Numair found himself standing in the middle of a path, winding through a dark forest

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In Dreams Part II

Numair found himself standing in the middle of a path, winding through a dark forest. What on Earth had happened? One minute he was sitting there, searching Daine's body for demons or spirits, trying to determine what might be causing the dreams, the next he was out cold, only to wake up in this strange place.

A far-off shriek caught his attention. He spun, trying to locate its source. There! A flash of a white shirt in the black of the night. Numair ran through the underbrush, trying to reach her. Daine sat crouched in a small clearing, surrounded by a swarm of pink and green butterflies. It was no ordinary clearing, either. The edges were littered with animal carcasses and rotting flowers, and the middle oozed and bubbled like a mudpot, or quicksand, its muck constantly changing colour. Every time Daine tried to move, the butterflies beat at her, and the goo sucked her in.

Daine was being sucked into a Chaos vent.

Furious, Numair shouted. Daine spun to see him, and was sucked under until she was waist-deep. No! he cried in his mind. Funny, he had tried to say that out loud, but it hadn't worked. Desperate, he tried to grab her with his magic.

Nothing happened. Numair swore vividly, and tried again. Again, nothing. Curse this place! He couldn't use his magic to save her, but how else was he supposed to? If he stepped in the muck, he would get sucked in, too, and would be no use to her. The butterflies had lost interest in Daine, and now swarmed around him, beating him mercilessly with their tiny wings, blinding him.

Frantic, Numair groped in the trees for a vine or a branch or something. His hand found a long vine, and he thanked the gods profusely. Beating the butterflies from his face, he tried to get a good look at where Daine was.

She was up to her shoulders in the muck, her arms trapped around her sides. Numair swore again, and tried to throw the rope to her in a way that did not involve hanging her. On of her hands pulled out of the goo with a squelch, and she caught the vine. Numair pulled on the vine, trying to free the rest of her body. She came up slowly. The stuff was so thick that it made no noise as she came out. Once free, Daine started to swing towards the edge. She knocked into Numair, and the two fell in a heap.

"Excuse me," Daine managed to gasp. She rolled off Numair's chest and threw up into the bushes. Numair sat up as she turned back around, wiping her mouth with her hand. "I thought the vents were only in the Divine Realms."

He swatted at a butterfly that was fluttering around his ear. "Maybe we're in the Divine Realms. Maybe we're in the Realms of Chaos. Maybe we're dead." He didn't like the sound of the last one. "Maybe we're just dreaming."

At least she didn't feel so sick anymore. Daine smiled at him. "Let's hope on the last one." She reached over to kiss him.

"Well, well, well," said a mocking voice behind them. "Maybe I was right, after all."

Numair sat up quickly, almost knocking Daine over. "Who's there?!"

The voice laughed a laugh that made them shudder. As Daine watched, a large Stormwing flapped into the clearing, and perched on a branch above them.

"Ozorne!" The name spat out of Numair's mouth was a low, hissing curse.

Daine jumped to her feet. "No! No, you're dead! I killed you myself, not two years ago! What do you mean 'I was right'?" She fumbled for a bow and quiver that weren't there.

The former Emperor Mage cackled. "Surprised to see me? Shocked? I should hope so. What I meant, Veralidaine, is that on that day many years ago, in Carthak, I was right. I told you your precious Arram Draper was in love with you, and I was right. So, my turtledoves, how many children do you have so far? Six? Seven?" He examined their hands with interest. "Tsk, tsk, and not even married yet."

Daine blushed, and threw a rock at the approaching Stormwing. It bounced off his head. "Wench!" he shrieked. "You will pay for that!" He lunged for Daine, talons outstretched.

"No!"

"No!"

Daine toppled off her seat, and fell into Numair. They were back in the study. They both gasped, then sighed with relief that the nightmare was over. For a moment, they just lay there, breathing hard, trying to calm down.

Finally, Numair asked, "Are you all right?"

Daine rolled off him, rubbing a bruise on her elbow. "I'll live. You?"

Numair smiled up at her. "I'll live, too." She grinned back at him, and he reached up and kissed her. She kissed him back gratefully, feeling her strength returning. He stood carefully, holding her up, and kissed her again, softly.

Discreet coughing reached their ears. Lindhall was standing in the doorway, waiting, a kind smile on his face. "Now that you two are done your private discussion, let's get back to this parchment."

