Hard Mettle

by John Hook

  Lazitar turned away as if he had provided the most patient of explanations to an idiot child, and we headed into the city. I opened and closed my mouth several times, unable to come up with the right thing to say without losing it. Saripha put her hand to my shoulder and put her finger to her lips. In my head I heard her speak: “We will need to find a way to frame what we need in terms of their duty. Give me a chance to work on it.”

  The city was magnificent. It was about the same size as Ohnipoor. We were brought into a central area with a large pool with a mirrored surface that caught all the light from the towers around it. The light emanating from the walls wasn't blinding. It was actually subtle, but collectively they illuminated everything, like a street corner in Las Vegas. The public area was filled with exotic plants that obviously grew without sun and had no green coloration at all. Mostly they were white and yellow.

  Another armed contingent of dreamers met us. Most of the people we saw weren't armed. There were both men and women going their different ways, paying little attention to us. In fact, I suspected they were admonished not to pay attention to us because I could detect occasional sidelong glances in our direction accompanied by a flutter of guilt.

  This didn't look good to me. I assumed the show of force was to compel us into something we wouldn't like and clearly we weren't going to have recourse to saner heads in the crowd.

  “Lazitar,” one of the new arrivals said and thumped his chest with his knife hand. I took it as a salute.

  “Take them to separate rooms. See to their comfort, but they are not allowed to leave or communicate. Post guards.”

  “I don't think this works for me, Lazitar.” My tattoos began glowing and without thinking about it, I became slightly larger.

  “You cannot fight us all and this is not open for negotiation.”

  “What is your plan for us?”

  “That is up to you. You cannot leave here. If you can accept that, we will make you as comfortable as possible.”

  “If you aren't going to help us, we'll just take our leave.”

  “That is not one of your choices.”

  “Then I guess we're going to have to add it to the list.”

  The armed men took defensive stances around us.

  “I think you've accomplished Plan B,” Izzy announced.

  “Quentin, I'm not sure this is the right time for this kind of a stand. They’re not threatening to harm us.” Saripha’s conflict showed on her face.

  “You should listen to Saripha. She is wiser than you.”

  “And you should listen to Adaxa, Lazitar.”

  Lazitar spun around. Adaxa was walking towards us, wisps of purple vapor swirling around her. The grace of her movements carried both authority and pride. The other armed men broke off and lowered their knives. They all bowed in unison.

  “Adaxa! Please, I can handle this.”

  “Like you handled my confinement?”

  “That was to protect you.”

  Adaxa studied Lazitar for a long time. The power that emanated from her was unmistakable. Her beauty was breathtaking.

  “Lazitar, you blame yourself for my original capture. I don't. But your guilt has caused you to claim an entitlement you have no right to. You are responsible for my continued protection, but you do not get to make choices for my people and certainly not me.”

  “Adaxa, I...”

  Adaxa raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, Grandmother.” Lazitar bowed.

  Adaxa turned to us.

  “You are the ones who freed me in Antanaria. I am glad to have the chance to thank you. Lazitar seemed to think we needed to get away quickly.”

  Saripha stepped forward and bowed. “Adaxa, we were glad to have helped you, but we also needed a favor that we had hoped you would grant.”

  “It must be very important to have brought you all this way.”

  “Do you know of the one that the dreaming has trapped in the Magister?”

  “Yes, of course. I could do nothing about the way they misused my power.”

  “But you could use that power to help us free him now.”

  A puzzled look came over Adaxa's face. She looked from Saripha to me and back to Saripha.

  “I don't understand why you need me. That one...,” Adaxa said, pointing at me. “...he has the dreaming.” Then she turned back to Saripha and took both her hands in hers. “You do too, though it is different. It comes from somewhere else.”

  Lazitar spoke up. “He has the power, but he doesn’t know how to use it. He would rather expose you to danger.”

  Adaxa ignored Lazitar and walked over to me, putting both hands on my chest.

