Winter's Dreams Page 2

  "We shall gather here again in four hours," Shredlu announced. "I shall provide a banquet. We will plan our expedition."

  6

  Nervously, Shubam took down the panels concealing the adonnai orden. each a five foot by seven painting in the neoclassical representationalist mode pioneered by Wensby Strait. Each cast a mythological creature against some well-known attractions outside the city. But for one latecomer by Everay Non Ethan, the paintings remind himself not to be rigidly intolerant of others infatuations. Time tended to suppress the inessential and pretentious.

  The features of six olive drab faces filled the spaces once covered by the panels, each taller between lip and eye than was Shredlu between head and toe. The adonnai slept, kerchiefs and mist wisps of ectoplasmic matter darting and larking in their breaths, into their nostrils and out again, to buzz out across the world like worker bees, harvesting the pollen of secrets. Shredlu considered them for several minutes. There were no immediately apparent differences between the six. All would be equally testy if awakened. All harbored an unreasonable resentment over being bound to his service. He had provided the ingrates a warm and secure place to sleep.

  "Shubam, have you carried out my instructions?"

  "Yes, master." Shubam was a lad of few words, unlike the run of apprentices, who seemed to have automated the hinges of their jaws.

  "Then take the table to the very end." He would begin with Xyzzys, the least tractable of the adonnai. If by clever badinage and cunning evasion he compelled Shredlu to waken a second adonnai, more animosity would be directed Xyyzyx's way than Shredlu's. The adonnai resented one another more than any other entity.

  Shubam positioned the wheeled table. Shredlu stepped up. His apprentice had failed to overlook any items and had positioned all with absolute precision. Shubam had heard rumors about the fate of his disorderly predecessor. Adonnai featured largely in every version. Adonnai did not restrain their irrational rancor when tempted by lax preliminary work.

  "Excellent, Shubam. Would you care to cast the invoking incantations?" They were simple enough.

  "Master, I would prefer not to enjoy my first exercise with Xyyzyx."

  "Very well, I will not insist." Time was passing. Scarcely two hours before the Everay Magicians assembled. As he commenced the awakening,. Shredlu asked, "Has anyone approached you about our work here?" Particularly about our current course of experiments?"

  "No, master." Shubam stirred nervously, warily keeping Shredlu between himself and Xyyzyx.

  "Has no one shown any curiosity at all? Tuft Yarramal, perhaps?"

  "I have never, to my recollection, spoken directly to the Journeyman."

  "Excellent. I urge you to persist in your neglect."

  "Thou pestilent Ymarjon," Xyyzyx boomed. "I will not ask thee why thou disturbest mine slumbers. I have

  anticipated thine importunities. Thou art, in point of fact, tardy in launching them."

  The huge olive face opened its eyes. They proved to be the most human of the an's features, being vastly enlarged orbs identical to those of a brown-eyed man-'till ghosts began to wisp in and out of their pupils.

  "You understand what moves me to trouble you?"

  "Thou wishest to unravel the mysteries surrounding a theft of dreams."

  "You know about that?" Shredlu was troubled. The adonnai were seldom so direct. Xyyzyx in particular preferred evasion and misdirection.

  "Much escapes me. I spend my life in sleepy reverie."

  Shredlu supposed it was too much to expect the adonnai to volunteer anything though it was obvious the Artifact was deeply concerned and quite possible frightened--if such a creature could make the acquaintance of fear.

  "Thou needs must ask the right questions, Ymarjon Shredlu."

  It could not shake its nature completely. Shredlu asked questions. Scores upon scores of questions. He studied the huge olive face with every one, taking clue from its swift play of expression whether he pursued the correct will-o'-the wisp. Xyyzyx was doing his best to communicate. This fact continued to impress Shredlu.

  In response to a particular inquiry, Xyyzyx replied, "Thou art more intuitive than most would suspect, Ymarjon Shredlu. The call for the tackoo did indeed originate within the Everay domain. Sadly no adonnai can identify the source with precision." Shredlu noted five more pairs of adonnai eyes open and turned his way, though he had done nothing to conjure them forth from their sleep. "The thing was done clumsily, though. As thou hast noted secretly. A lack of skill was revealed both in the summoning itself, and in the concealment of the source and nature of the summons."

