He stood to get a better look at his surroundings. The people on the other clouds appeared to have wings; large, feathery wings of many different colors. Some were now looking at him. Some appeared amazed, some shocked, and others hostile. One of the amazed looking ones flew over to Sean’s cloud.
“Hello, strange wingless neighbor! How did you come to be up here with us?” the tall winged man asked while tilting his head to the side in curiosity.
“Um, well, I don’t know.” Sean mumbled. He was sure this was a dream, but one that felt more real than any he had experienced before.
“How could you not know how you came to be in the clouds?” the winged man asked in astonishment.
“Well… I just woke up here.” Sean explained.
“How amazing!” the winged man exclaimed, clapping his hands excitedly. “Has this happened to you before?”
“Uh, no.” Sean answered.
The winged man dismissed this with a wave. “No matter. I am Veldrin, what is your name?”
“Sean.”
“Well, Sean, would you like a tour of our home?” the winged man asked, holding a hand out to Sean.
Sean glanced down over the edge of the cloud. The ground was so far below that he could make out no details at all. “Uh, I don’t know about that…” Sean began nervously before Veldrin cut him off.
“Let’s be off then!” Veldrin said in excitement, as he pulled Sean to him and carried him off into the sky, snow white wings beating strongly. Sean was amazed and terrified. He had momentarily forgotten that this was a dream.
“Where are we going?!” Sean yelled in both curiosity, and terror.
“Everywhere!” Veldrin answered loudly against the wind now rushing past them.
He flew Sean from cloud to cloud, introducing him to other winged people as they went. They seemed to live in the clouds, but there were no artifacts of daily life as he knew them. They wore no clothes, and their cloud homes were as unadorned. They were simply puffs of water vapor floating in the air, that were somehow solid as rock, too.
Eventually Veldrin grew tired of carrying Sean hither and yon, and settled back on the same cloud Sean woke up on. “You are heavy, wingless one! I am tired. How long will you be with us?” he asked once he’d regained his breath.
Sean’s mind was in a whirl with all that he had seen and took a moment to focus on Veldrin’s question. “Um, I don’t know.” He answered uncertainly.
“Well,” Veldrin said wearily, “I must leave you for now. Perhaps tomorrow we can spend more time together?” Veldrin seemed very enamored of that idea, despite his fatigue. He was still holding Sean’s hands and standing very close to him with an earnest and intense expression.
Oh no, Sean thought, not again! Even in my dreams I have to deal with this! “Uh, yeah, maybe.” Sean answered hesitantly, not wanting to encourage Veldrin but not knowing what else to say.
Veldrin seemed pleased with this, and hugged him tightly before turning and flying off to his own cloud. Sean shivered at his touch, but managed not to show it until Veldrin had gone. Why is it always me?! He thought.
Sean was also tired from his tour, and soon laid down to sleep.
He slept deeply and peacefully and was relieved to find himself in his own bed when he woke. That was the weirdest dream ever! And even in my dreams guys are coming on to me! He thought angrily. He could only hope he wouldn’t have any more dreams like that one!
He looked around the room and realized he wasn’t in his own bedroom. Well, at least it isn’t a cloud! He thought as he looked around at his unfamiliar surroundings.
The room was very large. The bed was at least a king size with a canopy and lacey curtains. The color scheme was lavender and silver. Half the bed was covered in fancy pillows in the same colors. The floor was marble tile.
His inspection was interrupted when a large, ornate door opened. A large man stood there, wearing a uniform with a sword in a sheath on his belt. He carried his hat under his arm and looked like he was some kind of soldier.
“Princess, how are…” he began, before seeing Sean sitting on the edge of the bed. “Sir!” he bellowed in outrage, “What do you think you’re doing in the Princess’ room?!”
Sean was caught completely by surprise and couldn’t think of anything to say. The man became even more agitated as he drew his sword and strode forward. He held his sword to Sean’s throat, the tip drawing a drop of blood. “Answer me at once, or I’ll remove your head from your shoulders!” he roared.
“I…I don’t know how I got here!” he stammered out as quickly as he could. “I just woke up on this bed.”
The soldier’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You had better come up with a better answer than that, sir! And quickly!”
Sean was beginning to panic, having nothing to say in his own defense. Just then another door opened, a smaller, less ornate one. A beautiful young woman in a lavender and silver nightgown strode gracefully in, followed by what could only be a maid. “What is all this noise?” she inquired imperiously.
Sean looked back and forth between them fearfully. What is with my dreams lately?! He thought.
“Princess! I have just caught this intruder. He has so far refused to answer my questions. I suggest you keep your distance, he may be dangerous.” The soldier answered.
