Escape with the Dream Maker (2 page)

He then looked around at the Sleepers, and when Goél's eyes locked onto his, Josh thought,
He knows everything I'm thinking—he knows everything I've ever done!
As the eyes continued to hold his, another startling thought came,
And I think he knows everything I'm going to do!
It was disconcerting. Josh, like every other boy and every girl, had a secret life that he would not care to see paraded before everyone's gaze.
Yet, somehow it was comforting to know that here was one who knew all about him but still had faith in him and love for him.

“I'm ready to go wherever you say, Goél,” he said simply.

“You are a good servant of Goél, Joshua.” There was pleasure in the tall man's eyes. He sipped his cider and for some time sat talking about the groups all over the world that bore his name. They were called, collectively, “The House of Goél,” and they comprised all sorts of strange beings as well as those who looked much like dwellers of Oldworld.

Despite Goél's statement that he must leave soon, he found time to speak with each one of the Sleepers alone.

Sarah prepared a fine supper—including steaks and fried potatoes and a salad—and Reb somewhere had found a quantity of fresh milk. They enjoyed the meal together, and afterward, when night came on, Josh lit the lamps.

Finally, Goél arose. “You have a mission to perform once again, and you have never failed me. You have gone through dark hours, dangerous times, but this, I think, will be perhaps your most dangerous mission of all.”

“It can't be worse than those giant squid!” Wash exclaimed. It had been Wash who braved an enormous octopuslike creature in the undersea world.

“There may be physical dangers, yes, but some dangers are worse. There are many men and women and young people who could face a physical trial but who would falter before other kinds.”

“What other kinds of trials do you mean, Goél?” Sarah asked.

“Spiritual trials are always harder than any other
kind,” he said. “We're in a spiritual battle for the world, as well as a physical one, and I would warn each of you to be on guard. You're all my servants, and I'm proud of each one of you. You all have your strengths . . .” His eyes glided again over each one of them as he said quietly, “And you all have your weaknesses. That is the way of men, and it always will be in this world.”

“Can you tell us more about the mission, sire?” Dave asked.

“Something strange and terrible has been happening in Nuworld.” Goél's face darkened, his eyes smoldered. “Some of my most trusted servants have disappeared.”

“Disappeared!”
Jake exclaimed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly that. They have fallen out of sight.” He hesitated, then said, “I caution you again. Be
very
careful! You might be one of the next to disappear. Those that have been taken have been some of my most trusted aides, even as you are.”

“But what are we to
do?”
Abbey asked with some bewilderment.

“Your mission is simply to find my servants and bring them back. They have somehow fallen under the power of the Dark Lord, and they must be rescued.”

“But how can we find them?”

“That is part of your mission—finding where they have gone. I will give you a helper along the way. But there will be those who would lead you astray. So be very careful.”

“How will we know our helper?”

Goél said quietly, “I have given the one who will help you a special phrase. When he meets you, he will say, ‘The stars are doing their great dance.' Do not trust anyone who does not say
exactly
those words—‘The
stars are doing their great dance'—and then you must say as a countersign, ‘Yes, and every tree will sing.'”

For a few moments he gave them further instructions, concluding, “As you trust in me, so will your mission succeed. Farewell, my Seven Sleepers.” He hesitated, then said, “The last days are upon this planet. The final battle looms on the horizon. I think this may be your last mission before that battle—and your most dangerous. Take care. Remember the signs.”

Goél turned and without another word stepped out of the doorway and faded into the darkness.

A silence fell over the group, and at last Josh said wearily, “So we've got to find the missing members of the House of Goél, and then we've got to get them free.” He slouched down in his chair, saying nothing more.

 

As Sarah and Wash began cleaning up the supper dishes, Wash said, “I never seen Josh look so worn out. It looks like he can hardly keep his eyes open.”

Sarah glanced over at Josh, who was sprawled in his chair, his head tilted back. “He's exhausted—but then we all are.”

“Well, we better get some more get up and go.” Then Wash looked down at the dishes in his hands and shook his head. “But it seems like my get up and go done got up and went!”

F
or several days the Sleepers spent a great deal of time trying to figure out their strategy. Goél had told them little enough about the crisis; however, he had left a list of his servants who had disappeared.

At their first planning meeting, Josh said, “This list is about all we have to go on.
Something
in this list has to give us some kind of clue. Everyone take a copy and study it. Try to find something on the list that'll help pinpoint how to start.”

As simple as the plan sounded, it did not prove to be easy. Each Sleeper studied the names and descriptions of the missing servants. From time to time, they came together to share their findings. The difficulty was that there
were
no findings.

One afternoon they sat around the room, staring at their lists blankly, all of them drained mentally. It was Jake who finally noticed something common to most of the names. He said slowly, “I do see one thing.”

“Well, what is it?” Dave demanded. “Anything is better than
nothing.”

Jake held up his list. “Almost all of these people disappeared from the same general area. Look—I've drawn a map. Every X you see is where they've disappeared.”

The Sleepers huddled around Jake, staring down at his map, which he placed flat on the pine table. There was a moment's silence.

Then Wash said, “See how many of them are clustered
around that one little spot. What's that town there on the map, Jake?”

“It's called Acton.”

“I've heard of it, but I don't guess none of us have ever been there.”

Jake said, “It's kind of a gathering place for scientists—inventors and people like that.”

“Well, I guess we'd better get over there,” Josh said. “I think we'll all go crazy just sitting around here looking at each other and staring at pieces of paper.”

