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Early autumn wreathed [[Vagon]] castle in fog. [[Gamond]] stood the wall, staring into the ubiquitous midnight murk. Sleep had, as was often the case, been rudely interrupted by intrusive memory and he had sought solitude. Such was not to be had however, as [[Melkin]] appeared on the wall beside him, announced at length by the sound of boot on stone. “Another bad dream is it?” asked [[Melkin]] and sat down on the wall next to [[Gamond]]. “How are you feeling?” [[Gamond]] rubbed his eyes and ground his teeth audibly, at length managing a curt “Mmh. I’m fine” [[Melkin]] shook his head. “You’re not. Tell me about it.” [[Gamond]] sighed. The usually timid [[Melkin]] could be surprisingly stubborn one on one. “The usual. Just vague impressions, blood, death. Screams. And the smell of smoke everywhere. Smoke has been appearing more often lately, I think. I don’t know.” [[Melkin]] studied his comrade for a short moment and then looked out over [[Vagon]]. “Your dreams has often been quite horrid,” he said and gave [[Gamond]] a well intentioned smile. “You were tossing and turning for quite some time before you woke, you know.” [[Gamond]] looked vaguely guilty. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.” “I don’t mind,” [[Melkin]] said laughing. “I just wanted to check on you.” [[Melkin]] himself rarely dreamt at all, and didn’t remember the night when their fathers had died which had spared him the nightmares. [[Gamond]] nodded, stared at his hands. “How can it feel so real when it’s that vague? I could almost smell burning.” [[Melkin]] was about to answer him, but suddenly looked out towards the yard with an expression of alarm on his face. “Not just in your dream… something is burning,” he exclaimed. “There,” he shouted and pointed at the stables where light suddenly flared. “Our lords’ [[horses]]!” [[Gamond]] stared down and jumped, hit the roof of a storehouse hard, scooted across, and dropped down into the yard heading for the well. “[[Gamond]], no! Use your cloak,” shouted [[Melkin]] and ran into the stables drenching the heavy cloth in the horses’ trough as he continued to shout: “Fire!” [[Gamond]] stared wildly after his friend, a bucket in each hand. “Cloak?” Dropping the buckets, he sprinted cross the yard and skid to a halt next to the trough. Remembering himself, he bellowed “FIIIIRE” and bodily heaved the trough off the ground, carrying it inside. High pitched screaming [[horses]], black smoke and a fierce kicking rang through the stables as [[Gamond]] entered. [[Melkin]] was in the middle of the chaos snuffing out some of the spreading fire using his wet cloak a barrier towards the flames. “We need to get the [[horses]] out!” [[Gamond]] stared at the wet cloak on the ground, making a straight line across which the flames were slow to spread. Thankful for his friends’ quick thinking he set the trough on the stable floor and threw his own cloak and tunic into it, throwing them, wet and dripping, at [[Melkin]]. The rest of [[Vagon]] was waking up but the shouts outside could rarely be heard over the roaring chaos. While [[Melkin]] fought the flames [[Gamond]] tried to think of a way to get the most important [[horses]], the chargers, out. Forcing each enclosure separately would take too long. On the very edge of the row, a thick pole supported the weight of the rest of the spars. That is what [[Gamond]] threw his size and strength upon, and the entire row toppled, crushing the back legs of one of the [[horses]], but freeing the rest to stampede out the door. [[Melkin]] just barely managed to jump out of the way of the panicking [[horses]] as they charged for the exit.He saw his own hourse run past him with it’s mane on fire, and felt the stench of burning flesh. The fire wasn’t spreading in their direction for now, but they needed to get out. Almost realising the consequences of stampeding [[horses]] too late, [[Gamond]] hid behind the second row of boxes as the [[horses]] careened past. More people were now converging on the stables, entering as soon as the opening cleared to help get [[horses]] out and fight the fire. [[Gamond]] pulled Maelgwyn’s kicking and contrary rouncey out, barely avoiding its’ ire. Thanks to the swift work of the assembling crowd the remaining [[horses]] were removed from the stables and the fire contained. Half of the stables brunt down before the fire was put out, but the majority of the [[horses]] were saved from the flames. [[Melkin]] and [[Gamond]] stood next to each other covered in soot as the first rays of the sun shed light on the blackened courtyard. Gamonds horse had been found burnt to death near the back of the stables. “Lord chompy”, his childhood companion, was no more. [[Amig]] and [[Elad]], having arrived some time earlier to oversee the proceedings, were not best pleased, a broken and twisted oil lamp had been found among the wet debris. [[Gamond]] poked among the black muck. “We’re lucky it was autumn and damp, and not in summer.” “Indeed,” said [[Melkin]] shivering while anxiously looking over at [[Amig]] and [[Elad]]. “I wonder why there would be an oil lamp in the stables in the middle of the night. We… didn’t leave one did we?” They looked at each other, none of them could have been that careless, could they? But who, then? One of the other squires, or was something more nefarious afoot?
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