Re: [DragonTales] Lapsing into Madness, Episode IV

[Sarah Flemming]

(Scott... You should've waited just a little bit longer. You could have had an eye witness. ;) )   ~*~*~*~*~*~   "Don't Caelan... I will harm you... and the dancing rat will never stop..." Rue's words played over and over again in her mind all that night. The tone wasn't his, and the voice held such malice that it froze her where she stood, chilling the blood in her veins. She was helpless to watch as he pushed off from the dock, taking Brin with him. Her dream had come true. Her vision predicted just how this night would happen... how badly it would end. Why didn't Brin listen to her? ...Perhaps she couldn't change the future as she had hoped. It really was a curse knowing what was to happen, and being powerless to change it. Caelan Rainier had spent the entire night there on the dock. Rooted to the spot with fear. The darkness had fallen quickly on them, and the fog that rolled in made her feel confined. Both of her greatest fears combined, and made worse with the circumstances. Rue's words had brought back a memory that had the rat's nasally, singsong voice ringing in her head. Perhaps their kinship went a little bit further. Maybe they shared the same demons. In the morning, the dockworkers found her, shivering and curled into a petrified ball. The bright orange sun was just beginning to pierce through the fog, and free her from her imaginary prison when voices brought her back to her present reality. She groaned as she rolled onto her back, and looked up at the three men that stared down at her. They talked amongst themselves and shook their heads. Their words sounded garbled to her ears. She squinted against the pierce of sunlight, and shaded her eyes. She felt exhausted, and her body ached from being so tense. One of them leaned down to look more closely at her. He was asking her something, but just then her eyelids grew heavy, and it went black. ~*~*~*~ "There isn't any alcohol on her breath... I don't know what she was doing there." "Not even any sign of attack." Caelan moaned quietly as she woke up once more, her eyes blinking sharply against the sunlight that streamed in through a window. Her weary, red-rimmed eyes focused blearily on the wood plank ceiling. Where was she? She shifted slightly, feeling the soft cushions beneath her, and she rolled her head in the direction of the voices. "She matches the description of the girl that was missing earlier this year." "Yeah, but she was found, remember? She works in the castle. No lady like that would be hanging around the docks at night. Not if she had any sense that is." But did she really have any sense? She'd been in far worse situations then this. Her fuzzy vision slowly focused and she could make out uniforms on the two men that spoke across the room. Guard uniforms. Her eyes widened as relief flooded through her. "Rue! Did you find him?" Caelan shifted clumsily on the couch they'd laid her on, propping herself onto her elbows, and struggling to sit upright. "Whoa! ...Easy, miss," one of the men had glanced towards her, and then stepped quickly across the room as she moved, his boots loud upon the floorboards. He was a large man... at least as tall as Rue was, but then twice as large. He gave her a roguish smile that was somewhat charming. "We were hopin' you'd be getting up soon. Feeling better?" "Rue... Brin... Did you find them?" "Rue and Brin? What do you mean?" The second man, with auburn hair and a beard frowned at the weak young woman on their couch. He recognized the names. "Rue... He isn't himself," Caelan started quickly, looking up at them with pleading, fearful blue eyes. She clutched unconsciously to a blanket they had placed over her. "He took her. Brin. I don't know where they were going. It shouldn't have happened." "Wasn't Carine just in here looking for Rue?" the man with the beard glanced at the other, and rubbed at his chin. "Yeah... she did. She seemed really disappointed and worried too," he watched Caelan thoughtfully for a moment before looking back towards the other guard. They both nodded slightly in an agreement that Caelan didn't understand. They must have worked together for a long time. The one with the beard suddenly turned and walked away. "What's your name, miss?" the other stayed at by her. He kneeled in front of her, and continued to give that charming smile. The one he used to calm any distraught woman that happened in their office. "Caelan--Are you going to do something?" she almost demanded. "Yes," the guard nodded, setting a hand upon her knee. "We're going to send some men out to look as soon as we can." ~*~*~*~*~*~ Sarah