Dream Killer: Book One in the Nadia Chronicles

Nadia woke early the next day, having slept as long as her body would allow. She laid in bed without moving for several minutes, trying to figure out where she was and what brought her there. She slowly remembered the bear, the river, the cave, but more importantly, her injuries. She stretched each limb gently and hissed when her ankle gave a twinge. She also discovered deep breaths hurt a little and a small headache was forming at the back of her head, but all-in-all she felt okay. Nadia propped herself up on one elbow and had to stop herself from laughing aloud. Dimitri was still on his chair, but he was lying on the end of her bed. He was using the book she brought in case the ‘adventure’ got boring as a pillow. She shifted her feet away from him so she could sit up without waking him. His right arm was stretched out as if he had been holding her hand at one point. She glanced over at the other bed in the room and saw that it had probably not been slept in at all. Now, who has no self-preservation, Nadia thought with a grin. Trying not to move anything except her left arm she reached over to hold Dimitri’s out stretched hand slowly intertwining her fingers in his.

“Hi,” Dimitri said with a grin closing his hand around hers as he sat up and stretched the rest of his lengthy body. “Oh, Nadia,” he said suddenly with a searching look.

“What?” Nadia was so surprised by his reaction that she looked down at herself to make sure she was wearing clothes and wasn’t bleeding from an unknown injury.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I just forgot myself for a minute. How are you feeling? How long have you been awake?”

“Oh,” she sighed with relief, confirming that she was dressed. “I thought I was naked or something. Don’t do that.”

“Sorry,” he said, sheepishly glancing around the room.

“I’m fine,” Nadia said, adding under her breath “mostly.”

“I heard that,” he said and looked her over again. “Get dressed, but don’t leave the room. I’ll be right back.”

“Yes, nurse,” she said as he was shutting the door.

She got up slowly not wanting to find any injuries the hard way. She stood with all her weight on her right leg while she slipped off the stuffy, much worn, knee length night gown for her favorite, even if they were horribly stained, blue jeans and t-shirt. She was slightly winded after getting dressed which surprised her. She had to sit back down on her bed for a few minutes until the room stopped spinning and she caught her breath.

After Nadia could breathe normally again, she decided to explore every inch of the room, even if it wobbled a little bit. First, she limped over to the make shift work station exploring the different herbs. She read names she had never heard before like Marjoram which looked a lot like oregano and Hijiki which was bright yellow and floating in an oil. She also read names she knew like Jasmine on the side of a small bottle or Chamomile on a small bag. All the writing was in an elegant script done by a delicate and precise hand. Nadia decided not to touch anything because she was unsure what most of the herbs were used for.

She crossed to the window on her way back to the bed. It was a beautiful morning with only a few wispy clouds in the sky. At first, Nadia only gazed into the blue expanse with an occasional glance down at the surrounding forest that spread out for miles all around. Then she brought her focus to the village that had once surrounded the building that she was in. She looked down on the dozens of tents with warmly dressed people working all around them. Just beyond the tents were wagons and large animals like horses, cows, and the occasional donkey tied to trees, cart wheels, or posts. Chickens and young children wandered through the legs of the older children and adults that were busy making and serving breakfast. She leaned against the window to see below and discovered that the window was cold. Hearing the door close she turned to see Dimitri placing what looked like a breakfast feast on the unused bed. Just then, however, her stomach was rejecting the idea of food and she had to hold onto the windowsill as the room was wobbling a little harder.

Nadia closed her eyes to keep from throwing up as Dimitri said, “Breakfast is served.”

“Give me a minute,” Nadia said through her clenched teeth and eyes still closed. “I’m fine,” she said rightly guessing that Dimitri was concerned. “I’m just suddenly not feeling so great.”

“Why?” he was instantly at her side. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just a little nauseated and the room won’t stop spinning, is all.” She was gripping her stomach willing it to stop flipping.

“Oh,” relief saturated his voice causing Nadia to open her eyes. She saw him fix a line of what looked like herbs that she had put her hand through to steady herself.

