Relic Hunters Chapter Two
Relic Hunters
Chapter Two: Journey To Greydar
"I think it's time for a rest."
James sighed in relief at Karl's announcement, slipping his pack off his shoulders. Unused to carrying the weight, he rubbed his sore shoulders, taking in his surroundings. Karl had chosen to stop in a clearing by a creek. The break in the trees finally allowed a decent amount of sunlight to come through. James welcomed the slight warmth it brought. Though wearing a warm hooded cloak, he was used to the standard Australian climate, and still felt cold in this new place. Placing a hand gently on his healing ribs, James concluded that carrying the pack had not caused any additional discomfort. Whatever that paste on his wounds was, was obviously doing its job.
The snow leopard, Erin, was sitting against a nearby tree, reading what appeared to be a parchment of sorts. Feeling the need to converse, James sat nearby. "So...what exactly is it that you guys do?" he inquired.
"This and that, I suppose. We mainly specialise in...obtaining...rare and valuable artefacts." she replied. "We are employed by a merchant in Greydar to collect such items, which he then sells on."
"So, is it just you three working for this merchant?" James inquired. "No, there are others who are in our group. I suppose you'll meet them when we reach Greydar." she replied. "How do your ribs feel?".
"Fine, all things considered" James replied, reflecting on his many healing injuries. "By the way...last night when you told Karl I was telling the truth...what exactly did you do to me?".
"I have some abilities... special abilities. And I used one of them to determine you were telling the truth." She replied.
"Abilities? Like magic?" James inquired, his curiosity growing.
"No...not magic. Magic is incantations and symbols, and is greatly limited." Erin explained. "What I have is commonly known as Will power. As opposed to magic, Will is more of a mental ability, with greater applications. Last night, I felt inside your head and determined you were telling the truth about where you came from.".
"So...you read my mind?" James asked.
"No...my Will isn't that strong." she replied.
"What do you mean 'isn't strong'?" he continued. Erin sighed, stretching her arms above her head before settling comfortably against the tree. "It is a long story. To simplify it, Will power is usually inherited. Every now and then, someone is born with a naturally strong Will ability. Many people who inherit theirs, inherit the same level of Will strength their parents had, and are known as greater Will users. For others, the level of Will strength they inherit diminishes with each generation. They are known as lesser Will users. I am such a person. My parents had strong Will powers, but I only inherited a portion of what they have. I can perform many of the Will abilities that they can, though at lesser strength. While they might have been able to peer into your mind and read your thoughts, I could only sense that you were being truthful.".
"So, are you the groups Will user?" James inquired. Erin gave a small laugh. "No, there are two others in our group in Greydar that fulfil that role. I am the group's healer.
Karl was standing to one side, watching the two of them converse. He was still puzzled by James' unexplained appearance, and even more puzzled as to what to do with him. He was barely what Karl might call a young man, carried no weapons of his own, and probably didn't even know how to use a weapon. He had already decided to take James with them to Greydar, but hadn't decided what to do after that. He was still deep in thought when the vixen, Anne, approached him.
"So, any thoughts on our newest member?" she inquired. "He isn't our newest member" Karl replied. "He's just a random stranger that we're bringing back to Greydar with us.".
"He could be our newest member..." Anne emphasised. "I seem to remember someone going to great lengths trying to convince the rest of us we needed to hire new members." she added, with a slight nudge of her elbow. "He's practically a kid, and doesn't look like he's ever held a weapon in his life." Karl continued, turning to face Anne.
"He looks about the right age to enter the military academy, and he can always receive training in combat." she replied. "Plus, he doesn't necessarily have to be a fighter. When's the last time you remember Erin swinging a sword?" she joked. Karl sighed, "Look, I'll put some more thought into it when we reach Greydar. Right now, that is my main concern.".
Anne detected a trace of worry in his voice. "Why the sudden need to get to Greydar? What are you worried about?" she asked, suddenly feeling apprehensive. Karl was not the sort of person to worry about trivial things. If he was concerned, it usually meant something rather unpleasant.
Karl sighed. "I'm worried about those Black Lance men we ran into. By all rights, they shouldn't have been anywhere near these woods. And they sure as hell shouldn't have been searching for the same amulet as us. I'm just glad we were able to convince them we didn't find it when we left the ruins.
