I picked up a goblet from the table, not even seeing the red wine in it
before I took a long pull. My
throat was sore from talking to the council that had gathered around Craig’Ian
of Malcolm, the man who looked exactly like my best friend from what I had begun
to think of my real world and my real time.
This was all just a dream…
…wasn’t it? Not that it
mattered. For the moment, I was
here, and I had something to do. Craig’Ian
put his arms around my waist as I set down the goblet.
“You really think fighting them will work, Shai?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t
just argue passionately for it for the past two hours because I thought it was a
bad idea, Craig.”
He smiled. “You’re the
only one who would ever dare to address me in such a familiar manner.”
“Do you have a problem with it?”
He laughed. “Why would I?
A beautiful woman like you, addressing me by a nickname?
Of course I wouldn’t take offense.”
“You’re a strange man, Craig’Ian, a very strange man indeed.”
“And you, Shai of Clellan, are quite possibly the most unusual woman in
the world.”
I smirked at him over my shoulder. “You
have no idea.”
I closed my eyes as his arms tightened around my waist, but when I opened
them again, he, and everything else, was gone.
I was laying in bed, staring at Jude’s bed, in exactly the same
position I’d been before I found myself in the throes of one of my dreams.
“Shai of Clellan,” I murmured. So
that’s who I was in the dreams. Shai
of Clellan, obviously someone close to Craig’Ian of Malcolm, who appeared to
be some sort of feudal lord, if I was any judge.
A feudal lord who a force known as the Dan’ling wanted dead.
I wondered what it all meant. I
kept coming back to the conclusion that it must be my imagination painting
images from my life onto my subconscious.
I stared at Jude’s bed for a long moment before I realized she was
already up and gone. I sighed and
began to haul myself out of bed – I really didn’t want to, because my bed
was warm and the room was not – a result of leaving the windows open all
night, which Jude did on occasion. I
began to pull on my clothes, glancing at the time – I had about a half hour
before I had to head to class.
There was a sudden rapping on my door and I groaned, yanking my shirt the
rest of the way on and opening the door. Craig
was standing there with another of our friends, Lance Greilan, who was a physics
student. Craig immediately blushed.
“Sorry, Shai, didn’t realize you’d just gotten up.
Lance and I were going to go get some breakfast, and we were
wondering…”
“If I’d like to come? Five
minutes, OK? Wait there.”
I shut the door on them and finished getting ready in three minutes flat,
tossed my books in my bag, and grabbed my wallet and keys.
I flipped off the lights in the room and walked out, grinning at them.
“Shall we, gentlemen?”
Comically, Craig offered me his arm and I took it, feeling for a moment
that this was the way it was supposed to be – none of that holding
hands junk, but this, with a lady’s hand on a lord’s arm…
…and then, I began to question my sanity.