Roar, page 33
Mara continued talking about her wondrous library and its wondrous books before changing subjects to talk about her family in similar vein. It seemed she was convinced that they'd been the greatest alchemists ever to walk the world. But while it was all surely fascinating to her, it was thoroughly boring to Camille and soon she found herself yawning.
It happened a lot lately. She really wasn’t interested in what Mara had to say unless it was relevant to her current incarceration and the possibility that she might one day be freed. Mara continued on however, unaware that she was nodding off, and eventually the drone of her voice tipped Camille the rest of the way off to sleep.
But it was an odd sleep. Camille found herself dreaming – but the dream world felt odd. It wasn't a place she'd ever been before and yet it felt real. More real than she was used to. It was somewhat similar to when she'd hired the services of the dream weaver – before that had all gone horribly wrong.
She unexpectedly found herself wandering through Mara's laboratory in its cave, and she could feel the cold stone under her feet. She could smell the musty air. She looked around and found herself staring at the endless rows of glass jars filled with strange ingredients on the shelves – some of them glowing eerily. She then slowly wove her way around the desks covered in glassware and strange looking equipment, examining everything carefully. What was it? Much of it she didn't recognise. And why was she here? And what was causing that rumbling and the faint sound of people yelling in the distance as if something was wrong?
But in the end she realised, it wasn't important. Nothing was. And she was curious. So she continued exploring the strange dream laboratory. She was curious about some of the odd looking magical devices she could see on the work benches. A few of them she recognised either by sight or from descriptions she had read of them in books. There were devices for boiling, condensing and extracting various substances from plants. Ovens and burners for drying things out. Jars for holding magical vapours. Even a small portal for summoning. But that was only the beginning. Camille could see a lot of other things she'd never seen before.
There was one device, a glass slab that covered an entire desk, covered with a layer of some sort of jelly and then another pane of glass on top of it. And there were wires leading from both ends of it to something mechanical. Maybe electrical. There were dark lines in the clear jelly as something slowly migrated through it. What in all the hells was it?
Not far away she found two metal globes on stands that were spinning around for some reason, But it wasn't the spinning that struck her as odd. It was the small bolts of lightning that were jumping from one globe to the other.
She moved on to the ingredients in the glass jars. Some of them had the names of what they contained written on them. But they couldn't be real – could they? Basilisk tongue. Dragon bile. Phoenix fire. They were odd names for what clearly had to be dried plants. Except that some of them didn't look like plants of any sort. Some of the jars contained other things. Things she couldn't even begin to identify as the names were in some strange script. There were a number of jars that obviously contained pieces of creatures; dried and preserved. Looking at them Camille shuddered. Alchemy it seemed was an unsettling art. She moved on.
And then she came to a jar that contained a liquid which moved and writhed in its jar, changing colour as it did so. But she couldn't work out why it was moving when it was sitting on a shelf. Another had fire inside it – green fire! How could fire burn inside a jar? Without either air of something to burn? And how long had it been burning for?
Camille had no explanation for that, but it did make her curious enough to continue exploring the strange place. And all the while the rumbling and the yelling continued. Camille was too interested in what she was seeing to let it bother her though.
There was a workshop in the cave, and at least some of it looked a little normal. She understood rifles and pistols. Except that these were far too large, had multiple barrels and the musket balls that went in them weren't musket balls at all. They were shaped like tiny little spears and made of bone and resin as far as she could tell.
A mechanical golem stood at one end of the workshop, its red eyes glowing as it stared at her. It could see her somehow. But it didn't try to attack her. It just stood there waiting for something. Waiting for orders she guessed.
Eventually though, something did bother her. A smell. Something sharp and acrid that stung her nose and brought her sharply out of her sleep.
Sitting up abruptly and gasping for fresh breath she found Mara standing there over her with a small vial in her hand, just in front of her face. And it was whatever the clear liquid was in front of her face that had smelled so bad.
“Gaagh!” She gagged.
“Good! You're awake then. Finally!” Mara looked unhappy and more than a little worried.
“Take that away!” Camille pushed the vial aside. “What is that? And how did you get into my cell?” Camille felt more than a little confused. And then as her eyes started focussing a little more clearly, she realised Mara wasn't alone.
“Why is everyone in my cell?!” She recognised some of the people crowded around her, like her aunt and one of the Dreaming Lords standing just behind her. She also recognised one the guards. But most of the others were strangers – and there were so many of them! How did they all fit in? And why were they there? Just what was going on?!
“Well I've got good news – or maybe not so good news. I don’t know.” Mara stared at her intently. “Either way we now know why your mother felt the need to drug you.”
“Uh huh?”
“Congratulations. It seems you're a scion. And there aren't supposed to be any of you in existence. There never were. Scions are supposed to be a myth from ancient times. I'll get you some books to read about them.”