Karl was greatly annoyed by the fact that the Black Lance mercenaries had almost ruined their mission with their own search. They had been sent to the forest of Farath to search for a magical amulet that was rumoured to have been lost amongst the ruins of an ancient outpost. What was supposed to have been an easy mission had gone horribly wrong from the beginning. First the attack by bandits, then finding the Black Lance men camped near the ruins, and then ultimately discovering that the Black Lance men were already among the ruins, searching for the amulet. By sheer luck, Karl, Anne and Erin had found the amulet before the Black Lance mercenaries, and were able to keep their discovery secret and feign giving up their search, thus being able to leave the ruins unmolested...initially.
"So...you're worried that they'll come and question us about the amulet again?" Anne asked. She recalled how the Black Lance came after them twice making sure that the trio hadn't found the amulet. The second time was when they had discovered James on the cliff edge, which made for a convenient distraction.
"If they search the entire ruins without finding the amulet, they'll probably correctly guess that we lied to them." Karl replied. "They've already been able to track us twice before. I have no doubts that they'll be able to do so a third time. The sooner we get to Greydar, the better." he concluded, walking over to join James and Erin. Anne continued to stand near the edge of the clearing, her ears cocking in the direction of every sound she now heard. Though she maintained a tough outward appearance, she was now genuinely afraid of the prospect of the meeting any of the Black Lance with orders to 'retrieve' their objective.
Karl leant by the tree James and Erin were sitting against. "I think you should learn how to use a sword, if only to defend yourself." He said, handing James a long object wrapped in stained rags. "That is, if our healer allows it.".
Erin regarded James. "It should be alright." she said. "His ribs probably won't have fully healed, but he should be able to spar with you, provided it doesn't become too strenuous.".
James un-wrapped the object, revealing it to be a rust spotted rapier. James stood up, holding the sword awkwardly in his right hand. Karl walked over to the edge of the creek and motioned for James to join him.
"Firstly, you need to have the correct stance. This varies from sword to sword. With that rapier, I want you to stand like this." Karl said, standing side on, his right foot forward and his left foot at a right angle. "Have your sword arm slightly bent, and the sword pointing slightly upwards." he instructed, standing opposite James, withdrawing his own broadsword. He held his sword as if it were a rapier, awkward as it was. "When I lunge at you, I want you to knock the sword away."
"Do you want me to try and attack you after that?" James inquired.
"No. I don't want you trying to fight just yet. Just concentrate on defending yourself.". With that, Karl slowly lunged forward. James, fearful of the sharp sword coming towards him, swung the rapier hard and fast, attempting to knock Karl's blade away. He succeeded, only to have Karl duck his sword under James', and continue his lunge. Karl was mildly disappointed at James' failed parry. To make his point, he continued his lunge, stepping forward so he could bring the tip of his sword under James' chin.
"Wild swings like that will only get you killed" Karl warned, pressing his sword gently under James' chin, forcing his head up. "You need to control the movements of your sword, or else this will happen."
"...'kay, I get your point, no big swings." James said, bringing his hand up and moving Karl's sword away from his throat.
"Now, try it again." Karl instructed, lunging at James a second time. This time, James barely swung his sword, and failed again to stop Karl's lunge. Scraping his sword along James', Karl brought his tip to James' chest. "The objective here is to at least try avoiding getting killed." Karl said. "Let's try it again.".
The third time was the charm. As Karl lunged, James correctly parried the lunge, forcing Karl's sword away from him. "Good." Karl said, lunging again, only to have James parry his lunge again. The two continued their practice for another five minutes, Karl testing James further by countering his parries and continuing the lunge. James learnt fast and was soon countering these attacks. After their practice finished, Karl walked over to the packs and withdrew a waterskin.
"I think a small meal is in order" he declared, throwing the waterskin to James. James fumbled with the waterskin, unsure how to use it. "Here, it's done like this." Anne said, taking the waterskin from James and demonstrating its use. Erin had already removed a slab of cheese and loaf of bread from one of the packs, and was cutting the cheese and bread into manageable slices. James and Anne both sat down as Karl walked to the creek to fill another waterskin.
"How far from Greydar do you think we are Anne?" Erin asked.
"No more than half a day, we should make it by nightfall, early tomorrow morning at the latest.". Anne replied, helping herself to some of the cheese and bread. Karl returned shortly, passing a full water skin around.
