The Farmer's Daughter: The Dragon Dream: Book One

by Robin Janney

  Millie had done what? He couldn’t let it distract him. He cleared his throat and decided to tell her the truth about Susan’s motive. “It’s true Angela, you’re the only one I’m concerned about being kind to. Millie said what about me?”

  She refused to answer him.

  “Anyway, that’s something different. This is something different. And it’s why Susan tried framing you for robbery.”

  “Excuse me?”

  It was too late now; he had no choice to continue. He was making a mess of this. “Susan saw what I’m trying to tell you, and it made her angry. In case you’ve never noticed, I typically shun females to the point the community thinks I’m homosexual. So, when I started paying more attention to you, Susan noticed, and it made her angry because she’s asked me out several times and I’ve always told her no.”

  If looks could kill. “How long have you known this?”

  “Since that day. You were pretty upset, and I didn’t want to add to it.”

  “Don’t,” she said vehemently. “Please don’t hold the truth back from me again. Do you have any idea how many nights I lost sleep wondering why they did that?”

  “I’m sorry. I was trying…” He sighed in defeat and checked his watch; she had school in the morning and he was causing her to lose more sleep.

  “What about Cori?” she asked. “You can’t tell me she had the same motive.”

  “No,” he answered, rising from the chair and sliding it away. “She never said why.” How had this conversation turned on him so quickly? He didn’t think there was any way to salvage it tonight. “It’s getting late. If you’re done…”

  “Are you?”

  “Am I what?”

  “Interested. Like what Susan thought.”

  Even though it was what he had been trying to tell her, he panicked and couldn’t outright say it. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe?” She looked pleased though. “What kind of answer is that?”

  “You’re a fascinating woman, Angela.”

  She had no idea what to say to that. Rising to her feet, Angela looked like she was looking for an escape route.

  “What about you?” he asked. Whose heart did he hear pounding?

  Angela fiddle with her purse strap, her eyes everywhere but on him. “Can I cop-out and use the same answer you gave?”

  “That would work.” It was far more than he’d been hoping for. They stood there a moment, in anxious silence. “Hey, uhm, I know I gave you Wednesday and Thursday off, but would you be able to come in Wednesday night?”

  Angela looked a little confused. “Wednesday? No, I’m sorry. I have plans that night and he’d kill me if I backed out now.”

  “I see.” Had he misunderstood what they’d been just been talking about? Had she?

  “I can come in Thursday if you’d like.”

  “No,” he replied tersely. “That’s alright.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  A slow smile formed on her face. “If I didn’t know better, I’d almost say you were jealous.”

  He was he realized, and he was upset she’d noticed. “What makes you think I’m jealous just because you have a date?”

  Laughter bubbled out before she could stop it. “Oh! Oh! No, no, no. Look, I’ll bring my date around Wednesday night and you can see there’s nothing to be jealous about.”

  “Alright.” And Craig wondered what he was setting himself up for. He’d read it wrong somehow, but he was relieved. “Around seven-thirty?”

  “I’ll be here.” She was still giggling.

  “Here, you can go out the office door,” he said, walking to the back door of the office. “Would you still like to come in Thursday?”

  “I can do that,” she answered, following. “I almost don’t want to go, I’m enjoying our straightforward conversation.”

  “Me too,” he admitted. “But you have school in the morning and as I recall, you leave pretty early on Mondays.”

  “I do.” She sighed as he opened the door. “Lab starts at eight-thirty.”

  “Go on,” he said, holding the door open for her. “We can talk anytime.”

  “Goodnight!” She slipped out the door.

  He kept the door open enough to see walking to her car, enjoying the bounce in her step.

  13

  T he Dragon Queen had become smaller instead of bigger. But it didn’t change anything because the knight knew her power over him was just as strong as ever. She still knew how to fight, how to wound him.

  Where was the Angel? How long must he fight before she showed up? Had she finally abandoned him?

  She must be on her way now because the dragon was turning tail and flying away. She always fled before Angel could reach them. He never understood exactly what his rescuer did to the dragon, but it was enough to cause the lumbering creature to fear her.

  He turned to see her, even as his legs gave way from exhaustion. As always, his Angel caught him before he could completely fall. She picked him up and carried him away.

  To someplace new.

  She carried him to a lush oasis teeming with life in the middle of the vast desert. Trees of all kinds surrounded him, vines created curtains of flowers and fruit. The scent of so much life was intoxicating, especially to a knight who’d only ever known the barren desert. The sound of water gurgling was everywhere.

  Angel set him down in soft grass, tending to his wounds like she always did. Wild summer roses blossomed behind her, their scent overpowering all others. Daisies sprang up beside them.

  Their dialogue varied little from dream to dream. He was always afraid to kiss her, knowing she’d be grabbed from his arms as she had a thousand times before. But he could never stop himself either…he had to touch her, had to taste her, if only for a moment.

  But that didn’t happen this time.

  He kissed her, and she was still there at the end. Each extra second she was in his arms, spurred the knight to new boldness. One kiss led to another, which in turn led to touching. Gentle, passionate caresses and even more kissing until she was his, and he was hers, her body surrounding him as he filled her.

