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Jadedinsc
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Joined: 14 Mar 2011
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re: [Story] Nightmares (After the Crossroads reaction.)

You couldn’t save them. You cannot even save yourself.

Folami woke already sitting up in bed, her hand on her chest. Her breath came in short gasps and her body shivered despite the warm spring night. Terrified, her eyes darted around the room, each shadow seemingly causing her heart to leap a little higher in her chest.

Just a dream, it was just a—

“Mistress?”

Startled by Hesneri’s sudden appearance at her side, Folami yelped and tried to move away only to find herself falling off the edge of the inn’s narrow bed. She landed with a soft thud, her legs tangled in the flimsy silk sheets.

“Ow,” was the only thing she could think of to say as she stared at the darkened ceiling wondering how down had suddenly become up.

“Mistress, are you okay? I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Hesneri pulled the sheets away and then helped Folami to stand.

With the world once more in proper order, she rubbed the small lump forming on the back of her head and waved the succubus away. “I’m fine, just a bad dream is all.”

“Pity. I knew you’d gone to bed alone so when I heard thrashing about I’d hoped you were at least dreaming of a certain someone.”

Folami narrowed her eyes and gave her demon a particularly nasty look. The giggle she received in response only infuriated her more. “Your sympathy is overwhelming,” she grumped.

Hesneri grinned. “I’m not here for sympathy.”

“True enough.” The warlock sat on the edge of the bed and blew out a breath. Brief flashes of her dream—no, her nightmare floated around her head. It was difficult to pin any of them down, like chasing dust motes in the sunlight. Just when she reached for one, it blinked out of existence and was replaced with another.

A glass filled to the brim with cold water was pressed into her hands. She glanced up to see Hesneri looking down at her with concern. You aren’t necessarily sympathetic, but you do care. She kept the thought to herself and tipped the glass toward Hesneri in a gesture of gratitude before bringing it to her lips.

The demon waited for Folami to take a few sips before she asked, “What was it?”

“I can’t remember, at least not with any clarity.” Though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she tried to recall what it was that had frightened her so. Given the previous day’s events, it wasn’t all that hard to guess.

Blood. Blood flowing forth like a mountain spring, pumping out in time with Keldris’s heartbeat. Frozen, she watched the Lord of the Crossroads drink its fill, staining those jagged teeth red. It had opened the paladin’s throat like a sacrificial sheep, but when Folami looked down, the blood was on her hands.

You couldn’t save them. You cannot even save yourself.

Those words, while familiar, didn’t quite fit with the ritual. With a shudder she recalled it was the voice whispering into Solivar’s ear back in that vision. Her subconscious had, in what was perhaps a vain attempt at a healthful processing of recent events, somehow combined the two scenes into a single nightmare. She couldn’t decide if they were better relived separately or if it was somehow better to remember them as a strange amalgamation.

Either Hesneri picked up on Folami’s fear, or she saw something in her expression because she said, “I think it better we wait until morning to discuss everything.”

Grateful for the temporary reprieve from retelling what she’d seen while in The Crossroads, Folami handed the glass back to Hesneri and stretched out in the bed. “I think that might be better.” She stifled a yawn and pulled the covers back up to her chin.

“I’ll return to my post and keep away any visitors. Unless it’s you-know-who; I’ll let him enter without any questions,” she added with a smirk.

By the time Folami found a spare pillow to throw at the succubus, she’d already disappeared into the shadows outside the doorway.
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