The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 17

"I can tell how much you want this, and I hope that with time I can get there, but right now, I'm not."

The fact was, he was exhausted, what he had done to Karen had taken a toll on him, just as it always had, and while she could not understand why he found her so unattractive in that form, she could tell he was speaking the truth. She walked over and rubbed his hip with her large feline face, yowling up at him to give voice to her sorrow, but also to her understanding.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he caressed her cheek with his knuckles, elicing a purr from Sara who leaned into his touch.

Andrew climbed into bed and held the sheets open, allowing Sara to hop up and circle into place, before curling up in front of him. Andrew wrapped her in his arms, gliding his fingers through her fur while he fought off the fatigue that was beginning to weigh in around him.

Sara had no idea how tired she had become until that moment, and as sleep crept up on them both, Andrew said, "How do I tell Karen that Tani'm has severed her connection with me?"

Her heart stopped, and for a moment she wished she had chased after the small woman, had tried to make her understand what she had seen. But then, she remembered why she had not, and knew that in the end it was the right choice. Neither of them knew how to tell Karen, they both could feel how much Tani'm meant to her, and how much their mate wanted the young druid to join their family.

As sleep took hold, Sara remembered something she had heard a long time ago, after crying to a friend about the destruction of her relationship with her father. It had been a difficult time, and many of those moments were lost to Sara, about who she had talked to, or what she had said, but this persons words seemed particularly fitting.

"Live, love, and loss, those are the constants of life."

It was Karen's sweet and tender voice, reaching out to her from the past.

***** A Sojourn In The Night *****

Darkness surrounded Stewart in an intimate and familiar way. His gaze swept through the inky-black nothingness that embraced him, his eyes unable to find a point of focus in that deep abyss. There was a time when panic would have ridden up, consuming him and driving him towards hyperventilation, but he had experienced this dream too many times to allow that.

Instead, the small boy smiled and tilted his head back, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath of cool moist air. The scent of moss and wildflowers replaced the darkness as it embraced him like a dear and trusted friend. The sounds of leaves rustling in a breeze picked up, and he began to get a sense of the trees as they swayed to the music of a growing storm.

Of course, he never felt much more than a slight gust from where he stood, sheltered beneath the mighty canopy of the rainforest. He always loved that part of the dream, just before everything came into focus, standing in the safe place he had found as a child. Opening his eyes, his grin broadened as the forest came into view, silver moonlight casting trickling rays through the leaves far above.

It was not a large place, just a small secluded glade which he had found when he was very young, before his mother tightened her leash upon him. Stewart remembered it is if he had never left, even though he had only ever been there once. His mother and father never believed him, saying that no place could be so idyllic within the forest they called home, their views tainted by the death and decay that ravaged their property.

But his grandmother believed, and his heart soared at the memory of her, working in her garden and laughing as he told her about his hours of play in that wonderful place. A melancholy sadness seeped into his heart for the briefest of moments, to soon be replaced by joy as he witness the crystal clear waters with wildflowers hidden beneath, and soft delicate moss coating the dirt and stone everywhere he looked.

The dreams had started a few weeks back, reminding him of the place he had almost forgotten. He turned around and basked in the joy that seemed to swirl within him, trying to hold onto that brief moment of happiness before the dream took a turn back towards darkness.

Stew loved to explore the forest, even as he grew older, but something had changed a couple of weeks back, and as night fell he always found himself watching the shadows, eager to get home. He used to stay out till curfew, tending to his grandmother's herb garden during those few moments of dusk that he was afforded between chores and dinner. But, that uneasy feeling had started to prevent him, and at that same time the dream became tainted, twisted by whatever force he feared within the shadows.

And as he knew it would, the storm picked up, the trees bending and thrashing against the might of the wind, while something moved in the distance.

"It's just a dream," he told himself, trying to keep his frantic heart from beating out of his chest.

Whatever it was, it was massive and moved with unnatural grace through the shadows, large silvery eyes watching him from sudden and unexpected places as he began to run back towards his house. He hated himself for doing what he always did, but could not bring himself to stand and fight. Whatever that terrible and fearsome beast was, he knew he could not challenge it. So on trembling and terrified legs he ran in the direction he knew was safe.

The chase was tiresome and annoying for Stewart, who watched as if he was a passenger in his own story. He could not feel the exhaustion he sensed within his body, or the terror he knew was consuming his soul. Everything just happened around him, the small boy tracing a clumsy and haphazard path through the forest.

It all played out exactly as it had for the last two weeks, until he saw something new and unexpected.

Two golden eyes shone out from a bush far ahead, and as he looked into them he could see intelligence and rage. They seemed to look through him, as if he was of no consequence to them, and for a moment he froze, shock and disbelief taking the energy from his legs. His heart jackhammered within his chest, and he just stood there and watched, afraid to blink for fear of losing sight of the creature that lurked ahead.

The massive beast that chased was growing close, he could hear it, but as he looked into those amazing almond eyes of gold, he struggled to care. The more he watched, the safer he felt, and then instinct took over, forcing him to continue his flight.

With a quick backward glance, he caught a glimpse of something made of dark-fur and gnashing-teeth. It looked like a wolf, but twisted and evil beyond anything he could hope to describe. Turning his gaze back towards his path, he took off at a sprint, not daring to look up for fear of what he might find, his vision narrowing on the few steps that stood out before him.

The beast was growing close, closer than it ever had before. Just as he feared it would overtake him, a roar bellowed out from nearby, and he heard a thunderous noise as something slammed into the monster that had been chasing him. He wanted to look back, to see what had happened, but he dared not. He was almost safe, almost to the clearing around his house, where the beast would not enter.

