Dreamspell

Sactaren stops close enough to touch, his voice barely above a whisper when he speaks. "If I asked you up to my room right now, if I let you have control, if I whispered and moaned and shouted your name the whole time you were inside me, would you want me?" My mouth feels full of sand, and my collar is suddenly too tight as I try to swallow. He leans closer, and if I could have moved, I would have backed away. "C'mon, Lark, I'll do whatever you want, just say yes. Just lock the door and come upstairs. Please." I raise one shaking hand, feeling the scars on his chest through the soft cotton tunic. I can't ... I shouldn't. He's my master, I'm his slave--it's not right. He leans closer, like he wants to kiss me, but I tense and straighten my arm, pushing him back a step. He looks shocked.1

"Get away from me," I say, my voice hoarse and breathless. I watch the expression bleed from his face, replaced by a stony emptiness. He stares at me for another moment, and then we both jump as the door of the magic shop bursts open and a cloaked figure stumbles inside. They slam the door shut and throw the bolt, locking it.2

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Sactaren asks through his teeth. The figure turns, slender hands rising up to push back their hood, revealing the heart-shaped face of the most stunning woman I've ever seen. Eyes the color of midnight sapphires are set in her porcelain face, raven tresses tumbling from the confines of the hood and cascading down her back. The faint blush of a late rose graces her high cheekbones, the stain of luscious strawberries upon her full lips. She steps toward us, her bosom heaving as she draws a shaking breath.3

"Help me, please," she says, her voice as soft as the coo of a dove. "A terrible evil is after me, sent by my cruel and heartless guardian because I refused to marry the man he chose for me."4

"Of course," I say, my heart aching for her. "We'll do whatever it takes."5

"What was wrong with him?" Sactaren asks and we both look over at him. "The man your guardian chose--why didn't you want to marry him?"6

"He wasn't my choice," she says, her sapphire orbs sparkling with unshed tears. "He was a year older than me and wouldn't let me fulfill my dream of becoming Ashael's first lady knight."7

"Ashael doesn't have knights," Sactaren says, and I feel a surge of anger. Why can't he understand?8

"Why do you have to be so selfish?" I ask and he has the audacity to look shocked.9

"Lark, what the hell has gotten into you?" he asks.10

I ignore him and take a knee before the young lady. "I, Lark Arren, swear on my wretched, unworthy life, I will protect you with my last breath. Pray, Lady, tell me your name?"11

"Dear Lark," she says. "I am Saffyre Isobelle Swanhope, the lost princess of the North Coast selkies."12

"You're a selkie?" Sactaren asks. "Where's your skin?"13

"Alas, my cruel guardian took it," she says. "My mother was queen of the selkies, my father was a Greater Mage Lord, but they were both killed in a tragic accident, leaving me orphaned and at the mercy of my terrible guardian, who is trying to sell me into an unwanted marriage."14

"Oh, Lady Swanhope, is there anything I can do to ease your pain?" I ask, rising to my feet. She turns her radiant sapphire orbs upon me and takes my hands, pressing them to her lush bosom.15

"Can you take my broken heart and make it whole again?" she asks. I feel a stirring in my loins and a strange warmth in my chest. Is this what true love feels like? I pull her to me and wrap my arms around her slender figure, our lips meeting in a fierce and enflamed kiss.16

"What the hell, Lark?" I hear Sactaren say. "I thought you were only attracted to men?" I break away from Saffyre's kiss and turn to Sactaren.17

"That was before I met Saffyre," I say. "I'm a changed man, now."18

Sactaren shakes his head. "This doesn't make any sense," he mutters. I turn back to Saffyre.19

"Tell me, darling, how did you come to Traxen?"20

"Oh, my love, the Iris brought me."21

"The pirate ship?" Sactaren asks.22

Saffyre nods. "Yes, after I ran away from my sadistic guardian I was kidnapped by the lady pirates of the Iris. They were going to ransom me, but my tears and pleas moved Captain Marr, and she made me part of the crew. I learned to fence and fight, and by the end of the week, Captain Marr stepped down and put me in charge of the ship. Then the evil came after me and we fled to Traxen, where I had heard lived a powerful mage who could help me."23

"You heard wrong," Sactaren says. "Get out of my shop and take whatever spell you put on Lark with you."24

"Wherever she goes, so go I," I tell him. I turn to Saffyre. "I'll help you, song of my heart, for I am also a mage."25

"You're an apprentice," Sactaren point out. "You don't even know how to conjure flame yet."26

"I wield the magic of my love," I say and grace her sweet lips with another kiss. "Come, love of my life, let's return to the Iris and sail out in search of this evil. I will defeat it once and for all."27

"We don't have to go looking, light in my eyes--the evil has followed me." From outside came a terrible roar, a scream the rattled the windows and sent chills down my spine.28

"Fear not, honey on my lips, for I will go out and face down the dastardly creature." I step toward the door, but Sactaren, catches me by the arm and pulls me back.29

"Hold on there, Don Quixote," he says, walking to the window and looking out. He makes a disparaging sound in his throat. "It's not even as big as a sheep," he says. "How bad can it be?"30

"It is a terrible creature with powers beyond imagining," Saffyre says. "If we go out there, we will all be slain."31

"Then don't go out," Sactaren says. "It'll get tired or hungry and leave eventually."32