“A scion?” She didn't know the term. But she still wanted to know what was happening more and it had to be something to do with that.
“It’s an ancient legend, about ancient dreamers. They’re supposed to be able to build a bridge between the world of the Great Dream and the real world. Your gift allows you to bring things from different parts of the world through the Great Dream. Like this vial of burnt skunk scent.” She held up the vial she'd just made Camille sniff. But at least it was capped.
“What?!” That didn't make any sense to her.
“This vial was in my storeroom in my facility. You brought it here. You went into the Great Dream, visited my storeroom and brought it back. And no dreamer, dream weaver, or Dreaming Lord is capable of doing that. Only a scion can. And until today most people thought they were nothing more than a story.”
“That's …” Camille didn't actually know what to say. That it was madness? That dreams couldn't become real? And that she certainly hadn't decided to bring back a damned vial of anything! But the evidence that what Mara was saying was all around her. Moreover there were all these people around her in a room she didn’t recognise looking worried. And she'd smelled that smell. That was very real.
“You have very powerful magic. It’s also very dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
“When you attacked Thorm with your dream strike, you actually physically attacked him. You literally drove a knife straight into his skull. Somehow you dragged him a little way into the Great Dream, summoned a knife and then stabbed him with it. Your anger and your then barely awakening gift made what you thought was merely a dream, real. He would probably have died instantly had he not been whatever he is. As it is, he must have been horribly injured.”
“I'm going to make up some potions for you,” Mara continued. “They should keep your dreams from becoming real until you've had enough training to know how to control your gift. And the Dreaming Lords here are going to begin your training immediately. Isn't that right dimwits?!” Mara looked across to the Dreaming Lords in askance. They confirmed Mara’s words with a few nods of their heads and some murmured words. Strangely, none of them objected to her calling them dimwits.
“It should have been done twenty years ago, but … something obviously went wrong and your mother wasn’t equipped to train you. So she did the only thing she could and suppressed your gift before it either killed people or came to the attention of the Eternal King.”
“Killed people?” Camille froze, shocked to her core. “Have I …?” She couldn't squeeze out the words. All she could do was pray to the Sisters that she hadn't done anything so terrible. But there were all these people in her cell so obviously whatever she'd done while asleep had been dangerous. And suddenly she remembered driving that poisoned knife into Thorm's head. It had felt so good. So real. And it had been real! Terror clawed at her. She had actually driven a knife into someone's head! Like a brigand!
“Not this time, child.” Aunt Matilde took over, her voice reassuring. “And we're going to make sure that that doesn't happen. But it was close.”
“Close?”
Her aunt answered her by gesturing at the other people crowded around inside her cell, causing them to part and show her the rest of the gaol behind the bars. And the first thing Camille saw when they did was stone. A great stone wall. Except it wasn't a wall – it was a cliff face – or part of one. Where there should have been an open wooden floor and a desk, there was a dark grey stone wall stretching from one side to the other for as far as she could see – which wasn't far considering it was only a couple of yards beyond the bars of her cell. And there was an entrance in it. A cave mouth.
“You must have fallen into a dream state while I was talking about my library and laboratory,” Mara told her. “Obviously what I was saying filtered into your mind's depths and you went there. And then you brought my entire laboratory, storerooms and library back here, through the Great Dream, across hundreds of leagues. And when it arrived it pushed everything else aside. Literally just forced its way into the city and pushed everything apart a little. People mostly managed to get out of the way though there were a few injuries. And now that it’s here it’s caused a lot of damage to Yessamine which will need to be fixed. After all, there's now an entire cave system that has grown right through the gaol!”
Mara stopped at that point, and smiled rather strangely at Camille. It was probably meant to be reassuring though given recent events Camille found the look on her face rather odd. Even more odd than her standing in her cell and saying the things she was saying. “You have an immense gift. And you're going to have to learn to use it.” Then without warning Mara returned to her usual manner, and turned around to abuse someone just out of sight of Camille's cell.
“And you, you doddering old fool, get out of my home!” she yelled. “I've told you before – you can't just wander into people's homes! And you certainly don't touch things! Don't you know anything about privacy?!
“But –!” An older man's voice replied from somewhere inside the cave, sounding more than a little confused.
“That's my home! My family's home for hundreds of years! Leave now, or I'll set the cerberi on you!”
“You wouldn't dare!” The voice yelled back. But his voice trailed off as he heard the sound of a dog howling in the distance.
“It's private property and you don't have any right to enter it!” Mara yelled at him. She was clearly in no mood to tolerate trespassers as she clearly saw him.
