[hr][hr][h1][center]S I R   B R A N D O N[/center][/h1][hr][hr]Reality distorted before Brandon's very eyes. 

It was the sort of thing he had become used to in those seemingly never ending nightmares that he had faced these last few years. The only problem this time was that he was entirely sure he was completely awake. That might have horrified him at some point in the past, but he guessed he was beyond that now. Besides, it was the Warden that they were dealing with. He had heard enough rumours, seen her... well... [i]It[/i] in the flesh a few times before. He had tried to discount them as fanciful, exaggerations of the powers of a mere sorceress in the employ of the King, but now he was starting to believe them in their entirety.

[i]After all the evil shit you ended up doing for Tyronde, was it small wonder that the King would have gotten into bed with a monster such as this? No, easier to believe that than some of things you've done with thatblade... with your own hands. Easier to believe in evil like that than what you have allowed yourself t-[/i] 

No. He stopped himself from pursuing that train of thought before it could lead him any further into a pit of black despair. He needed to keep what little of his wits he had left about him. 
 
First of all, where the hell was he now? 

Slowly the knight opened his eyes to... light. Real actual sunlight. He was outside, under open skies in a field of tall grass that was blowing gently in the breeze. The outside world... he had never thought he would live to see it again. The briefest echo of a smile flickered across his face. [i]Shame about all the people who will never see this again because of you.[/i] It died again just as quickly.

He sat up, his armour gentling clinking around him as he did so. Brandon didn't recognise his surroundings, it was wilderness, presumably somewhere in Sulfrey or at least on the borders of it. There was a river bank to the right of him, to his left a wide plain that gave way to forests and white peaked mountains on the far horizon. 

He could also see that he was not alone.

There was a group of other... creatures... near him. He could see several of them,  and heard more down by the water's edge.  A hulking barbarian giant with a massive blade, a slender man wearing tattered finery, a half-orc... and some monstrous woman who put him  vaguely in mind of a giant spider. His grey gaze lingered on her longer than the others, his hand instinctively went for the blade at his side. She was strangely familiar... in fact... 

Her words stopped him from drawing his sword any further. He froze at them, assaulted by the hidden meaning in them that was plain to him. What the fuck? How... how the hell could she possibly know about that? It couldn't be a coincidence. Not with those words... She knew about The Pyre. SHE KNEW ABOUT THE FUCKING PYRE!

He laughed out loud. It was not a pleasant sound. His voice was hoarse from disuse... it sounded like a dry rattle, like a dying man's last breath. He didn't finish for a long time. As he finally quieted he heard them on the wind, the sound of hoofbeats heading towards them.

[i]You know what you need to do.[/i]

The knight wiped the tears from his eyes and pulled himself to his feet roughly.

"Sir Brandon of Bainbridge, honoured to make your acquaintances." He turned in the direction he could hear the horsemen approaching from. "Now... who wants to come and die with me?"