by Linda McNabb
“But how?” Zaine asked. He looked up and saw Guyan deep in thought. She looked at his runes and then at her own and frowned. Then she looked at the cut on her arm and back at Zaine.
“You have some Zhanian blood now,” she said simply. “Royal blood at that.”
“Not much. Is that why they are so faded?” Zaine asked, rubbing tentatively at the runes on his forearm. He knew they represented all the runes he had learnt. His skin went a little pink, but the rune remained.
“I don’t know,” Guyan answered. “It has never happened before.”
“Does this mean your runes will work here now?” Maata asked, glancing over to where Eldric and Trianna were deep in conversation.
“Can you bring the dragons back?” Tercel added.
“I don’t know,” Zaine said with a small shrug. He compared his new runes to those of the other weavers who were resting at the side of the basin – if anything; his runes were more faded than theirs. “I don’t think so.”
A sudden shout drew his attention from his newly rune-marked skin over to his mother.
“He did what?” the king’s exclamation echoed around the basin. He was standing up, fists clenched and looking angry. His gaze swept around the basin and rested on Zaine. “The blond one? Is he the one who almost destroyed your world?”
Zaine sighed deeply. His mother must have told Eldric about his past mistakes. The king turned back to the two thrones, but, instead of asking Trianna, his questions were directed at Calard.
“He will do it to this world if you let him stay here,” Calard replied, nodding and flicking a smug glance at Zaine.
“I think it would be a mistake to let any of you stay here.” This time the king nodded even in Trianna’s direction.
Zaine felt a twinge of worry; if the new king didn’t want them around, where were they going to go? They couldn’t go back to Zaine’s own world. He looked at Eldric and saw King Eldric’s eyes turn towards the starlink.
“He means to send us in there,” Tercel said nervously as the green trees of that world flickered in and out of view. The shadowy dreamlink seemed to appear more frequently now.
“Weavers, throw them in the link!” King Eldric ordered.
“You cannot send me in there!” Trianna snapped as she stood up and glared fiercely at Eldric. “I am a royal, too.”
The king looked taken back, and then his expression changed to one of annoyance and anger.
“You have no say here,” he said through gritted teeth. He pointed up to the golden crown that she still wore. “Your crown may look like mine, but it does not make you a royal in Zhan.”
“Perhaps we can talk about this,” Trianna suggested in a less aggressive manner.
“Guyan’s star-chart says that she is a great danger to this world, so she must go. You and the rest of your people are not welcome here either.” King Eldric was leaning forward, almost yelling at Trianna.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - TAKING THE THRONE
The king signalled to the exhausted weavers. Several tried to cast runes directed at the small group of unwanted visitors, but nothing happened.
“We need time to recover,” one said to King Eldric.
King Eldric looked annoyed and then sighed. “I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”
Zaine looked at the fake runes on King Eldric’s skin and wondered if he was able to do anything.
“I have never harmed you, Uncle,” Guyan said calmly as she stepped closer to the king. “I am no threat. What you are doing is destroying our world.”
“I don’t do this because I want to,” Eldric replied firmly. “Your star-chart says you are a threat and it is my duty to make sure Zhan is safe.”
Zaine saw his mother’s face go pale as the king spoke; she had said almost identical words when she was banishing him into the Circle of Dreams back at Willow Castle. She had been doing it to save her own world and Maata. She did what she had to, even if it was banishing her own son.
She turned her head slowly to look at Zaine. Too slowly. King Eldric seemed to be deciding what runes to use to force them through the circle, and then he simply grabbed Trianna and dragged her towards the circle. Zaine knew that meant that the king’s runes were not strong enough to do anything.
Trianna stuck one foot out and tripped up the king, sending him stumbling forwards. Eldric fell and hit his head hard on the stony floor but grabbed Trianna’s foot and pulled her over as well. Both his and Trianna’s golden crowns fell to the ground. Trianna’s expression grew horrified as she watched the circle of runes get closer as the force of the fall rolled them across the floor. Sy and several other weavers rushed forward to help the king, but they were too late. Both the king and Trianna rolled into the circle and vanished.
For a few seconds there was total silence in the basin. Everyone was staring into the circle. The shadowy land of the dreamlink was still visible, and Zaine could see his mother standing next to the prone figure of King Eldric. She was looking back with a furious expression as if she could see them, but he knew she could not.
The ground in the basin began to shake and the weavers looked nervous.
“The starlink is getting weak. It will not hold for long,” Dom said, stepping closer to the circle. “We should go in and get Father.”
“And risk being stuck in the dreamlink forever?” Sy said with a snort. “Not likely.”
Within seconds, the vibrations grew so strong that the ground cracked under their feet. The crack ran right through the edge of the rune circle and, in the blink of an eye, the link was broken and both the dreamlink and the green-treed world vanished.
Zaine couldn’t help wondering if his mother had made it to the world they had seen before it broke free. Would she be stuck forever in a shadowy world of dreams with only King Eldric for company? He wasn’t sure she deserved any better, but he still hoped that she had made it to the green forest.
Vibrations under his feet brought his attention back to Zhan.
“Why is the ground still shaking?” Davyn asked.
