Artemis - dream

VIII - new plan

Aerin woke up the next day unable to move.

She could feel the weight of her clothes on her, and felt as though she could not breath in the stuffiness of the room.

She shifted uncomfortably, groaning as she pushed herself up.

Pain spread across her body as she sat up.

She looked down to see blood covering the sheets.

Aerin looked around, having forgotten where she was. 

Looking around, she realised how she had ended up here.

She had been hired to kill a king, she had failed, he had injured her and now she was in a random hut in the middle of an unknown land covered in blood.

She tried to ignore how the blood had tried her clothes to her wounds as she stood up.

Running her hands over her face, the girl sluggishly walked down the stairs into the mess of a house.

She wasn't sure how long she would stay, but she knew she had to clean her wounds and tend to them before moving on.

Aerin walked over to the door, pushing it open. 

Her eyes are met with bright sunlight, making her squint. 

Her eyes glance over the tree line.

She had no clue how far away from Dream's kingdom she was. 

It was dark and the girl was exhausted when she had found the barn, but she trusted herself enough to know she was a safe distance away.

Her eyes landed on a cobble stone well a bit away from the house. 

She limped towards it, taking note of her horse Apollo awake in the small stable.

Aerin reached the well and sighed in relief at the sight of the bucket and the clean water down below.

Her arms scream in pain as she lowers the bucket, allowing it to dip below the water before she pulled it back up again, granting as she does so.

The brunette heaves the bucket back to the hut, almost dropping it multiple times.

She places in on the table in the living room, before collapsing on the sofa next to it.

Resting her head against the long plank of wood that had fallen on it, the girl regains her breath before sitting up again.

She rips off a scrap of the canvas like blanket that was lade over the sofa. 

The girl lets the water soak into the fabric as she dunks it into the bucket.

Pulling it out, she carefully applies it to her wound.

Aerin makes quick work in cleaning the cut, becoming accustomed to the slight stinging the water brought.

After being satisfied that it was clean enough, the girl cuts off a long strip of the same fabric with her knife and careful wraps it around her arm. 

Now having properly regained movement of her arm, Aerin sighs as she stretches her arm above her head, trying to get the ache and numbness out of it. 

Slapping her hands against her thighs, the girl gets to work.

She begins by retrieving her bag from besides the bed, she collects some of the food she had brought for Apollo. Having not known where she was headed, Aerin had packed the necessities needed for a few days travel.

She exited the stuffy cottage again and went over to her horse.

A smile found it's way onto her scarred face as she ran her hands along his main.

Holding out her hand she allowed the animal to eat the carrot out of her hand.

Tying his reins to the fence post she opens the gate and allows him to graze on the fresh grass outside the stable.

She got to work cleaning up the cabin, not before opening every window in the place to get the air flowing. 

The task took longer than it would've normally, but seeing as the girl was injured it wasn't surprising.

She finished at around mid afternoon and decided to take her map and journal out to the lake nearby to start mapping out her way home as well as figuring out how to get her weapons back.

And of course she still had the issue of getting word home that she was alive.

Taking her things, she makes the small walk over to the body of water that sat about 50 metres away from the cabin.

The sun hung in the middle of the sky, casting a warm glow over the forest.

Aerin sat herself down, careful of her arm.

She spreads out all the sheets of the most up to date section of her journal.

Looking at all the pages she takes out her pencil and starts marking up the map. She circled where the kingdom was.

She began to jot down everything she had found out about the place.

The pages quickly  fill up with messy writing and ink splotches. 

After about an hour, the girl stopped writing.

She had taken down absolutely everything she had seen or heard in her little time in the kingdom, from what people had said in the pub she was to the amount of towers in Dreams castle.

The sun had started to rest in the sky, the trees starting to shadow the lake.

She turned the page and began to sketch.

Drawing had always been a hobby of hers from a young age, it was something her father had taught her.

Her mother was never really around, or when when she was she was disconnected and only there for a place to stay and the meals.

It was her father who raised her and her brother. He had given her his love of art and drawing, they had bonded over it. He had taught her how it was good to have it as a hobby, but in the world they lived in it was impossible to make a living off of it. 

So that's how it was for Aerin, a hobby. She enjoyed it in her spare time. 

She cherished it as something that connected her to her father now that he's gone.

She hadn't even realised who she had drawn until an almost exact copy of his face stared back at her. She had memorised everything about him, from the small scars that littered his face to the freckles. All that was missing was the enchanting green colour of his eyes.

Aerin shook her head slightly and gathered up all the paper. 

The sun had just fallen beyond the horizon as the girl hurried back to the cabin after putting Apollo inside, before settling in for the night. 

Little did she know she had just created the first ever drawing of Dream's face.

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

Sorry this took so long to come out but I hope you like it.

I may go back and edit this in the future as i don't overly like it but we will see.

A vote or comment would be massively appreciated <3