As the group began eating, James thought back to the other humans and anthros from the previous day. "Who were those other people yesterday?" he asked.
"They were Black Lance mercenaries. On the whole, a rather unsavoury bunch." Karl replied. "Not every last one of them is bad, but they have developed a rather nasty reputation over the years.".
"A 'nasty reputation'? That sounds ominous." James thought out loud.
"They're involved in a lot of contracts. Mostly they hire themselves out as fighting mercenaries but every now and then they do the occasional 'odd' job.". Karl explained. "Their reputation comes from the fact that they do anything to complete their contract.".
"One of the more widespread stories is how they slaughtered an entire settlement simply to get the one man they were hired to kill." Anne said. "And that was one of the nicer stories about them.".
"So, if they're that bad, why were you all so pleasant towards them last night?" James asked.
"Like I said, not every Black Lance is bad. There were actually a few decent ones in that group." Karl said.
"We also didn't want to provoke them into detaining us." Anne added.
"Why would they want to detain us?". Anne looked to Karl. "He's coming with us to Greydar, and I don't think there are any Black Lance eavesdropping. We may as well tell him." She said. Karl nodded his agreement and Anne continued. "Like we've said before, we travel to places to recover 'artefacts'. The Black Lance were looking for one such artefact that we were contracted to find. We found it before they did, and convinced them we hadn't. Now we're heading back to Greydar, hopefully before they find us again.".
"What happens if they do find us?". Anne looked to Karl to answer that question.
"The first couple of times was probably to try and pressure us into surrendering the artefact. By now, they'll probably reason that we 'stole' it from under their noses, and if we meet again, they'll try to take it from us...forcibly." he said. Erin and James both began to feel anxious as the group finished their meal, a sombre mood setting in. Merely moments later, the aforementioned trouble arrived.
There was rustling in the foliage, back down the route they had come. Karl and Anne both stood and turned, staring keenly into the undergrowth, both with hands on their weapons. "Maybe they're just more bandits." Anne said.
"I doubt it. I think we've used up our days luck." Karl replied. The rustling continued, growing closer still. Karl withdrew his broadsword, while Anne notched an arrow in her bow.
"Erin, stay with James." Karl said. He wasn't happy leaving James to protect Erin, but he had little choice. James stood, sword in his hand, placing himself between Erin, and the oncoming noises.
Anne walked towards the creek, placing as much distance between her and the oncoming noise. If it turned out to be assailants, she would have an excellent field of fire. The rustling sounded as if it was on the verge of forest by the clearing when it suddenly stopped. Anne drew an arrow, aiming into the foliage. Erin and James both stood by the tree while Karl held his sword at the ready. "Show yourselves!" he challenged.
And thus began the fight.
Three armed men and anthros charged through the bushes, swords raised. They were followed by three others, two armed with longbows, and one with a menacing looking claymore. All six of them were clothed in the black uniforms of the Black Lance.
Anne drew the first blood. She released her first arrow, loosing it towards to the closest Black Lance archer, a lithe female cheetah. The arrow caught her in the throat, knocking her onto her back, clutching at her throat as she feebly drew her last gargling breaths. In that time, the first of the Black Lance swordsmen closed the distance. Karl stepped forward to meet them, disabling the first, a gangly human youth, with sweeping blow to the legs. Two other swordsmen, an older man and a male panther, manoeuvred to engage Karl. The second archer, a young male fox, shocked at the death of his fellow archer notched an arrow and hurriedly loosed it towards Anne. His shot missed, screeching past Anne's head and into the forest on the other side of the creek. Anne loosed another arrow, catching the fox in the gut. He doubled over, clutching at the arrow in his belly. He sank to his knees and toppled over sideways.
As this part of the engagement occurred, no one noticed the fourth swordsman, a large bear anthro, creep around the edge of the clearing. As the leader of this group, his orders were to retrieve their objective. Thus, he planned on using his men to distract their enemy, while he made his way to the tree by which their packs lay...
...and by which stood Erin and James.