Zaine looked at the floor of the basin. The crack had definitely broken the circle and set it free, so why hadn’t that stopped the shaking? The shaking seemed to be slowing down, and as he went to say so his voice sounded deeper and odd.
“Time!” Guyan said in a voice that sounded like that of an old man.
Zaine saw the terror on the faces of the weavers. They were still too exhausted to fix time again. He looked down at his arms. The runes were no darker. He would be no help either.
Sy turned, slowly, and began to run from the basin. He looked comical as he appeared to float in mid-air and then speed up. Other weavers, seeing that time was returning to normal, also decided that the basin was not a safe place to be. They began to run for the tunnel as well.
“Time is too fast,” Guyan said in a squeaky, hurried voice that slowed down right at the end.
“Now it’s slowing down again,” Zaine said. Time was now completely unstable. “What do we do?”
Guyan looked around the emptying basin, and her eyes fell on the two golden crowns on the ground. They were jumping up and down as the ground shook.
“There’s only one way to fix it,” she said, grabbing Zaine and dragging him across the basin. She picked up both of the crowns and held them up.
“You want to be queen?” Zaine was confused.
“My star-chart said time would stop if I am crowned. We need to stop time so we can find a way to fix it,” she replied quickly.
“But if you stop time, we’ll be frozen with it,” Zaine argued, even though he didn’t have a better solution.
“It’s the only chance we have. Every timeweaver and starweaver has been drained of power to the point that they won’t be any use for a day or more.” She shoved one of the crowns into his hands. “Put this on.”
“Me?” he asked, looking at the crown and then at Guyan.
“The star-chart also said that a starweaver and I would unpick time.” She looke
d at him for a few seconds, and when he didn’t respond she said irritably, “That’s you.”
Her last words were slower and deeper. This was it. They either stopped time on purpose or watched the world of Zhan shake apart.
He raised an arm to put on the crown at the same time that Guyan did. His arm felt heavy and the crown even heavier. As he lowered it onto his head, he felt it touch his hair and the sluggishness vanished from his arm.
He looked quickly at Guyan. She, too, had her crown on her head and seemed to be moving normally. Time hadn’t stopped after all! As Zaine felt the hope drain from him, he went to take the crown off.
“Don’t!” Guyan ordered, grabbing hold of his arm to stop him. “Look around.”
Zaine lowered his arm and turned to look at the basin. He blinked – he couldn’t believe what his eyes told him. Everyone was frozen in mid-stride. Everyone except Guyan and him.
He glanced nervously down at his arms as he felt a warm glow running down from the crown. The runes on his skin were getting darker. In the space of two heartbeats, every rune was so dark that he could barely tell what colour his skin was.
“Now are we supposed to unpick time according to your star-chart?” Zaine asked with a raised eyebrow. It was real – it was happening – but he still had trouble accepting it.
“We?” Guyan sadly held up her palm; the black cross was still there. “I can’t do anything with this on my palm.”
Zaine peered more closely at her palm. Time had frozen the sands in mid-motion above the basin, and the light filtering through the sand was heavily tinged with red. As the light struck Guyan’s hand, it seemed to reflect off parts of the cross.
“Runes,” he said with a grin at Guyan. “I see runes.”
“You do?” she said, peering at her hand but obviously not seeing them. “Can you undo them?”
Zaine nodded, his attention already focused on the runes and on working out what order they had been done in. He knew he would have to do them in reverse order. Slowly, knowing that – for once – he had as much time as he needed, he began to trace the runes on her palm.
Guyan held her hand very still, but from the way her feet twitched her hand was very sensitive and ticklish. Zaine traced the final rune but did not let her hand go. They both leaned in close, staring at the cross and grinning as it began to fade. Guyan jumped up and down as the last traces of the cross faded from sight.
“Careful or your crown will fall off,” Zaine warned. “I can’t do anything alone – your reading said so.”
Guyan settled down, but didn’t stop grinning. “I have no idea how we’re supposed to unpick time.”
Zaine felt weary all of a sudden. He glanced around the basin and then sat down on the ground. It wouldn’t matter if he had a rest. Guyan sat down next to him as he thought out aloud. “Well, I don’t think we can go backwards in time. If we did that, then none of this would have happened yet.”
He got up and paced around the basin, having to walk around his father, frozen in mid-stride towards where his son had been at the time.
“You can’t change the past,” Guyan added as he came back closer.
“And there really is no such thing as tomorrow,” Zaine said, trying not to think too hard about what he was saying so that he could see where his thoughts were leading.
“Tomorrow never comes.” Guyan agreed, toying with a loose thread on her tunic and tugging it so that it frayed even more.
“So, now is all there is,” Zaine said, turning to the rune-covered girl.
“How does that help?” By the slightly dazed look on her face, Zaine could see that Guyan was struggling with the concept of time. He took hold of the hanging thread on her tunic and held it out so that it was tight.
“This has frayed, right?” He waited for her to nod in agreement. “We can’t change that – it is the past. But, we can do this.” He pulled the thread sharply and it snapped off right at the edge of her green tunic.
