Bridge of Dreams (25 page)

“Then what do I do?”

He handed the wrapped stone to Vito. “Walk forward. The magic will take you, and between one step and the next, you’ll find yourself in another place.” He hesitated, wondering if there was anything more he could say. “Let your heart travel lightly. May it guide you home.”

“Travel lightly,” Vito replied.

The wind shifted, and Lee caught a whiff of stinkweed. “Get moving.”

Vito darted away.

He turned and began tap-tapping his way back to the inmates’ residence. He hadn’t gone far when Teeko called to him.

“Was that Vito?” Teeko asked.

“Where? I didn’t see anyone.”

Teeko didn’t reply for a moment, and Lee wondered if the man was still pondering his answer.

“There’s been some talk about these stones Vito was finding for you,” Teeko finally said. “There’s a rumor that there’s some kind of dark magic in them that makes people disappear.”

“Dark magic that makes people disappear?” Lee pulled one of the stones out of his pocket and tossed it to Teeko. “See for yourself.”

Teeko let out a fearful cry and jumped back.

Ah, Teeko.
Danyal may have shut the wizards out of the Asylum, but they still had eyes and ears inside. Nothing he could prove to anyone else, of course. But that whiff of stinkweed was proof enough for him.

That and Teeko’s belief that the stones held dark magic, letting fear turn something that could help some of the people here into something terrible.

Danyal was already feeling unsettled, so Lee decided to wait for a better time to broach the possibility that Teeko was spying on them all for the wizards and, in turn, the Dark Guide. And, in truth, what he’d just done wasn’t going to help things settle down anytime soon.

“It’s just a stone,” Lee said. “In another part of the world, people use them like the Shaman uses the gongs—as a way to release unhappy thoughts and feelings. The only magic it has is the belief that the stone can hold a person’s sorrows, and the magic is only as strong as the belief. I’m sorry I scared you just now. I hadn’t realized you actually believed the rumors.”

“I don’t,” Teeko said hurriedly. “Just caught me by surprise is all.” He paused. “You heading back to the residence?”

“Yes.” Lee shaded his voice with uncertainty. “This is the right path, isn’t it?”

“Sure it is. Sure. You’re fine.”

“Thanks, Teeko.”

He tapped his way past the groundskeeper and walked steadily to the residence. He stopped at the men’s personal area to use the toilet and splash some cool water on his face. Then he settled on the porch in the chair that was under his window.

“Lee?” Zhahar’s voice at the window.

“Are you all right?”

“We’re fine. Kobrah is going to help us move our things to the room Shaman Danyal gave us, so you’ll have your room to yourself again.”

He sighed dramatically. “Just when you were feeling well enough to snuggle.” The startled silence made him smile. “Are you going to dream about me tonight, Zhahar?”

“Don’t you want Sholeh and Zeela to dream about you too?”

That pulled a laugh out of him. “No. At least not
those
kinds of dreams.”

“Oh.” Another silence. “
Oh
.”

He heard a rap on the door, followed by Kobrah’s voice.

It wouldn’t have been a good night for a snuggle—still too damn hot, despite yesterday’s rain—but it would give her something else to think about.

When Vito didn’t show up for the evening meal, the Handlers and Helpers spread out and searched the grounds. The Asylum covered acres of land, including its own small farm, but the area available to the inmates was fenced in and not that large.

They searched carefully, thoroughly, until full dark, and the only thing they found was a scrap of cloth on one of the paths leading to the more secluded areas where inmates weren’t supposed to go without a Handler being present.

Lee remained on the porch until last call, then made his way to his room—where he found Danyal waiting for him.

Danyal followed him into the room and closed the door. “Where is Vito?”

Lee removed his dark glasses and set them on top of the dresser. Then he turned and looked at the Shaman. There was no light in the room except from the lamps on the porch, so he figured they could see each other equally well. And he figured it was equally important not to hide his eyes right now.

“Where is Vito?” Danyal asked again.

“He went home,” Lee replied softly.

During the next few days, inmates were allowed free movement only on the porch and in their rooms. No one was permitted to visit the temple or walk around the grounds without a Handler or Helper as escort. At night, all inmates were locked in their rooms as a precaution.

Despite that diligence, three more inmates—people whose troubled hearts had brought them to the Asylum—disappeared from their locked rooms. Since none of them had friends or family listed in their records, Danyal made a notation in their files and said nothing.

Lee sat on the porch chair day after day with one of the Handlers always nearby, and also said nothing.

D
anyal folded the letter, set it in the desk drawer with his other private papers, and locked the drawer. Then he closed his eyes and let the pain flow through him.

Shamans murdered. The bazaar closed. Crops ruined.

Had he done too little to find the answers the Shamans needed to deal with this enemy that was creeping through the city? Lee hadn’t been as much help as he’d hoped. Oh, the man answered any question he asked, but had he been asking the right questions? Or was Lee acting like a Shaman and waiting for Danyal’s heart to come into alignment so that he could see?

“I see well enough,” he muttered as he left his office.

He spotted Lee coming out of the Handlers’ dining hall with Sholeh, who seemed happy and animated—and then cringed at whatever she saw in his face. Even Nik and Denys took a step back as he approached.

