It wouldn't be a nightmare without some blood, would it? He's patient, he's exacting: these are not conscious concerns for him, so they translate effortlessly into the dream. What he does is what he must do. This is why so few curses really bother him-- he's all too familiar with compulsion.

But it wouldn't be his nightmare if he accomplished his task; and after the third or fourth even, shallow slice, the blade vanishes from his hands... and the bonds vanish from her wrists and ankles. He takes an uncertain step back.