A Sky of Rain

Chapter Fifteen

        "Lyra, hey Lyra." A voice resonates in my head, and I try to close my eyes tighter. This is the most sleep I have gotten all night, and I really don't want to wake up right now.

         A finger pokes my shoulder, and I groan. Please, just let me sleep. I want to sleep. It has to be sometime early in the morning, so I should be sleeping. The finger turns into a hand that starts to shake my shoulder, and doesn't stop. I swat my hand at the hand, trying to make it stop. Once the hand grabs onto my own hand, my eyes finally open. I peek at whoever grabbed my hand to wake me up. Lance.

         "Good morning, sleeping beauty." Lance says teasingly.

         I rise from my uncomfortable position, taking my head off of Lance's shoulder. Rubbing my eyes, I respond. "How long was I asleep?"

         "Well, you passed out on my shoulder at the beginning of the ride, and now we have arrived back in Nyden."

         All of a sudden, I feel a lot more awake and happy. "We're back at Nyden?" I say, barely containing my excitement. I am really happy to be back in Nyden and away from Thardossa.

         Lance lets out a laugh at my sudden change of demeanor, and replies. "Yeah, we are. And just so you know, Ryken made sure to clear your schedule for tomorrow so you can sleep as much as you want."

         I let my head fall against the back of the car seat. Ah, so there really is good in this world. That is nice to know. I give Lance a thumbs up, and look up to the front seats of the car. "Um..." I start to say, pointing towards the front seats and turning towards Lance with a confused look plastered on my face. "Where are Adrian and Loki?"

         "They're just waiting for us outside. I have been trying to wake you up for a good five minutes, but now that you're up, let's get out of here and get you to bed, shall we?"

         I weakly smile. "I agree."

         Lance gets out of the car, and just as I am about to open the door to get out myself, the door is opened by Adrian.

         "Finally awake?" Adrian says playfully, closing the door behind me after I get out.

         "Yeah, sadly I am." I reply. I know Adrian is trying to be playful with me but I am just way too tired to take the bait. After Adrian locks the car, we start to walk back towards the stronghold. I take a deep breath in, and give myself a small smile. It is nice to be back in Nyden. It actually surprises me a bit that I am already attached to Nyden, even though I have only been here for a mere 3 days. I suppose it is because I don't want war, especially since I have met people here and made friends. I don't want anything to happen to them. I will not let anything happen to them if I can help it.

         Soon enough we arrive back inside the stronghold, and I request that we go straight to my room. I don't really care how late at night or early in the morning it is, I still want to sleep. Everyone else agrees, and they escort me to my room once we enter the stronghold. Finally back to my room, I open the door and turn around to hug each of my guard, even Adrian. "I meant it before, thanks." I say.

         Adrian rolls his eyes, and nudges me inside my room. I close the door and yawn before going straight to my bed. I sit down, peel off my leather boots and socks, and then get into bed. Thoughts of Raine, Nyden, and Thardossa linger in my mind as I slowly succumb to sleep once again.

         After what seems to be a mere few minutes, I blink my eyes open, shading my eyes from the sunlight streaming in from a window. Slowly, I rise from my bed and check the time. 9:35A.M. Huh, I didn't really sleep as much as I thought I would. Nevertheless, that is fine, because after mulling over something before I fell asleep, I have made a decision.