~AN~ What? The address still won't come up?!

AC: Yeah.

I'VE PUT UP THAT BLASTED THING AT LEAST THREE TIMES!!

Juno: Actually, to be technical, it was never put up by yourself. AC typed it once, and I did so twice.

I DON'T CARE!! What, does ffn. Have some problem with my artwork?

Bass: That's no surprise.

Juno: Actually, I believe this problem is connected to some type of stripping of certain html tags during the uploading process…

*staring at him* Wha?…

AC: Yeah, Juno, you're talking to a technological savage here.

*slaps at him* SHUT UP!!

AC: *side-steps the slap* Whoa, you're touchy.

OF COURSE I AM!!

Juno: I've posted the link to your drawings in the 'bio' section. Anyone who wishes to see them only has to click on your name above.

It came up in the bio section?

Juno: Yes, it did. I believe this has to do with---

*throwing up her arms* I don't care! I DON'T care!! Just tell the readers to read the blasted story already!!! *storms out*

AC: You heard the lady who's currently off her rocker. Read the blasted story already.

Bass: Hope you enjoy. Please point out any problems or could-be-changed spots that you notice.

Voice From Another Room: NO!! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE CRITIQUEING!! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE PROBLEMS!!! *sob*

AC: All over a stupid link. Oi.

Bass: Actually, I think it's because she's had such a tough time lately. You know how Avis is---smile through all the big stuff and try to smooth it all over for everyone, then flip out over the smallest thing when she's sure everyone else is feeling all right. Moron.

Voice From Another Room: *weeping*

Disclaimer: "Is that why she put up another chapter before anyone even reviewed the last one? She's trying to cope?"---AC

Disclaimer Num. 2: "I AM NOT YOU JERK!!"---Voice From Another Room

Between the acting of a dreadful thing

And the first motion, all the interim is

Like a phantasma or a hideous dream.

Scene I, Act II of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare

Chapter Eleven:

This Hideous Dream

The door opened silently, its vast iron swinging inward without a sound. The two brothers came in just as silently as the door had been, their paces smooth and soft. As one, they bowed.

"You wished to see us---"

"---Lord Wizeman?"

Wizeman turned to face them, gazing down at the two black-clad figures that had responded to his call of 'guards'. "Come closer."

The two did as they were told, their expressions forcefully kept from showing fear and their body language speaking of respect. The one with curls at the corners of his eyes spoke first. "How shall we serve you?"

Wizeman gestured slowly to a bundle slumped on the floor next to him. Chink and Chank realized with a shock that it was Jackle.

The demi-maren was sitting on the ground, his arms wrapped around his knees, and was rocking back and forth. He was mumbling something under his breath.

Wizeman looked back at them. "Take him down to the lowest level and lock him up there. He will be brought before me tomorrow."

Chank took his turn answering. "As you wish, my lord."

The two moved silently to Jackle's side. Picking him up and throwing his arms about their shoulders, they left, Jackle dragging between them. Wizeman watched them go.

'Only two,' he mused angrily. 'Only two once every hundred years, and he deliberately decided not to tell me. In order to hide the fact that he had been going against my command already! I could kill that traitorous freak of a demi-maren…'

He forced himself to calm down. 'I can find the date of the convergence in my library, and he is paying for his deeds now. It will be very difficult to control him, however…his mind is far too chaotic to reason with, and he is not inherently loyal. Unless having his mind torn to pieces was enough to convince him of the wisdom of obeying me…He's either more spirited than I thought, or he's mad.'

A wry smile touched the ruler's mouth. 'And even if he wasn't, he's going to be now.'

Varia drew in a tight breath as yet another wounded student was brought in. "Not another?!"

"Stop gaspn' and get to work!" snapped Stella, who was bandaging a boy with a broken arm as fast as she could. "Get that bowl and start cleanin' the girl next to yi', now!"

Varia complied, grimacing at the sight of blood but forcing herself to keep working. She hated blood, and right now she was surrounded by it. But these maren---some of which were close friends---needed her.

There was a bang as the door was kicked open, and Insomnia stood in the entryway, carrying Nyct over his shoulders. He nodded his head breathlessly to Stella, and then asked, without preamble, "Where do I put her?"

