Dream Killer: Book One in the Nadia Chronicles
Chapter 18: Dreamless Sleep

Astrid’s family worked tirelessly to clear the entire second floor of the City Center while Dimitri watched. He tried to help, but the formidable Astrid told him to stay with Nadia. Dimitri learned that Astrid was not only the head of her little family, but also of an entire tribe of people. They were gypsies of sorts. They travelled more out of necessity than anything else, showing their wares and buying or trading for needed materials in return. The tribe or Prestarian People, as they called themselves, travelled through the area. They always gave the village a wide birth out of respect for the dead.

The Prestarians were camped not far from the village about six weeks before when a sickness spread through the tribe. The first to become ill was Astrid’s little nine-year-old son, Kieran. He fell asleep one night and did not wake until Nadia let him out of the cell. It did not go unnoticed that the first to fall ill was the only one among them with the gift to see the darkness and deception in a person. It hinted there may have been a traitor among the tribe. It caused discourse among a people who were usually welcoming to strangers and the suspicions ran deeper with each person that fell ill. Every remedy the Prestarian’s could think of was tried to no avail.

Soon after Kieran, three more were stricken, then an entire family of eight. Finally, they decided that only a few should stay with the sick and the others would go replace a natural healer, a person with the power to heal like Dimitri. Over a third of the tribe left but none returned after many weeks. If they would have returned they would have found that all, including Astrid, had been stricken with what Prestarian people dubbed the dream sickness. When Nadia freed those few from the prison, they could return to their own bodies, waking to near winter.

“If Nadia had not found us,” Astrid had said. “We would have been doomed to walk the dream world for all eternity, for our bodies would have truly died in the winter snows.”

Some of the Prestarians set out with Astrid’s family to replace Dimitri because they knew Nadia would be with him. Others of the tribe left to replace those that did not come back and the rest slowly gathered the tribe members that were still asleep. Once all the sleeping Prestarians were placed on carts, those that stayed behind would join the Prestarian’s that were already in the village. Astrid’s thirteen-year-old daughter Zarin could use her gift, the ability to speak to birds, to help guide the first group to Nadia quickly. The birds had seen two carrying a third enter the City of Whispers as the birds call the village. Ever since the Prestarian’s had arrived they had been busy making the City Center and the surrounding village area livable. They setup camp and a clean space in a second-floor room for Nadia to heal.

Astrid was visibly shocked by the injuries that Nadia had sustained. “Where there is life, there is hope.” And got straight to work. Before Astrid cleaned and dressed any of

Nadia’s injuries she had Dimitri cook up a broth laced with dreamless sleep powder for Nadia. “I know this can sap her energy when taken too often,” Astrid responded when Dimitri argued that Nadia needed all her strength to heal. “But it is better for her to sleep dreamlessly than for us to have to address new injuries received at the hands of that monstrous man.”

Dimitri conceded to her reasoning and gave the broth to Nadia as soon as it was cool enough to drink. Nadia had silently endured extreme pain for over an hour. By the time Nadia was given the broth, she was slightly delirious with exhaustion from the dream realm and the pain of her injuries. Dimitri knew as Nadia drank, Astrid was right and could feel some of dread he had felt for her lift as Nadia fell asleep in his arms once again. Dimitri moved Nadia to the room the Prestarians had cleared and Nadia remained in a dreamless sleep for a day and a half.

Dimitri had been quiet through all the preparations because of his own bone deep exhaustion and concerns. Not once had he left Nadia’s side for more than ten minutes, constantly watching Nadia’s expressions as she slept, battling her injuries. Dimitri slept for a few hours at a time in a chair next to Nadia’s bed. He was often visited by other Prestarians that wanted to see their rescuer and give Dimitri well wishes. He heard stories from each of them of how they were saved from the dream land or about their loved ones that were still suffering from the dream sickness. Dimitri learned that more than thirty other Prestarians still slept. They were all brought to the village on the backs of carts in the hope that they would awaken soon among friends.

Just after midday on the second day after the Prestarians arrived, Nadia shot awake in an unfamiliar room. She was disoriented and in pain all over her body.

“Dimitri,” she whispered and though she couldn’t even hear her own voice Dimitri appeared leaning over her.

“Nadia?” Dimitri said full of concern. He gently laid his hand on hers and she smiled up at him. She felt sudden warmth spread from her hand into the rest of her body. She glanced around the room trying to understand where she was. The room was ten feet by ten feet with tall ceilings. Nadia’s cot was tucked in a corner under a window and Dimitri’s chair was on the other side of the cot. There was another bed on the other side of Dimitri’s chair, but it seemed little used. All at once, Nadia noticed a great many people cramped into the small space. They all were looking at her, except one woman that was grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle. The woman was humming gently to herself as she worked. The other people were moving closer to Nadia and making her very uncomfortable. They all stared, unblinking, directly into her eyes.

