by Linda McNabb
Guyan was breathless as she arrived, and she looked annoyed at having to wait to catch her breath before speaking. “You can fix the circle?”
“Not exactly,” Zaine replied, wishing he could.
“He wants to create a small gap in the circle,” Davyn explained. “A gap that Jelena can go through.”
“Exactly,” Zaine said, pleased that his father understood.
“And he needs the storm dragons’ help,” Aldren added.
“How?” Guyan asked, looking slightly dubious. She was obviously not keen on the dragons being trapped a second time either.
“To carve the runes in this stone. It would take me hours and we don’t know how much longer the circle will last now that it’s been damaged,” Zaine explained.
The others arrived as Zaine was explaining, and Trianna bustled past the little blonde girl without even noticing her and snatched the rock from Zaine’s palm.
“You’re trying to bind the dragons for your own use,” she snapped. “That’s why you stopped me. You want them for your own.”
“Nobody is binding anyone to anything,” Zaine retorted in an exasperated tone, and took the stone back. “All I want is to create a gap that Jelena can go through.”
“I can go home?” Jelena asked, looking delighted and grinning broadly. She ran up and hugged Guyan. “Can you come too?”
“I cannot,” Guyan replied gently. “I promised Mother I would remain here.”
Jelena looked about to cry, but she nodded and put on a brave face. “I’ll ask Mama if you can come home.”
“Who is this child?” Calard asked, obviously realising that he hadn’t seen her before.
“My sister,” Guyan told him. “My mother grieves for her and she needs to go home.”
Jelena looked up at Trianna and saw the wooden crown in her hand. She rushed up, snatched it from the red-robed weaver and glared at her.
“You dare to take my crown!” The little girl’s voice was suddenly strong and demanding. Even Trianna looked a little surprised and took a step backwards. She recognised a royal voice when she heard one.
The dragons suddenly settled to the ground and looked at the rock. We will do it. But we cannot carve runes on a rock that size.
Zaine heaved a huge sigh of relief as he tossed the stone a short way into the dirt by some long grass and began to kick away the grass to clear a large space. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll make it bigger.”
He began to scratch runes in the dirt, all the way around the stone but at some distance from it. As soon as the circle was complete, the stone began to grow. It grew all the way to the edges of the runes and then stopped.
“Why didn’t you just speak them?” Tercel asked, clearly interested in what Zaine was doing, and earning himself a clip on the ear from Calard for talking to Zaine.
“I want to make it small again in just a minute or two. I don’t want to have to wait for the spell to wear off, or to take the time to reverse it.”
Tercel nodded respectfully at Zaine’s explanation.
Tell us what runes you want, a storm dragon sighed as it grew larger and darkened to almost black. The others followed suit, and soon there were six black clouds with lightning bouncing back from one to another.
Zaine focused his mind. He hadn’t planned them exactly yet, but there wasn’t time now to admit that. His mind drifted back, and suddenly he knew which ones to use. He pictured the door at the back of Willow Castle. It was the door he had first entered the castle through. On that door were six runes which opened the door. Without a pause to rethink his plan, Zaine shouted out the runes and quickly took a step back as lightning shot from the sky. It took only a few seconds and the black clouds cleared. Everyone stepped forward to look at the stone and Zaine was impressed to see six perfectly formed runes.
“Hurry!” Maata said, prodding Zaine in the arm. “I saw the circle fade for even longer just now.”
Zaine scrubbed at the runes on the ground with his bare foot and the stone shrunk quickly to its original size. He bent down and picked it up, then looked around at the others before hurrying off towards the Circle of Dreams.
Guyan picked up her sister and kept pace with him, leaving the rest to follow as best they could. The storm dragons blew Guyan, Jelena and Zaine along, getting them there well before the others. The dragons flew to perch on a stone each and mirrored their true forms from within the circle.
“Where do we place the stone?” Guyan asked as the view into her world darkened yet again.
“Over here.” Zaine led her to the spot where the circle began. He bent down and placed the stone between the runes, then stepped back. “I don’t think it will last long when I say it though. I can’t trace it because the runes are too small so it won’t be a permanent doorway.”
“Okay, Jelena,” Guyan said, giving her sister a hug and then placing her right next to the circle, “as soon as Zaine tells you to run – you run to Mother as fast as you can.”
“Okay. I’ll come back for you,” Jelena said bravely, but her bottom lip was quivering. Her wooden crown was perched, lopsided on her golden hair.
As the view of Guyan’s homeland came back into focus, Zaine yelled the words that would open the door. Guyan gave her sister a push and the tiny blonde girl ran at the circle as fast as she could.
Zaine thought she was going to make it. A sense of relief began to flood through him – only to vanish as Jelena bounced back off the unyielding barrier.
“What went wrong?” Maata asked as she arrived at the circle.
Guyan hurried forward and picked up her sister and hugged her. Both looked on the verge of tears as the little girl picked up her wooden crown.
