Circle of Dreams Trilogy

by Linda McNabb

  “It’s too high!” he moaned with frustration and more than little bit of anger. It wasn’t fair – he was trying his hardest to save them both. He raised his head to look at the door hanging in the sky and his anger took over. “Bring it down here! I can’t get up there.”

  He glared at the door and then felt a moment of panic. The door seemed to be getting closer – but so was the sky. The dreamlink was collapsing in on itself. He would have to be quick if he wanted them to get through the door.

  “There had better be a field of grass on the other side,” he grumbled. Trianna had stopped struggling, and he stood up and dragged her to her feet. She was wide-eyed with fright and didn’t resist. Zaine grabbed her hand and ran at the door just before it reached the ground. He leapt at the last second and turned his shoulder to break open the door.

  Trianna screamed as she was pulled off the ground, and the force of hitting the door made him to let go of her hand. He reached back, trying to find her, but grabbed only air. Then he was tumbling backwards, landing with a thud that knocked all of the air from his lungs and set his mind spinning.

  He tried to sit up and see where he was, but his head felt heavy and a ringing in his ears blocked out any sounds that might help him figure out where he was. He forced himself to relax, knowing that wherever he was he had done the best that he could.

  A hand touched his face. It was soft and cool, and it brushed hair away from his eyes as he opened them. He expected to look up into Maata’s face, or even Guyan’s, but instead green eyes looked quizzically at him. A dark patch on Trianna’s face showed where a bruise was beginning to form. For the first time ever, he saw no hatred in his mother’s eyes. For the briefest of seconds, he even thought he saw her smile. Then her eyes clouded over and she drew back.

  “Did you have to drop us so hard on the ground?” she said with a return to her usual contempt. “You can’t even rescue someone properly.”

  “Hurry, get them off the runes!” This time it was definitely Guyan’s voice shouting orders. He felt himself dragged by his feet and saw Trianna pulled along with him.

  His mind began to clear as he felt the solid stone of the cottage at his back. He was sitting facing the circle of stones. Something didn’t seem quite right about it, though. The stones were still shuddering and the sand was slipping through cracks in the shield around it. Then he saw what had changed; hanging in the air, well above his head, was a wooden door.

  It swung back and forth as the air around it shook and shimmered with drifts of red sand. Why was the door still there? He frowned as he stood up; feeling hands helping him do so. He saw that it was Maata and Tercel assisting him, and they looked worried.

  “What’s wrong? I made it back in time, didn’t I?” Looking around, he saw that Guyan was staring at the door as well. She started to turn to face him, but seemed to be doing so very slowly.

  Time. It was slowing down here as well! He remembered how the storm dragons had said that time was being affected by each starlink that broke free.

  Then Guyan seemed to speed up, and she strode towards him very quickly.

  “Why did you create a door?” she snapped. It was the angriest that Zaine had ever seen the small rune-covered girl. He could see in her eyes that it was fear that had sharpened her words. Her golden-blonde hair blew in the wind, and was sprinkled with red sand.

  CHAPTER TEN - THE DOOR

  “To get back here,” Zaine replied defensively. “I had to rescue Trianna.”

  “You should have shut it behind you,” Guyan said, her anger vanishing as quickly as it had arrived. Her shoulders sagged as she turned away from him to look at the door again.

  He looked up at the door as well, wondering why it was so dark. Then he saw that around the edges of the door, the blue sky of Zhan was beginning to fade. The colour was seeping out of the sand, the sky, the ground – everything. The dreamlink was spreading into Zhan!

  His throat went dry, and his mouth felt full of sand when he tried to swallow. His mind ran around in circles as he desperately tried to work out how to get rid of the door. He may have saved his mother only to have brought the nothingness of the dreamlink to the entire world of Zhan!

  “As usual, he’s managed to put every world he touches in danger,” Trianna said sourly as they watched the shadowy world of the dreamlink grow larger.

