Crossroads (37 page)

The Elder nodded. "I always wondered. It seemed as though the Encroachment were never
quite
total, as though there were some power still at work within it, but weak. Now I know."

"But they won’t help us fight the Mogul," said Sheila, disgustedly.

"They have suffered more than you know. That they still work against him at all is a wonder. Many did not die outright. They were tortured to death. Others endured mental anguishes almost... indescribable. That any survive is a wonder-"

"There are other Originals here still alive?" said Kira.

"Yes. They are held within the confines of the Citadel. I believe the Mogul continues to draw power from them just as he does from the Oculets."

"Keep moving," urged Jen.

Kira glanced at her, then into the surrounding trees that now were fading to mist once again. She stepped hesitantly into it, wondering what the next nightmare would look like. The others followed close behind. So did the slithering sound.

As their surroundings slowly took form again they found themselves in a strange cityscape where the buildings appeared alien and unwelcoming, bulbous turrets rose skyward from an amorphous mass of what might have been stone. Kira could barely make out shadowy faces ahead at the end of the winding walk lit by the light of the one street lamp. As they passed down the street the lamp ahead lit and the one behind went dark and the faces slowly faded away. The sound of their feet pattering on the concrete reminded her of the
nick-nicking
of the
Empty-eyed-man’s
boots, and she shuddered.

From within each of the alien structures screams shattered the black silence of the night, and she realized that there might be thousands, even millions of people, sharing this dream, but as they passed into yet another street lamp’s glow she spotted the hazy wall of another dream just ahead. She watched it, trying to decipher before passing into it, what strange world it might harbor, but then an indistinct and obscure form passed slowly in front of her, and she gradually realized that it was a huge elongated body, clad in shimmering scales.

"It isn’t here to kill us," she said, at last when she realized the others had seen. "It’s here to trap us. We can’t go any farther."

"Why trap us here?" asked Sheila. "Why not just kill us, take the Oculets and be done?"

Kira shook her head. "If the Mogul could he’d come and get us right now. He wants us to stay right here until he’s ready... He wants us trapped inside the Dreamtime until it’s time."

"Then we have to get out of here," said Sheila.

Kira nodded. "And there’s only one way out."

"The mirror," repeated Sheila . "But it’s just dark."

"I think it will take us to the Citadel, now," said Kira, turning to the Elder.

"I cannot go with you there," said the Elder, sadly. "For me to step within the walls of the Citadel is the end. I would instantly fall within the spell of the Mogul and be no better off than any of the Originals he holds there now. The Mogul has powers within the Citadel even over the strongest of the Originals. They cannot escape because the walls hold them bound."

"How did Shandan and the others escape, then?" asked Sheila.

"They escaped in the final moments before
the Citadel was transformed. Shandan was the very first Original and always the most powerful. When he created the Hall of Mirrors, and the Mogul arrived through it, the Mogul was very different. He wore the guise of a man of knowledge, a great mage from a faraway world. It was only later that Shandan realized he was the King of Liars, that the works he
created
were all about chaos and destruction. When the Mogul began to destroy the Dreamtime Shandan fought him, but a man born to create, a man who has spent eternity in the pursuit of virtue and the fullness of life and dreams makes a poor warrior. In the final battle, when the Mogul was near to defeating all the Originals and controlling the Citadel, Shandan chose to escape with those who could make it, through the Hall of Mirrors. It was a hard parting for us..."

Sheila shook her head. "They escaped into the Hall of Mirrors, but why did they all choose our world? Why come to earth of all the infinite worlds?"

The Elder smiled, sadly. "Because your people are the great dreamers. Of all the worlds in existence more of your kind have dreamt here than from all the others combined. The Originals and earthlings have always had an affinity. Did you not know that your world holds more magic than any other?"

Sheila frowned, but Kira could see that the Elder’s words struck her hard.

"No," said Sheila, quietly.

