12:7
“That’s a castle.” Patti stated the obvious and then proceeded to crane her neck to look up, up, and up at the very large stone structure standing on a hill across a stone bridge that spanned a moat. “Yep. Definitely a castle. The moat gave it away.”
“The multiple towers and the drawbridge didn’t?” Ben asked with a flex of brows.
“I mean, buildings other than castles have those but only castles have moats.” Patti sounded very much like she was a documented authority on castles.
“Really? Name two.”
Patti turned, hands on hips, and glared at Ben. Sass leaned out of its house on Patti’s belt and added their glare to Patti’s. And Ben just grinned. A big old grin that Patti returned.
“You are such a turd.”
“I believe you mean prince.”
“Prince Turd. Turd Prince.”
“I’ll take it.” Ben waggled his brows. “I assume it comes with a crown. I do like a good crown.”
“A crown of turds.”
“Not as good as gold but…”
“I swear if anyone mentions golden showers I am gone,” Kim muttered to Gwen who busted out laughing.
“So,” Ivan looked at Dan. “What now?”
“Unknown.”
“You have the story. You have some ‘know’.”
“Gerda goes in and finds a sleeping prince and princess.”
Patti scratched her head. “This is a really long story.”
“It is.”
“So,” Ivan directed the conversation back to the point. “We enter and look for Gerda. I mean Gia. And probably a prince and princess. Are there any threats?”
“Not in the story as it’s written. But there are dreams.”
“Dreams?”
Dan shrugged. “The dreams are hunting.”
“The dreams are hunting?”
“Echo,” Ben curved his hands around his mouth, “Echo!”
Ivan shoved his tongue into his cheek and drew a long breath. Why was he friends with Ben again? He turned back to Dan.
“Are they a threat?”
“Unknown.”
If that word was not becoming one of his least favorites.
“Something to keep an eye out for then.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, people.” He shifted his gaze around the group. “Seems like we are entering a castle. Goal Gia. But if we don’t find her then goal a prince and princess. There may be dreams. Those dreams may be a threat.” He focused on Dan. “That right? Any other potential threats?”
“Robber.”
“Robber?”
Ben pressed a hand to his chest and opened his eyes real wide. “I didn’t do anything.”
Ivan grinned. “You are not the only robber in existence.”
“But I am the best.”
“Debatable.” Ivan shifted his focus back to Dan. “What about a robber?”
“Further in the story. No clear threats in this part of it.”
“Then why mention it?” Patti asked.
Dan just shrugged and went back to scanning a page in one of his books.
Ivan walked to where the stone bridge met the path and then reached out a toe and tapped the surface of the bridge. Felt like stone.
“Kim?”
Kim walked over and looked up at him. “Yes?”
“Stone?”
She turned to face the bridge. After a mikro she turned back to Ivan and nodded. “Stone.”
“Solid?”
“Far as I can tell. Won’t really know until someone tries walking it.” She turned and shot over her shoulder, “Hey, Ben?”
Ben sauntered over and saluted. “Voluntold-er reporting for duty!”
Ivan shook his head. “Like you wouldn’t be the first over the bridge anyway.”
“Eh,” Ben shrugged, “it’s still nice to be asked.”
“Ben,” Kim said real slow, “would you please,” she leaned on the word, “potentially plummet into the moat so we don’t have to?”
Ben dusted his knuckles against his jacket then cracked them for good measure. “Nothing like a little plummet into murky water to let you know you are alive.”
Considering Ben’s very recent brush with not being so – alive that was – that felt a little dark to Ivan. But it also felt very Ben.
Ben stepped onto the bridge. One, two, three steps. Then he turned and looked back at the group before bouncing up and down with his knees. “Seems solid.”
“Keep going.”
“Right oh, boss!”
Ivan rolled his eyes and waved his hands, directing Ben forward. Ben didn’t stop again until he was on the other side of the bridge. He turned around, waved big, then turned back to stare at the castle wall. Or more relevantly the portcullis blocking entry into the castle.
Deciding that was good enough indication of the structural integrity of the bridge, Ivan looked back and waved to the others. “Nothing to it–”
“But to do it!” Prairie finished for him. She walked over and looked up at him with her so very light blue eyes and Ivan’s heart gave a kick.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” She gave him a soft smile. “We have a castle to enter. Coming?”
