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EPISODE ONE:

DREAMS AND PORTALS

    She was awash in its fiery breath, blinded by sweat. Her chest labored
to draw air into her agonized lungs. The muscles of her legs cramped from
the exhausting race up the mountain to the brink of the furnace and
her arms trembled from the weight of the knoll king's sword. 
    Those warriors that managed to survive the headlong rush to the demons
heart, fanned out around her to block the oncoming horde. Through the veil
of sweat she could see how pitifully small her ragged group was when 
compared to the approaching army and despite the heat of the volcano she
felt chilled. Only one thing could save these valiant few. And only the one
could make that choice. 
    She reached for the closest of her surrounding guard, dropping the
point of the sword into the ground to rest, she threw her one free arm
around his shoulders. The warrior turned to her in question and she 
pulled his head down to hers and kissed him. Releasing him, she stepped
back and quickly hoisted the sword two armed up above her head so the
blade gleamed in the firelight. His expression changed to one of denial
as she stepped back to the edge of the demons heart, he reached out his 
arm to stop her but she was quicker.
   "In the new life" she whispered to him as she stepped over the rim
and plunged into the inferno. The last thing she heard was his agonized
"No" following her down into nothing.

     Rea lunged suddenly in her sleep startling herself awake. She laid
there trying to catch her breath.
    "The dream again?" A sleepy voice asked.
     Rea jumped again at the sound of Martin's voice in the darkness of her
room. He reached over to gather her close and soothe her. 
    "sorry to scare you." He breathed against her temple, stirring the 
tendrils of hair that brushed against her ear making her shiver. 
"was it the dream again?" He asked. His arms slid around her and he ran 
his hand caressingly up and down her back. She relaxed in his embrace
and placed her head close to his neck so that his chin rested on her head.
    "Do you want to talk about it?" He continued to caress her gently while
waiting for her reply. She only shook her head and burrowed in closer to 
his warmth and allowed him to soothe her.
     After a few minutes his hand slowed as did his breathing. she sensed
him relaxing back into sleep and felt a twinge of jealousy but laid 
there quietly in his embrace and listened to him sleep, trying to forget
her dream. Several hours later she too succumbed to sleep.

