Frostfen Deep.
A shudder raked her scaled body as she recognized the jagged landscape with the sickly mist that curled upward from frozen marshes. Her wings faltered. Below her she saw the broken place where she had been attacked and Sven had been injured and almost lost his life again. The memory of the pain throbbed through her chest.
Then the vision shifted. A train whistle cut through the silence, sharp and lonely. She turned her great head to watch as a train cut across the frozen terrain, its carriages familiar. The metal wheels screeched against the tracks. She remembered that journey during the ride that had carried her straight into danger.
She tried to fly away but something pulled her. Her dragon’s gaze swept the trees that bordered the deep. Dark pines. Scraggly shrubs with heavy underbrush knotted together as though to hide something.
She flew lower and landed. Even in her dream she could feel the cold snow on her feet as she moved closer to a particularly thick clump of brush. Something was hidden.
A door.
Not of natural design but camouflaged perfectly so that it was nearly invisible. It would have been easy to miss had it not beckoned for her, something she didn’t understand. There was something behind the door that called out for her, both in warning and in need. When the door suddenly opened, somehow she plunged downward. She dropped straight through the darkness into the earth itself.
An underground chamber stretched before her, cold and poorly lit. She knew that she was not there in a physical sense,but she could feel and sense everything. Her mind was wide awake as she took it all in. A noise in the distance drew her attention. She followed it through a maze of doorways and narrow hallways. And then she saw him. Bound, bruised, but unmistakably alive. Her seatmate from the plane, bound and shackled to a hook in the concrete.
Sven’s brother.
She tried to call out to Erik, but her voice would not cooperate. When she tried to move to help him, another presence rose up.
Across from him, with a predatory smile, stood Alitta. The woman who had betrayed Sven and probably tried to kill him. Her evil laughter carried through the chamber, high and sharp as it echoed off the concrete walls.
Bryn’s dragon snarled and fire rose in her throat. But before she could save Erik, the dream collapsed around her until only the laughter was left. It chased her back to consciousness and still echoed in her ears.
Bryn bolted awake and threw the covers off. She had to save him.
She leapt out of bed and her breath tore in and out of her lungs. Sweat dampened her skin, even though the air was cool. Sven stirred beside her and blinked at her sudden movement.
“Bryn?” His voice was thick with sleep, but concern sharpened it instantly. He sat up and rubbed his face. “What is it?”
She gripped his arm. Her mind whirled as she struggled to process everything that had just happened.. “I know where Erik is.”
His eyes widened and all his focus locked on her. “Tell me.”
She described everything from the train, the trees, the hidden door, the bunker, Alitta’s cruel smile. As she spoke, the last remnants of dream dissipated.
Sven didn’t question her. She knew that he didn’t know her gifts and was not about to doubt her vision if it could save Erik. He only nodded once and reached for his clothes. “Then we go now.”
Bryn insisted that they find Lars before they left the castle. He wasn’t quite as accepting as Sven had been.
“How do we know that Erik is really there? Dreams can be deceiving regardless of how real they seem.”
“I don’t know how to explain it,” she tried to tell him, “but he’s there. We’ll find that door and get him back.” She could read the doubt in his eyes but she was convinced.
Sven had backed her up. “We’re going. If you want to go, then do so. If not, then stay here and we’ll be back soon.”
Bryn grinned when Lars cursed both of them with a string of profanity before he threatened them. “If he’s not there, you will never live this down.”
The journey was a blur of speed and silence. Sven’s pace was relentless and her cheeks felt frozen as the cold winds whipped around her. She enjoyed riding on his back, but her dream had told her that she could fly on her own. She just needed to figure out how to shift, but right now wasn’t the time. She held on to Sven’s neck as he flew along. Lars flew right next to him, and several guards were poised to provide back up if needed. The landscape grew more desolate until Bryn recognized the line of trees from her vision.
Once they landed and Sven and Lars had two legs again, she studied the area. She closed her eyes and imagined the area where she had seen the door. There was nothing. They searched the bushes and no door materialized.
Lars grumbled but didn’t outright say anything. Sven also seemed a little discouraged and she couldn’t blame him. Had the dream been just that?
She finally moved a little ways away from them and stopped. She closed her eyes and released all thoughts from her head. Once she focused on her surroundings, she felt it. The pull she had dreamed about.
“What is it, Bryn?” Sven touched her arm but she shrugged him off.
“I can feel it. Like I dreamt. It’s pulling me.”