  The attack originated within the Everay domain and was directed against the Everay domain. If Winter failed to dream, it would be but a few generations till the Everay progression concluded.

  "You have placed me deeply into your debt." Shredlu confessed.

  "Swift recompense of obligations is urged by all great thinkers. Strike while the mood of generosity is yet upon thee. Let down these prisoning walls."

  Shredlu chuckled. "Where is the tackoo Syathbir Tolis? One suspects your reveries might have touched upon this matter."

  "Indeed. It was an intriguing task. The tackoo's slow wits reached the inevitable conclusion only after it was too late to desist or recant."

  "I presume the tackoo eventually converted to the doctrine that his only hope of salvation lay in hiding. That being what he is, he has long had several refuges prepared."

  "Thou art intelligent. For a mere man." The adonnai

  Xyzzyx's grin exposed hideously deformed teeth. Ghosts fluttered in and out of its sparkling eyes. It was prepared to bargain hard.

  7

  Master Magician Aleas Dubbing declared, "The tackoo Syathbir Tolis failed to make himself evident in my quarter of the compass. Sources available, however, suggested he might be located by an investigator who turned his eye upon the Dustrake Reach of the Lesser Miasmatic Swamps."

  "A suggestion in substantial agreement with my own conclusions," Shredlu said. "Kintrude?"

  "I found considerable consternation on all levels Outside. Syathbir Tolis is nowhere amongst the Wastes. Outsider rumor reliably places him within the Lesser Miasmatics."

  The tackoo appears to have confused no one. Yarramal? Have you contradictory evidence?"

  "None such was to be found within the registers, even of a caste so remote and narrow as the Necromancers."

  A caste of one, which consisted of Shredlu's cousin the freelance charlatan Ousted Delf. Shredlu was confident Yarramal had made her own locational inquiries. "Did you find a name that can be attached to this dream-theft villainy?"

  "None whatsoever, Senior." She frowned thoughtfully, as though taking a last look at a decision already made. "Perhaps it is irrational or unreliable intuition, Senior, but I have arrived at a conviction this crime germinated inside the Everay domain, probably within this very tower, possibly close to the child."

  "Substantially my own assessment. Shubam. I see you have returned. Have you extended the invitations?"

  Yes, master."

  "And the airmen?"

  "They have been alerted; His Lordship expects to launch a spontaneous picnic foray."

  "Excellent. You outdo yourself in these times of crisis, Shubam. We shall have to reward you by adding to your duties."

  "My gratitude knows no bounds, master."

  Shredlu could only suspect that Shubam was being less than honest. "Come, then. Let us be off.... Shubam. You did send to the kitchen for appropriate provisions?"

  "I did, master."

  Yarramal asked, "We are going out to the Miasmatics?"

  "It will make a wonderful afternoon excursion."

  "It occurs to me that your plan puts all the domain's Magicians in the same place at the same time."

  "It does indeed. And one of us may be the villain of the piece. The blackguard may be hoping for this eventuality. A grave risk. Which of usn should remain behind?" Shredlu chuckled. There was a dirth of volunteers, it bei
ng evident that suspicion would surround whoever held back.

  It would be an interesting journey as each prepared for the worst while pretending to share a social jaunt. "I think we need not take our apprentices. Come. Time flees." He strode forth, snatching his cloak and staff from Shubam as he passed. He offered the apprentice q sharp look. Winter would be his responsibility in his master's absence. Winter would be a test.

  8

  The airmen had brought the sky yacht Vangier, there would be no sneaking into the Dustrake Reach. In any event, it would have to do. There was no time to cover its gaudy paintwork. Lesser craft could not transport the entire party. Nor could he keep an eye on everyone if they scattered amongst several smaller vessels. And it was a picnic, after all.

