"I can't eat that stuff, Cade," Tasha said.
"We have no choice. Something is better than nothing." He took a bread crust, brushed off the mold, and stuffed the bread into his mouth. It was stale, the consistency of rubber, and its tips were moist. It felt like chewing a dirty old tire, and it was all Cade could do to swallow it.
Tasha took a single bite, swallowed with a shudder, then closed her eyes and lay across Cade's shoulder. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. What I wouldn't give for a big, juicy, plump Golden Delicious apple!"
A gust of hot, sandy wind blew across them, shrieking. Cade paused for a moment, shut his eyes, then re-mustered his strength and kept trudging forward. His feet were blistered and he limped.
"And what I wouldn't give for a medium-rare T-bone steak, a side of fried shrimps, and one of those big chocolate milkshakes in the tin mugs." Cade licked his lips, but he tasted only the sand and clay of Nightmare. The hunger pounded in his belly, overcome only by the sickening fear that forever swirled through him.
"A fat chunk of Swiss cheese!" Tasha said.
"A plate of sushi, and a sundae for dessert."
"A huge bowl of oatmeal that I can swim in!"
Cade could not help but grin, despite everything. "Keep your oatmeal. Give me a double cheeseburger, onion rings, and a huge mug overflowing with root beer."
Tasha laughed, and Cade laughed too, and suddenly they were laughing so hard, tears flowed down Cade's cheeks. He laughed so much, that for a moment he could not walk, but fell to the ground laughing.
"And the root beer would fizz all over the place," Tasha said between fits of laughter. "It'll soak your cheeseburger!"
Cade pounded the earth, he was laughing so hard. "Oh yeah? Well, it'll spray all over you too, you'll be soaking wet."
For a moment they could do nothing but laugh, as the skies growled black above them, and the hot wind raised clouds of red sand. We haven't laughed like this, together, since we were kids. When they had finished laughing, Cade found that he could not stand up again. His muscles ached too badly, his feet were too blistered, and he was too weary and hungry and thirsty. He lay on the ground and realized that, instead of laughing, he was crying. He lay staring up at the sky.
"I don't know if I can go on anymore, Tash," he said softly.
Tasha's voice was so gentle, Cade could weep. "Let's rest for a bit."
The mouse climbed onto Cade's chest and lay there. Cade could not even pat Tasha, he was so weary. His head spun. "I remember the sky in Dream," he whispered, tears in his eyes. "It was always different, every day. I've never seen so many shades of blue, and at night, the stars were so bright." Here they could see only grumbling clouds like flowing lava.
How was Dream faring? Did Windwhisper still patrol the skies? Were the pegacats still captive? Cade did not know. He felt lost here, alone, beyond the reach and knowledge of anyone in Dream. He worried about the world, about everybody on Earth if Nightmare won. And he worried about his sister, the dreams she might have.
Tasha lost the world years ago. I can't let her lose Dream too.
"We'll see the skies of Dream again," Tasha said. "Windwhisper will fly across them, and we'll wave to him, and our breadbox will give us all the sushi and onion rings and oatmeal we could eat."
Cade sighed. "But you know what? Right now I'd give all that up. The breadbox. The wineskin. All the wonders of Dream... if I could just see home again."
Tasha smiled. "My old bed. Creaky but cozy."
"Remember Friday nights? Our movie nights. We had fun, didn't we?" Cade smiled too. "You'd get scared in the scary bits, but clap when the good guys won." He laughed softly. "You'd always put oregano on the popcorn, even though you knew I hate it."
"Home," Tasha whispered. Her voice trembled. "I never liked it much, but I miss it now. It is home, isn't it?"
Cade nodded. "Not as wonderful as Dream, but home to us. I wonder if Princess Moonmist would ever want to see it. She's used to living in a palace, after all."
"She'll like to see it," Tasha said. She nodded. "She will."
Cade could say no more. Weariness overcame him, and he fell into sleep.
He did not know how long he slept. Whenever he slept in Nightmare, he felt half awake, turning and tossing in a hypnagogic fever. Sweat covered him, though he felt cold, and his entire body itched, outside and in. He might have lain like this for ten hours, and maybe ten minutes; there was no knowing. He could no longer tell time. It seemed he knew nothing but hunger, thirst, pain, and fear.
