Chapter 4 - The Hand That Feeds

That night I slept well. Though I was on the cot across the room from Claire, this was the greatest night I had ever stayed anywhere that was not home. Parhaps that was because I was sleeping in the room with the woman I had loved since I was but a child. Or maybe it was me knowing that soon I would be spending a lot more time with her. But for whatever reason I slept very well that night. As the night crept by I dremt of the days I would spend with Claire. To my unfortunate surprise the dreams that night were not all good though some proved to be very good. One, for example, featured me slaying a large dragon and pinning it to the ground with a sword. The dream ended in a kiss from Claire and then went on to the next dream of the night. I didn't think at the time but looking back I suppose it was a wee bit cliche. Other dreams I had that night were not so happy. They were in fact horrible nightmares. When I had these nightmares the mark began to burn. Burn. BURN!

On the subject of nightmares came a very bad nightmare I still remember. That night I had a nightmare that began in a large room. The room was filled with small chairs and corpses lined the walls. The scent of blood and guts filled the air. Even a man who had killed his father, a great man, and many soldiers at this point gagged at both the sight and smell. Suddenly I fainted to the ground and awoke later. I was still dreaming because I was still in that putrid room. But now there were five others in the room. Three of them I did not recognize. One of them was Claire. And the fifth one was a grown version of one of my friends I had left back in the upper kingdom. His name was Rezamu. Rezamu and the three other men had Claire tied to one of the many blood-stained chairs. She was crying like I had never seen before and screaming my name. I walked over to her to realize that my hand went through every single person in the room. It was like i was just supposed to watch. I watched them all torture her in ways that I thought unimaginable. As I watched these horrible things happen the mark began to burn more than it ever had before. Burn. BURN! Then as they finally ended her misery I awoke in a hot sweat. I rose from my bed and peered around the room. Everything seemed fine. I looked over at the clock on the bed-side table. 11:37 PM. Not even midnight.

I walked over to Claire's side to assure her safety. She was sleeping soundly. She looked so peaceful. So beautiful. I hadn't been graced with the sight of her sleeping since we were but children. I decided that before returning to bed, I needed a bit of water to drink. I walked down the stairs to the closed pub. So peaceful at night. Not like it is during the daylight. I looked through some of the cabinets until I found something to drink from. I looked through a few more to find a water barrel. I poured some of the water from the barrel into the gauntlet I had found. The water ran over the lip of the gauntlet a little bit. I pushed my lips against the gauntlet and let the water flow into my mouth. As I swallowed the water, I paused breif moments to breath. After a few moments the water was gone from the gauntlet and my thirst had been satisfied. After I layed the gauntlet down on the bar I paused and listened to the silent night.

Suddenly, there was a creek on one of the upstairs floor boards. I waited to see if Claire came down the stairs to see where I was. After waiting a few moments I realized that the creek was not Claire. Once realizing this I reached down to my belt to feel for my fathers sword. Damn. I'd left it by my bed. I silently crept up the stairs and peered around as soon as my head could see into Claires bedroom. I saw a hooded figure standing by a still sleeping Claire.

"Hello, Sen the Chosen One." The figure greeted me, obviously aware of my presence. "I see you were having trouble sleeping. Haha. Not like dear Claire the Giving here. She's sleeping oh so soundly" He chuckled.

"Who are you?" I simply asked.

"Zoratar, Night Warrior of the Moon." He simply answered.

"What do you want with me? Or Claire?" I began to slowly inch towards my bedside in an attempt to reach my fathers sword.

"I am simply a messenger. A messenger from Vorzon, God of Dark. Vorzon is the brother of Alew, God of Light. Vorzon sends me to do his bidding." Zoratar smiled.

"Vorzon." I simply muttered. Vorzon was one of the three Gods of whom were the start of the Bloodline. Alew, Vorzon, and Welmez. Alew, God of Light, and the direct father of the Bloodline. Vorzon, God of Dark, and an uncle to the Bloodline. Welmez, God of Center, and other uncle to the Bloodline. A message from Vorzon couldn't be a good thing.

"Vorzon sends me to extend his hand." Zoratar smiled. I crept a small bit closer to my bedside.

"Extend his hand for what purpose?"I questioned the statement this warrior had made.

"After stunts you have pulled in the last 24 hours, it is undoubtable that Alew has branded you a traitor and disowned you from the Bloodline entirely. And so in this Vorzon wishes to extend his hand to you as a new God to seek guidance from. He extends his hand to replace dear Alew." Zoratar cracked a menacing smile.

"And who shall I be to bite the hand that tries to feed me?" At this I grinned an evil grin. His face turned to anger and he pulled out his blade. The blade was slendor like a rapier, but just a bit thicker around the blade. The helm sparkledwith the whitest silver I had ever seen. The sword was very nice. Basking in its beauty almost got me killed as he brought it down over my head. I dodged the swing and dove for my fathers sword. Once I had my blade in my hand we stood looking at each other for a second or two. Then in a surprise attack he sprung at me. I dodged this attack and swung in a back motion. He quickly and rather impressively jumped over my long swing.

As we were dancing around the room attempting to kill each other, I noticed that Claire had woken from her sleep. She was reaching into the drawer next to her bed and she was attempting to do so quietly. I continued to dance with Zoratar. Our fight was turning out to be a competition of running circles. As he crept closer to her bed in dodging my attacks I saw what she was looking for. He pause as he realized as well that a beautiful gold dagger had been lodged into his upper back. She quickly pulled the dagger out and through him across the room. He rose and ran towards the window.

"You will see what happens when you bite the hand that feeds, Sen. You will see." He said this as he jumped out the window and ran into the horizon. Claire and I both slumped down onto her bed. I sighed.

"How much of our conversation were you awake for?" I asked, still out of breath.

"All." Claire looked over at me. She sighed as well.

"If Vorzon is getting involved then something bad is going to happen. Vorzon being involved mean news has already traveled. The Gods could soon be warring." I realized where my actions had taken me.

"Well so be it. You can't change what you did. But we can change what your going to do." Claire stood up and smiled her beautiful smile at me.

"Pack your things." I muttered to her. "Were leaving."

"Got it." She smiled and then walked over to her dresser to get some things.

I looked out the window and muttered to myself. "I have bit the hand. Shall we see what happens when a man bites the hand of a God trying to feed him. We will see what happens when I bite the hand that feeds."