Zac and the Dream Stealers (12 page)

Tinn peered at the locator compass. It had led them deeper and deeper underground. The previous hallways, resplendent in silver and crystal, had given way to suffocating earthen passageways. Noelle wasn't even sure they were in the Dream Stealer lair anymore.

For hours, they had been following the twisting path of an underground stream, and they had lost all sense of how far or how deep into the earth they'd traveled.

After walking in silence for a time, Noelle couldn't keep quiet any longer. Something had been nagging at her, a question.

“Mr. Tinn?” she said, aiming a kick at a small stone. “Can I ask you something?”

Tinn walked onward, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. “You may.”

“In the torture room,” she said, “when Shadow was . . . you know . . . you kept shouting something. A name.”

“Did I now?” Tinn felt a throb in his temple.

“Yeah. Who's Aris?”

Tinn slowed slightly. He didn't look at her.

“It's OK,” she said, sensing that she'd asked something very personal. “I mean, if you don't wanna tell me, that's fine. It ain't my business anyway . . .”

“Aris was my sister,” said Tinn softly.

“You have a sister?”

“
Had
a sister,” replied Tinn. “A twin sister, actually, but we weren't very alike.”

“How d'you mean?”

“In terms of magical ability, we were equals,” said Tinn. “I may have been a shade more talented, but Aris was much more ambitious and hotheaded.” He shook his head. “She was so determined to rid the world of Dream Stealers that it began to consume her — and she became fond of breaking the rules to aid her cause.”

“What happened to her?”

“She was killed,” said Tinn, his pace quickening again. “Many years ago.”

“Who killed her?”

“Well, when we found her, there were bites on her neck,” said Tinn. “We also found the body of a vampire close by.”

“A vampire did it?”

“It appeared that way, yes,” said Tinn.

“Just like my village,” said Noelle. “Were the vampires workin' for the Dream Stealers back then, too?”

“All dark creatures gravitate toward the Dream Stealers,” said Tinn. “They are natural allies. But this particular vampire — the one we found close to Aris's body — was a friend.”

Noelle stopped dead, her mouth open. “
You
were friends with a vampire?” she said. “How come?”

“It was complicated,” said Tinn.

“And he killed her?”

Tinn let out a great sigh. “We will probably never know what really happened.”

They walked on in silence for a minute or two, before Noelle spoke again.

“Is there gonna be another war, Mr. Tinn?”

“I am afraid it has already started,” said Tinn. “The Dream Stealers are more determined than ever to gain control of Nocturne and the dreams of the Waking World. We cannot stand by and let that happen.”

For a moment the only sound was that of their footsteps on the hard, wet stone.

“And you'll win, right? You and the other Knights?”

Tinn stopped in his tracks and looked at her, his eyebrows raised. “Ah,” he said. “So you
do
believe in the Knights now?”

She shuffled her feet. “Well — yeah. I mean, I ain't sure yet,” she said. “But I've seen you do things I've never seen anyone do before.
And
you've got that compass.”

Tinn smiled, his worn face creasing. “I am glad you are coming around,” he said, and he chuckled to himself as they continued to follow the path of the winding stream.

Nightstalker
had hit a snowstorm.

Sundown fought again and again to bring his shuddering ship under control. With every roll and dip, Granny and the other Knights were thrown together. And Cornelius, his head resting on Granny's shoulder, had turned a horrible shade of green.

Granny gently nudged him onto Julius. She unbuckled her seat belt and climbed forward into the copilot seat beside Sundown.

He cast a sideways glance at her.

“How long have you been flying, Mr. Sundown?” she asked, peering through the windscreen at the wall of driving snow.

He didn't turn to face her. “Long as I can remember,” he answered. “Grew up with my pa on merchant ships. When skywaymen killed him, I had nowhere else to go. The sky became my family. I got my own ship, an' the freedom that comes with it.” He patted the steering wheel.

“But how were you injured?” inquired Granny.

“It was during the last war,” he said. “In those days I was workin' aboard the supply ships, delivering essentials all around the land. The Dream Stealers, not wantin' supplies to get through, took to knockin' ships out of the sky. That's what happened. Knocked me straight into the Eternal Forest. When I woke up” — he punched his leg — “I couldn't feel nothin'.”

“I'm sorry,” said Granny.

“Sorry?” he said, chuckling. “Far as I know, it wasn't you who sent me down, so you got nothin' to be sorry for.”