“I don’t know,” Zaine replied, worried and confused. “It should have worked.”
It did, one of the storm dragons replied, lifting off its stone perch and coming to hover over Jelena. I felt a door open into our world.
But it did not last more than a heartbeat, another added. Even I would have trouble getting through there in that time.
Guyan looked at the storm dragons with an odd expression and then back at her homeland as it faded into blackness once more. She appeared to have made a decision as she stepped forward to speak to the storm dragons. They hovered around her, seeming more solid than they ever had before.
“Take Jelena into the air with you,” she told them. “Race for the circle and Zaine will speak the runes as you get there.”
The dragons moved around restlessly, talking to each other before turning back to Guyan. But we will have to pass through to our world. We will not be able to come back.
“I know,” Guyan acknowledged sadly.
We cannot leave you, one said firmly. We gave our oath to serve you for life.
“And this is how I am asking you to serve me,” Guyan said quietly. “Take my sister home. I free you from your oath of service. Return to your true forms and live free.”
Another discussion followed as the world beyond the circle came into view again. They stared at the golden forms on top of the statues, tempted by what they saw.
Some of us should stay with you, they replied, although none of them was offering to be one of them.
“No,” Guyan insisted. “All of you must go.”
The storm dragons flew in low and circled Guyan, seeming to hug her with their wispy tendrils of cloudy mist. They were saying goodbye, and a tear spilled over onto Guyan’s cheek as she smiled, trying to show she was happy for them.
“It’s not going to last much longer. Each time the circle stays darker for longer,” Zaine said gently. “We’ll have to do it now.”
The storm dragons picked up Jelena and flew back a short distance. Jelena sat perched on the cloudy shapes, hanging onto her wooden crown and not looking in the least bit frightened. The dragons bounced her up and down a few times until she giggled as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Tell us when, they called back – their voice a whisper on the wind.
“Now!” Zaine yelled, and then spoke the runes to open the door in the circle.
With a whoosh that blew Zaine and everyone else over onto their stomachs, the storm dragons raced past and towards the circle. Something fell to the ground next to him, but he ignored it and stared at the circle. The wind died down and he knew that the moment of the door opening into Guyan’s world had passed.
Zaine sat up and looked around. Had they made it? He looked for the cloudy shapes and the little blonde-haired girl, but they were not to be seen.
“Look!” Guyan exclaimed as she pointed into the circle.
Just inside the circle, on the other side of the runes, six golden dragons had appeared above the stone circle, carrying a small blonde child between them. They appeared frozen in mid-flight. The dragon statues on top of the stones had gone.
“Why aren’t they moving?” Tercel asked, stepping forward to stare at the golden dragons.
“Time is different there,” Zaine told him with a grin. “Just watch the woman by the stones.”
The woman’s eyes changed a few heartbeats later. There was a spark of hope as she noticed the dragons aloft, carrying her little girl. Then the circle went black again and slowly faded to just a field of waving grass that was not of another world … The circle was gone.
Guyan sank to the ground and put her head in her hands. Zaine sat beside her, not wanting to intrude, nor wanting her to feel alone. After several minutes she lifted her head and stared at what had been her homeland, but was now just a field of grass.
“There’s still the crown to be decided,” Trianna said, but only Calard seemed to be interested. “We need a new crown. We cannot allow runeweaving to die out.”
“No, we don’t need a crown,” Maata said, looking like she had heard enough on the subject. “There are no storm dragons left here, so a crown will never sing again even if you do manage to make one. Your runes will still work even without a crown.”
Trianna looked as if the reality was finally sinking in, but she didn’t appear to like it. “We will devise another contest to decide the holder of the crown.”
“It must be one to prove their physical strength,” Calard insisted loudly.
“Perhaps there is a better way,” Tercel offered a little nervously. “I don’t see how a physical test will prove their worthiness to rule.”
“Quiet, boy!” Calard snapped. “We will have a contest of strength and the winner will rule.”
“No more contests!” Maata almost shouted. “Let the people decide who they wish to rule them.”
Trianna and Calard fell silent and backed away, still looking defiant about their idea of a contest. Tercel remained nearby and picked up the small red stone that Zaine had used to send Jelena home.
“Could you show me how you did all that?” Tercel asked without a trace of the sarcasm that had always laced his voice in the past.
“Sure,” Zaine agreed. The weaver had irritated him in the past, but with everything that had happened in the past few days Zaine was having trouble remembering just what it was that was so annoying.
Something was digging into Zaine’s leg and he moved to see what it was. One of Jelena’s leather shoes lay in the grass. He picked it up and handed it to Guyan.
“I’m glad she made it home,” Guyan said, clutching the small shoe. She got up and started walking back to her wooden castle.
“Guyan!” Zaine called out, getting up and following her. Guyan stopped and turned back to face him. “Perhaps you could come and stay at the castle with us? It will be lonely here.”
