12 Chapter 11

"Meena! What are you doing here? Are you mad? If they catch you here, they'll kill you!"

Meena shushed her and pointed to the sleeping hounds in the cell across from hers. "Have a little gratitude, won't you? I brought you some bread and apples!"

"You what? Oh Maker, you've stolen these from the kitchen, haven't you? Do you even comprehend the amount of trouble you are in?"

"I won't be in trouble if you don't say anything to anyone!" Meena pushed the food underneath the cell bars.

Nevetharine covered her eyes in disbelief as if trying to unsee all the horrible images her mind was creating of what might happen. After a few seconds of that, she took the food. She rarely had any appetite for the stuff. Here, she had even less. "Thank you. Now please go back to the chambers before they notice you are missing! I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Meena gave her the usual mischievous grin. "Lots of power I have over you, eh?"

"Just go!"

Meena blew a kiss to Nevetharine and ran off.

When she was gone, Nevetharine broke the bread and ate a piece. She was too sickened by the smell of the dungeons to even attempt eating, but she knew she needed the energy. At least, that's what Meena always told her. For a moment, she sought silence in her mind to savour her food.

Unfortunately, she only managed to eat a few bites of the bread before she could handle no more. Her body must be so chronically underfed that she was only able to eat a few bites once every few days, because her stomach won't hold more than that. She must have been the only person here who despised eating, but thought food was delicious. It was something that she felt endless guilt over. She hated eating, yet she was being fed and the people out there, who were so starved they were literally eating their family members, went unfed.

A cold breeze blew into her cell from the outside. It had begun snowing.

***

The next morning Nevetharine awoke to a pounding noise in the cell next to hers. The pounding continued from dawn until dusk, constantly. Then at some point during the day, it stopped abruptly. She sat against the wall, staring at the hounds that desperately tried to intimidate her, when the Slave Master came by.

A screeching noise echoed through the dungeons when the Slave Master opened the cell next to hers. She covered her mouth when she saw the body of the woman being dragged in the hallway. Her head hung in Nevetharine's direction and it seemed that her skull was cracked open.

She realised that the pounding noise she had been hearing all day was the woman banging her head against the wall and in doing so, she has taken her own life. Nevetharine hoped that Meredith sent her to a tranquil place - she deserved it. A part of Nevetharine's heart was shattered, while the other half was pounding with rage. However, that part seemed restrained.

An orc guard came by and opened her cell door.

"Your time is up, human."

Nevetharine got up and walked towards the door. She left the apples and bread in the cell for the rats to eat. She would be in deep trouble if she was caught with them, and that was the last thing she needed now.

The orc grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the dungeons. He led her back into the fortress. It was already dark out. She heard yelling and crashing sounds coming from inside the town square. Not for the first time, she thanked the Maker that she was with one of the guards and not there.

"Lord Magnus has commanded that you not be permitted to leave the castle again. You are forbidden to go outside. If you disobey, I have authority to hack off your little friend's head."

The orc led her into her chambers and left without another word.

Nevetharine felt her heart pounding against her chest. She didn't think she could survive Meena's death…she was all she had.

So this was it then. She was forbidden to leave the castle. A part of her felt relieved, because she didn't have to face the dangers in town. She even felt better being in her old room again, even if the only difference here was that she had a fire pit, a candle that Meena so graciously 'borrowed' from the kitchens and a hay bed.

She suddenly remembered her wrapped arms. She took off the linen and her wounds were completely healed! It looked like Meredith wasn't trying to kill her after all...

She collected some hay needles from a pile that lay in one of the corners of her room. With flint and steel she set the hay alight, blew softly on it, and placed it down into the fire pit. The wood quickly took flame. She sat down on her hay bed and stared into the fire. It soothed her, and felt like it enveloped her frail body. What was it about fire that fascinated her so? Its warmth mimicked the tender embrace of a lover around her, not that she had any idea how that felt... She took out the phial of blue liquid from the satchel and took a third.

***

Dark, angry clouds and thunder rolled through the sky. Nevetharine scanned the environment. Fires were burning in the distance and the air was thick with smoke. Surprisingly, the smoke didn't make it more difficult to breathe at all. She knew were to go this time. She headed straight for the Triphacyte Spears. She desperately needed to know more about where this dream went.

She recalled the distant shrieking noises, but this time they came closer. When she looked back, she saw hundreds of night stalker demons approaching her. Each had six hungry eyes staring at her, with bony, fleshy bodies. They had two legs and arms with long claws.

Nevetharine felt a surge of adrenalin course through her veins and she started sprinting towards the crystals, but it felt like time slowed down and she couldn't get away…

Then, just before they reached her, she heard a thundering roar above her. A colossal shadow flew over her. It felt like an earthquake beneath her feet when the dragon landed in front of her and, in an instant, it scorched the demon army with its fiery breath. Screeching noises filled her ears as they were burnt and reduced to ashes.

The dragon turned around slowly. Its scales were a radiant golden-orange colour.

Nevetharine would liken it to the colour of the sun, if she could only remember what the sun looked like. The dragon brought its long head down to her level. It had three large horns on its head and one on its nose.

Nevetharine remained motionless as the large scarlet eye looked at her. The dragon's pupil was so large that she could see her entire body in it like a mirror, except she didn't look like herself. She looked like the woman who was trapped in the Triphacyte Spears. She lifted her hand and, surely enough, the woman lifted her hand too. She touched her face and, again, the woman mimicked her movements.

The sound of the dragon's breath startled her, as it prepared to speak to her:

"Wildflower…" Its low, rumbling voice echoed through the plane.

The word caught her off guard, but the dragon didn't say it in the same manner as Magnus and she couldn't bring herself to become angry at the word. Instead, it brought about a deep yearning inside her.

Despite the fact that the dragon's voice sounded so deep, to her, it felt like it would calm the most terrifying storms. She reached out to touch the long horn on its nose and as she did so, everything went dark…