Turning The Tables

[Alistair]

::Alistair::

The dreams were becoming more clear. Whoever the man was in these dreams' was about die with in the next day. Alistair often had these dreams, and often could not stop them. he vaguely recalled his mother telling him once, that the more he knew someone, or the more their destines were intertwined the more he would see about them.

Alistair had not made friends in his travels. Currently, he was near the south water edge of the massive island which he was born on. There taking up the miles near the sea was the Labyrinth of Gedref. Alistair was not far from it, having just come from that area. He was rather glad he had found his way out, as he had been in there for a few hours. That place was madding, but safe if you wanted to hide.

Not that he was hiding. Alistair just liked the challenge. He sat down by his fire, and finished his meal he and caught in the sea (on one side of the maze). He felt the tiny hairs on his neck stand, and the slight sounds of metal bending, and rubbing together. . . . He was about to be attacked. Grabbing his two daggers, Alistair turned to face whoever was trying to come up behind him.

[The First Meeting Between Vaughn & Alistair Five Years Ago . . .]

[Vaughn Adeney]

::vaughn::

Vaughn was not a people person. But he was also like a child in a candy shop. He had left his family just a month or so ago and he was traveling the word, living new adventure, loving causing trouble when he could. He had not yet decided if he wanted to make his mishaps a solo act or if there was room for a partner or two. Right now, he had joined a small group of bandits who he had just happened to come across. They were idiots. Not at all intelligent; just robbing whoever they thought would have something on them. Still, Vaughn was very new to this nomadic lifestyle so he decided to join them; it was very temporary since permanence was never his sort of thing.

They had been going through the labyrinth for quite some time. Most of them were frustrated by its complicated layout, but Vaughn silently went through the obstacle and eventually, he was the first one out. He actually used his brain rather than just took a random twist and turn, even though there was inevitably some of that necessary to break free from all this greenery. When he got to the other side, all he saw was a man. Nothing exciting. Nothing extraordinary. The bandits were expecting something grand as a reward of getting through this maze. They were going to be massively disappointed.

"You are going to die." Vaughn's voice lacked any sympathy, compassion, in fact it had no emotion at all other than amusement. For some reason, he had an image of all the bandits charging out from the maze, looking like lunatics, robbing and killing this man because they were cranky over not having found something better at the end of their efforts. Such a comical image indeed.

[Alistair]

::Alistair::

Alistair watched the man exit the maze and knew right away, it was the man in his dreams. He would die, either hours or a whole day from now, he would die. So it made the man's first words come out as a rather odd statement. Was he a druid to? He wore metal, which meant he might not be, unless it stolen.

"I could say the same for you." He replied, watching the man who was at lest five or more years younger then him. He wondered why the man was so dressed in metals when traveling this far into nothingness. Then again, he was fighting before he died in the dream, so maybe he expected trouble.

[Vaughn Adeney]

::vaughn::

Now what did this man mean about that? Was he threatening him, saying that he was going to kill him? Vaughn felt he had fairly reasonable instincts, and his gut was not seeing this man to have said his statement in a threatening way. In fact, he seemed rather calm about it. He said it in almost the same way Vaughn had told him he was going to die, except in a less amused manner. It was strange indeed. Vaughn had insight. He knew that a group of bandits were coming. What had led this man to make such conclusions?

"And why do you say that?" He asked, vocalizing this curiosity. He was not going to offer the man any information or warning about the thieves that were probably not going to take much longer from charging out from the maze. He owed this man nothing. He was another insignificant human being, and yet, out of sheer curiosity and boredom, he would humor him and question his intentions and reasons for claiming that Vaughn was to meet his death. He did not fear death, but that did not diminish his curiousness.

[Alistair]

::Alistair::

This far south from the kingdoms fighting to rid the world of magic, Alistair had not reason to hid what he was. Still, it was no easy for him to admit to his dreams. In the Druid world he was known as a Drabarno; or a seer. "Sometimes I know thing." He replied.

