| Anger's flared, then smoldered. They were strangers and couldn't afford
to provoke anyone. Rift accepted a room while Tarin accepted the responsibility
of guarding their two "partners." Fred and Astra made their beds of blankets
and straw and all the while a torrent of thoughts, of hopes and anxieties,
roiled within the heart and mind of the warrior maiden.
There was little talk that evening as the dwarf smoked his pipe and
Fred tied knots on a counting rope. The strong odor of roast and ale reminded
them of Rift's whereabouts. Outside, the night advanced in quiet.
Fred knew not how to console his friend. There she was, dark as coal,
her skin looking almost burnt. The innkeeper had mentioned the word 'demoness'
and Fred could see why.
As the stars shined in the late hour and only crickets played their
fiddles, Astra and Fred lay their heads down to sleep. Before their eyes
closed, however, a new sound was heard drifting in the night air.
"My woman stands at her window,
Curved lines 'gainst square glass.
Uprais'd arms...bent...downfolded.
'Gainst sunset red and golded --
Come to me...
Come to me, warm arms of my lass."
Astra lifted herself and remembered. She remembered days frolicking
in the woods and nights dancing round the pole; she remembered her many
sisters and the fun they all enjoyed. She thought of her sisters --would
she ever regain their company?-- and she felt a keen loss. Hearing the
song of the lover outside, she turned her face from the knight and the
dwarf, and in the starlight only the crickets witnessed the tear upon her
cheek.
-
 Dreams and other creatures
of the night
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