She strikes again...
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Joo be mine, Cristianno. Joo cannot run away. Joor ‘eart will be
mine.
It was
the troll’s unmistakable voice that roused him from his sleep. The room was
still dark and the cottage was quiet, which led him to believe that it was
still early in the morning. But why was he dreaming of her voice? Cristianno
looked around for something to light the room. A candle sat beside the bed and
he grabbed a match and lit it. The first thing he did was make sure that his
lover was fine. He touched her bare shoulder and she shuffled a bit.
“I’m sorry if I woke you,” he whispered.
“I just kept hearing that witch’s voice. Are you alright?” The woman shuffled
in and stretched. He smiled, “I’m sorry. Go back to sleep. He turned the candle
off and rested his head back on the pillow. It was then that she turned and
placed an arm around him.
“I’m
awake now,” she said. Cris smiled and kept his eyes closed.
“Go back
to sleep. It was silly.”
“But I’m
awake now, Cristianno.”
The
smile on his face slowly faded. She never called him that and her voice was
different. He rose and lit the candle once more and when he turned back to see
her, he saw jet-black hair surrounding and hiding her face. This was her lover sleeping beside him, right? “I’m sorry I woke you, love.”
“She’s
still on your mind, isn’t she, that blasted troll?” Her voice was soft, but
cold.
“Yes. I
must have thought of her or something.”
Her arms
extended out to him, pulling him toward her naked form. “Hush now. She’s not
here. It’s just you and me.”
Cris
closed his eyes and sighed in her embrace. “This just feels awkward. Almost,
uncomfortable.”
“What
could possibly be uncomfortable about being in y our wife’s arms?” She said as
she began to hum.
“I
thought we weren’t married yet,” he responded casually. His eyes opened
immediately as he felt her arms tightening around him. “What...what are you
doing?” He gasped for breath as she held tighter. Managing to turn around, he
looked at her and noticed that her green eyes looked snake-like. “Alaia?” The
woman looked puzzled and angry.
“Who’s
Alaia?”
Breathlessly, Cris managed to whisper,
“Who are you?”
“Niela!”
The woman opened her mouth to reveal two large fangs.
“No.
No!” He struggled to push the scaly body away from his neck. “We’re not
together!”
“Does it
matter?” hissed the snake-like elf. “You’ll fuck any woman.” She slipped on top
of him and as her body continued to wrap tightly around him. Her reptilian face
closed in on him and he his hands continued to pull the serpent away.
He
suddenly found himself struggling with pillows instead of Niela. Immediately,
he stopped and realized he was sitting on the bed, once more surrounded by
darkness. His arms reached for his partner again. It felt as if he was
searching for miles before he touched a body.
“Alaia,
Alaia, love, wake up.” He seemed desperate and eager and the woman shifted
under the cover. “Come on. Let me see your red hair. Let me see you, lovely.”
The woman turned around, her red hair cascading behind her. A light from above
illuminated the bed they were on and he sighed with relief when he saw his
lover’s face.
“What’s
wrong?”
“I had
this nightmare. You weren’t you.” Cris chuckled a little, wiping the sweat from
his face, but he stopped when he noticed there was no reaction from her.
“What’s wrong Alaia?” He reached to touch her face and as soon as he touched
her, her head fell back. Soon, her arms, legs and feet all disconnected and
fell onto the bed. Cris screamed and grabbed on to her torso. “No! I won’t lose
you two!”
“What are you talking about?”
Cris
moved his head and looked up to see that Alaia was back to normal and surprised
to see him holding on to her. She caressed his head and he sighed. “I don’t
want to lose you two.”
“You
must be having bad dreams again, love. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Everything
that Cris feared flooded his head and with every blink he made, they appeared
in the room, starting with pumpkins. “Why are there pumpkins in here?” He saw
Horde banners decorating the room. “This isn’t making sense.” He pulled away
from Alaia and she smiled at him, easing his worries, until he looked at her
body.
Blood
covered her shirt and trailed down onto the sheets. “No! Alaia, what’s wrong?”
“What do
you mean?”
“No!
What’s wrong! Why are you bleeding?”
“I don’t
understand?” she casually replied, unaware of anything.
Cris
grabbed the sheets and pulled them away, seeing a dead, unborn child still
connected to the umbilical cord and missing its heart. He looked up at Alaia,
who only continued to smile at him. “Alaia?”
“You’re
having a nightmare, dear. Go back to sleep. I be watchin’ joo.” He pushed back
as he heard her final words. It wasn’t her voice. That voice then came for a
corner in the room. “I be watchin’ joo.” He turned to the darkness surrounding
him and in the shadows, he saw familiar gray eyes glaring at him, but he
couldn’t see a connection. He turned to back to Alaia, who was now dead on the
bed along with the child and Cris screamed.
He
screamed several times until he managed to hear Alaia’s voice beside him. He
turned to light the candle beside his bed, burning his finger in the process,
and twisted to see Alaia. He pulled back the sheets and her shirt. Startled,
Alaia touched his face. “What’s wrong?” She tried to calm him but Cris reached
to touch her, to feel some sort of sign that she was real. His hands travelled
down her body, first feeling her heartbeat under her shirt and then placing his
hand on her bare belly. He sighed in relief and wrapped his arms around Alaia,
placing his head on her chest. “Sh, it was just a dream,” she said softly.
“No, it
was too real. Our child was dead.” Tears formed in his eyes and he squeezed
them tightly to expunge them. “You were dead,” he whispered. He couldn’t
console himself. Everything was real and familiar. Why was Niela there? Why
were his fears magnified? Whose gray eyes were those? And why did he hear Tia’s
voice.
Tia.
Cris
moved his head from her chest and shook his head, the tears falling down his
face. “No, no, no!”
“What is it?” Alaia urged desperately.
He
thought in silence for a few arduous seconds before he gasped. His hands
gripped the bed sheets and he turned to look at Alaia. His look was not
comforting, and much less were the words he whispered.
“She
knows.”
*****
Lifting her head away from the large
bowl in front of her, the troll, Tia’Zula looked surprised. A grin spread
across her face and she cackled loudly. Pina, rolled up into a little goblin
ball on her cot, lifted her head and looked at the laughing troll. Tia
continued to laugh and laugh. She turned to Pina and clapped her hands. “We
must find ‘im, Pina!”
“The
pirate?” The goblin yawned.
“And ‘is woman. She
‘as two tings I want now: the pirate…. and ‘is child.”
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