The Dreaming Hunt (20 page)

Aurelius had taken up residence at Hyland's town house while he worked at wrapping up Leland's business affairs and saw to the most urgent matters of running the Hyland landhold until the governess appointed a new landsgrave. It seemed fitting that Leland's friends and protégés still gathered at his home and continued the work dearest to him of rescuing his son and finding the Sleeping King.

Hyland's postern gate opened at Bruin's knock to admit them to a small courtyard. A tall figure emerged from the house to meet them, and Rosana all but knocked Raina off her feet as she bolted past, sprinted across the cobblestones, and threw herself at him.

Will
. Thank the stars.

Bruin grunted in disapproval beside Raina as Rosana threw her arms around Will's neck and the two kissed passionately. Raina murmured to the older knight, “They're happy. Where's the harm in that?”

“Personal entanglements cloud the mission. Make a warrior vulnerable,” he retorted.

The words were a dagger to her heart. Her fondest wish was to have a family of her own someday. But not only did White Heart members travel too much and apparently not live long enough to have families, the nature of their work made families a risk to them, as well. In the same way a family would weaken Bruin or Will, a family would weaken her.

“Go inside, child,” Bruin said kindly, as if he sensed the direction of her thoughts. “The guildmaster is waiting for you.”

Reminders of Leland, her mentor and friend, were everywhere as she followed the old Hyland steward to Leland's study. A book carelessly left sitting upon a table where Leland had last laid it down. A cloak hanging in the hallway that still carried his scent. His study was almost more than she could bear. His maps and mechanical toys littered the big desk where he had left them.

Thankfully, before she could dissolve into the tears she was desperately fighting off, Aurelius came into the study accompanied by two men.

The first was so arrestingly attractive she could not help but gape. His hair was the color of antique gold and flowed around his face like a lion's mane. His eyes were piercingly blue, his features a vision of manly perfection. He was fully as tall as Will, but muscular with the maturity of full manhood. He moved with the grace of a dancer and the strength of a warrior.

But it was the third eye in the center of his forehead, announcing him to be of the paxan race, that stopped her cold. It was
open
. She'd heard rumors that it was not even possible for paxan's closed third eyes to do that. Obviously, those rumors had been completely wrong. Of course, she'd also heard that all open-eyed paxan were put to death by the Kothite Empire. What was he doing in Dupree, then, if that were even partially true?

His third eye looked just like his other eyes, a bright blue that shone intelligently as it swiveled in concert with the usual two, taking in the room alertly. Like a bodyguard might do. Her dear friend and sometimes bodyguard, Cicero, used to scan rooms like that. But he'd been forced to flee the heavy Imperial presence in Dupree and had returned to the wilds of Tyrel that were her home and his. She felt his absence keenly. Especially now, when they'd lost both Kendrick and Leland, and Eben and Sha'Li had left for parts unknown.

It was a struggle to rip her gaze away from the open-eyed paxan and take note of the second man partially hidden behind him. But as soon as her gaze lighted on the other, she found herself fully as fascinated.

He was also a paxan but with the traditionally closed eye. At first glance he seemed to be a relatively young man; but as she looked more closely, a miniscule web of fine wrinkles around his eyes announced him to be older than her first impression, perhaps closer to middle age. But then she met his gaze. His eyes were so lively—playful, even—that it was hard to reconcile any aging at all with the youthful vitality emanating from him.

“These are the children I was telling you about,” Aurelius said. Respect vibrated in every syllable of his words. Enough so that she did not even take umbrage at being called a child.

The two-eyed paxan moved farther into the room. “Introduce us if you will, Aurelius.”

On a first-name basis with the guildmaster? A man of status, then. Raina dipped into a short curtsy her mother had taught her to use with noble persons of uncertain rank. It elicited a chuckle and a nod of acknowledgment from the guildmaster's guest.

Rosana followed suit with a curtsy, and Will made an elven semi-formal bow, which he performed admirably smoothly. Now where did he learn to do a thing like that growing up on the edge of the wilderness as he had? Not to mention, where did he learn the nuance of choosing that particular bow for this particular situation?

