Dawn dreamed of the queen again.
She was there, in her cavern, lounging on the floor next to the stone bed with the dead man lying on it. Strangely, she saw Aaron sitting on the floor of the cave, unbound if a bit bedraggled. He was talking to the queen.
“So he was your husband?”
“Yess, he was. My beloved Rakor.”
One of her legs stroked the skull of the man tenderly.
“He did everything to sssave me. Researched alchemy and magic for weeksss without end. And he did sssave me with that ritual. But then everything went wrong. I had to kill that guard when he came to the laboratory and sssaw me. I had no choice, my body had been formally buried and Grant knew me. He would have told everyone I was alive and well, and they would have invessstigated. I just wanted to live in peace with my husband. But they would have killed him for practicing blood magic. Ah, the feeling of that first kill. It was such a rush, there wasss nothing I ever felt before that could compare.”
A shudder went through the huge body of the demon queen.
“And it gave me strength, too. I hid the body in an unused cave, and at firsst I thought I had gotten rid of the problem and everything wass well. But then I started to get antsy again, soon. I roamed the caves at night to relieve my boredom, as Rakor was preparing our move away from here during the daysss and was exhausted at night. The guard had been increasssed after Grant had vanished without a trace, and sssoon I had to kill again, when one of them noticed me. And that feeling again.”
The queen hummed in appreciation, obviously remembering her slaughter of guards with dark delight.
For a moment, Dawn saw an expression of disgust and horror flit over Aaron’s face before he turned to the queen again and asked, apparently with deep concern.
“And what happened then?”
The queen gave a rattling sigh.
“Rakor caught me when I wasss killing one of the guards. Oh, that look on his face. Absolute horror, despair and even disgussst. He had never looked at me that way before, even when my body began to turn black and I ssstarted to change into a monster on the outside.”
Once again her leg stroked the skull.
“That foolish man went and turned himssself in to the council.”
She spat out angrily afterwards.
“And of course they killed him. Ssscion of a prominent family and a prodigy, he wasss. No one else understood alchemy and magic like he did. But they sentenced him to death all the sssame. But I swore revenge on those fools, and I got it. They killed Rakor. They thought to eradicate me.”
She hissed and reared up on her hind legs.
“But I eradicated them instead. I hid and I created my children, and every death of one of them at my hands gave life to a child of mine. Soon we were ssstrong enough to fight them in earnest.”
She scuttled over to the ritual circle where an egg was lying, waiting for the next unfortunate sacrifice.
“They are gone. But it didn’t bring back my Rakor.”
She once again gave a rattling sigh.
“Sssomeday I will find a way to bring him back to me. Stronger than he was before, jussst like me.”
Slowly she turned to Aaron and looked at him with her glowing red eyes. “But what will I do with you? Maybe you can be ussseful alive. But maybe not.”
She approached the man sitting on the ground steadily. Dawn thought she could see desperation in his eyes, but outwardly he gave a charming smile.
“Oh, I’m sure we can come to an understanding.” He said.
“Dawn! Dawn! Wake up!”
The shouts slowly penetrated her awareness. Groggily, she tried to open her eyes, but her lids were heavy as lead. Faintly, she felt somebody shaking her. She was so tired. Why didn’t they let her sleep.
With huge effort she managed to open her eyes just a bit and mumbled.“Tired.” Then she let her eyes close again. But the voice was relentless. “It’s time to wake up now! Open your eyes.”
At last, grumbling, Dawn managed to open her eyes all the way. “Why don’t you let me sleep?” she rasped, her throat parched, the inside of her mouth feeling dry and gritty.
“Because you slept for almost two days already.” Grinna’s voice, exasperated. “You need to drink something, Dawn. And to get up. Ankou is out of his mind worrying about you.”
“Ankou? Why?” Slowly, she managed to sit up and look around. She was lying on a bedstead covered with furs in a small hut. She was in the Kharlin village?
In the next moment Ankou was on the bed beside her, purring like a machine, nudging her and nuzzling his head against her. She stroked his soft fur, still feeling a bit dazed and slow, but fended the lynx off when he started to wash her face with his rough tongue.
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“I’m all right, Ankou.” She said, touched by his trepidation. “I’m sorry you had to worry about me.”
But hadn’t they left the village already? Suddenly she remembered. The demons, they had been ambushed on the trail by a horde of spiderlings. She had been bitten, and Nuala…
“Is Nuala all right?” she asked urgently.
“Yes, she is fine. You were the only one who was clumsy enough to be bitten by one of these beasts.” Grinna told her, shaking her head.
“Clumsy!” Dawn exclaimed, outraged.
