To Catch A Crystal Dream

Crystal unlaced the top of the pouch and pulled out a neck ring. The design for the ring itself was daintier, but the dragon charm in the center was almost a perfect match to the one she had given him. She checked his ear and saw that his heart opal was also missing. Tears formed in her eyes as she gazed at him. “This is stunning.”

He smiled, clipping it around her neck before handing her a second pouch.

“I only got you one present, that’s not fair.”

“This is for both of us, so it is fair. Open it.”

She reluctantly opened the container and drew out a cut crystal ball mounted on a heavy metal chain. She hung it around her forehead with the ball between her eyes. “I think this could be really dangerous while we are making love.”

He chuckled. “It is not to wear, it is to hang above our bed. You had a good idea when you tried to make a charm to protect us from your bad dreams. This is a more tried and true measure that won’t go up in flames with the first real horror it catches. The crystal will hold the blackness of memories that might touch you in the moon and in the light, will release the dreams harmlessly into the cleansing rays of the sun. The metal chain is purely precaution, I don’t relish the idea of having that big stone drop on us during sleep.”

“It will be nice to sleep without the worry of nightmares. I really have to get up.” Crystal grimaced as she struggled to her feet and then took a moment to lean and kiss him. “Thank you, I love you. I have to go!” She flipped back the opening of the tarp and headed out into the blackness of the storm. 

Taz rolled to his knees, intent on joining her. He stepped through the opening and stopped as a brilliant flash of lightning flared around them. The air crackled for a moment with the intensity and closeness of the bolt and then Crystal’s feel disappeared from his mind.

“Crystal?” he called into the blackness, receiving no reply. He waited impatiently for the next flash of light, and when it came, he saw her slumped against the side of a nearby tree. He raced to her side, sliding down beside her and scanning her for signs of life. Crystal’s heart was still beating, but as the lightning came again, he saw that her forehead had been badly burned. The bolt had collided with the metal from which the crystal ball was suspended. He tore the chain from her flesh and in a moment of fury, pitched it over the side of the cliff.                          

Asher snarled in fury, intending for his first blow to be the last. He was tired from a long sun of no sleep and his plan to surprise Taz and end things, had just gone astray. Asher swung the sword wide, but Taz jumped back, and Asher missed him by a hair’s width. The point of Taz’s steel struck home, shredding the cloth covering just above Asher’s knee. The darkness of blood bloomed upon the light brown fabric and Asher stumbled back over the log. He lost his footing, falling onto his back as Taz descended on him.

Lylith screamed, “Lucas, don’t forget you granddaughter. Catch, Daddy!” She threw Merage high into the air, the infant, but four suns old, silent as she plummeted towards the ground. The distraction was complete as Taz stood in horror, watching Thor as he tried to judge where his daughter would land. Thor moved wrong and then realized his mistake. He leapt into the air, his fingers outstretched as he reached out for his falling child. The moment seemed to stop in the moonlight and then Merage slammed into the soil, her body hitting just out of Thor’s grasp as the man slid to the ground.

In his distraction, Taz didn’t see Asher rise and the hammering blow of Asher’s strike was like a bolt of lightning. Taz’s blade dropped from his hand, his arm unable to keep the heavy steel in grasp. In the distance of Taz’s mind, he could hear Thor sobbing and felt the man’s grief in the air like a tangible force. Grief was a distraction that Taz didn’t have the luxury to engage in as he leaned, drawing his hand blade from his leg. He flipped it towards Asher and then rolled to the side as Asher tried to cut him in half. Taz reached for his sword, but the gesture was useless, the blade too far away to retrieve. He brought his leg over, snatching for the second blade and pitching it at his adversary, his left hand not as fluid with the steel as his right. Asher staggered, his gate altered by the torn muscles in his leg. The hilt of the hand blade struck him in the shoulder and Taz chuckled wearily that his badly aimed pitch had connected with flesh and bone. He was bleeding badly and in his fuzzy state of mind, Taz didn’t see Lylith until she was on top of him. She was a living lance as she held the hilt of Taz’s sword into her chest and used her weight to drive the point into Taz’s chest. The blade lodged in the center of his ribcage, nicking his lung, but missing its target, Taz’s heart.