Chapter 303

303 Possibilities And Certainties

As the night progressed, someone found a fiddle for Skye to play on. It was smaller than her violin, but fit her more comfortably. Because of the lively group, she played energetic music at first.

As the night progressed, she slowed down to a simple, easy-going tune. Most of the RMC members had gone off to their individual tents, but ones that knew Skye stuck around to watch. Arthur had never heard her play before, and begged her to play for his daughter’s birthday next year.

She agreed, but only if he would bring her to Zazzy’s Place. That way, she could play with the overgrown baby dragon after. Being quite tipsy, he picked her up in a bear hug, which made both Tidas and Murdoc jump to their feet in protest.

The two bantered back and forth for a good ten minutes about how Murdoc shouldn’t be concerning himself with Tidas’ wife. Skye had laughed and given up on them after the first five, then went back to playing and talking.

Many of the Highlanders admired her armor, and asked quite a few questions about it. She happily explained, but left out where the dragon leather had come from, and whom the dragon was in relation to Zazzy.

Murdoc had brought an extra tent for Zazzy to use like a sleeping bag, but her head and tail still poked out a lot. She had scooted up next to the closest open flap, and stuck her head in. The Highlanders and RMC members loved her, and kept throwing food to her throughout the night.

They had a few issues with her knocking tents down with her tail, but the few that had set them up didn’t get too mad. Zazzy was just too cute to yell at.. And big.

When the night came to an end, and Skye and Tidas were leaving to go to their tents, the two stopped to check on their cheeky dragon. Zazzy was already passed out, and several Highlanders had crawled into her tent for warmth.

It was a hilarious sight, and it took everything they had not to laugh out loud at the situation. If they wanted to risk getting smushed by a sleepy dragon: it was on them. Once they made sure that she’d be fine, the two walked together hand-in-hand, until they had to part.

.....

“I wish we didn’t have to sleep in separate tents.. We’re married for cryin’ out loud,” Skye commented with a pouty face.

Tidas restrained a chuckle as he replied; “You’d be surprised at how many couples there are in the RMC. If we made an exception for ourselves, it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else, now would it?”

Skye huffed as her pouty face grew more intense. She was quite tipsy, and wanted to get a little handsy with her husband. They couldn’t do anything more than that because she didn’t bring the ingredients for her birth control with her.

If they were to have sex right now, it would most likely result in her becoming pregnant. The thought brought a small smile to her face as she imagined a tiny doppelg?nger of Tidas running around. Noticing her grin, Tidas asked what she was thinking about..

“Do ye think that life will settle down after all of this?” Skye asked as she leaned against his arm.

“I’m not sure. It depends on what the Sync Kingdom has in store for us. We’ve had reports of them stockpiling weapons, and they’re taking mages from their families as soon as they manifest magic.. I thought Marco was heartless,” Tidas replied with a hard expression.

Stopping before they had to part, Tidas grabbed Skye’s other hand; “Why do you ask?”

Skye lazily entwined her fingers in his; “I was just thinkin’ about how cute it would be to see a tiny version of you runnin’ around..”

Tidas beamed at her; “I think I’d like to see a mini-you runnin’ around.”

Skye pulled her hands away from his, and wrapped her arms around his waist; “We can always have more than one.. But me foot is down at three. I know me self, and I canna handle more than that. I still wanna have alone time with ye, too..”

Tidas had returned her embrace, then chortled when she’d finished; “Aye.. I’ll love my children, but I’ll fight for my time with you, wife.”

Skye chuckled loudly, earning them shushing noises from the surrounding tents. They muffled their laughter, then kissed each other sweetly for an uncounted amount of time. Once they broke away, they headed into their respective tents and thoughts.

Tidas tossed and turned as he thought about what the Highlanders could have stored away in their bunkers. Their underground farm and brewery were impressive enough..

‘I wonder how many bunkers have to be interconnected to support and house thirty-thousand people? That’s less than a quarter of Alcon’s total population, but still..’

‘The way that Petrie and Murdoc talked makes me think that they Had to have found a cash of ancient weapons.. But why haven’t they ever used them? We’ve seen some guns, but other than that, they just use what every other kingdom does.’

As Tidas’ thoughts ran amuck, he slowly drifted off to sleep...

Skye was just as restless as her husband, but for a different reason. She worried about their trip to the Old Capital, and how long they would have to wait before being able to go. There was also the issue of shelter while in the Highlands; for both the RMC and Zazzy.

The winters were far harsher than in the rest of Alcon, and because of their elevation, they got a lot more snow. There was already close to an inch on the ground, and the heavier side of the storm was just starting to reach them. If it snowed for longer than a couple of days at a time, the RMC would be buried, and most likely freeze to death.

