Below, a black slate slowly became the tops of buildings. Fires dotted those buildings, looking like reflections of the stars above. He was falling beside a castle, (c)Mr. Happy realized, a breath-takingly tall castle.
A sense of deja vu gripped him.
There was a figure below. No, there were two figures. One was standing directly below on the ground, the other falling like him but a short distance further down. The man on the ground seemed to sense something at the last moment and looked up, firelight sparkling in his eyes. Then the first figure hit him and the ground rushed up, and the night was cold, and the wind whistled past, and his heart pounded a drumbeat to his ears, and...
...and Mr. Happy woke up in his Xanadian room, breathing heavily. The circle of deeper shadow wandered lazily across the ceiling. He watched it as his breathing slowed, let it sooth him once more towards sleep.
Nothing prepared him for what happened next.
The spot suddenly emitted a violent red burst and it seemed that for a second it had become a sun. Then it was gone and Mr. Happy was sitting up in bed, heart sprinting again not because of the unexpected light but because he had seen someone else in the room with him.
Fingers fumbled for the tinderbox he kept on a small desk beside his bed. Finding it, he hastily applied it to a candle that also rested on his bed stand. A circle of red light like the flash on the ceiling but dimmer and larger sprang into existence.
There was someone else in the room. A man whose green clothes were wrinkled and flecked with dirt sat against one wall, snoring softly. A dragon dagger was gripped loosely in his right hand, its blade resting across his thighs. Despite the tangle of hair concealing his face Mr. Happy knew who it was. Wolf0122 had worn those same clothes at the dance, that silk outfit with whorls of darker green interposed upon a lighter background.
27-May-2006 21:53:29
- Last edited on
27-May-2006 21:53:42
by
Azure Sunday