They made preparations at once, gathering together clothing, weapons, some food. Traveling in Nuworld was not like travel in Oldworld. There were no trains, no airlines, no Greyhound buses. By foot or by horseback or by sailing ship was all there was. Travel was dangerous too, for the land was full of marauding outlaws. Even worse, the members of a group called the Sanhedrin had vowed to execute the Seven Sleepers. They were under the command of the Dark Lord, and Elmas, his Chief Sorcerer, had made finding the Sleepers his highest priority.

It took several days of winding through the forest and staying off the main roads before the Sleepers finally reached the small town.

“That's it,” Josh said, “according to the map. So I think we better split up here.”

“Split up? Why should we do that?” Abbey asked. She was wearing a cranberry-colored skirt and a bolero jacket over a light blue blouse. She looked rather fetching, as she always did. “I don't want us to split up. Let's stay together.”

“No, that won't do,” Josh said. “The servants of the Dark Lord are looking for the
Seven
Sleepers. What we need to do is go into town one at a time and find places to stay. Elmas will have his spies there, and if he hears
of seven young people coming in together, we'll be caught for sure.”

“I think that's smart,” Reb said. “Old Stonewall Jackson himself couldn't have figured out a better battle plan than that.” He smiled. “But how are we going to talk to each other?”

They spent some time figuring out a communication system. Since they would be separated, never to be seen together, one Sleeper would communicate with another, who would pass along the message until all were aware.

“It sounds awkward to me.” Dave shook his head. “What if we have to get together in a hurry?”

“We'll have to figure that out when it happens,” Josh said rather sharply. “No plan's perfect. We'll just have to play it by ear.”

They followed Josh's plan, some of them staying outside Acton for a day or two. None went in from the same road.

Josh, who had remained outside until last, chose to come in from the east. Entering Acton, he noticed at once that it was larger and more sophisticated than most other towns in Nuworld. He had disguised himself somewhat, putting on the clothes of a peasant, and he tried to appear as country as possible. If anyone asked, he was a yokel come to seek work in the city. He'd put dirt on his face, and he thought he looked properly disreputable.

He approached an inn, entered, and saw that it was almost empty. Two old men sat playing chess and taking sips from flagons that rested on the table.

The innkeeper was a dark-skinned burly man with a fierce head of black hair. He had quick, sharp black eyes. “What'll it be?” he asked, then demanded, “You're a stranger here?”

“Yes, I am. I come to town lookin' for work.” Josh slurred his speech. “You know where a man might get work?”

“Not for the likes of you,” the innkeeper sniffed.

“Well, could I get a place to stay?”

The innkeeper hesitated. “I've got a room out back over the stable. It's not much but probably all you'll be able to afford.”

Josh asked to see the place, and it proved to be rough indeed. However, it was all he needed. He paid the innkeeper a week's rent and then asked, “Could I buy a meal?”

At the sight of money, the innkeeper had perked up. “I'll have the wife put on a steak. Come in and have a drink on the house.”

Josh went back inside and sat down. The innkeeper, having a paying customer, grew more talkative.

“Business seems pretty slow,” Josh said as he sipped at the powerful drink that filled his cup. He had to at least make a show of drinking it, and he smacked his lips as though it were delicious.

“Aye, times are a little odd.” The innkeeper shook his head dolefully. “I been running this inn since I was a young man. Never seen times like this. Seems like nobody wants to get out at night anymore.” He looked around at the two old men and shrugged. “Up until a while back, the place would be full every night. People come to drink and have a good time. Not no more, though.”

“Where are they?”

“Can't say.”

The answer was sharp, and Josh felt a sudden resistance in the man. He did not want him to become suspicious, so he asked no more questions.

After the meal, however, Josh wandered out
through the town and tried to make other contacts. Once he passed Sarah, who did not even look at him. He avoided her gaze, too, and passed without speaking.
Going to be hard to do,
he thought,
ignoring Sarah and the others like that, but it's the safest thing to do.

Josh discovered little on that first foray, and he went back to his room, planning to try to find out more the next day.

The next day, however, proved to be frustrating as well. He stopped at a leather shop to get a tear in one of his boots sewed up. The cobbler accepted the boot, looked at it, and said, “Aye, I can fix it.”

Josh sat down and watched him work slowly and methodically on the boot. From time to time, the man would glance at a clock that was on the wall.

Josh began to speak idly, admitting he was a stranger in town. He tried to pump the cobbler for details of one of the missing people, a woman named Jewel.

“Aye, she was here, but she's gone now. I haven't seen her. Don't know where she went.”

Something about the man's manner of speaking caught at Josh. His speech was somehow . . . well . . .
mechanical
was the only word Josh could come up with. It was as if the cobbler's mind was far away, and when he finally came back he did not speak much.

When the shoemaker finished the boot and named the price, Josh looked into his eyes. He saw that there was something odd about them. Not their shape, for the cobbler was not a bad-looking fellow—not more than thirty, fair hair, blue eyes. It was the
expression
in the eyes that puzzled Josh.
It's almost like there's nobody home,
he thought, and even he did not know what he meant by that.

“Not much going on in town is there?”

“About like usual, I guess.”

“What does a fellow do here for excitement?”

The cobbler stared at him as if he had not heard, then turned away and started working on a belt.

Everywhere Josh went that day, that sort of thing happened.

Bewildered, he went back to the inn, where he ate supper. No more than half a dozen people were there that night, and most of them were old. Finally, he went to bed, wearily thinking,
We've got to do better than this. I'll contact the others tomorrow and see if any of them has found out anything.

The next day he met Sarah by prearrangement in a market where a few vendors sold their wares. The two of them seemed to meet by accident and managed to find their way to a deserted section down a side street.

“I don't think anybody's watching us,” Josh said. “What have you found out?”

“Not a thing, Josh,” she said.

“You've got to have found out
something.”