Petra gave an enormous and exaggerated yawn. Dishita stopped speaking and glared at her.
When David looked at Petra again, she was no longer dressed in the featureless black jumpsuit, but instead wore a loose white tunic, tied around the waist, and a pair of golden sandals. There were almond-shaped leaves in her hair.
“Wow!” said David with wide eyes. “A disguise?”
“We do that if we think we might be seen,” said Dishita. “But right now Petra is just showing off. We are going to hide, so there’s no need to dream up a costume.”
Petra gave Dishita a bored look. She kicked out with her feet and rose gracefully into the air, sailing across the ruins and coming to rest on a small broken wall, slightly higher up the rocky outcrop but still in the shade.
“The view’s better from up here,” she called.
David stared, his mouth wide open. He felt as if he’d just seen an angel fly. And since he found it hard to take his eyes off Petra, he didn’t notice that Dishita had grabbed him until he was high off the ground himself. She carried him through the air at the end of her arm and set him down behind Petra’s wall.
David was speechless.
“Petra, we should get back,” Dishita said. “I think David’s had enough surprises for one day.”
“Wait a bit,” said Petra. “He needs to see this first.”
The two armies were now close enough for details of their armor to be seen — bronze helmets, breastplates, and bands of metal around ankles and wrists. Most of the warriors carried spears and shields, although many had bows. Fluttering above both armies were long pennants and painted figures on poles.
The strange sound of ancient horns filled the air and the two great bodies of men came to a sudden halt, one to the dreamwalkers’ left and the other to their right. Even at a distance, David felt both sides radiating animosity at each other. Looking again at the weapons, David suddenly needed to ask another question. It was the kind of thing Eddie would ask if he were here, and David was proud to have thought of it himself.
“What … what would happen if someone fired an arrow in my direction? I mean, if I’m a ghost, would it just go straight through me?”
“Yes,” said Dishita. “It would move through the air as if you were not there, and you would suffer no physical harm. Your mind might not like it, though, if it’s not prepared. It might even be enough to break your dreamwalk. You don’t want to wake up suddenly, believe me. The headaches can be terrible.”
David said nothing, but he remembered his dream about trying to save Eddie from the fire and how he felt when he woke up.
There came another great blast of horns and trumpets from the army on David’s right, and the warriors gave a thunderous cheer and began beating their shields with their spears. The noise was tremendous, but the warriors of the opposing army remained still and silent. David looked back at the cheering men and saw something moving head and shoulders above the rest. The front rank split apart, and a warrior stepped forward.
He was enormous. David had never seen anyone so massive in his life — he must have been nearly nine feet tall. He had a great shaggy black beard and carried a shield and a giant spear that appeared to be solid bronze. The huge warrior strode right up the opposing army, let out a booming shout of defiance, and bashed the spear against his shield with a sound like a cathedral bell. He towered over his enemies, who shrank back. David found room in his overloaded mind to feel sorry for them. How could they ever hope to fight a monster like that?
The giant man then turned his back on his enemies and strode with arrogant slowness back to stand before his own men. His army was jeering, and although David couldn’t understand a word they shouted, he knew they were mocking their enemies. He turned to Petra.
“So who are they?” he said. “And who is that huge man?”
“Can’t you guess?” said Petra. “This is a famous historical event, though some believe it’s just a myth. That is the army of the Philistines, and that huge man is their champion. He has just challenged the other army to send out a champion of their own so that the battle can be decided in single combat.”
“So who are they?” asked David, pointing at the silent men on the other side. “And who could possibly fight that giant man?”
“Those are the Israelites, David,” said Petra. “And you know who will step forward to fight, even if you haven’t yet remembered.”
David looked over at the Israelites and felt his memory stirring. Then he looked back at the giant man facing them. A giant.
“Is that … is that Goliath?” said David, feeling foolish even as he asked. Petra smiled.
“Then that must mean …” But David was too amazed to finish his sentence. Instead he turned back to the Israelites. There came an answering fanfare from somewhere behind them, and their front rank parted. A young boy stepped out.
“Yes, David, that is your namesake,” said Dishita. “The boy David, future king of Israel. The boy who slew a giant.” And she glanced at Petra with the first smile David had seen on her face.
Petra looked very pleased with herself.
As the three dreamwalkers watched from their hiding place, the boy who would one day be king walked forward with uncertain steps, before coming to a halt some twenty paces from the giant.
The Philistine warriors were by now roaring with laughter and hurling insults at the Israelites and their tiny champion. This other David, who was wearing nothing more than a simple white tunic and sandals, very much like Petra’s, was armed only with a sling that dangled from one hand. With the other he was fingering a small bag of stones. There was real reluctance about the way he stood there alone, exposed to both great danger and ridicule, but there was also defiance in the way he held his head. David felt instinctive sympathy toward him.
Goliath, who had been roaring with laughter with his men, suddenly held up his spear, and his army fell silent. Then he spoke.
