The Gods of Dream: An Epic Fantasy

by Daniel Arenson

  They shifted in their nest of barbed wire. The metal cut into their talons and legs, shedding new drops of blood. Cade looked at their wounds in concern.

  "Sisters," he said, "you are hurt. Why do you rest upon a nest of sharp metal?"

  They cackled. "Do not think your fake pity impresses us, commuter."

  Cade stared them in the eyes, each in turn. "I care for all living things, even monsters of Nightmare, if they suffer needlessly."

  The sisters craned their necks down toward him, bringing their huge beaks close. Each of their beaks could have swallowed him whole, and their eyes were the size of street lamps, crusty and shot with veins. Their breath blew upon him, stinking of corpses. Bits of old flesh hung from their beaks.

  "And that, commuter, makes you weak."

  Tasha fled into his shirt. Cade refused to budge. "May be, but I still don't want to see you suffer."

  The Sisters pulled their heads back. "We do confess," one of the heads said slowly, "that we have dreamt, yes, of silk scarves, soft silk scarves from the worms, to build our nest." They shifted in their nest, and the barbs etched red lines along their legs.

  Cade stepped up toward them. "Where can I get this silk for you?"

  The Sisters laughed, a laughter more like coughing. Spit flew from their beaks. "You cannot," they said in their old rasp, "find such silk. The silkworms would never surrender any of their prize, not even to us Sisters." They craned their necks near. "Now come, commuter, it is time for us to feast."

  "Who are these silkworms?" Cade demanded, and had to shout over the Sisters' cackling. "Where can I find them?"

  "You cannot, commuter. Even if the silkworms showed themselves to you, they would never grant you silk." Their beaks clacked open and shut as they laughed. "But go, commuter. Seek them if you will. If you return to us with their silk, we shall let you flee these trains." Their eyes narrowed, cruel. "But if you do not return within six days, our spies will hunt you down, and then you will wish that you had let us devour you."

  Cade fled from the Sisters, racing over the piles of skulls, leaving the great naked birds upon their nest of barbed iron. His heart raced, and he did not slow until he reached the subway platform, where Candlelit still waited.

  The pale girl embraced Cade. She shivered.

  "I heard everything," she said. "Come. We will seek the silkworms."

  * * * * *

  Moonmist held her Dreamblade upon the Hippo King as they charged through the fields. Ahead ran winged monsters of Nightmare, wiry and twenty feet tall. Insect legs they had, and three mouths each, lined with sharp teeth. A thunderclap tore across the sky as the armies crashed.

  Demon wings swooped down, cupped Moonmist off the hippo, and for a moment she tumbled through the air. She hit the ground with a thud, waved the Dawnstone, and chopped off the leg that dived down to crush her. As blood bespattered her, she leapt to her feet and swung the Dawnstone again.

  "For Yor!" she heard Niv scream somewhere in the distance, but she could not see where. All around her swarmed the towering demons, and between them ran the hippos.

  Another monster swooped toward her, snapping its three mouths. Sparks flew from her Dreamblade as she swung at it. She swung the Dawnstone again, and the monster's head hit the ground.

  "To the city!" she cried. "We must enter the walls."

  Could anyone hear her? The monsters were biting into the hippos, spitting out hippo flesh. She saw the great River Horses stumble about, blood pouring down their hides. Enraged, they bit into monsters, tearing off insect legs and wings.

  "Starlight!" Moonmist called, swinging her Dreamblade at another demon. "Starlight, what can you see? Where are the animals?"

  The black pegacat saw Moonmist, nodded, and flew up. She gazed around. "Galgev's wolves and deer are to our north! I will summon them."

  A shadow fell upon the battle, and Moonmist looked up, and felt the blood leave her face. Slugs the size of elephants, sticky and fat, dragged themselves onto the field. Gray and slimy, they pushed themselves erect, standing on the tips of their tails. Their mouths opened, screeching. The world trembled.

  How could such horrors exist? Moonmist's thoughts floated as a mist, as around her the monsters and hippos crashed and her Dreamblade waved. How could everything have changed? Where is the Dream I once knew, and can those days ever return after such terror?

