Order of The Rose: Forsaken Petal Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Kris and I are here to protect you. You don’t need to worry about them.” He leaned back and continued sharpening his sword.
    Tom sat back in the seat and looked out the window again. The fear began to ebb and was replaced with exhaustion. Breathing slower, he fell into a deep sleep. 
    He dreamed he was in a beautiful meadow with a small pond. The meadow was surrounded by aspens whose leaves rustled in the warm breeze. It tickled his skin and the smell of spring reminded him of home. The birds sang and a fawn with its mother was drinking peacefully from the pond.
    The sun slowly made its way across the meadow and began to set. The fish jumped at the insects and birds flew overhead. The sun was nearly down and the shadows cast by the trees began to cover the small meadow. Quietness grew and his heart began to beat faster, his breathing became shallow.
    To his horror the pond had turned red and the trees were black and charred. There was no longer green grass spotted with white flowers but only hard black ground that was cracked and scorched by heat. He looked up, seeing only blackness. The howling wind rushed through the lifeless limbs of the trees bringing a bitter chill. A man’s shadow was creeping slowly across the dead meadow toward Tom. A dreadful howl chilled him to the center of his bones. Shaking uncontrollably, he cried out for help.
    Someone grabbed his arms. He tried to run, but his legs were stuck. He looked down and saw that they had become part of the ground. He screamed again hoping that someone could save him from this nightmare. He heard his name and felt someone shaking him but couldn’t see anyone.
    Tom watched as his legs slowly turned to hard, cold, earth.
    “ Tom, wake up.” The voice sounded so far away.
    He tried to focus on the voice. The earth quickened its climb up his body. The voice came again this time much closer, as if it was just outside the clearing. The ground was now just past his midsection and ascending rapidly. 
    His mind was telling him to do something, anything, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. The voice that was now next to him, chanted strange words. He struggled to breathe as the earth moved past his chest and to his throat.
    A light appeared around him and the earth ran off him like water. Tom turned to face the one who had saved him. The face was familiar, but as hard as he tried he could not tell who it was. Just as he was about to remember he was shaken and the dream was gone.
    “Tom, Tom, are you ok?” John asked.
    Trembling and feeling a cold sweat streaming down his face, Tom opened his eyes.  He sat up and grabbed his legs expecting to feel dirt. He sighed with relief and lay back. He stared at John not daring to close his eyes.
    “Its ok, it was just a dream,” John said.
    For the first time in many years Tom saw compassion for him as John comforted him.
    “You can tell me about the dream,” John said.
    “ I-I don’t know what it was, i-i-it was just a dream about a meadow, I-I can’t remember,” Tom said.
    John looked at Kristiana, concern on his face and then back to Tom.
    “It’s important that you remember your dreams.” Kristiana leaned toward Tom and whispered, “It’s ok, you can tell us about it. We are just worried about you and want to help you.”
    Tom looked into Kristiana’s blue eyes and a peculiar sensation came over him. He told her about the beautiful meadow and how he had felt so much peace there, more than any other place in his life. How it had gotten dark and everything seemed to be burned. How the dark shadow appeared and he trembled from the memory. He rubbed his legs as he told her about his body turning to dirt. He started to tell her about the whispering voice but couldn’t. He tried again with no success. 
    “Tom, is that all you saw?” Kristiana asked.
    Tom looked into the mesmerizing eyes a split second longer then looked out the window. “Yeah, that was all.”
    Kristiana pulled on Tom’s shoulder.