Seven Dreams (5 page)

‘
She,’
Serena corrected. ‘And yes, it looks like she did.’ She sat back,
disappointed.

‘
You
mean we’re not getting an inept highway robber on the team?’ Egg
said, with awful sarcasm. ‘How shall I bear my
disappointment?’

‘
We’re
not getting a second shapeshifter on the team,’ Serena
corrected.

Egg shrugged. ‘We
have Teyo.’

‘
Who
may appreciate some help in that area, from time to
time.’

‘
So?
Ask Oliver to find us someone. You can’t just pick people up off
the road.’

‘
I
really don’t see why not,’ Serena murmured. She glanced at Teyo,
hoping for some support, but he only gazed back at her
thoughtfully, and said nothing.

Fabian thumped
the roof of the carriage in the signal to drive on, but at that
moment something caught Serena’s eye outside the window, and she
threw open the door. ‘Wait!’ she called, though whether to Wendle
or to her new recruit, she couldn’t say.

Both obeyed her.
Wendle drew the carriage to a complete stop, and Serena jumped down
to find a slight, dark figure a few feet away. The person in
question looked Serena’s way, hesitated, and then turned and
ran.

Serena swore. She
couldn’t give chase, not in her voluminous ball gown.

‘
I’ll
get her,’ said Teyo behind her. Serena heard the thump of his feet
as he jumped out of the carriage and he passed her, running at full
tilt. He soon caught up to the fugitive. Serena watched with a
little anxiety; she had seen that Teyo’s quarry could use a blade.
Would she attack him? She couldn’t tell, in the darkness, whether
the girl had tried, but Teyo soon reappeared, leading the girl with
her hands secured behind her back.

‘
Don’t
take it amiss,’ he was saying in his low, calming voice. ‘No one’s
going to hurt you.’

‘
Oh?
Then why am I restrained?’ growled the girl, though she made no
attempt to escape. ‘Doesn’t look like I have any choice
here.’

‘
You
do,’ Teyo replied. ‘Hear the lady out. If you want no part of it
after, then off you go.’

The girl squinted
suspiciously at Serena, who smiled reassuringly. ‘Come into the
carriage,’ she said, ‘and I’ll tell you what this is
about.’

‘
Oh,
no,’ said the girl, shaking her head. ‘You’re not getting me in
there.’

‘
Then
we’ll talk out here,’ said Serena easily. She found a light-globe
in one of her pockets and let it go. It immediately floated up a
couple of feet and began to shine nicely, allowing the girl to see
Serena’s face. And vice versa, she’d hoped, but the girl still wore
a mask and a hood.

‘
You
waited for us,’ Serena said. ‘Why?’

‘
I
need work,’ the girl replied bluntly. ‘But when I seen that
carriage again, I changed my mind. What do the likes of the
aristocracy want with me? Nothing good, can’t be.’

‘
We
aren’t aristocrats,’ Serena said. ‘It’s just an act. We were out on
a job tonight, and it was a useful cover.’

‘
What
job?’

‘
Espionage,’ Serena said with a broad smile.

‘
You
aren’t spies,’ said the girl. ‘That’s ridiculous.’

‘
No,
true. We aren’t, precisely,’ Serena agreed. ‘We do espionage
sometimes. We also do breaking and entering; retrieval of valuable
objects (which some lesser-minded persons sometimes call “theft”);
interception and restraint of dangerous persons (which is sometimes
known as “abduction”); and, umm... there’s more.’

‘
Thrilling heroics,’ said Teyo.

‘
Oh,
yes! Plenty of that.’

‘
So
you’re crooks,’ said the girl.

‘
No!’
said Serena with a laugh. ‘Goodness, no. Or... I mean, some of our
methods aren’t always wholly
legal
, but we aren’t crooks. We
catch
the crooks.’ This pronouncement produced an immediate
increase of alarm in her reluctant audience, and Serena added
hastily, ‘We aren’t the authorities either! We help them. Sort
of.’

‘
You’re making a complete mull of this, Ren,’ came Egg’s voice
from inside the carriage.

