Seven Dreams (32 page)

‘
That
conflict isn’t the kind of thing that could be stopped. Rhoun was a
genius, but he was still just one man. What could he have done?
Even if he killed the people who principally drove the war, there
would be others. That was the future he saw: endless conflict,
endless war. Lost the battle? Never mind. Hop back in time and try
again. It could have gone on forever.’

Serena sighed.
The story of Rhoun Torinth was tragic, and it touched her heart;
not least because her thoughts jumped inevitably back to her own
father. If she had the power to go back to the events that led up
to his death and change them somehow, would she take it? Her heart
wanted to say yes, but her head knew that the question was
infinitely more complicated than it seemed.

She sneaked a
glance at Fabian, who sat on the other side of the room. He had
been wholly silent throughout this exchange, but she could easily
guess his thoughts. If he could bring back their father somehow, he
would do it without hesitating and hang the
consequences.

Which troubled
her a little. The keys were almost all found, and the way to the
gate was open. She gathered from Mae’s comments that their
self-appointed Lokant leader was in favour of keeping Teoricq
sealed. Would Fabian agree?

Did
she?

To Serena’s
surprise, Iyamar spoke up. Her young voice was tentative but clear
as she said: ‘If all Ylona wants is her father back, why can’t you
all just let her do it? It’s not much.’

Mae surveyed the
youngest member of Serena’s group, her expression grave. ‘It
doesn’t seem like much, does it? But Rhoun Torinth was no ordinary
person, as we’ve seen. If his death were averted, who knows what
would happen? We can’t even begin to guess. And it’s not just the
special people. If I died tomorrow, I wouldn’t live to have an
impact on the world around me in the future, and as a result,
something else would have to happen instead. Those things could be
very important. How am I to know?

‘
And
then, what if my death is reversed, I live another ten years, and
at the end of that time I am responsible for someone else’s death?
Whether I intended it or not, I have killed someone. If I had not
been brought back, the person I might later have killed would not
have died. You would, in effect, be trading someone else’s life for
mine. The consequences to actions that seem very small can be
significant, and it is all entirely beyond anyone’s comprehension.
Do you understand?’

Iya thought about
that, and finally nodded.

‘
Good,’ said Mae with a smile. ‘Anyway, I am by no means sure
that Ylona merely wants her father back. She may want a great many
more things besides, including the resurrection of the Library of
Orlind; or if she doesn’t, someone else will. And these “Yllandu”,
as they call themselves, what of them? What has she promised them,
in return for their aid? The whole thing is unthinkable. It’s far,
far too dangerous to allow anybody to enter Teoricq.’

A long silence
followed Mae’s words. Serena thought it felt like a doubtful
silence. Her own thoughts were disquiet. She could see the sense of
Mae’s words clearly enough, but she could guess at Ylona’s
feelings, too. Couldn’t there be some kind of
compromise?

‘
I’m
glad we all agree,’ said Mae at last, in a dry tone. ‘If we are
fortunate, the whole business will be cleared up in a few more
days, and then you may all go about your lives and forget such
matters as Lokant Libraries, secret repositories and time travel
altogether.’ She smiled beatifically.

To Serena’s mind,
this vision of uncomplicated peace sounded rather dull.

Some time later,
Teyo sat comfortably tucked up in a storage cupboard near the heart
of Bron’s airship. It was primarily used for storing cleaning
equipment, judging from the plethora of scrubbing, mopping and
polishing accoutrements between which Teyo was now nestled. In his
lap lay half of a blanket; his hands were busy knitting the rest.
He was using a particularly soft yarn dyed rose, peach and pale
gold: sunset colours. Just looking at it was restful.

No one had
assigned him a cabin. Bron had said, very coldly, that the rest of
Serena’s team had not been invited aboard precisely because there
was no space. Looking at the size of the ship, Teyo doubted it.
Bron apparently harboured some kind of ill-will towards the three
subordinate members of Serena’s team, and perhaps especially
towards Teyo himself. The reason why was unclear.