  Soon coyotes from Autumn Forest were running through the battlefield, leaping over the bodies of dead hippos, landing upon monsters and biting. Great deer, children of Yor, ran and drove antlers into the demons and slugs and all the monsters pouring over the land.

  "Moonmist!" cried the Hippo King, mouth open in anguish, as hairy centipedes, five feet long, tore him down and bit into his flesh. "Moonmist, take my teeth back to the river!" the great beast cried over the din of the battle. "Bury them in the water. Let them sink to the deep sands and lay, forever, in the waterdepths."

  Moonmist stood for a moment, frozen in horror, then leapt forward. She sliced through a cloud of rotting imps and landed before the Hippo King. She hacked at the centipedes, and they fell to the ground dead.

  But she was too late. The Hippo King lay upon the blackened field, blood seeping from him, and the whispers of death filled his eyes.

  "River Horse," Moonmist cried, falling to her knees beside him. She wrapped her arms around his head. "Be strong, great ruler of the Riverlands. You shall return to your home."

  The hippo stared at her with glazed eyes. He moved his mouth, whispering hoarse words. "Yoa na: caven hoon fan ayendey ta lom selendi. Na ley ta, Eloria. Gala ayende."

  Moonmist sobbed as she held him. She repeated his words softly. "Hear me: I speak farewell to the deep waters and to sunlight. I love thee, Dream. Goodbye."

  Thus the last breath left his nostrils. Thus did the Hippo King of the Lor Ya die outside the Begemmed City, the slayer of many horrors of Nightmare.

  Moonmist rose to her feet, and her eyes burned with tears and love and fury. She turned to look toward her home, toward the Begemmed City, and its walls were blackened. A storm brewed atop it, a black storm of lightning and malevolence.

  "I return home." She looked around the battlefield, then raised her voice. "Redfur of Autumn Forest!" she called at the top of her lungs. "Redfur, have you come forth to heed Yor's call?"

  Around her, wolves, deer, and hippos crashed against the monsters. Where was Redfur, the prince of wolves?

  With a screech, a demon of pitch black scales, its body covered with hooks and horns, landed before her. It howled, showing long teeth and three quivering tongues. Moonmist fell back a step, the blood leaving her face. She recognized this demon. She had seen it painted in a hundred books and scrolls.

  The Silent Man. One of the six Incubi.

  She swung her Dreamblade. Sparks flew as she hit the Silent Man, and yet the Incubus lashed forward, and its tail slammed against her. She cried in pain and hit the ground.

  The Silent Man placed a hoof upon her chest and leaned forward. She swung the Dawnstone, cleaving its head. Bleeding, its head split open, the Incubus grinned and pushed its weight against her chest. Moonmist screamed and her hand opened, and her Dreamblade fell. Stars floated across her eyes, and the world began to turn black.

  "Die now, princess," the Silent Man screeched, its voice bubbly with blood. Moonmist tried to breathe, but could not. Her head rolled back, and she looked upon the bloodstained grass.

  So it has come. I die now outside the white walls.

  Suddenly, from the corner of her eye: a flash of red fur.

  A howl. A screech.

  The weight lifted off her chest, and Moonmist took a huge breath, a breath so large, she thought it could suck in the world.

  "Not just yet," growled a deep and raspy voice, a familiar voice, and the Silent Man fell. A great red wolf stood atop the Incubus, a chunk of demon flesh in his jaws.

  "Redfur!" Moonmist cried, pushing herself up.

  The wolf spat out the demon flesh. The b
lood stained his maw.

  "You called, princess?" he asked with a grin.

  She could not help but cry and laugh.

  "Prince of wolves!" she said. "Thank you for coming. You are swift, Redfur, the swiftest being in the forest. Bear me home to my city."

  "Princess," the wolf said, "climb onto my back, and I will carry you. Your presence upon the White Walls will kindle courage in the hearts of all who fight for Dream."

  Soon Redfur was leaping through the fields of wheat, Moonmist upon his back, clinging to him. The wind whipped her face and his fur was warm in her hands. Ahead rose the walls of the Begemmed City. Redfur ran up the hills, darting between swarms of giant beetles, black tigers with the mouths of sharks, and wingless dragons that ran and yelped.

  Redfur moved like lightning, streaming left and right between monster legs, and none from Nightmare could catch him. Moonmist looked up toward the city. Her walls were darkened now as Nightmare fires burned the sky. Upon the highest steeple of the royal palace burned a black presence, ringed in flame, of black wings. The clouds above it churned in a black whirlpool.

  Here is the center of evil. Moonmist narrowed her eyes. She knew that there, upon the steeple, stood the commander of Nightmare's forces. Here was Queen Eliven.

  Soon they reached the walls of the city. Great scaly beasts guarded them, of many horns and claws, yet Redfur moved swiftly, so fast that Moonmist's head spun. They could not catch him. The gates of the city, which had stood for so long, lay splintered upon the ground. Redfur shot into the city, and Moonmist bit her lip.

  The bodies of Elorian soldiers lay strewn across the paved roads, crushed and slashed. Cloven shields and shattered swords lay as splintered glass. The gems had lost their light, and the banners of Nightmare--a spiral of fire upon a blackened field--draped from all buildings.

  Moonmist lowered her eyes. The Begemmed City had fallen. Are we too late? Are my parents... my friends...? Horror filled her.

  "Take me to the palace," she whispered to Redfur. He nodded and raced across the cobblestones. Nightmare emerged from the buildings and side streets. Demons with red horns, shaggy beasts of drooling maws, towering insects, and monsters so horrible that Moonmist could not look upon them--they all chased Redfur, and Moonmist clung to the wolf with all her might. Redfur ran upon the ground, ran upon the buildings, leapt from roof to roof, leapt upon the heads and shoulders of monsters. A lightning bolt, he shot across the city, Nightmare overflowing around them.

  As they ascended the city, Moonmist looked over her shoulder, down to the battlefield, and tears burned in her eyes. Thousands of dragons and demons were emerging from the hills, descending upon the forces of Dream. The hippos all lay dead, and the monsters of Phobetor were tearing down the last wolves and deer and bears. More creatures of Nightmare kept emerging, covering the countryside. Moonmist saw Niv and the pegacats flee toward the forests, but then the land fell under darkness, and she could see no more. The whirling clouds of Eliven had covered the sky, and only firelight now lit the world.

  Redfur reached the palace. Three of its towers had been toppled, and now lay as heaps of stone. Bodies of Elorians littered the ground alongside the bodies of monsters, and the air stank of blood. The banners of Nightmare hung from what walls still stood, and the gates of the palace lay shattered. Bloody monster tracks led inside.

  My parents.

  Redfur leapt through the shattered gateway into the palace, then paused and spun around, panting. The monsters howled outside, but dared not enter the building. They stood at the gateway, drooling, eyes burning, claws dripping blood. Fear filled their eyes.

  Moonmist surveyed the palace hall and could not recognize it. All that had once been here--suits of burnished armor, flowers, portraits upon the walls, benches, statues, joy--it was all gone. The spirals of Nightmare were now drawn across the walls with blood, and black candles lined the floors, burning with black flame. A great idol, shaped as a burning woman with bat wings, stood in the center of the hall.

  It has become a temple. A temple to Eliven.

  Moonmist tightened her lips. "Wait for me here, Redfur," she said and drew the Dawnstone. The crystal blade hissed.

  Redfur looked at her, eyes sad. "All who lived in this palace are dead, Moonmist," he said softly. "Eliven would not have let any live. Let us flee this place. We will continue the battle in the forests. This city has fallen."

  Moonmist looked toward the stairwell, whence came red light and heat. "Eliven is up there, Redfur. Upon the tower of my city, and from her, nightmares flow across the land." She looked at the wolf, and could not believe the words that left her throat. She could see her reflection in the wolf's eyes. Her eyes were huge and haunted, her skin pale. "I must face her, Redfur."

  "I would advise against it, Moonmist," he said softly. "Eliven is of great power, second in Nightmare to only Phobetor. Flee with me. Flee with me into the forests."

  Moonmist looked at her Dreamblade. Its white light was soft, but beautiful to her. From above she heard the distant laughter of the Demon Queen.

  "There will be no more forests, Redfur," she whispered. "All the lands of Dream will fall to Nightmare. I will make my stand here. If I die, then I die upon the tower of my palace, overlooking my city, overlooking Dream. This is how I choose my last stand, my death."

  Redfur took a step toward her, baring his fangs. "Then I go with you."