  “Yes, I can sense that part of the dreaming in him is still locked up. I think we can do something about that.”

  “No. The stone is sacred!”

  Adaxa turned. For just a moment, I thought I caught a glimpse of an impossibly ancient woman and then she was the beautiful and young Adaxa again. Lazitar collapsed on the ground, screaming as fingers of lightning played across his body.

  Saripha spoke softly, but it was clear she caught Adaxa's ear. “Adaxa, Lazitar spent many years trying to free you. It is difficult, I'm sure, for him to make the adjustment back.”

  Adaxa turned. “Of course. However, as guardian of the dreaming I know the dangers of such presumptions. Now come, follow me.”

  We followed Adaxa back to a large rounded structure with three minaret-like towers adjoined to it. The building had the look of royalty to it, with intricately carved patterns and other decorations. There was a deep purple color to its glowing walls. We entered.

  The interior was a great hall with polished stone floors that were white like marble and stone pillars that were more yellowish. At the far end of the room was a dais on which sat a very large carved and multifaceted stone. Color in the stone seemed to swirl around like clouds mixing colors from dark blue, almost black, to dark purple, also almost black. However, there were lighter hues as well, from smoky gray to a rose color. Some colors mixed, other swirled around the others like tendrils.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “The source of the dreaming, to which my body is fully attuned.”

  “I have that dreaming in me?”

  “Some from the talisman you absorbed.”

  “You know about that?”

  “I can sense it. The talismans were created by an even more ancient race than ours to provide our world with guardians. I believe those Ancients foresaw the coming of the Idiri. They used the dreaming to create the talismans.”

  “Where are they now... those Ancients?”

  “They perished, though no one knows exactly how. However, they gave our people the dreaming.”

  I looked at the revolving colors, almost hypnotized.

  “So, what do I do?”

  “Reach out and touch it.”

  I started to lift my hands. Adaxa grabbed them and stopped me.

  “Not that way. From the inside.”

  It took me a moment to realize what she meant. I looked at Saripha. She nodded. I faced the gem again and closed my eyes, turning my thoughts inward. I felt my energy swirling inside me, opening out. And then I felt another energy. It felt stormy, but also thrilling, like watching a storm from a safe place. As a kid, when we got big electrical storms, I would turn out the lights in my bedroom and watch out the large window into the darkness as flashes lit up the whole sky. I loved doing that and that's how this felt.

  I let my energy merge with it. At first, there seemed to be no harmonics in common. It was two different energies that didn't seem to mix. Then it was as if the other energy started drawing my energy in and, as it did so, the harmonics of my energy started to change. I felt a momentary panic, wondering if this was a trap. I was remembering when I first encountered the Angel and she tried to absorb my blue power. However, I quickly realized nothing was being taken from me and this felt very different.

  I felt myself rising up into the air, but I didn't
open my eyes. It reminded me of some of the meditation journeys that Saripha took me on at the lodge, where I felt connected to everything. Now I could see myself in the night sky over the islands. I could see the torn sky over the big island, tentacles of energy reaching down to the ground. I saw Kate's ship still waiting for us. I saw the sword in the Mountain. It was almost finished. I had to act fast. This time the Black Angel didn't see me, but Rox turned and looked right into my eyes, although she showed no indication of recognition. And then I saw the Magister sitting atop the roof in Antanaria. The light flickered and it was Guido. He turned his pained expression to me and smiled. “Bring the army from Chadikar.” And with that I heard an ancient chant in my ears. I don't know how I knew it was ancient. Maybe because it sounded aboriginal to me. And then I must have been back in the Dreamers’ city. My eyes were closed and I was suspended in the air. I heard Saripha’s whisper as if she were next to my ear. Or maybe it was inside my head.

  “Trust.”

  In that moment there was a point of light in front of my eyes and the whole world seemed to dissolve in a spiral. That may seem odd, since I had my eyes closed, but it's the only way I can describe it. I found myself falling through empty space and then the spiral reversed itself and I felt like not just the world but my body was being reconstructed.