    "I don't know why you don't go see a doctor about this sleeping problem
you've been having. It may just be an allergy or something" Jenna perched
on the corner of Rea's desk stirring her coffee. She frowned at the
grayish clumps of powdered creamer that refused to dissolve. "I'd say it
was this creamer crap but you don't use it"
    Rea laughed. "Why do you? Everyday you complain about the inability
of the creamer to become one with your coffee, yet everyday you shovel it
in and spend ten minutes chasing the little lumps around. At a guess
I'd say the three tablespoons of sugar you use have a lot to do with
the creamer lumping."
   Jenna glared at her over her cup. "It's two teaspoons and you
changed the subject. Why won't you go to a doctor?"
  Rea leaned back in her chair and looked up at her friend. "I have
seen a doctor." Jenna gasped as the coffee went down the wrong way. 
  "When? What did he say?"
  "Last year, he told me it was probably stress and to give up wine,
women and song."
  Jenna glared again.
  "All right, he told me I could sing"
  "Then he lied cause you never could carry a tune."
  "You've never heard me in the shower"
  "Wrong, 4H camp, our freshman year, you were lousy"
  "That was before I developed a chest"
  Jenna cast a sardonic look at the area in question. "You have yet to 
develop a chest, in or out of the shower you can't sing and I want to
know what the doctor said."
   Rea pulled the front of her blouse out and looked down at her chest. 
"I do too have a chest, thank you very much." she dropped her shirt back 
and glared at Jenna. "And you have a tin ear."
  "Regina Elizabeth Anderson!" Jenna was losing her patience.
  Rea winced at Jenna's use of her full name, only her mother and her 
great aunt Gladys called her Regina Elizabeth.
  "okay, he ran some tests and they came back inconclusive, his words,
and he told me to lay off red meat, caffeine, get more exercise and
plenty of rest then he patted me on the head and told me it could be PMS 
and if they continue I should think about seeing a shrink. End of visit.
So I've laid off the red meat and caffeine, I run two miles a day and
I still can't sleep through the night because the dreams have gotten more
frequent and more vivid. End of story"
   "What does Martin think?"
   "He thinks its pre commitment jitters"
   Jenna arched an eyebrow at her.
   "He thinks that the closer we get to making some form of commitment 
the more my insecurities act up and prompt my subconscious to release
these nightmares."
   Jenna's eyebrow went up higher. "and" she prompted.
  "And I think that I would rather be committed than make a commitment
to martin."
  "whoa," Jenna put out her hand palm outward. "you spend almost
every night in flagrante delicto....."
  "It's not a crime, we are both consenting adults."
  "With that hunk it should be illegal. God, what a bod! and you don't 
want a commitment. maybe you should be committed"
  "I know. He's gorgeous, built, smart, and great in bed but when I'm 
not with him I don't miss him, I hardly ever think of him. When he goes 
out of town on his business trips I feel relieved because I don't have
to spend time with him. I enjoy being alone." Rea paused. "I feel guilty
about not wanting to spend time with such a great guy who is obviously 
infatuated with me, so I spend more time with him to make up for not
wanting to be with him, God, I am so screwed up!"
   Jenna gaped at her. "You spend more time because you want to spend
less time." She paused and shook her head "Do you shave your legs or
do you pluck out each hair individually so the pain will last longer?"
   "I apply a light coat of battery acid and peel off one layer at a time
until I get to the roots and they fall out"
   Jenna and Rea looked at each other. Jenna broke first and the laughter 
burst forth. Rea joined in. Jenna glanced at her watch, jumped up, 
patted Rea on the shoulder and said "back to the salt mines. another day
another 35 cents."
   "When you get the raise?" Rea quipped.
   Jenna laughed, tossed her coffee cup in the trash and headed for the
door. There she paused and glanced back at Rea. "When you're through having 
your way with Martin, I get first dibs. I'd love to offer him a little 
scotch and a full body massage"
   "That being the Jenna Reynolds version of tea and sympathy?" Rea stated.
Jenna gave her a wicked grin, licked her index finger then swung her arm
down and touched her finger to her buttock, while emitting a soft hiss. 
   "After a night with me, tea and sympathy will be the last thing on his
mind" with that she closed the door leaving Rae alone in her office.
    Rea massaged the back of her neck. after all these
 sleepless nights it was becoming increasingly difficult to face the endless
work days. she reached for the phone and dialed her doctor's office. The 
receptionist answered.
   "Hello, this is Regina Anderson, Rea started, "I was calling to see 
if Doctor Watson could give me a referral to a psychologist...,
yes, thank you, I'll hold."

   At the end of the day when Rea returned home she collapsed on her 
living room couch, swamped by weariness. It would be a week before she
would get to see the therapist her doctor had referred her to. another
week of the dreams. She stretched out on the couch, resting her head on 
the sofa arm, too tired to drag herself to bed and afraid to close her
eyes. she turned to stare into the empty fireplace.

  She was cold. completely cold. It was dark and quiet and heavy. she tried
to draw in a breath and couldn't. Her chest screamed. she twisted around 
and found herself drifting, floating. With this realization came panic, 
she was under water. she could feel the bottom but how deep was it? how
far down was she?
  She pushed straight up as hard as she could and began to fight against 
the water to reach air. It was light above her and she stretched out her 
arms to reach the light, they felt heavy covered in some type of metal 
mesh fabric that dragged her back down. she struggled harder to reach the
surface, her lungs hurt, the need for air tearing at her chest. she reached
the surface, her face burst into the air and the sunshine, she dragged the
oxygen into her lungs in frantic ragged gasps.

   Rea shot up suddenly and fell off the couch. The unexpected contact with
the floor shook the last of the dream away but she lay for a moment gasping 
like a freshly landed fish.

