XXIII - Nightmare

Kamon sat in his living quarters late that night. Except for the faint rays from a night light near the bathroom door, he was shrouded in darkness. Jasmine would be put to death unless he found a way to prevent it! How was he to do that?! He could not hope to oppose the Delphi in court and win. There was no court to which he could appeal! The Delphi had made her ruling. It was final!

Kamon finally rose from his chair and removed his pants. He lay down on his bed. His mind was both weary and anguished. He had not slept on the flight home from Kefar. He had been awake more than a day. He needed sleep if he was to think clearly. But he did not wish to sleep. He wished to find a solution to this awful problem. There was a gnawing anxiety consuming him. He had never known this feeling before. Helplessness.

He must come up with a plan to save Jasmine!......Sleep finally claimed a weary Kamon. He left the conscious world and entered the murky cosmos of the subconscious...........

.........The day was clear and beautiful. The sun was high in the blue sky, its hot rays warming everything on the planet.

The sidewalk on which Kamon walked reflected the heat up at him. He was hot. Sweat ran down his chest and back. His shirt clung to him. The collar chafed his neck.

He looked around. There were people on the streets, all going in many directions. It was not the thing to do in public, but he took off his shirt anyway. No one would mind. He was not sure why. He stuffed part of the shirt into the back of his pants and resumed walking.

A steep hill loomed three blocks ahead of him. At the top of the hill was Ingraham Memorial Temple Prison. It was his destination. Strange but he did not know the reason.

Kamon felt something hard, something firm tapping his chest as he strode along. He looked down. It was the medallion Jasmine had given him. It hung from his neck.

But there was something strange about the medal, something different. He took it in his hand and examined its face closely.

The ruby was beginning to glow, as if it were coming alive. Rich, deep reds swirled within it. He stared at it in puzzlement for a moment, then gingerly touched the ruby with his right index finger. It was warm but not hot. Odd. How could the ruby do this? It was an inanimate object with no power source. Perhaps he should remove the medallion....Or maybe not. He let the medal fall back on his chest. Nothing. His skin felt the presence of metal upon it, but nothing more. No need to be concerned.

Kamon suddenly pitched forward, his right heel finding empty space where it had been expecting firm concrete. The street rose up to meet him. His right foot slapped down hard on the concrete as he stumbled forward before finally regaining his balance. He had simply stepped off the curb, nothing more. He should watch where he was going. The steps leading up to Ingraham Memorial Temple Prison were only a block away now. He kept walking toward them.

He was nearing a tree. A white bird flew overhead and landed in its branches. Kamon stopped under the tree. It wide branches provided welcome shade. He looked up at the bird. For some reason, it reminded him of the bird etched onto the face of his medallion.

The bird cooed softly, a mournful tone, as sad as anything he could ever remember. Such sorrow! Such terrible sadness! His heart grew heavy with grief...but he did not know why. It was only a bird, cooing to the wind. No one to hear, except for him.

He walked on, but the sadness followed. Why? Why such sadness? The ruby on the medallion glowed brighter.

He had reached the steps leading up the hill to the temple prison. Without hesitating, he started up them.

Why had he come here? What was he doing? He had a purpose. What was it?

He reached the top of the hill with no answers to any of his questions. He headed toward the guard station just to the left of the imposing wooden gate.

The milky white bird reappeared. It flew into the small security room just ahead of him, coming to rest on a counter in front of a scanner.

Elbe was sitting before a keyboard and a computer monitor. His fingers tapped on the keys. "Okay," Elbe said to the bird. "You're ready."

A beam of soft light entered the bird's eye. A door leading into the temple prison yard opened. The bird flew through it. The door closed behind the strange bird.

"Elbe?" Kamon asked. "What are you doing here?"

"You're next, sir," Elbe said.

"Next? Next for what?"

"Please stand in front of the video scanner, sir," was all that Elbe would say.

Though puzzled, Kamon did as requested. A similar beam of light entered his pupil.

Elbe's fingers quickly danced on the keyboard. The door into the temple prison yard swung open. "You're ready also, sir."

"Ready for what?" Kamon asked.

"To enter the temple prison, sir," Elbe answered. "If you come to any checkpoint or locked door, stand in front of the video scanner. Your retinal image is on file; you'll be allowed access."

Kamon hesitated. "Elbe? I'm not sure why I'm here."

"Go, sir," Elbe replied. "Hurry. Before it's too late."

"Too late for what?"

"Just go, sir!"