  For once Zaine didn’t feel she was being too hard on him. She was right. Every world he’d ever been in he’d almost destroyed one way or another. Not for the first time he found himself wondering how he could fix a terrible mistake.

  Jumping up to close the door was not an option, as the door was too high. Nobody could go close enough anyway, or they would end up in the dreamlink again.

  “Fix it!” Trianna yelled, startling him.

  With a sudden thought, he ran into the stone cottage and picked up the metal chair. Then he rushed outside and stepped around the shadowy stain on the ground. The only part of the circle that he could get close to was one of the stone pillars. He raised the chair and struck the stone as hard as he could. He felt the impact jar through his arms with a pain that made his teeth hurt. He flicked his eyes to the door and then raised the chair again. The second strike threw him backwards and the chair fell into the circle. He got up and ran back to the pillar. A piece of stone was loose and he dug one finger into the top of the crack, and then pulled.

  It came free in his hand and he stepped back from the circle with it. He felt tears prick at his eyes as he saw red sand race unhindered across the grass. There was no sign of the door hanging in the air, nor the creeping shadows that had been taking over Zhan. The link to his home world was gone.

  He threw the chunk of rock to the ground and avoided looking at anyone. His life-reading had finally come true; he had destroyed his own world with one finger.

  “Where has it gone?” Trianna asked in the silence that followed. Only the rushing of the red sands answered her.

  “We need to get the herbs for the king,” Zaine said, trying to put his own heartache aside and get on with what had to be done.

  “You have a king here?” Trianna started to brush down her cloak and pat her hair back into place. She put on her most charming smile and stepped closer to Guyan. “I would like to meet him. Perhaps I can offer my services?”

  Zaine looked at the false smile and shook his head. Trust her to adjust so quickly to their changed circumstances. Only a moment before, she had been permanently trapped in this world, and already she was plotting to get in a position of power again.

  “You runes won’t work here, Mother,” he said flatly.

  Trianna’s body was rigid as she turned to look sharply at him. She glared at him in disbelief, but he just shrugged.

  “Try them then,” he suggested.

  Trianna muttered something under her breath and waved her arms dramatically. Dom looked at her cautiously, stepping back to wait to see what would happen. A few seconds later, when nothing had happened, Trianna looked confused and fell silent as she reconsidered her position yet again. Zaine had no doubt she would find some other way to try to turn the situation to her advantage.

  Davyn stirred, and Zaine turned away from his mother to rush to his father’s side. The older weaver put his hand to his head and opened his eyes just a little. His eyes were glazed and unfocused, but as they cleared a little he smiled.

  “Zaine, you’re safe,” he sighed with relief, and then he looked around. “And Guyan got home after all.”

  “We seem to be stuck in Guyan’s world and they don’t really like us,” Zaine said, trying to explain the situation as quickly as he could. “And our runes don’t work here.”

  “We should get moving before my runes wear off. Sy will be angry and his weaving is a lot stronger than mine,” Dom warned them.

  Zaine looked back to the cottage they had come out of. Even as Dom spoke, Zaine could hear Sy yelling. His face appeared at the doorway and he glared at them across the sands. Guyan grabbed Zaine an
d pulled him around the side of the cottage, out of sight of her cousin.

  Seconds later, Zaine, Davyn and Guyan were the only ones left by the cottage. Zaine looked around cautiously. Where had everyone gone?

  “I guess not all of Sy’s runes are drawn on.” Guyan’s voice was laced with equal measures of awe and distaste. “He has teleported them back to the other cottage. He can’t teleport us if he can’t see us. We’d better get out of here.”

  “What will he do to them?” Zaine asked, wanting to look around the side of the cottage to see if they were safe.

  “They’ll be okay. He may be nasty like his father, but he wouldn’t go as far as to cause them actual harm,” Guyan assured him. “And there are no starlinks left for him to send them into anyway.”

  “Can you walk?” Zaine asked, helping his father to his feet. “I need your help to mix up a potion for the king.”