He came out into the wide open space that surrounded his house, moonlight illuminating his property and soothing the fear that lingered in his frantic heart. Stewart continued his journey, dashing through the grove of fruit trees that he and his mother had managed to keep alive, despite the efforts of the forest to take them away. Once clear, he turned, expecting to see the shadow of the beast stalking between the trees, large silver eyes glowering out in anger and annoyance at how he had escaped once more, but he found nothing.

Trees shook, and the sounds of fearsome battle carried out from the forest, but beyond a few growls and hisses he could see no sign of their conflict.

The winds continued to buffet him from side to side as he gazed off into the forest, eager to catch some glimpse of what was happening. After a few minutes of waiting, he heard the sound of a cat yowling out in pain, followed by silence.

Fear retook its seat within him, piloting his thoughts towards dark and terrible things. His protector had been beaten, he could feel it, and still the storm raged, clouds blocking the moon as thunder echoed out, ushering in a fresh rainfall that began to chill him to the bone.

"We're doomed," he thought, looking back at his house and thinking of his mom and dad.

A tear formed in his eye, and he returned his gaze to the treeline, where he saw the shadow of the beast watching him. There was malice and arrogant glee written in the way it studied him, and somehow he knew that it was thinking of how it would eventually kill and eat him.

Never before had the dream become that dark, so filled with despair. Just as he reached his weakest moment, looking off at the monster that tormented his sleep, a flameless explosion ripped it apart, sending pieces of the monster deep into the forest. Stew backed away, unsure what had just happened, and as he moved, the rain stopped and the clouds parted, returning the moon to the sky above.

In the place where the wolf had stood, he saw the silhouette of a man kneeling down, pulling a woman into his lap. There was something about the pair that seemed far too familiar, but he could not see any details to help him place them. They looked up, golden and violet eyes shining out of the forest, and peering into his soul.

His heart stopped, the strength of them was overwhelming and beautiful. He felt their love in the way they held onto each other in that weakened moment. Stew pitied anyone or anything that ever tried to get between them, somehow knowing how dangerous they were when pressed into a corner.

Stewart began to step back towards his house as the strange couple faded into the shadows. The forest rising up and changing shape around him, until the trees were of impossible heights, and the air was dry and cleaner than it had ever been. The longer he looked, the more changes he began to see.

Points of glowing gray light formed on the sides of the trees, and in patches from the ground, revealing the forest in a way he had never known. Thick sheets of fog drifted over the ground, and through the canopy above, preventing him from seeing anything within. Strange and impossible plants took shape, rising from the soil and hanging from the branches of the trees, their alien forms whispering to him of danger and cunning.

It was still his forest, but at the same time it was so much more.

His feet reached the stairs to his porch, and without looking, he backed up the few steps until he reached the front door.

"Beautiful, ain't it?" a familiar and impossible voice spoke from the swing that hung a few feet to his side.

All sound vanished as the breath caught in Stewart's throat. He had not heard that voice in over a year, not since... Not since his grandmother had died.

It took all of his strength to force his eyes to look towards the source of those words. She looked exactly as he remembered, her weather-warn face beaming towards him, every wrinkle twisted into the most glorious smile.

"Hello, Cucciolo!"

Stew had missed how she called him that.

"But-"

He began to wonder how she could be there, talking to him, and then he remembered he was dreaming.

"Yup, little avventuriero, this all be dream."

He smiled at how she spoke, missing the funny way she put words together.

"I've missed you so much, Nonna," Stew stated as tears welled in his eyes.

She may not actually be there, but the sight of her crushed him just the same. Within a second she had risen and wrapped him in her strong arms, pulling him into her soft and plentiful bosom. The women of his family all seemed to share the same stalky shape, and just like his mother, she was a sturdy woman.

They remained like that for a long time, the old woman caressing his back and speaking to him with soft and delicate italian words that he could not understand. Eventually, his tears dried up and he composed himself enough to pull away, looking into her smiling sun-kissed, olive complexion.

"You will wake soon, little one."

"I know, Nonna, but can't I just sleep in? Stay a bit longer."

Even as he spoke the words, he saw visions of his mother storming into his room and screaming for him to turn off his buzzing alarm. They both smiled, knowing he could not stay.

He returned his gaze to the massive and majestic forest, alien and powerful in ways he could not comprehend.

"Is that what this place used to look like?" he wondered aloud, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Perhaps. Past, present, future, no can say. Listen Cucc-"

The alarm in his room broke her statement, trying to pull Stewart from his dream.

"Stay on home land, house safe, protect you. Keep them from finding you, keep you safe. Your more-"

Again the alarm tore into his dream, that time ripping him from the fabric of that reality, and dumping Stewart into his bed, where his sheets were soaked in his sweat.

"Stewart, if I have to come up there and turn off that damned alarm, there will be hell to pay," his mother's voice called up from downstairs in a way only she could manage.

Stew tried to hold onto the memory of his dream, but even as he grasped, he could feel the details slipping away. A moment later, all that was left was a warm feeling and a sense of safety from being sheltered within his house. His arm lashed out, slamming his alarm as it began its siren song once more.

"Alright, geez!" Stewart yelled out, kicking his feet over the edge of his bed and stretching out his body while he yawned.

For some reason, the fear he had developed of the forest those last couple of weeks had vanished, and as he blinked the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes, he smiled with the thought of tending to his grandmother's garden.