The Book Man, Chapter 81 (Revised)

81 NIGHT-MARES

Much like the stairway, the tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, though at least it was wider and taller. Christian wondered how long they had been underground. He would not have been surprised if the night had already passed, if the sun was already high in the sky—which would mean Minerva was frozen in statue form for the day, he realized. He could picture it perfectly: Minerva, riding into battle on a circus-pony, her dark hair flying out behind her as she wielded her frying-pan—only to freeze as the sun appeared on the horizon. Her pony would topple over from the change in its rider’s weight as she turned to marble. He almost laughed at the thought.

Light glowed ahead like the light of a television in a dark room. He did not know why this should be his first impression of it; he did not own a television. It was a cold, wavering light, and he was afraid. He felt something probing at his mind like Narodnaya did, but instead of a friendly probe this one prodded at one corner of his mind and then another. It lingered where it found fears and sorrow as if it was trying to find a chink in his mental armor, a way to get inside his head.

Beside him, Morrow was whey-faced and tight-lipped as if he might be sick. Tirion seemed unaffected. He put an arm around the Rover and held him close as they continued down the passage toward the light. Christian thought again of Minerva.

The light grew brighter and brighter and gradually less cold. Somewhere ahead, hellhounds barked and snarled as they got into scuffles, and a crow called out croakily. Christian wondered how many creatures Goblin had kept nearby in a final line of defense.

Idiot, he thought to himself. Idiot. Goblin was sure to have kept many beasts about for protection. Had he really thought this one hellhound was all they would come across?

The hellhound looked down at him, wagging its tail, and he took heart. After all, this beast had become his friend with just a few kind words, as the giant spider had. Christian did not think for a moment all of Goblin’s allies would be so easily swayed, but perhaps many of them would. In that case there would be only Goblin himself to fight: still frightening, but far less so than fighting an entire army of evil creatures.

Tirion glanced at him and said, “We’re getting close, now.”

In his arms, Morrow moaned and hid his face in the elf’s shoulder. Tirion whispered words of reassurance in his ear. Christian leaned against the hellhound’s stomach, feeling incredibly lonely.

Then they rounded a corner and found three winged, empty-eyed black horses facing them.

At the sight of them, Morrow cowered with his hands over his ears, muttering over and over, “Not again, not again, not again—”

“Night-mares,” Tirion breathed. His arms tightened protectively around the Rover’s shoulders.

The hellhound was not frightened by the horses, but it halted when Christian did; the winged beasts blocked further passage through the tunnel. They gazed at the three men with their deadened eyes and made no move to attack. Their bat-like wings stretched in and out in a way that reminded the accountant of lungs pumping.

What were they waiting for? Without one move from them, Morrow had been reduced to a quivering mass of nerves and Tirion had abandoned any intention of attack in favor of comforting him. Whatever their weapon—gnashing teeth or striking hooves—it must be fearsome indeed. Their very breath made Christian’s lungs tighten with fear, as they stood snorting softly in the passageway, but he stepped forward in the hopes they could be won over like his hellhound.

Then the horses opened their mouths and whinnied.

It was not the trumpeting neigh of the horses in battle, but rather the creak of a rusty pulley, a drawn, high-pitched sound that sent waves of memory washing over the accountant.

He was nine, and his friend Billy plopped into the desk beside him before class, a frown on his thin face. “Reading is for babies,” Billy said; “I don’t want to be friends anymore,” and he got up to sit with the other boys, leaving Christian hurt and confused—

He was twelve, and his mother’s body was laid out in an oaken casket carved with scrollwork and vines. The other mourners stood about her body and spoke in hushed whispers, but Christian could not stop staring at his father in bewilderment, his impossibly tall, ginger-haired father who never cried, and yet those were unmistakably tears trickling down his face and leaking into his beard—

Seventeen, and Joel Kinneman smiled at him crookedly and then stepped in front of an oncoming train. All Christian could think in his shock, with the imprint of their last kiss still on his lips, was that he should have been able to stop it somehow, should have grabbed Joel’s wrist and pulled him close and told him it didn’t matter what everyone at school thought of him—