The cupboard was
comfortable enough, however, and most importantly, it was private,
at least until somebody decided it was cleaning time above decks.
He had made a tolerable seat out of a few buckets and layers of
cloths, and Jisp sat snoozing on his knee, her head resting against
the soft ball of yarn. He had peace and leisure, at last, for the
contemplation of Mae’s various revelations.

Lady Glostrum had
lost no time in warning them that Lokants withheld information. Mae
probably hadn’t lied, she said, but she probably hadn’t told them
the whole truth either. The message was clear enough: Mae could
only be trusted so far, and Ylona probably much less. Her ladyship
appeared to feel some resentment on this score, which Teyo could
understand well enough. The keys, the riddle in the sky, the
endless mysteries: these Lokants were using the people of the Seven
as puppets to get the tiresome work done, without any intention of
sharing the rewards. The riddle may speak of “finding the door” and
winning prizes, but he agreed with her ladyship: the chances that
Mae, or the rest of her kind, would permit any denizen of the Seven
Realms to step through this door into the Teoricq Repository were
non-existent. The whole thing was a false promise, and that was
poor show indeed.

But Teyo felt no
especial concern about this. What bothered him more was the
unanswered questions. Who had put the riddle in the sky, thus
sending all seven realms on what was, for them, a wild goose chase?
Mae had strongly implied that it was Ylona, but she hadn’t said so
outright. What if it had been Mae? Was she blaming Ylona for her
own actions? Were Ylona’s motivations really as Mae had
said?

And what of
Teoricq? It wasn’t just about Rhoun Torinth, and his story, as told
by Mae, couldn’t be relied upon as the absolute truth either. What
else was hidden away in the repository? Had it really been sealed
off and inaccessible for so many years? Or was Mae protecting
something she saw as her own? She wasn’t a member of any Library,
she had said. Perhaps that was true, and perhaps not. Either way,
she was remarkably high-handed in deciding, for everyone, what
should or shouldn’t be done with Teoricq.

He was growing
increasingly troubled about their involvement in the whole peculiar
business. In theory, they were available for hire for any job that
didn’t involve violence, as long as it had Oliver’s support and
approval. This one did; their boss was fully in favour of their
helping Lady Glostrum with anything she required. But why did
Oliver feel that way? Did he know something they didn’t? Asking him
was useless, for he was unrivalled at impenetrability.

Lady Glostrum’s
motives were clear enough: she distrusted the Lokants (apparently
with good reason), and wanted to intercept whatever it was they
were doing before they could do any harm to the Seven. That he
could support, whole heartedly. But Mae had gradually, but
inevitably, taken over the mission, and she was much more
inscrutable. What did she expect to do with the keys, if they
managed to acquire all seven? It was his job, his and his team’s,
to get those keys back from Ylona and deliver them to Lady
Glostrum. Or to Mae, if she succeeded in swaying Eva to her cause.
Did Teyo really want to be involved with this?

If they could
talk to Ylona, perhaps they could get a more balanced perspective.
On the other hand, she would probably lie to them as well. The
problem was insoluble, and Teyo frowned severely at his knitting as
he struggled with it.

His reflections
were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. He jumped,
startled by the interruption, and dropped one of his needles. Was
this the crew, come to start the cleaning? The cupboard was dark,
and he couldn’t see the face of whoever was peering around the
door.

‘
Tey?’
hissed a young, female voice.

‘
Iya?’
he replied. ‘How did you find me in here?’

‘
Scent,’ she replied laconically. Squeezing herself into the
crowded cupboard, she shut the door behind her, leaving them both
in near darkness. Teyo’s tiny light-globe only illuminated his
knitting; he couldn’t see more than a few inches beyond
it.

‘
Good
use of shapeshifting,’ Teyo said, remembering his duties as mentor.
‘You’re really coming along with that.’

He felt, rather
than saw, Iyamar smile, and she puffed up a bit with pride. ‘I
don’t know what I was so worried about,’ she said. ‘It’s really
fun!’

Teyo smiled, a
little wistfully. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt the
kind of burning enthusiasm that seemed to afflict Iyamar daily.
‘And drayk-shape?’ he enquired.

Iya hesitated
slightly. ‘Okay, that one still troubles me a little. But it’s
going better.’ She paused. ‘I just feel so... huge and deadly like
that. You know? As if I’ve been given the biggest, deadliest weapon
in the realms and told to go have fun.’

Teyo laughed. ‘I
know what you mean. It is odd, when you’re used to being a soft
little human with blunt fingernails and tiny teeth and hide made
out of flowers and rainbows.’

Iya giggled.
‘Right! And then suddenly you’ve the hide of a drauk and a muumuk
put together, and you’re the size of a few houses. I’m terrified
I’ll squash someone, and that’s just the least of it.’

Teyo nodded.
‘You’ve got to get used to all the senses you don’t have as a
human. Draykoni can be effortlessly graceful, despite their size,
and they are extremely sensitive to their surroundings. It just
takes a little while to figure out where all those things are.’ He
lifted the light-globe until he could see Iya’s face, and peered at
her. ‘You didn’t track me down to talk about shapeshifting. What
can I do for you?’

‘
Nothing,’ said Iya cheerfully, and probably mendaciously. She
had seated herself cross-legged atop a large bucket and perched
there, grinning, like an overgrown sprite. ‘I just came to catch
up.’

Teyo let the
silence stretch.

‘
Fine,
fine. It’s Serena.’

Teyo was
immediately alert. ‘What? Is she all right?’

‘
Ohh,
yes. She’s fine. At least, I think so. How am I to know what goes
on in her head? But you barely spoke to her yet.’

‘
Hasn’t been a whole lot of time,’ Teyo pointed out. ‘Anyway,
we spoke.’

‘
Yeah,
but only as part of the whole group-chat thing. Weren’t you anxious
to see her?’

‘
She’s
a much better leader than I am,’ Teyo said. ‘It’s good for the team
when she’s around.’

Iya nodded
slowly. ‘So it’s just about the team?’

Teyo mustered his
most severe frown, which probably wasn’t very scary, and aimed it
in Iyamar’s direction. ‘Just what are you driving at, young
lady?’

Iyamar gave him
an appallingly innocent smile. ‘Nothing.’

Teyo put away his
knitting. He disturbed Jisp in the process, who responded with
disgruntled muttering until she realised that Iyamar was nearby.
Then she leapt at the girl with unbecoming eagerness and swarmed up
Iya’s shirt to her shoulder, taking up residence there with her
tail curled around Iyamar’s neck. Teyo tried not to feel hurt at
this enthusiastic desertion.

Teyo caught the
drift of Iya’s questions easily enough, and cursed himself for any
unguarded comments he might have made about Serena. By now, he’d
had ample opportunity to witness how appallingly observant Iyamar
was. Time to head off any speculations she might have been
making.

‘
Serena,’ Teyo said after a moment, ‘Would probably like me a
lot more if I was a woman.’ He waited to see what Iyamar’s reaction
to that might be.

Raised eyebrows,
to begin with, and lips parted on a soundless
oh.
‘I see,’
she said.

Teyo nodded. ‘So
whatever might be in your head, you’d best get it out again.’ He’d
spoken with uncharacteristic severity, but he really didn’t want
Iyamar poking around in any of
that
.

‘
Sorry,’ said Iya, and she did sound genuinely contrite. ‘Um...
she and Egg...?’

‘
Not
to my knowledge. Why are you so interested in everyone’s private
lives all of a sudden?’

Iyamar shrugged.
‘Maybe I’m bored. Everyone’s gone off to plot and plan, but they
didn’t seem to want or need the likes of me. Egg stomped off
somewhere to sulk by herself, and Bron’s strutting about trying to
lord it over everyone else and generally failing. That was amusing
to watch for a while, but it got old.’

Teyo’s frown
reappeared, which Iyamar, with her cursed perceptiveness, didn’t
fail to spot.

‘
What
did I say? Bron?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, he’s a pain. I think
he’s driving Serena nuts.’