Oo, man, that's quite a dangerous position for both of them to be in. He has a dagger that can suck her soul, and she's the Dreamer and can probably do who knows what in the Dream.

Come on, Cherry, hurry! Hurry! Hurry! I want to know what happens! Well...2 more chapters to go, so I guess it won't be too long.

~~~

(Oh, and it would have been okay if you wanted to use the name. It took me a while to come up with it. XD I had to search all the Av characters names to get an idea of where the names came from, but I did end up picking up 20 names, and I swear now, one was like Darius (I threw out the list though so I don't know if it was a pick...maybe it was "Darren" or "Darwin" or something like that. lol "Aydan" was perfect since the name has something to do with fire (I think). Well, I like "Darius" a lot as a name, though. The name hints wickedness (like Dameon=Demon). lol But I agree, the two don't compare. )

@Dis: Thanks! I'm glad you think Darius hints at evil. It just seemed fitting. Actually, I had a friend once with that name. He was totally unlike my Darius -- totally sweet and nice. But, the name just seemed to fit.

*****

Chapter 32:

“And just where do you think that you are going?”

The imperious voice shocks Rhen out of her reverie. She looks around, blinking in confusion. She is sitting in a strange, high-prowed boat. A moon-shaped lamp hangs from the prow illuminating the dark, starry lake surrounding her, seemingly without end. The cloaked figure in the stern of the boat continues his slow, rythmic labor of pushing his long pole against the bottom of the lake and pulling it free for the next stroke.

Rhen vaguely remembers seeing the boat approaching her on the lake shore and climbing aboard. She must have fallen asleep in the darkness, lulled by the gentle rocking of the boat.

“Really, child, I thought we had made more progress. I will ask again. Please listen carefully this time. Just where do you think that you are going?”

The first time the voice had spoken, Rhen was too far lost to sleep or trance to truly register it. The second time, far from being more prepared, Rhen is so startled that she nearly causes the boat to over-turn as she lurches around frantically searching for the speaker. A piercing scream splits the night. Her sudden movements have roused the baby strapped to her back. Rhen’s fingers begin fumbling with the ties, struggling to get the baby off her back with out further upsetting the boat. Her eyes settle on Alicia Pendragon sitting opposite her in the small boat. Rhen closes her eyes for a moment, concentrating on the baby and willing herself to stop imagining things. But when she opens them again, Alicia is still there, frowning disapprovingly at her.

“Oh, for pity’s sake, child. Hand the babe to me. You are in no fit state.” Before Rhen can say a word, Alicia has leaned forward and swiped the baby out of Rhen’s arms. She nestles the baby snugly against her chest and begins cooing, “Poor little darling, there you go. Everything will be all right. Don’t you worry.”

Rhen gapes, speechless as Alicia soothes the baby. She has not experienced, nor even heard tale of, this side of Alicia’s personality. The baby settles quickly in Alicia’s arms, and in a few minutes all is quiet again. Alicia gazes silently at the baby for several minutes before raising her eyes once more to face Rhen. “I… I was so happy to have a baby, Rhen. I was so happy when you were born,” her voice is strangely gentle, and Rhen is surprised to see unshed tears threatening to overwhelm her. “My whole life I had been fighting, but for those few months… those few months I had with you… I was… happy.” Alicia gazes back at the baby’s face and is quiet for several more minutes.

Rhen feels her heart split open. She stares at Alicia, longing to be a baby once again. To be held and comforted. To be loved and cared for. To have lived her childhood with her true parents, in her true home.

As if reading her mind, Alicia continues in a brisk tone, “But it was not to be, of course. Ahriman saw to that.” Alicia shudders slightly and continues, her voice growing angrier with every word, “And you saw to Ahriman. The question is, just what, exactly, do you think that you are doing now?”

“Umm… sorry?” stammers Rhen.

“Sorry? Sorry! What does sorry have to do with anything?” The baby stirs restlessly in Alicia’s arms, and she drops her voice instantly to a whisper -- a very angry whisper. “A queen – my daughter – does not run away from her duty. Your people are waiting for you, harried by demons that it was your job to rout. The throne was not meant for Devin. It sits uneasily under him. Thais waits for its true heir.” Carried away by the grandeur of her words, and forgetting the sleeping baby in her arms, Alicia’s voice grows steadily louder. The baby cries sleepily, and Alicia drops her voice to a harsh whisper again, “And your child deserves a chance to live its life, not be carried to an early death by a cowardly mother who chooses to run away whenever things get a little difficult.”