Twenty-four, and four months after Uncle George sent him a new book and a postcard from Sierra Leone, he received a neatly-typed letter notifying him that LCpl George Abernathy had stepped on a land mine—

Twenty-eight, and his last outing with Jude ended in a back-alley mugging that gave Christian a black eye and his date a much worse beating—

Thirty-six, standing alone by a pine box that was closed because his father’s body was so shrunken in death that it scared him—

Thirty-seven, desperately wrapping strips of fabric around someone’s leg, or maybe it was the stump of an arm—

The tidal wave of bad memories left as suddenly as it had come. The black horses were gone. In their place was a trio of ashy skeletons and Tirion standing beside them, his bow out and his quiver empty. A dog whined nearby.

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Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:30 pm

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TimmyJake wrote a review...

Timmy here!

So this was a really neat chapter, and I loved the entire nightmare session thingy, with the animals seeming to cause them and all. How all of their pasts resurfaced and came flooding back to them. I like how you did it, too. Just your style in that part made it seem as though you were really flashing from one image to another - perfectly, if I may add. It allows for you to not have to tell the reader that the image changed or something similar. It was just embedded in the styling of the piece, which added a lot to it in my opinion. So yay! I really like the nightmares, and how they all revolved around the terrible times of Christian's past, and while we don't know anything about Morrow's past or nightmares, we do see that he is having them before Christian - which is funny, I guess. I mean, why would have have the nightmares before Christian does? It seems rather weird for him to be being such a big crybaby and leaning on his friend (I am just gonna call them that. bear with?) for support like he has suddenly become weakened, and while Christian is just looking on in surprise at his antics like whaaaa?

I would have liked to see how Christian's body reacted to the nightmares? I think it would have contorted, perhaps. Definitely struggled to the nightmares and such. It seemed as though you wanted to leave this chapter with an eerie feeling instilled in the reader, which is great and all, but I think it misses a vital part of the chapter - how Christian's body reacted to the nightmares. When I read through, I only assumed that Morrow was being so weak because of the nightmares and such, and I would only assume that Christian would react in the same way, and so he would probably be on the cave floor because he wasn't supported by anything. And I am curious to know how Tirion killed the horses - that seemed to have been the problem with the nightmares - and why his mind wasn't tainted by the beasts. Like you told Livvy, you shall explain it in the future chapters, so yayyy!

One more thing I wasn't sure about, and am still not sure about, and even though I absolutely hate the idea about him being bi and all, and that it does change him into a person he's not, I am still going to comment on it as though I don't care.

When I read through, I noticed that both of the people that Christian had loved... both of them were guys. Both of them you mentioned. Now this just may be me being paranoid because I dun like the change or whatnot, but I think that if he is truly bi, then for the sake of him being bi, then you should make one female and one male? One boyfriend and one girlfriend? Okay, that seriously sounds messed up, but whatever. I admit I am not going to be as... cordial in this department as I was before. xD As long as his love involves Minerva, okay, I am good ~~although she is tons better than he is and he dun deserve her~~, but when you start drifting off into these weird places... I dunno what to say, most of the time. I hope this little bit helped, though. I still try. ^.^

Okay! I think that is all I had for this chapter, and as I said before, the nightmares were done perfect ~~except for the spot I mentioned~~ and I love how they affected his mind and everything and how the creatures were responsible and what they looked like. Their descriptions were just, gah! - not fair. They were wonderful and gave me such a clear image to handle. Thank you for that.

~Darth Timmyjake

BluesClues says...

Well, originally there was mention of a girl who cheated on him (along with a few other memories that had nothing to do with past relationships), but I tried to shorten and strengthen it by including only the most important/worst memories. Plus, since he's obviously currently interested in a woman...I mean, I don't need to mention a girlfriend in the memories for you to know he's not just gay, because he's currently in love with a woman.

Which was probably not your concern, but I'm going to pretend like it was, the way you are pretending it doesn't bother you.

