by Anne Bishop
WEAVER OF DREAMS
Long, long ago . . .
1
Her web shook with the violence of the storm. AboveWorld roared and flashed, turning dark-time to light-time. But there was something more, something different that trembled through the strands of silk. Something she’d never felt before.
AboveWorld roared and flashed again. Then something screamed—a terrible shuddering in her web—and a piece of AboveWorld crashed into World, ripping, tearing, roaring, shrieking.
Dark Wet splashed her, splashed her web, at the same moment something struck the web near the center. Prey?
Hunger overcame hesitation. She hurried along the threads, intending to secure her meal before heading back to the safer, more sheltered edge of her web.
But the something was hard and had no meat. As she tried to sink her fangs into it, she ingested some of the Dark Wet, and that . . . filled her, flowed through her, sang inside her.
Changed her.
After cleaning off every bit of Dark Wet, she discarded the something and hurried back to the sheltered edge of her web to wait out the storm.
2
Light. And a hunger. For meat, yes. But also for something more.
Leaving her web, she traveled along the Rough that stretched out over World until she reached a place where the piece of AboveWorld had crashed into World. The Dark Wet still sang inside her, almost too quiet to feel, but it was enough to guide her to more of the Dark Wet.
Fixing an anchor thread to the Rough, she spun out silk. The World trembled with anger. The air quivered with grief and despair . . . and longing.
Her legs touched the piece of AboveWorld. Hard, like the something that had struck her web. Moving cautiously, she found a place where the Hard was torn away, revealing meat—and the Dark Wet.
After consuming as much of the Dark Wet as she could, she sank her fangs into meat and pumped her venom into the spot. It would only liquefy a tiny bit of meat, but that tiny bit would feed her well.
So she spun a web as close as she could to the meat—and the Dark Wet that seeped over the meat.
3
In dreams, she unfurled her wings and sailed through the Darkness—a vastness that was outside the body, and yet the body became its vessel; a power reached by heart and mind and spirit. Through it flowed the whispers of creation . . . and the silence of destruction. Her race had spiraled down its chasms and canyons and strange abysses for years beyond memory—and had understood that they would never understand this place that was, and wasn’t, a place.
In dreams, the vision of webs shining in the Darkness hadn’t dazzled and overwhelmed her mind, hadn’t blinded her to the danger of the storm, and she had reached the caves on this island that she had chosen as her final resting place. But the wounds received because of the storm were fatal, and the caves were too far away.
No. Not quite true. She could have used her power to shift her broken body to the caves, but she felt a small tug, a small promise that her unique gift would not be lost if she remained where she was.
So in a dream that was more than a dream, she sent her last vision to her mother, Draca, showing her Queen how the new caretakers of the world would be able to travel safely through the Darkness: shimmering, colored webs of power stretched through that vastness—pathways that could be reached from the Realms.
She could not say why the beautiful symmetry of the web resonated so strongly inside her, but the image didn’t fade from her mind, despite the agony that clawed at her flesh. Nor could she say why, as she drifted between visions and dreams, she felt certain there was something nearby, something small and golden, that would be able to hold her particular gift.
She would have enough time. Just enough time. If this potential Weaver wanted what she had to give.
4
Light-time . . . day. Dark-time . . . night. AboveWorld . . . sky. Rough . . . tree. Hard . . . scale. Dark Wet . . . blood. Meat . . .
Sorrow. Pain. Longing. Need. Hope.
. . . dragon.
She . . . spider. Small. Golden.
Momentarily distracted by the strange thoughts, the spider returned to her housekeeping, rolled up the tattered remains of her old web, along with the discarded prey, then spun a fresh web. She did not spin in order to catch prey. She spun to keep other things away from the flesh that not only fed her body but sang to her about things she had never known existed. The World kept shifting as she absorbed the Weaver, showing her new things in the familiar.
Showing her ancient things in the familiar.
Showing her a Need for Weavers who could spin dreams into shapes that could walk in the World, for Weavers who could spin dreams into flesh.
She did not understand this Need, but it flavored the flesh her venom liquefied for her to ingest. So at night, when she was safely tucked beneath the scales in the hollow created by her feedings, she drifted on the tangled, silken threads of the dragon’s longings and dreams—and began to learn how to weave a different kind of web.
5
Perhaps the other Seers were right. Perhaps her particular gift was too dangerous to give to the new caretakers of the Realms. Perhaps there was no other race that could, or should, take the deepest heart-dreams and provide a bridge for those dreams to become flesh.
But those dreams would be needed in the world. She knew that with unshakable certainty. They would be needed—and it was unlikely even the simplest of those dreams would ever exist because she hadn’t reached the caves as she’d intended. She wouldn’t make the same transition as the rest of her race, transforming her scales into Jewels that would serve as a reservoir for the power the new caretakers could not contain in their smaller, weaker bodies. The Jewels that came from her should have been the vessels that contained her gift and would have changed the wearer into a Seer that could shape dreams into flesh. Now . . .
