Hidden Moon

C H A P T E R 3

LIWAY

Cora

Sleep was always welcomed after a tiring day but there are nights I wish I had stayed awake. Lucid dreaming exhausted me that I had to take pills to help me rest. They were prescribed to me seven years ago when my dreams started to feel real to me and I would wake up thrashing on my bed. It was a case so severe I sometimes have episodes even during the day and while awake. Aunt Barbara told me how she witnessed me spacing out for a very long time then I'd suddenly scream or speak in foreign tongue.

I took daydreaming to different level...

I have never suffered from it in months that I saw no need to pop a pill. But tonight, I wished I had. My vicious mind has taken me to another trip where I fail to distinguish reality over make believe.

Tonight was unusual...

How little comfort it offered but better than bloody nightmares – I was dreaming of a relatively peaceful one. No fighting. No screams.

But it was dark.

"Who goes there?"

I could sense the woman's fear as she called out for intruders in the dark. Traveling at night to bathe, she made sure no one followed her to the waterfall. She was still within their tribe's land.

No one had knowledge of the place she took her baths in – that was what she thought. Yet she could feel eyes watching her. She hurried to leave the water and find her clothes. It was a mistake to bathe in the nude. Having done so, she has left herself vulnerable.

Reaching land, she wrapped herself up without bothering to dry her body. Water dripped from her hair and drenched her clothes but instead of being concerned about keeping warm, she armed herself with the torch and the walking stick she brought.

"Show yourself, coward!"

I don't think it was the smartest idea for a woman to be out at night and it was extremely foolish to be shouting and making noise if there really was a predator around. She should have shut her mouth.

Twigs snapped and leaves rustled as someone navigated the dark. Instead of running to the opposite direction, the brave and, definitely, foolish woman chased after it.

"Halt!" She screamed after the unknown.

Perhaps she should have considered escaping.

It was too late though. I saw her carelessly careening uphill. She must be familiar with the terrain but her wet slippery feet were her downfall. She slipped and with hands holding her improvised weapons, she was not ready to break her fall.

Not that it would help when she was falling backwards.

I wanted to close my eyes to keep myself from witnessing her fall to her demise but I could not. Everything happened in a flash. Someone caught the woman before she hit the rocks.

"Foolish woman," A man reprimanded her. "Why chase? Have you no fear? You could have suffered a terrible fall."

Yes, tell her!

The woman pushed him away and fell back against the tree. She pointed the torch at him and screamed, "You're not from here! You're trespassing!"

Yeah.

And if he was really hiding in and watching you bathe, add peeping to his crimes.

"I mean you no harm. I am lost. Please, remove the scalding fire away from my face."

Such a handsome feminine face...

"I was separated from my hunting party..."

"You're no hunter," she said after noting the man's lack of hunting gear and his princely outfit.