“You’re feeling the effects of having had too much dreamless sleep powder,” he wrapped his arms around her so he could lead her back to her bed. “I know you don’t want to eat, but eating will help.”

She had several breakfast foods to choose from including eggs made two different ways and oatmeal with fruit, maple flavor, or plain. There were also breads, some kind of pudding, different types of meats, and more. Nadia decided to just have some plain oatmeal to see if it would stay down. She knew she was only going to eat a few bites so she tried to distract Dimitri with questions before he turned back into her nursemaid.

“So,” she said after cautiously swallowing her first bite. “Where are we and who are all those people down there?”

“We are in the Village of Bedros,” he said with a haunted look. “And those people are some of the Prestarians. You may remember a few of them since you saved them from Sergei’s dream prison. You saw Astrid briefly yesterday. She is the leader of the Prestarian people.”

“How did they find us?” Nadia asked in a whisper as she remembered the woman and her family she had released.

“Astrid’s daughter spoke with the birds and the birds had seen Althea and I carrying you to this place.” He watched Nadia’s face as a grin spread. “What are you thinking about?”

“How I actually made a difference, even if it was a small one.” Maybe I’m not just some girl from Gilbert, she thought. Then, shook her head with amusement and doubt.

“Now what?” Dimitri did not understand her facial expressions.

“Nothing,” she said with a small giggle. “I just think I have an over developed amount of pride and self-importance, but don’t worry. I will keep it in check.” She took a large bite of oatmeal forgetting for a moment that she was not feeling well. She was tempted to spit it out, but did not want Dimitri to think she had bad manners on top of her insane clumsiness.

“I don’t think you understand what you did for these people,” Dimitri crossed to the window. He looked out at the Prestarians cleaning up after breakfast. “There are families reunited after months of being apart. There are children that would have watched their parents die in the winter months, and parents that desperately wanted to find a way to get their children out of the dream world. You gave hope to a people that have been without it for months. Your small victory for these people was a huge blow to Sergei and no one will soon forget it. They have a feast planned for you when you are well enough to be among them.”

“Let’s go now,” she stood up. “I want to meet them. Ow.” She had placed her weight on her left ankle forgetting in her excitement that it was not fully healed.

“Hmmm,” Dimitri said as he watched her from the window. “Feeling fine, are we?” he mocked.

“Yes,” she said immediately. She was pale with pain, but still tried to walk toward the door only to be stopped by Dimitri. He scooped her up through her protesting and put her back on the bed.

“Put me down, I can do it.”

“Nadia, give it another day or so,” he said softly with understanding. “I know you want to meet them, but first you need to heal more completely or I swear I will give you another dose of dreamless sleep powder myself. I may anyway just so we can train you a little before you go back into the dream realm.”

“Oh please,” she said as her stomach did another dangerous flip warning of her oatmeal coming back up. She scooted back toward the wall and half covered herself. “I promise I will behave if I don’t have to have anymore of whatever is making me feel so gross.”

Dimitri laughed louder than Nadia had ever heard him laugh, bringing a smile to her face. “You have fought the pain and the enemy through your wakefulness and your sleep and yet I can derail you with just the mention of more dreamless sleep powder?” he said with both laugher and exasperation. “You are the most interesting and unique person I have ever met.”

“What about you?” she asked, still smiling.

“What about me?” he sat back down on his chair.

“I know so little about you and yet,” she trailed off thinking about when she had told him that she loved him and he had said it back. She blushed and looked down. “Dimitri, can you tell me about Gaia, about your mom?”

He hesitated just long enough to pick up her bowl of oatmeal to hand it to her. “Yes, but while I talk you eat a little more of this.” He handed her the bowl and spoon, but continued before she could protest. “I promise it will make you feel better.”

“Okay,” she said with a frown taking the bowl from him.

“Now, what do you want to know?”

“Everything,” she said as she took a small bite of oatmeal.