Aurelius said with obvious pleasure, “This is my friend, Phinneas. He is a scholar of the Oneiri Order, which is a gathering of paxan scholars to study and share knowledge. Phinneas is perhaps the preeminent scholar in his field alive today.”

“And what might that field be?” Raina asked courteously when Aurelius did not elaborate.

“Later,” Aurelius murmured pleasantly with a glance for the steward.

Phinneas spoke smoothly over the awkward moment. “This is my companion, student, and bodyguard, Rynn.” He gestured at the godlike specimen standing tall beside him.

The younger paxan nodded politely, and Rosana sighed slightly beside her. Raina reluctantly had to admit to feeling a similar reaction.

Aurelius gave the steward instructions for supper and ushered the servitor out, closing the study door behind him. Raina waited through the obligatory pleasantries Aurelius and Phinneas exchanged according to elven traditions of courtesy. Raina did not know much of paxan culture, but like the elves, the paxan were a long-lived race. It made sense that they, too, would take their time with social conventions.

Finally, the conversation wound its way around to Will, Rosana, and her. Aurelius startled her by saying, “These are several of the youths I wrote to you about.”

“And the reason I came with all due haste to see you, my friend. Tell me more of their adventure.”

Was that what it had been? An adventure? Several of their party had died, they'd all suffered terribly, and countless Boki had died to defend them. Her White Heart sensibility forced her to reluctantly acknowledge that many of Anton's hired mercenaries had died, as well.

Aurelius continued, “While young Rosana stayed behind to guard the gate they found, Will and Raina journeyed into the dream plane. With your indulgence, I would like them to tell you what they saw there in hopes of you identifying some or all of it.”

Raina stared at Aurelius in horror. The secret of Gawaine's existence and particularly the secret of where they had found him must not be shared with anyone! Gawaine had been clear. They were to trust
no one
with news of his existence.

Aurelius sent her back a rather withering look of his own. He said mildly, “I asked Phinneas to make the rigorous journey to Dupree to speak with you of what you saw in hopes that he could shed more light on what you encountered.”

“Thank you, Guildmaster,” she replied with entirely false gratitude. “Unfortunately, I do not know either of these men, and I find myself reluctant to speak of our …
adventure
in their esteemed presence. No offense intended, gentlemen.”

Phinneas nodded slightly, but a smile flickered at the corner of his companion's mouth.

Aurelius huffed in as close to exasperation as she'd ever seen him. “Phinneas, do you vouch for the trustworthiness of your man, Rynn?”

The paxan did not answer the question but rather spoke directly to her. “Are you aware that it is death for my kind to be born with an open eye? If Rynn should be seen by any Imperial official while we are here, he will be arrested, sent to Koth, and tortured. Then, the Empire will either forcibly close his eye, crippling him for life, or, if they are feeling merciful, he will be put to permanent death.”

To the tall paxan, she said solemnly, “I am White Heart. I will do everything in my power to save you from such a fate. You have nothing to fear from me.”

The smile broke loose this time, flashing at her with such brilliance she momentarily lost her train of thought. Were it not for that open third eye, this man would have legions of women all over the Empire swooning at his feet.

Aurelius commented, “Phinneas has studied the dream plane for longer than I have been alive. If anyone can tell us what exactly you saw, he can. We need all the help we can get to understand what is happening both there and here.”

“Indeed, my order is deeply concerned at recent developments in the dream realm. We've not seen the like before,” Phinneas added.

If only she didn't agree so strongly with both men that events were in motion extending far beyond the visible, she would walk out of here right now and drag Will with her. But as it was, she sank unhappily into one of the armchairs before the fire. Three more had been pulled into the room for this meeting, and everyone but Rynn took a seat.

Rosana looked up at the beautiful paxan in distress. “You will not sit?”

“I am best prepared to defend my mentor on my feet. I am accustomed to standing for long periods of time. Do not worry about me.”

