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Chapter Twenty-Two:
The Premonition of Disaster
Cadillac
was hesitant in waking Marium and Altaire up the next morning. It was early,
but Altaire had never looked quite so peaceful in his sleep as he did this day.
His arms were around Marium, holding her close and safe as he rested. Marium’s
eyes fluttered every so often, and a soft, contented noise would escape her
lips.
So
Cadillac just went back to checking his armor. He figured that this might be
the last time to let them be together, so he would have it carry on a little
longer.
As soon as his back was
turned, though, something happened. Marium’s eyes didn’t flutter, they squinted
shut even harder, and her body went tense and rigid. The sound that escaped her
lips then was not one of contented peace, but more like a scream of a tortured
person.
“Ah!” Marium bolted up
in the bed, eyes snapping open. The fear that resided within her soul was
evident by the look in her reddish brown eyes.
“What the?? Marium,
what’s wrong?!” Cadillac grabbed onto the hysterical girl as she jumped up and
tried to get passed him. Altaire had woken, along with everyone else in the
inn’s room except for Jonah, who was a very heavy sleeper.
The tramatized red
haired girl collapsed, clutching onto Cadillac’s shirt desperately. He
immediately put his arms around her to comfort her, and found that he was just
tall enough for her to cry on his shoulder while on her knees. “You were just
having a dream, it’s okay Marium.”
“Cad, Cad, it was a bad
vision… an evil man, he hurt everyone… me, Jonah, and Altaire… he… killed…”
Marium’s voice became incoherently raked with sobs. “I couldn’t stop him… I
couldn’t, not without any one, not by myself…”
“Marium, what did this
evil man look like?” Cadillac inquired, still being clung to.
“Faede. He looked like
Faede, but… older. Taller too.” Her voice was muffled by Cadillac’s sleeve. He
glanced up to meet Altaire’s eyes. They shared a concerned glance, then
Cadillac went back to comforting Marium.
“It was just a
nightmare, Marium. You’ll be fine.”
Marium rubbed her eyes
dry and snorted a short, clipped laugh. “This is all supposed to be a dream.
How am I supposed to tell the difference between the two?”
Cadillac didn’t totally
understand that comment, but Altaire did. “I think that we should get some more
rest before setting out for the sorcerer’s castle. For Marium’s sake.”
“Right.” Placid spoke
up, face peering over a pillow. “Hope you feel better, little one. Try to get
your mind off of the battle coming up. Think about something nice.”
Marium laid back down
next to Altaire and curled up in his arms to sleep.
She was woken up later
that morning to the sound of voices. They were familiar, but that fact alone
wasn’t enough to rouse her from her slumber. Eventually, a firm, yet gentle,
hand nudged her awake. “Uh…”
Everyone was standing,
armored and ready for the trip. Placid remained next to her as she woke fully.
Carefully and solemnly, Marium sat up, and looked directly at Faede. Her dream
had been disturbing, even now she wasn’t sure what to expect, but she knew,
somehow, that it had something to do with Faede.
He seemed unnerved by
her stare. “Priestess, are you alright? You don’t seem to be registering
everything.”
Marium stood up and
moved to retrieve her pile of armor and her sword from its resting place
against the wall. “I’m fine, I guess.”
“Remember, Marium. Not
only will we be fighting the Head Sorcerer Kell in your name, we will also be
protecting you from him as we do battle.” Jonah promised. “Here, this may help
you better. We, Cadillac and I, are sworn to protect the priest of Yang by
duty. We are sworn to protect you, Marium, by our honor and pride as men.”
“Thank you, Jonah,
Cadillac, and Placid. You are true friends. And Faede and Altaire, you two go
without saying.” Faede didn’t show any acknowledgement, just stared out the
nearby window, face drawn tight in a mask. “That’s
just how it must be. I’m sorry that you can’t understand, Faede. Altaire and I
are joined by destiny… Nothing can get between that. No matter how hard you
try, no matter how strongly you try to reinforce our bond.”
The
thought was to herself more than anything else, but both Altaire and Faede
turned and looked at her. She realized her mistake immediately, and blushed
furiously. “Really! You’d think I could at least have a thought to myself! Geez,
you two are nosey!”
Altaire smiled slightly, but Faede just turned away again,
a bitter, Faede-ish smirk playing upon his thin lips.