Seven Dreams (34 page)

Ylona stood in
the centre of a knot of people on the other side of the bubble.
Teyo recognised none of them. A group began to form around himself
and Serena, too, as Egg and Ayra appeared, and then Wrob and Bron
and Iyamar. No one had any idea how to proceed, not even Ylona.
They stood in an awkward face-off with a palpable air of
confusion.

The floor was
obscured by a thick golden mist. Teyo couldn’t tell what they were
standing on, if anything. He tried not to think too hard about
that, either. The air was filled with white, softly glowing motes,
which cast just enough light for Teyo to see a little. The light
was too much for Tren and Eva, who appeared soon afterwards. They
each took their characteristic shadowed glasses out of their
pockets and hurriedly donned them, mouths twisting in
annoyance.

Teyo crouched
down and felt the ground beneath the mist. It was glassy and
smooth. He walked about a bit, and found nothing secreted there.
Where could the key be? The bubble was uncluttered with objects of
any kind; there was nothing but light and colour and mist. Perhaps
it was like the Orlind bubble: someone would trip over the thing,
sooner or later, and perhaps another vision of Rhoun Torinth would
appear.

‘
I
don’t see—’ began Mae, but the bells sounded once more and all
conversation ceased. The two groups waited, spellbound, for the
next occurrence.

A key appeared in
the air, two inches from Teyo’s nose. It bore the characteristic
spiral shape of the others, and it was the same size. This one was
marked with a marbled pattern of yellow and cream. Teyo grabbed at
it, and caught — nothing. The thing was insubstantial; he couldn’t
grip it.

More appeared,
all identical in size and myriad in colour and pattern, filling the
air all around him with ghost-keys. He watched, arms folded, as
half of his group and most of Ylona’s went into a frenzy of
eagerness, clutching and grabbing at every key they could reach.
The logic seemed clear enough: one of these floating temptations
was the real key, and the rest were decoys. It merely fell to a
matter of chance, as to who would get their hands on the
prize.

Teyo wasn’t sure.
Neither were Serena and Fabian, for they, too, abstained from the
chaos. Fabian stood with his hands in his pockets, frowning, and
Serena chewed absently on her lip.

‘
I
recognise this trick,’ she said at last.

‘
Yep,’
said Fabian. ‘Classic.’

Teyo nodded. It
was a kind of double-bluff. Keep the target distracted with
supposed decoys in some clearly apparent place, and they would
never question the “obvious” assumption that one of the decoys was
real. You could do it with anything: jewels, gold, people. They’d
pulled that very trick on Bron, essentially, and even he had
swallowed it.

The real key was
somewhere else entirely, tucked away where no one would think to
look for it.

‘
Where
would I put it, if I’d built this thing?’ mused Serena.

Ylona hadn’t
fallen for the decoys either. She was prowling around, ignoring the
ghost-keys that filled the air. She didn’t know where to look,
then, but she might guess sooner than they would. Teyo stopped
watching her. She was a distraction.

‘
Somewhere innocuous,’ murmured Fabian.

‘
You
know what,’ Teyo said softly. ‘I wouldn’t put it in here at
all.’

The siblings
gazed at him with almost identically thoughtful expressions. They
looked eerily alike, when they did that. ‘Genius, Tey,’ whispered
Serena. ‘It’s outside, isn’t it? We all ran straight past it,
distracted to a man by that shiny, lovely door-thing.’

‘
However,’ said Fabian, ‘how do we get out again?’

Good
question,
though Teyo. There was no apparent means of exit, now
that he thought to look.

‘
Where
did we come in?’ he murmured. He’d got himself turned around a bit
in his search of the floor, but he headed back in roughly the
direction he thought he had travelled in.

There was a place
where the colours faded slightly, the lights dimmed, and no keys
floated in the air. Teyo headed straight for it —

—
and
he was outside again in the blink of an eye. The platform of
branches was empty and silent, until Serena and Fabian followed him
through. And then Egg, who announced herself with a characteristic
curse.