Raina bloody well worried about him. Aurelius clearly did not know this Rynn fellow as well as he knew Phinneas. Even if the bodyguard did have a death sentence prominently in the middle of his forehead.

“If you could describe the dream plane from when you entered until you stopped being attacked,” Aurelius prompted.

Ahh
. Well, all right, then. Aurelius was not going to make them speak of Gawaine. She could live with that.

Will started by describing the door they had passed through with a spiderweb of dream catchers stretched across its surface.

Phinneas commented, “Old, native magic. Tribal.”

Raina suspected Boki thorns had built the door, so that agreed with her conjecture. But she was not about to tell that to this paxan scholar. Will described the giant, four-armed troll that had attacked them just inside the door.

Rynn nodded as Will described cutting off the troll's possessions—a pouch, belt, and necklace—and the beast weakening with the loss of each. “Phantasm,” the open-eyed paxan declared. “When one of them takes on the aspect of a creature who once lived, possessing physical objects that belonged to the creature makes the phantasm stronger. Exponentially so.”

“Then you know what happened to the troll when we killed it?” Will challenged.

Raina's gaze snapped to Will's face. So. He did not entirely trust these paxan, either, and tested them subtly. Was Bloodroot giving warning to him, mayhap?

Rynn answered in a voice as mellifluous and gorgeous as the rest of him, “Your troll turned to mist and dissipated. It is what phantasms do when killed.”

“Then a hydra attacked—” Will started.

She interrupted him. “Do not forget the wall. And the gem.”

Phinneas turned his bird-bright gaze on her. “What wall, child?”

“It surrounded us in an arc that trapped us in front of the door. It looked made of … this will sound strange, but made of…” She searched for words to describe the strange substance. “Burning crystal.”

Phinneas sucked in a sharp breath. “Crystals all the colors of fire as if flames were trapped in time and made solid? Caught between a crystalline form and a flame, midflicker?”

“Exactly!” Raina exclaimed.

“How did you pass this wall of fire crystal?” he pressed.

“We hit it,” she answered. “Just once. It made this strange ringing sound that went on for far too long. As if it were summoning the hydra that eventually showed up.” She recalled the way the tone had jangled every nerve in her body with a feeling of wrongness. And the gigantic, four-headed beast with its long, swinging necks had appeared, making the massive troll that had nearly killed them all look puny.

She fell silent, lost in memory of the horror that had coursed through her, the certainty that they were all going to die. Will took up the tale. “Sha'Li—she's our lizardman friend who was with us—recognized it. When one of the heads spouted a gout of fire, we knew it for a fire hydra.”

“How many heads?” Rynn asked quickly.

“Four.”

The paxan warrior sucked in a breath between his teeth. “That's rough. How did you defeat it?”

Will continued grimly. “Sha'Li charged it. And was promptly incinerated into a pile of ash without ever harming the beast. Thankfully, she resurrected with Rosana in the cave outside.” It was his turn to fall silent in unpleasant recollection.

Raina took up the tale. “The hydra started to speak. Its heads repeated a rhyme over and over. Will's mother used to say it to him as a boy, and he recognized that it spoke of the lady's breath flower. He knew the look of the plant and found some growing behind us. He picked a bunch, burned it, and blew the ashes at the hydra.”

“You defeated a fire hydra with
flowers
?” Rynn burst out.

Raina shrugged. “No weapon or skill we had was going to scratch that beast, let alone take it down.”

Phinneas nodded, a certain respect entering his gaze. “Unconventional. Perhaps that is why you succeeded where others failed.”

“Truth be told,” she confessed, “we had barely any strength or skills left to call upon by the time we arrived on the dream plane. Anything else seemed worth a try.”

Phinneas frowned thoughtfully, steepling his fingers before his mouth. He spoke slowly. “It is possible that your very lack of strength is what gained you entrance to a plane that only the strongest usually survive. Interesting.” He shook himself and then murmured, “I digress. Go on.”

Raina picked up the story. “The hydra dissipated as soon as the flower's ashes touched it. But it did not go up in a poof of mist like the troll. It went up in a great blast of fire, big enough to engulf a house.”