Rhen blinks back tears, stung by the harshness of Alicia’s words. “How can you say that? I defeated Ahriman. You never did that much.”

Alicia sniffs dismissively, “Perhaps. But you ran away from your duty. You left the people of Thais without their queen. And now, now you run from your life searching for Death instead of taking up your responsibilities. I told you before, you are a Pendragon. Start living like it. You must shape the world to your destiny.”

“But, Mother... Dameon has betrayed us,” says Rhen desperately, searching for consolation, for pity, for understanding, for forgiveness.

Alicia stares at Rhen a moment before answering. Her voice, when finally she speaks, is cold and pitiless. “Think you that his betrayal is worse than your own?”

Alicia's words cut deeply into Rhen's soul. The words burst from her mouth without thought, “But… but I love…” Rhen’s voice trails off for a moment. She takes several deep, gasping breaths before continuing, “But I love him.” It cannot be unsaid.

Alicia gazes at her, blessedly silent. And suddenly, a tidal wave of emotions rises up in Rhen, and the words tumble out so quickly that she can barely keep up, “I-I… I almost joined Ahriman back then. And I don’t know if it was because I loved him… or if I was as dark as he was. I… I’m afaid of who I am. It was safer just to go back ‘home’ and marry… D-D-Danny,” his name comes out as a howl as the tears start flowing down Rhen’s cheeks, “and I loved him, too. I think I did. But now… now I have Dameon’s baby and Danny is married to Elini and my children hate me and…” her words are lost for the next few minutes, overtaken by sobs. She feels as though the tears will never end, and yet, somehow, finally they do. She takes a few breaths to steady herself before uttering her final condemnation, “The world is better off without me.”

Alicia gazes sadly at her daughter. “Oh, child,” she says softly, freeing one arm from the baby so that she can stroke Rhen’s cheek, “I wish... for your sake I wish that that were true. But it is not time yet for you to rest. The world needs you. This child needs you. And, who is to say, perhaps even Dameon needs you.” She places the child back in Rhen’s arms and kisses them each in turn on the forehead. “Now, go. You are not yet welcome in the Realm of the Dead.”

Alicia waves her hand imperiously at the boatman and then disappears as if she had never been. The boatman rolls his eyes, but silently turns the boat around. Rhen stares at the child in her arms, seeing Dameon’s fine features – his high cheeckbones, his delicate chin – even under the layers of baby fat. She shivers and pulls the sleeping baby closer to her as a chill wind blows across the lake, like icy fingers pushing against them. Distantly she hears countless voices raised together in a triumphant scream. She shivers again and pulls the baby closer to her, struggling with ties, trying to bind the baby to her without waking it. With one arm wrapped protectively around her child, she stretches her sword arm around until her fingers grasp the hilt of her sword.

She feels the danger in the air, crackling around her like the energy before a lightning strike. But in the end, there is nothing that she can do. A few ripples appear in the once-still waters of the starry lake, jostling the small boat unexpectedly. And then, between one breath and the next, a giant wave is crashing over them, capsizing the boat and casting Rhen and her child far from the wreckage.

whee~~~ go Alicia! Kicking your daughter into shape!!! hahahaha....

o.O I wonder what capsized the boat or if it symbolically means that she is getting up and out of her trance? I hope it's a good thing...

Wow, I really loved this chap when I read it a while back. Loved it even more now.

Yay! One chapter left!

alicia rocks.
between you and dis, i think you've inspired me to give her a cameo in my story. so thanks!
AND...i don't remember the next chapter! *gasp* i wonder if i read it before the site crashed...if not, then this will be new stuff for me! yay!

@aislingyngaio: Thanks! Alicia's not one to mince words, is she?

@Dis: Thanks! I like that chapter too. Alicia is a lot of fun to write.

As for Rhen... well, we'll see. I've started the next bit for her, but I'm not exactly sure when it will appear in the story.

@kaz: Awww... thanks! I wish I was a little more like Alicia. I guess I'll just have to settle for writing her occasionally. I think that you read the next chapter -- although I've re-written it a bit. There should be new stuff coming soon-ish.