Stella jerked her head over towards an empty bed on her right, and Insomnia went over, bending down to very carefully deposit Nyct on the bed. He got up, breathing hard, and then blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry about having to carry you upside down like that---I knew I couldn't fly with you in front of me, so I kind of had to carry you on my shoulders…"

Nyct grinned wearily. "No prob. I understand. But…" She trailed off. "The others, do you think?…"

Insomnia' eyes opened wide. "There's probably more people who need to be carried out of there! See ya!" And with that he was out, gone with a flash of red bandanna.

Stella shook her head, tsking as she began opening a makeshift bandage that had been placed on a wound during the flight back to the castle. "That boy ought to know not to run in th' halls…"

Varia, had she been her brother Strix, would have laughed. As it was she merely whimpered worriedly and continued her work.

NiGHTS landed in the courtyard of Nightmare Castle, and was instantly greeted by Tessa and Terrance.

"What's going on?" demanded Terrance. "You were attacked by the golem?"

"No time to talk," wheezed NiGHTS, depositing his burden of an unconscious girl. "There's more still trying to make it back---get out there and help them!"

Tessa nodded her comprehension. Terrance, being the active one, bounded up into the air with a war whoop. "Yes sir right away sir!" And he was off like a rocket. Tessa followed, albeit quietly.

NiGHTS, seeing several other maren coming out into the courtyard in curiosity, gestured them over with authority. "You, all of you! Yes, YOU! Get out there and head straight for Mystic Forest, flying low---there are wounded maren out there, and they need assistance! Get moving!"

The gathered crowd of ten or eleven, after blinking confusedly for a second or two, all straightened, saluted, and took off with a chorus of 'yes sir's. NiGHTS sighed in relief and picked up the unconscious girl, heading for the Infirmary.

He shoved in, acting much as Insomnia had only a short time ago. "Where do I put this girl?"

Stella jerked her head to the side to indicate an empty bed, never even looking up. "There. Varia, tend to the new one! That balm can wait until later!"

Varia abandoned her task of slathering bandages with an herb balm and hurried to attend yet another wounded.

She bent over the girl laying upon her back, blood dripping from several wounds on her body. Her eyes were closed, but even as Varia began to check her over she moaned. Slowly her eyes flickered open, or tried to. One was almost sealed shut from the bruised flesh around it, and the other one---the other one was pale, its iris washed of all but the faintest color, making it look like the palest blue. She was blind in that eye.

"Miss Luna?" she whispered.

Chink glanced at his brother. "What do you think he---"

"I don't know." Chank looked down at the slumped demi-maren between them, his eyes half-open but unfocused, murmuring indecipherable words in a hoarse, pain-filled voice. "But whatever he did, it had to have been pretty bad to end up like this."

"Obviously."

They fell silent, working to maneuver the shivering demi-maren down the stairs that led to their destination. The lowest level was deep underground, and it was mostly untouched earth. Only a few cells had been dug into the rocky soil, and these were spread far apart, spanning the entire circumference of the castle in a very spread-out circle. Each a small ten-by-ten foot room, surrounded by thousands of tons of earth. These were known as the Silent Cells, and they were spoken about as the worst place in all of Nightmare.

Chink let go of his side of the burden to take the pair of keys that hung at the very bottom of the steps, and then looked to his brother. Chank nodded. "Get one open; I'll carry him for now."

His brother did as advised, leading the other two down a narrow, dark, and echoing passage to the first opening in the wall. This led down an even narrower hall, which ended in a right turn that opened into a cell. Any maren within one of these cells would be totally isolated, and unable to even hear any other prisoners.

Chink opened the door, wincing at the complete darkness inside; he looked back at his brother, who glanced down at his burden.

Jackle was slumped against his jailer, his back heaving in choking breaths, his mouth moving as he muttered words that were beginning to become clear. "Secret," they thought they heard him say.

Chank looked back at the cell and nearly winced, his reveal-nothing philosophy momentarily shaken; then, he dragged Jackle to the cell door. Giving up to at least a small show of compassion, he helped him to the wall and leaned the demi-maren against it, instead of just throwing him in as would have been customary. After making sure that Jackle was sitting upright, his back propped firmly against the wall, he turned on his heel and went out.

