She falls asleep

Christine was hungry, she was frightened, she was worried about Erik, but more than anything else, she was exhausted. She hadn't really gotten any real sleep since that awful day when Prince Henry had arrived at castle Gerard. She got a few hours of fitful sleep in her soggy clothes after dragging herself out of the moat, and a few more hours with Erik in her arms last night, but now at last she is safe behind a locked door.

Christine examined the couch by the wall, wondering at how an expensive piece of furniture like this could have ended up in this room full of eclectic junk, but it does not take long before she settled down on the soft cushion with a soft sigh.

"Just for a minute." She murmurs to herself, "and then I have to figure out how to find Erik and get him to safety ..."

As soon as the dream started, Christine recognized it for what it was by the chimerical nature of the horrific events that were unfolding. She was an ancient queen from Biblical times, standing on the tallest tower of her city and looking with trepidation to the East hoping for the dawn but knowing that the red glow on the horizon was something far more sinister. On her head she wore a crown of red-gold set with the polished stones of lapis lazuli, the purest and most blue of all gems. The sleeveless tunic of finely woven white linen draped from her shoulders was secured tightly around her waist by a belt of embroidered silk felt soft against her flesh but did little to protect her from the cold East wind. The ancient style of tunic left much of her body uncovered, but this queen was not in the least embarrassed by the deep cleft between her breasts or the way the tunic ended above her knees. In fact, Christine knew that other than the crown and tunic, the only other items of clothing that covered her body were the sandals strapped to her calves with golden cordage.

She watched in horror as a flame-breathing dragon swept over her lands scorching villages and fields alike leaving only destruction in its path. The winged-lizard's black scales were lit up by the fires all around it as it relentlessly approached her castle. From the lower ramparts giant catapults launched great rocks into the pre-dawn sky and the brave soldiers manning the great weapons let out a roar when one of the massive projectiles struck the beast in its face leaving a ragged scar in the otherwise perfectly overlapping scales. Their triumph was short lived, because after shaking away the effects of the blow, the dragon roared towards the row of catapults and destroyed them with a blast of heat so hot that the weapons of war burst into flame like tinder thrown into a furnace and the screaming soldiers were roasted alive in their armor.

Nothing stopped the dragon - not volley after volley of arrows nor the massive city gates braced to withstand the mightiest of rams. Not even the shield wall five rows deep with its bristling line of spears blocking the main road to the palace, each of these the dragon smashed aside in his destructive fury and all she could do was watch in horror the destruction of her city.

Neither could the beast's appetite be sated. No matter how many men, women and children that the dragon swept into its merciless jaws the hunger only grew. The dragon in particular seemed to enjoy the flesh of young maidens, and she watched time and time again as the beast snatched up a woman no older than herself and swallowed the poor thing headfirst as the woman's legs kicked and jerked from its teeth. She wanted to turn away, to hide from the unending rampage, but she could not. As often happens in dreams, Christine was frozen helplessly in place as she watched as her beautiful city being laid to waste and devoured before her eyes.

Finally, the dragon's scared face appeared, and the great beast pulled its sinuous body onto the tower top until every last bit of space was filled with the scales and wings of the monster and this ancient queen was wrapped in coils of the serpent's tail.

"Why have you done this?" She asked determined to keep the despair from her voice. The dragon seemed to be surprised she didn't know.

"I have come to punish you for your sins." Somehow, the words came out perfectly from the dragon's bloody maw. "You are the cause of this destruction; your failings have come to rest on your lands."

"No!" In her dream Christine tried to deny what she knew to be true.

With a precise swipe of a single talon, the dragon cut away her tunic leaving her naked and helpless as the forked tongue flicked slowly towards her. She felt the rasping of the monster's tongue first on her breasts and then as she knew it must, the dragon turned his attention to her most sacred of treasures.