"And they call you a mage," I say, stepping over and standing toe to toe with him. He frowns and steps back. "I knew it, you're just a coward. "Come, beautiful bird upon my windowsill, let us go and face this evil together." I take her hand and unlock the door, casting one last disappointed look in my old master's direction. I will belong to no man who cannot stand up for a beautiful woman in peril.33

As we step out, the creature lumbers toward us, its scaly body covered in thick, black slime, its long, serpentine tail dragging on the ground behind it. It opens wide jaws filled with yellowed teeth and flicks its forked tongue at us.34

"When the clock reads thirteen, what time is it?" it asks in a harsh, raspy voice.35

I glance at Saffyre. Is this some kind of riddle? "I don't know," I say.36

"Time to get a new clock," it says. "How can you tell that there's an elephant in your fridge?"37

I scratch my head. "What's an elephant?"38

"There's footprints in the butter," it replies. "Two muffins are in an oven. The first muffin turns to the second muffin and says, 'Man, it's hot in here'. The second muffin says, 'Ah! A talking muffin!'" I hear a noise behind me and glance over my shoulder, but it's only Sactaren.39

"Is that all it does?" he asks. "Tell bad jokes?"40

"It tells horrible jokes," Saffyre corrects him, "and if you dare to laugh, you'll die laughing."41

"Why would anyone laugh?" Sactaren says. "It's not funny." He steps around me and waves his hands at the creature. "Shoo! Go on, get out of here!" It scuttles sideways and snaps at him.42

"What kind of bees make milk?" the creature asks. I frown, then shrug. "Boobies!"43

"Boobies?" I repeat and glance at Saffyre, my eyes drawn down to her ample bosom. "Oh, boobies!" I say, my lips twitching. That's actually kind of funny. I chuckle and watch Saffyre's face fill with horror. It only makes her look more beautiful.44

"No, Lark, don't laugh," she says. I giggle and take her hands.45

"Don't fear, lovely whisper of spring's first morning, should I die, it will be with your perfect face burned forever in my empty, dull eyes." I burst out laughing, a searing pain exploding in my side. I clutch at my chest and fall to the ground, tears leaking from my eyes. Saffyre kneels beside me, tears shining in her eyes and glittering like diamonds as they roll down her cheeks.46

"Lark, get up," Sactaren says, standing over me with his hands on his hips. "It wasn't that funny." I can't stop laughing, though. My chest burns, but I can't breathe.47

Suddenly, Saffyre leaps to her feet. "You shall not take my one true love from me, you vile beast!" she cries and raises her hands into the air. They glow gold, the color of pure power, and golden lightning dances around her, scorching the stone plateau. "Return to the hell from whence you came!" She throws her arms toward it and the creature screams in agony and collapses, dead. The magic vanishes and Saffyre returns to my side as I fall silent, the evil spell upon me broken.48

"Mind explaining that?" Sactaren says, his arms crossed over his chest.49

"I must have powers inherited from my father," Saffyre says. "Until this day, I never knew."50

"You saved me, wildflower within the meadow of my soul," I say, climbing to my feet and drawing her up against me. "Now, we shall leave this place and make new lives, where you can be the first lady knight, like you always dreamed of."51

"I don't need that foolish dream anymore," she says. "I have you and all my dreams are fulfilled."52

"Oh, brother," Sactaren mutters. I turn and open my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but I never get the chance. The terrible creature, in one last death throe, arches up off the stones, its whip-like tail slithering over the rocks.53

"Look out, Lark!" Saffyre cries and leaps forward, between me and the creature. The tip of its tail grazes her ankle and she screams, collapsing as the creature shudders and disintegrates into a pile of greasy ashes.54

Saffyre!" I shout and rush to her side. I scoop her up in my arms and cradle her to my chest while Sactaren kneels at her feet. He examines one ankle, then the other. "Can't you do something?" I cry, tears pouring down my face. "Can't you save her?"55

"There's nothing wrong with her," Sactaren says. "Nothing that I can see, anyway. It didn't even leave a mark."56

Saffyre reaches up and caresses my face, her sapphire orbs glimmering with unshed tears. "Lark, sweet stream of glacial waters in the parched desert of my troubled life, though we knew each other but a short time--"57

"It wasn't even fifteen minutes, was it?" Sactaren asks.58

"--I have loved more deeply and sweetly in our brief knowing than most people love in a lifetime. You will forever be etched in the memory of my soul."59

"Saffyre, delicate song of starlight whispered in in the fathomless darkness of deepest winter, please, don't leave me! I can't live without you!"60

"I'm afraid you must," she whispers, the light in her sapphire orbs fading. She looks past me, up into the sky, a smile lighting her face. "Mother, father, I'm coming home." She dies in my arms--61

I jump, suddenly able to think clearly again, and pull away from the dead girl. "What the hell was that?" I ask, scrambling to my feet and stepping over to Sactaren. He reaches toward my face and I flinch, but allow him to press the back of his hand against my forehead. "I feel like I've been dreaming."62

"I think you've been under a spell," he says, leaning closer to peer into my eyes, "but I don't think there'll be any lasting effects." He draws back and looks down at the girl. "I've never seen one on this planet before, but I think she's a braemen sidhe--a dream faerie--able to shape and rewrite reality to fit her dreams. I guess it was her dream to fall in love and die a romantic death." He glances back at me and frowns. "Changed your mind about joining me in the tower?"63

"No."64

"Fine." he turns and strides back into the shop, leaving me alone with the dead faerie girl. I shudder and go back inside.65