‘
Damned riddles and games,’ she muttered. ‘
So
glad we
are nearly finished with this rubbish.’

‘
I
thought you said it would be fun,’ Teyo murmured.

‘
It
isn’t.’

Teyo couldn’t
help smiling. Egg so often said what he was secretly thinking, but
wouldn’t speak aloud.

The four of them
divided up the circular platform between them, and each took one
quarter to search. It wasn’t long before Fabian gave a cry of
discovery. Teyo turned to see him holding up something small. his
triumph palpable.

‘
Got
it!’ He handed the thing to Serena, who showed it to Teyo. This key
was unlike the others. Instead of stone it appeared to be made from
glass, and was perfectly clear and untouched by any trace of
colour. Its appearance was oddly simple and subtle, given the
extraordinary vividness of its surroundings.

‘
Right,’ said Serena. ‘We need to get this thing out of here
before —’

‘
Ah!’
came a strong female voice from behind them. ‘Very good work. Mae
was right to hire you, wasn’t she?’

Ylona approached
at speed, flanked by three of her hirelings. Teyo couldn’t tell if
they were Yllandu, or scholars, or something else entirely, as they
were dressed in bland uniforms and bore no identifying
characteristics. Whatever they were, they did not look very
friendly.

‘
I’ll
buy it from you,’ Ylona said, stopping before them with a winning
smile. ‘You’re for hire, aren’t you? I’ll double whatever Mae is
paying you.’

‘
That’s not how it works,’ Serena said coolly. ‘The agency gets
paid; we just do as we’re told. And what we’ve been told is to
support Lady Glostrum, not Mae.’

This wasn’t quite
true. They chose most of their assignments, and if the fees were
increased for whatever reason, they all received a share. But it
was a solid enough rebuff. Teyo folded his arms, and waited for
Ylona’s response.

‘
Then
I’m bribing you,’ she said with a shrug. ‘Nobody needs to know that
you found it first. We can just say that I did, and you will all
become significantly richer.
Without
having to share your
fee with the agency.’

This cunning
proposal was met with complete silence.

Ylona sighed.
‘I’ll get them one way or another, you know. All four of the keys
you’re currently withholding. You can have no notion how important
this is to me, and I will stop at nothing.’

‘
Is
it about your father?’ said Serena, in a tone of
mild curiosity.

Ylona went still.
‘Who told you about my father? Mae?’

Serena nodded
once.

‘
You
can know nothing of him,’ she said coldly. ‘Not truly. Mae is an
ignorant fool, and I will brook no meddling in my personal
affairs.’

‘
We
have been obliged to brook a great deal of meddling in our world,’
Fabian pointed out. ‘You’ve set the Seven buzzing with this riddle
business of yours, and you’ve shown no regard for the impact it
might have on everything
we
care about. We aren’t puppets.
We can choose to assist you, or choose not to.’

Teyo expected
another cold response to this sally, but Ylona merely gazed at
Fabian thoughtfully, and finally nodded. ‘A fair point,’ she said.
‘I have been ruthless, but it was the only way. Who better to find
the lost Dreams of the Seven Realms than the people who live
here?’

‘
It’s
all perfectly logical, certainly,’ said Fabian. ‘But the people
who’ve done all the work for you will gain nothing by it. They
won’t even learn what it was all about. The promise of secret doors
and mysterious prizes will never be fulfilled.’

Ylona raised her
brows. ‘Won’t they? Mae intends to seal up the repository, yes, but
I do not. Its contents will be released to the people of the Seven
Realms, as you call this world. You will all be the richer for it,
I assure you.’

That silenced
them. Teyo’s mind reeled, remembering the visions of untold
knowledge Mae had shown them and trying to guess at what it might
include. If even travel through time was possible, what else might
they gain by it?

He could feel
Fabian’s uncertainty, and Serena’s too. Could they be responsible
for denying their world so much knowledge? The lives of everyone in
the realms could be immeasurably improved. Lives could be
saved.

