theworldofdreams.com

Marleana plumped down on the hard barstool wearily and smiled as Bragon, the husky barkeep, slid a foaming earthenware mug of rich, dark ale to her. "Hard day?", he inquired, leaning his thick forearms on the bar and gazing at her questioningly. Marleana sighed and took a deep swallow of the heady beverage before replying. "Yes, it almost always is busy but today it was madness at the shop. All the recent invasions have caused a fair number of our protectors, the Chosen, to lose their lives and thus, their finely honed skills." She took another swallow and shook her head. "Blasted mutant rats are the cause of the most of it. This one guy had lost several points and I had him relearning level 8 casting techniques all afternoon. While he was doing that I was training a couple ladies in the finer points of offensive focus and three other men in defensive amplification."

Bragon shook his head as he straightened up and reached behind him for a rough textured bar towel. He began polishing the bar and said softly, "At least it was Minoc and not here. Those rats, they can chew through iron reinforced doors. I don't know what the Queen is going to do, if anything." He looked about a bit guiltily and continued. "I respect our Queen but we haven't heard anything from her for so long that the newer inhabitants even doubt she exists anymore. With all these recent upheavals and that crazy Prophet character running rampage all over the World, it is amazing the Light still shines."

Marleana looked pensive and aimlessly traced a design on the polished top of the bar with her finger. "I don't know, Bragon, we've both lost so many friends who tended shops in most of the cities. Why, in Jhelom alone I lost three dear friends who had worked hard for their living and lost their lives to those disgusting rat warriors." She took another swallow and stared at him, her full lower lip trembling slightly. "It can happen to us too. The Chosen are only able to do so much and there is no organization to their efforts. No wonder this Prophet is having success with townspeople, getting them enraged and acting crazy like."

Bragon reached out and covered her slim, long fingered hand with his own. She looked at him startedly and he smiled. "I may not be a powerful mage or warrior or druid, Marleana, but I'll do anything I can to keep you safe." She blushed slightly and smiled at him. She loved the way he rolled the syllables of her name off his tongue. His square face showed strength of character and she knew his relentless patience and solidity. He was one that would never give up, would never let Fate tear down.

The door of the tavern swung open and a tall figure enveloped in a long cloak stepped inside. Bragon winced and leaned closer to Marleana. "It could be worse, we could be him." he whispered, then straightened up and smiled at the approaching figure. The newcomer removed his cloak and slumped down on a stool. He had short, unkempt long hair, a weathered, somewhat triangular face with a short, straight nose and a full mouth. His shoulders were broad and well muscled but Marleana thought he could stand some steady, intense feeding. He was all whipcord and muscle with no extra fat at all. His long legs were clad in tight, faded leather and worn boots encased his feet. A good looking man but way too thin, as if he had been running himself into the ground. He even radiated a feeling of exhaustion that made her feel only more weary and his eyes seemed to be pools of shadowed pain and tiredness.

"Hail, Stefar, you are back again." Bragon said, pulling out a crystal glass and filling it will spring water before setting it in front of him. Marleana thought something a bit stronger than water was called for but this wasn't her place and she didn't know the man. Stefar's hand shook slightly as he raised the glass and drained half of it in one long draught. "Whew, thank you Bragon, that is what I needed. The dust of the road had nearly clogged my windpipe." he said in a low, fluid voice. Marleana straightened up at the sound of it. There was a peculiar resonance to the way he spoke that was quite disarming and attractive. Bragon glanced at her and grinned. "Oh, he has this effect on all the ladies." Marleana blushed and, surprisingly, so did Stefar. He shot Bragon a tired look and turned to Marleana. "Greetings, I am Stefar, and you are..." he trailed off. She gazed at his deep brown eyes for a moment and replied "Oh, I am Marleana, I run the mage shop across the street."

He nodded, "Nice to meet you. I've known Bragon for years but haven't made it here to Britain in a long time. You must have taken the shop over after Charletta?" Mareleana agreed that was the case and remarked that he looked worn out and needed some feeding and cozening. As a lost look appeared on Stefar's face, Bragon sighed and reached out to pat the man on the shoulder. "No luck this trip, eh? Your last letter said you were heading to Avatar's Isle, although in my mind that is no place for a single person to venture." Stefar nodded and said quietly, "Yes, I searched the entire isle, from one end to another. I crept into the tiniest cave, explored every nook and cranny and nearly died a dozen times. No luck, no clues, nothing, nothing." he muttered.

Concerned and curious, Marleana asked, "What are you looking for?". Too late, Bragon made a halting gesture and then he slumped back against the wall, resignation on his face. Stefar stared at her and then drew out a thing metal plate. He handed it to her and replied, "Her." Marleana gazed at the plate in astonishment. The image of a woman was perfectly engraved there in livid color and with supreme artistry. It was almost as if the woman could step out of the metal and speak! She had large, dark eyes with long brown hair with hints of golden highlights. Her face was oval with high cheekbones and a short, upturned nose. Short bangs fringed her broad, intelligent forehead and a musing smile curved the somewhat wide mouth with full lips. She was garbed in simple, loose clothes that didn't hide the hint of womanly curves beneath them. Marleana couldn't say the woman was actually beautiful but she was very attractive and a strange sense of tranquility and openeness was expressed in the engraving.

"My wife", Stefar said softly. "She vanished seven years ago and I am looking for her. You haven't seen her by any chance, have you?" he finished without a trace of hope in his voice. She frowned regretfully and said she had not but she was a beautiful woman. Stefar smiled and said "Oh, to most people she was just pretty, but to me she is the most beautiful woman that ever lived." Bragon spoke up from his place against the wall, one foot propped up on a stool, "Oh aye, she was a beautiful lass." Stefar smiled with memory and began to speak softly, as if there was a terrible pressure inside him forcing the words out of him.

