The Stair Of Time (Book 2) (10 page)

Aberrant Iterations

Andaris awoke with a start, heart galloping in his
chest, forehead damp with perspiration.  The camp was dark but for the faint, crimson light cast by the smoldering coals of the fire.  Gramps and Gaven were curled in their bedrolls, snoring away like grizzly bears. 

The box sat a few feet to
Andaris’ left, as quiet and still as the surrounding forest.  Watching.  Waiting.  Under the circumstances, the snoring seemed more than just disruptive.  It seemed irreverent, taunting the inky blackness with reckless abandon, inviting all creatures of the night, large and small, to come and sample the cuisine.

Andaris sat up and drew his sword, struck by the sudden realization that it had all been a dream.  There was never any thumping or scratching from inside the box.  The pages of the map had not turned into a magical creature, part dragon, part dog, and least of all, part monkey.  Mostly he was
relieved, especially about that last bit.  But the creature in his dream had been so wonderful and…ridiculous, wonderful in part because it
was
ridiculous, that it was difficult not to feel disappointed as well.  He supposed the dream had been triggered by Gramps’ story.  Although, at what point did he go to sleep?  He didn’t remember actually getting up and walking to his bedroll, and yet here he lay, so…he must have done.

Come to think of it, he didn’t remember
any
break between reality and dream.  Which begged the question, how much of what happened…happened?  Surely the bit about the exploding rocks was real. “Grenadoes,” Gramps had called them.  He didn’t think even his subconscious could have come up with that one.

I’ll have to ask Gaven,
he thought.
In private.
 

Andaris stood, took a couple steps towards his friend, then thought better of it, deciding to wait
‘til morning instead.  Like as not, Gramps wouldn’t sleep through the sudden climactic snort the big man would loose upon awakening.

Their previous course disrupted, his feet now carried him to the box.  It had been a dream—of that he was almost completely certain.  And yet it had seemed so real that, in order to get any sleep, he would have to check…just in case.  After all, the gulf separating
almost completely
and
completely
is both broad and deep.

Squatting in front of th
e box, he reached for the hasp, hand, expression, and heart freezing as a loud
thump
issued from within.  Once the momentary paralysis had passed, he unclasped the hasp and raised the lid.

Rather than a wonderful-ridiculous creature of absurd proportions, Andaris beheld, of all things, a miniature version of their campsite, the walls of the box serving as its frame.

Unlike the
real
campsite, the fire was once again blazing, orange highlights animating the seated figures of Gaven and Gramps.  They stared up at him with quiet, quizzical mirth, twin countenances cast in stark relief.

***

With considerable effort, Andaris pulled his eyes away, finding the
real
campsite, thank Rodan, precisely as he’d left it—Gaven and Gramps snoring away in their bedrolls, smoldering embers emitting a faint glow.

***

“Throw another one of them rocks!” he heard Gramps exclaim from the box, voice sounding far away and muffled.  “That’ll wake ‘im!  Serves ‘im right for noddin’ off durin’ my story!”

***

Startled, Andaris looked back down.  No more than a second or two had passed since he’d heard Gramps exclaim.  In that short time, however, the
box
campsite had completely changed.  Now it was identical to the
real
campsite—well almost, anyway.  There was a subtle difference, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.  The fire was out, so it was dark—check.  There were two shadowy forms curled in their bedrolls—check.  But still, there was somethi—and then he had it.  The image was static, absent of both movement and sound.

T
he only snoring he heard came from the
real
campsite.  Considering the volume, he was surprised he could differentiate with such certainty, and yet he could, so…there it was.  In the box, Gaven and Gramps had tucked in their heads, and were now just two completely still bulges, bulges that were larger than they should have been….

As Andaris brought the full force of his flagging intellect to bear on his present predicament, the bedrolls, or rather whatever lay inside the bedrolls—for now he felt certain it was not his friends—came first to a sitting, and then to a standing position, moving in perfect unison.  For a moment they swayed in time to some melody only they could hear.  Then, again in perfect unison, they began shuffling towards the opening—towards what Andaris could now see was his own sleeping form.  “Wake up!” he yelled at himself.  “They’re almost there!”

