Chapter 40: Overhung clouds

Zaine woke up with a gasp. He was shaking, his eyes scanning his surroundings wildly. He had the same dream again. The thieves were back in the house, but they turned into lambs, and he had to slaughter them. He had stood in a pool of their blood, and had laughed.

Shakily running a hand over his face, he looked at the sleeping bag next to him. Fafnor's golden eyes were staring at him, but the dragon shape-shifter was not speaking. 

"Did I wake you, master?" Zaine asked, but the dragon just shook his head.

"I need a little bit of sleep each night. I have been watching you toss and turn for hours," Fafnor spoke softly, but Zaine could hear the question he was not asking.

"I had the same dream again," Zaine said, and looked down at his shaking hands. The dragon sighed, and got out of his sleeping bag. Then, he was by Zaine's side, an arm wrapped around the teen.

"Those don't get easier," Fafnor spoke, which didn't bring Zaine any peace. "You just need to learn to bear it all. The nightmares, the walking bad thoughts."

"How?" Zaine managed to get out. How was he to forget about the bloodlust that was always there these days. Before the thieves, the only lives he had taken had been those of animals.

"Breathe," Fafnor told him simply. "Count as much as you need, until you feel better."

Zaine closed his eyes, and began to count. The weight of Fafnor's arm around his shoulders was a reassuring one. Zaine felt that he couldn't do this without the dragon close.

"Now, think about what you did," Fafnor whispered in his ear. "How you can make it better."

"There is no way. They are dead," Zaine muttered, stopping his silent counting. When one was dead, nothing much mattered anymore. Or so Zaine thought. His tears had not mattered to his parents, after they had been buried.

Back then, he had to be strong for his brothers. Had to keep the farm from falling into disarray. Yet, it had still slipped from his hands. They had still ended up on the streets.

Fafnor sighed.

"You have the right of it," the dragon confirmed, and brought Zaine closer. "But you are also wrong. Do you want me to tell you what I do, when I slip up into the bloodlust?"

"I do, master. Please tell me," Zaine said, and felt the grip on his shoulders tighten.

"I think about the children of the people I am fighting," Fafnor spoke, and Zaine nodded.

"But, the bloodlust," Zaine protested, but Fafnor just chuckled.

"Would take away your faculties only if you let it," the dragon countered, and then let go of Zaine. "Come now, seeing as you can't sleep anymore, we might as well train."

Zaine followed the other berserker into a clearing, and got into a fighting position. Fafnor liked to teach him hand to hand. Zaine was still clumsy when it came to it all, but he was learning.

"Come at me," Fafnor commanded, and Zaine rushed him. He threw an uppercut, but his wrist was caught, and he found himself on the ground. A grinning Fafnor standing over him.

"You constantly start the same way. Be more imaginative," Fafnor helped Zaine get up, and they separated.

Zaine rushed his teacher again, but this time he spun at the last second. His leg tried to trip up Fafnor, but the dragon just jumped over it, and then landed on his legs. A smug smile playing on his lips.

"Better. Now, try again," Fafnor got in a fighting position and Zaine knew that he was done just evading.

They fought until the sunrise, and Zaine sighed, when he saw that he hadn't landed a single hit on the dragon. Fafnor had tapped him on all of his vital spots, so far.

"What are we going to do today, master?" Zaine asked, and Fafnor rubbed the back of his head.

"There is a goblin tribe around here that has been causing trouble," Fafnor began, as Zaine paled.

"But what if I have an episode?" Zaine countered, as Fafnor waved him off.

"Your job will be to keep them from running out of their settlement. I will be the one to capture them," Fafnor said. Then, he walked pass Zaine, and in the direction of their little camp.

The young red-headed berserker couldn't understand his teacher. Fafnor had shown him in the past couple of days how to capture. He used special mana rich nets, and containing cubes.

Zaine was unable to imagine himself leaving his hammer behind, for those two items. All that training that he had put forward to mastering his main weapon was useless, if he were to fight like Fafnor.

Still, Zaine made it to the camp, and packed their things. He was sure that they would stop by the river to wash up. He was all sweaty and covered in grime from all the times that Fafnor laid him on his back.

They ate in their saddles, and made it to the goblin camp when the sun was halfway through its journey. Zaine could hear laughter, and vulgarities coming from inside the camp. A typical goblin dwelling.

"Ok, stay here. I don't intent to let anyone pass me, but still, just in case one makes a run for it, capture it," Fafnor handed a net to Zaine, and a containing cube. Then, he was off.

The laughter grew louder, but then came the sound of fighting. The first goblin came running towards the entrance, and Zaine did the same move he had tried at Fafnor just this morning.

He tripped up the goblin with his leg, and then got him in the net. The green creature struggled, and began to curse. For a moment, Zaine saw red. Then, he began to think about the goblin's family. How it could change, once it got through the work camps.

The red mist faded away, and Zaine straightened up, as a group of goblins came running at him. As the day progressed, and Zaine relaxed into his role as a gatekeeper, he found that the creeping red mist was easier to ignore by the hour.