Ever Dream

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Ever Dream

By Stephen Oakley

Prologue

 

The thief sneaked into the castle in the dead of the night. The guards were unaware of the hooded figure slowly creeping past them in the shadows. As he entered the castle the size of the structure amazed him. Corridors spanned for what seemed like miles, with door upon door set into the solid stone walls as far as the eye could see. The thief endlessly searched the enormous building, every room and every cupboard, nothing was left unexamined.  Priceless paintings hung on the walls. Gold and silver jewellery and ornaments adorned every surface as if waiting to be taken, but none of it interested him. After what seemed like hours of searching the thief cursed to himself and accepted defeat. He pulled his cloak tight around him and made his way back down the long corridor that he had just explored. But something was different, this wasn’t the same corridor, he hadn’t explored this one. A frenzied look appeared on his face as he stared in disbelief at the twenty or more doors placed at even intervals along the corridor. He hurried to the first door, aware that there was only two or maybe three hours before sunrise and then the castle would come alive with guards and residents and he had yet to escape this fortress. Defeated and tired, the thief searched the last room and found the same priceless junk that he had found in almost every other room.

“They must be here somewhere” he muttered under his breath, “But where?”

Giving up his search, the thief left the room and retraced his steps back towards the entrance. For a second his heart pounded because he thought he was lost, but then he found a corridor that he had explored earlier. Finding his way through the huge castle, the thief was on the final stretch to the exit when he noticed a door that was slightly ajar. He was certain he had shut all the doors after himself. Had he missed this room? Was someone awake already? Slowly he carefully stepped towards the door and peered inside. He found an empty room with a few pieces of furniture half covered with sheets. Cautiously entering, he quickly searched the room, thoroughly checking under the sheets and furniture. Then, there in front of him were four small wooden boxes covered in a tough leather casing. A look of relief followed by a greedy smile appeared on his hooded face as he imaged the reward his master would give him for achieving such a difficult task.

Everything had gone well, too well, he thought. Just as he was opening one of the boxes for a little peek, he heard voices in the corridor outside. Quickly he opened a sack and was about to throw in the boxes when he thought better of it. It couldn’t go wrong now, he had done the difficult part of the plan, all he had to do now was escape and take the items to his master. The voices grew louder and were spoken with haste. He looked around for a means of escape but there was nowhere to go, he was trapped. As the door knob started to turn, he backed himself into a corner, pulled the hood over his face and waited silently in the shadows. The door opened and two guards entered the room. They peered around the room in a routine manner, quickly surveying the items. This check had been performed three times tonight already and the next shift would do it again in two hours. The thief suddenly felt a hot sweat come over him as he noticed something. How could he be so stupid? He had left one of the boxes slightly open and the guards were very close to discovering it. They continued their inspection and were about to leave the room when they both noticed the discrepancy at the same time. They immediately raised their swords and glanced around the room. On edge, they slowly stepped around the room, searching the corners and shadows. The thief’s heart pounded as he removed a dagger from under his cloak and held it ready to strike. As one of the guards backed up into him, he silently reached around and placed a hand over his mouth before sinking the dagger deep into his back. The guard slipped down to the floor in a pool of blood. Pulling the dagger out, the thief prepared to attack the other guard. Creeping slowly toward him he attempted the same manoeuvre, only this time it didn’t work. Hearing a rustle, the guard swung around just in time to see the thief reaching his arm around. Too close to use his sword, the guard launched himself at the intruder and they fell toward the floor. As they hit the floor, the dagger in the thief’s hand plunged into the guard’s chest. He let out a gasp before falling limp on top of the thief. The guard was heavy and for a moment the thief thought he was trapped. He began to sweat as panic set in. Wriggling and pushing with everything he had he finally managed to roll him off. When he finally caught his breath, he stood up and opened his sack. He quickly threw in the boxes and made his way to the door. Exiting the building in the same manner that he had entered, undetected in the shadows. As he left the grounds the evil grin appeared on his face once more as he anticipated his reward.