“What…?” Lee began.

Danyal grabbed his arm. “Walk with me.”

“I promised to tell Sholeh about demon cycles before Zhahar started work.”

“Walk with me.”

After a couple of stumbling steps, Lee found his stride. Danyal took them outside and kept moving swiftly until they were halfway to the temple. Then he slowed and released Lee’s arm.

“If you were trying to prove that Shamans aren’t always patient and kind, I’d say you made your point,” Lee grumbled. “And since I’m pretty sure you scared Sholeh, you should count yourself lucky that Zeela is still recovering from that knife wound.”

“Your banter isn’t appreciated today,” Danyal snapped.

Lee stopped walking. “What’s different about today?”

Danyal turned to face him. “Two Shamans were murdered at the bazaar that borders The Temples.”

“I’m sorry,” Lee said. “Were they friends of yours?”

Grief burned in his chest. “They were two of the people who provide voice and balance to this part of the world. Does it matter if I knew them?”

“No, it doesn’t. After I completed my training, I didn’t have much contact with other Bridges, but when the Eater of the World attacked the school and killed so many, I felt the loss.”

“These carriers of darkness came from your part of the world,” Danyal said, striving to make a statement but hearing the accusation.

“The wizards or the Dark Guide found a way to this city before I got here,” Lee replied hotly. “You will not lay that blame on me.”

“You know how to defeat them.”

“Daylight, man! We didn’t even know what they really were until a year ago. Do I know how to defeat them? Yes. Raise an army, hunt them down, and kill them before they kill all of you—if you can.”

Danyal’s voice rose to a shout.
“We can’t find them!”

Lee drew in a breath as if he was going to return the shout. Then he breathed out and looked away. “You really have no one who can walk in the dark places?”

“In the shadow places, yes, but the nature of Vision applies to the Shamans as well as other folk. These dark places the wizards have made are like nothing we’ve seen, so we can’t find them. And there is only so much of the city we can keep from their sight.”

Lee sighed. “I’m not a Landscaper, Danyal. I can’t assess the power you
have well enough to know if you could remake parts of this city and take them beyond the reach of the rest of the world.”

“If ships stop finding our ports, if travelers no longer find any of the roads, we’ll disappear from the world. The Shaman Council sent me here because they believed I was their best hope of finding help or at least an answer to how we can help ourselves.”

“What you give to the world comes back to you,” Lee said quietly.

He laughed bitterly. “And I haven’t given enough?”

“I didn’t say that.” Lee hesitated. “Here is the question your heart needs to answer: In order to save this city from the wizards, are you willing to deal with the monster that Evil fears?”

Danyal stared at Lee, unable to speak. Finally: “Would you?”

There was love—and pain—in Lee’s smile. “That’s a question I’ve been trying to answer these past few days. Excuse me, Shaman. Even with the glasses, the sun is bothering my eyes.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Danyal watched Lee walk back to the inmates’ residence.

Are you willing to deal with the monster that Evil fears? That’s a question I’ve been trying to answer these past few days.

His breath caught as he remembered the story Lee had told him about the Guide who became a monster in order to save the world.

Are you willing to deal with the monster that Evil fears?

In order to save Vision,
was
he willing to deal with Lee’s sister?

“Light duty,”
Kobrah said.

Since her back was to the other woman, Zhahar rolled her eyes as she put on the Handler’s jacket. “I know. No lifting, no pulling, no dealing with any but the almost-normal inmates. Sit and rest ten minutes out of every hour.
I know.
”

Kobrah sniffed. “You didn’t mention eating a light meal every few hours to keep up your strength, or drinking enough water.”

Zhahar turned and looked at her Helper. She couldn’t tell if Kobrah was serious or teasing. “Anything else?”

::Could you ask Lee about the demon cycles?:: Sholeh said, sounding a little plaintive. ::I didn’t have a chance when I was in view earlier.::

*Not now,* Zhahar sighed.

::But…::

=Leave it be,= Zeela said. =Didn’t you hear the Shaman shouting when he took Lee for that walk? Give them both time to cool down.=

Sholeh withdrew, sulking.

=I’m not sure having Lee help her make up a journal of demons is the best idea.=

*It gives her something to do.*

::I heard that.::

“Zhahar?”

Forgot about you.
She smiled at Kobrah. “Let’s get some work done.” Despite how much time they’d spent together in the past few days, she hadn’t really talked with the other woman. They were being very careful not to discuss anything Kobrah had seen while helping care for Zeela. “Is your friend still coming to visit?” she asked as they left her room.

“Yes, but he doesn’t stay long. He’s worried about a friend who went missing.”

Zhahar stutter-stepped. She’d forgotten that Kobrah’s dream friend knew Lee—and that Lee knew the dream friend. She hadn’t told Kobrah, hadn’t told anyone.

Should she?

She considered asking Lee, but when she found him sitting in his chair on the porch, he was brooding about something and clearly not in the mood for conversation. So after saying hello and wondering a bit wistfully if a man of single aspect really would consider doing more than flirting with a Tryad, she got on with her work and forgot about Kobrah’s friend.