Dream of Me (2 page)

Feeling uneasy with the way he watched her in silence, Elena covered his shackling hand with her other and attempted to free herself. Instantly his grip tightened as his eyes jerked back up to her face with an accusing look.

“
What
are you?” The words left his lips in a whisper, but she could hear the strength behind his question.

“What are you talking about?” What could have possibly caused her to have a dream like this? It was enough for her to demand to wake up. Perking up at the thought, Elena reached over and pinched her captured arm. Her eyes closed at the slight pain, but once open again she encountered the same scrutinizing black eyes.

“Why did you do that?” he asked with genuine confusion.

“To wake up from his stupid dream; why else?” she replied with a huff. Pinching yourself was usually a sure way of waking from a dream — or at least that was what she’d heard. “It usually works.”

“Dream…?”
he whispered out, his dark eyes widened in astonishment. Was it possible that she wasn’t a Kelithian illusion at all? If that was the case there was only one thing she could be. Shaking his head in denial, he began to dismiss the thought. It was impossible.

It couldn’t be… could it?
His inner thoughts waged as his heart thundered in his ears.

Frowning, he suddenly let go of the female’s hand before taking a careful step back. He lowered his sword to his side. Turning away from her, his free hand rubbed across his mouth as he became submerged by his thoughts. As quickly as he’d turned away, he spun back around, invading her personal space. Ignoring the way she leapt back from him, his eyes covered her face like she was an apparition.

“Where—” his words began roughly, pausing his gaze took note of her guarded expression. Clearing his throat before softening his voice, he began again, “where am I?”

Her eyebrows rose together at his whispered question. Accepting it as part of her dream she replied, “You’re in my dream.” Waving a hand behind her, she added, “This is where my mother was buried. I seem to come here a lot in my sleep.”

Taking a careful look around them, he asked, “Is this in the human world?”

Scoffing with humor she shook her head at his question. “Where else would it be?”

Whatever her answer had meant caused him to relax somewhat. Narrowing his eyes at her, he took an advancing step closer. She flinched in surprise as his large hand reached toward her face. Too surprised to move, she remained still as his rough fingertips slid against her cheekbone with awe. She was surprised at the touch of his hand. In that moment she could swear that she could actually feel the warmth of his hand as though it were real.

She eyed him warily as his hand dropped away from her face before a smile curved along his lips for a reason unknown to her. “What is your name?”

The question took her by surprise. Not seeing any reason not to answer, she replied, “Elena Richards.”

Without needing to be asked, he responded, “I am Kieran of the Garmorian people.” He said it proudly like it was a title of great importance.

Raising a single brow, she nodded in acceptance before taking a step away from him. Shaking her head, she smirked at his sudden relaxed expression as he watched her every move. “Now that you’re calmed now, answer me this: why are you here?”

Smirking, he turned his head away from her, “I have my suspicions.”

“Suspicions?” she inquired, crossing her arms over her chest. This dream was just getting weirder by the minute.

Heated tingles danced along her wrist where he’d grabbed her causing her to absently rub at the spot. Glancing back at him to find him watching her action, she dropped her arms to hide them behind her back.

Eying his appearance critically, she tilted her chin at him. “Why do you look like that?”

Looking down at himself before raising his eyes again, he took a step forward. “What is wrong with how I look?” he countered defensively.

“You have gray skin and claws,” she pointed out. His shoulders lifted, unconvinced. “You’re dressed like some type of barbarian.”

“I do not know what you mean. However, I dress as all warriors of my kind do.”

Shrugging her shoulders, Elena dropped the subject. A strong force begun to pull at her as the dream world around them began to fade like smoke. Glancing back at the handsome stranger she watched as his form became nearly transparent like everything else. Realizing what was happening to him, his hand reached towards her even though she stepped away.

“Do not think you’ve gotten rid of me. I will return,” he vowed firmly as he nearly was completely faded.

“Why?”

Like smoke his strong form became thin as air and disappeared from her sight. Before the rest vanished, his rough voice drifted around her.

“Because; you are mine.”

* ~ * ~ *

The scent of fire and death suddenly surrounded Kieran once again as his eyes jerked open. Casting a look around, he found that he was lying on the ground beside the charred structure. With his sword still clutched in his hand he leapt to his feet. Striding away from the structure, he spun in a circle as he searched for the woman he’d seen just moments ago.

Had it really happened? Looking down at his free hand, he could still feel the warmth of her skin against his fingertips. It had to have been real, but how?

“Kieran!” At the sound of the thundering voice, he spun around in time to see his commander and the rest of his fellow warriors break through the tree line. “Anything?”

His thoughts instantly returned to what had just happened. Deciding to keep what had occurred to himself, he shook his head in denial before sliding his sword back into its sheath. “Nothing. All are dead,
Li’r
.”

His commander’s scowl deepened at the news. Jerking around to the warriors that waited behind him, he barked orders for the warriors to see to the care of the bodies. Spinning back to Kieran, his gaze softened some. Arlen was a strong commander of many warriors and held Kieran’s respect. However he knew that inside Arlen was raging at the carnage around them but powerless to do anything about it.

“I want you to return to the stronghold. Inform the
Gu’an
of what has happened here and the warriors that remain there. We must be prepared or any further attacks since the council will most likely wish to ignore every drop of Garmorian blood that was spilled tonight.”

The reminder that the high lords still would refuse to rally together against their enemy angered Kieran. Barely suppressing a snarl against the injustice, he nodded. “What of the other villages?”

