Red Rivers and Nightmares

7. The Next Task

I hear weeping. It is the first thing I register. The second thing is a woman kneeling in the distance.

I attempt to look around but I cannot make the environment come into focus, except for the quiet lapping of water hitting a shore. My head turns away from the woman to try to find the water but her cries get louder, more like wailing now.

I barely think about it when my boots thud closer to her. A part of my mind is screaming at me to run away, to head straight towards the water but she is crying so hysterically...

"Miss, are you okay?," I grab her shoulder and attempt to lean over her to get a look at her face.

She grasps onto my wrist with a death grip and twists her body around violently to look at me. I gasp in horror as blood is streaming from the corner of her lips and her abdomen hangs open, cut open with one vertical line. What is worse about all of this is the blood gushing from there but no organs are spilling out because inside her abdomen is a black cavernous hole.

Fia screams at me, "Look what you did to me?!"

I attempt to yank from her hold but she only gets stronger. She screams once more and wetness hits my face. In shock I stutter out something, "No... I... I tried to..."

"Why did you not save me?! I just wanted to hold my baby... my poor, little son..." she is wailing desperately.

My heart is pounding and I am nearly gasping out breath as I attempt to dig my nails into her fingers to get her off, "I tried! I tried!"

Her wailing stops and she looks me straight in the eyes as her tears mix with the blood, turning it into more water than blood. I flinch. She ignores my desperation, "If you really wanted to you could have saved me. This is all just a game to you, noble Lady Shizu."

"No!" I give a final yank and her grip lets go. I turn and run but more people walk closer to me, wailing, crying, asking why I did not save them. People who I had put to sleep and walked away from because I deemed them beyond saving.

I trip and fall into a boat.

Then, I find myself lurching into a sitting position with a hand covering my mouth. I am about to scream when I realize my other hand is strangling my sheet and my head jerks around with wide eyes.

My panic only stops when I realize I feel wetness on my forehead. The tiny part of my brain that is still logical provides the name for this wetness, sweat. But sweat? When was the last time I felt my own sweat?

That logical part grows as I stare at my sleeping younger brother in the light from the predawn. I realize then that the hand covering my mouth is my own. I can only assume that happened during my nightmare. My whole body shivers as it feels like I can still feel their hands grasping me.

Not real.

What is real is that I am sweating. Sweating. I have not sweat for years. I must have pushed myself a bit much yesterday. This does not feel good.

With a little shakiness I crawl out of our tent and head immediately to Weret. The current calls to me and I do not hesitate to tug my boots off at the bank and jump into the water. The splash and coolness of the water erases the last vestiges of my bad dream. I turn my body so that I am curled up in the middle of the river and take a deep breath. My magic brings the air I need from the water and I seriously consider staying down here for an hour. I know I probably should go back up now as I do not want to overextend my body but I feel better down here.

My debate is ended when a person plunges in and a hand grabs my upper arm to yank me back.

It is too soon and too similar. I struggle and the once calm water becomes violent but I am dragged from the water and to the shore anyway. A thud and coughing next to me has me looking over to see Rion.