Bridge of Dreams (21 page)

“They didn’t want anyone to believe what you said about them,” Zhahar said.

“That’s part of it,” he agreed. “But they weren’t paying attention to the nature of Ephemera. If they had, they wouldn’t have brought their own enemy to the city.”

“But what can you do?”

He heard the hesitation in her voice. She didn’t want to hurt him or remind him that finding his room, the porch chair, and the toilet were huge accomplishments for him right now.

Guardians of the Light and Guides of the Heart…No
, Lee thought. He didn’t need to ask for help from all the Guardians and Guides. Just one.

“Why are you here, Zhahar? Why did you come to Vision?”

“We can’t talk about this,” Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar whispered.

“We have to,” he insisted. “Did you cross over a border or a bridge at some point and find yourself here, away from your people?”

She shook her head. “When our leader sensed we were close to another piece of Ephemera, she cast out lines of power that provided a connection between Tryadnea and Vision. In order to keep that connection, some Tryad have to live in the city, providing a kind of living anchor that holds Tryadnea in place. Six Tryad came here. I’m the only one left. If I fail, the last connection between Vision and Tryadnea will break, and my homeland will be adrift again.”

Maybe not
, he thought.
Maybe you need to let go of this connection in order to make a more permanent one.
“All right. Here is something you and your sisters need to think about. Heart wishes are powerful, and Ephemera does listen.”

What you give to the world comes back to you.

Opportunities and choices.

Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna.

Was that still true?

“Where is Vito?” he asked.

“In isolation. We’re afraid…” Zhahar’s hand clamped on his arm. “There is concern that he’ll try to harm himself.”

“I need to see him, talk to him. We need to do it now.”

“They won’t let anyone see him now. That will get him stirred up all evening, and if he’s stirred up…”

“Tomorrow morning, then. As soon as possible. You can help me slip into the room so I can talk to him before too many people are up and around to notice.”

“Why?”

Lee took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “Because it’s time for me to go back to work.”

Z
hahar’s hands shook as she rolled up trousers, tunics, and underclothes as tightly as she could, packing as much as she could into the large cloth traveling bag. The bag had shoulder straps, and that would help, but it would be as much as she could carry. Maybe more than she could carry in their present condition.

*How are you?* she asked. The bruise along her ribs was black and spongy in a way that told her there was blood under the skin. Which meant the knife slash Zeela had taken was still bleeding.

=Hurting,= Zeela replied. Then she added reluctantly, =I’m going to need someone to sew me up.=

::Leave the books,:: Sholeh said when Zhahar reached for them. ::I’m not strong enough to carry what we’re taking, and the weight of the clothes is going to hurt both of you.::

*We agreed that we could each take something personal,* Zhahar said, although, after packing Zeela’s weapons, she chose to leave her own trinkets behind. *We don’t know if our things will still be here when we’re able to come back.* Or if any of them would want to come back for a few possessions.
If Zeela was attacked and wounded two doors from their rooms, Sholeh wouldn’t be able to come into view at all on this street anymore.

::I’m changing the agreement,:: Sholeh said. ::Books are heavy. We take clothes, shoes, toiletries. Only enough to get us by. Don’t argue, Zhahar! If you can’t make it back to the Asylum, there’s no place we can find help for Zeela.::

Painful truth. But Zhahar’s hand hovered over Sholeh’s precious books a moment longer before she turned away.

They had bandaged the wound as best they could, but it was serious enough to weaken all of them. Zeela couldn’t carry the traveling bag. Neither could Sholeh, who could drag it if she had to, but that would tell the men who had turned into predators that she wasn’t strong enough to defend herself against them. And maybe those men
were
only after dark-haired women, which is what they were shouting when they attacked, but if that wasn’t true, Sholeh wouldn’t stand a chance.

*I’m sorry about the books, Sholeh.*

::If something happens to us, we lose more than books,:: Sholeh replied. ::There isn’t much of Tryadnea left that isn’t desert. If we lose this connection, we’ll lose more arable land, and our people won’t survive long if that happens.::

*I know.*

Zhahar packed everything she could into the bag, knowing its weight would stagger her for the few blocks between their room and the omnibus stop. Despite that, and ignoring Sholeh’s mutters, she took their largest market sack and filled it with as much of their food as possible. Their money she hid in the traveler’s pouch around her waist, keeping in her trouser pocket just enough for the omnibus fare.

