Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 34--Piano Man

I paced up and down in my room, feeling like I was wearing a hole in the floor. The moonlight shone through my window, slightly lighting up the place enough that I could see where I was going.

Another nightmare.

Why another nightmare?

It was the first one I had in months, since the little excursion with the vyechers.

I stopped pacing and stared out the window. One scene from the dream kept bothering me.

Dead bodies were strewn across the gravel, piling up on top of each other to make a mountain of dead. Bloody hands and legs; dismembered heads; long, pink tongues; even a stray eyeball--they were all part of the death pile. While there were at least fifty dead, they only had two faces.

My father and brother.

Every single body was theirs. Every blood stain was from them. Every broken bone, every vacant eye. It was theirs.

And on the top of the mountain of bodies was Vadik.

He stood heroically, a sword dripping deep red clasped tightly in his hand. His foot was planted on one of my father's disembodied heads, sinking into the flesh like it was quicksand. On both of his cape buckles were the piercing emerald eyes of Joshua, dull and gray with death.

And in Vadik's left hand was another head. He held it by its straw-yellow hair, showing off the stark-white skin marred by scars to no one. The head still dripped blood from the pieces of muscle and spine still attached, making a dark puddle on the top of Vadik's foot.

It was Brennen.

Vadik beamed, his white teeth blindingly bright, then, with his still- bloody hand, pulled out a large diamond ring from his back pocket.

"Lizaveta Tribeka, will you marry me?"

I sighed and flopped onto the bed again, falling so hard that the pillow I used jumped up.  I pulled my knees halfway to my chest and put the heel of my hand against my forehead.

And why does this one keep bothering me so badly?

All of the nightmares I had bothered me at one point or the other, but it was a dream-bothering. The one I just had--that one was different.

It was too real.

Why Vadik, of all people? Why on earth did I see him? Why didn't I see the king or something?

I huffed and fell down the rest of the way, so I'd be lying down. Some deep part of my mind considered calling for Lia, but I decided against it. In the fourteen days after Raul's death, I hadn't seen her around. Who knew how she'd be handling everything. I didn't even know why I would call her anyway, I didn't have anything I wanted.

I closed my eyes slowly, experimenting to see if crazy-Vadik would show up again. The answer was yes.

"Why on earth can't I just sleep like a normal person?" I yelled. My pillow quickly became the unlucky object that was closest to me, resulting in it getting thrown against the door. "Why do I have to have these blasted nightmares?"

There was no answer. Of course. Why would a dresser or a pillow answer me? Talking furniture was one thing the castle seemed to lack. Thank goodness. I'd probably break whatever I was holding if the thing started to talk to me.

I threw my arm over my eyes, wanting to sleep, but knowing that it was hopeless. All sense of time was soon lost as I hovered in between a dreamless sleep, but wide-awake-ness.