While she stared back at the people in the room, the woman crossed over to Dimitri, sprinkling a soft red powder into his hand. She looked down at Nadia with the kindest of smiles. Nadia recognized her, but she was not sure from where. She would have questioned the woman, but the others moved in to take the woman’s place as she walked back to her herbs. Nadia turned back to Dimitri and smiled up at him through a pain filled haze.

“Where are we?” she whispered after a moment. “Who are these people?” Her eyes fluttered and she began to drift off to sleep once more. Before she could slip back into the dream world Dimitri blew a fine mist of dreamless sleep over her. He couldn’t risk her going back into the dream realm just yet, but he did not envy the wobbling feeling she would have when she woke up again. Dimitri knew all too well the feeling one gets when they have had too much dreamless sleep. He moved her hair from her face and pulled her blanket back up before he too crossed the room toward a large bowl set out on the herb table. The bowl was filled with fresh water and he used it to wash the dreamless sleep herb from his hands.

“What people does she see?” Dimitri said to Astrid. He finished washing before Astrid responded to him.

“She must see what all of us feel,” Astrid said thoughtfully, without looking at Dimitri. “She must see the dead and there was a lot of death in this place, so therefore a lot of people to see.” She knew of only three others that could see the dead and they all had died and were brought back to life. She didn’t tell Dimitri that of the three, one was alive, but only just. He lived as a recluse, afraid of his own shadow. The other two did not survive more than a year before going mad and taking their own lives. Astrid believed that if Nadia could sustain such injuries and still return to the dream realm to rescue others she could handle the gift of seeing the dead. She murmured a prayer to the goddess of the dead and rebirth, before getting back to her tasks.

Dimitri on the other hand did not handle the news well. He went back to his chair, worried about what new surprises this girl from Earth was going to bring him. He decided to go through Nadia’s backpack hoping to understand her better. He smiled at the face he thought she would make if she found out as he glanced around the room. He almost wanting to see the spirits that Nadia had seen. Sighing to himself he went to work on Nadia’s bag. It was disheveled from all the packing and unpacking and had far fewer items then when Nadia arrived. Dimitri pulled out her last pair of blue jeans, touching the different blood stains that both Nadia and Astrid were unable to get out. As he placed them on his bed, he wondered at what Nadia would think of the nightgown Astrid and another Prestarian woman had put on her. Then Dimitri pulled out her shirt and allowed the ripped portion to dangle as he tossed it on to the other items. He threw a dozen or so pieces of scrap material from Nadia’s old blue jeans and t-shirts uncovering a large book.

“Lord of the Rings, the trilogy,” Dimitri read aloud.

“What was that?” Astrid said interrupting her soft humming. “Did you say something, honey?”

“Sorry, Astrid,” Dimitri said having forgotten that Astrid was even in the room. “I was just looking through Nadia’s things and found this book she brought with her. It looks unusual compared to our books, but interesting.”

“Oh,” Astrid said stretching as she glanced at the book, then outside. “Well, I need to go tend to my family’s dinner. Would you like something to eat?”

“Is it that time already?” Dimitri said as he also glanced out the window and then back at Nadia. “No. Thank you, though. I think I might read a little.” He tapped the book. “I’m interested in seeing why, of all the things Nadia could have brought, this book made it on the trip.”

“Okay,” Astrid said as she was leaving. “Enjoy your book, but do try and get some sleep. She will still be asleep for several hours. She will be safe in this room from those we can see and those we cannot.” Astrid laid a thin line of herbs and salt at the entrance of the door as well as along the window sill before leaving. She glanced back at Dimitri with worry etched all over her face. She had watched him over the last few days and knew he was not taking care of himself as he should. Astrid could see how absorbed he was with Nadia and admired his commitment to being her guardian. But she knew it was more than that. Astrid would be glad for Dimitri once Nadia was awake, but she was sure this would not be the last time Dimitri sat by Nadia’s side willing her to live. Astrid smiled at him, hoping he would sleep if not for himself then for Nadia. Nadia would need all the protection she could receive before the end.

Dimitri admired Astrid. She was a fifty-six-year-old mother of three gifted children that she doted on. She also had a loving husband and an entire caravan of people to take care of and yet she still found time to look out for both Dimitri and Nadia. Dimitri only had himself and Nadia to take care of and he felt overwhelmed. He sighed deeply looking at Nadia’s peaceful face thinking about all that had happened to them since Nadia had arrived in Baako. He shook his head, leaned back in his chair and opened Nadia’s book: A Long-Expected Party.