Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply, as always...LOL Enjoy ch 3.
web page: http://www.geocities.com/keitree
email: inspiredthoughts@hotmail.com

Names Index:
Serena-Serenais
Selenity-Selenai
Lita-Leinta
Rei-Rhi
Mina-Minka
Ami-Aimes

Darien-Darius
Kunzite-Kunzath
Nephrite-Nepran
Jadite-Jadreth
Zoicite-Zaite

			~*~Nightmares Chapter 3~*~

	Serenais watched her mother, face calm, but inside oh how she 
seethed with emotion!  Queen Selenai paced her currently empty council 
chambers as her daughter stared.  She was dressed in a plain dress, 
silver and white velvet, and wore only her circlet on her brow, 
instead of her typically heavier crown.  The Queen's pale hands were 
clasped in front of her breast and her brow was furrowed as colorless 
lips murmured softly to themselves.  Selenai looked up once, met her 
daughter's deep cerulean gaze, and looked away, mouth tightening.  
	"You can't do it mother, you need me here, with you, if not as 
your child then as your heir."  Selenai fought tears and shook her 
head with denial, with a mother's irrational denial.
	"No Serenais...  If there's a war coming, and if the Sleeping 
Ones are awake then I guarantee you there will be a war, then you, as 
my heir and not just my daughter, must be kept safe.  Our country 
cannot survive without you."  Serenais took one impassioned step 
forward as her mother turned her back to her only daughter's pleas.
	"It did before Mother!  Before we were Roshana and Bleserd 
our countries were one and we did not rule!  I will not flee into the 
countryside.  I will not abandon my people..."  Serenais took another 
forward step and grabbed her mother's cold hands with her own warm 
ones.
	"I will not abandon you."  Queen Selenai sighed and once again 
met her daughter's earnest eyes.  She reached up and cupped her 
child's cheek with her palm before leaning forward and kissing the 
Princess's forehead.  
	"You won't be abandoning your people, you shall be going to 
them."  Selenai swallowed.  "I'm sending you to the Defensive Mounts.  
They'll protect you, my little Princess.  The regular army will stay 
here, in the capital, with me.  If... if I should fall you will rule 
our people.  You're right Serenais, we did not always rule this 
country, we earned it, and we will not give it up without a fight!"  
Serenais looked up at her mother, her calm, serene, wise mother, and 
fought back her own tears.  Serenais flung her arms around her mother, 
embraced her with all her might, and prayed, feverently, that she 
would see her again.
	

