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Alice was dreaming again. She knew deep down inside that it wasn't real. Still, fear was creeping up her spine as she watched the scene before her unfold...

///She stood in the Common Room of the Castle and watched the figure before her. The figure was short in stature with long red hair. It was female, as much as Alice could tell. It was herself, Alice of Narnitek, yet not. The figure stood on a large wooden box facing the wall, scrawling something in blood on the wall of the Common Room. The figure was writing something Alice could not read, like Elvish but upside-down. Alice quickly realized that this person wore half a skull for a mask. This person had murdered without remorse. Had enjoyed it. Had enjoyed making the ghastly creation they now wore. As Alice watched the figure write on the wall, she began to feel a hot sticky sensation dripping down her forearms. Alice trembled with true fear, and dared to look down at her hands. Blood coated them, was seeping slowly down her pale forearms and dripping into the floor. She screamed.\\\

Alice awoke from the nightmare with a soft cry, sitting straight up in her small bed. In horrified panic, she quickly looked down at her hands. Even in the dark, her Elven eyes could see that there was no blood them. She breathed a sigh of relief and took some deep breaths to slow her heart beat. She was ungodly thirsty, and she didn't dare let herself fall back to sleep quite yet, lest the horrific dream continue.

With heavy dark circles under her eyes, she slid out of bed, grabbing her little wooden cup from the nightstand and pulled on her robe. A glass of fresh cool water and a breath of fresh cool air seemed in order. She exited her room and made her way down the stairs of the Castle. She turned the corner and made her way slowly to the kitchens when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye...a glint of red. She turned her head and gaze in horror at the very same message she saw scrawled on the wall in her dream!

She dropped her cup, covering her mouth to stifle a terrified scream. Did she do this? No, this couldn't be real! It was just a dream! Where did all that blood come from? Who else knew about this? No alarm had yet been raised, obviously, as everyone in the Castle seemed fast asleep. Somehow, some way, this was her doing…she just knew it. She also knew that she had to fix it...now!

Quickly, she ran to the kitchens, filled a bucket full of water, grabbed a handful of rags, and ran back to the Common Room wall. She grabbed a nearby large wooden box, slid it into place under the bloody message, and began scrubbing harder than she’d ever scrubbed before. Once the initial coat of blood was gone from the scrawled message, she ran back to the kitchens, dumped out the bucket’s bloody contents, and then refilled the bucket with clear water. She grabbed a bar of soap on her way back. Soap would help! She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, her heart racing with the fleeting minutes of passing time. She had to destroy the message before anyone saw it!

although she was trying to be quiet in her hurried labors to be rid of the bloody message, one of castles residents was awoken by her yelp in the night.

in the corner of the common room, rothek was asleep laying on his back and when alice came to retrieve a drink she didnt noticed that the large wolf beast man had rolled over to right himself and now watched her with sleepy eyes as she hustled around.

"errrrrrr, why tiny not-elf make noise before bright circle in sky"

the beast said in a tired and growling voice.

The wall was still red where the blood had been, but much of it had been washed away. Now only someone fluent in Elvish would be able to see what had been scrawled there. Alice knew she had precious few hours before dawn to wash away the rest of the stain...

She nearly jumped out of her skin when the wolf-man spoke. Recognizing the beast as friend rather than foe, she quickly calmed. Hurriedly, she scrambled down from the box and over to him. She whispered harshly, pleading with him to give her information, "Quickly, Friend, I must know! Did you see who wrote this message on the wall, or was it here when you came in to rest?"

:rothek stretched and then shook before he rose to two feet and walked over toward the wall and began to sniff and inspect where the blood had been.
after sniffing a few times and being the beast that he was, rothek tried another way of inspection as he licked some of the blood from the wall and then stopped as if trying to think:

" not see who make blood scribbles on wall." rothek turned back to face the flustered young woman and sniffed around her a few times and then his brow lightened:

"little not-elf not make blood scribbles, blood and not-elf smell different, blood taste old as if been there long time"

:if it had been anyone else hearing the beast speak of how the blood from the wall tasted would have been frightening, but upon looking into rothek's eyes, she would come to realize something. the wolf beast man was trying to calm her.

"Thank you, Friend. You've been most helpful," she quickly whispered. Alice breathed a sigh of relief, yet another fear came over her...if it wasn't her blood, then who or what's blood was it?

The Alpha wolf seemed to try to calm her, and she was not ungrateful for that...but there would be no calming her tonight. She'd somehow done this, or was in some way connected to this. If anyone else saw this, she knew that she'd have no chance of dodging the questions the others would subject her to...even if she didn't have all the answers.

She couldn't think about the others yet...no, she had a job to do. Remove the stain before those who COULD read it saw it. Once again venturing to and from the kitchen with a bucket of fresh water, soap, and rags, Alice once again set to work on the stain. She had to make those few hours before dawn count.

rothek chuffed as he watched Alice, he wanted to help in some way, he could sense she was still upset so he scratched behind his ear trying to think of a way when it dawned on him.

" not-elf go see white man, white man help, white man make better."

the beast was obviously referring to Dallid, he remembered that dallid was the first person in haven he had met and it was dallid that explained to him that not all elves were evil, so naturally in his mind it was a logical idea.

Alice absentmindedly chewed on her bottom lip as she switched from one tired arm to the next, scrubbing the wall still as she spoke. She knew the Beast-Man was right. Dallid might be able to help her...still, she didn't want to involve anyone yet...not with things being as complicated as they were, and with Alice herself lacking much insight as to her condition.

"No, Friend. Mr. Dallid has enough to worry about already. I'll find the cause of this on my own...I just have to find out what's causing it...But thank you for your suggestion." She managed a small smile at the Wolf-Man as she dipped the rag back into the soapy bucket, wringing it out once more, and sighing in exhaustion. "...It's nearly dawn."

She looked at the message now. Faded to almost nothing, and a few pieces of it washed completely away now, she was almost completely satisfied with her work...almost. She got down off the large wooden box and went back to the kitchens...

One more bucket, and the evidence of this night would be gone.

:it was nearly dawn and the sun had just barely began to rise above the horizon, and the beast watched as Alice worked, the wall was blank once again, he walked over slowly to where the bloody message had been and sniffed the wall. he couldn't smell blood anymore, rothek looked at Alice as she spoke and then nodded:

"yes, bright circle be in sky soon, not-elf is tired, not-elf go sleep now?."

:rothek saw the exhaustion in Alice, she had been up for most of the night working to clean the wall and hide the blood, now that she had mostly completed her task rothek nudged her with a large hand back in the direction of the stairs leading back up to her room.:

Alice stared at the wolf-man blankly when he suggested she go to bed. She looked back at the wall. Yes, her job was complete now. It was safe to rest now without any fear of an alarm being raised. When beast-man nudge her, Alice stared at him in surprise...clearly he was more intuitive than she previously thought...he knew she was exhausted...she hadn't been sleeping well for days now. The dreams were getting more intense, and now tonight..

She nodded thoughtfully, taking care to empty and rinse out the soapy bucket and burn the blood-stained rags. No evidence could remain. Finally, she slid the large wooden box back to its resting place, and she took one last scrutinizing glance about the room.

All was as it should be. "Thank you, Friend. And goodnight to you."

:rothek nodded and sank to all fours as he crawled over toward the woman. he nudged her gently with his head and then looked back up at her:

"good night. not-elf"

:the beast stayed close to Alice's hip as if he were trying to protect her from something that wasn't there but once she was calmed and satisfied, rothek relaxed. Crawling back toward the fireplace he laid back down and watched as Alice ascended the stairs back to her room.: