The Enchanted Path (Book 1 of the Dreamfarers' tales)

Chapter 32 - Inner Flame

Dianthus jolted awake with a sneeze, his eyes shooting open. He felt too awake; his heart raced as if he'd run for a wing's reach instead of sleeping. Such a strange dream, he thought. It was different this time. I wasn't... 'there'. I could hear Leirion's very thoughts this time, but not mine. That eerie song, the manticore...was that the same manticore Cassidy and I encountered? And why am I so...so...he searched for the right word, but it never came to him. Instead, the last verses of the song popped up again.

Winter, Winter, frost-filled drizzle,

May Great Gaia wake us again

For Spring fling fever.

Dianthus wasn't going to lie; that, apparently innocent, final prayer to Gaia was...unsettling, to say at least. Perhaps it was because Dianthus related it to his sister's condition: Leirion never woke up from her long-term dream and hearing those very words hummed by his sister, back then oblivious to her fate, was...disturbing.

Shaking the haunting tune out of his head, Dianthus scanned the area. His Inner Flame, still burning in front of the mouth of the cavern, was bright enough to lighten around them with its soft green glow; Cassidy and Birch were profoundly asleep on each side of him. Night had fallen, and the rain had neither stopped nor diminished, yet everything appeared quiet...everything except Dianthus. That mild feeling of unease didn't leave him.

The unicorn rose on his hooves, careful not to alert Cassidy and Birch, and with light, measured steps, he drew closer to the magic bonfire, stretched his neck and limbs, and finally sat down again. The golden-green glow of the flames lapped at his face, matching his eyes. Raw magic in that form didn't hurt the eyes, and Dianthus found himself peering at it as if searching for answers in the dancing flames.

Why this feeling...the dream just didn't seem...complete? It was much shorter than the others. It felt so unreal this time. The manticore's words...

I shouldn't be here.

Dianthus shivered. Those words...why did they sound like a warning?

What are you trying to tell me, Leirion?

Lightning flashed for an instant. Dianthus never saw the two dark silhouettes staring back at him from outside, but he did feel the hair on his neck stand on end and instinctively drew back from the mouth of the cavern. He returned to his friends and started to poke them gently. Cassidy was the easiest to stir awake.

"Uh...uh...Dianthus? What's up?"

"Time to go, Cassidy," said Dianthus. "I'm sorry to wake you guys, but..." He glanced back at the mouth of the cavern. "I really think we should go. Like, right now. We can't stay here."

"You wanna leave with this rain?" came Birch's groggy voice.

"No, not outside. We go deeper into the mountain," said Dianthus. "I think I saw a tunnel when we entered."

Cassidy and Birch looked at him; Dianthus seemed shaken, yet resolute, and it was rare that he woke them without a good reason. So, they nodded and followed him elsewhere.

Little did they know what awaited them, either in the open or deep under the mountain...

"Dianthus," Birch said after a while of quietly walking in a single line. "What's the matter? You look unwell."

"I was having another of my dreams," answered the unicorn without looking back. "Then I woke up with this feeling we should get out of there as soon as possible."

"Uhm, that's fine, I guess..." the stag said, uncertain. Both he and Cassidy had learned to trust Dianthus' forebodings. "But is there a reason you wanted to proceed in there? Or was it just the rain troubling you?"