6

Just because Daine and Numair had triumphed in one dream didn't mean that the nightmare was over. Numair reminded Daine of this, and she knew it was true. At least she didn't have to worry about that until the night, when she would have to sleep again. She shuddered at the prospect. For now, though, she could concentrate on helping Numair and Lindhall with the parchment. She surveyed it with interest, looking carefully over every rune and letter.

"I've never seen the likes of it," she finally told the mages. "And I don't know why you would think I would. You're the ones who've spent your lives in libraries, not me."

Lindhall chuckled. "I thought maybe just seeing the scroll might trigger something," he told her. "I guess I was wrong."

Daine looked at the sheet again. She looked away, then back again. One of the runes was different. Hadn't it been written in black ink a moment ago? Now it was green. She frowned, and looked closer. It was getting bigger, too. Steeling herself, she reached out a hand to touch it.

"Don't you dare!" Numair smacked her hand away from the scroll, his eyes panicked. "How do you know there isn't some kind of draining spell, or tracking spell on that?"

Daine frowned. "You said that Wild Magic couldn't be drained. Normal spells don't work on me."

Numair grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "You actually think these are normal spells we are working with?! What's wrong with you? Think, Daine!"

Daine sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Fine. If you don't want me here, I'll just go." She turned and walked out the door.

What was Numair's problem? She was always cautious, and he had been the one to make her talisman to ward off everyday spells. Didn't he trust his own work? Didn't he trust her? And now he was angry with her. Perfect. "Well," she said to herself. "I guess I'll just go home and wait for him. I'm no use in there, anyway."

She shook her head suddenly. Where were those thoughts coming from? Numair had a right to be nervous, and it was true that this was not ordinary magic. How could she have thought otherwise?

What ever had caused her to think those thoughts came pushing up again. Daine could feel the power trying to take over her mind. She gasped, and concentrated on forcing it out. The power fought, and almost won. Concentrate, she thought to herself. You've done all sorts of things before, you can do this! Finally the magic retreated, but Daine was worried. It would have made her much happier if she had felt it leave her. Instead, she had felt the power sink deep into the back of her mind, and wait quietly until Daine was off guard to try again. Rubbing her temples, she resumed walking to Numair's apartment.

Numair found her there an hour later, curled up in a large chair, staring at the wall. She was afraid to fall asleep. He closed the door, and entered the room quietly.

Daine jumped as he entered the room. She saw Numair and relaxed. "Where have you been?" she asked. "I've been waiting for hours."

Numair frowned. "It's only been twenty minutes," he informed her. "Not several hours."

Daine pushed the blanket away and stood up. She frowned. "Really? It felt like several hours."

Numair walked over and pressed her back into her chair. "Sit," he told her. "I wanted to apologize for yelling at you. It was uncalled for." He looked down. "I'm sorry."

Daine smiled. "It was as much my fault as yours," she said. "Which is something I wanted to talk about." Numair looked up expectantly at her, and she took a deep breath. Why was it always so hard to talk about this? "Something- or someone- was toying with my head today. When I said that stuff, it wasn't exactly me talking. I don't know who or what it was, but they're not done with me yet."

Numair swore, and jumped to his feet. Daine frowned as she watched him run into his room, his eyes furious. When he came back out again, his face was pale and his eyes dark and snapping. "You remember that bracelet I had, for a focus?" he asked her, and she nodded. "It's gone."

Daine leapt up. "What?! You're sure?" Focuses were powerful tools. You could perform dangerous spells with them, like control of body and mind. "Goddess, so that's what it was."

Numair looked up sharply. "We can't be sure that's what it was," he said tightly. "But it would explain a few things." He smiled. "Well, there is one good thing about learning this."

She sat forward in her seat. "What's that?"

He grinned at her. "I can track the bracelet to wherever in the world it might go. Whether it's the problem or not, we can fix you with it." He kissed her happily, then wandered into his room, and Daine could hear him muttering, "Really, why didn't I think of that before?"

6

One hour later, Daine, Numair and Lindhall were in the stables, waiting for Stephan to fetch their horses. As Cloud sauntered up to the group, she gave Daine a disdainful look.

What now? she asked. I'm not very fond of going off on silly little trips in the dead of night.

Get used to it, Daine retorted silently. You'll be going on many "silly little trips" in the near future.