Did her mother know she was trapped on this island, exposed and dying? Did her sire, the great Prince of the Dragons, sense her fading presence in the world? Would they feel disappointment in her that, during moments of despair and heartache and hope, she was trying to pass her gift to a small, golden spider?
She should have stayed in the dark mountain that was the lair of the Prince and the Queen. She should have curled up in one of the deep hollows within that mountain and followed the rest of her race into the forever sleep. Instead she had followed a vision of a cave filled with dreams—a vision that would never come to pass.
Soon now. Soon. Her body was failing. Her power was fading. Soon she would be free of the world. Soon.
Closing her gold eyes, she drifted on dreams.
6
So much sorrow gave the flesh a bitter taste, but the spider remained, burrowing deeper beneath the scales for meat that still seeped blood, was still fresh. And it wasn’t all bitter. When the daring male had approached her and indicated his willingness to mate, Dragon’s flesh had been tastier that day, as if the mating had drawn sweeter memories to the surface.
Since she wanted her hatchlings to feed on this flesh that was making her more than just a spider, she worked to find a way to reach the memories, to see the dreams.
Dragon had shown her before. Why wouldn’t Dragon show her now?
Frustrated, she climbed up to Dragon’s jaw, anchored a strand of silk, and began to build a web. But as she built the web, she . . . felt things. So she spun them into the web, ignoring instinct and placing the threads where they needed to be. Sorrow. Pain. Longing. Need. Hope.
As she cautiously traveled the strands of the completed tangled web, warmth flowed through her. She paused, absorbed the feel of this sensation, and added one more small thread. Joy.
Sound, faint and fading, filled her.
*You have learned well,* Dragon said. *But heed me, little one. You must guard the webs you weave that make dreams into flesh. Many beings will cherish those webs because they are spun out of magic that lives in the heart. But there will be others who will want to destroy that heart-magic before it can touch the world. Guard the webs . . . Weaver of Dreams. *
Dragon’s breath came out in a long sigh . . . and then there was silence.
7
The golden spider spun out the last thread of the web that filled the space between Dragon’s jaw and shoulder. Most of her offspring had gone away, just ordinary spiders who would spin ordinary webs and catch ordinary prey. But the few who were different, who were like her, had stayed nearby, learning how to spin the tangled webs.
Despite the size of her web, she had caught only one small dream, but that one held a deep well of yearning . . . and a taste of sorrow that was, somehow, connected to Dragon. So she plucked the thread of yearning, sending it back to the heart it had come from.
As day turned to night, she settled into the most sheltered edge of her web—and wondered about the dreamer.
8
Day had barely touched the sky when she sensed a Presence that resonated with her tangled web. She waited, feeling the faint tremble of footfalls on the earth, the change in the air.
*Sso. My daughter wass able to passs on her gift after all. *
The voice that flowed through her felt like Dragon, but wasn’t quite Dragon.
The Presence approached her web. Her offspring plucked the strands of their own webs, trying to ensnare the Presence’s mind. But the Presence didn’t respond, didn’t give any sign that it had felt the tugs and whispers in those webs.
*Blood singss to blood,* the Presence said, leaning over the spider’s tangled web. *Remember me. *
A drop of blood fell on a knot of tangled threads, a glistening bead of power.
The spider waited until the Presence went away before hurrying over to devour the offering.
Power flowed through her, a power even stronger and richer than Dragon’s had been.
Draca.
Dragon’s Mother. Dragon’s Queen.
Remember me.
For hours that day, the spider stroked the strands of her tangled web, remembering Dragon, remembering the feel of Draca. Not shaped like Dragon, but still a dragon.
This dream web had done what it was meant to do. Draca would not sorrow for Dragon anymore because she had seen that, in the most important way, Dragon was still in the world. Small now, and golden, but still in the world.
The spider carefully cut the anchoring threads and just as carefully rolled the web into a cocoon. She traveled down Dragon’s neck and shoulder until she reached the hole in the chest.
Perhaps it was the way of Dragon’s kind, or perhaps it was some last bit of magic that had changed Dragon’s flesh into porous rock covered with hard stone scales. Inside Dragon were several chambers where she could spin the first stage of a web, then listen, quiet and protected, while the strongest heart-dreams drifted over her, guiding her as she created her web.
The time would come when she and her offspring would make the long journey to the caves where the golden spiders would protect the webs of dreams that would become flesh. But not yet.
She squeezed through the opening that led to a small chamber and pulled the cocoon in with her.
Dragon’s body was hollow stone now, but the heart hadn’t rotted like the rest of the organs. It had changed to smooth stone. Whenever the spider came to this chamber and brushed a leg over that stone, the chamber filled with warmth, and she felt Dragon’s joy that the Weaver’s gift had not been lost.
The day would come when she no longer felt that warmth, and the stone would be no more than a stone. When that day came, she would leave. But even then, whatever bit of heart-memory might remain wouldn’t be alone.
Before leaving the chamber, she spun out some silk and attached the cocoon of Draca’s dream to Dragon’s stone heart.