Oct 23, 2005

This dream was so vivid that I had to write it down as best I could when I woke up. As it was a couple hours earlier than I normally got up, I wasn't awake and was just letting my fingers type the way the dream was flowing through my mind. I've got some ideas that have grown from this, and hopefully will be able to make a series of short stories from it.



Remembrances were the hardest. Watching everything that had happened to her as a small child all over again leading up to the current exodus explained much, but was no easier the second time around. She watched as she and her sisters and brothers all played in the haymow, unaware of the horrid danger that waited below. Clambering over the bales of hay, they chased each other, and then flopped near one of the large south-facing windows in the wall that would normally be used for throwing loose hay to the waiting horses and cattle in the barnyard below. She saw the telescope that was her brother’s pride and joy slowly tipping outward, the lens at the front somehow slowly unscrewing itself and dropping to shatter on the rocks below. That was enough – there were shouts from below and everyone scrambled to hide. She slid out the window and clung desperately to the board siding, working her way to the ground. She heard the screams cut short as her siblings were all caught, save one. Her smallest brother had been smart enough to hide and keep silent. Where, she didn’t know, but she hadn’t heard his voice crying out. Once on the ground, she slipped silently to the corner and peeked into the harness room on the end. No one was there, but what was all this stuff? Swords, axes, and blades without a haft? She picked up one of the blades and noted the rust-colored flakes all along the serrated edge. Touching it, she felt the tremors and heard a voice scream for mercy, then cry out for vengence. Looking around, she saw no-one. Touching the flakes again, she understood. This was not rust, it was blood, and the blood was speaking to her, letting her know the last moments of the blade’s last victim. What could she do? She knew that her people were disappearing, slowly, mysteriously. She had overheard her father in heated discussions with an elven lordling about leaving, where they could go, if they should go. The elves wouldn’t leave them behind, but were running short on patience. They wanted out of this coming war, wanted to pass through the “blue curtain”, whatever that was.

Voices again, this time with footsteps and raucous laughter. Where to hide? She slipped behind the barrel that had the axes just in time. A tall fat man with a horribly unkempt beard and moustache (how could he handle having all that dirt and crusty stuff in his beard?!) came through the front door of the harness room and grabbed up the chain-mail coat that was draped haphazardly over the oat barrel, just behind the front door.

“Brats didn’t even see us coming! Boss should be happy. We cleaned out another nest of the vermin.” Laughing, he didn’t notice the antlered mask he knocked to the ground. She waited, though it was hard to be patient. As soon as he went back out and the voices and footsteps had receded, she slipped out and grabbed up the mask. She didn’t know why, but she knew that her mother would have thrown the biggest temper tantrum if she’d seen it treated so carelessly.

Cautiously peeking out the door, she saw that the coast was clear and sprinted to the next outbuilding – the chicken coop, which happened to have an attached lean-to. Once there, she tapped on a loose board and slipped through the narrow opening that appeared and disappeared into the woods beyond.

With a start, she snapped back to where she was – standing in the old haymow, looking at the warped boards and wondering what was next. She hadn’t seen her youngest brother since the day the rest of their siblings had been killed. She didn’t know if he was even alive anymore. Looking down, she saw that she still had her hands clenched around her mother’s mask, though she supposed it belonged to her now.

“I’m tellin’ ya, I saw someone up there!”

The voices shocked her into movement. She peered through one of the many holes in the floor and saw troopers. No doubt about it, she was in big trouble now. Looking around the mow, she saw that her only hope was to slide down the warped boards and hope that she’d have enough time to slip out the same window she’d used as a child. Then, she hadn’t been thinking about the fall or anything else. Now, she knew that if she didn’t get out, it wasn’t going to be pretty, and even if she did get out, where was she going to go. She’d heard that two of her people had escaped through the blue curtain, but she was no closer to knowing what or where that was. And now, she had her man and child to worry about – they were still hiding over in the lean-to, waiting for her to come back.

