Free Blind Impulse by Kathryn Loch Page B

seizing anything of value. 
    A deep voice bellowed a battle cry and the hands stopped.  Garin heard guttural voices barking sharply at each other but they faded away.
    Suddenly the body on top of him moved.  “Garin!” a voice cried, seizing his arms.  “Garin!”
    Someone hauled him up and out from under his horse.  He opened his eyes, trying to breathe, and terror shot through him.  Dear God, h e couldn’t see, he was blind….
     
    … “ Garin!” Alyna called, her h ands cupping his face.  “Garin, are you all right?”
    Garin abruptly found himself sitting up in bed b ut darkness surrounded him.  Terror continued to surge through him.  Where am I?   He feared he was still on the battlefield, blinded by an enemy’s weapon, the time at Kirkoswald nothing more than an hallucination.
    “ Garin?” Alyna called again.
    Her presence was the proof he needed.  He panted, trying to slow his rattling heart.  Cold sweat rolled down his face and body, his muscles quivered violently.
    “ Sweet Mary, Garin, what’s wrong?”
    He wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly, as he tried to grab the remnants of his sanity. 
    Alyna returned his embrace, her hands stroking his hair and back.  “’Tis all right, Garin,” she whispered, kissing his cheek.
    S lowly, Garin managed to calm himself.  He felt the bed underneath him, and the blankets covering him to the waist.  Alyna, clothed in her light shift, held him securely.  He was home but still blind.
    “ What happened?” Alyna asked again, her voice soft and c oaxing.
    “ Nightmare,” he whispered, his voice not his own.
    Her arms tightened around him.  Garin savored the feel of her hair against his face.  He breathed her lavender scent which helped ease the stench of death his dream had brought so clearly to memory.   She released him but Garin refused to let her go.
    “ It’s all right, Garin,” she said and pulled away.
    She crawled off the bed and Garin felt abandoned.  He heard her move around the room then she pressed a cup in his hands.  “Wine,” she said softly.  “Dri nk, it will calm you.”
    His hands shaking, he downed it in one swallow.  But the wine warmed his belly and eased his trembling limbs.
    “ Would you like some more?”
    “ Nay,” he replied, handing the cup back to her.  “But thank you.”
    She returned to the bed.  Gar in breathed a sigh of relief when her arms again wrapped around him.  Piecemeal, he began to relax, but his grip on her remained.
    Alyna eased herself back on her pillows, pulling Garin with her until he rested with his head cradled comfortably against her breast.  Her hands continued to stroke his hair.  “Tell me about your nightmare,” she said, her voice soft and gentle.
    “’ Tis nothing,” he said, ashamed his dream had caused such fear within him.
    “ Nay, Garin, ‘tis everything.  Talking about a dream will rel ease its hold over you.”
    He sighed, not wanting to tell her.  Such a gentle and elegant lady should not be disturbed with terrible im ages and violence of war.  D espite his hesitation, he found himself speaking.  Being trapped under his horse, in the mi dst of the dead and dying, had been only one of the many brutalities he had suffered.
    “ Simon rallied a group of knights and chased away the scavengers,” he said finally.  “He hauled me out fro m under the pile of dead.  W hat truly terrified me , in my dre am , was the fact I could not see.  I did not know if I had been blinded on the battlefield or not.”
    Alyna clung to him, kissing his forehead.  “Aye,” she said, her voice thick.  “Not being able to see would make it mo re difficult for you to realize your true surroundings when awaking from your nightmare.”
    “ You...your presence helped me.  I was so grateful you were here.”  He sighed softly, his hand lightly traveling over her side, feeling the sweet lines of her body un der her shift. 
    She settled to a more comfortable