  “It’s just a bang on the head.” Davyn grinned to cover the obvious pain he was in. “What sort of potion do you need?”

  “You can tell him as we go,” Guyan suggested, coming over to help support the runeweaver into the stone cottage.

  As they walked quickly through the tunnels of Zhan, Zaine told Davyn of the poison that he suspected had been given to the king.

  “We’ll need some fresh herbs and berries,” Davyn said, not sounding too hopeful. “How long has he been ill?”

  “Two or three days, I think,” Guyan answered. “There’s a cave up ahead where you can get the things you need.”

  The tunnels had all looked the same to Zaine, but as they turned the corner they emerged out into a small low-roofed cavern. It had the same clear-stone roof as used at Royal Heights, but, instead of trees full of wooden houses, there were small bushes, plants and even vines growing up the walls.

  “This is where Uncle Eldric grows all the herbs for healing,” Guyan said.

  Davyn had already pushed away the supporting hands and was walking in amongst the bushes and plants. Zaine followed him, mentally identifying many plants, but there were just as many that he had never seen before.

  Zaine picked the leaves and berries that Davyn pointed out, and then as they worked their way back to the entrance Davyn looked around, frowning. He was looking for something, but didn’t seem to be finding it. Finally, he grinned and led Zaine over to where a small ring of stones stood next to the cave wall. A pile of ashes were heaped inside it, and Davyn scooped a handful into a small wooden bowl that lay next to the stones.

  Again Davyn looked around. Zaine followed as Davyn hurried over to a long stone bench carved out of the wall. On the bench were all of the tools of trade for a healer, and Davyn quickly set about grinding down the herbs. After a few minutes he handed the task over to Zaine. As the herbs were crushed, Davyn took a pinch of each and stirred in the same quantity of the ash.

  He tipped a small amount of the final mixture into a clay goblet, and turned to those waiting by the door. “Now we just need to add some water and get him to drink this.”

  Guyan looked delighted as she took the goblet and led them back through the tunnels. She paused as they came to a larger tunnel opening.

  “There’s something going on,” she said, turning back to them.

  They walked slowly out into the main cavern of Royal Heights, where it looked as though the entire population of Zhan was assembled underneath the trees. Between many of the trees were benches and swings hanging from the lowest branches. Flat, pale grey stones formed a path that wound around all the trees. People were sitting on the benches, standing on the paths, and even perching on low branches.

  All of them were facing the far end of the cavern, and the shadows under the trees seemed even deeper with all the rune-covered people of Zhan gathered together.

  The trio headed into the crowd, and people parted quietly to let them through. Most looked concerned and rather frightened. When they saw Guyan, they drew back with a fear in their eyes that Zaine had seen before – it was how his own mother had looked at him for the past year.

  “The new king is holding a meeting,” Guyan said flatly. The fearful looks were obviously bothering her as well.

  The tunnel that led to the throne room was visible from here, and the new king was just emerging from it. His deep crimson cloak floated out behind him as he walked slowly down the stone steps. He stopped halfway and turned to face the gathered crowd. He stood out clearly against the chalk-white walls of the cavern. He raised both arms, as if trying to silence a crowd, but the people were already waiting quietly for him to speak.

  “People of Zhan. Today is a great day. Today, we will stop the sands!” King Eldric’s voice boomed out across the trees. An excited buzz of conversation spread through the crowd. Only a few still looked upset and were looking around as if searching for someone.

  “And what of King Reko and Queen Mya? And the dragons? Where are they?” one of them shouted. The crowd fell silent. Every eye was on King Eldric as they waited for his reply.

  “Bring back the king!” another yelled.

  “I am your king!” Eldric replied, quickly and loudly. His face went a darker tinge of red; he paused and looked to be struggling to remain calm. “And I will lead you to the land above, where we will all live with room to move.”

  Cheers rose from under the trees, drowning out any further protests or questions.