These were the first clearly spoken words that David had heard in this ancient time, but if he’d hoped dreamwalking would somehow allow him to understand, he was disappointed. The words were rough in the mouth of the giant, and clearly hostile, but he could tell nothing more. There came a moment of silence, and then it was the boy’s turn to speak.
The young Israelite’s voice was extremely small compared to Goliath’s, but the words were clear and sounded brave. The Philistines roared back with derision, banged their shields, and threw back their heads in laughter.
Then something strange happened. Off to the side of the army, in the shade of some further ruins, a new figure emerged. David was astonished to see what appeared to be a man in a black city suit stroll out from behind a crooked tree. He even wore a trilby hat and carried a cane! David blinked in surprise … and then saw that he had been entirely mistaken. The man was just another soldier, dressed in the same light armor and carrying not a cane, but a spear.
The newcomer took up a position near his comrades, but while the great mass of fighters was focused on the two champions, this new man was looking elsewhere. He had a low helmet that almost covered his eyes, but David could have sworn he was staring straight up at the three dreamwalkers.
“A trick of the light?” David murmured aloud.
“What’s that?” said Dishita.
“Well, for a moment I thought I saw …” But David wasn’t sure what he’d seen, if anything, and neither of the girls seemed to have noticed this odd figure. He was about to say something more when the battle began.
Goliath stepped forward and started to circle his young opponent with a stooped, menacing movement. He stalked to the left and then doubled back, his shield and spear raised threateningly. David the Israelite hurriedly put a stone in his sling and began to twirl it. The laughter of the Philistine army grew so great that Goliath decided to change his approach. He turned to his men and gave an exaggerated shrug.
His audience cheered.
Then he thrust his great spear into the ground, leaned his s
hield against it, and hung his helmet on top. Goliath turned back to face the boy with his hands on his hips. The Philistines hooted with pleasure while the Israelites looked on in silence.
Then David raised his arm, gave his little sling a couple of final whirls and released the stone. It zipped across the space between him and Goliath and struck the mighty warrior on the forehead. Goliath instantly raised his hand to his head. The Philistines laughed hysterically.
David Utherwise looked back at the strange new warrior in the ruins and saw that he’d begun to move. He was now running straight toward them, and at great speed.
“What’s that man doing?” he asked, and the two girls turned to look.
“That’s strange,” said Petra. “This has never happened before.” Then she added, “Oh, no …”
“Adam!” cried Dishita. “He’s here!” And she rushed forward to meet the approaching warrior.
“No!” cried Petra.
The warrior leaped straight up the rocky slope — an impossible feat for a normal person — and hefted his spear in his right hand, clearly preparing to throw it. As he left the shade he became instantly translucent and spectral in the sunlight.
“Wait, Adam!” cried Dishita. “It’s me! We must talk.”
Adam pulled back his arm and flung his spear. It sped straight through the air and slammed into Dishita.
The girl disappeared instantly.
David stared, dumbfounded, into the space where she had been and then looked again at the warrior. Somehow the spear was back in his hand.
“We go!” cried Petra. “Now!” and David felt himself being pulled from behind. The world tipped, the shaft of a spear passed inches in front of his nose, and suddenly he found himself looking out into the desert from the other side of an open door.
He saw the terrible Goliath framed in the doorway. He saw the blood pouring from his head. He saw the mighty giant begin to fall.
The door slammed shut, and everything went black.
David woke to a great commotion of sound. He reached up and pulled the mask from his eyes, and felt a throb in his head as the light of the Somnarium reached him. He sat up despite the ache and looked over to Dishita’s bed. Half a dozen people in white coats were standing over her, with a cart of high-tech equipment stationed on the side. The professor was there too, and Petra leaped from her bed and rushed over to join them.
David swung his legs over and stood up with an immense effort. He stumbled to Dishita’s bed.
“What happened?” he asked.
The scientists ignored him, but the professor looked up, his face ashen. He seemed to have forgotten all about David for a moment.
“Dishita has suffered psychosomatic shock,” he said. “There’s a possibility of personality damage. We have to get her to the hospital — this could be very serious, I’m afraid.”
“Nonsense,” said Petra, who appeared at David’s side. “Dishita is strong.”
As if to prove that statement, there came a low murmur from the bed, followed by a few faint words in Hindi. Dishita sat up and said, “Don’t fuss, I’m fine.”
David could see that she was far from fine. Her forehead was covered in sweat and she was sickly pale. But the atmosphere in the room grew less urgent, and several of the white coats stepped back, removing the instrument cart. Dishita was helped onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the Somnarium, still protesting.
“Adam was there,” said David. He suddenly felt very tired and irritable, despite having apparently just slept. “He attacked us …”
“I know, I know,” said Professor Feldrake. “But we didn’t pick him up on the Map until it was too late. I shouldn’t have let you dreamwalk so long — Adam’s always been difficult to detect, and there was always the risk the Haunting would detect you first. But I never expected him to act that fast.”
“Of course you didn’t,” said a voice, and everyone turned to find Roman standing in the doorway of the Somnarium. “But you should have done. Adam knows all our training sites. Naturally he would have the Haunting monitoring them. I hope you are not going to tell me you didn’t plan for this possibility, Professor.”