Chink shut the metal door with a clang, locking it silently and then just as silently heading back up the hallway, towards the light and open air. He was already beginning to feel enclosed and slightly panicked.

Chank kept pace beside him, both looking forward and both keeping a silent agreement not to pay attention to the cracked, withered voice they could now hear from the cell behind them, murmuring in a sing-song tone.

"I know a secret, I know a secret…I know a secret, and no one can know!"

Luna sighed as Tessa helped her down onto a bed. "Thanks."

Tessa nodded in return, but her reply was drowned in Luna's gasp. "Aster?!"

The girl being called jerked around, revealing one eye half-closed and the other discolored. After a moment of searching she managed to find the person who had spoken with her swollen eye; it seemed that she could not use the discolored one. "Miss Luna!"

Luna collapsed back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling and breathing hard. "Shards, Aster, you had me nearly scared to death! I thought you'd bought it!"

Aster, with some difficulty, managed to get up and wobble over to her teacher's side. Tessa made a spot for her on the empty bed next to Luna's and Aster dropped onto it gratefully. Her voice was still rough, and a trickle of blood had dried at the corner of her lip. "I'm sorry, Miss Luna, but I was knocked unconscious, and I guess I was in shock, and---"

"And apologizing for being near death is a stupid thing to do," interrupted Luna. "Calm down, Aster, I wasn't being angry, I was…"

She paused, realizing that tears were dripping down her face. "Drat. Be proud, Aster. This is the first time I've cried in public for ages."

Aster blinked, unsure how to take this. Luna shot a watery glare at a snickering Tessa. "If you had been there, you would be crying too!' she accused. "Shut up!"

Tessa only sniggered more. Luna gave up and joined her, and eventually Aster, while still not quite sure what was going on, joined in. Apparently they were feeling much better.

Reala nodded sharply. "Dismissed."

The messenger bowed and hurried out, thankful to have left the presence of the increasingly frightening general. Reala on his part remained silent, staring out the window at the shifting clouds, one clawed hand tapping his arm rest thoughtfully.

So, a golgoth. Shards, it had been at least four hundred years since he'd fought one of them; and they weren't easy customers, either. He'd barely come out alive from his first encounter with one.

The messenger had stated that there were no accounted deaths, and no one seemed to be in critical condition; that was good. This army was going to be as large as possible when it stormed the Waking World.

Still, now they had a good half dozen or more wounded maren. All part of Luna's sparring class, and she usually served up pretty formidable fighters. This was a very annoying set back. Not to mention Luna herself was wounded, and she had been quite good on the field. How annoying.

And then there was NiGHTS…

Reala had watched from an upper balcony as NiGHTS ordered the other nightmaren about, sending some out to fetch the wounded and others to ready the Infirmary. He was told that NiGHTS had also been the one to slay the golgoth---and that was no small feat. A golgoth had to be hit in one of the very few places where its stone hide had an opening, and one had to be very good at swordsmanship to hit a target that small. Perhaps NiGHTS was not so helpless with a sword as he'd believed.

Reala sighed, speaking out loud in a dark reverie. "You would be the perfect leader, NiGHTS, if you'd only get your act together. What's your problem?"

His gaze flickered to the mirror on the wall, where his haunting image stared back at him with a sapphire gaze. "I know why," he continued. "You're not meant to be the general, NiGHTS. I don't know what you ARE meant to be, but it wasn't the general. That's my job."

He smiled, liking the sound of that. "My job. Ha, it's my job, and mine alone!"

He chuckled to himself, never seeing a crow that was passing outside his window perch on the windowsill, look at him for a moment, and then continue on with its flight, musing that perhaps its demi-maren companion wasn't the only person around here who was unbalanced.

People can be unbalanced in many different areas; everyone is in one way or another. Some are just more obvious about it.

Morgen was whistling when NiGHTS came into the weapons chamber, finding the silver-haired actor as cheerful and animated as ever. He began singing as he worked, not seeing NiGHTS. "You talk of the break of morning, as you view the new aurora; cloud in crimson, the key of heaven, one love carved in acajou. One told me of China Roses, one a Thousand nights and one night. Earth's last picture, the end of evening; hue of indigo and blue. A new moon leads me to---"

"Nowhere," interrupted NiGHTS, finally realizing that the song would not end soon unless he ended it himself. "You can't see a new moon."

