CHAPTER NINETEEN - WAkINg NIgHTmAREs

Nyla awoke with a start, clutching the blankets tight toher. Her rapid breathing started to slow, and she realized

the creature she had been ghting was only a dream. Thefeeling of relief that washed over her was almost palpable,

and she pulled the blankets over her head, trying to wardoff the day.

It didn’t help. Sunlight beamed in through her bedroom window, and she muttered under her breath about uncles who convince their nieces to take a room with an eastern

exposure.

At least I don’t have to get up yet.

She pulledthe blankets tighter, trying to snuggle deeper into the bed,

reluctant to face the morning, but her growling stomach

soon betrayed her.

This was the second time she had been the recipient of magical healing, and she was certainly thankful for it. It

was not, however, fun to spend the next few days gorging

yourself like a voracious beast to make up for all the energyexpended. And this time, her wound had been more than just a simple sword strike.Logan and that other priest – Penteth, she remembered – were spending all their time down at the temple of Voluge,poring over the limited collection of scrolls and referencesthere, trying to determine just what had affected her andthe other soldiers who had been wounded ghting thebeast ve days ago. She was happy that Penteth and thatgruff little dwarf – Shieldbrother Tordek, who seemed to beLogan’s superior – had been able to remove the taint, butshe still felt weird sometimes. She couldn’t quite explain iteven when she tried, but it somehow felt as if the beast’s

taint were still in her.

Sighing, she gave into her rumbling stomach and

rolled out of bed, pulling her shift around herself as a chill

slithered down her back. She grabbed her robe from a peg

on the wall, slipped on a pair of soft stuffed-fur slippers her

Uncle had managed to scrounge up for her from someplace,

and padded down- stairs, ready to do battle with her

morning hunger. Tarn greeted as her she stepped into the common room,and Nyla saw that he was busy eating his morning cereal.He never had it warmed, and he never drank anything withit except some fruit juice. He was very much a creature of routine, she thought, not for the rst time —and a strange

one.“Morning, Sunshine,” he teased. She scowled; his

answering grin told her that she was only encouraging him.“What will we have this morning? Half a cow? Or perhaps adozen chickens?” This time, she ignored him, instead wavingover the serving girl who was her replacement at the inn.

She chuckled silently to herself.

Girl

was not the right

name. Mistress Althea was old enough to be her mother.Rumor had it that her Uncle had developed a sweet spot forthe woman, but she wasn’t sure if she believed that or not.As far as she was concerned, the woman was pretty goodat her job, but that might only be because she was tryingher hardest. After all, with this many refugees in town, jobs were in short supply, and Nyla gured the women realizedthat if she made too many mistakes, Uncle Ben couldsimply hire someone else.

Nyla was sure her uncle was just relieved that there

were no longer any bar ghts breaking out on a nightlybasis. Neither of them wanted to admit that half of the

ghts in the bar had been because men were ghting over

her, not because of her.

In her current state, she needed food more thancompliments, and so she asked Althea for a big plate of food. “And hurry. My stomach is growling so loud that thecustomers will think some beast is attacking if I don’t getsome breakfast quickly.” The older woman gave her a motherly smile and walkedoff without saying anything. Tarn nished his bowl of cornmeal and stretched. “So, girl, how are you feeling thismorning?”“So-so. I’m hungry, so I hope that’s a good sign. Still…

I don’t feel exactly right. And I didn’t sleep well.”

“Nightmares again?”She nodded. “It’s the same thing, over and over again. Tarn… if what Penteth thinks is true, and that beast placedpart of its essence in me… I don’t know if I can face thatthing again. It’s just so… dark. It’s not even the burningfeeling, or the pain, or the shouting and moaning that Ihear. It’s the, oh, I don’t know quite how to describe it. The… separation from everything pure and light. The feelingthat I’ll never wake up, that I’m slipping into somethingdark, and that I’ve been cut off forever from what I know

and love.”

Tarn looked at her for a moment. “It sounds horrible,”

was the only thing he could think to say.Althea returned with a bowl of porridge and set a big

pitcher of chilled milk in front of them. Nyla raised aneyebrow at her, but she simply replied, “Drink some. YourUncle will be cross with me if I don’t make you.” A hint of