The Dreamweaver

by Nancy Joseph Peterson

  Emrys eyes narrowed slightly, “The danger is, if this happened once, it would be sloppy science to imagine it couldn’t have occurred again with another tapestry.” He halted, as if unsure of how much he should tell her, “The fact is, Anna, there are some not very pleasant people or creatures in some of the dimensions of tapestries I influence as a muse, and if Cat...sorry Py,” he smiled remembering Cat’s new name, “visited them after you’d given him the little bell, well that doorway could have expanded to an inter-dimensional wormhole between multiple portals, and that would...not be good.” He finished as he turned Anna’s hand over, placing two fingers on her now racing pulse, Emrys frowned, “You should sit down.” He guided her to a kitchen chair.

  Anna looked nervously around her apartment, “Who else might come here?” She asked as she lowered herself carefully.

  “Probably no one, but if Py’s hair contaminated other tapestries, thus opening more portals, and if he visited them while he was wearing the bell you gave him, others could do exactly what I’ve done and travel through the portal to you.”

  The light finally came on as Anna’s eyes widened in fear.

  Emrys rubbed her trembling hand, “I looked and didn’t see any evidence of his hair on other threads woven into other tapestries, but there are hundreds in the workroom and more come and go constantly as dreamers dream anew.”

  He patted her hand to reassure her, “The greater number of creatures or people whose dreams I weave are gentle, in fact you’d like most of them.” He reflected, “But there is one whose presence I would not wish on anyone and in particular — you.” Emrys said quietly, as he imagined Niviane’s delight in finding Anna, and thus uncovering a new way to hurt him. Anna would be an easy target.

  “I... thought DNA was only found in some...er body fluids.” She stammered, feeling uncomfortable, “You know, like blood or other er...similar type...things. I am still not clear how my DNA or Py’s for that matter, could have done all of that portal opening stuff.” She stammered, blushing, “Sorry - I know you’ve really tried to explain it all to me.” She hastily apologised, blushing still deeper.

  “Don’t apologise, Anna. What you have learned about DNA is unfortunately the extent of your ‘modern,’ rather limited, science.” He smiled, enjoying her very attractive blush, “Consider this — your scientists are just now discovering smaller and smaller elements of the particles that make up atoms and their relationship to dark matter — and they have more yet to discover, the same is true of DNA; they’ve only just scraped the surface, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

  He continued in his now familiar lecture mode, pacing back and forth in Anna’s tiny kitchen.

  “Even the tiniest strand of DNA can interrupt or alter many elements, or patterns such as the ones woven into a dream-tapestry. DNA is typically a double helix shaped substance that your ‘modern’ scientists have only just begun to understand. They have only recently come to realise that some DNA helix strands are triple or even quadrupled, and it is this anomaly found in the DNA of living matter that will change everything.”

  He smiled, “But I digress yet again, if Py hadn’t contaminated your tapestry with the DNA contained in his hair, and subsequently you as well with your DNA via the little bell; I wouldn’t be here.” He added somewhat morosely, “But more importantly, you wouldn’t be in any danger if these events had not come to pass. You’ll just have to trust me on this, Anna. Your trace DNA is now smeared everywhere that Py has been,” He smiled at his second unintended double entendre, “and if he entered more tapestries, creating additional doorways if you will, then your DNA has opened more, potentially dangerous portals that lead directly to you, where ever you are, and more particularly, whenever you sleep.”

  “When I sleep? Is sleeping dangerous for me now?” Anna asked suddenly aware of how exhausted she was with virtually no sleep the night before, “How can we close these ‘portal’ things?” Anna asked reasonably as she sipped the glass of water Emrys had set in front of her, her hand shaking slightly.

  “Good questions, Anna.” He encouraged, “Yes, sleeping or dreaming is a vulnerable state for you at the moment because I am not able to guide your dreams from here, nor can I guarantee what direction they may take.” Or who or what may show up he mused ominously to himself.

  “Other dreamweavers would be able to see the portal.” He admitted, hastily adding, “But most of them have loss whatever sanity they once had and probably wouldn’t notice if you grew an extra head.” He said thinking of the crazy, disjointed dreams they often wove for hapless dreamers, “They are not our biggest concern.” He explained.

  “Who or what is our biggest concern.” Anna asked the obvious question and dreading the answer.

  “Someone who hates me more than you can imagine. She… or ‘it’ perhaps is more appropriate now after all this time,” he murmured, “didn’t kill me because she thought death would be too easy for me. She wanted to extend my life in misery for all of eternity, and solitary confinement as a dreamweaver was the cruelest punishment she could come up with.” He shrugged, his eyes darkening with the memory, “Watching life by virtue of the dreams of others, and not being allowed to fulfil your own dreams is a nightmare.” He smiled wryly at his twist of terminology.

  “Dreamweavers go mad after a few centuries, we’re given ambrosia to keep our bodies existing forever. I could materialise items from dreamers for a short while on occasion, and I was able to manage to take a few books, and cat for company before the portal was fully closed, which helped keep my mind active. Then I found your tapestry, and I had something... someone to look forward to.” And your very intriguing collection of books too, he thought with a smile to himself.