  She smiled sadly, knelt before him, and hugged him. His fur was soft against her face, and her tears filled it. She kissed the wolf. "Go to the forests, Red Wolf. They are your home, your battlefield. Here is not your place to die."

  She left him there and stepped onto the staircase, where the heat of fire blasted her. She climbed all these old steps, moving toward the tower, between the black candles and through the flames, and memories filled her. Upon this step, she had given her cat Olive a haircut ten years ago. Through this door, she would play dolls with her handmaidens Onana and Lynk. In this wall, she had once etched her name; she could still see it there. All her childhood and memories were here, and she smiled softly. No better place to die.

  Soon she was climbing up the tower, the tallest tower in the city. The world roared and rumbled around her, and she looked above. Red firelight burned like a cruel sun. Moonmist tightened her grip on the Dawnstone. There burned Eliven, Queen of Nightmare.

  At the top of the tower, she paused and whispered. "Goodbye, my home, my family. Ayendey, Eloria."

  Then she kicked open the window, shattering the glass into a million shards, and climbed out onto the roof of the tallest steeple in Dream.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Duel

  As they walked along a platform teeming with shaggy beasts, switching from train to train, Candlelit explained.

  "The silkworms live underground beneath the subways in dark caverns. While the Sisters control the trains, the silkworms power them. The Sisters are the overseers, the worms are the workers."

  Tasha sat on Cade's shoulder, gazing at the throngs of monsters passing by. "And what are the passengers?"

  Candlelit's necklaces and bracelets chinked as she walked. "The blood that flows through the veins. Worms, Sisters, trains, passengers. We're all part of the system that powers Nightmare."

  "So how do we find these silkworms?" Cade asked as they watched a train arrive at the platform, wooden and rickety. They stepped on with a crowd of monsters. "Do any trains lead there?"

  Candlelit shook her head. The cart's seats were all full, and as the train trundled forward, they stood between a beast of many horns, an eelman, and two creatures that looked like furless red moles. "No trains lead to the silkworms," Candlelit said, "but there are ways to find them. Unpleasant ways, but they will serve."

  They traveled the trains all day, moving from station to station. Cade marveled at how Candlelit knew the way so surely. They must have traveled a hundred miles, switching trains dozens of times, and Candlelit never needed to check a map.

  When the clocks
showed that night fell, Cade and Candlelit found a corner strewn with discarded papers and cloth, and there they curled up to sleep. Cade barely slept that night. The Sisters and their promise kept haunting him. He dared not think of what would happen if he could not retrieve the silk, and yet the fear visited him unbidden in the night. He lay awake, gazing at Candlelit. Her pale head rested upon her hands. Her black nail polish was cracked, and her mouth scrunched open and shut as she slept.

  "Tash, you awake?" Cade whispered.

  The mouse crept out from his pocket and sat on Cade's knee, regarding him. "Yeah. Can't sleep too?"

  Cade nodded. He lifted the mouse and patted her. "Hey, Tash, remember that time you were little, and you stole the apple pie mom baked, and ate the whole thing by yourself?" Cade laughed softly. "Mom was furious, but dad couldn't stop laughing."

  Tasha nodded. "I remember."

  Cade sighed. "I miss those days. I'm scared that we'll never see the world again. I'm scared what would happen if Phobetor wins this war--to Dream, and to Earth. What if we can't get the silk, Tasha?" The fear sat in his belly like chunks of ice and pulsed in his throat.

  "It won't be pleasant," Tasha said with a sigh. "And damn, now I'm hungry for apple pie."

  "I'll bake you one if we ever get out of here. And I'll let you eat the whole thing in one sitting, if you like."

  "It better be baked from Golden Delicious apples."

  "Deal," Cade said. He shut his eyes again and finally fell asleep, Tasha in his hand. He slept fitfully throughout the night, waking every hour, until finally Candlelit woke and the clocks clanged for morning.

  They walked down dark corridors that day, far from the platforms, deep down spiraling staircases past walls bedecked with moss. Spirals of Nightmare were scratched into the walls. Small creatures, each but a single eyeball running on four clawed legs, scurried underfoot.

  "The silkworms weave beneath the trains, here underground," Candlelit said. "There are many burrows of silkworms, thousands."