"I met Jeannah in Moonglow when I was starting out. She was the provisioner's clerk and we saw a lot of each other since stopped in there often for supplies. We started spending more time together and after a couple of years, we married. We built a small, snug house outside the city and planted a garden, had a few chickens and goats and had a quiet, wonderful life. We would occasionally travel the World via the moongates to explore and learn and spent a lot of time in the Lycaeum. Jeannah loved books and I had to learn woodworking just to be able to build enough shelves in the house to hold them all." He paused and took another drink of water. His eyes were almost glazed, as if he were looking at another time, another world. "She was everything to me, Jeannah was. She was the night sky with infinite gems of light, she was the melodious sound of the forest brook, the grace of the woodland doe, the beauty of the meadow wildflowers." He smiled ruefully and said, "I often felt so big and awkward around her, she had such grace and economy of motion. But, she could dance too. Oh, she danced as lightly as dandelion fluff on a summer breeze. Her voice soothed my deepest self and she was the only Light in my life."

Bragon bent his head, as if to inspect the cashbox and took a deep breath. Marleana had a sorrowful expression in her eyes. What could have happened? Where could she have gone? Surely no woman in her right mind would have left this man with such overbounding love evident in his melodious voice. Oh, now she remembered Bragon mentioning him before. A valiant warrior without fear and yet not foolhardy. A steady and yet poetic man who could reap a bloody harvest of evil creatures in the morning and compose a song to his woman in the evening. This was that man?

Stefar looked at her with haunted eyes. "It was so perfect, for both of us. We gave each other our own time but we spent every minute we could together. When we were near one another, it was as if the entire universe shifted and all things were in harmony. Nothing bad truly happened because no matter what, we had one another. She often told me I was her rock, her anchor in life. I felt the same. We..we were going to have a baby and .. " he broke off, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. "I was hunting that morning and broke off early to gather some wildflowers to bring back to her. She so loved the varied types of flower that grew in the woods. Many times we journeyed to the flower glades near the Justice shrine just to marvel at them and inhale the delicately scented air. I arrived home with a big bunch of her favorites in my hand and went inside. She was not there." Stefar breathed deeply and took the metal plaque, staring at it with tears brimming in his eyes. "She would never leave voluntarily. Someone must have taken her, someone, something, I don't know. There was a shirt on the table half embroidered. She was finishing it for me. She would not just leave." he said in a soft moan.

The silence in the room was broken only by the patter of a soft rain that had begun outside and the painful breathing of Stefar. Bragon took the crystal glass and refilled it again with water and set it before him. Marleana got up and stood next to him, enveloping him in a long, warm hug. "Oh, Stefar, never fear. You will find her. I cannot believe the Light would allow someone like you to lose her. " she said softly. Bragon winced and sat back down.

Stefar looked at her and smiled sadly. "I won't give up. I will search the World until I find her or some trace of her. Oh, I am not a fool. She may not even be alive anymore. If she was alive, she would have made it back to me by now. Nothing could have kept her away. But, I will find a clue and if she was done evil, I will revenge her and my revenge will burn the evil out. Nothing will remain!" he grated out through clenched teeth. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed and took another long drink of water. He smiled tearfully at Marleana and Bragon. "Thank you for listening. I am sorry, I always babble about that when I stop for a moment. I just can't get her out of my mind. She is in my dreams every night, motioning to me with a smile on her face. I see her eyes in the stars, hear her giggle in the meadow brooks. I smell her scent when I cross the glades of flowers. I even feel her touch at night sometimes. When I am lying under a tree and staring up at the sky and I am almost asleep I think I see her near me and she reaches out to touch me. I am full of her always and will never give up."

Stefar stood up and wiped his eyes and thanked them both. He winked at Bragon and said, "You should not be so reticent anymore, my friend. The World is growing dark. This woman loves you. Don't let her go." Marleana's mouth dropped open as he turned and walked to the door, donning his cloak. The door opened and closed and silence once again filled the tavern. Bragon look just as stunned as Marleana but reached out take her hand again. "So, is it true what he says? He always was incredibly perceptive." Marleana blushed but looked him straight in the eyes. "Yes, Bragon, it is true. And you?" Bragon laughed and replied, "If you don't know I love you by now, you never will!" He came around the bar and took her in his arms. After a time, they sat at a table and just gazed at one another with small, pleased smiles on their faces. Then Marleana frowned and glanced at the door. "Will he find her? After all this time, his options must be few. Whatever could have happened to her?" Bragon's face grew mournful and he squeezed her hand. "Jeannah was killed by spectres and skeletons the morning that Stefar was hunting. He returned to the home to find her broken body sprawled on the floor." Marleana gasped and paled. "He dressed her in her finest gown and buried her next to the home they had built with their own hands. He came into Moonglow, where I had a small tavern, and told me she had vanished. He was filthy with dirt and blood. His eyes were wild and lost. He told me to please watch over the house because he had to find her. He left with the clothes on his back and his sword. I went out and discovered the unmarked grave. I...I did dig into it and discovered her and realized he had lost his mind. That was seven years ago and he has never returned to the house even though he came back to Moonglow to visit with me often. It is as if he has totally forgotten it, and the grave."

Bragon sighed deeply. "I kept up the house until I moved here and then I hired someone to look after it. But, I am afraid Stefar will continue to search until he finds a place too dangerous even for one of his abilities to get out of and maybe then, only then, will he find peace." Tears flowed down Marleana's face and she held him tightly as she listened to the sound of his voice resonating deep within his chest.

*reads twice to get it all in*
Nice very nice man, I wish I could write like that.
Sometime this next few months I am going to try
one. *shakes head*