  “We need to take this to the king,” Guyan whispered to her companions, holding up the goblet and pushing her way to the nearest stairs.

  They headed up the stairs, but it seemed to take far longer than Zaine remembered. Had they come up a different way? It seemed an age before they followed Guyan into the wooden castle. She rushed up to the bedroom upstairs, but came down just moments later.

  “He’s not here,” she said, looking worried.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN - A DRAGON SUMMONS

  They went back down to ground level to find that the people of Zhan were heading back to their homes.

  “Wait,” Zaine said, looking through the crowd. “Isn’t that your father over there?”

  “It is,” Guyan replied in a tight voice.

  The ailing king had just started to make his way up the stone steps that led to the throne room. The queen and Jelena were supporting him, but he looked very frail and weak.

  “So we follow,” Davyn suggested. “We need to give him this potion as soon as possible.”

  Guyan needed no encouragement. She was already heading for the stairs, with the goblet still in her hand. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, Guyan’s family had vanished into the tunnel.

  Without even pausing, Guyan ran up the steps and along the tunnel, bursting into the throne room with Davyn and Zaine a step behind. At the far end of the room were Guyan’s family and her uncle.

  They had come in during what seemed to be an argument between Guyan’s mother and the new self-proclaimed king.

  “You of all people, Mya, know we’ve done everything these dragons have ever asked of us,” Eldric snapped. “On the other hand they’ve been promising to find our home land for a long time, but every new circle that is opened is never ours.”

  “That’s not their fault,” Mya retorted. “If they could find it, I’m sure they would.”

  “Well, I am sick of waiting,” Eldric stated flatly. “The dragons can tend the links. We will not.”

  His black eyes, hard and cold, drifted over Mya’s head and took in the arrival of Guyan and her companions. At first he looked surprised, then irritated, and finally his cheeks flushed pink with anger.

  “Why aren’t you back in that starlink?” he demanded. “Where are my sons?”

  “Your new rules have destroyed every single world we had saved,” Guyan accused him, completely ignoring his questions.

  “I told you the worlds were not ready to break free,” King Reko rasped, then collapsed into a fit of coughing.

  “We have the others,” a voice said from the doorway. Zaine turned to see Sy walk into the throne ro
om, prodding Maata and the others ahead of him. Dom followed behind, and looked apologetically at Guyan.

  “Others?” King Eldric shrilled. “I told you to get rid of Guyan, not to bring others here.”

  “There are no more links left,” Dom told his father. King Eldric looked annoyed for a few seconds, and then pointed to a small alcove to the side of the room.

  “Put them in there and seal it,” he ordered.

  Trianna, looking shocked at how she was being treated, stepped forward, and shoved Sy away when he went to push her towards the alcove.

  “You cannot treat me this way! I am the personal weaver of royalty in my world,” Trianna said haughtily. She drew herself up tall and stared at King Eldric.

  “You are a weaver – and a royal?” King Eldric asked, misunderstanding her explanation and looking sceptically at her clear skin. Even Zaine had to admit that his mother looked royal as she held King Eldric’s gaze. “Tell me of your skills.”

  “I have fought the storm dragons to gain control of them,” Trianna boasted. Zaine would have laughed out loud had his mother not looked so serious. Yes, she had tried to take control of the storm dragons … but she had failed. He watched, amazed, as Trianna then flicked back her robe and unclipped Maata’s crown from her belt. “And I have a crown.”

  “Really?” Now King Eldric leaned forward and looked very interested indeed. “Bring her up here!”

  Trianna shook Sy’s hand off and walked forward on her own.

  “I’m with her,” Calard said, gulping and rushing up to stand next to Trianna. Calard shot her a desperate look. It seemed that he couldn’t take his fall in stature either. A look of pure triumph shone in Trianna’s eyes, and she waited a few seconds before replying.

  “He is my … faithful servant,” Trianna agreed, with a smile so genuine that it puzzled Zaine. How could she look so happy after losing her entire world?