"Let's go on," he said to Tasha, tossing his cloak over him and struggling to his feet. He limped across the plains, Tasha on his shoulder, the swirling sky making him dizzy. Soon the land began to sway, slanting to and fro like a ship in a storm.
"Earthquake," Tasha said, but no. The earth did not quake, only swayed. Cade felt like an ant caught on an ice cube floating in somebody's drink. Stones rolled around his feet. He fell and had to use his arms to crawl forward. One moment he was climbing up, the next sliding down a slope.
When the sky began to rain ashy pellets, burning his skin, Cade fell to the ground. He tried to push himself up, but his arms wobbled, and he fell to his side. With trembling fingers, he opened his wineskin, but nothing came out. The ash fell onto him, hot and sticky, covering him. Every inch of his body ached, and still the world spun and roared and burned.
Cade covered his eyes. "I don't know how much more of this I can take, Tash," he said in a weak, cracked voice. "I think we're going to die." He tasted tears on his lips.
A soft voice replied.
"You don't have to take any more. You can make it all end... now."
Cade lay with eyes shut. He felt too weak to even open them. Who had spoken? The voice belonged to a woman. It was the softest, most beautiful voice he had ever heard, the voice of Mercy itself. A hand touched his shoulder, and it filled him with healing goodness that flowed over him, washing the pain away.
He moaned and his eyes fluttered open.
Above him knelt a woman with red skin, her hair made of flame. She was of beautiful features and form, and seemed made not of flesh, but of the red clay of the earth. Her eyes were as two coals, bright and hot and tempting. She smiled at him, her lips ripe and full of secrets, and Cade felt his blood stir. If the chained woman from the dungeons had exuded delicate beauty, this woman dripped passion and lust.
Cade pushed himself up. The world had ceased rocking, and while the ash stormed and burned, none of it touched him. Cade and the woman seemed to sit in a pocket of silence, where the air seemed cool and no noise or fire could harm them.
"Who are you?" he whispered, her light upon his face. Though her hair seemed made of flames, Cade found himself unable to resist an urge to reach forward and touch that hair. The flames were warm and soft in his fingers, not burning him, but filling his body with aching goodness.
She smiled again, a crooked smile with those full lips. "Cade," she whispered, her voice as flowing honey. "You have suffered for so long. Rest your head in my lap. Let me tend to you."
He could not resist, she was so soothing. She gently pulled him down and laid his head upon her lap, and he shut his eyes as she caressed his hair.
"Drink this," she whispered and held a horn above his lips. No, not a horn; an elk's antler. From it flowed wine as clear and sweet as the streams of Dream, and Cade drank deeply. He had wanted to drink for so long.
"Let Tasha drink too," he said, but she only hushed him with a finger to his lips. She washed his face with a wet cloth, letting her fingers run over his skin. He tried to mumble something more about Tasha, but could not, lying here felt so good.
"Eat," she said and fed him plump red grapes. "Do they taste good?"
Cade nodded. He had never tasted anything sweeter.
"Nightmare is not only brimstone and sulfur," the woman said. "For those who rule here, there is sweet wine, sweet fruit, and pleasures such as Dream cannot offer." She trailed her fingers across his face,
then leaned down and pressed her full lips against his forehead. Cade had never known lips could feel so soft.
The woman laughed. "Would the Twig Eater kiss you so, son of man?" She ran her fingers over his body and kissed his ear. "Abandon your quest through the fiery plains, Cade. It is consuming you. I can feel the weariness and pain within you."
"I can't," he whispered. "I can't turn back now."
Suddenly he was lying beside her, and the earth had become a fur rug, and around them tall candles burned. "No," she said. "Do not turn back, Cade. There is nowhere to return to. The lands of Dream have been destroyed."
She turned her head, looking over her shoulder, and Cade followed her gaze. He gasped and his eyes stung. Ahead, as in a vision, he saw the lands of Dream, great forests and fields and endless blue skies... and he saw evil overcome them. Sunflower Corner wilted, and the belugas lay dead upon Beluga Beach. The Crystal Caves were destroyed, and even Butterfly Valley, the holy home of Niv, lay rotten and burned.