	Rhi sighed and stretched from the desk where she had been 
keeping up accounts for the household, as restless as she had been 
since that night, two faithful days ago, when darkness had gripped her 
heart and squeezed.  She wasn't her mother... she didn't have that 
kind of power, but something was coming... something that kept her 
awake at night.  She was feverently glad that Bourne had yet to return 
from Roshana and his bi-monthly 'business' trip.  
	Walaw cried pitifully and jumped down from a plush 
accompanying chair to mew at her mistress.  The small black cat, 
purring loudly, wove herself around Rhi's legs, yowling imperiously as 
her brother watched placidly from the plush rug in front of the 
fireplace.  Rhi knelt, scratched behind Walaw's ears to placate her, 
and clicked for Waerl.  The big tom sighed and rose with a stretch 
that mirrored Rhi's before strolling over.  She scooped him up and he 
growled, displeased with the indignity inherent in being a comfort 
animal.  
	The two black cats had shown up on the servant's kitchen 
entrance several years ago, soon after she had married Bourne.  By a 
flux Rhi had been there, interviewing new help, when the kittens were 
discovered.  Bourne's steward had wanted to dispose of the 'nuisances' 
but Rhi, feeling lonely, isolated, withdrawn in a house devoid of 
affection, of anything at all but money and prestige, had opposed 
vehemently, and had taken the two for pets.  
	Bourne had thrown a temper tantrum aiken to a child's pure 
fury but Rhi, Rhi had stooped and pleaded, to appease his little boy's 
mind, and had been able to keep the felines.  To keep Walaw who was 
all black and Waerl whose ebony fur was marred by a splash of white 
across his broad breast.
	In times of trouble, in times of pain, in times like now, of 
uncertainty, they were her staunchest companions, her only friends in 
this world she lived in, as a stranger, a world of intrigues, and 
politics.  She dropped the tom and he settled next to his restless 
sister, absently grooming and regrooming his fur as he watched her out 
of the corner of sky blue eyes.  
	Rhi rose and, cold despite the roaring fire in the cozy 
office, rubbed shivering arms and jumped when there was a tentative 
knock on the thick door.  Rhi gathered her velvet robe around her 
slender form and answered it.  Bourne's disapproving manservant stood 
at the door, formal in the house livery.
	"A message for you, Lady Rhiana."  Rhi glared at the man and 
he stared, deadpanned, back, with an emotionless gray gaze.  With a sigh 
she held out one slender wristed hand.  
	"Let's have it then Geffry."  Geffry hesitated for one moment 
too long, long enough for Rhi to curl her crimson painted nails in 
frustration, before he bowed and acquiesced, pulling the 'message' 
from his breast pocket.
	She stared at the ebony feather, a thing so dark it rivaled 
obsidian, so dark it was dull, so dark it held currents of violet and 
aquamarine.  Walaw and Waerl, silent now, came and sat at her feet, 
two pairs of eyes calmly watching the feather, one slitted gaze green,
one sparkling blue.  Rhi, pale fingers trembling, took the precious 
fragile thing from the manservant.  
	"Thank you Geffry," she said shortly.  The man bowed mockingly 
and turned on one polished heel.  The door swung closed behind him, 
leaving Rhi there alone, stroking the feather from her mother's raven 
companion with an absent caress.  It was a call, a command, it meant 
one thing, demanded one thing, that she come home.  
	Rhi lifted the single feather to pale lips and kissed it, 
smelling on it her mother's perfume, and the slightly musty warm smell 
that accompanied Jerice, her mother's raven.  It was quiet in the 
room, so quiet that Rhi could hear the muffled sounds of Cook 
preparing dinner, and two maids bickering a hall away.  She looked 
down at her own two companions, recognizing for the first time that 
they were indeed more than pets, than friends, they were companions, 
companions like Jerice, like all the other animals who willingly 
decided to spend their lives with one of the Landless.
	Walaw blinked and Waerl's bushy tail twitched with feline 
amusement.  A smile, not borne of happiness, but of sheer relief, 
curved Rhi's lips upwards, transforming her somewhat severe face into 
something truly beautiful.  "Home..." she whispered as she clutched 
the feather so close it almost snapped.  "Home..."
	Home to a family that she hadn't seen in decades, home to a 
life of vagrancy, if there was any hope for life at all, for the 
feather was an emergency signal...  Her mother would have never sent 
the message if something dire, something that threatened the future of 
the world, wasn't in the works.  Because Rhi's line was destined for, 
if not greatness then notoriety.  Her people knew and if it was not 
Rhi who was marked by Fate then it was her not yet conceived 
children.  But if Rhen had called her daughter, her beloved abandoned 
daughter, then Fate had made its will clear, and it had named unlucky 
Rhi as its earthly tool.
	Rhi laughed.
	

