Praetorian Rising, стр. 64

"What's happening to me?" Camille burst out before raking her fingers against her eyelids, praying the current vision would end:

She was running through a village, through the rain of blood and gore. Fire surrounded her on all sides, but she pushed on; she felt like a machine on overdrive. She slowed at the sight of a particularly familiar man and a young, brunette woman. Both clung to one another, the mark of family. It sickened her, their embrace and their joy of life, and her insides began to boil.

She was standing in a dark room surrounded by decrepit-looking Asperians all dressed in black. It was to hide their wounds; their blood. Nobody saw the darkness of pain inflicted on a body covered in black. She raised her blade and slaughtered them, without thought, without hesitation. There was a sharp jolt at her neck, signifying it was time to move to the next target.

"Again," the voice said without emotion.

She was in a room of cold stone, huddling in the corner farthest away from the door she'd learned to dread. Her entire body ached with the struggle of continuous pain, yet in the silence of her stone seclusion, she had a glimmer of peace: solitude.

The door opened, and she cringed, body recoiling over what they'd make her do next. "No," she mumbled between cracked and bleeding lips. "Please, I can't anymore."

"Camille," a heavy voice said in her ear, soft and determined. "It's me, Vesyon. I'm here to take you home."

Her mind had clung to his name, sifting through the endless folds of memories for recognition. He was there, somewhere. She knew his smell: dark cedar and heavy smoking tobacco. He lifted her away from the cold stone room, and the lights in her mind blinked out.

"It's okay, Camille, I'm here. Everything is all right; you're all right."

Camille heard Vesyon's voice, felt the firm grip of his arms cradling her against his chest, and felt the warm fur of Neeko at her side, but her mind remained in the past.

"Make...it...stop!" Camille sobbed, clutching at Vesyon's shirt as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. "Please, make it stop!"

Vesyon pulled her shaking body close, pressing her ear to the place his heart-beat loudest. "Listen, Camille. Focus on my breath. Listen to my heart and try to emulate it. You must calm down, you must resurface."

She heard it, the steady thump of blood pulsing through his system, and focused on the regular rise and fall of his chest. Her hands pressed into him wanting to absorb the heat moving beneath the surface of his skin. With every breath, she heard the rush of movement through his lungs, the thud of his heart, and it rolled in her ear like the comfort of a sheltering cocoon.

"That's it," Vesyon whispered. "Calm down."

The images disappeared in a cloud of wispy thoughts until all she heard was the siren whistle of the wind through the trees.

"Camille," Vesyon spoke slowly, allowing her mind to wrap around his words. "I need you to tell me what happened."

What happened? She had no idea what happened. One minute she was talking to Metus, and the next she was on the ground being attacked by a torrential storm of memories she never wanted to remember. Worst of all, Metus had given her news that awakened a new sense of terror in her: they only had two hours to escape.

Her voice felt trapped in her throat, and a constricting pull against her vocal cords kept her silent longer than she meant to be. "It was him," Camille finally mumbled. "The King Regent."

"You saw Metus?" he asked quickly, lifting her into his arms with ease as he walked.

"Yes."

Vesyon led the small group of soldiers he had arrived with, alongside Theo and Charlie, back toward the compound with Neeko bringing up the rear. The rain continued as they trampled through the icy ground, their heads bent downward.

"What'd he tell you?" Vesyon asked as he stepped into the main square of Romeo Village.

Camille's head collapsed against his shoulder.  "We have two hours before the Royal Fleet attacks."