Duncan stopped to rest. He leaned back against a crumbling wall and pushed his fingers through his hair, which flopped back promptly into his eyes. Slowly the weariness in his legs passed, mostly because he willed it.
Will. That's what it all came down to in the Fade. He never got hungry or needed to sleep. Muscle fatigue from walking was only an illusion: his body thought it should be tired until his mind told it that it was not. He had willed himself to be clothed and he was, had willed boots and a cloak and they had appeared. He could not quite will away the dangers, though he was good at avoiding most of the lesser spirits. After all, he had had lots of practice.
He had no idea how long he had been trapped here. Time did not pass in the Fade as it did in the waking world. A weak light filtered through the clouds in the sky and the Black City hung ever-present on the horizon. He thought he was beginning to see a pattern to the crisscrossing paths of dreamers through this small section of the Fade, but it was not yet enough to give him a sense of time.
Duncan's stomach growled. He told it sternly that it was not hungry and the sensation subsided. He pushed himself to his feet again and started walking.
This part of the Fade was not as large as some others he and Eleanor had explored together. It included the palace and some of its grounds, but none of the city. The phantoms he saw were dreaming guards, servants, and nobles visiting the castle. So far, none of the dreamers passing through had responded to his efforts to get their attention. It was as if he occupied a separate plane—he could see but not interact.
He pondered this as he skirted some hedges in the garden. The edge of the grounds was just ahead and a shimmering barrier stretched across the grass. This was where there should be a portal out, either to another part of the Fade or back into his sleeping body. There had been before, but this was not like the other times. He had always been able to speak with other people he found asleep in the Fade or enter and observe their dreams. He didn't know if mages could do this as well—it was something that he and Eleanor had decided not to elaborate on when they spoke to the Circle of Magi about their strange abilities. The First Enchanter's eyebrows had climbed almost to his hairline at the mention of their knack for navigating the Fade. Usually it took a group of mages, a lot of lyrium, and a special ceremony to allow a mage to travel awake and aware into the Fade. He had Eleanor had done it since childhood; aware of their dreaming state and awakening within it.
The barrier stretched slightly as he placed his hands on it but did not give way to let him pass. He lowered his head and concentrated, focusing his will on the membrane. It bowed outward slightly but did not open to allow him to pass through.
Duncan sighed and dropped his hands. He turned his back on the oily film that hung between this area of the Fade and the next. No wind, no bird sounds disturbed the still air that hung over the garden. He cast a glance at the Black City and started walking toward the other side of his prison, hoping again to find a way out.