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It's so dark outside, even I can barely make out the small road leading away from the border town. If there's one thing I hate, it's not being able to see, especially in the middle of the day. The clouds look like the ceiling of a wet cave, just waiting to drench us with rain, and not at the same time. We have to lead the horses on foot, for their own safety. Several times we stray off the path, Seth, in the lead, bumping into trees and tripping over roots before realizing the errors and altering direction. The woods look more sinister the farther we go, something feels wrong, like living death in the trees, the ground, the very air is heavy with it. A dark mist rolls up, but the clouds stay. How can that be? We aren't near any water, are we?
“We'd better stop for now,” calls Seth blindly. “I can't see an inch past my feet, or even my feet for that matter.”
“I don't know, Seth. There's something not normal about this mist, it's curling around my feet, almost clinging to me.” I can hear the edge of fear in Mella's voice. “Let's turn back so we don't wake up soaking wet from all this fog.”
“I'm with Mella on this one,Seth,” says Ethan from somewhere beside me.
“Where can we turn back to?” Ethan pipes up. “We don't even know which way is back. I think we should go straight ahead. This mist can't go on forever. Besides, the more ground we cover today, the closer we'll be to Kierin city.”
“I don't know about that, Ethan. We can't even be sure we're going the right way. It's best to wait until we can actually see something first before heading off again,” Seth is a very practical person, “We may lose more time if we get lost than if we just wait here. As soon as we can see the path again, or at least some sort of landmark, we'll set out. Until then, it's best to just sit tight and hope you don't get too wet.”
The passing of time under this cloud seems so slow. I can only tell when the sun sets by my instincts, which are set on edge from the constant feeling of being surveyed by some invisible enemy, one who can probably see a lot better than we can right now.
Making a fire is difficult, all the wood is damp and I'm short on kindling. We finally have a decent fire going by the time the sun has passed beneath the masa of the Wastelands. Dinner is... bland, to say the least. I could find nothing to enhance our meal within the circle of forest I could see within the light from the fire. The light circle doesn't stretch far, the mist makes sure of that. It's going to be a long night. I cannot think about anything except for what could be behind the deceptive mist around us. The fear is evident in everyone's eyes, especially Jana's, being skittish by nature. We all keep seeing shapes in the swirls of fog.
What could the vampires in Kierin city be planning? How will we even get there? The mist lays many doubts on my mind. The horses huddle close in anxiety.
It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining with not a cloud in the sky, and birds sing sweetly. We're all having a picnic in a grassy field bordered by trees. Jana is running around in her true form, racing the horses. I'm laughing, spinning, playing games with Seth. The others are all sitting on a blanket, enjoying the warmth and light. All is happy. . . peaceful. . . still. . . too still.
I close my eyes for what seems to be a moment, then the scene changes. The trees now look dark and menacing, looming over me with no life to speak of in their blackened limbs. The others are missing. Where are they? The sky has a blood red glow, the ground is charred black, and the air tries to choke me. I look around desperately, calling out to Seth, Jana, anyone who can hear me. I run away, as this horrible feeling of fear seizes me. I feel a strong sense of evil around me. I don't know where I'm going. I come to a circle of trees in the forest, the ground is bleeding. Why is the ground bleeding?!
I run to the circle, I don't know why, and stop at the edge. I can't go any further. On the ground lay the broken and bloodied corpses of my friends. I hear a moan and look at my feet. Seth is there, a horrible sight to behold with all the blood, the gore, the scarlet bruises that cover his face and arms. He looks up at me, reaches out. “Why did you do this to us?” I cannot answer him, my lips won't move. I look down to see my red soaked clothes, and a wicked dagger held in my gore-stained hands. The stench of death fills my nostrils.
A mirror appears in front of me, with a vampiress grinning evilly back at me, ruby coloured drops around her mouth, dripping from her pearl white fangs. She laughs at me, but it's me laughing. What am I laughing at?! I can't take it anymore. Finally I scream; a loud, terrified, high pitched scream. I can't stop screaming, I can't stop staring, I just can't stop.
I sit up with a start, still screaming, cold sweat trickling down my face. The others wake up instantly. Seth, on watch duty spins around, sword in hand. The horses panic and Jana goes to calm them before they run off. I can only sit there, gasping for breath, trying to convince myself it was only a dream. Only it was no dream, it was a full blown nightmare, and that's never a good sign, particularly with elves. We have a mild gift of foresight, we can see things that may happen, mostly mixed in with dreams. If my dream comes true... I don't even know what that will mean. I finally register my friends faces in front of me.
“What did you see, Sapphire?”
“Are you okay?”
“What's going on?”
So many questions, my head starts spinning again. Finally, Seth kneels in front of me and asks, “Sapphire, what happened?” I'm at a complete loss how to answer him, so I just sit there staring at him, trying to get a grip on reality, and my tongue.
“B-b-bad d-dream,” I finally manage to gasp, my heart still racing from the adrenalin rushing through me. Seth looks concerned. I've had several bad dreams back at the haven, but he knows it was never so bad as to wake me up screaming. Every creature in the forest must have heard me, my own ears are still ringing.
“Don't worry, Sapphire. It wasn't real.” Jana's eyes belay Seth's words. She knows as well as I what it could mean, how real it could become. “Tell us all about it.”
The clouds are still hanging, it's still night time, but the mist is gone. Although that fact should calm us down, no one will fall back to sleep tonight. They've all heard my nightmare, it's in all their minds. I was careful to leave out the part about Jana in her true form. I couldn't speak when I got up to the part about seeing them dead, my voice wouldn't let me; all I could do was cry. But it doesn't matter, they all finished it in their minds, they all know what I saw. Now we're all sitting up, weapons close, the monsters of our imaginations clear in the corners of our eyes. There will be no sleep tonight, not even for the horses.
 Girl of the Dragons · Sat Nov 13, 2010 @ 07:46pm · 0 Comments |
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