   "You can't continue like this. You're a wreck." Jenna fussed over Rae.
"why did you come to work? take some time off, get some rest."
   "I can't, every time I close my eyes i get those dreams." Rea moaned.
   "Still? I thought you were seeing a shrink, isn't he helping?"
   "No" Rea's answer was terse " he gave me some sleeping pills but they 
knock me out so completely I can't function."
   "So that's it? I thought you were seeing a doctor not a pusher. aren't 
these head guys into talking anymore?"
    "Yes, I talk and he talks and then I talk and he gives me major drugs 
and I get better."
    "And what does he say when he talks?"
    "He makes suggestions about what causes my dreams and how to handle them"
    "What kind of suggestions?"
    "Like I shouldn't fight the dreams, like maybe I should go along with 
it and see what happens, maybe by finishing a dream i can end them. or I 
could try hypnosis"
    "So it's drugs, hypnosis, or let it happen naturally. how about 
exercise, you know get so exhausted you don't have the energy to dream."
Jenna sat on the arm of Rea's chair and rubbed Rea's shoulders.
    "And just what type of exercise would you suggest?"
    "Indoor of course, what's Martin doing to help eliminate the dream
problem?"
     Rae laughed "I should have known, your mind is definitely one tracked."
    "Hey, good, safe sex is hard to come by."
    "It's generally easier to come when it's hard. but I heard you were
difficult." Rae quipped
   Jenna blushed, then laughed. "So you're not so tired, you dog."
   "No, just dog tired." Rae yawned. "But that part of my brain trained 
to catch your faux paux is ever alert."
   "And I love you too." Jenna made several kissy noises on her way to 
the door. "But in the mean time I'm going to handle your appointments
today and you are going to go home and dream it out."
   "Ya volt her commondante." Rea called out but Jenna had already 
exited the room. Rea gathered up her belongings and headed out the
door behind her.


   It was the water dream again. she was deep underwater fighting her way 
to the surface for air. She tried to relax and go with the dream but panic 
quickly took over. Her chest hurt, screaming for oxygen and she began 
struggling to reach air. She remembered this dream and knew that the
surface was within reach and that she'd make it but still her body fought
her mind and no matter how much she told herself it was dream her body
wouldn't believe her.
   She kicked upward and pushed her arms out to help propel her body 
toward the surface. Again she felt the weight of some heavy mesh fabric 
dragging against her arms. The water began to lighten the closer  she drew 
to the su rface. her chest ached and she used her last bit of desperation 
to push herself up into the air.
   she filled her lungs in great gasps. she kicked her feet and swung
her arms back and forth attempting to tread water despite the weight 
of her clothing. Shaking  her hair back out of her eyes she looked
around trying to orient herself.
    All she saw was high granite cliffs. The walls appeared to be smooth
as glass, no hand holds no out cropping. This dream was getting less 
fun by the minute. It was a gorge or a quarry or something. The water
threaded its way around the rock wall to her left and she dog paddled
in that direction, her movements hampered by her clumsy clothing. 
    The water was cold and seeped into her tiring her even more. after 
reaching the bend of the wall she spotted a narrow sandy stretch almost
a beach about a hundred yards further, so she pushed herself to reach it.
    The water remained deep night up to the edge of the strip and after
reaching it she didn't have the energy to pull herself up so she hooked
one arm up into the sand and hung there resting.
    "If I wasn't sure I was dreaming. I'd swear I wasn't dreaming." 
Rea muttered to herself. Everything was so real, the coldness of the 
water, the hardness of the rock ledge, the brightness of the sun, 
the high walled quarry. 
    Rea reached her other arm up over the lip of the rock and raised 
herself up enough to get a knee over the edge then inch by inch she 
levered herself out of the water and onto the sand covered rock ledge.
She flopped forward and lay there face down in the sand gasping. 
    "well I'm ready to wake up now" she stated and closed her eyes 
but she still felt wet and cold. after a few minutes she tried to roll 
over but was again weighted down by her clothing, struggling she managed
to sit up and look down at what she was wearing. It looked like chain mail. 
working at it she got the shirt off over her head and found she wore some 
sort of tunic and leather leggings with boots.  It was easier to breathe
without the heavy shirt on.
    Struggling to get the mesh shirt off had taxed what little energy she 
had had left. She flopped backwards in the sand and stared up at the sky,
the sun felt warm and the sand was soft she slipped into sleep whispering..
"I'm ready to wak e up now"