“Oh, please!” she answered dismissively. “He is obviously terrified! Put your sword away, General!”
He gritted his teeth, but grudgingly lowered his sword. “You have no idea who this man is, your Highness! Allow me to take him to the dungeon. I’m sure my men can get the truth out of him!” he asked eagerly.
The Princess ignored him and turned to Sean. “What is your name and what are you doing here?” she demanded.
Sean was still warily eyeing the General’s sword and quickly turned to answer her. “I’m Sean, I don’t know how I got here. I just woke up on this bed.” Sean repeated.
The Princess looked curiously at Sean before replying. “Very well. I will summon my wizard and we shall find out how you came to be here.”
The General had still not put his sword away, though it was lowered. He was now gripping it tightly in anger. “Princess! How can you trust his word? We must interrogate him to ascertain his true purpose here!” he demanded.
“General!” the Princess snapped back, “you forget yourself! You do not make demands of me! Have you forgotten who I am? Not only am I the daughter of the King, I am also Troothsayer for the royal court! This man is telling the truth, and is no threat to me. You will find Wizard Garmer and bring him here at once!”
The General was obviously offended at being ordered around in this way, even by the Princess, but left as ordered. “Now, I must get dressed.” The Princess said. “Mary, get my clothes and bring them to the bathing room, I will dress there. You,” she said, turning to Sean, “will stay right where you are! If you move from that spot I will call the General back in and let him do whatever he wishes with you!”
Sean was terrified and quickly agreed, gripping the bed tightly. The Princess nodded curtly and strode back through the door she had entered from. A moment later her maid followed, her arms filled with piles of cloth.
Fifteen minutes later the Princess returned, resplendent in a scarlet gown. She nodded when she saw Sean still sitting on the bed. “Good, you can follow direction. Now where is that wizard?” she asked, turning to her maid.
“I will check on him your Highness.” The maid said, curtsying and hurrying out the door.
The Princess paced around her bed, studying Sean closely as she did. He felt naked under her gaze, despite the T-shirt and sweat pants he wore to sleep in.
This continued for several minutes, with Sean becoming increasingly anxious with each circuit of the bed made by the Princess. To his relief the door finally opened, revealing a middle aged man in a dark blue robe and carrying a large tome.
“You called for me, your Highness?” he asked politely as he entered.
“Ah, Wizard Garmer, how kind of you to come on such short notice!” The Princess greeted calmly. “We seem to have a mystery here that I thought you might be able to solve.”
“Oh?” the wizard replied, curious.
“Yes, this man awoke on my bed while I was bathing. He does not know how he arrived here. Can you help us?” she asked.
“Hmm…” he mumbled, looking Sean over. “How very interesting.” He said, unconsciously repeating the Princess’ movements around the bed while examining him.
Sean tried to watch the wizard, but was afraid to move even now. The Princess watched on in curiousity. While this was going on the maid returned and waited silently behind and to the side of the Princess.
The wizard nodded eagerly at something and turned to the Princess. “Your Highness, this is amazing! This man appears to be from another world! I have never even heard of such a thing, but his energies are quite foreign to this world!” he said excitedly, as if he had been presented with a wonderful puzzle to solve.
“How did he get here?” The Princess asked impatiently.
“Well, the most likely method would be if a wizard from his world banished him here. I don’t know how one would go about doing so, though.” He admitted.
“So he is some kind of criminal?” The Princess asked with contempt. Sean winced at that. Just what I need, for these people to think I’m some kind of crook!
The wizard frowned in thought. “Not necessarily. He could have been a rival wizard, or a political enemy. He could even have been a test subject for developing this kind of magic.” The wizard answered.
The Princess turned back to Sean and looked him over carefully. “Why were you banished here?” she asked.
Sean raised his hands helplessly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I thought wizards and magic were myths.” He answered, keeping the thought that this was just a dream wisely to himself.
“Are you saying magic is unknown where you come from?” the wizard asked with interest. Sean nodded. “Interesting. I will have to investigate this situation.” He thought out loud, as he turned towards the door.
“Wizard Garmer!” the Princess called, “have you no more answers for me, then?”
The wizard turned back to the Princess in surprise. “Oh, my apologies your Highness! I became caught up in my thoughts. I will have to investigate this matter further, I’m afraid. There may be another reason for this young man’s presence, but I do not know what it might be, yet.” He explained.
The Princess nodded curtly. “Very well, please proceed with your research and inform me immediately when you have found an answer.” She commanded. The wizard nodded and bowed before turning and walking out the door.