  They lay together after, limbs entwined. He didn’t know where he ended and she began. Her voice whispered to him, echoes of joy and pleasure in it. He was content. He could stay in this moment forever.

  And then it was gone.

  The dream had shifted around him, and he found himself kneeling on one knee in the grass. A single white feather lay on the ground before him, blood splattered. She hadn’t disappeared willingly – echoes of her protest still rang in his ears. He lifted the feather with a trembling hand.

  Once again, his Angel had been stolen.

  He needed his sword. He rose to his feet, and again the scene shifted around him. In the space between heartbeats, everything had changed. His body ached as if he’d been beaten. His armor had not reappeared, he stood in this new place clad in nothing but his underclothes. Where was here?

  It was dark here, too dark, but his other senses were kicking in. The floor beneath his feet was cold rock. The air was dank, smelling of rot and blood. And he could hear her whimpers accompanied by low growls and maniacal laughter.

  His Angel was in pain.

  “Angel?”

  The only sound now was her whimpering.

  “Jeremiah, is that you?”

  The knight hadn’t been addressed by his given name in time out of memory. How had she learned it? Had he even been known by that name since leaving the brotherhood? But it was his Angel using his name, and it didn’t hurt. “Yes, it’s me, Angel. Where are you?”

  “I…I don’t know,” she answered, tears still thick in her voice. “I can’t see. I’m hanging from something.”

  A torch appeared in his hands, and he lit it. Other torches lit upon walls which hadn’t existed until now. Dreams were like that, this one especially.

  He had no words for the scene before him. It was a torture chamber. Weapons of cruelt
y lined the surrounding walls. Turning, trying to find her, he saw pulleys and knives and guillotines and other horrors he had no name for. Curved blades and barbed whips. His heart stopped when he saw her.

  She had been pulverized.

  Angel was hanging just off the floor by her wings from a rope stretching to a ceiling he couldn’t see. Her arms were tied to her sides. Feathers from her wings lay scattered about her, along with her hair. The hair she had left was matted with blood and sweat. Her dress was torn, exposing expanses of skin he had just known in great intimacy.

  Her eyes were gone. Those beautiful eyes which had shown with love for him had been gouged out, leaving nothing but gaping darkness. Dried blood trailed down her cheeks, a mockery of tears.

  He limped to her, each step agony, but he was determined. His own pain meant nothing now. He had to free her, even as his heart cried for vengeance. When he found the one responsible for this, he would kill them without a second thought.

  Dropping the torch to the floor, he pulled his sword from its sheath. When had his clothing reappeared? He didn’t know, it didn’t matter. He touched the ropes binding her arms, and she tried to pull away. Her fear was tangible. “It’s me, Angel. Don’t be afraid.”

  She stilled. “I knew you’d come.”

  The knight didn’t know how to answer this. He began to saw at her bindings. Had his sword been sharper, it would have been quicker. Once freed, she reached for him and he pulled her close with one arm. With the other arm, he lifted his sword to the remaining rope. This one snapped at the sword’s touch and she was free.

  He lowered her to the floor, taking care not to jostle her injuries. “My poor Angel.” His tears fell on her mutilated face.

  She reached up in wonder, her fingers light on his wet cheeks. “You’re crying.”

  “Of course I am,” he breathed, his hand brushing imaginary hair away from her face. “My Angel’s in pain.”

  “Oh,” she said in that soft way of hers. “I’m not poor. Not as long as I have your love.”

  His heart broke. The words he had never said, couldn’t say, she knew anyway. “I have to get you out of here.”

  A low snarl came from behind. “You can try, but it won’t be easy.”

  Dim, reddish light blossomed in the room even as the torches were extinguished by a rushing wind which didn’t even rustle the hair and feathers on the floor.

  The knight turned to see the new beast. It advanced slowly, its gate even. The man-form was tall, its skin red-black. It paused just out of reach of the sword held towards it, stretching and flexing its large leathery wings.

  It crouched, face level with the knight’s. A feral smile revealed fangs. “You see,” it snarled. “Your Angel is mine…just as you now are…”

  The Beast pounced.

  C raig awoke with a violent start, his arms flailing against a foe which was no longer there. The blanket and sheet tangled around him, and he pushed at them frantically. He turned the bedside lamp on as soon as his arm was free, afraid to be in the dark any longer.

  His heart pounding, he pushed back in his large bed until his back was against the headboard. What was that dream about? No, really, why couldn’t he just have a good dream about Angela? Why did it always have to be this mix of good and horror?

  Forcing his breathing to even out, his hand was reaching out for his phone to call Kevin when it rang. His hand jerked away as he cursed. Regarding the phone as if it might bite, it rang again. Curiosity won out over fear and he answered it. “Hello?”

  There was a feminine sigh. “Craig, hi…did I wake you?”

  “No. Angela?” God, but it was good to hear her voice.

  “Yes. I’m sorry to be calling you so early, and this is going to sound silly to you…but are you alright? I mean, like right now?”

  “Yeah. I just woke up from a nightmare, but other than that I’m fine. Why?” His heart was beginning to uptick again. There was no way she could have known.