The professor sat on one of the beds and started cleaning his glasses on his tie. He seemed very old and frail.
“And I also hope you are not going to tell me that this chance to hit back at Adam was wasted,” Roman went on, turning his fierce eyes on Petra. “You fought him, yes? Adam was destroyed?”
Petra looked annoyed and flustered.
“It was all too fast. I had to get David clear …”
“Get David clear,” Roman repeated, incredulous. “Get David clear? David is nothing! You let Adam get away just to bring this useless boy home safely?”
“Commander, you know Petra stands no chance against Adam on her own,” said Professor Feldrake. “He’s the strongest dreamwalker we have ever known. We were caught off guard, that’s all.”
“Caught off guard? We are fighting for our survival against a rogue dreamwalker who wants to turn history on its head, and you were caught off guard?” Roman shook his head. “And now we have lost Dishita. Something is going to have to change here, Professor. This isn’t a research program anymore. How long before you realize that we are at war?”
The professor said nothing.
“I have a report to file,” Roman said, his voice a low growl. “Our political masters are expecting results. They will not be expecting this.” And with that he left the room.
“We’ve lost Dishita?” David cried. “What happened back there? What did Adam do to her?”
“They call it a mind pulse,” said Petra, still staring angrily at the place where Roman had been. “Free from the body, the mind is very powerful. If you concentrate hard enough you can even make an attack — an attack of pure mental energy. Adam was always very good at it. Adam was always good at everything. Poor Dishita. She’s good at it too, but she would never have believed Adam could attack her like that. She won’t let him do it again.”
“We’ve lost so many dreamwalkers in the last few days,” added the professor. “But we haven’t lost Dishita. She was lucky this time.”
“Was it really luck?” David was struck by a sudden realization. “Or was it just that Adam was after someone else?”
Both the old man and the girl looked at him.
“Me. It was me he really wanted to hit, wasn’t it?”
The professor got slowly to his feet.
“I told you earlier that you are our best chance of finding Eddie. And don’t forget, you have already saved him once from Adam. The Haunting can’t tolerate you helping us, David — you are probably now our only chance to defeat them. They will go to any lengths to eliminate you. Adam will kill you if he can.”
“You’re our David,” said Petra. “But he’s their Goliath.”
By the time Eddie reached Kat’s place, he was exhausted. It had taken him the best part of a day to get there. Night was falling fast, but seeing the cheap Victorian elegance of the boarded-up and crumbling façade, he knew he’d got it right.
He’d never actually been to the old theater before, but Kat talked about it all the time. As a servant she had a tiny room on the top floor of Eddie’s house, but her brother lived rough and had taken over the attic of this abandoned theater about a year ago. Eddie couldn’t imagine living like that, but Kat made it sound like a magical place. She’d never told Eddie the address, but he’d pieced it together anyway with the help of an old city map and the scraps she’d let slip. Now that map was pasted into one of his notebooks, covered in workings-out.
She won’t want you here, nagged the voice of Eddie’s doubt. She might not even be there.
Eddie shook his head. With the house destroyed, where else would she be?
“At least I never told David about this place,” he muttered under his breath. “At least he won’t find me here.” But speaking made him cough so violently he nearly lost his glasses.
Eddie’s chest felt as
though the fire that had almost killed him the night before was still raging inside it somewhere. He thrust his hands into his pockets and grasped the rolled-up notebook. Reassured, he stumbled down the alleyway beside the theater, picking his way over the split boards and air-raid rubble that had been heaped there, until he came to the side door.
It was boarded shut. And not in the loose way he’d expected — someone had been here recently and done the job properly. He couldn’t budge a single plank.
The cold deepened. It’d been chilly all day, but the temperature was plummeting as night drew on, and Eddie could feel it gnawing at his ribs. He gave the boarded-up door a furious kick, then slid down beside it.
You shouldn’t have come. Now the cold will get you instead of the fire.
Eddie grabbed his hair and pulled. Wasn’t there something else Kat had said about the theater? Hadn’t she mentioned another way in?
Yes! A rope. She’d said there was a rope hanging from a broken iron ladder.
Eddie got to his feet and strained to look down to the end of the passage. It was almost too dark to see anything, but there was a little light left in the sky. Eddie pressed the side of his head tight against the brick wall and looked up diagonally, so that anything fixed to it might show up silhouetted against the dusk. And there it was.
It was a narrow ladder, cemented into the wall. The bottom third of it was missing, but something was tied to the lowest rung. Eddie clambered deeper into the passage until he was directly beneath the ladder, and sure enough, tucked behind a rusty gutter pipe, he found the knotted end of a rope.
He seized the frozen rope as high as he could and croaked with pain as he pulled himself up. Even with gloves on, the pressure on his scorched palms was almost unbearable. He managed to get his feet onto the lowest knot to relieve his hands, but then his ankle ached unbearably as he put his weight on it. He hung there for a moment, his body trembling and his mind threatening to float away.
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