A touch on her shoulder brought Violet's attention from her book and back into the cafe. She looked at her empty cappuccino cup which had been refilled about five times and then up at the woman touching her shoulder. It was the server girl. "Sorry mum, but it's time for closing up."<br/><br/>Violet nodded to her took some money out of her purse to pay her. "Right, well I best be out of your way then." She picked up her book and purse and left the little cafe behind her. She started walking through the dark streets of the still busy city. A look at her watch told her that it was midnight, "Damn...I've never stayed at the cafe that long." She shook her head trying to remember everything she had read in her book, but it seemed as thought the entire 150 pages she had read were a distant memoir.<br/><br/>Finally she had reached her apartment building. A little run down and probably not in the best part of town but it was homie. She walked up the steps on the outside of the building to the top floor, apartment B and unlocked the door. When she stepped through the door she immediately jumped onto the couch and was sleeping like a baby in no time, welcoming the dreamland.<br/><br/>Violet's dreams that night embraced her. She saw herself,<span style="font-style: italic">dressed in leather padding and chain mill holding a sword and ready for battle. She was unsure what she was fighting and then suddenly a sword hit against hers and she looked up. His face.</span>She woke with a start and realized that she was still on the couch and her door was still open. She got up, shut it, and left the comfort of her couch for her shower. "I've been reading too many books..."<br/><br/>------------------------------------<br/><br/>Vanessa crept out of the bath house, it was late into the night and she was longing for some sleep before the trip tomorrow. "My Lord would not appreciate a fatigued head guard, I best hurry to bed." With that she hurried back and arrived at the guard rooms. She was the only female guard so a small part of the rooms was reserved for her in the back, sadly that meant she had to walk through all the nasty and smelly men. At the end of the rooms she saw her bed and gratefully fell onto it. It was so welcoming and she was quickly asleep.<br/><br/>The bells started ringing at four in the morning. "Dammit!" She heard on of the men say as she slowly rolled from her own bed and started dressing. Soon the rest of the rooms were waking, she could hear them all mumbling and trying to block out the ringing bells. She finished putting on her protective clothing and strolled out. "Come on boys! Arses up and out of bed! I don't want any complaining, especially from you four!" She pointed to four men that were still in their beds.<br/><br/>"Why us?"<br/><br/>"Because you boys are helping me out today. You best hurry up, we leave in one hour."<br/><br/>That got them up in a hurry, everyone wanted to go on a trip. It meant that they didn't have to sit around at the Lord's home and have nothing to use their time. And since so little guards went on these expeditions and so many people knew about them they didn't even bother asking questions about where they were going. They already knew. By five A.M. they had the carriage packed. Four guards, two on each side, with Vanessa mounted in front of the carriage horses. They made it to the front gate of their town, Winchester, where the patrol stopped them. "We are going south to Marhaven, we should be back late this evening with my lord and his lady." The gates opened and they rode through them, taking the south road and traveling on.