�Brian?? Sweetheart� will you please wake up for me, dear�. Golden voiced Backstreet Boy��
Brian heard a voice speaking and slowly he started to realise it was Sam.
�Come on� do I need to beg you or something� Frick???�
His eyes flew open. He looked into Sam�s eyes. �How did you know that? That nick-name� and that I�m from BSB?�
Sam smiles. I know a lot more then you ever will, my dear. Now will you please get up. I want to show you something.�
Slowly Brian stood up. He felt better than he had felt for days. He couldn�t help but smiled a little when he saw Sam walking around like some mother hen.
�Mother hen??? Do I look like that?�� she says. Brian blushes and Sam starts to giggle. ��You really are a cute guy know that? But I just need you to follow me, I�m gonna explain you something.��
Suddenly Brian notices a door about what he is sure wasn�t there before.
�You see more than I thought you would, but explanations will follow.�
Brian follows Sam through the door and as soon as he�s through he gasps for air. He simply can�t believe his own eyes.
�This---this can�t be!� He turns around but the door behind him is gone.
He didn�t enter a room, what he expected. He is now standing in a beautiful landscape. With trees, who look like they are straight from a fairytale, and a beautiful lake. He turns to look at Sam, but she�s changed too. In front of him stands a girl at the year of twenty, with two twinkling green eyes and short brown hair, wearing a short blue dress.
�Surprise!� The girl says with a smile. �You didn�t expect to see your mother hen in this way didn�t you?�
�Are you??? Samantha???�
�Brilliant! I shall explain it too you. Remember that Mical told you about what I could do with dreams? Create my own worlds and such??? Well, you are in one of them at the moment. I always look like this in my own worlds, idle old lady as I am� that�s how I looked� a LONG time ago I�m afraid.�
�You are beautiful!�
�Now it�s my turn to blush��
�Is this place real?�
�Not as your own world or Lythari. This is my dream and I took you in it too. When Laughly or Mical would woke up at this same moment they would see you lying asleep in your bed. But that is not why I took you to this place. You are in danger.�
Brian looked up. Deep inside he had known he was, but it was a different thing to hear it spoke out by somebody out loud.
�You don�t have to be afraid of the Eru�s at the moment. It is the Knight of the Dark who fears me. When you will wake up I will not be there. You four have to leave as soon as possible. I cannot tell you where the door is, because nobody knows��
�But when nobody knows� how can I find it?�
�Always remember� YOU don�t find the door� the door finds you.�
�Okay� but� I don�t want to bring the others in danger.��
Sam laughs out loud. �The Knight is not behind their butt, you better look out my sweet. You have to go through the woods. Mical will know the way, but be careful don�t loose them��
�Why are you talking in riddles?�
�Because riddles are often easier to understand than the truth.�
�That was not really the answer I was hoping for.�
She smiles. �You need to become some kind of stand up comedian, Lythari is in desperate need for those.��
�Any other riddles that will confuse me even more?�
�I can give you a good advice. You can do with it what you want, but listen carefully. You will get another companion, who you will not expect in the first place. Trust that person.�
Brian sighs. �I guess you cannot tell me who that is?� He looks hopefully at her.
�Don�t use your charms on me, Brian Thomas!�
�I�m not even going to ask how you know all this.�
�That�s a very good idea my sweet. I can see that my explanation only gives you more questions instead of the answers you were searching for. I�ve got something for you.� Sam hands Brian a little leather necklace with a round pendant. On the pendant are two snakes, biting in each others tails with a little green stone in the middle.
�Put this around your neck and DON�T tell anybody, not even Laughly. This will be your key. I have seen your trouble. You have started to love Lythari, and especially your three new friends. When you find the door, and unfortunately that is not something I can see, you maybe loose it for a while, but when you�ve got it back it will be a key. This key will open a door in your dreams that will take you to Lythari whenever you want, to visit your friends. But always stay careful. It will not protect you from the Eru�s. They will still see you as the Lakeman they want to catch. �
Brian looks for a moment at the necklace and then hangs it around his neck.
�Thank you VERY much. I dunno how to thank you enough for this� and for taking my doubts away.�
�You don�t have to thank me. I wanna see you back to when you ever find the door.� She winks at him.
�I�ll shall take you back to your bed. This next days are not going to be easy.�
Brian wants to turn around, but he feels how he cannot keep his eyes open anymore.
�Just stay calm and please� trust him.� Is the last thing he hears.
Chapter 19 � Problems
�Where is she?� Is the first thing that Brian hears.