Zhahar took a last look around. Despite their best efforts to fit in and belong, the connection between Vision and Tryadnea had slipped during the past few months and was now somewhere in the northeastern end of the city. How much longer would it hold?

And what had Lee meant by heart wishes?

She had burned their mother’s letters so that no one would know about
the Tryad—and so that no one would know where the last connection between the lands was located.

Nothing more to do except leave while she had the strength to reach the Asylum.

Settling the straps on her shoulders, Zhahar tried to stifle the moan as she felt the pull of the bag’s weight. If Zeela didn’t get help soon, they would be faced with the terrible choice of letting one sister die in order to save the other two.

Clenching her teeth, Zhahar left their rooms and stepped out into the gray light that held the promise of dawn.

“Lee?”

Lee opened his eyes to gray light that held dark shapes. He pushed up and rolled off the narrow bed as someone turned the handle on his door.

“Lee? It’s Sholeh.”

Swearing softly, he stepped toward the door, hands in front of him to protect his face if she pushed open the door.

“Hold on,” he said. He found the edge of the door and pulled it open. “What are you doing here?”

She didn’t answer. Probably couldn’t, since she was puffing while dragging something into his little room.

“Daylight,” he muttered. Finding her shoulder, he held her still while his other hand traveled down her arm to the soft bag. “What have you got in here? A body?”

“Clothes. Shoes. Our things. Zeela was attacked outside our rooms. We were afraid to stay there. She’s hurt.”

He found a strap and hauled the bag farther into the room—and Sholeh with it. Then he closed the door.

There were too many questions he wanted to ask, but he heard her breathy efforts not to cry. “Where is Zhahar?”

“She needs to rest, so I’m in view now. Sh-she’s hurt too. Not cut like Zeela, but the wound is showing through on her too.”

Lee’s heart jumped. The wound was
showing through
? “How badly is Zeela hurt?”

“Bad. A knife slice along the ribs. It’s still bleeding.”

Now he swore in earnest. “Why didn’t you get to the infirmary and have whoever is on duty summon Meddik Benham?”

“And say what?” she cried. “How can I explain Zeela being here without Zhahar or why I have our things? We trust you to know about us, but…”

“I know how to keep family secrets,” he said. “Sit in the chair. Zeela needs to…” He hesitated, trying to remember her phrasing. “Zeela needs to come into view now.”

He didn’t wait for her agreement. Feeling his way to the door, he opened it, winced a little at the soft light, then began moving down the hallway, fingertips brushing the wall on his left, traveling over other doors.

The door at the end of the hallway opened.

“Lee?” Nik’s normally friendly voice held a challenge and warning. “You’re not supposed to leave your room until first call.”

“I need to see the Shaman, and you need to fetch the Meddik.
Now.
”

“Look here—I know Shaman Danyal has been lenient with you, but…”

“A woman is hurt and needs Meddik Benham.
Fetch him now!
”

The hallway lit up so bright that Lee ducked his head to protect his eyes. A heartbeat later, thunder rattled the building.

He braced a hand on the wall. “Guardians and Guides,
that’s
never happened before.” At least, not in response to
his
temper.

“You go back to your room,” Nik said, sounding shaken. “I’ll fetch— Shaman!”

“What happened?” Danyal asked, huffing a bit as if he’d run to the building from wherever he’d been.

“I’ll explain,” Lee said. “Nik is going for the Meddik. Zeela is in my room. She’s been hurt.”

“Tell Benham he’s needed here,” Danyal said.

A moment after Nik dashed off, Lee felt Danyal approach—and wondered if he or the Shaman had caused that flash of lightning and the thunder that followed.

“What’s Zeela doing in your room, Lee?” Danyal asked softly.

“I won’t betray a trust,” Lee replied just as softly, “so I won’t tell you all you want to know. I understand some things about Zhahar and her sisters. I think that’s why they came to my room. Or that was as far as they could get.”