Erin and James were both keenly watching the fight. Erin did not enjoy combat like this, and was truly scared. Though the odds were now better than when the fight had begun, Karl was still facing off against two of the assailants, while Anne was unable to help, for fear of hitting Karl. To James, this was a new experience. Half of him screamed to run out of fear, while the other half was mesmerised by the sight of combat. When he had first seen the six Black Lance mercenaries emerge from the forest, he thought they would all surely die. Though he had no doubt in Karl and Anne's fighting capabilities, they were outnumbered. Now that Anne had killed two, and Karl one, things looked a little better. Karl continued to duel with his two opponents, who appeared less capable than him, while Anne scanned the field for new targets...
...new targets, James thought. Wasn't there another swordsman?
James saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see the bear bearing down on him, wearing thick plate armour, claymore raised high. James pointed his rapier at the bear, a feeble gesture given the size of the bear's claymore compared to James' rapier. James knew he stood no chance of attacking the bear, and prepared to parry the inevitable attack. The bear swung his claymore, intending to lop his opponents head off. James raised his rapier in an attempt to parry the blow. He succeeded...
... sort of.
While his attempt had knocked the bears swing off target, it had also shattered his rapier. The bears follow through landed his claymore firmly into the tree. As the bear tried to remove his claymore, James regarded his broken weapon. He had perhaps fifteen centimetres worth of sword extending from the hilt...not enough to do anything.
Anne saw James' predicament, and loosed an arrow at the bear. The arrow struck him in the side, clanging against his armour before ricocheting harmlessly to the ground. Before Anne could loose another arrow, Karl and his opponents moved into her line of fire.
Karl had underestimated these two. While they were no better than him, they were no less skilled than Karl. Karl was managing to hold his own against these two, but every time he tried to dispatch one, both would block his blows, and drive him back onto the defensive. The panther advanced on Karl's right, while the man to his left. With a cry, the panther swung his sword, aimed at Karl's torso. Karl blocked the blow, locking swords with the panther. The man, sensing the upper hand, moved behind Karl and began to raise his sword. The panther grabbed Karl, holding him still for his comrade. The man prepared to strike Karl down when his body lurched forward. His face lost all expression as his eyes glazed over. His sword fell to the ground behind him as he fell over sideways, revealing Anne, re-notching her bow. The panther, shocked by the sudden demise of his comrade, when victory had seemed assured, disengaged from Karl and took a step back, expecting an arrow from Anne.
That arrow never came. Anne was instead aiming at the bear, who continued to struggle to remove his claymore from the tree. She aimed for his head this time, confident of killing him. Only a moment before she loosed her arrow, the bear freed his claymore from the tree. Taken off guard, the bear fell backwards, as Anne's arrow sailed over his head and into the tree. Damn!, Anne thought, reaching back into her quiver for another arrow...which she did not find. Alarmed, she realized that between this fight, and the fights of the previous days, she was now out of arrows.
Karl continued to duel the panther, who was now on the defensive. Karl swung his sword at the panther's chest, connecting with the panther's sword. With the sound of scraping steel, the panther brought his sword down along Karl's, sliding it past the hilt and striking Karl's hands. With a cry of pain, Karl dropped his sword and stumbled back, clutching his bleeding hand. The panther drove his attack home, swinging again and catching Karl on his right shoulder. Karl stumbled back and fell to the ground. Sensing victory, the panther stood over Karl. As he raised his sword to plunge it into his fallen opponent, Karl saw Anne draw one of her daggers. Holding it by the tip, Anne threw the dagger at the panther. The dagger struck home, sinking into the panther's neck. Karl rolled to the side as the panther dropped his sword, the blade burying itself in the ground where Karl had lain. The panther fell to the ground, clutching his neck as he died.
While Karl and Anne had been fighting the two Black Lance swordsmen, the bear had managed to pick himself up, a task made difficult by the heavy armour he wore. As he slowly rose to his feet, Erin came up behind James, holding him by the shoulders, trembling. "What do we do?" she asked, watching as Karl and Anne continued their separate fight.
"I don't know...j-just stay behind me." James replied in a panicky voice, looking about wildly for a weapon to defend Erin and himself with. His eyes fell upon the pile of packs lying by the tree. In particular, the pack that James had been carrying, containing all the relics...
... which included a sword.
"Erin, stay away from his sword." James said, shrugging himself free of her embrace, running to the tree. The bear laughed as his saw this, raising his claymore to strike James down. As he swung, James threw himself to the ground, dodging the bears blow. As the bear recovered from the swing, James ran past the tree, grabbing the handle of the sword, freeing it from the pack as he ran. James stopped, spun about and quickly examined his new sword. Judging by the large hand guard and slight curve to the blade, he was holding a sabre of some kind.