�Mickey??? Where is that old lady?�
�She had to go,� answers Brian, with his eyes still closed. He wants to keep this feeling of peace a moment longer, because he has no doubt that Sam would be right about the dangerous things that were going to happen.
Mical and Laughly look at him.
�How do you know that?� asks Mical.
�She took me in one of her dreams�� Brian opens his eyes. �We don�t have to be afraid for the Eru�s at the moment, but for my other big friend the Knight in the Dark. You,� he nods at Mical, ��need to take us through the woods. Sam said you would know what she means.�
Mical looks thoughtfully at Brian, then he nods his head. �I guess she means that old route I always took to go to Valerear, a city in the East of Lythari.� He looks at Laughly and Moy at a moment. �I guess we better go then.�
�Wait!� says Laughly. �Look what Moy has.�
They all look at Moy. He is standing in front of three backpacks. �Frommm�Smmm�frttt.�
�From Sam?�
Moy starts to waggle with his tail.
�Brilliant Moy!!! I guess we all would have run away without thinking,�� says Laughly.
They all take a backpack and leave the cave, with Mical first, after him Laughly and Moy and with Brian closing the line.
�This way is not easy. It�s going to be foggy too, so watch were you walk.�
Brian can still hear Mical say this. And Mical was right. Brian didn�t believe he had ever felt so cold as he did at this same moment. They were surrounded by fog and they couldn�t see very far. Brian, at the end of the line, could only see Laughly walking in front of him, Mical was impossible to see. They had walked for hours and they didn�t take much rest, afraid for the Knight. Brian�s mind had drifted away a couple of times, to home, to Sam and he just kept on thinking about who he needed to trust. Brian almost fell forward over a stump and he needed all his power to keep on standing. He looked in front of him again, but the only thing he saw was fog and some silhouettes of trees.
�Laughly????� No answer. A panic knot started to form in his stomach.
�LAUGHLY!?!?� Moy???� Not a sound, not even a cheerful �frot� from Moy.
�Somebody!?!?� The silence became louder and louder and finally the panic exploded in his brain. His body started to shiver uncontrollable.
[VERY smart move Littrell�]
He started to run, but he stopped that quickly, because it was simply impossible to run in this place, with the fog the trees and the backpack.
�Laughly??? Please answer???� To his surprise he felt how tears started to form in his eyes.
[Crying will not save your butt here, stupid!]
�Shut up!� Brian started to feel better by hearing his own voice.
�Alright, I came this far and I�m not going to let this stupid fog get in the way.�
He started to walk again, because he couldn�t stand the idea of waiting in this coldness on his own.
�They must find out sometimes that I�m not behind them anymore.�
Brian tried to walk in a straight line, hoping it was the same direction they had walked all the time. To keep himself walking he started to sing.
�Where once was light, now darkness falls.
Where once was love, love is no more.
Don't say goodbye. Don't say I didn't try.
These tears we cry, are falling rain
For all the lies you told us, the hurt, the blame.
And we will wait to be so alone.
We are lost, we can never go home.
So in the end, I'll be what I will be,
No loyal friend, was ever there for me.
Now we say goodbye, we say you didn't try.
These tears you cry, have come too late.
Take back the lies, the hurt, the blame.
And you will wake when you face the end alone.
You are lost, you can never go home.�
[AN: Gollum�s Song from the official Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers soundtrack]
[hmmm� not really the most cheerful song to sing at the moment, but it�s okay]
�Nick will never believe me when I say that I am talking with myself�� Brian said with a smile. Suddenly he sees a light at the left side of him.
�Laughly?� He says softly.
____________
�He�s gone� MICKEY STOP!!!� screams Laughly. Mical turns around.
�What is it?�
�Brian is not longer walking behind me!� Laughly really starts to panic.
�Calm down� I don�t know what he has got, but he certainly has got some kind of gift to escape out of difficulties.� He puts an arm around Laughly. �Where�s my always happy friend?�
�Happiness is unfortunately not one of the services I offer,� speaks a cruel voice from behind them.
Mical and Laughly both turn around, while Moy tries to hide away behind them. In front of them was standing the Knight of the Dark.
_______________
Slowly Brian walked towards the lighted spot in the forest. He didn�t knew if he could trust it, so he had decided not to say anything and be as silent as possible. He had entered now closely enough to see a little campfire burning. He took some steps forward, still carefully.
�Don�t be afraid, lakeman,� said a voice out of nothing.
Immediately Brian recognised this voice. It was Gunyan, son of the Knight of the Dark�
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