@all: Thanks for your patience during this very long reposting. I hope you've been enjoying the story. There should be new updates in the not too distant future.

*****

Chapter 33:

Elini cannot sleep. She shifts irritably in bed, raising a sleepy complaint from John as he rolls over, falling instantly back asleep. She glares at his peacefully sleeping form. She barely restrains a childish urge to stick out her tongue at him. Sighing and shaking her head at her foolishness, she rises quietly from the bed. She pulls her sleeping robe from the back of a chair and wraps it around herself as she slips softly from the room.

Her soul, I believe, will make its own decisions. Still, if you are determined, you may try to… intervene. You must find her soul, somewhere in the Underworld. But even should you find her, only a very powerful healer would be strong enough to re-join her soul to her body.

The Druid’s words had hit all of them hard. The enormity of the task he had placed before them, the severity of the danger in which Rhen had placed herself had left all of them speechless. Looking around at the dazed faces, Rashnu had finally suggested they get some rest before talking further. He had led them to sleeping chambers hidden away in the guest quarters of the cathedral.

For a moment, Elini pauses outside the door to Alaya’s room, concern wrinkling her brows. When Talver had lifted her from the window seat she had murmured sleepily in what sounded for all the world like Demon. She had not opened her eyes. She had merely snuggled in tightly against Talver’s chest and fallen back into a quiet sleep. Her hand resting on the latch of Alaya’s door, Elini curses quietly under her breath. She cannot bring herself to trespass on her daughter’s privacy. It simply is not done. Before she has a house of her own, a young woman’s room is her only haven. Cursing again, Elini pounds her balled up fists on her thighs as she walks slowly up the dark passageway, hoping to find answers -- or at least a respite from the gnawing fear that awoke her -- in the quiet of the cathedral’s sanctuary.

Hardly has Elini settled herself onto a hard wooden pew, however, when Rashnu emerges from the Dark Shrine, hair standing on end and a wild look in his eyes. His eyes meet Elini’s and he hurries towards her. “Something terrible has happened,” he says breathlessly.

Elini feels her heart sink, “Is it Rhen? She has not…” Her voice trails off, unwilling even to put into words the frightening images chasing through her mind.

Rashnu stares blankly at Elini for a moment. He blinks slowly a few times, the wildness slowly fading from his eyes. “Rhen? I should hardly think so. The entire Underworld is in an uproar. It is The Dreamer. She is… gone!”

This time it is Elini’s turn to stare silently. Rashnu’s words run through her mind but she can find no meaning in them. “The Dreamer? Talia? What do you mean? Gone? Where is she?”

"Dead... or worse. I do not know," replies Rashnu, raking his fingers through his already wild hair. “I fear..." his voice trails off, unwilling or unable to finish. "Talia is gone. The Dream is unprotected. And the Demon Realm... well, the Demon Realm has been… agitated of late. Only once before have I ever felt such wild energy.”

“Only once?” repeats Elini, feeling slightly foolish even as she does so. “When… when was that?” she asks, although she is terribly afraid that she already knows the answer.

“When Ahriman and his daevas succeeded in breaking out of the Demon Realm. Shortly before that foul creature Zarich stole my soul,” says Rashnu distantly, his eyes unfocused.

Elini watches Rashnu uncertainly, but the Druid seems to have nothing more to say for the moment. Finally, Rasnu seems to come back to himself and looks hard at Elini. "You seek to rejoin the sword singer's soul to her body?"

Elini nods mutely, unsure of her voice but terribly, terribly sure of Rashnu's next words.

"You must enter the Underworld and the Dream is closed to you now. Without The Dreamer’s protection, it will be overrun with demons. Come. We must rouse your companions. There is much to discuss, and it will not wait." Rashnu rises from the pew and begins walking toward the stone passage leading towards the guest quarters.

Elini tries to follow, but a paralyzing fear has gripped her heart. “Wait, please, Druid. Our dreams… without the Dreamer to protect us, what... what would happen if a demon… a daeva… were to enter our very dreams?”

Rashnu stops and turns back to look at her, “You have little to fear from daevas, I think, Demon Summoner. Surely you can protect yourself, even in a dream.”

“No… I mean, it is not me that I am worried about,” says Elini quietly.

“There are not so many daevas in the world, and very many dreams. Why should they find the one you are worried about?”