The bear turned and advanced on James, claymore held ready to attack. For some reason, holding the sword seemed to make James stand his ground as the bear approached. To the horror of Anne, Karl and Erin, James simply stood there, sabre held at the ready as the bear prepared to strike. With a roar, the bear swung the claymore...
...which James simply swept to the side with his sabre, before slicing at the bears unarmoured arm. It was a minor flesh wound that merely annoyed the bear. Raising his sword, he swung at James again, only to have his blow blocked again.
Karl, Anne and Erin all watched on in amazement. Somehow, James had gone from not knowing how to even hold a sword, to holding his own against an opponent of superior skill and experience. They had no idea how this change had come about.
And neither did James. Somehow when holding this sabre, every move he made seemed natural... as if by instinct. However, his newfound fighting skills came at the cost of the pain his injuries caused. Barely noticeable during his practice with Karl, his still healing ribs began to ache. The bear advanced, swinging his sword in a wide arc aimed at James' midriff. James leapt back from the sweeping blade, only to have the bear launch another attack, bringing his blade down towards James' neck. With no chance to dodge, James raised his sabre to deflect the blow. With loud ringing of metal on metal, James swept the bear's blade away from him. The act sent a searing pain through James' arm and chest. With his free hand, he clutched at his ribs, before collapsing backwards in pain, the breath taken out of him.
The Black Lance mercenary towered before James, smirking at his fallen foe. He held his claymore, ready to plunge it into James. Anne, having silently crept behind the bear, drew her last dagger and lunged at the bears back. Her strike hit the bears armour just below the neck, scraping down the back harmlessly. Distracted, the bear freed his left hand from his claymore and spun around, his armoured fist solidly connecting with Anne's head. The blow sent Anne reeling backwards, collapsing to the ground unconscious. The bear laughed maliciously, turning back to James. "I'm going to have some fun with your friends once I've killed you two." he proclaimed, pointing his sword at Karl before bringing it back above James. As he raised it with both hands James, doing his best to ignore the pain clawing at his chest, quickly raised himself on his free hand, thrusting his sabre up into the bears armpit, piercing a lung.
The bear wheezed, his breath taken from him by James' thrust. His strength faded and the weight of the claymore forced him backwards. With a solid crash, the bear fell to the ground, clutching at the wound in his armpit as he desperately tried to breathe, a bloody froth forming at his mouth. On weak legs, James slowly stood up, barely able to hold his sabre. He took one step towards his fallen opponent before his own strength failed, falling to his knees. Dropping the sabre and clutching again at his ribs, James watched the bear intently, expecting the bear to rise again and laugh off his wound. The bear simply lay on the ground, writhing and gasping as he slowly bled out. Anne lay unconscious, while Karl slowly crawled over to her. Erin stood in shock at so much bloodshed and James knelt, watching his opponent die.
Silence filled the field as the bear finally stopped breathing.
Erin was the first to act. Slowly coming out of her shock, she knelt before her pack, rummaging through it, withdrawing bandages and various other medical supplies, before making her way over to where Karl knelt beside Anne. The blow to Anne's head had caused a sizable wound which was bleeding, coating much of her face in blood. Erin poured a small amount of alcohol onto a cloth and cleaned the wound as Anne regained consciousness.
"Uhh...w..What happened?" she asked in a feeble voice. "Did we win?".
"It's all over. James killed the last of them." Erin answered in a soothing voice.
"How the hell did he do that?" Anne asked as Erin cleaned the remaining blood from her face.
"We figured that sabre was enchanted somehow...the enchantment must have something to do with it." replied Karl, wincing from the pain of his wounds. Erin bandaged Anne's head before examining Karl's injuries.
"The shoulder looks like it is only a deep flesh wound. The hand looks a little more serious." Erin informed Karl, applying a salve to his wounds and bandaging them. "Your hand may require a more experienced physician when we get to Greydar, but this will do for now.".
"Then it's a good thing we're close." Karl replied as Anne slowly sat up. "Anne, how are you feeling?"
"Uhh...I feel like a packhorse kicked me in the head." Anne responded, raising a hand to her bandaged wound. "But I've had worse hangovers than this." she concluded with a weak laugh.