Every time the RMC had winter excursions into the Highlands, they had always set up their main camp at the boarder village. And they had never brought so many troops at once during the wintertime. They had the supplies they needed, but couldn’t get to them if they were buried in multiple feet of snow.

Zazzy being with them was another major problem. She could most likely hunt for herself, but shelter was going to be a big issue. Her ‘sleeping bag’ wouldn’t provide enough space for her to get warm in, especially with her head and tail poking out.

As Skye fussed and worried, she slowly drifted off to sleep...

************

Skye dreamed of sitting on a hillside, nursing a baby as Tidas walked towards her. A little laddie no older than three toddled along with him. Holding his father’s hand as they approached. He looked just like Tidas did as a child, and called out to her as they came closer..

The skies above her darkened, and everything around her took on a faded shading. Tidas immediately whipped his head around as he started to walk towards Skye with a hasty pace.

Suddenly; the little boy turned to ash, and blew away with a strong gust of wind. Tidas called out to her in a panic, then started to run towards her with a desperate expression on his face. As Skye stood up with the baby in her arms, Tidas shared the same fate as the child, and became dust in the wind.

Skye screamed out in terror, scaring the baby in her arms. When she looked down at the tiny bundle, the baby turned to ash in her arms. As she screamed and cried, a maniacal laugh rang out from behind her..

“You’re mine, Little Lass... MINE!”

Darkness swallowed her...

************

“NOOO!” Skye screamed as she shot up in her sleeping bag.

Kari immediately poked her head in; “What’s wrong?! What happened?!”

Skye was covered in sweat. So much so that her hair was sticking to the side of her face and neck. Her breathing was uneven and raspy from dry mouth, causing her to cough several times. Kari handed her the water pouch that Klaus kept tied to his side, and asked if she was okay.

After a few good pulls and a few deep breaths, Skye replied; “Ima okay. Just had a very, Very bad dream..”

Nodding her understanding, she left Skye to hurry up and dress. The Highlander soldiers had all been moved back to their base, but Murdoc and a few older ones were asking to speak to Skye and Tidas. As soon as she had secured her armor, she exited her tent, then looked around for her husband.

When she saw Tidas, he looked as worse for wear as Skye did. He kissed her cheek and asked how she’d slept, which earned him a disbelieving expression. After yawning, she told him about her dream..

Tidas’ face went from shocked, to horrified as she finished with her story. Seeing his expression, Skye asked what was wrong..

Tidas swallowed hard; “I had the same dream. Right before I disappeared and woke up.. The reason I was running at you after the little boy disappeared was because there was something behind you.”

An icy chill ran up Skye’s back; “Who was it?”

“I don’t know,” Tidas huffed; “All I know is that it seemed familiar somehow.”

“It called me ‘Little Lass’.. Just like in me dreams from our honeymoon.. I think it’s the same person,” Skye stated as she rubbed her shoulders like she was cold.

Walking up to them from the side, Ronnie spoke; “I don’t mean to interrupt ye two, but the oldies with Murdoc are gettin’ antsy.”

“Aye, we’ll be along in a moment,” Skye replied as Tidas entwined his fingers with hers.

As Ronnie took off, Tidas turned back to Skye; “It might be my Uncle Richard, or it might be a threat we don’t know of yet. But I do know this much..”

Tidas cupped Skye’s cheek with his free hand; “I swear on my life that when we have one: No One will Ever hurt our family.”

Skye leaned into her husband’s hand; “And I won’t ever let anyone hurt you.”

Tidas flashed a soft smile before they kissed one final time, then headed off in the direction that Ronnie had before. It was in the same direction that Zazzy should’ve been in, which made Skye happy. She could check on her scaly bairn as she talked with Murdoc.

There was at least three inches of snow on the ground now, and it was still growing. Dark, bleak skies stretched out in every direction as they looked up, and even darker clouds were in the distance. Moving ever closer to dump excessive amounts of snow on their campsite.

As Skye contemplated the coming issues, she looked over to Zazzy. A woman in a cloak with long, copper-colored hair was petting her. As Tidas broke away to see what Murdoc wanted, Skye approached Zazzy and the woman.

When she came close, the woman nodded and smiled at Skye as she continued to pet the dragon. Zazzy had instantly perked up as her mother approached, but didn’t move so she could continue to get extra affection.

“Who bein’ a good baby dragon?! Yes you are! Yes you are!” Skye cooed as she rubbed behind Zazzy’s other ear.

“How long have ye cared for the sweet beastie?” the woman asked in an eloquent voice.

“Since before she hatched. She was a gift from the Fae, but bonded to me. Thinks Ima her Momma..”

“Hmm,” the woman paused before continuing; “And here I thought that the last dragon egg was hidden away with Snare..”