That's what I was afraid of, the mare retorted. She snapped at Stephan, then stood still as Daine mounted, muttering to herself.

Numair had tracked the focus, and found that it was deep in the thick of the royal forest. Daine remembered the dream and shuddered. He thanked the hostler, and the threesome began their journey.

"You're sure it's in the forest?" Daine finally asked, hopeful. "It couldn't have been a mistake?"

"Do I make mistakes?" Numair asked cheerfully.

"Occasionally," she replied wryly. Numair threw a pinecone at her.

"Enough," Lindhall said. "We're almost at the forest." Daine gulped.

The Royal Forest loomed up dark and forbidding in the darkness of the night. Though Daine had been inside its depths many times before, she had never felt like this toward it. Perfect, she thought. I'll never be able to come here again, and I work about a hundred yards away. She shook her head, took a deep breath, and rode into the forest.

Daine flinched as the branches closed around the party. She called greetings to her animal friends, and received cheerful replies. She smiled, but she could almost hear the insults and slurs from the previous night. She winced as she thought she heard an insult, then sighed when she realized it was a crow. She was used to insults from crows.

Numair noticed that Daine was getting a little pale, and rode up beside her. "Are you all right with this?" he asked her. "You're looking sick again."

Daine smiled weakly at him. "I'll live. I just keep expecting the animals to jump out from between the trees and attack us." About this, she received several protests from the nearby animals. "But I think that they're against that idea." At this, she received several agreements.

He smiled. Still, the trees were getting thicker, and Daine was looking worse and worse as they did so.

Suddenly, Daine jumped.

Numair looked up at her sharply. "What happened?"

She surveyed the path and the foliage around them. "I've been here before," she whispered.

Lindhall, who had almost been forgotten, piped up, "But you can't have. This is far deeper than any of us have ever been."

Daine shook her head. "No. I've been here." She shivered. "Right there." Her voice was barley audible. "Under that tree."

Numair made her look at him. "When?" he demanded. "When were you here?"

Daine's answer was so low he had to bend over to hear. "Then," she whispered. "In that cursed dream! And any moment now everyone will come diving out of the trees, in a mad rush to kill us!" Her voice had become gradually louder until she was shouting. Numair looked around and realized that he, also, had been there. This was the very spot in which he had woken up after blacking out in Lindhall's office.

"Damn!" he sputtered. "If this is there, and the bracelet should be over there, but that's where I saw her, then over there is a chaos vent!"

Lindhall blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

Numair shook his head. "Nothing, nothing," he muttered. "It's right through there." He shuddered as Lindhall got carefully off his horse, and started through the trees. Daine shook from head to toe as she dismounted, and nearly tripped when she touched down. Numair got off quickly, and realized that he, too, was trembling. This place made him uneasy. He and Daine followed Lindhall into the dense underbrush.

The threesome carefully entered the clearing. Numair half expected Usoea, the Chaos queen, to leap out from somewhere, oozing claws flashing. He shook his head. Get a hold of yourself, he thought fiercely. She's been imprisoned by the most powerful gods in all the realms, she is not here. The bracelet was dangling dangerously on a delicate looking branch hanging over the middle of the clearing.

"Someone doesn't think very much of us," Daine remarked. "It's easy to see it's a trap."

Numair sighed and put an arm around her shoulders. "The worst part is we can't just walk away," he told her. "If we leave without the bracelet, I don't know how we'll cure you." He stared at the floor of the clearing. It looked enough like normal forest floor, but Daine and Numair both knew better than to approach it without first taking precautions.

An elbow collided painfully with Numair's ribs. "Try getting it with magic," Daine told him impatiently.

"Your magic should work."

He shook his head to clear it, wondering why his mind was working so slowly, and reached for the bracelet. He held his breath as it lifted off the branch and floated slowly towards them. He supported Daine as she reached out, and plucked it out of the air. Gripping it tightly, she went over every inch to ensure that it was unharmed. She grinned and turned to Numair. "It's fine." He grinned back at her, and fastened it around his wrist. It vanished as the clasp clicked together. He began to laugh with relief, and Daine followed suit. He scooped her up in his arms and placed her on his horse, then climbed up behind her. He kicked Spots to a gallop, as Lindhall shook his head and hitched Cloud up to his horse, and followed them.

6

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