She was back in Dragonsbane.

She knew this because she recognized the castle, it was a place she had grown up in and lived for most of her life. She was back in that strange, dark hallway and had the cringe that she was not alone. It made her shiver and caused a chill to run down her spine. She hated this feeling.

“Lyra…”

The voice that called to her was masculine but she saw no one in the hall, it was just a long and empty passageway that echoed every sound that it could pick up. She stretched out her hand and reached for the stone walls in the darkness, they were cold to the feel but she still held on to it as she could not see a single thing in here.

“Red is a dangerous color on you, Lyra…”

That voice again. It sounded all too familiar and it caused her to feel a prickly sensation in the crook of her neck. She placed her hand which had caught on the coolness from resting on the stone walls, there to soothe it. She felt something wet sip between her fingers but that did not bother her and neither did it really attract her attention because something else did.

Ryder sat at the edge of the bed, the anger in him not having totally vanished but he was calm somehow. He was calm for her. The spot he had marked her on her neck suddenly glowed a bright red like she had just been bitten and two streams of blood slowly sipped out. He took a wet towel and wiped the blood off, then placed the towel there for a while, his other hand stroking hers. Her brows furrowed and she gasped slightly but remained unconscious.

Down the hallway, a soft light began to glow, drawing her attention. Slowly, she made her way towards it, fear strongly gripping her but curiosity pushing her forward. The light got brighter as she neared it and only when she had gotten close enough did she realize that what had been glowing was not just a light, but it was… a woman?

She stopped when she was at a distance and watched the woman, her skin glowed brightly. Bright enough to illuminate the hallway where she was. Lyra stood back, part of her wondering if she was really in the castle in Dragonsbane or somewhere else because she had never met anyone with this glowing ability. Only witches she had heard of could perform such.

She gasped and stumbled backward... Witches.

“I know you.”  The woman spoke, addressing her. Her body twisted in her direction and the cloth she had on her body danced about her, floating and flowing in the air around her. Lyra took a step back but the woman clawed her fingers in the air in Lyra’s direction and she was drawn closer to the woman. She smiled sinisterly, fixing her eyes on Lyra’s and making it impossible for her to look away.

“I know you,” she repeated. “Lyra… Khione… I guess the fuss this time was about you.” Then she giggled, the sound reached into the depths of Lyra’s heart and shook it with great fear causing her to whimper.

“Who are you?” Lyra managed to ask, she could not move. The woman snaked closer to her, too close to her that Lyra, on impulse, shut her eyes tightly. She felt the woman’s cold cheek very close to her face, the woman licked the spot on her neck where Ryder had marked her thirty-six years ago, and Lyra seized to breathe. The woman whispered her name to Lyra’s ears, and Lyra, without knowing, repeated that sucking in a breath, her back arched and her eyes shot open. She was awake.

Ryder’s hand stopped moving across the back of her palm and he looked at Lyra as the light in her eyes began to dim and settle. She was awake, yes, but she was not yet fully conscious. She had whispered a name as she woke, it was a name he knew, it was a name he was only supposed to know, and it was a name he had come to dread. How could she possibly know that name? Did she perhaps, know the bearer of the name as well?

He got up and turned away from the bed, walking towards the door. “Take over from here. I have work in the study that needs to be done.” He said to Xanth, and without waiting for a reply, walked out of the room.

Xanth moved closer to the bed as the Maid who had been standing close to her bedside helped her sit up. She felt very weak and drained and her head was woozy.

“Water,” She whispered, and the servant girl turned to the table by the window to pour her a cup of water from the pitcher there.

“How are you feeling now?” Xanth asked and she shook her head negatively in response, collecting the cup from the girl and drowning the water quickly.

“More.” She requested and the girl got her another cup. She looked to Xanth. “Where is he? And what happened?”

Xanth sighed as he turned his head slightly towards the door and then back to face Lyra. “Ryder is fine now, thanks to you.” He beamed at her. “You did it.”

She drank the second cup and asked for a third, wondering why she would be this thirsty. “But I cannot recollect what exactly had happened.”

“You passed out after that, seems it was a bit too much for you to take for your first time.”

“For my first time?” She reached her hand for the cup and then remembered when Xanth had asked her to heal Ryder. Was that what had happened? She had healed him? “I healed him?”

He nodded.

“Where is he now?”

“Should be in the study down the hall, buried in tons of paperwork.”

She shifted her feet down from the bed, taking the arm of the servant girl to help steady herself. “I want to see him.”

“No.” He held her back and she looked up at him confused. “Not right now, some other time. He doesn’t like to be disturbed when he is in the study and that place is off-limits.”

The study…

She looked away from Xanth and focused on the floor. That man had told her about the study, something about her importance and the link to the year of Osyron. All this while, she had not had a chance to find where this study was, she had not even remembered that she had such conversations with someone. If she was to keep remaining here, she would want to not remain clueless, all they told her was that she was important, she just wanted to know just how important she was. And what the year of Osyron had to do with her?

She contemplated asking Xanth about the year of Osyron, but would he tell her the truth? Or rather remain quiet about it?

She took in a deep breath, curiosity was eating her up from the inside and she was just itching to unravel more. Maybe it might be something she would regret but then at least, her curiosity would be satisfied. And the dreams…

The dreams she kept having, the strange woman that kept coming to her in her dreams. The woman was not all that frightening but one would be stupid not to be cautious of her. The aura she gave off was a strong one and Lyra found herself repelling it, she did not like the woman at all but she could not tell if the woman felt the same way about her. She was just unreadable and mysterious and she pulled on Lyra’s curiosity.

Just as she pulled on Ryder’s.

He sat in the darkest part of the study, his eyes focused on the lantern on the table far away, the dancing flame reminded him of her and now she had become all too familiar to him that he could no longer regard her as a total and complete stranger, but he had never met this woman, he had never seen her physically, he had never mentioned her to anyone and yet Lyra had mentioned her name in her sleep.

Did she perhaps hunt Lyra’s dream too? Were they connected in some strange way? Or did Lyra perhaps know anything about this strange woman?

He sighed and straightened up, it looked like he would have to question her to find the truth about this woman and the dreams. But then was there really a way that they could be connected? When the dreams had first come to him, he knew nothing about Lyra. Sure enough, she was not even born yet, so what connection could there be? She was the only one capable of making him feel scared and vulnerable and he hated such feelings. He had to deal with this and get rid of her, and one way he would do that was through Lyra.