    Consciousness gradually returned, Rea felt as if she had slept for 
a week. 'maybe the shrink wasn't a quack' this thought skittered
through her head as she stretched and found herself not in her home but 
still on the beach.
   "Damn, damn and double damn!" her clothes were dry and stiff, the sun 
was low on the cliffs around her, she sat up and found herself face to
face with some type of animal. her heart stopped then began to race.
    It was a huge cat kind a thing, reclining next to her in the sand.
It was long and sleek with a satin sheen coat, huge lion like paws and 
a sort a feline shaped head. The head turned to look at her.
    "nice animal cat thing" she croaked. The animal leaned its head toward 
her and opened its mouth, which was huge with giant sharp teeth. 
Rea was appalled by its breath. "I  can wake up now." She chanted.
    "dart, stop that!' a voice called  out from somewhere behind Rea.
"quit teasing him." Rea jumped at the sound but did not take her eyes 
off the 'cat'
    "I'm not teasing him believe me." she called out.
    "I meant that she should not tease you" the voice laughed
    A young man approached Rae and the cat from the far side of the sandy
strip. he was dressed much as Rea in a tunic shirt, leggings and boots.
    "I thought at first you were a boy." The stranger said, "My appolog..."
    The stranger stopped in mid word starring at Rea with mouth agape.
    "Drea?" he said at first soft and disbelieving, then with a shout 
"Drea, Drea its you, you're back!" He fell on his knees next to her and 
swallowed her in his arms.
    Rea was too surprised to speak as the stranger rocked her in his arms,
chanting a name over and over. 
    " Drea.... Drea... Drea."
    For a dream Rea was finding it very difficult to breathe being held 
so tightly by the man, so she tilted her head back and tried to ease a
little distance between them. And received another close up of the cats 
mouth, just before it rasped its tongue across her cheek. No doubt
removing several layers of skin. The stranger eased his grip and pushed 
the cat's head away. Staring intently at Rea's face.
    "We thought you were not to return, but Argonest was right. He told
us you would come back to us."
    Rea looked hard at the stranger trying to figure out who he was.
He was not someone she worked with and he did not remind her of someone
she grew up with, his face was so distinctive if she had met someone 
with this face she would have remembered him. Perhaps she had seen him
in a magazine or something. Dreams are such funny things. 
   "How long has it been?" she asked.
   "Why the great battle of course" the stranger exclaimed. He released 
her to stand and then pulled her to her feet next to him. 
   "Come we must go show Marneria and the rest that you have returned.
We have all been searching the shoreline since Argonest predicted you
would come back"
   Rea found it hard to stand, her legs were wobbly but the stranger 
swept her up in his arms and carried her across the sand toward the rock 
face, they were followed closely by dart.
   "I'm sorry but I do not remember you" Rea finally ventured.
"How do you know me?"
    The man smiled at her. "I am your brother. But I had only 9 seasons 
at the time of the great battle, so as you have not changed I know that 
I have changed greatly these many seasons." He laughed. "Even our mother 
was unsure of me upon my return home from the plains."
    Rea, who had no siblings, was awed for a moment. She reached up 
and touched his face. "I cannot remember having a brother, but if I had 
I would have chosen one like you if for no other reason than your smile."
Rea spoke her thoughts out loud. "I think I may begin to like this dream 
after all."
    Her new brother glanced down at her and smiled again. Dart padded 
silently beside them as they crossed the sandy strip.

NEW EPISODES WILL FOLLOW........

WRITTEN BY : Kerry Ann Smith © 1997