She barely managed to control her slide to the window, and slipped out just in time. This time, rather than running to the end with the harness room, she ran around the other end of the barn and ended up knee-deep in a bed of spring flowers. Stunned, she slowly turned in a circle – this just wasn’t right. It was late fall! There shouldn’t be any spring flowers out, let alone large bed like this that covered the mound that looked suspiciously the size of a grave. Kneeling down, she ran her hands over the blossoms and understood. This was a grave – her siblings’ grave, to be exact. Looking up, she saw the tallest, most handsome man she’d ever seen. Or was he? Narrowing her eyes, she looked him over once more. Nope, not a man. Definitely an elf. Odd, they’d never come here before, and she’d never seen them just pop-up so suddenly. Even odder, she knew he was speaking – she could hear him, after all – but his lips weren’t moving. Then, just as suddenly, he was gone.

Mulling over what she’d been told (she didn’t know if she bought into the idea that since the rest of her family was gone, it fell to her to lead her people through the blue curtain, not that she even knew where it was), she slipped back to the lean-to. Slowly turning in a circle, she thought her heart would stop. No one was there. Carefully peering out the door (didn’t want those damn nosy troopers catching her and following orders to kill on sight), she couldn’t believe her eyes. There they were, standing where she’d been just moments ago, only they were knee deep in dead leaves. She sprinted to them, trying to be careful, but caring more about getting to her family. As soon as she reached them, she understood more of the mumblings she’d heard from the elf. Kneeling down, she brushed the leaves aside. She had to find those flowers! Her little girl knelt with her and gleefully started digging through the leaves too. Finally, they had a patch of them visible. But now what? Somehow, she had to be able to signal her people. She put her hands to her face, not even realizing that she had grabbed the mask again as soon as the flowers were uncovered.

An ear-shattering, ground-shaking roar stunned them all. A giant purple dragon-type monster landed next to them. She grabbed her daughter and shielded her, certain that they were going to disappear into the creature’s maw. But, what’s this? It settled down onto the ground and stretched out one leathery wing. With a low rumbling voice, it asked them to “climb on, well climb on already!”. Shouts from the front of the barn where the troopers were still searching settled the matter. Quickly, the three of them scrambled up the offered wing and settled onto the broad back. With a lurch, they were airborne, leaving the threat of the troopers and homicide behind. She felt, rather than heard, more deep rumblings. Looking around, she was stunned to see a hoard of the creatures falling in behind them, each with a family or sometimes a solitary rider. As they whizzed over the country, they saw beautiful green hills suddenly burn and turn black. There was one area though, that had a ribbon of green that was rather odd. One end of the ribbon gradually tapered off, but the other end came to an abrupt halt. Sensing their curiosity, the creature swooped down to follow the ribbon of green. Studying it, she saw that along the entire ribbon was the elven guard, protecting the elven families that were hurrying between them. As the last family moved up the ribbon, the guard would move with it, shortening the ribbon as they went. At the widest area of green, they landed with thump. The wing was again extended and they slid off, and watched as their ride again launched into the air and headed to the far mountains, shrouded in mist.

With a sigh of relief at being back on the ground, she looked around and saw that the elven guard was all inclining their heads in deference to her. And she had never seen such a confused look on her daughter or husband’s face. Reaching up, she realized that the mask had affixed itself to her back in the flower bed, and now when she touched it, it fell back into her hands. Behind them, she heard the questions – what do we do now? Where do we go? Looking around, there was really only one way to go – up. As they climbed the hill they had landed on, she noticed a shimmery light at the top. As they neared it, she saw that it was the elven council, dressed in their ceremonial best. At the top of the hill, they paused to catch their breath and she looked around, and stood stunned. There it was. The blue curtain. Well, not exactly a curtain, but the name still fit. She started down towards it, and then realized that no-one was following her. She turned back, smiled and held out her hand. Her daughter skipped forward and called “Come on, daddy!”. Hand in hand, they walked towards it. As they got closer, they could see people beyond it, laughing and waving. Was that…? It was! Her little brother, after all these years. She’d heard that two of their people had gone through to escape being tortured and killed, but she’d never heard who it was that managed to find the curtain. With tears and laughter she ran to her brother, who scooped her up and swung her around in a circle. After all the introductions were made (since he had his wife with him as well, though they couldn’t introduce their child since he had yet to be born), they went arm in arm to the entrance to their new home, which looked oddly enough like a ticket-takers booth to the county fair. She looked up at her husband and laughed happily.

“Freedom, at last.”