"How could you not, when you speak to the dead? No one here has ever been able to do that."

"On my world it isn’t always a good thing to speak to the dead," said Sheila, frowning.

"You mean because those who could not did not believe?"

"Yes."

"Disbelief is a powerful force, and an evil one."

"I didn’t want to believe what I could do, either," admitted Kira.

"And yet
you
are the most powerful of all. If there is a salvation to be found this day, it is within you or nowhere at all."

"I still don’t know what it is I’m supposed to do," said Kira, despondently.

"You must find the talent that only you have, and when the time comes, you must not fail to use it."

Kira shook her head. "I’m a creator, but I’m not the only one, and you said Shandan was a lot more powerful than me."

The slithering grew closer, wrapping around them, tightening. Kira could see looping shadows slipping through the dark, misty alien cityscape but gleaming scales in the weird fluctuating shadow-light. Perhaps she was wrong after all. Perhaps the serpent was here to kill them.

They all backed toward the street lamp, careful to stand within it’s cone of golden light. When the serpent finally revealed its head, Kira gasped. The reptilian eyes glistened wetly, and when the snake opened its mouth a pair of fangs the size of swords gleamed within. A long forked tongue shot out and then wriggled away again, and the slithering sound as the beast slid across the street was answered by a low hissing.

"You must go if you can," insisted the Elder, slipping the looking glass from a fold of her cloak.

Kira grasped the mirror, but in that instant she was fearful that they might all be sucked away to some unknown location just as she had been to this world. But the Elder shook her head, understanding.

"Shandan brought you here, and he will send you where you need to go."

Kira frowned. "We just passed through a mirror in our world to yours here. We weren’t guided anywhere."

"No one passes through a mirror, other than that of the Mogul, without Shandan Grave’s guidance. He created the pathways, and he alone holds the key to them."

The word
key
reminded Kira of the key she still felt bumping in her pocket. Was that coincidence? She didn’t think so. If her grandfather really was the guiding hand she had been sensing for so long then she was willing to bet that he had had a part in that, too, and she didn’t think he wanted them to die here. If the only way out was the mirror then she hoped that he would get it working for them now and take them to wherever it was they were supposed to be.

Kira glanced at the mirror, surprised to find the glass now clear and reflective. The Elder reached into the throat of her robe and lifted her Oculet over her head, handing it also to Kira. Kira stared at it in her palm.

"You’ll lose some of your power-"

"You need it more than me."

The Elder began to chant again, waving her hands at the snake that drew close enough so that Kira could feel its chill breath and see the dark tunnel of its open gullet. The tongue darted at her, and she ducked, sucking in her breath.

"Go now!" said the Elder, as a blue flame erupted from her hands, striking the snake between the eyes. The beast jerked back, but then its head rose up higher as it glared down over its flaring nostrils, preparing to strike.

"Go!" shouted the Elder.

Kira turned to Jen and Sheila, holding the mirror out toward them, watching as both were drawn into it like smoke. She looked at the Elder one last time as the snake poised to strike. Then she felt herself slipping away into blackness yet again.

Chapter 51

The floor beneath her felt hard and polished, and as she opened her eyes she discovered that she, Sheila, and Jen were at one end of a long stone corridor lined with torches. The sound of creaking machinery or twisted, tortured metal echoed, along with what sounded like the cries and moans of the tormented souls inside the Encroachment. But there was a different tenor to these voices, a weariness that transcended the horror of a nightmare. The people crying out suffered a pain that had beaten them almost to death, but they had not been allowed to die. These people knew this was no dream and that they were not going to awaken.

"The last of the Originals," she whispered.

Sheila and Jen nodded.

"You have the mirror," said Sheila, frowning at the looking glass in Kira’s hand.

Kira frowned at it as well. "That didn’t happen before," she muttered.

"Willy Willy, winding wind," murmured Jen. "Whither will your journey end?"

Sheila shook her head. "I think what she’s saying is that things are happening for a reason."