“Um,” Dimitri said as he ran his hand through his wavy brown hair. “Okay. Well, she is a great guardian of this land, the Goddess of death and rebirth, and my mother. It has been many years since I have seen her, but I love her all the same. Eat.” Dimitri stopped until Nadia put another spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth. “My father used to tell my brother and me the story of their meeting. He said as a young man he would travel from village to village to administer medicine to the sick and heal them with his and now my gift.” Dimitri looked out the window as he spoke and Nadia could see all that he said unfolding in her mind. “My father was a handsome man with a soft, comforting voice. He brought comfort to the ill and the families of the ill with his very presence.” Nadia thought that must have been a family trait watching Dimitri as he continued. “He came upon a village that had many very ill people due to their water becoming contaminated. He healed as many as he could until he literally dropped, but continued to heal others, but he still lost many, including a young boy that begged for his life. By the time the villagers had found the boy and brought him to my father he was delirious with sickness and my father had used up his gift healing others. This boy was fourteen and had so much to live for, my father had said. The boy’s mother had already lost the boy’s father and was desperate not to lose her only son, but despite my father’s best efforts the boy was not long for this world. My father left the village in a great depression and self-loathing. Even though he had saved so many, the ones that he lost tormented him. Consumed by his own grief, he did not know that he gotten himself lost in the forest as winter was beginning to fall. He made camp but knew without a proper shelter he would not be able to ride out the snow storm that was quickly turning into a blizzard. My father felt it was a proper punishment for the loss of so much innocent, young life on his watch. He built a small fire, ate a small dinner and prepared to sleep, perhaps for the last time. As the black of night descended his shivers had slowed and he knew it was only a matter of time before he paid for his mistakes. Of course, he would not die that night.” Dimitri looked back at Nadia with a small, sad smile. “My mother appeared to him in her warrior form and healed him before yelling at him until morning. He said by the time the sun had risen he was so much in love with her that he would have gone to the ends of this world and any other for her. She had reminded him of his importance and pledge to kick his butt herself if he ever did anything that stupid again. She also told him that he would never see her again. My father was very head strong at that age and decided that Gaia, the goddess of death and re-birth, was wrong. He told her that not only would they see each other again, but the next time they would love each other until his heart stopped beating or until she found someone more important to save. It took one year and dozens of really stupid, life threatening acts on my father’s part, but he was right. Against all the rules and the odds, he made her fall in love with him and they stayed side by side until,” Dimitri trailed off.

“Until when,” Nadia whispered enthralled in the story of his parents meeting and eventually departure.

“Until I was called away,” Gaia said as she appeared to them in the last form Nadia had seen her in. She was stunningly beautiful, so much so Nadia felt hideously ugly just sharing the same room with her.

“Mother,” Dimitri said with respect and love saturating his voice.

“I’m so sorry it has been so long my son,” she said embracing him. “Even now, I am breaking the rules coming here, but that story and this place called to me.” She glanced around the tiny room and then out the window. She sighed deeply as a tear rolled down her beautiful cheek. “Nadia,” she said turning to her. “I am glad to see you up. You feel strong, very strong.” She turned to Dimitri as she spoke of Nadia with a searching look before allowing her eyes to rest on Nadia again. “Have you been to the dream realm again?”

“Mother,” Dimitri said a little taken aback. “You know the answer to that. Why do you ask?”

“We cannot pierce the dream realm no matter how hard we try collectively or individually,” Gaia said as she gracefully lowered herself onto the unused bed. “It concerns us greatly and leads us to believe a different sort of ‘person’ is running it.” She hesitated on person as if searching for the right word. “I must go. I have already lingered too long.”

“Really?” Nadia asked. “But you just got here and I have so many questions.”

“I am sorry,” Gaia was oddly cold toward Nadia. “Be careful in all your decisions, my son, and train her soon.” With that she was gone.

Dimitri stared at the spot where his mother had just stood.

“Are you okay?” Nadia asked as she slid off the bed and limped to Dimitri’s side. She slid her fingers around his again and waited until he was ready to speak.

“I have not seen her in more than five years,” he said softly looking down at Nadia. “It is good to see her even if the meeting was so short. And she is right. You need to train, as do I.”

“You?” she questioned. “What do you need training in?”

“The dream realm,” he said simply. “Lunch first, I think, then some redecorating, a little healing, a few introductions, and finally our first lessons.”