With sudden inspiration, he slam
med the box shut and looked up.

***

Gaven and Gramps we’re grinning at him from across a blazing fire.  Gaven had a small stone raised and ready to throw.  His grin turned sheepish and he lowered his arm. 

“Well, ‘bout time!” Gramps sa
id with a laugh.  “We thought you were down for the count!”

Andaris look
ed at his lap, face going slack when he saw that his hands grasped only air.  The box still sat on the ground to his right, closed and wholly unremarkable.  The wonder that had possessed wood and latch alike, emanating with an enigmatic aura that prickled his flesh, was gone.  Again, it was just a box.

Andaris look
ed up at his companions, who were now peering at him with marked concern, and said, “Something very odd just happened.  How long was I asleep?  How do I know this is the real now?”

Area of Effect

“What do ya mean how do you know this is the real now?” asked Gaven, bushy eyebrows frowning at the question.

“I…well…it’s difficult to explain.  I guess…it was all just a dream, a dream within a dream, but it was
so
real….

Gaven made an impatient “G
o on” gesture with his forefinger.

“Okay
, I’ll try.  We were sitting around the campfire, like we are now, when there came a thumping and scratching from
inside
the box.  When we opened it, instead of the pages, there was this dog-bird-dragon-monkey thing that made these musical warbling noises.  You said it was like it had a harp stuck in its guts.  And then it lifted into the air, and we were all amazed.  And then we realized the pages were gone, so we started looking around for them.  And then we realized the wings of the creature were made
from
the pages, four per side….” 

Andaris shook his head and sighed. 
“And that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up.  I don’t mean now.  I mean the time before.  I dreamt I woke up while still in the dream.  The camp was dark.  You two were sleeping.  I was relieved to realize that it had all been a dream.  But I had to know for sure, so I—and this is where it really gets weird—I went over and opened the box.  Instead of the pages or the creature, I saw an image of the camp; only the fire was blazing, like it is now.  You and Gramps were talking about throwing a rock at me to wake me up.  Gramps said it served me right for noddin’ off durin’ his story.’  I looked away for a moment and…when I looked back…the image was different—the same as the actual campsite, or what I believed was the actual campsite.  It was dark.  You two were sleeping, or what I thought was you two.  The bedrolls took on a life of their own, rose and started walking towards where I was sleeping, the me in the dream within the dream, if you follow.  Not knowing what else to do, I shut the box, and suddenly it was light again and I was here, and the box was back on the ground.  I don’t remember closing or opening my eyes.  I was simply there, I closed the box, and I was here.”

“It’s the boundary,”
said Gramps, his matter-of-fact tone leaving little room for doubt.  “It took me longer to reach it last time, but I guess that’s not surprising considerin’ how it shifts about.  Why, I bet if we’re already close enough for it to be affectin’ dreams, that we’ve only got a few hours of ridin’ to go.  Provided, that is, it dudn’t shift again.  Bet my second wife on it, I would.  Course that’s not sayin’ much!”

“
That’s right!” said Andaris, greatly preferring this to the alternative. “It gave you weird dreams too, didn’t it?  That
must
be it.  So, if you don’t mind my asking, what did
you
dream about?  Did it feel more real...more vivid than normal?”

“
You could say that twice and mean it,” Gramps replied with a grin.  “I’m not as creative as you, but I saw some pretty interestin’ stuff.  I dreamt I was a king in a golden palace atop a hill atop a flyin’ turtle.  The turtle’s name was Trixie, and she was the fastest flyin’ turtle in the land!”  Gramps laughed and slapped his knee.  “And I swear young’n’, as crazy as it sounds, it was as real as sittin’ here with you now.”

Andaris let out a held breath. 
“Well, that’s…a relief.  I was afraid I was losin’…
losing,
my mind.” 

“Any chance these dreams mean something?” asked Gaven.  “Is it possible some
one’s trying to tell us something about the pages?”