The Princess stood in thought for a long moment before turning again towards Sean. “Well, it seems the mystery you represent will have to wait a little longer to be solved. In the meantime, tell me about your world.” She commanded.
Sean began to tell her about his world. Soon she became hungry and had her maid bring them both food. Afterwards he continued to talk about his world, with frequent interruptions for questions from the Princess. They repeated this process with lunch and dinner. Finally it was getting dark, and they were both getting tired.
“Your world is quite fascinating! I would like to hear more of it tomorrow. For now, Mary will show you to a room for you to sleep in tonight. I will send her for you in the morning.” The Princess said, dismissing him. Mary led him to a small room some ways away from the Princess’. He crawled into bed and hoped, despite the relatively pleasant time he’d had since the visit with the wizard, that he would wake up back in his bed. He did.
He was lying on grass, and was starting to itch, so he stood up and took a look around. He was in a field. It stretched off into the distance in every direction. The only break in the scenery being a small house. With a shrug he walked over to it and knocked.
The door opened a moment later to reveal a big, burly man in tattered clothing. “Wha’ ya wan” he demanded.
Sean was a little intimidated by the big man, but tried not to show it. “Uh, where am I?” he asked hesitantly.
The man scratched his head in confusion. “Ya no’ no ere ya are?” he asked. Sean shook his head. “’Ow ya et ‘er the?”
Sean had to take a moment to decipher that before responding, “I woke up in the field.”
The man scratched his head again. Then his eyes lit up. “Ya ift ‘or ‘Ichar!” he declared, pointing to himself with his thumb proudly.
Sean puzzled through that and realized what the man had said. The man, Richard, he guessed, was now looking at Sean in a whole new light. He leered as he tried to pull Sean inside his house. Sean panicked and, slipping out of his grip, ran for it. Why do they always do that?! he wondered miserably.
Richard lumbered after him, but couldn’t keep up with Sean’s practiced speed. Many years of running away from bullies (and the occasional unwanted admirer) had trained him to run fast and long. He slowly made out a tree line coming up as he ran, and went straight towards it. He was soon lost amidst the trees, but there was no sign of Richard.
Sean sat with his back against a particularly large tree to hide and catch his breath. He had run a long way, and had no idea which direction he’d run from anymore. With no one within sight, he let the tears of frustration flow. Before long he fell asleep.
When his eyes next opened he found himself in his own room. Just a dream! he thought happily.
There was a filthy man in one of the cells adjacent to his. When he saw that Sean was awake he moved over to the bars. "Hey, when did you get here?" he whispered.
Sean sat up and whispered back, "I don't know. I just woke up here." He was getting tired of telling people that, even if it was only in dreams.
"Well, you picked a good time to get nabbed! We've got us a wizard in here with us! He's going to break out. He's going to break us all out with him. He just wants us as a distraction so he can get away, but that doesn't mean we can't manage to escape, too!" the filthy man said excitedly.
"Um, okay." Sean said uncertainly.
"Just wait, when the doors open we'll slip away while the guards are busy with the wizard and the prisoners that want to fight." He replied.
So Sean waited. His teeth were chattering from the cold by the time the doors opened. No one touched them, they just swung silently open on their own.
"Let's go!" the filthy man whispered. Other prisoners were making a lot more noise. Soon there was the sound of fighting as the prison guards fought with escaped prisoners. There was an explosion at one point. Sean guessed that was the work of the wizard.
Sean and the other man moved silently, crouched down to be as inconspicuous as possible. They came across many injured prisoners, and even a few guards. The other man picked up a dagger and sword from one of them and passed the sword over to Sean. "You look big enough to use that." He explained in a whisper.
The sword was heavy, but not too heavy. Sean had never held a sword in his life, so he hoped he wouldn't need to use it.
To his relief, he didn't. The guards were so busy with the fighting prisoners that they were able to slip out unseen. The filthy man led Sean out of the dungeon and into the streets of a city. It looked like something out of the Renaissance, or even farther back. He was led through the streets of the city to an inn.
The inn keeper seemed to know the filthy man, and led them both to a hidden door in the kitchen. Without a word he opened it and ushered them through, closing it behind them.
There was light coming from the other end of the tunnel, so they could see somewhat. The tunnel came out in a forest outside of the city. "Here's where we part ways, friend. Good luck to you." The filthy man said, and disappeared into the forest.
Sean wanted to shout after him, but was afraid of attracting attention. I have the weirdest dreams!
He wandered through the forest for hours without seeming to get anywhere. Finally, he slumped in exhaustion against a tree. Before he knew it he was asleep.
He awoke in his own bed and sighed in relief. His relief was short lived.