Bronze She-Dragon

Chapter 27: Foreseeing

YEAR 130 AC

It was dark. It seemed like the darkness had swallowed everything around Daena, except for herself, making it impossible to understand where she was or what was going on. The air was heavy and stifling. Taking a single breath was a struggle, and little drops of sweat started forming on Daena's face, leaving her skin unpleasantly wet. Neither it was possible to see anything, nor it was to hear: the space, or the room, she was in was completely silent as if utterly isolated from the rest of the world. Daena's mind was only filled with a single emotion: confusion. Time had passed, yet there was nothing: no movement, no sounds, no light. The woman didn't move either: only her pupils were wandering here and there, trying to find at least a faint outline of something. Suddenly, she felt someone's touch on her shoulder. She flinched immediately, and her head instinctively turned around, as Daena was attempting to find out whose hand she was feeling. However, all she encountered was disappointment and even greater confusion: the woman could only see the hand and a little of an arm. The rest of the body seemed to be dissolved in the shadow, making it impossible to understand who the person standing behind her was. Was it even a person? The Lady did not know.

"Rogue... The rogue is coming."

The shivers ran down Daena's spine, as she recognized the voice instantly.

Helaena.

"The rogue is coming."

The voice was becoming louder.

"The rogue is coming."

Louder.

"The rogue is coming!"

The anxious sensation was flowing throughout Daena's body, her gaze growing intimidated, her lips trembling in indescribable fear as Helaena's voice was getting louder and louder.

"The rogue is coming!"

"The rogue is coming!"

"I don't... I don't understand." The Targaryen lady finally whispered, her words barely audible, as if she was speaking to herself and not somebody else.

The voice of the late princess fell silent abruptly, and the feeling of her sister's hand on Daena's shoulder disappeared. She was left alone, again, failing to understand the meaning of what was going on. The Lady turned her gaze to her right shoulder, where the hand used to lay, breathing in heavily. The space behind her was pitch black, the way it was before Helaena's voice shattered the silence. When Daena's gaze turned back to what was in front of her, she winced, blood running cold in her veins. Helaena's pale, saddened face was right in front of her own, her eyes, violet lifeless orbs, piercing Daena's with alarming, disturbing intensity.

"Save him." The Queen uttered, not taking her gaze away from Daena.

Daena was staring at her, unable to blink, let alone move.

"Helaena..." She whispered, a small tear forming in the corner of her eyes. Her sister, her sweet sister was before her again, as if Daena had never witnessed her body being burnt by the flames of the dragon.

"Save him!"

The loudness of the plead was deafening. Daena's closed her eyes, begging for this torture to be over...

And then she woke up, screaming as she did so.

Daena opened her eyes, her glance circling the dark chambers. It was her bedroom, nothing peculiar attracted her attention as her eyes kept moving. Was it all merely a dream?

She almost immediately felt someone's touch on her arm.

"Is everything alright?" Aegon's voice, raspy with sleepiness, soothed Daena's distressed state in a matter of seconds. She was not alone after all.