Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or this world that they are in and I am making no money out of this. I just want to write a sequel to a really good book that I wish had one.

Chapter 17

As Lavan was hiding in the garden shed, He wondered what he was going to do next.

Now that he was with Pol in the real world, or so he hoped. It shouldn't be too long before they could get him to Healers Collegium. When that happened, he was sure they would find a way to wake him up for good.

As he listened he heard the search party's moving on, and wondered where he could avoid Tyron and his Karsites, and hopefully hold on until the Healers could get him out.

He ran over possible places in his head, the only place from his memory he could find was his friend Tuck's home, the farm. But he dismissed it, for one thing, it was outside of Haven. For some reason, he felt that he needed to stay in the capital.

So, he would have to find somewhere else inside Haven. But he couldn't wander around aimlessly, so he headed of in the direction he hoped a market was.

It was past dinner time and even though this world was fake, he still felt hungry.

After roughly half a candelmark of sneaking through alleyways, Lan had managed to find enough food to tide him over.

With his stomach now taken care of, Lan began to think about where he could take refuge.

He then remembered that this dream world was supposed to be a replica of his time at the merchants school. And that meant he and Owen should be friends, and maybe he could hide there for a time, or best of all, he could hide in a Guard post. There should bee all kinds of equipment there he could use.

The problem was, the nearest one he knew of was near the merchants school. Nearly on the other side of the city judging by where he had gone over the wall.

After a few moments Lan made his decision.

Moving quietly, Lan moved through the city. A left here, a right there, all the while avoiding Tyron's Karsites.

There were a few close calls, at one point, he was walking down the street. A Karsite came out of what Lan assumed was a joining street, Lan managed to duck into a nearby ally just in time.

The Karsite was still coming in his direction. Continuing down the ally, Lavan wound up in another street. It curved and went I in the wrong direction.

Lavan followed it until he found another ally that when followed led back to the right street, and follow it he did.

Once back on the main road, Lan continued on, all the while being extra cautious.

After what felt like forever, Lan reached the Guard post. It was a massive structure with stone walls that were at least 10 meters tall with a weathered surface.

As Lan walked in, he noticed right away that the place had been ransacked. He walked carefully through the door, checking to see if anyone else was there with him.

Seeing no one, he crept inside, careful not to trip.

It was quite disheartening to see a Guard post as dismal as this. Most of the furniture was turned over, though a lot of it was broken as well making the huge mess on the floor he was trying not to trip on.

Continuing through, he headed in the direction the armoury should be. It took a few minutes but he eventually found it. Walking in he surveyed the armoury, or more accurately what was left of the armoury.

It had also been thoroughly ransacked, although he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was, seeing as how the rest of the place had been given the same thing.

Looking it over, he saw racks knocked over armour stands broken, even the lamps had been ripped off the wall.

Lavan sighed, it would be boring but it might be advantageous to clean this place up. He might even find something useful in this mess.

So he began. Standing up racks, removing trash. It took him around a candelmark but he managed to clear half of the room. And then he found it, there, buried under the splinters of a smashed chest.

A sword, is was plain, unbalanced and had a sheen of rust but very much intact and useable. With it he found it's sheath, the brown leather was old but in good condition. And the brass buckle on it's broad held was a bit rusty like the sword.

Unlike those Karsite weapons, he had a feeling this one would work.

And now he was faced with a tough decision move on and try to find another hiding place... or he could stay here, clean it up a little.

Besides it was in reasonable distance of the palace and he felt as though it would be important later. On the downside, if he stayed here too long he figured those Karsites might find him during a patrol.

Then again what reason would the have to enter a ransacked building? If he hid in one of the rooms closer to the centre they shouldn't find him.

Now, his mind made up, Lavan sheathed the sword and and buckled it to is waist. Lan then turned around and searched until he found a room close enough to the centre, and then over the course of a candelmark, clean it out.

Once that was done he went and found a bed, he had to find the parts in a few different rooms, but eventually he had a place to sleep.

Lan hen took off his sword and put it under the pillow he had found. He then lay down and got as comfortable as he could before his eyes closed, his thoughts running around in circles before he fell into an exhausted sleep. It appeared he was going to be staying here a while.

A/N: I know this chapter is SO late, I'm so sorry guys, I'm working in ch18 right now and I completely forgot that I had not uploaded ch17.

If you guys want progress reports, check my profile. It will probably take a while to write ch18 but I will do my best. I know the destination (how the story will end) but i don't quite know how to get there.

Also, TMI Fairy I know not is not realistic, but when writing the soup, I was thinking back to the Collegium chronicles book 4 Redoubt when Mags was kidnapped by the Sleepgivers. They only gave him soup so they wouldn't have to deal with poop.

Best of luck guys, stay safe