Elbe's plea was an urgent one. Kamon stepped through the door into the temple prison yard. He strode quickly to the main building. There was reason to hurry. Why couldn't he remember?! The ruby on his medallion glowed brighter.

Kamon entered the five-story building.

"The elevator is just down the hall, Councilman," the guard on duty offered without hesitation. "The execution will take place in ten minutes on the third floor."

Execution!? That is why he had come! Jasmine was about to be executed!! He must stop it!!

Kamon tore down the hallway. At the elevator, his fist pounded frantically on the button which would call it to him. Seconds seemed like hours. Where was the elevator!?!

Unable to endure the wait, he frantically looked around for the door leading to the stairs. Seeing it, he flung the door open and began a hasty ascent. Three at a time, sometimes four at a time, he raced up the steps, his heart pounding heavily, not from the exertion, but from the fear that drove him onward.

He reached the top of the stairs. He tore open the door. It whipped violently aside, tearing off its hinges and bounding down the stairs behind him with an echoing clatter.

Wild-eyed, Kamon emerged into the hallway, looking to his left, then to his right. Which way?!

A priestess stepped out into the hallway and looked in his direction. The left!

Kamon thundered down the hallway and tore into a room filled with priestesses. They sat quietly, staring in the direction of a large glass pane which formed most of the far wall. Behind the window in a small room stood a guard, the Delphi, and Jasmine. This was to be Jasmine's place of execution!

"This woman has been charged and convicted of heathenism and blasphemy," the Delphi began, her voice coming through the speaker on the wall. "It is therefore the will of Nome that she be executed as a lesson to all those who dare to blaspheme the one true deity."

The Delphi then motioned for the guard to strap the prisoner into the chair. The guard proceeded to do so.

As she moved to the chair, Jasmine met Kamon's agonized gaze. He could sense her beautiful brown eyes reaching out to him. He saw in them the same hesitation, the regret that he had seen just before Jasmine had left the hovercraft.

But he had no time to analyze her feelings. He must act! He must save her!

Kamon raced to the door of the execution chamber. He grabbed the knob. Locked!

He retreated several steps and ran at the door, laying his shoulder and bulky body into the metal barrier. It did not budge. Again and again he came at it, crashing so severely into the door that his shoulder ached, but the result was always the same. The door did not budge.

He stepped back and kicked the door with all the power he could muster. Several times he slammed the sole of his foot into the door. Nothing.

Kamon stole a glance into the chamber. Jasmine was almost completely strapped into the chair! He was failing!

Kamon grabbed a chair and threw it at the glass partition. It bounced off. No damage. Kamon snatched more chairs, hurling them at the glass one by one. Priestesses scattered as the chairs were rejected by the glass and bounded about the room. The clear barrier shuddered under the force of these attacks, but it remained undamaged.

Jasmine was now completely strapped into the chair. The guard lowered a metal cap onto her head. Electrical wires fed from the cap upward into the ceiling.

Frantic, Kamon began pounding on the glass with one of the chairs. Pounding, pounding, pounding! He would not stop.

The guard was finished. The time for the execution of the peace maker from the Province of Columba had come.

"Do you have anything to say before your soul is delivered over to Nome?" the Delphi asked.

Jasmine's calm demeanor did not flicker. "Hate destroys."

The big man flung the chair aside and hurled his own body at the glass. Again and again he came at it, his massive frame shaking the clear partition violently.

The Delphi nodded at the guard, indicating that she should pull the switch.

"No!!" Kamon roared. "Stop!! Don't do this!!" He began beating on the glass with his giant fists. His heart was pounding madly. His eyes were frenzied. "Listen to me!! Stop this!!"

His hands began to bleed, so furiously was he beating on the glass. His blood began to smear the partition.

He watched in horror as the guard reached for the switch which would send the lethal voltage of electricity surging through the occupant of the chair.

Jasmine looked at Kamon one last time, a soft smile blessing her face. Her brilliant eyes sparkled brightly at him.

Then the guard pulled the switch unleashing the deadly energy. Jasmine's body shuddered for an instant; her eyes opened wide, frozen. Then she went limp. The lights in her eyes were extinguished.

Kamon screamed in agony. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!".........

............"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Kamon bolted upright in bed, lashing out at imaginary enemies, screaming at the top of his lungs as he awoke from the nightmare.

His heart was thundering madly. He was gasping for air. Cold sweat covered his entire body; his bedding was soaked with perspiration. Within the darkness of his room a strange red glow was cast upon the walls.

