There was a wind whipping through the trees along the path I found myself
walking down. I was wearing those
clothes again, the ones that you’d imagine out of a fantasy novel or see at a
renaissance festival. The path I
walked was dirt, hard-packed by the passage of others before me.
What am I doing here? What’s
going on now? It must be another
crazy dream. I wondered why I
had them. I was carrying two staves
in my hand, and I could hear sounds ahead of me.
Was this a continuation of my last dream?
At the end of the trail, a camp made of canvas tents, waddle-and-daub
houses, and even a few stone buildings was laid out before me.
In front of one of the stone buildings, I could see a fire burning and a
half-dozen people milling around, reminding me of scenes I’d seen in movies.
I started down, but not before someone grabbed my shoulder.
“It’s so nice of you to wait for the rest of us.”
The girl looked like Jude, but she had an accent to her voice that I
couldn’t place, the same as I couldn’t place my own when I spoke in these
dreams.
“I figured you’d catch up.” I
don’t even know who this person is.
“Miral and Kittyhawk will be so pleased to know that.” She looked around. “Where
is Craig’Ian?”
“Meeting with Sha’dan Tyree regarding a treaty with the
Dan’ling.” At least, that’s what I’ve pieced together between
this dream and the last.
“Sha’dan Tyree is here? Oh,
goodness. Shai, you must go get him
out of there.”
“Out of where? Why?”
“Because I have foreseen it! She
plans to kill him.”
“Kill him?” The thought
crossed my mind – I don’t know where it came from – that she’d have to
be lucky to kill him before he killed her.
“Just go, Shai!”
Shouting near the stone building made me look, and I saw those same
half-dozen men who had been milling around dart inside.
I dropped the staves I was carrying and broke out into a run, pitching
down the path toward the building. The
shouting hadn’t stopped.
I ran into the building, and all I could see was darkness.
I could hear shouting and the ring of metal against metal, see a few
sparks, but nothing more. I felt
someone behind me and whirled, bringing my arms up to protect my face……
“Shainann Roe, will you get up?!
We’re going to be late!”
My eyes popped open with a start and I looked over to see Jude standing
next to me. I was laying in my bed,
where I’d fallen asleep thinking about the strange things that had been
happening to me. There had been no
accent to her voice when she spoke. “What time is it?” The
faint accent was there in mine, though.
“Almost seven. We need to
get going if we’re going to make it to Kirkhof on time.”
I nodded and she hopped down off the ladder so I could climb down. Even as we began the walk to Kirkhof, I wondered about my
dreams and why I kept having them – asleep and awake.
I also wondered where that accent was coming from.