He looked around for the first time, his scored and leathery face unreadable. “Why'd they take your friend?” he asked.

“I don't know.”

“That so?” said Sundown, turning back toward the windscreen. “So it's nothin' to do with the fact he's a Knight? And an important one at that.”

“How did you know?” Granny said.

“Because only Knights are brave enough — or stupid enough — to go lookin' for Dream Stealers in a snowstorm,” said Sundown. “I've met your kind. I used to smuggle Knights into Dream Stealer territory back in the war. I didn't think there were any of you left.”

“There are a few,” said Granny.

Sundown frowned. “What did you say your name was?”

“It's Eve Wonder,” said Granny.

“Wonder,” he said. “I'm sure I've heard that name before —”

BOOM!

Granny was thrown against the windscreen as the camper van lurched to one side. She struggled to pull herself back into the seat.

“What's happening?” screamed Julius.

Cornelius gurgled and moaned.

BOOM!

A huge shockwave swept through
Nightstalker
, and the airship dipped again, spiraling blindly in the storm.

Sundown spun around in his chair, fury in his eyes, and let out a head-splitting yell. “Don't just sit there and wait to be saved, you fools!” he cried. “Someone get back there and man the gun! We're bein' set upon by skywaymen — and they've got cannons!”

He spun the wheel of
Nightstalker
with all of his strength, and the flying camper van ducked through cloud and blizzard like an oversized bee.

With Cornelius trying not to be sick into his cowboy hat, and Julius looking after him, it was up to Granny to man
Nightstalker
's gun.

“Sit on the seat by my bunk!” bellowed Sundown. “Pull the lever!”

A wooden seat next to the bed was attached to a spring and a lever. Granny sat on the seat and pulled on the lever. The chair catapulted her upward, and she crash-landed on Sundown's bunk bed. The ceiling above had been cut away and replaced by a swiveling glass lookout, from which a rusty gun poked out. Granny grabbed it and scanned the wintry night sky for skywaymen.

A streak of orange flew past. Granny tried to aim the gun, but the ferocity of the snowstorm and the jiggling of the ship made this nearly impossible.

“Will you try to keep us still for a moment!” she yelled.

“Keep still?!” Sundown exclaimed. “Are you completely set on dyin' tonight, woman? Just start shootin' an' hope for the best.”

Granny closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger . . .

Nothing happened.

“What the . . . ?” She squeezed the trigger again and again, harder and harder.

Still nothing.

Then something.

A whistling like the sound of an old kettle filled the air, and the gun began to spark and fizz.

CRACK!

A plume of soot erupted from it, filling
Nightstalker
. Granny fell off the bunk and landed with a thud.

“What the blazes happened?” said Sundown.

“Your gun is broken,” said Granny. She stumbled back to the copilot's seat and buckled herself in.

Another cannonball flew across the camper van's nose. Sundown yanked the wheel wildly and pulled on more levers.

“That's it,” he yelled. “With no defenses we ain't got a choice. We're goin' into the Dream Plains!”

“Is that . . . wise?” Granny asked calmly as the ship lurched forward.

“Wise?” said Sundown. “Of course it ain't wise! But we got no alternative. Out here we're just sitting ducks, waitin' to be blown apart. The Dream Plains are nearby, and they'll give us a better chance. There are things in there that'll gobble down a ship for breakfast.”

“But
we're
in a ship!” said Julius faintly.

“We are that,” replied Sundown. “The difference is, you've got me.”

He pulled on the wheel, and the ship began to descend.

As the thick cloud gave way, a dark expanse of the land below came into view, peppered here and there with village torches.

Sundown peered into a small upside-down periscope.

“What's that?” Granny asked.

“It's a hindoscope,” he answered, pushing buttons manically. “Lets me see what's comin' from behind.”

Granny put her own eye to it and almost stopped breathing.

Behind them, the skywaymen were thundering through the night sky in a gigantic armored stagecoach, pulled through the air by six winged horses, each the size of an elephant and forged from raging fire.

“Mr. Sundown,” said Granny, “I think you'd better speed up.”

“
Nightstalker
's goin' as fast as she can,” he shouted. “We can't . . . Wait. There they are. There be the Dream Plains!”

Granny looked through the windscreen and, for a moment, forgot everything that was happening around her.

“Great Nod!” she whispered.