  I floated back down and when my feet touched down I opened my eyes.

  “It is done now.” Adaxa stepped away from me.

  I looked at my arms. My skin had turned a deep blue-purple, like Adaxa's.

  “What is done now?”

  “You are fully connected to the dreaming.”

  17.

  “Had I known so much of your power was blocked off, I would have stayed in Antanaria to help. Lazitar told me you would handle the rest.”

  After all that just happened I had to rest, or at least reorient myself. I could feel energy coursing through me. It felt powerful, not in an electric kind of way, but more like being very centered in the middle of a wind storm. I could feel it inside me but it wasn't agitating.

  “So you are saying we can free Guido?” I noticed that Adaxa looked momentarily puzzled. “Sorry, I mean Kanarchan.”

  “Yes, you have the power to undo the dreaming spell.”

  “What about the horsemen? The Hadaran?”

  “Kanarchan kept a hidden army. The council tried to get him to reveal it, but he didn't trust everyone on the council. This was before the split, where he turned out to be right.”

  I remembered what Guido said in what I thought was a dream while Adaxa was awakening the power in me. Chadikar, he had said. The flaming monkeys? I didn't think so. I would have to go there.

  Finally, I just said, “I will have to figure out something.”

  “You always do,” Izzy encouraged.”

  “We need to get back. We've done as much as we can here.”

  “Are you sure you’re ready to travel?” Saripha was being thoughtful, as always, but I knew she was as anxious to get back as I was.

  “I'm fine. Let me just make sure they know we're coming.”

  I turned my focus inward, concentrating on my breathing, and then I thought about the one powerful symbol I had left with Kate. I meditated on my short sword and then I could feel the connection to Kyo. I projected that we were okay and we were coming back. I heard Kyo's voice but it sounded very distant. “We're waiting,” she said.

  There is nothing quite as frustrating as having the possible solution to a problem and being far away from where you can apply it. I was hoping that being fully connected to the dreaming might mean I could do what Guido did. He appeared to have the power to teleport. Tweedledee and Tweedledum also had that ability, although it had limits. However, I didn't. I could project my awareness to other places, but no one could see me and I couldn’t act upon the environment. Unfortunately, all we could do was make the long journey back.

  Lazitar guided us out of the caves, making sure we avoided the few dream traps, although we would probably have pushed past them as before. Lazitar wasn’t happy about us leaving, but it was clear he wasn't going to argue with Adaxa even if he thought he knew better how to protect the Dreamers. When we reached the cave, he helped me with lowering the others by rope to the boat. Finally, he turned to me.

  “Please say nothing of our location to anyone.”

  “I wish you'd trust us, Lazitar. We have our agenda, but we have always been cooperative with you.”

  “I won't apologize for what I did. Nothing is more important than protecting Adaxa. However, I admit you have been nothing but honorable.”

  “Then at least trust me now. No one will know of your location, at least not from us.”

  Lazitar nodded and then turned and was lost in the shadows of the cave.

  I untied the rope and floated down with it to the lifeboat, and Izzy and I began paddling back out between the islands.

  We were just verging on open water when there was a bright flash from the opening in the sky. Glowing particles like embers fell to the bare ground, but now we could see patterns in the sky radiating out from the gap as if the sky itself was unraveling. Izzy and I stopped rowing to watch.

  “You have any idea what all that is in the sky, Izzy?”

  “If you're asking me as a scientist, no. I wasn't a cosmologist, and I have no experience with two universes crashing into each other, or whatever made that hole.”

  “You think those distortions are the hole getting bigger?”

  “That's one way to look at it. I think it’s matter breaking down where the two different universes are in contact. They're not compatible.”

  “Dangerous?”

  “What? A hole in our sky leading to another universe rumored to have incompatible physics with ours? What could be safer?”

