Seven Dreams

by English, Charlotte E.

  ‘I need the keys,’ she said.

  Teyo saw the whole of her plan in an instant. It was probably impossible, but he didn’t care; if she needed to try it, he could only support her.

  Egg and Iya needed no prompting, either. ‘The keys are all taken,’ Egg pointed out. ‘How can we get them back?’

  ‘We don’t need to,’ said Serena. ‘Once Ylona’s got all seven, what will she do? She’ll go straight to the gate, and to the repository. That’s where we’ll go.’

  ‘Wait just a minute,’ said Bron, slower to catch on. ‘You can’t go to the repository. You can’t access such a dangerous technology just to revive one man!’

  Four pairs of eyes turned upon him with identical expressions of furious contempt. Bron stepped back a fraction, and held up his hands. ‘I’m sorry for your loss, truly,’ he said, with a passable attempt at sincerity. ‘But you must see that this is ridiculous. I can’t possibly permit it.’

  ‘And who,’ said Serena, with dangerous calm, ‘appointed you leader of this team?’

  Bron bristled. ‘Damnit, if it comes to that, I did!’ he said, his voice rising. ‘I seem to be the only sane person around here. It’s what my bosses would expect.’

  Serena turned her back on him, and headed up the stairs. ‘I care nothing for your bosses,’ she said.

  Bron spat something else, but what it was supposed to be no-one would ever know. Before he had uttered more than two syllables, Teyo planted a fist in his mouth. Bron dropped with a satisfying thud, and lay inert.

  Egg clapped him on the back. ‘There might be something to this violence thing after all,’ she observed.

  ‘Shouldn’t we...?’ Iya said, gesturing helplessly at Bron’s sprawled form.

  ‘Leave him,’ Serena called back. ‘He’s the greatest agent in all of the Seven, after all! He can get himself out of this.’

  ‘Serena, love,’ Teyo called to her retreating back. ‘Wait just a moment.’

  She turned, and raised an enquiring brow at him. Her skin was horribly pale, but she looked resolute and calm. Teyo felt proud of her. ‘Yes?’

  Teyo smiled up at her, and shifted. His legs and arms contracted, his back lengthened; dark fur sprouted from every pore, and his teeth transformed into horrific fangs. Where the man had stood moments before there now stood a whurthag, one of the most fearsome beasts living. The stuff of legends only a year or two before, the whurthag had been recalled from its home in the Lower Realms and unleashed upon the Middles to catastrophic effect. It was wholly illegal to take the whurthag’s shape, of course; every realm of the Seven had unanimously agreed upon that. Teyo didn’t care. His only concern was to escort his team safely out of the Warren.

  Iyamar grinned and shifted. Seconds later, two whurthags stood, fur bristling, at the bottom of the stairs.

  You know you could get into serious trouble for this? Teyo enquired.

  Iyamar’s heavy jaws dropped open in a canine grin. Oh, noooo, she replied. Say it isn’t true!

  Teyo snickered. Very well, then. Off we go. The two whurthags surged up the stairs, barrelling past Serena, and headed into the upper corridors at a run. Try not to kill anyone, Teyo added as an afterthought.

  Yessir!

  Six hours later, a vast, crimson-scaled draykon landed on the shores of a tiny, uncharted island off the south-east coast of Nimdre and instantly collapsed in exhaustion. A human passenger, miniaturised in comparison with the draykon’s size, slithered down off the recumbent beast’s back and folded to the ground.

  A second, smaller draykon landed beside the first, its scales dark amber. Another human passenger descended, and for a few minutes all four members of the unusual party lay inert and exhausted on the stony, pebbled beach.

  Then the crimson draykon vanished, and Teyo returned to himself.

  Draykoni, he thought fuzzily, really aren’t made for long-distance flying. He was lying with his face in the wet sand, but it took him a while to realise it.

  ‘Tey?’ said Serena. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Mmpf,’ uttered Teyo. Every bone in his body felt like soup, and he couldn’t stop trembling.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Serena whispered, touching his hair. ‘I shouldn’t do this to you.’

  That was more than enough. Teyo got his hands underneath himself and managed to achieve a sitting position, albeit a shaky one. He smiled at Serena, and shook his head. ‘It’s okay. I can do it.’

