Dreams of the Oracle

Chapter 7

All pain departed from him immediately and he lay limp in his seat. He touched his arm gingerly; even his headache was gone. Midway down his arm, a scar like a small sunburst was burned into his flesh like a brand. He touched it experimentally. There was no pain. When he looked up, the woman he had sworn to serve and whose name he did not know was holding out the ruby. He took it wordlessly already feeling the magic begin to stir. The carriage stopped.

"Your quarry is less than a day's ride down this road," said Milady gesturing, "you shall have one of my horses. Your team are all Rashakas," she glanced at the silent man next to Jack, "They will be with you, but you will only see them when they want you to."

As the carriage rolled away Jack Linch climbed onto the big gray horse he had been given. He tucked his precious ruby into his tunic then he allowed himself an exhilarating burst of fierce anticipation. Less than one day's ride. Red magic flickered in his eyes. He kicked the horse and rode off to take his revenge.

***

Cassandra woke up screaming. Ashur had been lying in his simple cot staring into the darkness. By the time he had entered the house his father was setting a simple meal of bread and salted pork on the table. When asked, he told his son that Cassandra was already asleep in bed. They had shared a silent meal and then gone to bed themselves. Ashur was still puzzling and fuming over his father's seemingly unwarranted and unjust anger. Thoughts spilled back and forth in his mind as he struggled to comprehend the reasoning of the man that slept but a few feet away.

Cassandra's screams brought them both bolt upright. Ashur scrambled off his cot and ran for the door. His father was quicker, the big man raced through the door and into his daughter's bedroom. When Ashur stepped into the room she was already waking up. She was drenched in sweat and tears. She looked, incredibly, even worse than she had when he had carried her home. Abdiel took her into his arms, she hugged him and she struggled to regain control of herself.

"Was it the dream you were going to tell me about?" whispered Abdiel after a moment. She nodded her head against his chest. He held her closer staring off into nothing as though reliving a memory. Then his eyes shifted to the leather-bound book resting on Cassandra's writing desk.

"Cassandra, is this dream written in your diary?" he asked.

She nodded again rubbing her nose and eyes. Ashur hadn't seen her this troubled by a dream since... actually now that he thought about it he had never seen her this distraught over a dream. Even when she would wake up screaming when she was little she would be over it within a moment or two and then she would go back to sleep. Abdiel tossed his head gesturing Ashur over to his side. Wordlessly he picked up Cass as one would a doll and handed her to Ashur. Then he reached onto the desk and picked up the diary. He flipped to the back and found the most recent entries.

He stood reading them by moonlight, his face passive. Cassandra clung to her brother saying nothing.

"Cass, I need to ask you some questions," said Abdiel gently as he closed the diary.

"Father, I don't think she's in any condition to-" began Ashur, in an annoyed voice.

"This is important!" said Abdiel with such force that Cassandra's face shot up to look at him with wide eyes. His face quickly went from stern to gentle and worried.

"Honey, these "shadow men" in your dream you wrote that they had strange eyes?" he asked.

She nodded.

"What was strange about them?" he said. "Did they glow?"

She nodded again.

"What color were they?" he asked.