The memory awoke me with a start and I gasped. It had been so vivid, and more of my earlier life's experiences began to wrap around my brain. I didn't remember any more about the woman. She had been an Elven though. Paug had given enough description for me to guess that these Ancients he and Nadea wanted me to fight were the same race as the woman. In my memory humans were their slaves.

I was her slave.

The night hung about us as a heavy drape torn with sparkling rivers of stars. I didn't recognize any of their patterns, but I expected as much. Everything about this world seemed familiar, yet different enough to be discombobulating. I yearned for my dreams, even if I knew them to be false. Life had been simple jumping between the islands of my subconscious.

A throat cleared nearby, and I turned my gaze down from the stars to see Nadea across the campfire. We had been traveling northward through the jungle. This was our second night since they had awoken me. Nadea looked at me with her eyebrows raised in concern. Everyone but Greykin seemed to look at me with a mixture of fear and pity. The big old man preferred to ignore my presence.

"Do you want some food? Water?" Nadea whispered from the comfort of her bedroll. I had been pestering Paug about his language for the last two days and now understood basic conversation. It must have been her watch. Everyone else slept curled up in their light blankets.

It stunk of hot and damp in this jungle. Dead plants and animals mixed with hungry earth and musky sudor. I could see small drops of sweat saunter down Paug's sleeping face next to me. The scent of their heated bodies mixed with the smoke of the fire and the jungle and almost stirred up another memory in my mind. Then it fled and I didn't have the energy to give chase through the silence of my subconscious.

"Yes," I said, sitting up more. I was always thirsty or hungry, but the act brought bouts of queasiness. Eating also made me exhausted, so I would risk the possible nausea if it meant I might have a chance at deep sleep. The memory of the woman had left me filled with terror and sadness.

Nadea glanced around the camp to make sure she wouldn't disturb the sleepers before she sneaked over to our food stores. She pulled out a tied bag of waxy paper, opened it, and handed me a large piece of salted, dried meat. Then she poured me water from a skin into a tin cup. I got out of my bedroll and moved to a rock closer to the fire and accepted them. She turned away after I gave her my thanks and studied the orange flames.

I nibbled on the meat and stared into the fire. My brain became preoccupied remembering the Elven woman and the dreams of the floating islands. The fire almost matched the color of her hair. The flame made the night heat even more unbearable, but we would have been prey to the bugs and other menacing animals in the jungle without its protection.

"Are you okay?" Nadea whispered from across the fire. She had a soft sheen of perspiration across her face, shoulders, and neck. It made her skin glow in the firelight. She wasn't wearing her usual leather travel pants and thick tunic because of the heat, just thin undergarments that almost didn't cover her slick form. She was mostly legs, her body toned by travel, riding, lifting, and exploring Ancient ruins. Her dark brown hair fell loose across one of her shoulders, leaving her neck bare on the other side.

Paug had told me that she was part of some royal family and had chosen her odd profession, even though she could have done anything she wanted. He tried to explain to me what royalty was, but I still didn't understand the concept. The thought of someone else, let alone possibly unfit descendants, deciding what laws I should live by reminded me too much of the memory from which I had just awoken. I never wanted to feel that powerless again.

Nadea was very beautiful, especially in the warm glow of the fire. Feelings of arousal surfaced deep within my stomach as I imagined my hands grasping the woman's hips and pulling her against me. My eyes drank her in and my fantasy began to sprint away. I wondered what her lips tasted like, how smooth her skin would be against my fingertips, and what sounds she would make when I brought her to orgasm.

I looked at her and probably did a poor job of hiding my lust. Her face flushed and her breathing caught when our eyes met. Her mouth opened to say something again but no words came. I flashed back to the woman in my dream for a second. If I really had been asleep for as long as they all thought, I should make sure that all parts of my body worked correctly. My member pulsed in agreement against the inside of my pants.

Was there proper etiquette to proposing that we go into the darkness of the jungle and please each other? I couldn't even remember acceptable courting behavior in my own memories, I only recalled the beautiful Elven woman terrorizing me. Then I laughed to myself. I didn't even know how to ask Nadea to be my lover anyway. The language difference was an especially large annoyance right now.

"I feel good," I answered her with a smile. Or at least, I think that was what I said. She smiled back.

"Are you tired?" she said with an eyebrow raised. I didn't understand at first but then she held her hands under her face like a pillow.

"No. Hungry," I said as I put the last of the jerky in my mouth and washed it down with water. I had been eating almost every hour for the last two days. Sometimes my stomach cramped and I threw up a bit, but my appetite justified the risk. I hadn't gained any perceivable weight though.

"More?" She pointed to the food and I shook my head. She looked confused. "Hungry?"

"Yes. Hungry." I nodded. "No. Food," I said with a smile as I looked over her body again. Her eyes opened wide. I guessed she understood what I meant because her heart began to beat much faster and she drew in a deep breath.

"Ahhh . . ." Nadea looked around at her slumbering companions. She whispered a bunch of words I didn't understand except for "sleep.” Was she telling me to go back to sleep or that her friends were sleeping and we needed to leave? I hoped it was the latter. Her face flushed red in the orange glow so I guessed that she wanted the same. I got up from my rock and began to move around to her. Her mouth opened but no words came out. I reached out my hand to pull her out of her bedroll and into my arms. First I would kiss her full lips, and then savor the salty curve of her bare neck with my tongue.

"Hurmph! Awww. What?" Greykin rolled out of his blankets with a rough moan. He squinted against the fire and said something I didn't understand. Nadea whispered back to him. He sighed and untangled himself from the covers, sitting up straight with a growl that really did sound like a bear's. When he realized I was standing, he pointed at me and said something to Nadea. She responded and he seemed satisfied with her answer.

I took the next two steps toward Nadea and handed her my empty cup. She nodded and her brown eyes met mine. Her face wore a complicated expression of relief, fear, lust, and disappointment. I smiled back at her and shrugged my shoulders. Paug told me that we had a few weeks of travel ahead of us. There would be a time soon where Nadea and I could explore our passions.

I returned to my bedroll without looking at her or the big man. The stars became the white birds of my dreams. If I jumped high enough I would reach them. I heard the sound of the water cascading off of the islands as they disappeared into the cloudy gray mist beneath me.