Serena sighed.
‘It’s always so hard to explain.’

‘
Well,
you’ve caught me,’ sighed the girl, sagging in Teyo’s grip. ‘What
happens now?’

‘
We
weren’t trying to catch you,’ Serena hastened to clarify. ‘We’re
trying to recruit you.’

‘
You’re
trying to recruit her,’ muttered Egg. ‘Or him,
or whatever.’

‘
Fine.
I’m trying to recruit you,’ said Serena. ‘You’ve got some skills we
can use.’

‘
Yeah?
And my current occupation as a robbing thief doesn’t bother
you?’

‘
Half
of us have similar backgrounds.’

‘
You?’
said the girl with obvious scepticism.

‘
No,
not me. Some of the others.’

The girl twisted
her head to regard Teyo with what was probably a questioning look.
He remained impassive, however, and said nothing. Teyo wouldn’t
readily talk about his past even with his friends, let alone a
stranger.

‘
Will
there be food?’ the girl said abruptly.

Serena blinked.
‘Why, yes. Yes, of course we’ll feed you.’

‘
Every
day?’

‘
Three
times a day. More, if you like.’

The girl
considered this. ‘Somewhere to sleep?’ she added.

‘
Somewhere to sleep. Your own room, most of the time. Food,
shelter, clothes. Pay.’

The girl’s eyes
widened at this. ‘All that
and
you’re going to pay
me?’

Serena frowned.
‘Of course. That’s how employment works.’

The girl muttered
something incomprehensible, then shrugged. ‘Okay, I
accept.’

‘
That’s great!’ enthused Serena.

‘
Why?’
said Teyo softly.

The girl
shrugged. ‘Sounds too good to be true, but whatever? I got few
choices.’

Teyo said
nothing, but let the silence stretch.

‘
I was
part of a gang,’ muttered the girl. ‘Back in Irbel. We weren’t
much, but we did all right. Then I Changed, for the first time. I
couldn’t help it! I didn’t even know I could. They were afraid, and
they kicked me out.’ Her voice held bitterness and weariness, and
for the first time Serena realised that she might be very young
indeed. ‘I tried to manage on my own, but they spread the word
around and nobody would help me. So I’ve been on the road ever
since.’

Serena sighed
inwardly. The arrival of draykoni shapeshifters hadn’t pleased
everyone. Some welcomed them with interest, fascination and awe,
and openly cultivated their powers. Others viewed them with extreme
distrust and, in some cases, open fear. A small but lethal band of
disgruntled draykoni had launched a war against the realm of
Glinnery two years ago, and though they had been defeated, the
damage they had wrought had been considerable. Not everyone forgave
that, or forgot.

Serena didn’t
think this girl was dangerous, however; she had quickly capitulated
to Teyo’s superior strength, even in draykon form.

‘
To
us, your draykoni heritage is an asset,’ she said with a smile. ‘As
you might guess from Teyo, here.’

‘
You’re Teyo?’ the girl said over her shoulder, and the big man
murmured assent. ‘Okay. So it’s nice to meet another draykon,
and
some people who aren’t going to try to kill me for it,
but do you think you could let go of my hands? You’re
hurting.’

Teyo stepped back
at once. Serena waited, momentarily afraid that the girl might take
flight. She did not, however. She stood there, rubbing her wrists
in silent thought for several moments. Then she dragged off the
dark hood that covered her hair, and pulled away the mask. Serena
studied her face with interest. She was very young; perhaps only
seventeen, or even less. But she was tall, and fairly well-grown,
which accounted for her ability to pass as a man — though where she
had learned to mimic the movements, speech and mannerisms of a
young male, Serena would be intrigued to discover. She had spoken
of Irbel, but her colouring suggested strong Nimdren heritage: she
bore paler skin than was common in the Daylands realms, and her
grimy, wind-tossed hair looked very pale in the
darkness.

‘
I’m
getting in the carriage now,’ the girl announced. ‘It’s cold out
here.’