“Zhahar and Sholeh are here too?”

“Yes.”
Would I trust this man enough to gamble with my own family? Would I tell him enough to help him guess the rest?
“Their full name is Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar.”

Danyal jerked, then said, “Brooks full of bright water. Storms. A summer lake.”

So Danyal
had
felt something when he was around the sisters.

“Some of the spiritual practices of Zhahar’s people would be compromised if she were to stay in the infirmary,” Lee said. He wasn’t sure calling them spiritual practices was accurate, but that explanation would receive the least resistance when it came to changing the rules. “She can stay in my room.”

“No, she cannot.”

Lee huffed out a breath. “I’m not going to see anything I shouldn’t see, but I can offer some muscle, because I think they’ll need it. Kobrah can help. And I can sit on the porch under my window so I can hear if she needs help without being in the room all the time.” He could feel Danyal’s resistance. “Daylight, man! If Zeela can strip me down and bathe me, I can sit by the bed and watch over her.”

“Zeela?”

Lee shrugged. “It’s amazing how much people let you see when you can’t see.”

Silence when they heard two people running.

“She’s down in Lee’s room,” Danyal said.

“Why didn’t someone have sense enough to bring her to the infirmary?” Benham growled as he trotted past them.

Lee assumed the door he heard opening was his, especially when the Meddik’s footsteps stopped.

“Get a stretcher!” Benham shouted. “Get it now!”

Nik ran.

Danyal’s hand closed on Lee’s arm, guiding him as they hurried back to his room.

Based on the arrangements of dark blobs and gray light, Lee figured they were standing in the doorway of his room.

“How is she?” Danyal asked.

“She has a deep knife wound between two ribs,” Benham snapped. “How do you think she is? As soon as Nik returns with that stretcher, she’s going to the infirmary.”

“Just need a little sewing up,” Zeela said, her voice slurred.

“A couple of hours ago, you
might
have needed just a little sewing up,” Benham said. “Now…”

“Benham,” Danyal said.

“If you have something to say to me that you don’t want shouted to everyone within hearing, come in. I’ve got to keep pressure on this wound. And who is this anyway? And why is she in a male inmate’s room?”

“She’s Handler Zhahar’s sister. She had reasons to seek help from Lee.”

Picturing the dark look he was getting from Benham, Lee said, “I’m not having sex with Zeela.”

“Tch,” Zeela slurred. “Wouldn’t have him anyway, since he wants to rub skin with Zhahar.”

“Which we haven’t done,” Lee said firmly. Rub skin? He’d been fantasizing about a bit more than that lately, but he didn’t know the Tryad’s customs when it came to having sex. Maybe touching skin, which was unique to each sister, was considered more intimate than touching body parts that were shared?

Nik returned with a stretcher and Denys. A protesting and no doubt frightened Zeela was moved from chair to stretcher and hurried to the infirmary.

Lee wanted to go with them but figured a blind man would be in the way. Besides, hearing the door close and Danyal quietly turning, he didn’t think leaving the room was an option right now.

“What’s that?” Danyal asked.

“If you’re referring to the pack, it’s what they could bring. They ran,
Danyal. Something turned sour where they live, and they ran after Zeela was hurt. Took what they could and most likely left the rest.”

“Should I understand that I won’t be able to talk to Zhahar until Zeela is out of the infirmary?”

“Yes, you should understand that.”

Silence. Then, “Where did you come from, Lee?”

“I come from a village called Aurora. I don’t know where that is in relation to this city except the air has less heat there even on a muggy day, and I’m pretty sure the plants look different based on the leaves I’ve felt. But we don’t measure distance the way you do. We don’t travel the way you do.”

“Why not?”

“Because I grew up in the part of the world that was a broken battlefield. I can walk down the road and never be able to reach the neighboring village if it’s not a place that resonates with my heart, but I can cross a bridge and be in another part of the world. That’s the Ephemera I know.” Lee cocked his head. “Does it bother you that she told me some things about her people that she didn’t tell you?”

“Yes. The Shamans protect this city and its people.”

“Zhahar has the skills that earn the wages that allow them to stay in the city. If you couldn’t accept some of her…”