  “I…” She hesitated. “Please don’t laugh. I’ve been up praying for a while. I couldn’t sleep and that’s what I do when it’s too late for a sleeping pill…I pray and clean. And I just felt an extra powerful urge to pray for you just now, like your life was in danger. It just lifted, and I know I’m crazy for calling, but I had to check.” There was another pause, some franticness leaving her voice. “You only had a bad dream?”

  Craig couldn’t help but smile as he leaned back against the headboard again. He could tell from her tone she was feeling foolish. “It’s a recurring nightmare I have. Parts of it are good, extremely good, but this one ended more horrific than usual. It ended with this black beast telling me I belonged to him.” Why was he telling her this? Maybe to let her know how her prayers were warranted.

  “Oh.” There was a soft sound accompanying that soft word, too much like the whimpers he’d heard in his dreams. “Did he have wings? Red glowing eyes? Fangs?”

  “How?” he demanded, trying not to sound angry…or frightened. “How could you know that?”

  She didn’t answer. “Craig, what do you believe about God, and Jesus, angels and demons?”

  Now there was a loaded question. “What do I believe? If God exists, then he doesn’t give a shit about me. All that ‘Jesus loves you’ bullshit is exactly that. I want nothing to do with him. As for angels and demons…” He paused. What did he believe? Especially since they played such roles in his dreams. “I don’t know. I know there are a lot of things in this world we can’t explain. Sometimes I feel like the bad outweighs the good.”

  “What happened to you?” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear her. She cleared her throat and continued before he could formulate a response. He didn’t know what he would have said even if she’d given him the chance to answer. “I was afraid that’s what you’d say. I agree there are a lot of strange things in this world, but I believe angels and demons exist. And I believe it was a demon in your dream. I mean, it was just the way you called it a beast. That’s how I thought of the one I used to have bothering me in my dreams a few years ago. It’s just…I don’t know what to tell you if it is a demon in your dream because if you don’t believe in Jesus, nothing I can tell you would work. The best I can say is – don’t believe anything he says. Even if he starts bringing up the past, don’t buy into his lies.”

  “It’s just a dream,” he protested lamely.

  “No, no it’s not!” Her voice had switched from anxious to fervent. “Please, Craig. You didn’t hesitate to believe me when I said I didn’t know where the envelope of money came from, can’t you believe me now?”

  “Yes,” he decided in a heartbeat. “Yes, I can. Don’t believe him. Got it.” He paused. “Could we continue this later? Maybe at a decent hour when we’re in the same room?”

  “Of course. Oh wow, I didn’t realize it was five in the morning. I am so sorry!”

  “Don’t be. I have a few more questions for you, but I want to think about them first.”

  “I’ll try my best to answer your questions, I mean, I’m not a professor or anything. I’ll let you go back to bed then.”

  “I doubt that’ll happen, but thanks for the thought.” Between the dream and hearing her voice, Craig knew sleep was out of the question.

  “I know what you mean. I’ll be staying up myself, but I’ll say goodbye just the same. Good…”

  “Angela, wait.”

  “Yes?”

  “Thanks for calling. I…it means…thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Silence descended, each waiting for the other to end the conversation.

  “We could hang up on the count of three?” suggested Angela.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” he answered, amused. “One.”

  “Two…”

  “Three!” they said as one after a brief hesitation and hung up.

  Craig sat there grinning, head leaned back on the tall headboard. How was that for a weird turn of events? Angela had said the urge to pray for
him had left her just before she called…when he’d awakened from the dream? It seemed too coincidental to be a coincidence, no matter what his personal beliefs were.

  And yet, knowing she prayed for him brought comfort. Now he just had to think up some questions to ask her whenever they talked about this again.

  Still awake at six, he called Kevin.

  Kevin, as always, was his cheerful self. “Good morning! How can I help you?”

  “Hi Kevin,” said Craig with a grin. “You could help by being grumpy just once this early in the morning.”

  “Ah Craig, it’s nice to hear sarcasm in your voice when you insult me. Sounds so much better than anger. Something must have you in a good mood. Is that why you’ve called? To spread some joy?”

  “Hardly.” His friend’s good mood was contagious, but he remained serious. “The Dragon Dream had a weird twist to it, and I wanted to bounce it off of you.”

  “Bounce away.”

  Craig told him the dream from start to finish, leaving out the part where the two characters had made love. He wanted to keep that part to himself right now. “So,” he said when finished. “What do you think?”

  “You didn’t eat pizza right before bed again, did you?”

  “No!” he said sharply. God, that had been a disturbing dream.

  “I was afraid of that. I can think of a few possibilities off the top of my head. My first thought is your subconscious is working overtime to prod you into action. Second, God could be trying to get your attention. Third, the other guy is trying to jerk your chain. Or…you could just have an overactive imagination.”

  “You’ve never believed that about the Dragon Dream.”

  “No, I haven’t. And truthfully, I don’t believe it now. I’m honestly at a loss. It could be a combination of all three. Personally, if I had to choose one, I’d go with my first thought. You’re subconscious it trying to get you to move, to admit you have feelings for Angela and to either date or court her. I bet you haven’t even touched her outside the karate class you help her with, do you?”