Two nights ago I had a very vivid dream.
As it began, I was in the field up the hill from my grandfather's house. It was a cool day in November with dark, roiling clouds overhead, but the sky was clear to the west and the last rays of sunset were shining on the house and either side of the small valley where the house stands. I could see that the "shellbark tree" (a shagbark hickory that has stood in the yard for time out of mind) had fallen. It appeared to have blown over. The air felt as though it was right after a rain, and a nervous wind was playing over the hillside. The house and grounds looked neglected, and the road in front of the house appeared as though it had not been traveled in over a decade. All the power was out.
I was accompanied by two other people... I don't remember who, though I had the vague impression that they were family. We had just landed in the field.
"It's a good planet," I explained as we hurried down the hill. "Great resources, but poor government."
Then we were being pursued. The entities who had taken over the place had been following us, and they landed in the field behind us. They shot at us as we ran down the hill to the house. I shouted to the others to run in a zigzag pattern to present a more difficult target. We made it into the house, and the entities followed us.
They looked like men, but were not. They were taller, broader, and somehow grander than humans, bearded, with long hair. There were two of them. The leader of the two came into the door of the house, his weapon holstered, and said "Do you challenge me for supremacy over this place?" His hair and beard were reddish-brown, and he was thick-chested. His manner was very formal.
"I do," I said.
He nodded. "The challenge has been issued and accepted." He proffered me the hilt of a sword, something similar to a cavalry saber. It was single-edged with a fairly broad blade.
"I will explain the rules to you," he said, and while he was explaining the rules I slammed the tip of the sword up under his chin and into his skull. Turns out that was the main point of the rules anyhow.
I knew that, whatever this entity was, he would be supremely skilled at swordplay, whereas I was no better at fencing in my dream than I am in real life... i.e. I can chop brush with a machete, and that's about it. So I surprised him with a hard thrust to the throat, and he died right there in Pappy's kitchen. I had retaken the place.
And then I woke up.
