Little Fighter: Calm Before the Storm

[Divisor]

Dennis

»My head hurts.« Davis complained when Woody put a cold towel over his head.
»You don't say,« Dennis smiled. »You were hit on the head and knocked out for almost two days. No big surprise you're feeling pain.«
»Two days?! We're wasting time here, let's go!«
»Not yet.« Dennis pushed the eager Davis back down. »First you need to recover. Rest, be quiet and it'll take less.«
It took a whole afternoon for Davis to finally recover enough for them to continue traveling. They set out of the camp the next morning.
»We should be at the crossroads the day after tomorrow.« Dennis announced. »We'll split up there, I'll take the southern road to Fallentree and you two the northern one to Tai Hom Village.«
His companions nodded. »Listen,« Davis said »I had a strange dream while I was knocked out.«
»Dream?« Dennis frowned. »You were unconscious, you couldn't possibly dream.«
»I don't know what it was, but I saw things. I saw John and some woman, making plans about something. They said they required Firen and Freeze and someone else for an experiment.«
»Can you describe the room you were in?«
When Davis was finished with his desctiption, Dennis couldn't believe it. What the hell?
»What's wrong?« Woody apparently noticed his disbelief.
»I was in that room before.« He turned against Davis »You, on the other hand, were not.«
»What?« Davis looked confused.
»What you described is the Forbidden Tower.« He got all the details correctly, the windows, the pillars, the red carpet…what's going on? »I was inside that room after the war, when the leaders of the four countries met and discussed the future of the continent.« He remembered it as it were yesterday: Firen, Freeze, John, Coastland leaders. Army generals from all four countries. The room where we signed the peace was the same one where that peace was broken. How ironic. But the bigger question was, how did Davis know that room? He was not inside when the peace negotiations took place, and as far as Dennis knew Davis had never stepped inside in his life. Then how is he able to describe it with such accuracy?
Davis seemed equally dumbfounded.
»I've never set a foot inside…how is this possible?«
»I don't know.« Dennis admitted. »But whatever those dreams were, we need to take them seriously. You said that woman was from Heatlands…can you describe her?«
Davis told Dennis and Woody everything he remembered about the woman. It's not much, but if she's on the court, maybe I can identify her.
»If John has a spy in the Heatlands, it could provide him big advantage over us. I'll look for her at court, maybe I get lucky.« he said aloud.
»Aye.« Davis said »Anyway, I just remembered…what happened to those attackers? Who were they?«
»We don't know,« Woody replied »They weren't scavengers though. They were armed with castle-forged steel and wore quality armor, not like your usual outlaw. We suspect mercenaries.«
»Mercs? That means someone must have hired them to prey on the travelers…but who?«
»Rocklands? You said that in your dreams, you saw the woman report to John that Coastlands sent emissaries to Heatlands. Wouldn't it be a wise move to send men to intercept us?«
»True, but why sellswords? Why not the army?«
»Sending an army to another country's territory is literally declaring a war. John probably isn't ready to wage war on us just yet, so he sent mercenaries, knowing we won't be able to connect them to him. Anyway, we need to watch out. There might be more of them along the way.«

The rest of the journey, however, went without much trouble. They reached the crossroads two days later, as planned. The road split into three: left to Tai Hom Village, right to Fallentree and straight to Rocky Town, a village on the Rockland border.
»So, I guess this is it.« Woody turned towards Dennis.
»Yeah. Have a safe journey you guys. Sooner or later, we will meet again.«
Davis and Woody hugged him, said goodbye and started towards Tai Hom Village. Dennis watched them leave for a little while, before he departed for his own destination. So, it has begun.