42
AN ANCIENT BLADE
Remote cabin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Jana drifted in and out of consciousness. As she awoke, all she could see was darkness. Then she dropped back into a swirling blur of muted sounds, snapshots in her mind of memories from times gone by, and a throbbing headache that felt like a migraine. She was having trouble telling what was real and what was a dream. And the more she tried to reason it out, the less sense any of her thoughts made.
Voices, she thought. Those are voices. I know I heard that. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not lift her eyelids. They felt like sheets of lead pushing against her pupils. But there were voices all right. Muted, faint, distorted, and she could understand none of it.
Another language? she wondered. She felt tug