	Nepran sipped the hot coffee from a crude clay mug as he gazed 
at the campfire, surrounded by men and women he had long called 
friends, though they could never be friends in the true sense of the 
word.  He was accepted as much as any outsider could be but he would 
always inherently be that, an outsider.  The Landless were a close 
knit family. One could not gain entrance into that esteemed clan with 
merit alone, though he had enough of that in their eyes.
	After all, he bred the finest horses in the countries of 
Bleserd or Roshana, and each time he brought a string through he 
almost always parted with one of his number when he met the 
Landless.  It was a small price to pay, or give, for they demanded no 
such payment from him.  They were a proud people, despite their 
inherent poverty, or perhaps because of it...  They did not accept 
gifts.
	Yet they accepted his fillies, his gelded colts...  Those who 
were too shy, to sweet, to slow, to imperfect in one physical feature 
to be a mount for the Defensive Mounts, Bleserd's famed cavalry and 
Nepran's chief patron, almost his only patron since few others could 
afford his prices.  They accepted his horses and in return he had yet 
to be attacked by bandits on his journey... or numerous other 
tragedies that could befall a lone traveler with precious cargo.  
Their legendary 'luck' protected them, and their close affiliation
with the bandits kept them from harm, and thus him.  He wore a black 
bandanna around his arm at all times... It identified him as a ward of 
the Landless... there were few enough that people who knew what it 
meant generally took notice.
	Rhen got his attention by placing one light hand on his 
shoulder.  He turned and rose, greeting her with a large smile that 
she returned, albeit smaller in size.  She was a beautiful lady, a 
dangerous lady, and he did not use the word lady lightly.  She dressed 
brightly, like all her people did, in vibrant colors and flashy 
clothes.  She wore jewelry, lots of it, but tastefully... She did 
everything with style, a style all her own, but style.  Her hair was 
loose, free, and reached almost to her feet.  Rhen was not a young 
woman but visages of beauty were still apparent, her features were too 
strong to ever truly fade with age.  You ignored her face, her raven 
hair unstreaked yet with age, when you saw her eyes.  They were 
violet, amethyst, and something that spoke of power, all rolled into 
one.  You could loose yourself in them if you weren't careful...
	Nepran was very, very careful.
	"Hallo stranger," she said as she sat beside him at the fire.  
Stranger was a double edge sword.  "It's been awhile."  He smiled and 
nodded in mute agreement.  
	"Aye Lady, it has..."  Her mouth tightened at the title but 
she did not reprimand him, he'd been calling her that for years.  She 
only sighed and stared into the flames, face pensive, more unguarded 
then he had yet to see in the leader of the Landless.
	"Do you plan to move on to Bleserd?"  He raised dark brows, 
obvious questions were uncommon for Rhen but he answered anyway, 
warily.
	"Yes, tomorrow morning."  Rhen rose in one fluid motion and 
let her dark eyes match his for one fire filled moment.  He shivered.  
Oh, how she burned inside...
	"I'd recommend waiting several days..."  Nepran waited, 
knowing, in some obscure way, that there was more to the puzzle...  
"I've sent for my daughter," another pause, "You shall always have our 
hospitality Nepran."  Rhen turned on her heel then and left, leaving 
him studying her thoughtfully.  Perhaps it was best to wait a few 
days...  It wasn't the first time that he had delayed his journey into 
Bleserd.  He lifted the mug once again to his lips and finished the 
coffee off.
	

