The Lioness of Newsham

Chapter 3

She tossed and turned in a restless sleep, sweat glistening on her pale skin. A beam of moonlight cascading through a slip in her curtains bathed her stricken face in cold light and threw her subconscious into a nightmarish dream.

Four people stood at the rim of a monstrous canyon, peering into what Karina thought was nothingness.

"If my bearings are correct, we should be gazing at millions of precious gems," the first woman stated with a sharp accent. She was tall and willowy, with thick, dark hair, not unlike Karina's, piled atop her head. Her eyes were a deep pool, dark, blue, and mysterious.

"Then where are the precious gems?" The dark-haired woman's male companion shifted his feet, creating a small cloud of dust. His hair was also dark, though his eyes were a warm brown color. He looked to the woman for an answer, but she said nothing, only pursed her lips and squinted into the canyon, as though willing the gems to appear.

"Perhaps we are not standing in the correct spot," the third companion, a young girl with identical features to the dark-haired woman, suggested. The dark-haired woman cleared her throat and turned on her heel, her exasperation in her companions thinly veiled.

"My bearings are never wrong," she stated firmly. With a final glance into the canyon, she turned her back on them and walked away. Almost immediately, the fourth companion, a silent, hulking beast of a man, followed. The girl took a little longer as she stared longingly into the abyss, wanting nothing more than for her older companion to be right. Karina watched as the girl finally tore herself from the canyon and trailed after her companions. The only companion left standing at the edge of the canyon was the brown-eyed man.

He let loose a sigh, breathing out the worries and concerns that had built up in him over the years. Karina felt the hot breath rush past her face, the sting too much to bear. That was when he turned to look at her.

Karina blinked, a strange feeling coming over her. This was Garrick Longstride. His face resonated with her soul, as though it recognized him from a long, lost past. She whispered his name and, as though he had heard her, he inclined his head to the side, frowning into the wind. After a moment of stillness, however, he shook his head and turned to leave.

As Garrick walked away, a thought took root within Karina. Something revolutionary, something strange. What if this wasn't a dream at all? What if she was reliving somebody's memory? The idea shook her to the core and she shivered, suddenly feeling as though she was an intruder. As she stared after Garrick's retreating form, her vision dissipated like wisps of smoke.

Karina awoke violently, sitting up suddenly as though she had been submerged in water. Panting heavily, she sucked in large gulps of air, her heart beating faster than stampeding stallions. She allowed herself to calm down first, before she began to dwell on the events of her dream. Tendrils of thought wound their way through her head, whispering ghostly nothings into the expanse of her mind. She shook her head, trying to dislodge Garrick Longstride's face from her head. What a strange dream, but it was only a dream after all.

Karina rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and forcibly shoved all doubt out of her mind. She swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood up. Her bones creaked with every movement as she padded towards the small wardrobe. Opening it, she sifted through the uniforms until she found her measurements. Taking the crimson army uniform from its hangar, she laid it out across her bed. Slipping her nightgown over her head, she folded it neatly and placed it at the bottom of the wardrobe.

Taking her uniform, she stepped into it, buttoning it up with practiced fingers. Turning to the small mirror hanging beside the door, she grabbed her brush and patiently began to work through the tangles in her hair. It took her quite a few minutes, as it did every day, to get her thick hair into a manageable state. Finally satisfied, she gathered up all her hair and carefully plated it.