“I do not know, Druid, but I am frightened. Alaya has the Gift. She may be a very powerful Demon Summoner.” Elini hesitates a moment, fighting a strange desire to change the subject. “Untrained, she has summoned Nanghaithya. Twice”

The Druid watches her quietly for a moment. “Can she control the daeva?” he asks finally.

“It appears so,” says Elini, finding herself nearly choking over the words, a strange mix of fear, doubt and -- could it be? -- jealousy surging through her words. “But… but she has not learned the necessary spells and diagrams. She cannot protect herself. Should she lose control…” she cannot bring herself to finish her thought. “I am not even sure how she managed to gain control of him. She has not performed the binding to my knowledge, and yet he behaved as if he were bound. Is it possible that she could be sharing my bond of the daeva? I banished him after she summoned him the first time."

“I have never heard of such,” he says slowly, “but I know little about the intricacies of Demon Summoning. Certainly it may be possible.” His apparently typical irritability creeps back into his voice, “Very few things are demonstrably impossible. Come. We do not have so very much time to discuss philosophy. Let us wake your companions. You have some difficult choices to make.”

Finsh? Like that?

No, no, no! This is just the end of what had previously been posted before the site crashed. Hopefully I'll get some new updates posted soon. (or at least soon-ish).

Thanks for reading, destinyluck! (If it helps, some of my faithful readers were left with this chapter way back in December! Thanks for hanging in there for me, Dis and kaz! )

hahaha I was just about to ask that too XD at least it won't be left hanging in the air ^_^

ok...i remember this now...well, i remember elini not wanting to enter alaya's room, anyway.
and you don't have to thank me for 'hanging in there' as you say; thank you for giving me such a great story to read!

Nooo!! Talia...might be dead. No...

I still have my hopes, though. *crosses fingers*

But yay! You're going to update soon! But wow, I hope the site never crashes again. o.0 Like you, kaz, and I took 4-6 months to start up again. It doesn't feel that long though. I guess it was like watching reruns during the summer--great reruns, that is.

Can't wait for chapter 34, Cherry!

Great story! And I'll be waiting for the next installment.
Now I have two stories to keep up with! This one and the one by Dis.

Good writing Cherrywine!

@aisling: ...well, perhaps not at the same spot anyway. Writer's block is vicious and strikes me far too frequently these days.

@kaz: Thanks!

@Dis: Yeah, the re-posting took me more or less forever. The good thing is that I revised or re-wrote just about everything, so I think the story is better this time around! Re-runs!

@Carol: Thanks! and welcome to my story! Did you read the whole thing? You read fast.

@All: Unbelievably, I am FINALLY updating my story. You would not believe how many times I have tried to write the first section of this next chapter. My first draft (which was decent), I wrote all the way back in November, but then I lost it on an airplane. *sigh* Drafts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... were all horrible. I'm still a little uncertain about it. It's not too... explicit ... is it?

I'm going to be travelling for a couple of weeks starting next week. I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have for writing and/or posting. So please bear with me if there is a long break... I've got a bunch more in various stages, and I hope to be posting fairly regularly...

*****

Chapter 34:

With a start, Talver rolls out of bed. He is sliding under the covers of the undisturbed pallet on the floor even as the door begins to open. He mutters a quick prayer of thankfullness to the Goddess of Quick Reflexes, whom he has always held in high regard. It had surely been she who had roused him from sleep at the first rattle of the latch.

Alays sits up blinking blearily as the light of a night-lantern pierces the room, her Western-bred modesty fortunately leading her to pull the covers up with her, even through the haze of sleep. Talver winces as the beam of the lantern falls across her face and she instinctively throws up an arm to cover her eyes letting the blanket slip. The light drops abrubptly towards the foot of the bed coming to rest for a moment on Talver’s carelessly wrinkled shirt. It seems to glow – a phospohorescent arrow – even after the hood is snapped down sharply over the lantern letting the room fall into a blessed darkness once again.

“Alaya,” snaps a gruff voice, “Elini requires your presence straight away in the Druid’s chamber.” Talver winces again as he recoginizes John’s voice. He lies still as a statue, hoping that the pirate will not associate the glowing shirt with him.