Alistair was not known for talking but nor did he plan to not warn the man. He looked up at the sky, judging the time before looking back at the man. "Tomorrow. When the sky starts to darker, you will be with a a few others. They will leave you. You will be killed." He told him VERY matter a factlly. He had been warned, he could do with it as he wished. Alistair's job was done. He was not here to play hero.

[Vaughn Adeney]

::vaughn::

There was something very strange about the way this man spoke of Vaughn's impending doom. He was so confident in his words. So sure of himself. He was not even saying he would die by his hand. He was presenting a vague scenario of how Vaughn would die. Tomorrow. It was specific; oddly so. Still though. For all Vaughn knew, this man could be insane. Suffering from some mental illness. He was not quick or naive enough to trust the words of a stranger.

He chuckled at the thought of it. He would continue to humor him. "Oh is that so," he said, his tone a mocking one. "And how will this be happening?" He asked, slightly sarcastic. "If you could also give me a specific time, because I would like to make sure I have my errands complete before I leave this world." He was ridiculing this man. Little did he know how accurate he was, though Vaughn continued to feel that there was something odd about the way he spoke. He seemed, familiar with something that had obviously not happened yet. It was, bizarre.

[Alistair]

::alistair::

Alistair knew the man was mocking him. Alistair just gave a shrug of his shoulders, as if he could care less and then sat back down by his small fire. He watched the man, not only because the man was armed and dangerous; not from any give a damn of the man's life. If this stranger did not heed his words, he would die.

Alistair had done his part, he had for warned him. For druids, that was more then enough. They did not often warn other non druids about things like this. Alistair only did so, because he felt he was betraying his gifts to not at lest warn the ones in his dreams.

[Vaughn Adeney]

::vaughn::

Vaughn knew that the men would be coming soon. They could not be heard now, but when their voices filled the air, it would only be a matter of seconds until they charged from the maze, finding the only outlet for their anger. And yet, Vaughn could not let this go. He was trusting his gut; something he did often, but in this case, it could be a matter of life and death. For the man. And maybe for Vaughn himself if this stranger was telling the truth.

"Give me one good reason to believe you." He was curious. Was this man truly insane? Or was he just trying to warn the knight? If everyone knew the moment they were going to die, they would live their life differently. Vaughn was not sure he would; he felt he was the exception to that belief. And while he did not fear death, what if he had found a way to cheat death. Yes! That would be life's greatest challenge and greatest accomplishment. And in order to do that, he would need more information from his stranger.

[Alistair]

::alistair::

Give him a reason? Alistair heard the others coming, and he stood again. Taking a few steps back to give him self room to fight if this came to one. For some unexplainable reason, he knew that there was something amiss with this. His dreams were cretin, however the time frame they happened in were not. He usually could guess and know within a day when they would happen. "I will not. Doubt me if you like. It's not my life that ends when my 'friends' leave me."

If these men were from his dream then it meant it was happening faster, and it would not be dusk when it happened; but dawn. Soon they would encounter the witch who would kill just the one who stood here while the others abonnoned him to save their own lives. He was not going to convince the man of anything.

[Vaughn Adeney]

::vaughn::

This man had chosen to use the word 'friends' very interestingly. Either he heard them and made a clear assumption, or his strange visions had shown him who Vaughn was conversing with for the time being. "It is not I who will be dying today," he pointed out with a sinister smile. And then, the bandits came out. As expected, they were angry for not having find something grander at the end of the maze. They questioned Vaughn's reason for not having killed the man but did not care enough to wait for an answer.

Then, all attention was on Alistair. Well, Vaughn was still looking back and forth between the two. He was interested in how this was going to play out, and so decided to be a bystander rather than an instigater and strike the first blow. The 'leader' of the bandits demanded that Alistair empty his pockets and anything else that held potentially valuable things, and then of course, demanded its possession. Vaughn then turned to Alistair as tense silence filled the air. Did the man know how to fight? He looked fairly well built, but this could be deceiving so Vaughn just waited to see his reaction and whether he complied with the demands made upon him.