Chasing Blue- The Final Saga (Book 4)

Chapter 32: Dream On

My arms flapped madly as I hurled backwards to the earth that contained the sweat and blood of past riders. I felt my neck snap the moment my head bounced off the ground. Paralyzed, I watched as the hooves came to finish me off...

The deafening roar of the crowds and pounding hooves— stopped. Then everything went quiet.

I blinked. The hard earth was replaced by smooth linen sheets that cushioned my body. I was still but at any moment my heart was ready to leap from my chest. It was just a dream. But why did it feel so real; so raw? After months without dreams, they returned with a vengeance.

It took me a long time to get out of bed. I felt like the air was knocked out of me as the slaves had to help me dress and put on a clean beige tunic and comb my mangled hair. I had no appetite for breakfast. The smell of food made me heave. I decided to skip the rhetoric school that day. My mind would not be attentive to anything the headmaster would say.

It was only at the bathhouse that I found momentary escape from my head. Staring out into the open courtyard I glanced around the palaestra looking for something to distract me. At the fringe of the palaestra two younger males tossed a leather ball back and forth. Toward the center of the palaestra two pits were drawn in the damp sand, one was for the wrestlers. Another for the boxers. Each man already paired off with a contender. Perhaps I could lift weights since that was a solitary activity. Although I was not training to be a gladiator, professional boxer or wrestler, I had to be strong. There was no room for weakness here. Building endurance and upper body strength was inculcated into me these past few weeks. But suddenly training with the goal of racing lost its appeal.

"Troy!" I looked around for the voice. All of a sudden, Julian came charging from behind as he wrapped his taut arms around my neck locking my head between his sweaty armpits. I spread my legs outward, hoping to stabilize my wobbly legs.

"I really do not appreciate people sneaking behind me!" I grumbled under my breath. He abruptly un-handed me.

"Sorry," he said in a half-hearted tone. "You did not come to the rhetoric lectures and you have been ignoring me lately so I thought this gesture will get your attention." Oh you got my attention! "Come on Troy, I want a rematch from the other day." He squatted in the sand and dirt. Both hands rested on his knees. "I am ready for whatever dirty trick you may play," he teased.

I shook my head. "Not today. I just have a lot on my mind and I am still sore from the other day," I said. After all I was not lying this time.

"Still sore?" he asked with an incredulous grin. "I do not know what to believe anymore. You promise one thing but you fail to live up to your word."

"Sorry. I sometimes have appointments to meet with other friends. They would not take it well if I ignored them—"

He frowned. "Like Hyros and Marius?"

I nodded. Deep down I knew most of the appointments were with Maximus. I would on occasion visit Hyros and Marius in their gaming shop nestled on the first floor adjacent to the bakery. There I would enjoy a game of backgammon or drink sweet wine. It was a way to escape from my worries.

"I get it. Those were your friends probably before you met me," he said shrugging his shoulders in defeat. "I do not want to get in the way of that but I just thought that since you are still a team member of the Blues that you would want to start training with the rest of us. We get the advantage over those other teams if we practice now. We cannot afford to take it easy while those other men strategize. But if we practice now we will be ready in the spring," he said. I nodded. However my mind kept playing over the collision in the dream. What if the dream was telling me something?