“I have already sent Dajran and several others to alert the villages of the danger and ordering them to take precautions.”

Precautions?
Shaking his head, Kieran’s eyes narrowed at the idea of the word. Being aware of the destruction and bloodshed of this night wouldn’t be enough to protect the Garmorian people. “Shouldn’t a few warriors be sent to stay at the villages after the events tonight?”

Frowning, Arlen sighed deeply. “That is not our orders. Do as I said, return and report. I will remain behind to make certain that the dead is put to rest.” Having said his final word on the matter, Arlen walked past Kieran with an expression that may as well have been carved in stone. Fire burned a path through his chest as the lack of justice hit him fully. Arlen was their strongest warrior. How could he of all not do anything?

Snarling, Kieran called upon his wings before leaping into the air. His leathery wings spread wide above him as he flew toward the direction of the Stronghold. The Stronghold was an enormous stone fortress, home to not only the warrior’s but the
Gu’an
— their leader, Cian. Like many that had proven themselves strong and worthy warriors, Kieran was one of many that lived within the stone walls.

Throughout Garmoria there were several villages and it was rare to see any living outside of one. Only one person was known to not live in any village through all Garmoria — Sera the priestess of their mother goddess.

Kieran’s eyes widened with realization as the knowledge struck him. Of course! If anyone could explain what he had encountered back at the ruined village it would be her. Making up his mind, Kieran changed course and flew for Kalaya’s temple which lay not far from the stronghold walls.

Spying the temple through the cover of trees, Kieran dropped down to ground. Landing just a short distance from the steps of the temple, he wasted no time. Rushing up the steps, the sound of his heavy boots echoed off the white stone walls around him as he entered the temple.

The temple was empty save for a long stone alter in the center of the room. Walking to it, he stepped into the moonlight that spilled from the open ceiling above. His eyes were drawn to the mural of the mother goddess on the far wall. Inside his heart he knew she wept for the countless Garmorians that fell tonight.

“It is a rule of mine that no warrior enters this temple while armed.”

Spinning around at the teasing voice, his eyes found Sera leaning against the entrance way of the temple. Clothed in the traditional Garmorian garb of females, Sera wore a dress of white
torais
silk that flowed against her thin frame. Two wide rippling straps over her shoulders held the dress up while the back of the dress allowed her back to be bared. Garmorians never covered their backs for it caused issues when freeing one’s wings.

Looking upon Sera, Kieran could see she was a beautiful female, like his kind she possessed shiny black hair that flowed over one of her shoulders. A white jeweled crescent moon ornament — a mark of her position, held back the flowing hair on one side of her oval face. His eyes fell on the ivory crescent moon brand above her right collar bone. It was a mark of the Goddess Kalaya — the moon goddess and mother of all creation. It proclaimed her as priestess over Garmoria.

As priestess, Sera was the vessel of the goddess; to many this meant she was connected to the heavenly mother in some way. This was why many sought out her voice in certain matters. It was well known that the
Gu’an
actively sought Sera out in important matters of the kingdom. Villagers and warriors traveled to see her for spiritual guidance from time to time. But with the respect of many came her burden. Being the only link to the goddess also meant that Sera could never be allowed to take a mate, not that she had ever voiced regret for that.

Stepping out of the shadows a faint white light glowed behind Sera as she willed her wings away, causing them to disappear from sight. “It’s good to see you again, Kieran,” she said, her lips curving into a friendly smile.

“Sera,” he acknowledged with a slight bow of his head. “Kalaya’s blessing onto you,” he replied in the traditional phrase. Lifting his head, he sighed heavily. “I have come to seek your wisdom.”

Tilting her head to the side in confusion, she slowly approached him. “Did something happen tonight?” she asked softly.

“Yes, the eastern village has been destroyed. Not a single soul was spared. How do you know?”

“I didn’t, but earlier I could feel the earth tremble and the trees cracked with power and not by my power. The Kelithians were responsible weren’t they?”

With his expression turning grim, he nodded, confirming her words. Her soft gaze seemed to cut through him with little effort. “I can see it weighs on you — what happened tonight, I mean.”

“
Li’r
says there will be no retaliation for tonight. Why? For centuries they have been attacking villages and murdering our kind. And yet we do nothing.”

“Kieran,” she said, lifting a staying hand, her soft smile fell from her lips. “I understand your rage. I feel it too. Deep in my heart I have to believe that the high council of lords and the
Gu’an
has a plan.”

Pacing away from her, he glanced down at his claws as the sharp points grew. His claws ached to tear at something or someone. Closing his eyes he took a calming breath before turning back to face his childhood friend. The memory of the human woman resurfaced as he recalled the reason that had drove him to seek Sera out.

“I came to see you on a different matter, Sera.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Tell me what you know of the human world.”

His question caused her eyes to widen with surprise. “The human world?”

Pausing she took a step back as she moved toward the stone alter. The material of her dress swished along the stone floor as she turned back around to face him. Her hands clasped together in front of her before she answered.

“As you know from tales of the historian’s scrolls, our kind once lived alongside the humans before we were forced to leave for our survival. It tells us in the scrolls that the heavenly mother split our worlds into two and created a veil to separate us from them. You’ve heard the stories as did I, Kieran. Why do you ask?”

Moving forward, he held his hand up between them in question. “Is it possible to cross the veil?”

Nodding her head, Sera replied, “It is forbidden by the elders. To reveal ourselves to a race of primitive and superstitious species like the humans would be dangerous.”

“But it can be done?” he prodded unrelenting.