Morgen leapt up, facing NiGHTS with happiness written across his features. "NiGHTS, my prince! You're unharmed! I've been so worried…was anyone killed?" His expression jumped to fear.

NiGHTS shook his head. "No, although we nearly lost Aster. Thankfully she's recuperating nicely. I'm told she'll never be able to see again through her left eye, however."

The actor's face changed to pity. "Poor girl…what happened?"

"A training party was attacked by a golgoth," NiGHTS answered shortly, unstrapping his sheath as he did so and handing his sword to Morgen. "That wasn't a golem out in the woods, Morgen, it was a full-grown golgoth. I killed it, but Lucky Star's a mess---would you mind cleaning it for me? I would, but to be absolutely honest with you I'm dead tired and I don't think I could stay up long enough to do it…"

"Of course!" Morgen accepted the weapon, unsheathing it as he did so to inspect the amount of cleaning that would need to be done. He whistled when the blade came free. "Whew, NiGHTS, Star doesn't have a clean place from hilt to tip! What'd you do, stick it in the monster's heart?"

"No, it's forehead," answered NiGHTS wearily, not wanting to relieve the day any more than he had to. Morgen caught on to his reluctance to speak.

"You go and sleep, NiGHTS," he said kindly. "I'll take care of Star. You need a good long rest. G'night."

"Good night," replied NiGHTS, smiling as he went out. Behind him he could hear Morgen begin to sing again as he started cleaning Lucky Star, picking up exactly where he had left off without a hitch.

"---Woods of dreams and I follow. A new world waits for me; my dream, my way…"

"Ring around the rosies, pocket full of posies…"

Deep in the earth, locked in a silent cell, a maren sat. His back was pressed against a cold stone wall, and the coldness hurt, but he did not bother moving to lessen the pressure; he wasn't inhabiting his physical body any more. He was currently wandering through his own mind.

'Where am I?'

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!" mumbled his body of its own accord, engaging in babble as he tried to find himself.

'My head feels like…someone just ripped it apart…'

"See-saw, Margery Daw, Jacky shall have a new master…"

'Wasn't that what happened? That was what happened…I think…'

"Jacky shall get but a penny a day, because he can't work any faster!"

'But then I would be dead if my head got ripped apart.'

"London Bridges falling down, falling down, falling down…"

'So that's not what happened.'

"London Bridges falling down, my fair lady…"

'I think master wanted something…a memory…'

"Sing a song of sixpence, pocket full of rye---"

'A memory of what?'

"Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie!"

'I can't…remember…'

"When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing---"

'Something about…a library?…'

"Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before a king?"

Perhaps it was the word library, perhaps it was the words before a king; either way, a flood of memories came pouring into his mind. He'd opened a door and they'd all been set loose.

He blinked and then moaned, his head aching as memories played back without control. Taking a deep breath, he tried to sort them out and bring some semblance of order into his thoughts. After a while he managed to calm things down a bit.

Then he blinked again. The darkness around him was more complete than he'd thought. He couldn't see a single trace of light anywhere.

Something within him stirred, another suppressed memory, this one hidden by his own command. Now it came back. 'We will begin…'

Fear leapt into his throat, and he jumped up, ignoring the ripping pain in his head that accompanied the movement. He shoved his arms out, trying to feel the walls, hoping he was merely in a dark room late at night---and found himself hemmed in on all sides by thick, unmoving dark.

The cage.

He choked on a gasp of fear, and the next moment he was pressing himself against the walls, praying to find an exit, a window, a link to the outside. Nothing. He was trapped in a tiny world of black.

He sobbed, pounding his fists against the wall. Maybe if he hit it hard enough…

Deep in the lowest levels of the castle, hidden in a silent cell, no one heard the repeated, muffled thud of a person ramming themselves against a stone wall, or the ragged, terrified sobbing coming from a panting mouth.

Night. Winds blew through the castle, brushing over sleepers who had by now gotten used to their chilly touch and only snuggled deeper into their blankets. Clouds muttered with thunder in the distance, whispering of a storm to come. The stars and moon were hid in cloud. Silent in the darkness, Nightmare waited.

The storm was coming.