The Curse Conduit
Chapter 4

One more restless night for Derek as he again woke with a start. However his dreams had been so much more intense, so very real. He made a move to get out of bed and noticed a drop of blood hit his chest. Reaching for his nose and brushing it gently with his fingers, they were covered in blood. Heading for the bathroom to have a look at himself; Derek was shocked to see just how much his nose was bleeding. Not only that, he could see a bruise on his upper arm, like he had been hit with something.

After a few minutes of holding his nose it stopped bleeding. Pushing on the bruise he winced at the pain. “God what the hell did I do to myself last night?!!”

He turned the water on in the shower and adjusted the temperature. As he was about to get in he swung around convinced that he had heard someone call his name. “Hey who’s in my room?”

Derek went back out into the main part of the hotel room but it was empty. He checked in the hallway to make sure and it too was empty. Shaking his head he returned to the bathroom and his shower. Eyes closed, letting the water soothe his body Derek jumped and opened his eyes as again he heard a voice but this time he heard what it had said. “Declan.”

Derek had heard it; sure he had felt a presence in the room as well.

“Who’s out there?”

Apart from the sound of the running water and his breathing there were no other sounds. Derek listened intently for a few moments but nothing. Unnerved he never finished the shower instead choosing to get dressed. Maybe the room, the hotel was haunted. But then, why had he heard the name of the man in his dreams? Derek was in need of a good hit of caffeine so headed for the hotel bistro.

As his coffee arrived Uriah also arrived, smiled and joined him. “You’re not going to believe what happened?”

“You got ghosts in your room.”

“No, No!” Uriah looked at his friend puzzled. “What made you say that?”

Derek just shrugged his shoulders and drank his coffee.

Uriah motioned for the waiter and continued. “I think I had one of your dreams last night.”

Derek swallowed hard and went a little pale. “That’s not even close to being funny Uriah. How could you!”

Uriah sat a little straighter in his seat. “No Derek. I am very serious. Creeped me out when I woke up. I had a dream about your knight and his lady. Tell me, does he die in your dreams?”

Again Derek swallowed hard. Was it possible that Uriah had actually dreamt about the same people? He had never actually told him how his dreams ended but he was right. Derek always woke up just as the knight was about to die.

Uriah saw the expression on Derek’s face change. “He does doesn’t he? The knight dies in your dream.”

Derek was more than a little unnerved. “Uriah, we can’t have the same dream. You just had a similar one because of our conversation yesterday that is all. Apart from there being a knight in your dreams I bet it has nothing in common with mine. “

Uriah had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and hoped for both their sakes that Derek was right. “Well there is one way to find out.”

Uriah proceeded to tell Derek about his dream, every little detail he could remember and considering the dream had been so very vivid it was not hard.

Throughout Uriah’s depiction Derek remained quiet and on the outside looked calm. On the inside however he was anything but. He could feel his chest tightening and the pounding of his heart increasing, his anxiety raising. He was listening to Uriah describe his dream exactly, right down to the dress that Beth-Elena was wearing.

There was a silence between the two men as Uriah finished. “Derek. Do you know what the knight in your dream looks like?”

Uriah question brought Derek out of his stunned silence. “Yes of course I do. He’s….He.”

Derek couldn’t describe the knight, he could see his face, yet it was a mystery to him. He had been dreaming about this person for years but when it came down to it he could not describe him, not his features. Derek looked at Uriah. “He’s got hair the same colour as mine, he’s tall. But it’s like I can’t really see his face. I never realised until now.”

Uriah took a good swallow of his own coffee. “He’s you Derek.”

Derek shook his head. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“In my dream, the knight. It’s you.”

“So you put my face in your dream, I can understand that.”

“No I don’t think you understand.” Uriah paused and looked at his friend. “My dream, it is exactly the same as yours isn’t it?”

Derek took a few moments to answer but Uriah already knew. “Derek. This is so twilight zone and I can’t believe I am going to say this….. But I think it was real.”

“What!”

“The dream. I think it may have happened, in history. They were real people.”

“Now you are really starting to creep me out Uriah. It, they are just dreams, that is all and somehow we managed to have the same one.” Derek saw Uriah get ready to speak. “Don’t ask me how, I haven’t got a clue but that is all they are. Dreams.”

“Then how do you explain this?”

Uriah pulled up the side of his shirt to reveal a large angry bruise about the size of a grapefruit. Derek rubbed his own injured arm involuntarily. “I woke up like this and I sure as hell didn’t have a bruise when I went to bed last night.”

Derek was becoming more agitated. “So you fell out of bed.”

Uriah gave Derek a condescending look. “Hardly.”

Neither man knowing what to say they fell into silence, both having similar thoughts.

How could they have had the same dream? Why did Uriah think they were real people who had lived before? Why did the knight in his dream look like Derek? And why couldn’t Derek see the face of the knight in his own dream? Why had Uriah ended up with a bruise on his side?

Derek’s voice was a little apprehensive as he spoke. He really didn’t want to hear the answer to his question. “Uriah… How do you think you got that bruise?”

“In the battle. I got knocked around pretty bad. Go hit in the side with a shield.”

“You say that like you were there.”

Again Uriah raised his shirt and they both looked at his bruise. “I think I was.”

What colour was left on Derek’s face disappeared. “And the knight dies? In your dream I die?”

“Not on the battle field.”

“Yeah I know. In Beth-Elena’s arms. Uriah this is …. I don’t know what this is.”

Uriah looked at his friend. “And I do.”

The rest of the day was spent at interviews and TV appearances. Both Simian and Casta had noticed that Derek and Uriah where out of sorts, thinking that they may have had a fight.

Simian confronted them as they entered the people mover for yet another trip to another radio station. “Okay you two. What the hell was the fight about?”

Derek and Uriah looked from Simian to Casta. It was Derek who spoke. “We haven’t had a fight.”

“Then what is it? You’ve been mopping around all day. Something’s up.”

Uriah could see that Simian was not about to let the subject drop and Casta would soon throw his hat into the ring. “We both had a bad night that’s all. Didn’t sleep well. We haven’t been fighting.”

Uriah shifted his weight feeling the bruise on his side and again Derek rubbed his arm. They had been fighting but not with each other.

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