  She nodded, but doubtfully. ‘Iya?’

  Iyamar had by this time resumed her human shape. Her condition was no way near as bad as Teyo’s, which mortified him. It took him a moment to remember that she was twenty-six years his junior.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she said breezily, although she said it from a recumbent posture. At least she had managed to land face up rather than face down. She wasn’t shaking, either.

  Egg was on her feet and prowling around. ‘This place is rubbish,’ she pronounced irrelevantly as she rejoined the group.

  Teyo glanced around, blinking. He hadn’t even bothered to look. The island was truly tiny, so small he could clearly see the opposite coast. It was largely featureless, nothing but bare rock fading to sand at the edges. Its only discernible point of interest was a collection of tall stones gathered at the centre, each one coloured a slightly different shade of honey-brown.

  ‘That’s where they’ll be,’ Serena said, following Teyo’s gaze. ‘Say when ready.’

  ‘Ready!’ called Iyamar, bouncing up from the sand with appalling energy.

  ‘Ready,’ said Egg. She had picked up a dagger from somewhere and had taken great pleasure in wielding it ever since. Teyo wasn’t sure whether she knew how to use it, but probably she did. She just hadn’t employed that particular ability in a while.

  Teyo levered himself to his feet, unable to suppress a groan. ‘Ready,’ he croaked. Everything hurt, but he was rewarded with a warm smile of gratitude from Serena, and he felt fractionally better.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she said, and strode away in the direction of the stones.

  Teyo hurried to keep pace with her, alert for any signs of danger. There were none, at least for a while; the island was bare of all life save for an occasional winged creature soaring somewhere above, or settling briefly upon the sands. He was braced for that to change as they neared the standing stones, but the island remained shrouded in a stillness he might have found peaceful, in different circumstances.

  At the heart of the circle of stones there stood an archway of smooth rock, unmarked and undecorated. This place had probably been the subject of numerous archaeological pamphlets, Teyo thought, but he doubted anyone had ever guessed at any part of the truth.

  Serena walked around the archway, inspecting it closely. ‘Aha,’ she said softly, and beckoned.

  Teyo joined her. She was standing directly under the archway, looking up. Arrayed around the inside of the smooth curve were seven alcoves, perfectly sized and shaped to contain one small stone key.

  All seven were in place, each one pulsing with a soft light.

  ‘She’s already gone through,’ Serena murmured.

  Teyo nodded. ‘It might be too late.’

  ‘I know. We still have to try.’

  Teyo had no opposition to make, but he did have a question. How did they use the gate? Here it was, apparently active; all the keys were present and doing something, and there was no sign of Ylona, Halavere or any of their people. But despite all this, nothing was happening.

  Serena put out a hand. The instant her fingertips touched the honey-brown stone of the gate, she vanished.

  ‘Oh,’ said Teyo, and stretched out a hand.

  The world dissolved.

  If the repository had been impressive as a vision, it was far more so in reality. After a moment’s dark disorientation, Teyo’s eyes focused upon a chamber so toweringly vast he could barely comprehend its proportions. The ceiling soared up and up and up, leaving him dwarfed and feeling wholly insignificant far below. Every inch of the wal
ls and much of the floor was fitted with shelves of all conceivable shapes and sizes, containing everything from traditional books to stacked, crystalline boxes and... well, Teyo had no idea what half of the things were, except that they probably stored information by some means or another.

  All of this passed through his thoughts in an instant. He had no more time to muse on the contents of those boxes and books, or the mysteries and secrets that might be resolved were he to explore even a single shelf. The moment he became aware of his surroundings, a curious scene revealed itself.

  Ylona and Halavere had indeed entered the repository ahead of them, for they stood near the centre of the room, only a few feet away from Teyo. They had brought two others with them, two men whom Teyo did not recognise. All four were peculiarly still. After a moment, Teyo realised they were frozen in place, for he detected not the smallest movement from any of them. They did not even appear to be breathing. They had stopped in the midst of talking, apparently all at once, for their mouths were open and their faces alight with expressions of eagerness (Halavere), wariness (the unfamiliar two), and dismay (Ylona).

