I paced up and down in my room, feeling like I was wearing a hole in the floor. The moonlight shone through my window, slightly lighting up the place enough that I could see where I was going.
Another nightmare.
Why another nightmare?
It was the first one I had in months, since the little excursion with the vyechers.
I stopped pacing and stared out the window. One scene from the dream kept bothering me.
Dead bodies were strewn across the gravel, piling up on top of each other to make a mountain of dead. Bloody hands and legs; dismembered heads; long, pink tongues; even a stray eyeball--they were all part of the death pile. While there were at least fifty dead, they only had two faces.
My father and brother.
Every single body was theirs. Every blood stain was from them. Every broken bone, every vacant eye. It was theirs.
And on the top of the mountain of bodies was Vadik.
He stood heroically, a sword dripping deep red clasped tightly in his hand. His foot was planted on one of my father's disembodied heads, sinking into the flesh like it was quicksand. On both of his cape buckles were the piercing emerald eyes of Joshua, dull and gray with death.
And in Vadik's left hand was another head. He held it by its straw-yellow hair, showing off the stark-white skin marred by scars to no one. The head still dripped blood from the pieces of muscle and spine still attached, making a dark puddle on the top of Vadik's foot.
It was Brennen.
Vadik beamed, his white teeth blindingly bright, then, with his still- bloody hand, pulled out a large diamond ring from his back pocket.
"Lizaveta Tribeka, will you marry me?"
I sighed and flopped onto the bed again, falling so hard that the pillow I used jumped up. I pulled my knees halfway to my chest and put the heel of my hand against my forehead.
And why does this one keep bothering me so badly?
All of the nightmares I had bothered me at one point or the other, but it was a dream-bothering. The one I just had--that one was different.
It was too real.
Why Vadik, of all people? Why on earth did I see him? Why didn't I see the king or something?
I huffed and fell down the rest of the way, so I'd be lying down. Some deep part of my mind considered calling for Lia, but I decided against it. In the fourteen days after Raul's death, I hadn't seen her around. Who knew how she'd be handling everything. I didn't even know why I would call her anyway, I didn't have anything I wanted.
I closed my eyes slowly, experimenting to see if crazy-Vadik would show up again. The answer was yes.
"Why on earth can't I just sleep like a normal person?" I yelled. My pillow quickly became the unlucky object that was closest to me, resulting in it getting thrown against the door. "Why do I have to have these blasted nightmares?"
There was no answer. Of course. Why would a dresser or a pillow answer me? Talking furniture was one thing the castle seemed to lack. Thank goodness. I'd probably break whatever I was holding if the thing started to talk to me.
I threw my arm over my eyes, wanting to sleep, but knowing that it was hopeless. All sense of time was soon lost as I hovered in between a dreamless sleep, but wide-awake-ness.
Pling.
Pling.
Blong.
I sat up. What is that? It sounded like...
Music.
Another note was hit. I cringed at the dissonant sound. It was like two keys were being played at the same time, and they were directly next to each other.
I waited a few more seconds to hear the rest. It was as if the beginning of a song was being played, but the person hitting the keys had no idea what to touch.
Blwang!
"Ow," I whispered. I slid off the side of my bed and onto the cold floor. I ignored it, not wanting to try and find the shoes that were hidden somewhere under the piles of mess. I walked slowly out of the room. It was easy to guess where the sound was coming from. The only instrument I knew of that could make a noise like the one that was being played was a piano, and it was in the room next to mine.
Quietly, I tiptoed to the doorway of the piano room. Brennen was at the side of the instrument, hitting the white and black keys in utter concentration. His fingers were too big the notes--unlike the first time I saw him in the room. He kept playing two notes next to each other at the same time, resulting in some twang-y sounds.
Brennen closed his eyes and groaned in frustration as he missed yet another note.
"What are you playing?" I couldn't stop myself from speaking up and asking the question.
Brennen jolted and twirled to stare at me. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I didn't mean to wake you."
"No, no! You didn't wake me. I was already up." The words rushed out of my mouth as he started to back away from the piano.
He stared at me doubtfully.
"Nightmares." I shrugged and did a weird circling motion with my first two fingers in the air, pretending that it was no big deal.
"Ah. About?"
A head, dripping blood from its still-dangling spine pieces, held like a trophy. The open and staring eyes were a deep crimson, and the pale skin was marred by deep scars. It was being held up by his yellow hair that was matted and stained.
I smiled. "Can't remember."
Liar.
Brennen nodded slowly, clearly not believing me. "Well, I'll let you try and go back to sleep then."
I placed my foot so that I was not-so-subtly blocking the doorway. "What were you playing?"
He chuckled. "There is no realm of possibilities that exists that calls that playing, Lizaveta."
I grinned. "Okay, so what were you trying to play?"
"A song."
I shook my head quickly. "Nuh-uh. Straight answer, Mister Riddles."
He was silent.