  The picnickers assembled upon the airmen's promenade, eighty levels up Everay Prime. Rolo Kintrude and Aleas Dubbing stood together, conversing in low tones. Tuft Yarramal stood apart, introspective, as was her wont. Lord Everay Sloot stood between his mother, Everay Non Ethan, and grandmother, Everay Tak Arone. In the cruel light of afternoon it was difficult to distinguish which woman was the younger. They did not chat. The Everays had little to say to one another, ever.

  The airmen cursed one another as they wrestled Vangier into position for boarding. A breeze made the ship difficult to manage. Nevertheless, they performed their task and the picnickers boarded without a festive face among them. Senior Airman Mug Rusale barely waited 'till the boarding steps cleared. Vangier sprang upward; grey towers began to slide away underneath. Mists and smoke concealed the streets way down below.

  It was an hour's flight to the Lesser Miasmatics. The picnickers remained disposed as before, a group of three, a pair, two alone. Only Kintrude and Dubbing ad a word to share and that quite seldom, no one attempted to probe Shredlu's intentions. Questions might bestir presumptions of guilt.

  Xyzzyx and his family had been of incomplete assistance in determining the identity of the person responsible for the attack on Winter. Reason and information gathered argued that the villain had to be aboard the sky yacht. Shredlu was inclined to suspect Tuft Yarramal but could not fathom a motive.

  As the yacht approached the Miasmatics, the sky outside filled with bizarre creatures more colorful than the airboat itself. The largest of these was an orange-bellied, blue-backed pseudopteronodon with a wicked and intelligent eye. "Hemmaus?" Yarramal asked from behind Shredlu. "It fits the deamon's description."

  "Hemmaus," Shredlu agreed. "We have done business before. A dangerous entity, Hemmaus. Intelligent, unpredictable and occasionally treacherous. In no sense should you ever show him your back. But he is a powerful ally when it suits his humor."

  A score of Hemmaus' lesser cousins larked around like flickering confetti.

  The sky yacht descended. Mug Rusale regaled himself with imprecations, critiquing his own performance. The swamp began to impinge upon more than the eye; its odor, then sound, penetrated the cabin of the airship. The odor alone sufficed to convince even the slowest wit that the wetlands were appropriately named.

  Shredlu directed Mug Rusale to a particular stretch of Dustrake Reach. Several thousand acres of vegetation were of a uniform green so dark it verged upon the black. That sprawl consisted of a single million-trunked nedereyya tree harboring an ecology all its own.

  Rusale excoriated the yacht for its sudden inclination to proceeded in a nose-down attitude.

  Dubbing and Kintrude had come forward. Dubbing asked, The tackoo is hiding in the canopy there?"

  "So my sources indicate. What of yours?"

  Both Master Magicians nodded. Shredlu examined them closely. Neither seemed distressed by the swiftness with which the hunt was closing in on Winter's tormentor, not that either would have given himself away easily. Each was a master.

  Mug Rusale found a bit of solid ground convenient to the vast tree, brought Vangier to earth.

  Shredlu attended to his host's duties immediately. With the aid of Mug Resale he set up tables and chairs, put out insect repellers on poles at a distance of fifteen feet. There were no protests and no urgings to get on with it. Great stakes were on the board; caution was indicated. Yarramal and Rusale brought out the picnic baskets. Shredlu served a rare wine from his own stock..Lord Everay commented favorably, the first he had spoken since boarding Vangier.

  Shredlu cast the occasional glance toward the nedereyya, at hemmaus wheeling high above. Unless he had been anticipated, something would happen soon.

  Shadows were long and purple when the swamp suddenly grew raucous with the approach of Hemmaus' smallest cousins. Their reptilian barks and hisses and squalls swept back and forth behind concealing foliage. Shredlu was pleased. Lord Everay's patience had grown lean. Much longer and he would have demanded an end to the outing.

  A black butterfly silhouette sprang up against the rosy lilac sky, fluttering in panic. Hemmaus' cousins darted around it. It shifted directions with greater facility than its tormentors, but they had numbers. Where one was outmaneuvered, another flashed in.