The ranger laughed and said. “Well, that did wake you up nice and proper. But really, everyone is all right. Though Niko and Teren would be glad if you could use your healing on them, I’d say. They got a bit cut up by the sharp legs of those demons.”
“They are hurt?” Hastily, Dawn sprang up, rudely dislodging a disgruntled Ankou in the process, who had been sprawled halfway over her. She had to grab hold on to the ranger immediately, when the room began to spin around her.
“Not so fast.” Grinna chided her. “You were unconscious for almost two days. Take it easy. Drink something first. You can’t help your friends if you knock yourself out again with your haste.”
And truly, Dawn felt shaky and had a difficult time just standing upright. Obediently, she drank some water out of the flask Grinna handed over.
“Are we back at the Kharlin village?” she asked.
“We are at a Kharlin village, yes. The new one, to be precise. They called it New Haven.” Grinna smiled at her.
“And you fought well. You accounted for more than half a dozen demon spawn on your own. Not bad for a young girl with almost no training or experience in fighting. Though I have to say, you held out on us. That spell you used was powerful. But I never saw you use it before.”
“It’s useless against the grown demons, they are unfazed by it. Thank all the gods it worked against the spiderlings. I thought it was all over when I was bitten. I couldn’t see what was going on with you and the others, being occupied with my own opponents.”
Dawn rubbed her eyes. Once again she needed a bath. But first, she had to heal her companions.
“We fought about half a dozen of the spiderlings between us, Teren, Niko and me. Ankou and Nestor accounted for three more. All in all, most of them were concentrated on you, if by chance or design I cannot say.” Grinna smiled at her.
“Only when we had conquered them all, did we notice that you had been bitten. Thankfully, their venom isn’t lethal. Though I was a bit worried when you wouldn’t wake up after more than a day. Teren carried you the rest of the way here.”
“He carried me? But you said he has been wounded.” Dawn said guiltily.
“He managed it, don’t worry. We thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to camp out in the open. Not that there would have been a usable campsite near, anyway.” The ranger shrugged.
“At least, we had to fight only a part of the spiderling horde. When they attacked Aaron and his men, there were a lot more of them. In that regard, we were lucky.” Dawn touched her neck gingerly, but the demon bite was well on its way to full healing.
Grinna scoffed. “Some luck! All in all, we fought seventeen of the monsters. That’s more than enough for me.”
In the meantime, Dawn felt somewhat sure on her legs again.
“Where are Teren and Niko?” she asked. “I want to make sure they are alright, no need for them to be hurt.”
Grinna led her out of the hut, Ankou staying close to Dawn. New Haven was very similar to the old Kharlin village. Though there weren’t as many huts standing in the cavern where it was situated. It was darker here, too. Only one small opening in the ceiling let in some light. But the central fireplace was the same, as well as the benches and tables grouped around it. The Kharlins were going about their day, some walking around in the cavern, some obviously preparing a meal. When Dawn appeared, several Kharlins stared at her for a moment, but none of them approached.
Their companions were sitting around one of the tables, talking and Teren and Niko sporting several bandages between them. As soon as Dawn saw them, she cast Nurture first on Teren, then on Niko. Both stopped talking abruptly and turned to her.
“Finally awake?” rumbled Teren. “About time. We were starting to think you wouldn’t wake up ever again. It’s good to see you on your feet. And thank you for the healing.”
Niko just nodded to her. Nuala stood up and came over, took Dawn by the shoulders and mustered her intently. Dawn felt inadvertently shy and didn’t know what to say for a moment. Then she said simply.
“I’m so glad you are allright.”
Nuala smiled warmly at her, and shook her head. “Thanks to you, I didn’t even suffer a scratch. But what in all the hells were you thinking? Throwing yourself between that demon and me? I’m an old woman, and you have all of your life still in front of you.”
“I just didn’t want you to be hurt or killed.” Dawn stated simply, shrugging.
“At least your actions impressed those stubborn males sitting on the council. They have admitted - grudgingly, mind you - that they may have judged you a bit harshly, before. Well, emotions were running high, after almost half the people in the village were killed by the demons.” She said, her countenance serious now.
“I did a bit of convincing myself and they agreed to hold a meeting with all the tribe and you and your companions as guests, as soon as you were able to participate, to discuss the situation with the demons and what to do.”
Nuala sighed and sat down again on a bench, looking tired.
“Though I think it will not be an easy task to persuade them fighting back against the demons is necessary. You know, I care for all of them, I understand they are afraid, that they wish the demons would just vanish on their own. But wishful thinking won’t change the situation and sometimes I just feel like shaking them, until they start to see reason. Not that that would improve the situation. Vixen grant me patience.”