The TwiceBorn

And So I Beg For Sleep

"And so I beg for sleep...the child who walked before she crawled."--Melissa Etheridge

  In her dream they were all in the glade past the big deadfall.  She stood there in amazement and gazed at everything that was still so familiar even after all the passing years.

She was barefoot. The grass was cool and slick on the bottoms of her feet.  The odor of honeysuckle and wild azaleas assaulted her senses and she breathed in as a part of her stood back in disbelief at how real everything appeared to be.

            The tackle caught her low and she slammed into the ground and slid in the wet grass.  Arms like iron bands locked around her and tried to flip her onto her stomach.  She grunted and rolled into a tight ball.  Her left arm shot down and circled around the head at her waist and she tightened her grip.  She remembered this game and this kid from long ago.

"Shit! Alora,leggo!"  Cam Dayin howled.  His scraped face turned red as she cut off his airflow.  He bucked like a stag but she grimly hung on.  She marveled at the feel of his skin.  Cam's spiky hair stuck up at odd angles.  Alora felt a beginning drip of snot on her arm as he flailed about.

"Okay,I give, lemme up!"  He gasped,his face purple.  She let go and grinned as she pushed him away.  His father was Aamon, the demon of war and violence but the blood that flowed through Cam's veins had never bested her.

"I like this dream."  She realized as she watched Cam get to his feet.  He glared at her, his big forehead wet with sweat.  His breeches were torn at the knees and she could see countless scabs peeking through.  Souvenirs earned from his constant attempts to waylay her.  She couldn't count how many times she'd kicked his ass.

"C'mon shitheap,let's go." She crouched down and beckoned to him.

"Fuck you." He sulked.  He scrubbed his hand across his nose.  Cam was a slow learner though. He'd try again.  His father's blood lumbered through him.  It forced him to always sniff the air for a fight and he always got his ass pounded in return.

"Come on you guys; let's play something."

 Elisa Tor sighed, gnawing at a ragged fingernail, as she lay on her back in the grass.

It was all so real and, for a split second, Alora thought: Maybe this is real and all that other was the dream.  Oh god,I finally woke up, I finally woke up.   Her legs gave way and she dropped onto her knees in the grass.  

            Clouds skated across the sun and a breeze fanned through the trees.  The clearing was bathed in vast shadows then endless light.  She looked around eagerly.  She wanted to see the faces she'd missed for so long but something in her mind, her rational waking mind, clicked home.

Yes,it was a dream; she knew too much for it not to be.  She looked at Cam as he struggled to do a handstand.  His little boy's face was twisted with a fierce concentration.

(They'd tied him up and peeled his skin off.  Just took a knife and dug in then pulled, stripping it away from the muscle.  He never screamed.  She could kick his ass to hell and back and never be that strong)

Elisa Tor stared dreamily up at the clouds.  Her hands were folded behind her head as she watched the sky.

(Her father had been Verdelet, the Master of the Sabbat, and Elisa had loved to dance, to laugh, to make Alora laugh, and they'd made secret plans to run away together.  To be princesses.  Or peasants.  They'd nailed her upside down to a tree with spikes run through her palms, throat,and feet.  They'd taken her ears and tongue)