He starts awake and bolts upright on his cot. His breath comes in rasps as the fear continues to course its way through him.
His tent flap opens and Jiron rushes through with a knife in either hand. “What happened?” he shouts as he looks around for an attacker.
“She needs my help!” he cries as he begins to calm down. His breath continues to be labored as the fear starts to dissipate.
“Who?” he asks as others crowd the entrance to his tent to see what the commotion is about. “Who needs your help?”
“I…” he starts to say but the memory of the dream is already beginning to fade. “I… don’t know.” Like sand slipping through your fingers, the dream which had been so clear earlier is now all but gone. All that’s left are small fragments: golden hair, fear, and a sense that something needs to be done and done soon. But just what eludes him.
“I can’t remember,” he tells them as he puts his face in his hands. Breathing steadily, he brings his nerves under control.
Putting his knives away, Jiron turns to the others congregating at the tent flap and says, “He’s alright. It was just a dream.”
From outside the tent James can hear the sound of the others muttering as they head back to their tents. He takes his head from his hands and sees Jiron, Delia and Miko there just within his tent. “I appreciate your concern,” he tells them, “but I’m alright.”
“You gave us quite a fright,” Delia says, worry still in her eyes.
“Was it a vision?” Jiron asks.
“I don’t know,” he replies. “I can’t recall.”
“Dreams of that intensity usually are,” Miko says in a tone sounding very sure of what he’s saying. “Try to hang onto the memory next time, it could be important.”
“I’ll do that,” he says. To Jiron he asks, “How far away is dawn?”
“Still a couple more hours away,” he replies. “You should try to get a little more rest if you can.”
Laying his head back on his cot, he glances over to them and says, “I doubt if I’ll be able to right away.”
“Get what you can,” Delia tells him and then gestures for everyone to leave the tent.
“I’ll try,” he assures her as they file out through the tent flap. The last thing he sees before the tent flap closes is Devin’s face gazing in at him with concern, then the flap closes.
Lying on his cot, he tries to recall the dream but is unable. After awhile, he yawns and actually returns to sleep for a little bit before the call comes for the camp to awake.