	Minka pulled her dark shawl closer and drew the fragrant red 
rose tightly to her breast before throwing it on top of the hundreds 
that covered the dark casket of the late King Trennan.  She watched, 
solemn, as the funeral procession filed by, and only raised her bowed 
head to see the newly crowned King of Roshanna, King Darius.  
	He rode in an open, gilded coach pulled by two perfectly 
matched ebony stallions behind the casket.  No one looked at the
trappings though, all eyes turned to the royalty that now ruled them.  
Silence spread like plague as he swept slowly by, even the sobs and 
wailing of the grieved populace was muffled.  Darius was not a monster 
in the eyes of Roshana, he was a boy, an untrained, untested boy, and 
he looked the part.  
	He was a year older than Minka's mature seventeen but he still 
looked like a young child.  His face was noble, defined, but not yet 
as defined as it would be when it reached true adulthood.  His boyish 
earnest blue eyes stood out, startling, framed by hair so black it was 
almost blue as well.  His expression had yet to achieve the hardened 
mask of true monarchs... there was too much earnestness, idealism in 
him to inspire confidence.  His fine dress and carriage only 
emphasized his childishness, instead of lessening it.  
	King Trennan had been worshipped by his people, for all the 
qualities his son had yet to develop or show.  Perhaps, given time, 
the young King could acquire some of the greatness of his father.  If 
he had time.  Minka swallowed as she suddenly thought of the darkness 
that had gripped her those few days ago.  
	King Darius's gaze settled and met her own hardened, bitter 
blue eyes.  His strong, full mouth tightened in a slight echo of 
recognition, not that Minka had ever served her new King, once Prince, 
in the profession she was currently employed.  No, Darius had never 
frequented Nobility's Escape, as a customer.  He had as a child 
though.  He and Minka had spent hours playing war and dolls and hide 
and seek in the private, spacious back rooms of the brothel, while 
King Trennan had been visiting Malda, owner of Nobility's Escape.  
	Malda had not served any customer for almost thirty years, 
ever since she opened Nobility's Escape, since King Trennan had funded 
it.  It was not unseemly for a man of great power or royalty to keep a 
discreet mistress.  Malda had been such a woman, when both she and 
Trennan were young, before he even married.  After his political 
marriage he had kept his relationship with Malda, had been hers 
faithfully after his wife's death and Darius's birth.  If he had been 
a commoner, or Malda nobility, then they would have married for sure.  
They would have grown old together, happily in love, Minka knew that.
	Not that they hadn't found happiness with each other.  Even as 
Malda had aged, gracefully granted, but aged through forty years as 
Trennan's lover he had never accepted another to his bed save his 
wife.  Rank held them apart to some extent but nothing stopped Trennan 
from giving Malda enough money to open her own brothel, or from making 
it such a respectable place that no one but nobility frequented there, 
or from continuing to visit Malda several times a year.
	It was during such visits that Minka and Darius had played.  
Trennan recognized the necessity of social classes but he never looked 
down on those who earned their living with their hands, or their 
bodies.  Minka's own mother had been an employee at Nobility's 
Escape.  She, a frail yet stunningly beautiful woman, had died when 
Minka was several years old.  Malda had kept her, had raised Minka as 
her own quasi daughter.  It had been Minka's choice to stay and become 
one of the women at Nobility's Escape.  Malda could have easily 
married her off to a farmer in the country or small store owner in the 
city, but what kind of life would that have been?
	A life without joy, without purpose, chained, helpless, to a 
mere man.  Her mind flinched away from the memory of the one man she 
had almost willing chained herself to...  Women had few real legal 
rights in Roshana, especially low classed women.  Here, at Nobility's 
Escape, she led a comfortable life, pampered, adored, but also 
intelligent lively...  She was learned, well spoken, and well 
mannered.  The first was due to her own interest in reading, the 
second from spending hours with nobles, the third because their 
customers demanded no less.  Besides, Minka had one advantage few 
women of her situation did... she had future security.  
	When Malda had finally yielded to the realization that Minka 
would stay in her adoptive mother's profession, Malda had begun to 
groom her for the day that she would step down, or pass away.  When 
Malda left Minka would take over Nobility's Escape, and all its 
considerable assets.  The idea pleased her, though she hoped for 
Malda's sake that it happened none too soon.
	Darius broke his gaze away first and Minka smiled, sadly.  She 
was not here to honor Trennan's memory.  She had never known her past 
King, but to honor Malda's love of him.  Her adoptive mother hadn't 
stopped crying since word had spread of her beloved's death.  Malda 
would recover, in time, of that Minka had not doubt.  But she was not 
yet ready to face the stark reality of Trennan's death, not yet ready 
to see his coffin, or to see the boy who had once played in her rooms 
crowned King.  
	So Minka had come instead.
	Darius rode past, eyes deliberately resting anywhere in the 
crowd but on Minka's face.  She watched him intently until he passed.  
A richly cloaked man in midnight blue rode behind the coach on a white 
stallion.  He was dressed almost as fine as Darius but unlike the 
King, this man was no child.  He rode tall, with a fierce maturity in 
his posture that caught one's attention subtlety, and held it.  One 
well-shaped hand rested warily on the sword strapped around his trim 
waist, its scabbard worn from use, though well decorated.  
	Minka met his gaze briefly and felt herself smile faintly.  
There was nothing of Darius's idealism or earnestness in eyes too pale 
to truly be called sapphire.  Perhaps they were ice, or fire, or some 
pale, silver cross between the two that burned as it froze.  She did 
not recognize the man but then, she had not seen Darius in years.  The 
man nodded simply to her, with a condescending arrogance that was well 
familiar in royalty and nobility, a smirk tugging on features too 
hawkish to ever be called handsome.  
	Then the man rode past as well; ashen hair swirling behind him 
like a cape as his horse's hooves kicked up a flurry of rose petals.  
Minka sighed and let go of the breath that she had unconsciously been 
holding.  She looked down at her clasped hands and expelled a slightly 
more exasperated breath when she saw the myriad of cuts the thorns had 
made when she had clung tightly to the rose, before she had thrown it 
onto King Trennan's casket.


Author's Notes:  LONG time, no update, I know.  Let's just say that 
college applications stink and leave it at that... well that and I'm 
trying not to have a nervous, stress induced breakdown... *laughs 
quickly*  Umm, half of part four is written so don't expect such a 
long wait in between chapters.  Please send mail!  Pretty please!

C-ya'll, Kei