  Emrys placed his hand on Anna’s shoulders, looking deeply into her eyes, “I haven’t had anyone I cared about, like this, ever before...and if Niviane finds you...” He shook his head as if to dispel the thought, “I will not let that happen, I cannot let that happen.” His eyes flashed silver for a moment.

  “Why does this ‘Nivane’ hate you so much?” Anna asked in a small voice.

  Emrys face fell, not wanting to explain the circumstances behind Nivane’s hatred of him just yet, “There was a… misunderstanding. It is a long story that I’ll tell you another time. Suffice to say, if she learned of my… affection for you, she’d have a new way to enact her revenge on me.”

  Anna felt the room had suddenly been drained of oxygen as she stared at Emrys. Her eyes wide from hearing his startling admission as well as the newly disclosed threat.

  He placed his hands on her trembling shoulders, “I will be here to protect you, and when you are out of danger, I will leave, but not before.” Emrys voice was tight and controlled, “I have more power in this realm than Niviane understands, or chooses to remember. This was the world of my birth, I can protect you here, and beside you in your dreams until I work out how to seal any possible remaining portals.”

  Anna was transfixed by the emotion in his grey eyes as they bored into hers, “What if I don’t want you to go even after you’ve fixed the portal things.” She asked in a small voice, uncertain of the feelings she felt rising at his touch.

  Emrys stepped back, the glimpse she’d had into his emotions carefully masked again as he continued in a more lighthearted voice, “I don’t want to interrupt your life any more than I have to. We’ll just have to get through this together until I can work out a way to close any portals that were inadvertently opened.”

  Anna frowned, “I am sure you’ve answered the question as to how those open tapestry portal-things lead to me, but I am still a little confused. What if I just go somewhere else for a while — would that keep anyone from finding me?” She asked hopefully.

  He shook his head, “Unfortunately the solution isn’t that simple considering the many dimensions this rift may involve. Do you remember the tapestry I showed you the first day I arrived?” He asked as he sat down on the chair opposite her.

  “Of course.” An
na recalled, after all it had been a mind-shattering moment she imagined she’d remember all the remaining days of her life.

  “Well, did you notice the tapestry reflected a scene upon — scenes — upon scenes? Similarly to what you would see if you reflected a mirror directly on another, and another still?” He asked.

  “Yes, I saw my dream-cabin, and it was showing another tapestry of me sleeping at Mom’s and another that was my bedroom here — with us on my bed and Py beside me.” Anna blushed a little remembering Emrys sitting beside her, “Everything was moving, but really slowly, like play-back on slo-mo.”

  “That’s right, and the tapestry reflected those scenes because I came through your tapestry following the trail to your dream-cabin, mother’s home and this apartment — but because you were sleeping the cabin only existed in your sub-conscience, until I arrived. When you woke up the next morning, your DNA trail became clearer as the tapestry changed to reflect your new location, and I easily followed to find you; to both your bedroom at your mother’s house as well as this apartment, which Py had originally opened with his first portal.” He watched closely for her reaction, ”Imagine a GPS chip planted under your skin, programmed to track you anywhere you may be from that point forward.” He explained hoping the new example would enlighten her to the potential danger of the situation.

  Anna shook her head, “It is so incredible, I understand what you’re saying...sort of. Anywhere I go, my DNA trail would still lead to me, because of my DNA on Py’s bell.” Anna suddenly remembered Emrys earlier comment, “Wait...did you say you went to my mother’s house too?” Anna asked concern rising with her voice.

  “Yes, but the portal didn’t hold because you were no longer there, and I needed to find you, so I followed the strongest trail to your apartment, and waited for you. I could’ve found you on the train, but I thought it would cause too much of a public display.” He replied recalling her reaction at finding him in her apartment, and noting the colour rising in Anna’s cheeks as she remembered fainting — twice.

  “Does this mean… ‘something’ could come to my mother’s house too?” Anna’s voice rose alarm as she stared at Emrys.

  “Yes, I suppose that is a possibility, but a portal opening so far from the source — you, would be very weak. The DNA that remains in your room is old, and not strong enough to hold a portal open for longer than a moment.”

  He paused trying to imagine how he could explain it, “It would be only slightly stronger than a hotel room where you stayed for a few days.”

  Anna’s brow was knitted in frustration as she concentrated on Emrys animated face, “Okay, so what if I go somewhere and wear something…like a bio hazard suit, and sort of keep my DNA off everything.”

  “No, because your DNA is you. Think of your body as the source spring for your DNA; it is like those fish…salmon, I think,” He mused, “the way they’re called back to their source to breed — it is the same with your trace DNA leading back to you.” He brightened, liking his newest analogy, “I don’t think, realistically, that your mother’s home contains enough of your DNA to warrant serious concern.” He rationalised as he remembered Anna’s mother pulling her sheets off to be laundered as he’d flashed in and out a moment.

  “The greater odd’s would be for ‘something’ as you put it, to come to you, where ever you are at the time ‘it’ comes through because it’s your DNA that powers any open portal’s connection to you.” Emrys paused, “I’ve done the calculations, I can show you if you’d like, but I warn you it is a very lengthy equation.” He added dauntingly.