On the other
hand... some knowledge was dangerous. Mae was right about that. Did
they want everything that the repository contained? Ylona could be
offering a poisoned fruit; the contents of Teoricq could transform
their societies for the worse, not for the better.

It was an
insoluble problem. Teyo felt hopelessly ill-equipped to make such a
momentous decision, and so did Serena; the glance she cast at him
was despairing. Even Fabian, forthright before, was silent
now.

Ylona’s voice
broke the silence. ‘How about an incentive? I’m willing to bet that
Mae didn’t tell you where to find the door. Did she?’

‘
No,’
Serena admitted.

‘
As
proof of my sincerity, I will tell you immediately. There is a tiny
island off the coast of the place you call Nimdre. South-easterly
in direction. It is so small that it would not appear on any of
your maps, but there you will find the door to the
repository.’

A clever move,
Teyo thought. Mae had explained a lot, but grudgingly and only
under duress. The information she had given was mere background
data, interesting but not vital. She hadn’t advanced anything that
might give them an advantage, or allow them to oppose her goals.
But Ylona just had. What was her motive? Had she done it purely in
hopes of securing the outstanding keys, knowing all the while that
they would never be able to use the information? Or was she indeed
bargaining in good faith? They only had Mae’s word for it that
Ylona wasn’t to be trusted.

‘
Ah,
Ylona,’ said Mae from about three feet away. Teyo jumped, startled;
he hadn’t noticed her approach. ‘Trying to subvert my excellent
team, are you? They are far too sensible and far too loyal to be
tempted by your offers.’

Ylona smiled
faintly. ‘I think they were tempted, in fact. Shall I hire them
away from you? I could convince their Oliver Tullen, I’m
sure.’

‘
I
doubt it. Lady Glostrum’s contract is secure.’

Ylona shrugged,
and turned back to Serena. ‘Is it to be?’ she said.

Serena hesitated,
and finally shook her head.

Ylona sighed. ‘I
will
get those keys. You can be enriched by it, or you can
suffer by it. Final choice, now.’

‘
Choice made,’ said Serena.

Ylona nodded
once. ‘So be it.’ She vanished.

Mae gave one of
her alarmingly bright smiles. ‘Good girl!’ she said. ‘Very well
done, all of you. I take it you’ve secured the key?’

Serena held it
out. It looked tiny in the palm of her hand, its transparency
rendering it almost invisible.

Mae put out her
hand to take it, but Serena closed her fingers around the stone,
hiding it from sight. ‘We’ve trusted you. I want a mark of trust in
return,’ she said firmly. ‘This one stays with me.’

Annoyance flashed
briefly across Mae’s face. ‘Fine, fine,’ she said, waving a hand.
‘When you have secured the other keys, I will receive them all at
once.’

Serena said
nothing. Teyo couldn’t guess at her reasoning, but he applauded her
tactics. If they couldn’t trust either Lokant, then it helped to
retain an advantage, and in keeping one of the keys, Serena had
just secured one.

Two days later,
Serena and her team were ensconced, more or less comfortably, in a
tiny inn just outside of Draetre, in northern Nimdre. The inn was
owned by the Torwyne Agency. It operated as a fully functional
waystation, but its agents had priority, and it always kept rooms
free for them.

Their
conversation with Oliver himself had been interesting. Typically,
he had shared none of his thoughts regarding the competing
interference of Mae and Ylona. But he had not chosen to throw in
his lot with either side, either. Lady Glostrum’s contract was
considered to be complete, and had been closed. He had declined
Mae’s and Ylona’s subsequent attempts to hire them.

Instead, their
new assignment was to acquire the two keys Ylona held and deliver
them to Oliver himself. This was an arrangement which appealed to
Serena, and the whole of her team. The prospect of having to decide
which side to support, purely on the basis of the stories they each
told, was unpleasant in the extreme. Used as she was to making
difficult decisions quickly, she had balked at that one. Let Oliver
deal with it. He was older, wiser and infinitely sensible, and he
probably had more information than they did, to boot.