Guyan considered the idea, but looked unsure. After a minute, she shook her head slowly. “I don’t really want to leave, just in case the circle comes back.”
“I will stay here with you,” Aldren said solemnly. “I have been away too long.”
Zaine knew there was very little chance of the circle returning, but he did not say so.
“I don’t think Willow Castle will be able to be lived in for a long time. The storm dragons will have destroyed it,” Maata pointed out. “I think we will be staying at the Summer Castle for a while, once we have gone back to check on everyone at Willow Castle.”
Guyan’s face brightened and she smiled. “Then I will visit you often.”
“And we will come down here if we may,” Zaine offered.
Guyan nodded and turned back towards her wooden castle. “Come, you should all have a rest before you begin the climb back. You’ll need to leave fairly soon if you are to make it back to Summer Castle before dark.”
“We’ll need to make a better path,” Zaine muttered, remembering the steps floating in the air. He had no plans to use them again. “I’ll make a bridge.”
They walked away from the field of grass that had been Guyan’s homeland and he caught up to the rune-marked girl.
“Thank you for sending Jelena home,” Guyan said quietly and smiled at him. She walked up the stairs with a slow, sad step.
“One day I will find a way to send you home as well,” Zaine said, very quietly so that nobody would hear. Guyan’s step faltered slightly on the stairs, but she carried on and did not look back. Zaine wondered if she had heard, though, as her step seemed lighter and quicker as she led them up to her wooden castle.
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Starweaver
Circle of Dreams
Book 3
Linda McNabb
Copyright Linda McNabb 2008
www.mcnabbnz.com
Images Copyright : Christopher King /Victoria Kalinina / Frenta
Smashwords edition
Linda McNabb asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
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CHAPTER ONE - WISH UPON A STAR
The carriage hit a rock and jolted Zaine awake. He had expected the trip to take all day and most of the night, but it was still light. Then he saw a familiar sight ahead in the distance, and he nudged the dark-skinned girl next to him. She yawned and stretched as she opened her eyes.
“We’re almost at Land’s End, Maata,” he said, pointing ahead. The sun was settling slowly on the horizon behind them, and it cast a red glow across the land, making the white castle in the distance pink.
“Summer Castle looks small after Willow Castle,” Maata said, looking out the window as the pink castle grew larger. She looked over at the third passenger, who was pretending to sleep against the side of the carriage. He was an older version of Zaine, with blond hair and fair skin.
“Which one is bigger, Davyn?” Zaine asked his father.
“They’re both about the same size. Willow Castle only looks bigger because we’ve just spent six months rebuilding it,” Davyn replied without opening his eyes or moving.
“I thought runeweaving was supposed to make things easier.” Zaine flexed his right arm and rubbed it. “I seem to be just as tired as if I’d been using my muscles to build the castle.”
“Even runes need energy to make them work,” Davyn replied matter-of-factly.
It was not much more than a year since Zaine had discovered that the fancy designs he had learnt from Davyn’s book were actually runes. Runeweaving could be used for anything from fixing a broken carriage wheel, to building castles, to making yourself invisible, and clearly Zaine still had much to learn.
“I don’t think I’d use runes even if I were a runeweaver,” Maata said, inspecting the dirt under her fingernails that she still couldn’t get out. Her white tunic and trousers also carried smudges of dirt. A white silky robe covered most of her clothing and contrasted strongly with her dark skin. “Every plant in the
courtyard at Willow Castle will grow better for having been planted by hand.”
Princesses are not known for single-handedly planting, and laying paving, in gardens the size of ten cottages. But Maata was no ordinary princess. She did not stand on airs and graces, and she could hold her own in any battle of wits and strength.
Davyn sat up, his piercing blue eyes looking concerned as he twisted around to look at the castle. “I wonder what Trianna has been up to while we’ve been away.”
“Probably trying to make another crown,” Maata suggested a little sourly. “I don’t know why we need a king or queen. Things have gone just fine without one for the past year.”
“More likely she’s been looking for another way to get rid of me,” Zaine muttered, earning himself a reproachful glare from his father. “I should have stayed at Willow Castle.”
“She might not even be there,” Maata suggested. “Maybe she’s realised we don’t want a queen or king and she’s gone off to live somewhere else.”
Zaine grinned, despite feeling worried. It was just like Maata to try to cheer him up. “I’m sure my mother will be there. She wouldn’t miss the chance to try to put a crown on your head.”
The carriage arrived at the castle, and it rumbled loudly over the cobbles, announcing their arrival to anyone inside. As they reached the front of the castle, the noise of the carriage wheels was drowned out by the sound of water cascading off a cliff.
It looked as if the world ended right there – the name Land’s End suited it perfectly. A fast-flowing river swept past the castle on the far side and thundered its way over the cliff. The sun was halfway across the horizon behind them, colouring the clouds beyond the waterfall with flecks of gold, orange and red. It looked as if the sky was on fire.