The reason for Morrow reacting so quickly and violently is also mentioned in the next chapter--I mean, not explicitly stated, but with what is mentioned about his past experience with night-mares, you get the hint (I hope). But I think you're right that I should at least add some of Christian's physical reactions in here...do you think it would mess up the memories bit to include a line about them here and there? Like should I include physical reactions more before (I have some after already, in the next chapter), or could I drop lines here and there within the memories without totally messing up everything good about this chapter?

timmyjake says...

Maybe? I don't know? Maybe if you put it in there as a jerk in the writing, and a jerk in Christian at the same time.

nightmare -

-Christian's face blah, blah-

- nightmare.

I don't know? Maybe just work with it. You always do it just right in the end.

BluesClues says...

Okey dokey. I'll play around with it in this draft.

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Sun Sep 21, 2014 9:18 am

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Deanie says...

Hi Blue!

I like this new addition to their underground battle

What about Tirion's bad memories? How did he manage to escape them and kill the nightmares?

Deanie x

BluesClues says...

Read on, my dear, and you shall see.

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Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:59 am

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TheCrimsonLady wrote a review...

Hello, love. Aurora here with a quick review for you.

On a side not, I can honestly say that I am so confused, not because of you, but because I swear I've been reviewing near random chapters of yours. Ack, so annoying.

Anyway, nitpicks first, as usual.
I actually only found one.

“We’re getting close, now.”
No comma before now.

Okay, end of Nitpicks.

Now for my freak out moment:

I know I haven't read much of this, but, CHRISTIAN IS BISEXUAL?! What? I HAD TO READ THAT PART TWICE, BUT YES, THATS A "him".
OHMIGOD, I TOTALLY DID NOT SEE THAT COMING,

Okay, okay, I'm done, but maybe you should mention it in a previous chapter it something
The way you described the nightmares was nice, but adding a bit of Christians feeling in there can't hurt. Also, you might want to consider italicizing that entire section.

Keep persisting, love,
Great read, as always.
Aurora

BluesClues says...

He's actually pan, but I have gone back into some earlier chapters and added references to it since posting this

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Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:22 pm

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rainforest says...

Wow! You made a lot of changes. Well, it did say revised. Anyways, good job! I loved it! The names of the characters are really good. You categorized the story and the genres perfectly. Same with the rating. Good job with that. The title drew me to the story. It sounded really intriguing. And you revised it really good. Good job I shall say myself. I will look fore more stories by you. Don't give up and always write! Oh, and this was reviewed by a team member of Team Aqua!

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Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:03 pm

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Iggy wrote a review...

Oh my god. Bae. Bae.

I didn't know you were making THESE type of changes to the story! You totally added something new and unique and AMAZING in here and I was like "whaaaaa? I don't remember this!"

Okay, so WHEN DID YOU MAKE CHRISTIAN BISEXUAL? I got to the Joel Kinneman part and was thinking, okay, maybe Joel can be a girl's name... and then you said Christian grabbed HIS hand. That totally surprised me. I don't mind, of course! I wanted him to be gay in the first place, remember? <33 but that surprised me a lot. I remember that in the first draft, he never showed any inclination to date men and then this happened.

I loved the addition of the night-mares. Simply genius, I'm glad you weaved that into this. It provided an excellent obstacle to overcome when going to fight Morrow and it was just pretty awesome, to see some things about Christian's past.

I wonder how Tirion managed to kill them? Surely he was also plagued by his bad memories... hmmm, maybe he's had experience with the night-mares and managed to block them out. Either way, he totally played hero because Christian wasn't gonna do anything. Yay for Tirion!

Overall, I adored this addition to the story. Great idea, Blue ^^ add more things, yus, do it!

~Iggy

BluesClues says...

Hooray! I'm so glad you liked it. Also! I've actually been thinking of Christian as pansexual for quite some time but it's only coming out in the story (haha, coming out) now. So I actually am adding little bits of things earlier on, too, so that it doesn't just come completely out of nowhere in this chapter.

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The Book Man, Chapter 81 (Revised)

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