"Your Majesty, are you all right?" she asked.

Lynan looked up, still disoriented. "Yes. Yes, I think so."

Someone else came into the tent. "I will see to him," said the second person, and Lynan recognized Korigan's voice. He heard the strike of a flint, and a lamp blazoned in the darkness. The Red Hand bowed and left.

"Are you sure you are all right?" Korigan asked. She put the lamp down on the floor and helped him back to his cot.

"Yes." He grabbed a blanket and put it around him.

"You were dreaming of Silona again?"

He looked at her, startled. "This is the second time you've known."

"I told you she has a presence; I can feel when she is near."

"She never leaves her forest," Lynan said, his tone dismissive.

"She does not have to, not with her blood in you. And you are closer to her forest now than you have been since being given her blood."

Lynan groaned. "They are not dreams, really, are they?"

Korigan sat down beside him. "No. But it does not mean that she controls you, if that's what you're afraid of."

Lynan swallowed. "In the battle, when Kumul was killed, I changed."

"I know. We all saw it. It has happened to you before. When we fought the mercenaries, and when you killed the grass wolf."

"Does she not control me then?"

"You change to protect or avenge those you love, I think. You have some of her hate and some of her strength, and her invulnerability to normal weapons, but you do not turn on your own, you do not drink the blood of those you kill. You are no vampire, Lynan."

"Then what am I?"

"You know what you are, I think. Finally, you know what you are. The battle against the Grenda Lear army showed you that. You have a destiny."

"A destiny for what?" he voiced ruefully. "Killing my own people?"

Korigan shrugged. "I don't know. But others feel it, too. That is why you are so loved by your companions-Gudon, Jenrosa, Ager..." She hesitated, not wanting to say the name.

"And Kumul," he said. His eyes brimmed with tears. He turned his face away in shame.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

Korigan put her arms around him and held him close to her. She could feel his head against her heart, and wondered if he heard it."It is all right to cry for those you love," she said, and after a while the tears came to her eyes as well.

Version History.

V1.0-Aug2004-Proofread and formatted from the paperback.