The Empire of Zeth/Chapter 11

Evy spends the next several days recuperating, feeling much weaker than she'd ever felt before in her life after the recent events. Master Garath gratefully accepted Ranth's offer to stay with Evy while she recovered, as he was too busy attending meetings and sifting through reports to watch over her. A cot was set up in Evy's chambers for Ranth to use, as he refused to leave her side to go back to his own quarters to sleep.

Ranth poured Evy water and helped her eat, telling her stories about his youth and time in training with the imperial guard to pass the time. It was getting late, and he was almost finished telling her the story of the time he accidentally locked himself inside a store room as a little boy for an entire day.

"I thought I'd never get out of there. When my father finally came and found me, I was crying in a corner eating field ration packs like they were the last thing I'd ever taste. To this day I still can't stand the things..."

Evy chuckled, enjoying the tale. She yawned deeply, and her eyes fluttered with sleepiness. "Th-Thank you for staying with me, Ranth.." she mumbles, her eyelids drooping.

"No problem!~" he says, patting her on the shoulder as he gets to his feet. "Sleep well, you don't want to be in bed forever!~" Evy sticks out her tongue at him which only makes him laugh. She falls asleep and Ranth prepares to go to bed on the cot. Taking off his boots and shirt, he climbs into the cot and lies down. Glancing back over at Evy, Ranth sees she is already fast sleep. He rolls over onto his side, and tries to get some shut eye himself...

...

Evy dreams once again. She is back on the train, and everything is as it was before. Leg'than Direhammer is standing over Ranth. He raises his sword, about to bring it down on his head. Evy cries out and tries to run to him... but her feet feel like they're covered in honey. Each step is a struggle, but she forces herself on.

Time moves slowly, and the sword slowly descends. Evy reaches for her own sword, only to discover it's not with her. She tries to call it to her side, but it won't listen! The sword descends further. Evy screams and leaps forward, but the scene moves and she falls flat on her belly.

The sword hits Ranth's helmet and cleaves it in twain. Evy screams "NOOOO!!!" and cries as she is forced to watch Ranth die, helpless. The uruk-hai hears her scream and turns, grinning evily at the girl lying on the floor. He stalks towards her, raising the sword that still drips with Ranth's blood over his head and brings it down on her...

...

"Evy! EVY!" Ranth stands over Evy's bed, trying to wake her. He dodges her flailing limbs, remembering what happened last time he shook her while she slept... Evy thrashes and throws the bedsheets off with such force that they fly into the wall on the far side of the room. Her eyes shoot open and she breaths heavily, sweat covering her skin and soaking through her black-dyed cotton night clothes.

It takes Evy a few moments to realize where she was. Her eyes finally focus on Ranth, and they tear up. "R-Ranth?" she cries. Evy leaps out of the bed and seizes Ranth around the torso in a bear hug so tight he swears he can hear his bones creak in protest. Grimacing, he awkwardly pats Evy on the back and she trembles.

"It's alright - you're safe, Evy!" he coos to her. "Can you not squeeze so hard?? You're hurting me.." Evy lets go as he says this. "S-Sorry! S-Sorry!!" The girl locks her arms behind her back. Not meeting his eyes, she goes and retrieves the bedsheets.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Ranth asks as Evy brings the sheets back over to the bed. She nods, still not meeting his eyes. When she struggles to untangle the sheets, he steps forward to assist her. Evy mumbles her thanks and together they put the bed to rights.

Once it's made, Evy sits down on it, dangling her legs off the side. After a short hesitation, Ranth sits down beside her and puts an arm around her small shoulders. She snuggles up against him, still trembling. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks her softly. Evy shakes her head, hiding her eyes underneath her bangs. "Alright, you don't have to if you don't want to." He sits there for a while, until she stops trembling.

Seeing Evy is calm now, Ranth takes his arm from her shoulders and moves to get up. As he turns and stands up, Evy quickly grabs her forearm. "W-Wait, where a-are you g-going?" she stutters.

"I'm just going back to the cot, alright? You should try to get some more sleep, if you can. Those nightmares can't hurt you - they aren't real, and I'll be right here if you need me." He pats her on the head to reassure her.

...

(The next day...)

Chapter 11: Studies

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