She would never sleep…
But she had lain there for just a few minutes when she realized that she was drifting.
Then she was sleeping.
And dreaming…
This time, she was running, but there were sounds coming from all around her.
Bagpipes…playing a mournful tune upon the air.
Shouts, laughter…
She ran to the high hill, where the Druid Stones lay.
And there was Sabrina, stripped naked, stretched out upon the stone while a cowled creature stood over her, bearing a knife, ready to tear into the girl’s throat.
She started to scream. “Nay, not Sabrina!”
Then the creature saw her. She couldn’t see its face, so she didn’t know how she knew that it was staring at her, but she did. And she was aware that it was smiling with evil intent and beckoning to her.
“It should have been you, you, you, m’lady, it should have been you…but you defiled yourself so long ago! Still, your blood would so well feed the earth!”
Then the creature was suddenly coming after her. She could still hear the bagpipes, the shouts, cries, laughter. All across the hills, men and women were dancing, drinking, laughing…
None of them heard her scream. Then she was running. And running. She turned back. The cowled creature was nearly upon her.
She turned to run faster…
Another creature was coming…
And another, and another.
Cowled creatures, tall figures in their capped black cloaks, were emerging from everywhere.
Chanting her name.
They surrounded her. She cried out, trying to find a different way to run, but in each direction, there was a figure.
And each figure bore a knife. Indeed, as she spun around, she saw them all raised. Huge knives, with razor-honed blades glistening beneath the glow of the full moon.
“Shawna, Shawna, Shawna…”
She cried out, swirling around.
She stood directly beneath one of the cloaked figures. She could see the face.
The face of a burned corpse. The horrible, decaying face of the burned corpse she had awakened beside all those years ago.
“No!” she shrieked.
The cowled creature began to laugh.
In a circle around her, they all began to laugh.
And again, they began to move, closing in on her.
Chanting her name, raising their knives…