"Maybe give me the song's name?" I rolled my eyes.
Brennen looked down. "I can't remember. It was something from a long time ago."
"Oh."
We stood still for a moment longer. Finally, Brennen started to walk away from the piano.
My hand darted out and caught his. "Wait."
"Yes?" His muscles were tensed, ready to dart at the smallest indication he needed to.
He was cautious.
Since the day that he turned, he had been nothing but cautious around me. When our conversation was about to turn down a sad direction, he'd leave. If I started to smile much, he'd leave.
All of the comfort we felt around each other had been destroyed once he turned. It was replaced with caution.
I bit my lip and pulled him over to the piano. "Try it again."
"Lizaveta, my hands are too big for now. I can't."
Duh.
I met his eyes for a split second before he looked away. "But I can."
I placed his hand on top of mine and moved them both over to the piano. "Show me what I'm supposed to do."
He raised an eyebrow. Everything about his actions screamed that he was holding in a snide remark.
I opened my mouth to make him say what he thought, but he quickly pressed my fingers against a black key. He held my hand in such a way that his fingers only reached my knuckle, but he could press on it and move them up and down.
He moved another finger on my right hand, then paused. "I need two hands for this," he muttered. He slid behind me, obviously pressing up against the wall, because he was barely touching my back in the small space. My heart hammered in my chest, feeling like it was beating a zillion times a minute.
He's warm.
"You can calm down, you know. I'm not going to bite you."
I let out a nervous chuckle. "I know."
His other arm snaked around my shoulder and he grabbed my left hand, holding it the same way he held my right. No part of him touched me except for his hands and arms.
"Good?" I asked. I tilted my head up and to the side, trying to see his response.
Brennen nodded. "Yes," he replied. Slowly, he eased my hands on top of the black and white keys. I grinned, just a little bit, loving the feel of the smooth ivory beneath my fingertips.
Then, he started to play.
The first few notes Brennen hit were wrong. He groaned slightly every time he missed a key. After a few seconds, however, he started to play what he had planned.
His hands, my fingers, flew over the keys on the piano, piecing together the separate notes to make an unhalting melody. Soon, it wasn't just Brennen playing. I was playing along with him. He was no longer guiding my hands to where he wanted them; I was playing the exact notes he was.
With the last note played and held until it faded away, Brennen's hand slowly moved away from mine.
"Thank you, Lizaveta."
I turned toward him, forgetting about the small space. A jolt of shock ran through me at seeing his masked face looming over mine. "Gah!"
I immediately burst into unrestrained laughter and moved away. "Sorry," I gasped. "I forgot you were so close."
His eyes sparkled with amusement. "It's alright."
He moved from the behind the piano and over toward the door. His fists were clenched at his sides so tightly that his knuckles stood out sharply.
"You don't have to, by the way," I called after him.
Brennen stopped in the doorway. "Don't have to what?"
"Thank me."
He shook his head and walked over. Gently, as if he was afraid he'd hurt me, he placed his hand on my hair, pressing down on the wild curls that outlined my head.
"Yes, I do," he whispered. "I will always have to thank you."
Heat flared through my cheeks. Suddenly, I had a great interest in the designs of the floor.
Brennen was silent a moment longer, then a string tumbled out of his mouth frantically. "Wouldyouliketohavedinnerwithme?"
"Huh?"
He took a shaky breath and looked away. "Lizaveta, would you like to have dinner with me? Tonight? "
I stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was saying.
Disappointment shone in Brennen's eyes. He looked away. "It's fine," he muttered. "I didn't think you'd want to any--"
"No, no!" I cried, finally able to remember how to speak. "I'd love to."
It was his turn to stare.
"Have dinner with you, I mean," I fumbled. "It--the first time didn't... well, it didn't go very well. And the second was a war zone breakfast."
Brennen nodded his head slowly. "Yeah. If I remember right, you sort of stabbed me and ran, then threw a muffin in my face."
I laughed. "You chased me!"
"You tried to kill me!" he cried back. "None of that this time."
I was sure that if I smiled wider, my mouth would cover my entire face. "Trust me, that went so well last time I decided to not try it again."
He laughed. It wasn't a forced chuckle or a you-did-something-stupid-I'm-going-to-laugh laugh, it was a true laugh.
"Good. I'll see you tonight, then?"
"Oh no. You'll probably see me before then. We'll just eat together tonight."
"Of course."
With a quick turn and flick of a cape I hadn't noticed before, Brennen left the piano room.
I stood in the same place, smiling like and idiot.
Why did that one comment make me so happy?
_______________________________________
Ah, calm scenes. No deaths.
Yet.
BWAHAHAHA!
That scene with Vadik wasn't TOO overly-graphic, was it? I have no idea, I just wrote it as it came to me.
Which is a bit disturbing that something like that just "came to me," but hey,
Discussion starter: Did the dream mean anything, or was it just a dream?