Nightmare of Teja and the Tarot
The hunt is always invigorating. It is twilight and the birds are just settling into their nests, singing to the coming night. He doesn't have time for their song, though. He chases the fleeting shadow, always just short of actually seeing it; but it smells of blood and pain.
Faster and faster. His heart races with him as he pants. His quarry veers suddenly onto a path hidden in the darkness. He can hear it laughing ahead of him.
He knows that voice from somewhere. It fills him with rage: prey doesn't laugh in the face of a predator. He's being mocked; taunted.
It's pitch black, so all he can rely on is his smell and the feel of his surroundings. The path is getting narrower, with brambles reaching in closer and closer from its edge. Maybe he should turn back?
He sees a flash just ahead of him and surges forward. Almost there...
With a laugh, his quarry darts forward and he follows, running headlong into a cluster of briers. The path had turned, but he couldn't see it. He yelps as the thorns tear through his fur and into his flesh, the branches wrapping around his legs and chest, strangling, biting...
...they're strangling him, their fangs striking out to try and find a vein. They're draining him...
He frantically tries to push them off.
He's hunting.
He has to find who he's looking for...
He scrambles from the nest of bodies and fangs and hurries down the hall. He's so cold: they took too much. He's so very cold.
There's a light at the end of the hall, and heat is pulsing from the doorway. The hunt will be over if he crosses that threshold, but he doesn't want to go inside. He's afraid of walking into that room. Still, his feet move steadily in that direction until they cross into the room.
The heat of the forge beats at him and he steps back, tripping over tangles of chains and manacles that decorate the floor. Teja is bent over his anvil, folding bronze and silver. Links of chain, cuffs to lock away; but this is neither. He beats with an amazing force as the tears of rage pour down his cheeks, drying almost immediately from the heat of the forge. He stops when Jason enters, turning his face slowly up to face him.
The side of Teja's face has bubbled up angrily from the heat of the fires, the effect continuing down the side of his chest and arm. Jason gives a startled cry. Teja stalks toward him, his hands clenched over his tools.
"It is your fault! Our beloved is gone forever, all because of you!"
He drops to his knees. "I'm sorry...I didn't want this to happen. I couldn't stop it...!"
"Your fault!" Teja screams. "Lost; lost forever because you did not remember your duty!"
He sobs, covering his face. "What could I do?"
Teja throws him to the chain-strewn floor. "You will do as you should have done, had you the honor! I will save you..." He raises the newly forged blade.
"No, Teja; please!"
Teja gives a cry of pain, and the blade begins its downward strike...
Faster and faster. His heart races with him as he pants. His quarry veers suddenly onto a path hidden in the darkness. He can hear it laughing ahead of him.
He knows that voice from somewhere. It fills him with rage: prey doesn't laugh in the face of a predator. He's being mocked; taunted.
It's pitch black, so all he can rely on is his smell and the feel of his surroundings. The path is getting narrower, with brambles reaching in closer and closer from its edge. Maybe he should turn back?
He sees a flash just ahead of him and surges forward. Almost there...
With a laugh, his quarry darts forward and he follows, running headlong into a cluster of briers. The path had turned, but he couldn't see it. He yelps as the thorns tear through his fur and into his flesh, the branches wrapping around his legs and chest, strangling, biting...
...they're strangling him, their fangs striking out to try and find a vein. They're draining him...
He frantically tries to push them off.
He's hunting.
He has to find who he's looking for...
He scrambles from the nest of bodies and fangs and hurries down the hall. He's so cold: they took too much. He's so very cold.
There's a light at the end of the hall, and heat is pulsing from the doorway. The hunt will be over if he crosses that threshold, but he doesn't want to go inside. He's afraid of walking into that room. Still, his feet move steadily in that direction until they cross into the room.
The heat of the forge beats at him and he steps back, tripping over tangles of chains and manacles that decorate the floor. Teja is bent over his anvil, folding bronze and silver. Links of chain, cuffs to lock away; but this is neither. He beats with an amazing force as the tears of rage pour down his cheeks, drying almost immediately from the heat of the forge. He stops when Jason enters, turning his face slowly up to face him.
The side of Teja's face has bubbled up angrily from the heat of the fires, the effect continuing down the side of his chest and arm. Jason gives a startled cry. Teja stalks toward him, his hands clenched over his tools.
"It is your fault! Our beloved is gone forever, all because of you!"
He drops to his knees. "I'm sorry...I didn't want this to happen. I couldn't stop it...!"
"Your fault!" Teja screams. "Lost; lost forever because you did not remember your duty!"
He sobs, covering his face. "What could I do?"
Teja throws him to the chain-strewn floor. "You will do as you should have done, had you the honor! I will save you..." He raises the newly forged blade.
"No, Teja; please!"
Teja gives a cry of pain, and the blade begins its downward strike...