Kira shrugged. "You got
that
from what she said?"

Sheila chuckled dryly.

Kira tucked the mirror into the back pocket of her jeans and slipped the Elder’s Oculet around her neck, placing it inside her shirt where it bounced against her own until the two melded together like liquid metal. She felt strangely energized by the amulet, as though the two charms worked together better than alone.

"What now?" whispered Sheila.

Kira shrugged. This was all about her and the Mogul, her
Empty-eyed-man,
and this was his lair. So it only made sense that the reason they were here was to find him.

But then what? She knew that if need be she could turn Sheila or herself into a terrible monster to fight the monsters that might lurk here, but to do so would be only to prolong the inevitable. Certainly the other Originals with creators among them had thought of that long ago. It hadn’t worked for them. It wasn’t likely to work for her. She had to find the one power that she alone had...but what?

She squeezed the Oculet through her shirt, searching for answers, but nothing came to her. Shrugging to herself she started down the hallway in the direction of the moans. Once again the sound of their feet on the stone floor reminded her of the eerie
clocking
of the
Empty-eye-man’s
boots on the pavement, and she shuddered, trying to place her steps more quietly.

The torch flames twisted and sputtered as they passed, and Kira noticed that the small fires had created perfect rings of black soot on the stone ceiling above. The marks formed a polka-dot line disappearing into the distance, but far ahead she also spotted what looked like openings to rooms or other passages.

"Did you hear that?" whispered Sheila, stopping and staring back down the corridor.

"What?" asked Kira.

"You didn’t hear something behind us? Like someone muttering?"

Kira stared back down the empty corridor. "I didn’t hear anything back that way."

Sheila squinted. "It was nothing, I guess."

The cries of anguish grew louder as they approached another vast cross-corridor, but as they stood in the center of the crossing Kira noticed that more cries seemed to emanate from directly ahead. If the calls were coming from the captive Originals-as she suspected-then there were a lot of them.           

"Nice place" said Sheila, still tossing anxious glances back over her shoulder.        

"I wish you’d quit doing that," said Kira.

Sheila chuckled nervously, and Kira got caught up in it.

"What are you looking for?" she asked, when they’d both sobered again.

"You still don’t hear it?"

Kira shook her head.

Sheila frowned, cocking her head and closing her eyes. "Every now and then I’m sure I can hear footsteps. Or people whispering."

"All I can hear are people crying up ahead, and it’s driving me crazy."

For the first time she noticed that Jen’s eyes were half closed, almost as though she were falling asleep on her feet.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Jen ignored her. Kira shook her arm until Jen looked her in the eye.

"Are you okay?" she repeated.

"Tired," said Jen.

Kira frowned. Jen never got tired. She slept when Kira slept. Sometimes she wanted to sleep longer, but never because she was weary, simply because there was time, but somehow this place was sucking the strength right out of her.

"Come on," urged Kira, continuing on the way they had been going.

She knew that the calls were those of living, breathing persons, and because of that this place seemed even more hell-like than what the Dreamtime had become. The Originals held here had been living a nightmare for forty long years. Kira couldn’t even imagine that, and she had yet to see what tortured them, but she knew that where they were she would find the Mogul.

They had gone some ways farther before she realized that the corridor had changed, the torches were closer together. Looking down it’s length it seemed to run on forever, the same size, but now she realized that it narrowed with distance, and the ceiling lowered to the point at which it seemed that Jen might almost be able to leap up and touch it if she had had the energy. Even the way the Mogul’s palace was designed was a lie, a deception, and the shrinking of the tunnel-like affair had the effect of both enhancing and increasing the volume of the tortured cries like a giant barker’s megaphone. She could understand a word here and there, perhaps a name...

Shandan.

They were crying to Shandan, but were they damning him for leaving them here or praying to him for salvation? Would they pray to her if they knew why she was here? Or were they going to end up damning her all the more?