From: ssalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (-=[SLS]=-)
Subject: After the long night [Castle]
Organization: OFSA
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 23:42:59 GMT


***


The morning was beautiful and sunny, but it was not the sun that 
woke Kathrea up from her pleasant dreams of childhood and snow games. 
It was a feeling of being watched - not in a sinister or threatening
way, but just being watched. However, before she could properly bring
herself back to the waking world, the feeling was gone. Perhaps it, 
too, had been just a dream. 

She got up and dressed quickly - there was no time for lying around
in bed now. She hesitated between her much improved but still small
wardrobe, but decided that at the moment she still felt the most
comfortable in the black velvet of sorrow. Quickly she brushed her
hair, fastened it with a black velvet hairband, and pinned the two-
circled brooch at the throat of the dress. Then she hurried check on
Brianna and the Feral Knight. 

Brianna's room was full of silent light, as Kathrea opened the door
and slipped in. The Chosen Champion of the Land was still sitting at
the side if his beloved, holding her hand. His face was grey and
haggard, but his eyes were alert. His extraordinary endurance had
made it possible for him to stay awake for the whole night, guarding
over his love with no concern for his own comfort. He looked up and
nodded to Kathrea, but then his gaze returned steadily to Brianna's
sleeping face, now peaceful but pale in the sunlight.

Kathrea walked to the bed and placed her hand on the Feral Knight's
shoulder.

"Good morning", she said softly. "How are you both?"

"Good morning, Kathrea", the Feral Knight answered. "She's still the 
same."

"She looks rather peaceful now, however", Kathrea said thoughtfully, 
examining Brianna's face. "Has she been this quiet all the night, or
has she been twisting and crying much?"

"No, not much. Most of the time she seems to be so deep and far in 
the DreamWorld that nothing of that reaches even her face..." His
voice broke. 


Yes, it had been a long night for him. A long night to gaze upon the
face of this woman that he loved and think. To think of his long past,
his wide wanderings since he was a boy. His training and education by
the old Wanderer and the paths he had chosen to follow since then.
There had been much pain and strife in his life and now he had
finally found someone to share true happiness with. 

	"It will be alright my friend", Kathrea said softly, laying
her hand on his head. "We need to discover the cause of this and then
we shall rescue her"

	"Mikandric was supposed to find that man, Alwir. I think Alwir
was frightened by what he had seen here. He seems to be such a shy,
closed in sort of man.", Feral Knight replied.

Brianna breathed deeply and turned slightly on her bed, disturbing the
silken sheets with a breathy rustle. They turned to regard her once
again and noticed the slightest furrowing between her eyes. She was
still deeply caught in the DreamWorld. Who knows what she horrors she
endured there. The Feral Knight felt a familiar pulse of heat
spreading within him as he thought of it.

	"Whomever did this will have a lot to answer to", he said
harshly.

	"Yes, this can threaten every inhabitant of the Land", Kathrea
answered. "To trap someone in the DreamWorld is a powerful act and one
that can mean death to the unwary." She paused at the sight of his
face. "Brianna may have been initially unwary but she survives and
sustains herself, Feral Knight. Do not worry."

Golden motes of dust danced in the early morning sun as it streamed in
the open window. He could hear birds singing and the sound of people
moving about. Where was Mikandric and Alwir? 

				-=<0>=-

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