The Dream Plains rose from the land below in a wall of breathtaking light. The colors in the wall were constantly changing, shifting, and moving in shimmering waves across the sky. Granny felt her eyes fill with tears at the sight. It had been so long since she'd gazed upon their majesty.

“Any of you ever been in there?” asked Sundown, breaking the awed silence.

“Once or twice,” said Granny. “But only on the ground.”

All the Knights had traveled into the Dream Plains as part of their duty, but never in an airship. The skies above this place were as foreign to them as an undis-covered country.

“Well,” growled Sundown quietly, “you've been warned. The Dream Plains might take your breath away, but they're full of danger. There are creatures in there that have only just started existin', monsters conjured up from the minds of Wakelings.”

Another cannonball screamed past the ship.

“Hang on,” Sundown bawled, “we're goin' in!”

He swung the wheel, and the flying camper van swerved, then burst through the wall of light.

Rumpous Tinn and Noelle had a problem. The path they'd been following had reached a dead end, and the stream alongside had opened up into a small, deep pool. There seemed to be no way to pass, but Tinn's locator compass insisted they continue on through the wall of rock.

Tinn checked and rechecked the instrument. He spoke to it, shook it, and eventually held it to his ear, listening carefully.

Noelle watched him with interest. “You think the com-pass is wrong?” she asked, picking up a pebble and throwing it into the water, where it made a satisfying
plunk
.

“It's never been wrong before,” replied Tinn.

“So how we gonna get through solid stone?”

Tinn did not answer. He strode over to the dead end and began searching the rock with his hands.

“What're you doing?” asked Noelle.

“There are ways,” he answered, “of concealing a doorway, of making it seem invisible.” He continued to feel around until every part of the wall had been prodded. “Unfortunately, there is no such doorway here.”

“So what do we do?”

“It appears we've hit a brick wall — so to speak,” he said thoughtfully.

“Great,” moaned Noelle, slumping down. “Just great.” She took off her boots and socks, sat down at the water's edge, and dipped her tired toes into the pool.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “This water's freezing!”

Tinn, who had been staring at the compass again, glanced up. “Of course,” he sighed.

“Of course?” said Noelle, squeezing her boots back on. “Of course what?”

“We have to go
in
,” replied Tinn, motioning toward the pool.

“In?” she said. “In there? You must be off your rocker. It's like ice!”

Tinn dipped his finger in the water. “It does seem the only way, though, doesn't it?”

Noelle didn't answer. All she could do was stare into the water's depths.

“I'll take a look,” said Tinn. “Won't be a tick.”

And without a moment's hesitation, the old man jumped into the freezing water.

“He's mental,” Noelle whispered to herself, anxiously watching for any sign of him.

Minutes passed.

Nothing.

Noelle began pacing, muttering under her breath.

“Can't believe I got myself mixed up in this. Nutcase . . . Magic compass . . .”

More minutes passed. Still no sign.

Noelle was terrified. No one could hold their breath for that long, could they? A movement in the water caught her eye. At last Tinn bobbed to the surface, where he broke into a little doggy paddle, his long white beard floating in front of him.

“I thought you'd drowned,” wailed Noelle.

“Drowned? Nonsense! My dear girl, I've found the entrance. I've found our way out!”

“It's down there?”

“Yes,” replied Tinn. “There's a natural underwater passage. It might be rather a long way, though, so you'll need this.”

He reached into his beard and produced a pair of little plugs.

“How much stuff do you keep in there?” she asked. “And what do I do with these?”

“Stick them up your nose.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Just do it, Noelle,” he said, adjusting the plugs in his own nostrils. “A Knight should always come prepared for any possibility. These plugs will enable you to breathe underwater for a time.”

“A time?” she said slowly. “How long's that, exactly? And what if it ain't long enough to reach the other side?”

“I will not let anything happen to you. Do you trust me?”

She looked into his kindly old face. His eyes twinkled.

“I do,” she said. She put in the nose plugs and slipped into the pool.

The icy shock stole her breath, and she could feel the cold water soaking up what little warmth she had left with each passing second.

Tinn's hand gripped her shoulder, and heat radiated through her body. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“I — I'm fine,” she managed to stutter. “Let's go. Let's get outta here.”

“Very well,” he said. “Follow me.”

And he disappeared under the rippling surface.

Noelle breathed deeply. Then, taking one last gulp of air, she sank into the swirling cold.