the same level. No climbing flights of stairs.

I was taken to this large room. There were these jagged pillar things that stood roughly ten feet high, surrounding a throne. A hideous man sat complacently on the throne. I recognized him from my previous dreams. Around him, stood six men. They all dressed similarly, including a shoulder drape, but each one was of a different color with a different symbol.

My eyes momentarily caught the familiar gray draped man. Zephon. I was ushered past him and then shoved onto the ground. I scuffed up my palms on the hard, stone floor. I began to lift myself up when I saw those two-toed feet obscure my vision.

"Now what do you think you were trying to accomplish by trying to escape, Lady Danielle?" a deep voice rang in my ears. I looked up to meet the gaze of the ugly one. He stood over me with an expression that I was lower than dog meat. I glared at him. This caused him to snatch me up by the collar of my shirt.

"Do you wish to challenge me, Lady Danielle?"

"I am not Lady Danielle. My name is Danni," I growled threw gritted teeth. I had no idea why I was being so defiant. I felt deep inside that it would only get me hurt.

He snickered. "It's funny, how you look just like Lady Danielle."

"It's funny, how you are as ignorant as you are ugly," I countered.

This enraged him. His smirk turned into a scowl and he backhanded me with his free hand. The blow stung viciously, and I found myself back on the ground again. The strength behind that blow was mind-boggling. He must have pulled his punch; otherwise I think my head wouldn't still be attached to my shoulders.

I tried to get up, but before I could, I saw his feet in my vision again. His face came down to meet mine and he growled a warning to me. "Such a foolish child. You should know that if you play with fire, you are bound to get burned." With that, the dreams ended.

My eyes fluttered open. Gray, cloudy skies hung overhead, but I could tell that it was daytime. I sat up. My head was pounding. I instantly remembered what had happened the night before upon taking in my surroundings. I found myself sitting at the edge of a small pond at the base of a waterfall. A small river flowed away from the pond towards places unknown.

A cliff bordered one side of the pond, where the waterfall fell. Trees and shrubbery lined another side, and an open field surrounded the rest. I stood up, noting that my jeans were still very damp and my shoes were soaked. Most of my shirt had dried during the night, but it was caked in dirt. I felt so filthy. And my wet jeans were chaffing my legs.

I walked towards the open field trying to make out anything in the distance. Nothing. No horses. No knights. And thankfully, no citadel. As I was about to turn away from the field, I did notice one thing; a path worn into the field from use of travelers.

It struck me as odd, and I turned back to face the waterfall, taking in the entire view. Yes, I recognized this place! We had passed by this waterfall on the way to the citadel. It wasn't too far from where my car was 'parked'. The waterfall had been a distance away when I had seen it, so I didn't take much interest in it beforehand. It was also why I didn't recognize this place any sooner.

I decided my best option would be to try to find my car. Even if I still couldn't get it running, at least I had some clothes in there. They were dirty from my camping trip, but at least they were dry. However, traveling in the open field meant risking being found by Richard and his men again. But it would be worth it.

I headed out into the field. The tall grasses and weeds seemed slightly withered and yellowed. Must be a really dry year, or lack of sun. I came near to the dirt path, but decided to stay off of it. Better chances of hiding in the grass should someone happen to come along.

Based on the location of the path to the waterfall, I quickly figured out which way was west and began to head in that direction. Hopefully it wouldn't take long to find my car. After some time, the temperature began to rise and with the cloud cover, it made for a nasty greenhouse effect. My wet jeans were really beginning to burn the insides of my legs. It was pure torture.

Just when I was on the brink of giving up and letting my corpse rot and fester in the hot fields, I caught a glimpse of bright blue in the middle of yellow-green. It was my car! I could not believe my eyes! All the pain and misery I had been enduring for the last hour had been instantly forgotten as I bolted for my car.

I ran to within about fifty paces of my vehicle, when I suddenly noticed horses and about eight men surrounding my car. I froze in my tracks. They hadn't seen me yet so I ducked down in the grass and watched momentarily as I saw them walking around my car. I didn't recognize any of these men, and they didn't dress like anyone from the citadel.

Somehow, one of them had figured out how to open the doors. I hadn't locked my car, so I don't suppose it was too difficult. But then again, those knights thought my car was some wild beast. I watched as they began taking stuff out of my car and pilfering through it.

This enraged me. I went into 'someone's violating my property and I'm not going to let them get away with it' mode. I rose out of my hiding spot and stormed over towards them. When I was about twenty feet from them, they noticed my presence.

"What the hell are you doing with my shit?" I demanded loud and clear. It was at this moment that I realized my mistake. The men all drew swords from their sheaths and held them at me. I stopped in my tracks, but held my ground.

"Milord, what shall we do with this human wench?" one of the men asked aloud. I was not sure who he was directing the question towards, as they all seemed to be dressed similarly. There was no indication as to who was the superior 'officer'.

Suddenly, a ninth man revealed himself from behind one of the horses. He was less armored and to my surprise, he was wearing one of those drape thingies from his shoulder! It was a deep blue and the symbol looked like a 'T' with a hook on the bottom.

He had been thumbing through one of my old college books I had left behind in my car. His attention slowly turned from the book to me. He handed the book to one of his men and studied me for several long moments. Finally, he gave his order.

"Capture her alive. And do be careful with her. I believe she has much information to divulge to us."