Which left Camille sitting on her cot, wondering if the world had gone mad while she'd been asleep. Mara was yelling at the wizards and others as if she had some right to, when she should have been locked up in her cell. The central chamber of the gaol had gone and a cave entrance in a cliff face had somehow replaced it. Her cell was crammed full of people who should never have been in a gaol cell in their lives – and all of whom seemed to believe in the impossible. Somewhere in that cave was a three headed beast. And she'd actually stabbed a man in the head!
She shook her head and then pinched herself. Maybe she was still dreaming.
Chapter Thirty Six
The two legs were making a lot of noise again, and it made him open his eyes, annoyed that his sleep was once again being disturbed. He was very tired. Over the last little while the two legs who liked to make the noise “Thorm” had kept coming back every time he closed eyes to repeat the sound over and over again. She just wouldn't give up and he was getting very tired of it. He would have stopped her if he could, but for some reason all his efforts failed.
But now she was gone and instead there were other two legs about, once again bringing the sound of distant thunder and the things that stung to him. Why couldn't any of these two legs just let him rest? He kept roaring at them and they kept flying away. But they kept returning.
He opened his eyes and looked around, beyond the circle of flames surrounding him, keeping him warm, to the land beyond. And he wondered why so many of them had suddenly appeared. Usually when they came it was in bunches of two of three. This time there was a horde. And they were all dressed in blue. And they didn't seem to care that he had surrounded himself with a nice tall wall of fire. He looked around and could see that they were forming a giant ring around him. They were also standing beside great straight sided stones with straight sticks that they pointed at him. Why? He wasn't sure but he thought they might be threatening him in some way. But the two legs were a long way away and so he couldn't see the danger. Besides, he was hungry. So he forgot about them and decided to get up and look for something to eat.
Then the thunder grew louder, and he felt something bite him – hard! Bugs, maybe. But if they were, they were definitely bigger than the ones that had stung him before. They certainly hurt more than the others. It annoyed him and once again he roared. Why did these things keep biting at him whenever he got comfortable? He used his claws to make the top of the straight sided rock he was lying on dusty so he could roll in it and rub the itch away. But it didn't seem to help. Even as he rubbed at the bites he already had, the distant thunder returned and he found himself inundated with even more bites.
He roared angrily. This time though, his roar didn’t help. Both the thunder and the stings continued. He didn't like that. Normally the biting things went away when the two legs did. Could they be related somehow? He didn't see how. Not when the two legs were so far away. But he noticed that not only had the stinging not gone away, neither had the two legs. And why was there such a big dark cloud around them? Were they on fire?
They hadn't heard him! The thought struck him as he watched more of them appear from behind the straight sided rocks. Maybe they were even hiding from him. Why? He just wanted them to go away.
Maybe it was time to investigate he thought. It was time to get rid of this bothersome stinging once and for all. And the thunder and bad smelling clouds too. He really did want to sleep and the thunder kept interrupting his nap.
So he got up and stretched a little. It always helped to stretch. Then he vaulted lightly down from his perch and trotted over towards the nearest two legs.
There was more stinging as he approached, and more dark clouds puffed out of the large pointed sticks the two legs were standing beside. But before he had covered even half the distance between him and them, the two legs turned and scattered. They were fleeing like vermin.
He stopped then, surprised at how quickly they'd fled. But as the stinging and the thunder continued, he grew more angry. The ones in front of him had fled. The ones to his sides and behind him hadn't. And he guessed that if he turned and went after them those who had fled would return. It was some sort of game to them! This was becoming annoying! They should all leave! He stamped his foot in frustration!
Something odd happened then. The odd straight sided stone mounds that the two legs had all been standing beside and hiding behind all abruptly crumbled. The large sticks with the smoke billowing from them, fell into the ground. The thunder came to a sudden end, only to be replaced by an explosion that shook the very sky, while massive rents opened up in the ground. Then everything around him turned dark as clouds filled the air. But at least the stinging had stopped. As had the thunder.
He was pleased by that, especially when he noticed that once the air had cleared he could see no more two legs. No more of the straight sided stones either. Not for leagues. Just mounds of rubble. But unfortunately that included the one he had been sleeping on he discovered when he looked back. Now it was barely sand! He would have to find somewhere else to rest. And he'd just got this one comfortable! Smoothing out the ground with his claws, rolling on it to fill it with his scent so that any others would be warned off. Making it nice and dusty.
Now he would have to look for a new place to nap. Soon.
First though, he wanted some food. It had been a while since he'd eaten and he was hungry again. And it was getting harder to find food as more and more of the square sided stones kept crumbling with the meat inside them. Sometimes lately he'd had to dig for food. Luckily he could smell something reasonably fresh not too far away. He decided to follow the scent. A little bit of flaming and whatever it was would be perfect. Especially when there were no two legs, no distant thunder and no biting things to bother him.