“Now it is as if it never frayed,” Guyan said, but she was still frowning. “So we break time?”
“We’ve already done that when we put the crowns on. Now we fix all the things that damaged time in the first place and caused it to fray like your tunic. When time restarts, it will be as if none of it happened. If we don’t repeat the same mistakes, it won’t break again.”
Guyan looked at Zaine for a long moment and slowly began to nod. “Yes, that sounds like it should work.”
“We might as well try,” Zaine said. “Things couldn’t be much worse than they already are.”
“What damaged time?” Guyan said thoughtfully. “I guess it started when the timeweavers stopped tending the starlinks.”
“So we fix the circles,” Zaine suggested.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - STARLINKS
Guyan nodded and they headed for the tunnel that led out of the basin. It seemed odd to be walking around people who were frozen in time, and Zaine made sure he didn’t touch any of them. He didn’t think he could harm them, but he wasn’t going to risk it.
When they reached the village of trees, there were more people of Zhan frozen in mid-panic. Even the cats were frozen in time, halfway up trees or lying curled up in the sun that filtered through the canopy.
They didn’t pause, but hurried through the tunnels and up to the first stone cottage they came to. They opened the door and stepped out to the damaged circle beyond. Red sand hung motionless in mid-air, right across the circle.
“There are so many.” Guyan looked daunted by the sight of so many broken circles in the distance.
“You go that way around the circle and I’ll go the other,” Zaine said, ignoring her doubts. He spoke the runes to call down a bolt of lightning, just as he had heard them back in the basin, and almost cried with relief when it worked. The lightning bolt chiselled out the nearest rune to exactly how it had been when it was first created. He looked up at Guyan, who was still watching. “Your turn.”
Guyan took a deep breath and called down her own lightning. She jumped as it flashed down in front of her, matching Zaine’s perfect recreation of the rune. A grin slowly spread across her face. “It’s been so long, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do anything.”
“It looks like we’ve just proven that you’re a starweaver,” Zaine said, returning her grin and then giving her a little push off around the circle. “Now do it again. We’ll leave the one by the cottage until last.”
It seemed an age later that they finally came to the last rune. They stood together and looked at it.
“How do we know what world it will link to?” Zaine asked, instantly wondering if it would be his own world.
“There’s no way to tell,” Guyan replied. “It seems to be completely random. Any world where time is not stable will be drawn to it.”
Zaine called down the last lightning bolt, and, as the flash died away, the circle glowed for an instant and a world appeared in the middle. It wasn’t one that Zaine recognised. Everything in that world appeared to be frozen in time as well. A bird was in mid-flight, but it hung motionless in the air. Tall, grey buildings could be seen beyond a small lake surrounded by trees.
“I guess time will start there when we restart it here,” Zaine said hopefully. “How many circles do you think we’ll have to do?”
Guyan sat down to lean against the stone cottage. She looked delighted that the starlink had worked, but also a little disappointed. Zaine guessed she had been hoping to find her family and the storm dragons.
“There used to be twenty of them, but we couldn’t do anymore because we didn’t have enough weavers to maintain more than that,” Guyan said. “But there are enough circles to link up to fifty if we wanted to.”
Zaine couldn’t help the sag in his shoulders at the thought of creating fifty circles. He held out his hand to help Guyan up. “We’d better get started. We’ll create as many as we can, just to be sure. We’ll have to worry about maintaining them later.”
Once they got into the rhythm
of the runes, they created the circles a lot faster. When they had created a dozen circles, they stopped for a rest. Zaine was a little bothered that none of them had linked to the worlds they so desperately wanted.
“I don’t really feel as tired as I thought I would,” Guyan commented, looking at the runes on her skin. “They haven’t faded even the slightest bit.”
“Let’s keep going, then,” Zaine suggested. He wasn’t tired either, and his runes seemed just as strong.
As they created the last rune on every circle they both held their breath, but after another dozen circles they still had not found either Zaine’s world or Guyan’s family. After that, they only glanced briefly at each new world before trudging across the sandy surface towards the next circle.
“How many is that? I’ve lost count,” Guyan said as they arrived at yet another circle. Off in the distance there were only a few more stone circles left to create links in.
“So have I,” Zaine replied. “I can only see another four out there, so we must be close to fifty.”
“Well, we’ll keep going then,” Guyan said stoically.
Zaine knew she wouldn’t give up until she found her family, and he felt the same. He stared emotionlessly into the circle as they finished the next one. He didn’t dare to hope any longer, and he blinked as he saw lush green trees in the circle. Then he saw several dozen golden dragons, frozen in mid-flight, and five people. Guyan stood looking at the circle with a silly grin on her face and tears running down her cheeks.
“Five people!” he exclaimed as he stepped so close that he almost fell into the circle. He could clearly see the king and queen with Jelena next to them. Off to the left were two more people; a portly one lying down, and a red-robed, red-haired woman standing next to him. His mother had made it. He felt a hot tear slide down his cheek, and he brushed it away, surprised at how pleased he was to see that his mother was okay.
“Now we need to find your home,” Guyan said, taking one last look at her family and dragging Zaine off to the next cottage. “Then we can restart time.”