  “No.” Anna responded quickly, imagining a wild-haired Emrys in front of a dusty chalkboard with E=Mc type physics calculations all over it, “As long as my Mom is safe. Can you just tell me what we’re going to do?” She sighed resigning herself to more of an adventure down the rabbit hole with Merlin…the wizard.

  “I don’t have any long term answers…yet. I am working on it, but, for the moment, you are stuck with me.” Emrys replied as he stood and took Anna’s empty water glass to the sink.

  “Let me get this straight,” Anna stood and walked over to stand in front of him, “You need to be with me 24/7?”

  “If by 24/7 you mean all the time, including with you in your dreams...then yes, that is correct.”

  Emrys brushed past her, “Speaking of which, you need to sleep, do you want the right or left side of the bed?”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Dreaming with Emrys

  “Wait...what do you mean, which side of the bed I sleep on. You’re not getting in my bed with me!”

  Anna’s voice raised in shock, yes she liked him, perhaps more than she was prepared to admit; but she was not the kind of girl that slept with a guy after only one night — even a world-famous wizard from a fifteen-hundred year-old legend!

  “Anna...” Emrys said gently, “We will just sleep, I will only be next to you because I need to be touching you to accompany you in your dreams. I cannot do this from the sofa in the other room and I need to be with you to protect you - I do not know any other way.”

  Anna folded her arms with a set look on her face, mutely shaking her head no, Emrys sighed in frustration.

  “Let me explain. There are two ways to transgress dimensions; one is as I am able to do, using a complex physics equation that draws upon the quantum mechanical black holes that are found virtually everywhere in this dimension, and the other is through deep meditation or sleep, which is far less controllable or stable.” He smiled in an effort to make his explanation more…friendly, “Because of the less stable method, when you sleep, your dreams now will be different — more real than any you’ve ever experienced, because of that, actual physical harm could come to you, but don’t worry, I’ll be there to protect you.” He finished with a shrug, “And, yes... I find you more than just beautiful; you captivated me from the moment I saw your lovely face glowing in your dream-tapestry.” He recalled smiling at the memory, “But, if I’ve learned nothing in my long life, I have learned restraint with women.” He spoke quietly thinking of the wrath he’d inspired in Niviane a millennia earlier, “We will only lay together — and not in the Biblical sense,” He added hastily, “just near enough so I can hold your left hand,” Emrys took her hand in his larger one, “like this, nothing more.”

  Anna’s heart quickened as he held her hand, such a simple thing, but so incredibly potent as his warm, calloused fingers closed around her small hand.

  “Um...okay...I see…I think.” Anna stammered, swallowing nervously, “Okay then, I am really sleepy.” She surprised herself by yawning widely, she clapped a hand over her gaping mouth in embarrassment, “Excuse me!”

  Emrys chuckled, “Me too, I find that without my ambrosia, my body needs rest as well.”

  “Ambrosia?” Anna asked as she moved to get her pyjamas from her dresser, “Isn’t that the stuff my Mom makes with marshmellows and jello for Christmas?” Anna yawned again, this time not caring as she stumbled to her bathroom to brush her teeth.

  Emrys smiled in amusement, “No, Anna, not the same substance at all.” He said recalling the many tapestries he’d influenced for dreamers that included modern Christmas dinners in America.

  Anna returned wearing her typical sleeping attire; an oversized t-shirt of Andy’s and an old pair of yoga pants.

  Emrys eyes grew wide seeing Anna in her bed attire. She was adorable in the huge, and rather thin, material of the shirt and the pants she wore hugged her ample curves as she slipped into the right side of the bed and looked up at Emrys with innocent eyes, “You need to hold my left hand?” She asked as she scooted over to give him room.

  “Yes,” Emrys swallowed, remembering his promise to show restraint as he crawled in beside her.

  “Goodnight, Emrys.” Anna murmured.

  “Good-rest, little Anna.” He replied as he began singing softly to her in a language that was ancient but beautiful, she tried to stay awake to listen but his soft voice lulled her into a deep s
leep where she began to dream...

  Anna stood in a meadow of the greenest green she’d ever seen. The lush grass was sprinkled with tiny white flowers that waved gently in the cool breeze like an inland sea. The sky was an almost unnatural shade of blue, and as the morning sun rose, it’s golden light reflected on the dew moistened tree tops beyond sparkling their leaves like tiny diamonds.

  Anna took a deep breath of the bracing air and stepped forward, promptly stumbling over a long, billowing skirt.

  Looking down, she saw she was dressed in a skirt of yellow muslin that was partly covered by a simple apron of a darker fabric. She rubbed the heavy material between her fingers in amazement, extending her arm and running a palm over a silken cream blouse and dark green tunic that clothed her torso. Lifting her skirt slightly, she examined the brown leather boots that hugged her feet securely, and delighted at the pretty ivory slip with hand tooled lace that peeked out from under the heavy skirt. She tentatively felt her hair and a thick braid that wound around her head keeping her hair from blowing in the strong breeze.