Blue Blood

Nightmares Return

"Magnus, do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Say it."

"I love you."

"Would you die for me?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you?"

He walks forward with black sunken eyes. Blood drips from his ears, his eyes, his chest. I want to look away but I can't move.

"Why won't you save me?"

His pale body starts to shake and sputter erratically and falls into my arms. I start shaking as well and rain falls from my head.

"I trusted you, you were supposed to protect me, you were supposed . . . To . . ."

Blood spills from his mouth and he becomes limp. The fire around us turns to darken ash. All color is gone.

"I WARNED YOU, BUT YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN."

I collapse to my knees. His body weighs heavy in my arms. This can't be. Anger builds inside of me as the rain turns to sharp, blue, thunder. I grip my hammer tightly.

"I FOUND YOU, AS I WARNED YOU I WOULD. YOU ARE GETTING CLOSER, COME AND FIND ME."

I charge at the dragon, hammer in hand, and scream a battle cry.

"COME FIGHT ME AND DIE! HAHAHA!!!"

Everything falls to pitch black darkness.

"I WILL BE WAITING, SON OF LIGHTNING. DON'T DISAPPOINT ME."

A crack of thunder and then my eyes open.

I shoot out of bed clutching my chest and gasping. Not again, not again. Rody is already next to me holding my shoulder tightly.

"Deep breaths, in and out." I follow his command and start to relax a bit but not nearly enough.

my fingers scrape against my scalp roughly as I wipe the sweat from my face. That felt so real, what is happening to me? What did it all mean? The dreams, they feel . . . Connected. That dragon, he was in the the last one but . . . What does this all mean? Am I cursed?

YES

I shudder as a chill goes up my spine. Rody rubs circles into my arms and looks at me concerned.

"Was it that dream from before?"

I shake my head and grip the hair at the back of my head, "No it was . . . I . . . I don't think it was worse, just more almost confusing I guess? I don't know, I don't really understand."

He pats my back, "it's okay, you don't have to."

An awkward silence fills the air as I collect myself.

THERE WONT BE MUCH LEFT TO COLLECT SOON.

I shudder again. That's weird, it's not even cold outside, the snow melted. Am I sick? I put my wrist to my forehead. I suppose I am a little warm, some exercise could probably do me some good.

"But," Rody breaks the silence. "If you wanted to, you know, talk about it, I'm always here with an ear. Ha! It even rhymes so it must be true!"

I smile and chuckle a little. "It's nothing, really, I'm okay."

He looks at me like he doesn't believe me but drops it there and I feel kind of bad. It wouldn't hurt to tell him, would it? Still, it's a little embarrassing. I'm a grown man, I shouldn't be having nightmares like a little kid. Gods, what's wrong with me?

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW?

Okay, maybe I really am sick, I just keep shuddering and Rody keeps giving me a weird look about it. Maybe I'll be able to find a little sano and conprimo to heal myself up with. Suddenly, Rody lays his head in my lap.

"What are you doing?" I laugh.

"What? You're comfy. Anyways, what's the plan for today?" He brushes off as he draws invisible lines into the sky with his fingers. He seems to be writing one phrase over and over again but I can't read it. I reach for the map but can't quite make it.

"Can you-"

"Nope." He cuts me off.

I sigh and struggle for a bit before my fingers finally brush the waxy paper of the map. I sigh and shake my head. I'm not sure what the best path forward would be-

GO THROUGH THE BLACK FORSET TO FAE HOLLOW.

"Black Forest."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"You just said Black Forest, is that where we're going next?"

"I did? Uh, I don't know . . . You know what? Sure, why not."

With a name like that, I should be more skeptical. My heart is pumping fast but my gut says to go there. It feels like I'm a dog on a leash. I hate it.

We get dressed and have a hefty breakfast. We even had some left over so we packed it away for later which is pretty weird. The gods must be watching over us today. I don't trust it. Something just doesn't feel right, it's like a dark cloud is following us. I set up Edima with our stuff and pull her to leave but she doesn't budge.

"What's wrong?" Rody notices.

"I don't know, Edima doesn't want to move. I hope she's not sick."

I go to pet her but she raises her front legs and neighs loudly, sending me backwards.

"Gods, What has gotten into you!?" I yell.

She neighs again and shakes her head about.

"Maybe she doesn't want to go with us?" Rody suggests.

"Then how are we going to carry our-"

An arrow flies past our faces and strikes the tree behind us. Without looking we bolt for it, Edima running ahead of us. Guess she's not sick, maybe Rody was right.

We run and run, arrows wizzing past us until the assault suddenly stops. Rody falls to the misty gray earth panting and I bend over doing the same.

"I can't *huff, huff* believe the-they *huff, huff* found us." Rody gasps.

"We can't *huff* stop now. *huff, huff* we have to keep going."

Rody groans and wobbles to his feet. My legs pulsate with each step, making it painful. The forest around us is dark and barren. It causes my heart to throw on a concert. It looks just like my first dream. I pull the map from my pocket and look for any markers nearby.

"Did you remember which direction we went?" I ask trying to hide the fear in my voice.

"I think it was west? No, east. Yeah, east. Hey, I don't recognize this place from the map. Do you think we went off the page?"

I follow the map with my eyes to the east. The ink looks fresh, like it was just printed but that's weird because the rest of the map is worn and old. It burns in my hands.

WELCOME TO THE BLACK FOREST