  With a line of sight established, Shredlu could now bend his own will upon the tackoo. He drew it in, struggling like a fish reluctant to leap into the pan. Shredlu brought it to a perch upon one of the picnic tables. It quivered in terror, surrounded by Real Men. Above Hemmaus' cousins hastened toward their aeries. Night was falling. Darkness would summon forth creatures less condign than they.

  Hemmaus himself called down an admonition for Shredlu to mind his debts faithfully.

  Shredlu responded in the tongue favored by the flying artifacts. He always discharged his obligations. Were that not true, Xyzzyx would not have arranged events so that Syathbir Tolis joined the Everay picnickers.

  Rolo Kintrude said, "Senior, we should, perhaps, consider going home. Already the night grows aware of our presence."

  Shredlu felt it himself. "Rusale, load the sky yacht. Yarramal, lend a hand." The Senior Magician remained close to Syathbir Tolis. He would not allow it out of his sight. He would remain artfully alert on levels natural and magical till he could isolate the creature within his laboratory. Never had the tackoo had another so concerned for his well-being.

  Under other circumstances, an attack would not have been a disappointment. It would have exposed Winter's enemy and, perhaps, have defined what motivated such an evil assault. Under other circumstances, however, Shredlu would have had a better notion whence trouble might come. At the moment, he trusted only Mug Rusale and, to a lesser extent, Lord Everay. His imagination was fertile: he could conceive of circumstances whereby Winter's bereavement would profit each of the others.

  The entire party was so paranoid that not a sigh expired but every eye registered that fact and every brain sorted implications. Tension mounted as Vangier approached Everay Tower. Shredlu began to doubt his reasoning. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to crack.

  In the end it proved that he had been anticipated. Winter's enemy had no need to indulge in self-betrayal aboard the sky yacht. An ambush was in place at the dock. Its fellowship, however, were understandably apprehensive about the risks inherent in an attack upon the combined Magical masters of Everay. Nerves caused a premature tripping of the trap.

  Events thenceforth were foreordained: the air howled with vortices of color, screams of despair were heard, prisoners were taken. Shredlu paused a moment to help Mug Rusale extinguish a scamp cantrip gnawing at a landing claw on the sky yacht.

  Aleas Dubbing and Rolo Kintrude appeared a bit tattered. Tuft Yarramal smoldered at left hip and right elbow. Shredlu himself had taken no part once he determined that the others were adequate to squelch the tumult. He merely observed, hoping the behaviors of others would prove instructive.

  Tuft Yarramal did not become involved till the ambushers, in despair, hurled their final efforts her way.

  9

  "I suspected Yarramal from the beginning," Shredlu announced in his laboratory. "Simply because she was most likely, in character. Shubam was a surprise, though. And the moti
ves of all involved remain elusive." He considered his sullen apprentice, in restraints beside Yarramal. Shubam's motives became transparent instantly. Slothful ambition coupled with passion. And Yarramal's self-destructive behavior became less opaque when her glance fell, as it did often, upon Everay Non Ethan.

  Rolo Kintrude and Aleas Dubbing were proficient readers of pregnant glances themselves. Not only did they discern the source of Everay dismay, they also read Shredlu's cautioning frown. Lord Everay would not hear a word of accusation against the woman who was both mother and sister, however much he detested her personally.

  Particularly unfathomable were Ethan's motives for putting together the broad but inept conspiracy in the first place. What hatred could she possibly bear her own daughter? Successful, the plot would have meant the end of the Everay progression.

  Senior Magician Ymarjon Shredlu oversaw the bringing together of mothlike Syathbir Tolis and Everay Ake Winter, resulting in the restoration of Winter's dreams. Then, with Winter her sparkling, cheerful self once more, none the worse for her misadventure and full of helpful suggestions and even lending a playful hand, he oversaw the punishment of the guilty. He thought a great deal about Ethan while he worked. He cherished what had been and now could never be again. He thought about the Everay progression. He worried about where he might find a teachable, tractable apprentice.

  He was using them up at an alarming rate.

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  Document ID: 40d2ff02-6c1a-1014-8e91-d26dd4544696