"Are you well enough to police the bodies? I think my first opponent might still be alive."
"I'll manage." Anne replied, rising to her feet.
James knelt, gazing over at his fallen opponent, shocked that he had killed someone. The adrenaline which had surged through him during the fight now vanished, leaving James shaking as pain and nausea replaced the adrenaline. He rose to his feet and staggered away from the corpse before falling to his knees again, retching violently. Anne walked over and knelt beside him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, placing a comforting hand on his back as he wiped his mouth.
"I... just... killed... someone... I mean, I actually killed someone..." James replied before retching again.
"You were defending yourself and Erin. You had no other choice." Anne said, trying to console him.
"I know...but it doesn't make me feel any better about it." James replied, standing up, clutching at his chest. Anne helped him stand, and led him over to Karl and Erin. Erin had finished bandaging Karl's wounds, and motioned for James to sit beside her.
"I'll need to check your ribs again." she said, helping James remove his cloak and tunic. "I'm sure they will have been damaged in the fight." she said as she undid the bandages around his chest, poking gingerly at his ribs, testing them. James winced at the sharp pain her prodding caused. "They're worse, but not as bad as they originally were." she said applying the salve and re-bandaging his chest.
Karl looked to Anne, and pointed to where James had thrown up.
"What was all that about?" he inquired.
"James was feeling a bit unsettled about killing that bear." Anne said
Karl looked over at James. "Erin, would he be able to fight?" he asked Erin.
"What do you mean?".
"If more Black Lance attack us, would James be able to fight them?".
"I...I don't know. If he does too much, he might cause further damage to his ribs...damage that might incapacitate him for a long time." Erin replied.
"And add to that the fact that I don't know how to fight." James added.
"What do you call what you did there?" Karl asked, pointing to the corpse of the bear.
"I...I don't even know I how I did that! If you remember correctly, about ten minutes ago I could barely parry...let alone fight and kill someone."
"And yet when you used that sword, you fought as though you had years of training." Karl replied. "Look, I can understand that you're not used to this, but right now, you happen to be our best chance of reaching Greydar alive.".
"What do you mean?" James asked.
"Isn't obvious? Anne is out of arrows, I'm not going to be doing much fighting with these bandages, and Erin is a healer, not a fighter. As bad as your ribs may be, you are more capable a fighter than anyone else here." Karl concluded.
James gave a small sigh. "Okay...If we run into anymore of them, I guess I'll do my best at fighting them.".
"Perhaps we should keep going, before any more do show up." Anne suggested, slowly rising to her feet. She made her way amongst the bodies of the fallen Black Lance, before returning. "They're all dead. That one you said might still be alive looks to have bled out.".
"Then there's nothing more for us here." Karl said, rising to his feet. "Anne, you'll have to carry the artefact pack. Erin, only take what we need to reach Greydar by nightfall, and anything that can identify us. I'd rather not have the local Greydar Black Lance asking us about this. James, I don't want you carrying any packs. You need to be able to fight at a moment's notice.".
Their trip through the last of the Farath forest was tense and devoid of conversation. James found himself continually jumping at every sound and shadow, ever fearful of another encounter with the Black Lance. Eventually, the sun began to set as the forest began to thin, leading into open countryside with rolling hills, dotted with small farmsteads. Karl, Anne and Erin seemed relieved by this sight.
"Do we still have to worry about the Black Lance?" James enquired.
"Not as much. Out here, they will have to act more 'civilised'. This region is often patrolled by the city guard. They tend to disapprove of bloodshed and violence this close to the city." Karl replied.
The group continued their way to Greydar at a calmer pace. James began to feel intensely weary, and paid little attention to his surroundings, focussing only on following the other three. Soon they reached the outer city, making their way down well trod paths to the walled section of the city. After many turns, they eventually reached their destination, a three story building with a sloping tiled roof. As Karl approached the door was opened and he was greeted by another human, and invited into the building. Anne, Erin and James followed suit, entering what appeared to James as a large shop front. Through half closed eyes James took in his surroundings, noting several people lounging around the room. Weariness, stress and the dull ache from his ribs began to take its toll on James. Finally overcome by exhaustion, he fell to his knees and sank to the ground, the darkness of sleep finally taking him.