A Night's Peril

I dreamed. I was walking. My demeanor was stern and resolute, and it continued in this fashion until nearly the end of the night. I was outside, walking towards a large bridge, but continued past it. My knowledge of the year or era was obscured, but it did not matter... I knew what was about me, and what I felt. I felt defiant. I don't know why.

Marching across the large bridge was two characters who were equally as stern and resolute as I. The one was a man in red who had not a word to say, but one thought on his mind. What that one thought was, I could not perceive until the end of my dream. It would be this that would change my own demeanor. The other individual was a woman who had an evil message. Her face was fierce and ghostly. Her gown in its grays shades and tattered condition blew in the wind from the great river which the bridge crossed.

The two led a band of about fifteen, consisting of men and women. Fear was on their face and despair in their shoulders. I joined the couple without a word once they had crossed the bridge, at which point the group walked abreast, and I could look back and see them all. I perceived that they were slaves of some type to be condemned to some work camp or prison, perhaps; though they were not bound. I also perceived that neither the man or the woman had any regard for the wellbeing of any of them. The woman spoke to them, and I heard her voice. Yet it was not like any voice that is heard but rather imagined. It was in my head, and thus its power was great and evil. "Your lives are less valuable than the work you will do this day" she spoke, showing her disdain of the kind that she led, as well as convincing themselves of their own insignificance.

I continued with them till we came to a tall wall with a small military band in guard of a gate. Their weapons were crude, primarily bow and arrow with some small swords and axes. The slave band stopped shy of the force by perhaps forty yards. The man in red who still had not a word to say walked off to the left under cover of some trees while I did the same on the right. I saw the woman no more. Whether she vanished or she ran off into the woods, I know not. Still unsure of the circumstances, I watched the military band from their direct left. Suddenly, the call was given to fire, and a flight of arrows began to pierce the band of slaves. I then saw the man in red and immediately knew the thought and mission that was on his mind, and my demeanor turned to an icy fear. These slaves, or whoever they were (probably innocent beings), were to be sacrificed as a distraction. The man was a champion, desiring to take the city that was beyond the wall, and needing only access to the gate. His attack on the military band came hard and effectively, while the slaughter of the slaves continued. I then felt impelled to join the man against the military men to save the innocent slaves, yet I did not now want to help him in his greedy conquest. I woke perplexed and afraid.