It took him a few moments to re-orient himself. His first priority was to reassure himself that it had, in fact, been a dream, and therefore, Jasmine was still safe and alive. Well, not safe, but at least alive.

It had been a dream!! Only a dream!! It was over! Over!

Where was the red glow coming from?.....The top of his dresser was on fire!

He leaped out of bed, grabbing blankets to extinguish the blaze....But he did not throw them on the blaze. In fact, there was no fire. It was the medallion, right where he had placed it on the dresser, glowing fiercely, burning brightly, like molten metal. Yet there was no flame.

Harsh reds and fiery yellows were streaming outward from the ruby, consuming the medallion. The metal glowed and rippled under what appeared to be intense heat. Yet the shapes on it remained -- the tree, the bird, the stream, the pentagon around them -- all were still there, though wavering. Reduced to near insignificance was the sapphire, yet it retained its blue hue amidst the all encompassing reddish-yellow glow of the ruby.

What was causing this? Why did the metal not melt? How could there be the appearance of fire without actual flames and smoke?

Wrapping a blanket around his hand to protect it from possible burns, Kamon carefully grasped the thin metal chain and lifted the medal off the dresser. No heat seemed to be coming through the cloth.

He gingerly touched the spot on the dresser where the medallion had rested. Normal. It was not hot either.

Mystified, Kamon stared at the medal dangling from the chain. It twisted slowly in front of him. The fierce reddish-yellow glow was fading, retreating into the ruby. The fiery ring surrounding the medal was shrinking. The metal stopped rippling; it became solid once more. Very slowly, the ruby was returning to normal.

Kamon's heartbeat was slowing. He was breathing easier. He stood there and took several deep breaths, exhaling each time, calming his fractured nerves. Jasmine was alive; he focused on that thought.......

Meanwhile, in a dark cell in the bowels of Ingraham Memorial Temple Prison, Jasmine stopped her nervous pacing. It was finally over. Each synapse in her nervous system had been firing for the past twenty minutes. Her whole body still tingled with electricity. She had endured it; there had been no other choice.

Her breathing was labored no more. She took several deep, measured breaths. Tenseness was easing slowly from her body. A huge weight had been lifted from her.

She had felt Kamon's agony, heard his mind crying out for help. But she could do nothing. She could not end the suffering. She could only pace -- while all the time her synapses kept firing signals across her belabored nerves.

Kamon's mind no longer called out to her. He was not at peace, she was sure of that, but at least he could find some rest. The torment would fade.

Jasmine leaned against the cold wall of the cell and let herself slide slowly downward into a sitting position. She pulled her knees in close to her body. Her right hand reached up to her temple and came away wet. In the dim light she stared quizzically at her damp fingers, rubbing them together thoughtfully, as if perspiration were some strange new phenomenon to her.

Finally, Jasmine closed her eyes and concentrated on relaxing her body. Her limbs soon went limp. "Touch the blue sapphire," she uttered softly into the darkness.......

Kamon placed the medallion back on the dresser, then turned and padded across the carpeted floor to the bathroom. He turned on a soft light.

The medal appeared to be hot, yet it wasn't. It didn't make sense. Neither did the light coming from the medallion. It defied logic.

At the sink, Kamon turned on the faucet, bent over at the waist, and began to splash cold water on his face. The cool water was refreshing and further served to quiet his bruised nerves. He grabbed a large bath towel and wiped the water from his face and the perspiration from the rest of his body. He turned on a light and walked back to the bed.

He pulled the blankets and sheets from it, throwing them into a pile in the corner. He went to the dresser and pulled out clean sheets. He eyed the medallion again.

It was subdued now, completely normal. The ruby was composed of beautiful reds and the sapphire, soft blues. He reached out and cautiously touched the ruby. It was slightly warm, as in the dream, but not hot.

He turned his attention to the blue sapphire, pondering the stone. He touched the blue gem. A strange sense of euphoria suddenly flooded his mind. His tense muscles went limp. He closed his eyes and reveled in the sensation for a moment.

He took his hand from the medallion and went to the bed. He remade it with clean sheets. This was not a time for euphoria. Jasmine was in trouble. He did not understand how the sapphire could have such an affect on him. He did not understand how the medallion could glow. It didn't seem possible, yet it had happened. The puzzles were extraordinary, but he had no time for them. Jasmine needed help.

What a dream.....Elbe!! Ingraham Memorial Temple Prison was secured with computerized locks! Elbe had gained access to the Nexus financial system! Why couldn't he also break into the security system at Ingraham!

He had it! The beginning of a plan! The dream had given him this!

END OF CHAPTER