Joshua awoke with a start in the middle of the cold, dark forsaken night, breathing rather heavily. Gerik lay next to him, a small but detectable smile on his carefree face. The dying embers of the once roaring fire crackled and glowed softly. He glanced up at the night sky and shivered, it was colder than he thought. He then wondered how Gerik survived, since he wore a shirt with no sleeves. As Joshua continued his heavy breathing, he noticed he was drenched in the sticky, smelly stuff known as sweat. He grimaced; he didn't like being sweaty, at all. He hadn't realized how much one could sweat! It seemed to pour out of his pores, smelling funny.

Realizing that he probably wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, he decided to re-kindle the fire. The sweat drenched shirt stuck to his skin like glue, thoroughly annoying him. Despite the cold, he decided to strip it off. To him, the cold was better than a smelly, sticky, sweaty shirt that looked awful anyway. He laid the shirt off to the side and began to look around for fire starting materials. He found the sword, but the flint was gone…

"Blast! He must've put it back into that pouch of his! Damnation!"

Joshua glared at Gerik's sleeping innocent form. He was lying on his stomach, the pouch that contained the flint he so desired rested a few inches above his posterior.

"Curses."

He rose to his feet and debated to himself whether Gerik was a light sleeper or not. He didn't want to wake him for fear the man might mistake Joshua's actions as a sexual assault. But at the same time, Joshua didn't want to freeze to death. He groaned and made his way over to Gerik. He placed his feet firmly beside Gerik's, and slowly reached out to grab the flint.

"Slowly…slowly…almost there…" The suspense was killing him.

A sudden change in Gerik's sleeping position sent poor Joshua not only falling onto Gerik's body, but making his hand grab the other mans butt. Joshua was so unnerved that he couldn't move and could only stare dazedly at Gerik who immediately arose, staring almost angrily at the red-headed swordsman. Gerik was assuming the worst.

"What are you doing?"

Joshua turned red.

"Getting flint, why, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you were trying to rape me or something."

"No! I was trying to get the flint when you kicked me and made me fall!"

"That sounds like a lie, my friend."

"W-what?! It's the truth, I swear!"

"Uh-huh. Then why'd you feel it so necessary to grab my butt, eh?"

"You knocked me over!"

"Right, right…" he rolled his eyes with mock sarcasm, taking in the situation that was laid before him. "Why then, aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"It was all sweaty."

"Oh ho! Why was it all sweaty then?" Gerik smiled menacingly as Joshua turned even redder.

"You're such a pervert! It's not what you think it is!"

"Than what is it?"

"I had a nightmare is all!"

Gerik stopped teasing Joshua, and sat up, pushing Joshua off of him. He had known all along that Joshua didn't have the guts to pull off a sexual attempt and was merely messing around with the poor swordsman. A look of seriousness crossed his face when Joshua mentioned his nightmare. What could've scared him so much that had caused him to sweat so much?

"What was this nightmare about?"

"None of your business." He shivered in the night air.

Gerik took notice and took the flint that Joshua had tried so desperately to get out of it's container.

"What say you we get a fire going and then talk about that dream, all right?"

Joshua looked away and shrugged his bare shoulders in a response.

The chilling night air awoke Myrrh. She got up and stared at the still burning fire shiver in the wind. She daintily extended her leathery wings and yawned. She then deemed it cold enough to scotch closer to the fire. A distance away, Innes' form could be seen, taking his turn at watch. She glanced at L'Arachael, wondering if Innes had taken advantage of her sleeping status. He had. There were black marks all over her face and on her neck. She sighed, realizing tomorrow would be just as hectic as it was today.

She then took notice of Forde's canvas, sitting not to far from where she sat. She grabbed hold of it and looked upon it with great interest, she had always wanted to see one of Forde's masterpieces! She sucked in her breath, the sight captivating her mysterious dark blue eyes.

It was a beautiful painting, the colors carefully blended to create the illusion of the night sky. It captured every essence of the valley they were camping in, taking in every little detail. She admired how he had even tried to put animal life into it by painting a deer and it's fawn hiding shyly behind a tree. Close by was a figure she vaguely recognized. It was Franz, Forde's younger brother, gallantly resting upon his steed with a lance in his hand, his face wearing a beaming, rich and radiant smile.

She let her gaze drift to where Forde was sleeping, looking upon his face. What was usually calm and collected was now scrunched up with worry and discomfort. She smiled, admiring the brotherly love that could only be experienced through siblings and wished that maybe she had a sister with whom she could confide in. She lay the painting to rest and returned to watching the fire drift away in the sky.

The crackling of the fire burning furiously through the wood surrounded them on all sides. Joshua had his arms wrapped around his legs which were drawn up to his chest. Gerik put one last log into the fire and then planted himself down beside Joshua.

"Now, what about this dream then?"

Not moving from his position, he began to elaborate.

"Well, it was really weird. I was wandering through this deserted town, all alone, and it was so quiet. There were lots of shops and things, but no one, not a soul, was there! The doors were all closed, seemingly to have been nailed shut from the inside. The windows showed no picture through the glass, only dust and dirt. Seeing nothing that seemed out of the ordinary, I continued to walk along until I came upon this fort like structure. The doors were wide open, so I walked in…"

He paused, not wanting to go on.

"You went in and…" Gerik gestured for him to continue.

"Well, I went in and everyone I had ever known was standing there, my friends, family, enemies, everyone! I was so happy that I had finally found other people besides myself! I almost wept with joy! Unfortunately, something seemed wrong…No one was talking or moving, not even if I talked to them. It was scary and unnerving, so I attempted to grab at one of their arms, telling them to wake up! To snap out of it! But they wouldn't budge. They had all turned to stone…they had been frozen and nothing I did seemed to work, I couldn't re-awaken them."

Gerik's thoughts wandered as he watched the fires dancing glow illuminate Joshua's rarely serious face.

'Should I try to comfort him or what?'

Joshua fought back tears as he remembered the looks on his friends' faces. They were all deformed, twisted and convoluted with pain. He couldn't bare the thought of any of his friends in any kind of pain at all! As hard as he tried, a single tear erupted and drizzled down his pale face. Gerik's well trained eye caught this small movement and took action.

"Are you ok?" he finally decided to comfortingly place his arm around Joshua's bare shoulders.

"Fine" Joshua murmured as he swiftly wiped the tear away. He leaned against Gerik's body, sitting up close to him, closing his eyes in peace and comfort.

"Knoll?"

Knoll didn't stir.

Saleh nudged him around until he finally woke up.

"Nn…huh? What?"

"I think I just had a vision, Knoll."

Knoll yawned, clearly showing his disinterest.

"What kind?"

Saleh thought carefully about his next words.

"Pain…everyone in pain, writhing, agonizing pain…everyone was screaming and crying out for help, and yet, I could do nothing…"

"Saleh"

"Yes?"

"That wasn't a vision, it was a nightmare. Go back to sleep, you'll be fine." With that, Knoll rolled over and went back to sleep, leaving Saleh to mull over what Knoll had said.

"It seemed pretty vivid to me." He muttered. Then he too, drifted off to sleep beside Knoll.