“I don’t know the answer to that one,” admitted Gramps.  “Suppose anything’s possible.  But ya know what I find interestin’?  Andaris’ eyes were closed.  He was asleep.  And yet he described, in perfect detail, what we were doin’ and sayin’.”

“My subconscious must have been listening,” Andaris offered, “and then my imagination incorporated what it heard into the dream.”

Gramps and Gaven nodded thoughtfully.

“By the way, I’m not sure where reality left off and the dream began.  I remember Gramps talking about a noble creature with green scales and curling horns.  Was that real?”

“Yep,” said Gramps, sounding pleased.  “And I
was worried I was gonna have to tell it all over again.  Good.  Now I can save my breath.  Kolera knows I need it!”

“So, what do we do now?” asked Andaris.  “I mean, we have to sleep sometime.”

“Nothin’ we
can
do young’n’.  A very wise woman once told me—my third wife—that if ya can’t go around somethin’, ya might as well go through it.  And if ya gotta go through it, ya might as well enjoy the ride!  Just remember none of it’s real, and you’ll be fine.”

“But it
felt
real.  How do we know the difference?”

“Well, mayhap we don’t, and I’ll ad
mit, that dudn’t hold any special appeal for me.  But the one good thing about dreams is,” and here Gramps winked, “no matter how real they feel, they always end, leavin’ ya physically unharmed.  So, if somethin’ really weird’s happenin’, just remember, it might be a dream.”

Feeling even more unsettled than before, but doing his best to look encouraged, Andaris nodded.

Gramps’ eyes flashed with sudden enthusiasm.  “As far as I’m concerned, this is good news.  Ya know why?”

Andaris shrugged his shoulders, struggling to return Gramps
’ smile.

“’Cause if we’re only
a few hours or so from the boundary, that means that the entrance to The Lost City is much closer than we thought.  Now, as we discussed, time and distance don’t work quite the same in there, but still….  Odds are, we’ll be there sooner than we thought we would.  And even if we’re not, who knows what wonders we’ll see along the way?  We might even catch a glimpse of that noble steed from my youth.  What d’ya say to that, Andaris?”

“
Yes, that would be something,” he replied.” 
Unless that was a dream, too,
he thought.  “I just hope we don’t run into anything magical that means us harm.  It almost makes me wish Ashel were here.”

“Well, Ashel isn’t here,” Gaven grumbled, sounding like he’d just been poked in the belly with a stick.  “And like they say, if wishes were
gold, we’d all be rich.”

“
They!
Humph!  Ya stole that one from me!” complained Gramps.  “I’ve been sayin’ that since afore ya was born!  Except I say, if wishes
was
gold, like you’re suppose’ ta!”

Despite his sore belly, Gaven smiled.  Gramps had a way of lightening the big man’s spirit even when he was goading him, or perhaps especially when he was goading him.  “Well, ya know what they also say, ya ol’ codger—imitation’s the highest form of flattery!  So stop your complainin’!”

Gramps patted Gaven on the shoulder and laughed, the genuine affection in his eyes plain to see.  Gaven elbowed Gramps in the ribs, his angst about Ashel forgotten.  The scene warmed Andaris’ heart, making him miss his own family even more than usual. 

That’s why we’re here,
he thought, standing up to lay out his bedroll. 
To find some answers—both for me and Mandie.  If we can do that, it’ll be worth all the bad dreams in the world.
  Given the circumstances, and in spite of the previous incorporation, he thought it would be easier to fall asleep while his friends were still awake.

With this in mind, Andaris stretched out on his back while Gaven and Gramps
talked, lacing his fingers together behind his head, looking up at the stars, the same stars he’d looked upon with such wonder shortly after entering this world.  It seemed so long ago, but really wasn’t.  Really not long at all.  It was just that so much had happened.  Andaris closed his eyes, thinking about everything he’d seen and done since leaving home, his mind lighting on a memory of him and Mandie eating a picnic lunch beside the Lake of the Pines.  It was a place of warmth and comfort for him, a safe place in which he could allow himself to drift off to sleep.