Contemplation

''The sounds of screams and hysteria echoed throughout the woman’s head as she ran through the cobbled streets, narrowly avoiding the grip of the odd ghoul as it made a grab for her. Pushing her way through the hordes of people, she stopped suddenly at a large building. Looking up at the windows for any sign of life she ran for the door, only to be stopped by two heavily armoured men who blocked her path each time she made a run for the entrance. Waves of panic shook through her body and the feeling of desperation became almost too much bear. Snapping her head back again to look up at the building, the face of a man suddenly came into view. She called to the man and he seemed to yell back, the window blocking any comprehension of the words he appeared to scream. Temporary relief turned into horror as the man was dragged backwards by his face, an almost severed hand being the source. The last image of the man’s face, contorted by sheer panic and fright, burned into the woman’s memory before she herself was dragged backwards, struggling feverishly, all the while her gaze fixated upon the upper window, now covered by a coating of blood.''

Caiden’s eyes suddenly flicked open, taking a few seconds for realisation of the dream to dawn on her; she struggled to regulate her breathing. The dim light emitting from the single lantern placed on a nearby table highlighted the man’s face as he slept beside her. She slowly sat upright, gently moving the arm which had been strewn across her body and slide to the edge of the bed. Reaching for a nearby shirt, she slipped it over her body and made for the table, using the light from the lantern to guide her towards the half full bottle of rum. Slumping down on to a chair, she slowly undid the lid of the bottle and moved it to her lips. Raising a hand to slide across her forehead a few times, she yawned. Her body was tired yet her mind seemed to deprive her of sleep.

For as long as she could remember, most nights her sleep was disturbed by dreams like this, leading her to resort to potions in order to gain some rest. The events of the evening had been draining, at first mentally followed by physically. Looking again to the man sleeping in the bed she sighed wearily, unsure of when the point had come in which she began to turn to him to dull her thoughts, if only for the night or during the time they spent together in bed. The life of a Guard taking a toll on her more than she would ever admit to anyone, from the usual abuse which usually went over her head, to the physical assaults that were became difficult to ignore particularly when they resulted in a broken nose.

Reaching inside the upper pocket on her shirt, Caiden pulled out a small box of matches. Quickly tossing them on to the table, she realised her mistake in putting on the wrong shirt. Narrowing her eyes to look around the floor in the room she grabbed her bag up and gently placed it on to the table, trying to make as little noise as possible. Sifting through her belongings caused a small locket to drop on to the floor, the impact causing it to open and present a picture of Caiden and her father. Barely visible through the poor light she moved her hand down to fish it up, slamming it closed and dropping it back into her bag.

Moving to a small window nearby she pushed it open, the smell of the sea faintly drifting into the room. Leaning on to the window ledge she peered out across the bay, the view of a sunrise beginning to form in the distance. The scene was reminiscent of her memories which began in Southshore, an early morning such as this being a normal occurrence. The nearby farm her father had come to acquire following his return home from the war kept them both busy. Although it was a simple life, it was one Caiden was very much happy with and she was thrilled when she received her own horse, most of her time devoted to the care or riding of it. During her father’s absence Caiden stayed with her family in Darrowshire.

The Boots’ home stood not so discreetly on the outskirts of the village, it was amazing to see the amount of people that were able to fit into such a small space. The area surrounding the house was littered with bear traps set up by the Boots boys to ensure no late night male visitors decided to stop by and pay a late night visit. Caiden’s aunt, Mrs Wolmetta Diversia Charity Gravesborough Snotweather Boots, was a slim and attractive woman, her age just beginning to show with the light wrinkles that had crept on to her face. She always wore an apron and more often than not, could be found nursing a bottle of gin. She was able to project her voice throughout the house, which was not surprising when you considered the amount of kids who were frequently charging in and out. Despite this, she was a fragile woman who cared deeply for her family and made Caiden feel as welcome as she could, as she always did. She divided her time between the Boots’ in Darrowshire and her uncle and his family in Stratholme, using this time to improve her reading and writing, much to the dismay of her cousin Yvar who thought it more important to be able to operate a rifle or a cannon.

Caiden was quite close with her extended family, in particular her cousin Yvar so it pained her that their relationship as of late had reached the point where they were barely speaking. This was mostly due to their conflicting opinions and his stubbornness in accepting that she got along with people he didn’t approve of. The main source of their disagreements lately being Lorius and the fact that he was a Mage, as well as a Noble, at least in Yvar’s mind. Caiden shook her head as she considered what he would think if he knew what Lorius really was before she turned her head to gaze upwards at the sky.

The warm breeze hit her face and blew her hair back off of her shoulders, her eyes slowly peering at the sky as if looking or expecting to see something. Lorius has surprised her with his sudden change in mood as well as his sudden appearance in Booty Bay, the scale he had handed her felt more like a tracker than a symbol of protection like he had stated. The idea of Lorius being a dragon still blew her mind, even though she had seen him shift from his human form first hand. She had thought he would be going to Northrend indefinitely, the shock and upset leading her to spend the night with Danjinn initially, or at least that’s what she told herself. In truth Caiden had a very selfish streak and she readily disregarded the feelings of others to make herself happy.

Lorius was a rarity in Caiden’s experience of Stormwind, a man who was genuinely nice and polite so it was no surprise to her to find out he was in fact originally from Hillsbrad like herself. They got along well for the most part, possibly because Lorius, while having a similar fiery temperament to Caiden, often humoured her and rarely argued back preferring to keep the peace while she ranted on. Tonight however had been different, Caiden had at first been quietened by Lorius’s words until he had told her she had no idea how hard his life had been in over the past couple of weeks and compared that to Caiden’s entire life, something he knew little about. As well as that, he had made a beeline for Danjinn and seemingly attacked him causing a fight to erupt in the tavern which left both men injured and almost resulted in Caiden having nowhere to stay that night.

Kinley was to blame for this little episode of course, he had apparently gone out of his way to inform Lorius that Caiden had been spending time with Danjinn, highlighting unnecessary details and building him up into a rage. Caiden had been trying to work out if Kinley’s aim had been to hurt her or Danjinn. She knew that Kinley had a hatred towards anything related to the Defias although the reasons for it were unclear. He had threatened her with a dagger and screamed at her outside the Cathedral not so long ago when he had found a link between Danjinn and the Defias but, a couple of days later attended a fight night arranged by him. Kinley was definitely a hard person to work out and as shown tonight, someone not to be underestimated has she had perhaps done before.

Caiden reached her hand up to take a hold of the window’s handle, pulling it half way closed before turning to face the bed again and making her way towards it. She sinked down on to the bed, moving the sheets back before sliding her legs beneath them. Moving her body lower down the bed until her head rested on the pillow, she turned to face the man beside her, her eyes slowing trailing down his chest as she peered at the various scar marks littering it. The scratch wound left on his neck looked deeper than she had initially thought and she frowned, momentarily feeling responsible for it. She moved a finger to gently run across it, pulling it back as the man stirred at her touch and turned himself over, leaving his arm and that tattoo in her view. Sighing wearily, Caiden leaned over to extinguish the lantern, leaving the light from the morning sun to stream in through the windows and she closed her eyes to attempt to sleep again.