  Standing not far away was a fifth person, so still and quiet that Teyo didn’t notice him at first. He was not frozen. He stood leaning against one of the bookcases, his arms folded and his brows lowered. He appeared to be deep in thought, so much so that he did not immediately notice the entrance of Teyo’s party either. When he did, his head turned slightly and he regarded the newcomers with a blink of surprise.

  The man looked to be about Teyo’s own age, or a year or two older, though his hair was white. His eyes were dark green and thoughtful, his skin Darklander pale. He was dressed in a pair of loose trousers and a soft blue shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His feet were bare.

  ‘Rhoun Torinth,’ blurted Teyo.

  The man nodded once.

  ‘Aren’t you supposed to be dead?’ said Iyamar, her tone accusing.

  ‘Hush,’ muttered Egg. ‘You can be so rude sometimes.’

  Teyo smothered a sudden, surprising desire to laugh. Egg lecturing Iyamar on manners? He loved his teammates so much sometimes, it made his heart hurt.

  Rhoun Torinth’s brows shot up at Iya’s words, and he blinked. ‘Hmm. I don’t think I will answer any questions on my state of health until I know the identity of my... visitors.’ The language he spoke wasn’t quite Nimdren, but it was close; he was matching the words of his uninvited guests with the nearest dialect he knew. That realisation intrigued Teyo. Was it a forerunner of the Nimdren tongue, whatever he was speaking? He wished he could ask, but the moment was far from appropriate.

  Serena stepped forward. ‘We’re here for a good reason,’ she offered. ‘We apologise for the intrusion, but it’s very important. Besides, Iyamar’s phrasing might have been a little abrupt but she raises a good point: we didn’t expect to find anybody here.’ She paused, and added with a smile, ‘Least of all you.’

  Rhoun Torinth considered her, unspeaking. ‘Nimoruen has developed a little differently than I might have expected,’ he mused in a thoughtful tone. ‘How did that come about, I wonder?’

  Serena blinked.

  ‘Your language,’ he said, with a faint smile. ‘You are not a native speaker, I think?’

  Serena shook her head, nonplussed by the sudden change of direction. ‘Teyo is,’ she said, gesturing. ‘And Iya.’

  Rhoun Torinth’s gaze flicked past Iyamar and settled on Teyo. ‘Ah, the topic interests you,’ he said. ‘I can see that clearly enough. Perhaps we will discuss it.’

  Teyo opened his mouth, hesitated, and closed it again.

  ‘Very well,’ said Torinth, unfolding himself from the bookcase. ‘This “important matter” you spoke of. I suppose you had better tell me about it.’

  Serena glanced at Ylona, standing frozen with one arm half-raised and her mouth open. ‘Ah... should we expect to end up like them, in the near future?’

  ‘Possibly not.’ This unreassuring assertion was all they were to receive, for Torinth said nothing more.

  Serena swallowed visibly. ‘It’s my brother,’ she said, a little shakily. ‘He... he died, and I cannot—’

  ‘Ah,’ interrupted the Lokant. His gaze, fixed upon Serena, sharpened. ‘It was not curiosity that led you here, then, but self-interest.’

  Serena’s shoulders slumped slightly. ‘Um, no,’ she faltered. ‘It’s for Fabian that I—’

  ‘Let us not deceive ourselves,’ Rhoun Torinth interrupted. ‘It is sad for your brother, yes, but he is gone. He feels nothing. It is for yourself that you wish him restored.’

  Serena glanced uncertainly at Teyo. He had never seen her so much at a loss, and he was obliged to smother a brief desire to do the supercilious Torinth a minor injury. Or perhaps a major one.

  ‘He didn’t deserve it,’ she said softly.

  ‘Few people deserve to die,’ Torinth said, with chilling indifference. ‘We cannot reverse every death. Why this one?’

  Serena had nothing to say. She sighed, and all the hope seemed to go out of her with the exhalation. If Torinth would not help them, how were they ever to find the information they sought? And if he was inclined to actively oppose them, the task swiftly grew from extremely difficult to impossible.

  But Serena rallied. She gestured at Ylona, and said in a firmer voice: ‘Your daughter, I gather?’

  Rhoun Torinth’s brows rose again. ‘I would be so interested to hear where this information is coming from.’