Serena grinned
and stepped back, holding the door for her new colleague. ‘Welcome
to our little team,’ she said. ‘May we know your name?’

The girl hopped
nimbly inside and grabbed a seat in the corner, as far away from
the others as possible. ‘Anders,’ she said.

Serena frowned.
‘That’s your name when you’re being a man, isn’t it? What about
your real name?’

There was silence
for a while, and Serena thought she wouldn’t answer at all. At
last, though, she said in a whisper, ‘Iyamar.’

It had probably
been a long time since she had used the name, Serena guessed. Left
alone and fending for herself at such a young age, she had probably
found it safest to maintain her masculine masquerade at all
times.

Teyo and Serena
piled back into the carriage, and it proceeded on its way once
more. Introductions were made all around. Egg had grown a little
more gracious since hearing Iyamar’s story, though she obviously
still harboured some distrust. Serena expected indifference from
Fabian, but to her relief he was coolly friendly to his new
colleague.

‘
What
if she’s Yllandu?’ Egg whispered to Serena, while Teyo engaged
Iyamar in conversation. ‘She could be a plant.’

‘
I
don’t think so,’ Serena whispered back.

‘
But
what if she is?’

‘
Then
Oliver will soon find out.’

The Torwyne
Agency owned numerous properties across Irbel which were available
for the use of their employees; Serena’s team rarely had to travel
far to reach one. At present they were based just over the
Nimdren-Irbellian border in a town called Vallune, and thither they
retreated with all possible speed. It was always a disconcerting
experience, crossing from Nimdre into Irbel at night. Irbel was a
Dayland realm, which meant that a permanent cloak of daylight was
maintained during the night-time hours. It never grew dark in
Serena’s home realm, only dimmer. Nimdre, however, had no such
magical constructs, choosing to maintain a traditional day-night
cycle. Serena and her team passed from deep darkness into the soft,
golden glow of Irbel’s Day Cloak in an instant, and all were
obliged to shut and shade their eyes for a few moments until they
grew used to the sudden influx of light. Serena welcomed it, once
her eyes had adjusted; she had grown up in permanent sunglow, and
sometimes found it hard to cope with the velvet darkness of Nimdren
night.

The Daycloak had
been created many generations ago. Its purpose was to provide an
ideal habitat for specific, and numerous, plants and animals which
originated from the Upper Realms (or, as the draykoni were now
calling it, Iskyr). This place existed outside the Seven Realms, on
another plane entirely — though it was adjacent to, and accessible
from, any place within the Seven by way of gates which sometimes
opened up. There were multiple suns up there, and as such, darkness
never fell; its native flora and fauna were dependent upon the
strong sunlight, and quickly withered away without it.

The realm could
be dangerous, and it had long ago been decided that it was far more
expedient to bring the vital, medicinal plants and most useful (or
desirable) animals down to the Seven, rather than sending regular
expeditions up to gather them. And so, the Day Cloak had come into
being, along with the Night Cloak, in other parts of the world, for
there was a mirror realm known as the Lowers in which there was no
sun at all.

The draykoni had
now settled in both places, and were, by all accounts, rapidly
taming those realms. People spoke of imminent trade agreements
between the different worlds, which may someday render the Day and
Night Cloaks unnecessary. For the time being, however, they
remained in place, and Irbel knew nothing of darkness.

Most of Serena’s
team were Daylanders like herself, and used to the eternal light.
Teyo was the only exception, hailing originally from Nimdre. It had
taken him years to get used to sleeping in full light, and he still
wore a dark sleep mask sometimes.

Vallune was a
pretty, rural place, and Serena had been pleased to choose it as
their headquarters for the present mission. It was within
reasonably easy reach of Iving, Irbel’s capital city where Oliver
Tullen was based, and also within reach of Dame Halavere’s country
estate. They were staying in a small, unassuming little house on
the edge of town. The house was narrow, but three storeys high,
with a timber frame and white-washed walls. The streets around it
were charmingly cobbled, and behind it there was nothing but serene
fields. It possessed an air of quiet, comfort and peace which
Serena found soothing to return to.