Meggie stood in the entrance to the large cave, the Strolling-Players hide out. She saw through the blank canvas of night an even darker shadow coming through the trees. The shape was tall with glowing red eyes that shone through the black cloak it was wearing. She knew what the creature was, she had heard about it many times from Dustfinger, it was a Nightmare, one of Fenoglio's many creations. Only seen on the darkest of nights. She was suddenly shaking with fear. If only Farid was here, he would have started a fire to scare it off, but no, he was with Dustfinger.

As the Nightmare slide closer she started shaking even more violently. The Nightmare was now moving towards her faster. She started to scream even though there was no humans for miles. The Nightmare which was gaining in on her, faltered for a moment before continuing. Meggie knew it was over before it had even started. The Nightmare was on her in an instant, its sharp pointed claws digging into her upper arms, and its fangs ripped at the flesh at her shoulder. She screamed not in fear, but in pain. She felt her arm twist in an unnatural position and heard a loud crack that echoed off the ceiling of the cave. Meggie screamed then everything started to fade, and the pain in her arm shoulder faded into a sharp thudding. She heard a faint ringing in her ears.

Then as if by magic a light appeared in the cave entrance and she heard Dustfinger's voice.

"Well Meggie, I guess that we can't even leave you on your own for a few hours."

The Nightmare vanished as the light hit the it. Farid ran up to Meggie and cradled her head in his arms.

"It's all right, it's all right." He murmured over and over.

Then he bent his head down and kissed her softly on the lips, and Dustfinger started a fire. Everything started getting blurry, then...nothing, everything went dark.


A/N: Hey, hoped you liked this, I wrote it quite a few years ago and just found it today.