  Serena ignored that. ‘Ylona believes you to be dead,’ she said. ‘She came here with the same purpose as mine: to find the secret of travelling back through time, in order to restore you to life. Can you so easily dismiss her intentions?’

  ‘She believes no such thing.’

  Serena blinked. ‘What?’

  ‘She knows I did not die. She has always known it. Whatever her purpose here might be, it is not as you suppose. And so, I’ll ask you again: where is this information coming from?’

  ‘Mae,’ said Serena warily.

  Torinth’s surprise grew. ‘Orintha Mae?’

  ‘I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell us the rest of her name. Or anything else.’

  Torinth was silent for some time. ‘Orintha Mae sent you here,’ he said, flatly, as though the notion displeased him.

  ‘No,’ Serena replied coolly. ‘On the contrary, she was eager to prevent anyone’s coming here. It was Ylona who started the search for the keys.’

  ‘Tell me everything,’ Torinth ordered, and Serena did. Teyo stood in silence, only interrupting once when Serena neglected a detail in her tale. Rhoun Torinth heard it all without speaking a word, and when she had finished he remained silent for some time.

  ‘Ylona offered you the contents of the repository?’ he said at last.

  Serena nodded. ‘If we handed over the keys we had secured. I imagine she has offered the same prize to everyone she’s worked with. Even the Yllandu.’ She frowned. ‘But now I think that she had no need to make any such deal. I suspect she let us gather up several of the keys without interference, knowing that she could take them back any time she wanted. But she made us think that she opposed us, because it lulled our suspicions and kept us going.’ Her mouth twisted in disgust. ‘We pulled the very same trick ourselves on an unwelcome colleague, yet we failed to recognise it being wielded against us.’

  Torinth’s gaze drifted to his daughter’s inert face, his own expression puzzled. ‘I suspect,’ he said at last, ‘that this is about Orlind. She regretted its passing, more deeply than her siblings. If she felt there was a way to undo its destruction and restore the great Library to the world, perhaps she would take it. Though I do not know why she would do so only now, after so many years.’ He shook himself, blinking, and said: ‘But this is no concern of yours. To return to your stated purpose: though I sympathise, most sincerely, with your plight, the matter is not so simple as you imagine. Consider: were you to wander back some hours in time, and prevent the demise of your broth
er, what then? It may seem as though you have merely rectified a wrong, righted an injustice. In fact, you have interfered with the order of things at a fundamental level; you cannot know what the impact of your actions will be, nor their eventual effect.’

  ‘But—’

  Torinth held up a hand. ‘Why do you imagine I locked all of this away?’ he said, softly. ‘Why do I persist in guarding it? For I am its guard. You asked me how I am alive: in truth, I am not, precisely. One might more accurately say that I am preserved. It is a sacrifice I made for precisely this reason. The contents of this repository are both deeply important and extremely dangerous. They cannot be freely given away, and I do not for a second believe that my daughter had any such intention.’ He paused, frowning. ‘When I created the Dreams, it was not for any such purpose as this. If ever some future denizens of the Seven were to come crashing through my doors, I thought that it would be a matter of grave emergency; of life and death on a grand scale. I have preserved myself against just such an eventuality: great need. This was not what I had in mind.’

  Serena lifted her chin. ‘It is a matter of grave emergency to us.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, with a trace of irritation, ‘but you have merely landed here by accident, because of my daughter’s actions. Ah, the irony! That I should lock this away because of Orlind, and because of Orlind my daughter has opened my repository to the world...’ He sighed, shaking his head. ‘One death is inconsequential,’ he said, recalling himself once more to the topic at hand. In a gentler tone, he added: ‘I know it doesn’t seem so to you, but when you have lived as long as I—’

  ‘I don’t care how long you’ve lived!’ Serena burst out. ‘I hope I never live as long as you, if I should end so cold! NO death is inconsequential! Every single one matters!’

  Torinth blinked at her, momentarily silenced. ‘Well—’

  ‘Save it,’ Serena hissed. ‘I care nothing for your distant judgements and your heartless pronouncements. Who are you to decide whether my brother lives or dies? You hold here the secret to his resurrection and I will find it.’