“How dare you just storm into my room like a… a… like some dishonorable pirate?” Defensiveness and western-bred guilt lend heat to Alaya’s voice, even as she frantically digs through the bedding for her clothes.

John snorts. “I was looking for Talver, my dear,” he says not unkindly, and Talver suppresses a groan. He would try to pull something on using the cover of Alaya’s rustling, but he is dreadfully afriad that his breeches ended up on the other side of Alaya’s bed. “Now, hurry up Alaya. Elini needs to speak with you… with all of us. Dishonorable pirate that I am, I would hate to have to carry you off to your mother looking like some ravished prize of war.”

"I am not..." mutters Alaya darkly, even as she hurries to ready herself. “Besides, she’s not my mother,” she adds so quietly that Talver is not certain he hears her correctly.

Talver grimaces to himself, still not daring to move. Rhen’s daughter! He, who would swear fealty to Rhen, if she would allow it. What had he been thinking? Rhen’s daughter and a noble by blood, if not by upbringing – and by adoption as well. True, Alaya had been most persuasive. But he should never have let things progress as he had.

He had carried her, sleeping, from the Druid’s chamber. She had grown restless as they made their way to the sleeping chambers, flailing in his arms and muttering in that strange language he could not understand. The one he had heard her speaking before in the desert.

She had opened her eyes as he laid her gently on her bed. She had looked at him through a haze of sleep with feverish eyes. “Please,” she had said. “Don’t leave me alone right now. I am frightened.”

He had tried to reassure her, but she would not be calmed. Drifting half-way between sleep and waking, she had seemed to be caught in the throes of some waking nightmare. Finally, in desperation, he had agreed to set up a pallet and sleep on the floor. No sooner had he arranged the blankets, however, than she had called out. A hoarse shout, fear and joy and surprise and triumph mixed together and wrapped in some word that he could not understand. He was at her side before the shout had faded from her lips, raw terror lending his feet wings.

“Alaya! Are you all right?” he had asked desperately, feeling foolish and helpless.

She had not answered. She had looked at him with her dark eyes, and in that instant he had begun to drown.

Talver is pulled abruptly from guilty reverie as his shirt flies into his face. He sits up in surprise, and sees Pirate John sitting on the edge of Alaya’s bed, a wicked gleam in his eye.

“You choose a funny way of showing your loyalty to your liege-lady, Northerner.”

“But, I swear…” begins Talver, words falling out of his mouth without thought of what he is going to say.

“Silence!” snaps John, holding up his hand. “Do not lie to me. I will not hear you dishonor my daughter.”

Talver blanches and closes his mouth, teeth clicking together.

“Know this, Northerner,” says John coldly. “Our ways are not yours. Do not think you can tumble a Southern woman and leave her to suffer, wasting away from lonliness and shame.”

Talver hangs his head miserably, and so it is that he does not see the shadow of a smile that ghosts across John’s face in the dim light of the lantern.

*****

They are, all told, an unlikely crew that gathers in Rashnu’s quarters that night. A pallor of fear has settled over Elini. Talver stands quietly, head bowed, avoiding eye contact with all. Alaya’s eyes flash dangerously as she flicks a contemptuous gaze around the room, sparing no one her scorn – Talver least of all. John’s worry for Elini is tempered by quiet amusement as his glance falls on Talver. Only Rhen stands as impassively as ever, untroubled by the night’s news. Rashnu, looking haggard, takes it all in, watching them all with shadowed eyes.

“But where is the Dreamer?” asks Elini for the tenth time in as many minutes.

Rashnu fixes her with a glare. For a moment it seems that he will lose his temper – again. But instead, his shoulders slump and he shrugs helplessly.

Silence cloaks the room like a death shroud. Surprisingly, it is Talver who seems to gather his wits first. “Has… has her soul… found its way to your domain, Druid?” he asks hesitantly.

The Druid fixes his bleak gaze on the young soldier and smiles without humor. “Is she dead you mean?”

The color drains from Talver’s face, but he holds his ground. He dips his head slightly in affirmation.

“I do not know for certain… but I think… not. No news I have from the Realm of the Dead speaks of the arrival of a soul of such power as hers.”

A flush of hope rises in Elini’s face before the druid turns to glare at her. “Truly, I would feel better if I did have news of her in my realm. There are worse things by far than Death to find in the Underworld.”