The woman shook her head sadly, then nuzzled up against him, the vision gone. "Dream is destroyed," she whispered, her lips against his ear. "All its beauty has been washed away. It has been laid to waste utterly."
Cade felt tears flow down his cheeks. "Then I have failed," he said.
Her voice was soft. "No. You have not failed while there is still life within you." She took his hands. "Abandon your quest and join us, Cade. Join us who rule Nightmare, and you will never more feel weary or alone."
He leaned back. "Who are you?"
Suddenly they were standing upon a steeple of stone, a mile high. A sea of lava crashed, blazed, and crackled against one side of the steeple. A field of razor sharp boulders rose, glistening, against the other side. Burgundy lines stretched across the black sky into the horizons, blazing.
The woman stood before him upon the needle of stone, wearing a gown of fire, and her hair of flames flowed in the wind. She spoke in his mind, her lips shut and smiling.
You know me.
He nodded slowly, remembering the Dreamsong. "Eliven," he said. Queen of Nightmare.
She took his hands. "Follow me and become a lord of Nightmare. The rewards are more than you can dream of."
A curtain of blackness seemed to be drawn before them, and Cade stared upon a hall glittering with golden opulence. Tables laden with steaks, fried shrimps, sushi, and endless desserts filled the hall. Beyond them, upon cushions and beds, dozens of scantily-clad women beckoned to him with coy eyes. They all looked like Moonmist.
Tasha sat at the hall in a bowl of Golden Delicious apples. Noticing Cade, she leapt off the bowl, ran forward, and leapt onto Cade's shoulder.
"I didn't take one bite," the mouse said. "Nightmare food."
The Queen of Nightmare smiled a toothy smile. "The best food in existence, dear mouse. We know how to live here in Kar. We're in search of good men--and good mice! Join us, and this hall is yours, and a thousand like it."
Cade looked at her through narrowed eyes. I can't abandon home, he thought. I can't let everyone in the world have nightmares every night.
Eliven stared at him. "The world is beyond your control now," she said. "And your bottle is useless. With Dream destroyed, all its magic is gone. It can no longer harm my lord. Hand me the bottle, and join us in our courts... or you will die, Cade. You will die with pain."
She reached toward his pocket, to draw the bottle... and Cade took a step back. She hissed suddenly, and her eyes burned with fire, but then her face became pleasant and smiling again.
"Cade," she said softly, "surrender to me, please, and you will have all you've ever dreamed of."
He shook his head and took another step back. "I have never dreamed of Nightmare."
He turned then, ran two steps, and leapt off the steeple of stone. He plummeted down toward the storming sea of lava.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Captive
Cade fell through darkness toward the sea of bubbling lava.
Leaving Eliven, the Queen of Nightmare whom Phobetor had raised from clay, he plummeted into the depths. The wind blew his hair and flapped his clothes. Eliven screamed above upon the steeple of stone, a demon scream, high-pitched and horrible in its wrath, a cry which made the skies burn and boil.
As he fell, the wind in his hair, Cade shut his eyes and could almost smile. It seemed to him that he fell in slow motion. No, not falling but gliding, a seed in the wind. He wished he could fall forever, caught here in the air where no pain could clutch him.
Then the rope around his foot snapped taut, springing him up, leaving him dangling. He caught his breath for a moment, then breathed out shakily.
"That was quick thinking, Tash," he whispered.
Tasha, clutching his shoulder, whispered back. "I knew we had to get out of there. But hey, I'm only a mouse, so I wouldn't count on my knot being too tight. And I'm not sure the boulder I tied it to is very sturdy either."
"Thank Maninav for giving us this rope. It saved us again."
Cade swung on the rope until he caught the stone obelisk. He clutched the stone facade, flattening himself against it. He could feel Eliven gazing down into the darkness, and he held his breath and clung to the shadows. After long moments, the Queen of Nightmare left with a crackle of flame, shooting like a comet into the sky and disappearing.
"It worked," Cade said. "She thinks the lava ate us. But now what?" He gazed below, where the lava roiled and bubbled.
"I saw no lava on the other side of the steeple," Tasha said, "just a field of razorlike boulders."