  “Yeah, I guess that was a dumb question. If we don't find a way to stop it, what happens?”

  “Honestly, I don't know. Depends on whether it stays local or whether it results in a chain reaction. It could set off planet-wide changes. Would love to have the tools—and the time—to study the phenomenon.”

  Just then, there was a glow that rose up from the interior of the big island. I guessed it must have been from the crevasse. Two Angels appeared in the sky above the island. All three of us crouched down in the bottom of our boat. The Angels were pretty high up and they might not have noticed us anyway. Their attention seemed to be focused in the distance and they took off across the sky.

  “I've got a bad feeling about this,” I said, sitting up.

  “You said the sword was almost ready,” Saripha said.

  “That's what I'm thinking, too. We don't have much time.”

  Saripha looked at me. I knew her question.

  “The sword isn't ready yet. I'd know if it was. Time to set Guido free, then we can worry about the sword.”

  “You figured out what you are going to do about the sword?” I could see the concern in Izzy’s face. “It seems like the best chance to destroy the sword would be before it's completed.”

  “I know that's what Rooni wants me to do. I don't know why I'm resisting that.”

  “For now, you’re resisting it because it’s been buying us time,” Saripha observed.

  “No doubt. However, I also have this odd sense that I shouldn't destroy it. That there is another solution.”

  “Which hasn't occurred to you yet.” Izzy smiled.

  “But it will.”

  “Before or after the Angels have their hands on it?”

  “The plan is a work in progress.”

  “Why should this time be any different?” Izzy laughed.

  “Exactly. Why mess with a winning formula?”

  “Because we haven't been doing much winning lately?”

  “There is that. Are you saying you’re losing faith in my plans?”

  “Not me. Just making sure I understand where we are.”

  “Same place we always end up in this world. Hopeless goal. Impossible odds.”


  “Seems to be where we do best.” Izzy began rowing.

  “Let’s hope dumb luck doesn’t run out.” I joined in, rowing on the other side.

  We picked our way carefully through the submerged reefs. It was daylight, so it was a little easier. It did require paying more attention to the patterns of the currents, which made me wish we had Blaise along, but we did okay, scraping the hull only twice, and not seriously.

  When we arrived back at the ship, it was still anchored where we had left it, the sails all taken in. It was quiet. In fact, we could see no one on deck, which seemed odd.

  “I don't like this,” Izzy said before I could speak up.

  “Yeah, we'd never not have someone on deck as lookout.”

  “Do you think the Angels were headed here?”

  “I don't think so. Maybe if I’d been here. I think they have bigger things they are looking after.”

  “Then what?”

  “I smell demons.”

  “No big snake anywhere.”

  “What better way to sneak up?”

  There was a knotted rope hanging over the side, which was obviously intended to allow us to climb up, but there should have been Blaise or someone above to allow us to toss up a rope to secure the lifeboat.

  “Probably a trap.”

  “Always is with demons,” I answered.

  “And we're going to just walk into it.”

  “Don't we always?” Saripha piped in, going up the rope first.

  I floated up to the deck. Izzy followed Saripha. As soon as he got to the top he had his bow threaded.

  The deck was as deserted as it had appeared from the water. There were no signs of anything bad happening. No blood on the deck, no cut-off tentacles. Maybe it wasn't the sea demons, but that was my bet. They must have shown up and overpowered everyone quickly and silently. It was hard to imagine, but we didn't know much about these demons.

  Once we inspected the deck to ensure there was no one hiding there, I motioned to the door to go below to Kate's cabin. I went in first, followed by Saripha and Izzy.

  We found exactly what we expected in Kate's cabin, except this time there was one larger demon among the others. Kate, Blaise, Kyo and Anika were all held by demons with their tentacles locked around them. Although Anika, Kyo and Kate looked annoyed, they didn't seem panicked in any way. Blaise, on the other hand, almost looked like he was taking a nap. When we entered, Blaise's eyes opened and he smiled.