“What do you say, Druid?” John’s voice, strengthed by years of fighting the wind and the waves – comes out more loudly than he intends. Only Rhen does not flinch. He continues, his voice softer, but an edge of command creeping in. “Speak plain.”

Rashnu’s eyes flicker from John to Rhen, his expression unreadable. “Very well,” he says at last. “I will speak plain.” He closes his eyes a moment, drawing a deep breath. “The world is balanced on the edge of a precipice. Rhen has refused her duty, and the work that Ahriman sought to accomplish is still in motion – bereft, perhaps, of its head but most assuredly not its heart.”

Every eye in the room is fixed on him – every eye save Rhen’s. Each face wavers between fear and confusion, settling finally into ever deepening horror.

“Yes,” nods Rashnu grimly, “You begin to see now, do you not? Your only weapon for fighting this dreadful prophecy stands before you – a slack-witted fool.”

He freezes Talver with a glare, even as the young man reaches for his absent sword. “How dare you!” he hisses at the druid. “Rhen is a great woman, and she deserves your respect, Druid of Death!”

“Darkness, actually,” says the Druid in a remarkably mild tone. He sighs finally, and it is as if his bones have grown soft. He seems almost to melt into his chair, the hems of his robe puddling around his feet.

“Do you not see,” he says more gently than they have heard from him before, “The Dreamer no longer guards The Dream. There is no safe passage for the Sword Singer’s soul. She is lost in the Underworld. Where should she go should she decide she wants to come home? Should she venture The Dream with every nightmare running loose? Overrun with demons who would be more than happy to bind her soul to their realm, their purpose? Should she seek Death she shall surely find it – but there will be no exit for her. She is trapped. Every turn worse than the last.” For a moment he gazes at them bleakly. “The only choice now is from where we shall watch the world wither.”

“No.” The voice, cutting through the quiet despair, surprising them all, is strong and unwavering. Talver looks the Druid in the eye. “No,” he says again, “and no. We shall find her and bring her back to her own body.” His voice has taken on a distant air – as if being used by… someone else.

“And how, my young knight, do you propose to get to her?” says Rashnu grimly. “Eithera holds the portal to Demon. The Dream would be even more foolhardy.”

“We shall walk through the very Gates of Death,” replies Talver coldly. And then the fire fades from his eyes and he slumps to his knees. And if he had surprised them before it is as if nothing now, for he bursts into a despairing laugh with tears running freely down his cheeks.

w00t! Who possessed Talver???

man, if that was my daughter...she would be SO grounded.
but it wasn't explicit. suggestive, but not too. in other words, well done, i'd say.
and as for that last bit...hmmm...
*goes off to ponder*
*comes back*
oh, yeah, excellent chapter, cherry! (do i sound like a broken record or what? XD)
*goes back to ponder some more*

Well, I think Talver was not "himself" that night, with Alaya. And, we should cut him some slack, as the saying goes.
It may be that there is help from an unexpected source coming up?

Yes, I do read fast, I've been at it a few eons now! I do so when I am loving the story!


Enjoy your travels! I'll look forward to reading whatever you can send.

Devin would never do something like that-NEVER. Has Talver ever heard of chivalry? >.<,
Guess not, but at least John has heard of it... John (jk XD)

Anyhoo, I imagine there more to everything that is going on. So I'll cut both of them some slack.

Well, happy vacationing, Cherry!

@aisling: *smiles mysteriously* Sorry, I can't answer that quite yet.

@kaz: Thanks! You know, I never get tired of hearing that you liked one of my chapters.

Luckily for Alaya neither of her mothers are in a particular state to deal with it right now.

@Carol: Thanks! Good inference. I'm glad that you are enjoying the story.

@Dis: You know, since Talver actually never got accepted into the knight's training program, I'm not sure that he ever did hear of chivalry. And you are probably right. There may be something more going on... (There may be a few hints scattered in there...)

@all: Thanks for reading and all of your kind comments. I was really hoping to be able to post an update before leaving town tomorrow, but it is just not happening. I'm not sure when my next update will be, but rest assured that I haven't forgotten. I'll update as soon as I can, but it may be a few weeks.

Can you do a chapter about dameon?

I just finished reading what you have so far, and I loved it!
I can hardly wait for the next chap! I will be patient, though. You're probably really busy...