Cade sighed. "Just razorlike boulders? Is that all?"
He removed the rope from his leg, and Tasha scurried up the steeple and untied the other end. They repacked the rope, and Cade checked his compass. It glowed a deep red, hot in his hand.
"Look, Tash. The compass is glowing. This place must be close to Phobetor. The compass has never glowed before."
Tasha shuddered. "Yes, we're close. I can feel it, like ants crawling inside my bones."
Cade shuddered too. Every instinct in his body screamed to run the other way, and yet he was heading toward Phobetor, the last place he wanted to be. He began climbing in the darkness, moving slowly down the tower of stone. As he descended, inch by inch, he thought of the images Eliven had shown him. Beluga Beach, Sunflower Corner, even Butterfly Valley destroyed... Dream laid to waste... could it be true?
Tasha seemed to read his thoughts. "I don't believe her," the mouse said. "Eliven is a queen of lies."
Cade shuffled his feet against the stone, found a purchase, and descended another three inches. "Maybe, Tasha, but if she spoke truth, if Dream is indeed destroyed, then we've failed. Without Dream's magic, the bottle won't work. We'd be unable to trap Phobetor."
Tasha shook her head mightily. "Cade, if Dream truly were destroyed, do you think Eliven would try to buy us off? She offered us to join her! She wouldn't do that unless she fears that, somehow, we could destroy her husband. She was scared, Cade. I could smell it on her. She wasn't sure what power the bottle held, not exactly, but knew to fear it, to fear whoever bore it. The bottle works, Cade. Dream still stands, or at least a part of it."
Cade kept descending, the stone rough against his palms. "In any case, it's obvious now that Phobetor knows of our quest, and knows of the bottle. Nightmare is on to us."
Tasha sighed. "I think they've known about the bottle for a long time. But what can we do? Only continue and hope that, by stealth, we can sneak up on Phobetor."
"He'll be well guarded," Cade said. "And he'll be expecting us. I don't know, Tash. It all seems so hopeless."
"We've faced hopeless before and overcome. We can't let hopelessness conquer us yet. You know what, Cade? Even if it is hopeless... I'm going to die trying." The mouse took a deep breath. "I'm not scared to die, not for this cause. I don't want to run away, to turn back a failure. I love Dream and I'll do anything to save it." Her claws dug into his shoulder. "It's our place, remember? We are Talon and Sunflower, princ
e and princess of the wilderness. We do not give up."
Cade paused for a moment and leaned against the stone. He took a deep, shaky breath and realized something that, inexplicably, overflowed him with a wave of calmness. "I'm prepared to die for Dream too," he said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's true. If we die here, let it be so, and let us die fighting Nightmare." He looked at his sister. "I love you, Tasha. If we die today, I want you to know that."
Tasha rubbed against his cheek. "Right back at ya, bro. Now hey, we've reached the bottom."
Cade stepped onto the ground between towering razors of stone. The stone blades stretched ahead for miles, it seemed. He took a deep breath and began to walk between the stones, knowing that any wrong step could mean a sliced ear. Their quest continued.
* * * * *
Moonmist woke up slowly, in pain.
Pain was the first reality, searing pain that shot through her muscles and burned in her wounds. As she blinked weakly, pulling herself from slumber, the memory returned.
Eliven. The Begemmed City. I'm captive.
She opened her eyes and saw craggy walls bedecked with torches. When she tried to move, she could not, and chains clanked. She forced herself to take deep breaths, to ward off panic. She lay on her back. Her arms were bound beneath her, and her legs and neck were chained to the floor. I'm in a prison. But where?
The hot air stank of sulfur, and the cries of demons came from behind the walls. The floor was stone, hard and craggy. Moonmist knew of no place in Dream that was so hot and foul. I've been taken to Nightmare.
She shut her eyes again, feeling the tears gather. So it's ended. The city has been taken, as have I. And soon all of Dream will fall, if it hasn't fallen already. She thought of Cade. Did he still live? Was he still heading into Nightmare? If so, he was their only hope... but what hope could he truly bring? He was one hero facing a kingdom of evil and a god of malice. Perhaps he was dead already.
"I wish I knew where he is," she whispered.
The Gods of Dream: An Epic Fantasy Page 29