Devoid of words for the moment – and wasn’t that something his opponent on the council would love to see – Ivan nodded. He held out his arm and Prairie placed her hand in the crook before turning to the bridge. Together they progressed across it. Ivan didn’t even trip over his feet once though he wasn’t sure how as he wasn’t sure he was walking on stone and not air.
They fetched up next to Ben who slanted them a glance. “Why don’t these castles ever have a door?”
“Because castle?”
Prairie nodded. “A portcullis does seem to be a requirement for a good castle.”
“But I can’t pick a portcullis.”
“This is true.” Ivan eyed the portcullis in question then turned to Kim who’d just cleared the bridge. “Can you get your friends to open this for us?”
Kim eyed the portcullis. She leaned in close so she could look through the lattice. Then she pulled back and stared blindly into the air. A moment later the portcullis was rising to allow their group passage.
She pressed her fist to her lower back and stretched. “Gotta love a portcullis.”
“Do I?” Ben lifted his brows. “Do I really?”
Kim just shrugged and took a step back from the large opening to the castle and waved for the group to troop in. Ben was the first through. He had to duck to clear the still rising portcullis. Then he stopped next to the crank of the portcullis that appeared to be cranking itself. He looked back at Kim.
“Neat trick.”
“It’s no advanced lock-pickery but, yeah.” She mouthed ‘thanks’ to the crank cranking itself and walked into the castle.
Ivan looked down at Prairie. “Ready?”
“I am.”
He walked into the castle with Prairie clinging to his arm then stopped to look around. It was the real kind of castle, not one of those cartoon representations that was all white stone and spindly towers. Beyond the gatehouse they entered through stretched a large bailey, surrounded by tall walls with parapets.
At the far end of it stood another gatehouse with four round towers at each corner. Each of these were also topped by parapets as was the curtain wall of the gatehouse. It was centered in the middle of a wall where Ivan could make out a walkway behind more parapets. A distance that looked to be about half the length of the outer bailey separated the retaining wall from what appeared to be the main keep. That structure rose square and tall. Ivan counted at least five stories, if the windows carved into the gray stone were an indication of floors.
He scuffed his feet in the crushed stone of the bailey then looked at his friend’s ranged around him. “That is a castle.”
“It is.” Siobhan shielded her eyes with her hand, blocking out the sun’s glare. “You would think there’d be guards.”
“You would.” Ivan looked at Dan. “Thoughts?”
“The castle was empty in the story.”
“Well, okay. That makes this easier.” Ivan started across the crushed stone, Prairie at his side.
The gatehouse had a large wooden door. Ivan looked at Ben. “Door.”
“Got it.” Ben stepped up, cracked his knuckles again, then placed his hand on the large iron latch on the door. It swung open without resistance. Ben’s lip jutted out just a little with his disappointment at the easy egress. Ivan was fine with it though.
He looked down at Prairie then indicated the open door with a jerk of his head. “Shall we?”
She dimpled. “We shall.”
One moment Prairie was walking into the gatehouse, hand on Ivan’s arm, reminding herself to breathe normally and watch her feet when really what she wanted to do was stare up at the sharp line of his jaw. Ugh. Why was he so—Ivan? It wasn’t fair how very Ivan he was!
Back on track, Prairie! One moment she was walking next to Ivan then next she hit the ground with enough force her breath left her. Her vision actually swam. That’s how hard she hit the floor. Mouth agape as she tried to draw breath against a tightened diaphragm – she’d instinctively taken instant stock of her physical condition and determined her diaphragm was in spasm from the fall – she pushed up slowly on her hands and knees. She tossed her head to clear the loose hairs from her face and carefully lifted her head to look around and potentially figure out what had happened.
Ivan! She started to jerk her head to the side to look for him and her chest seized, denying the movement. Slower, much slower, she turned her head to look to the left where he’d been. Instead of Ivan Kirby’s face – all three faces – loomed large in her view.
She squinted through the haziness threatening to overtake her vision. “Kirby?”
“My One.” One’s tone was more somber than usual. “They almost took you.”
“Who?” She pulled her head back a little to do a visual scan with narrowed eyes. Instead of the gatehouse and the door Ben had opened nothing but empty space met her gaze. She shifted and small stones cut into her palms. Looking down she saw the crushed rock surface of the bailey they’d walked through to get to the gatehouse.
“One?” she asked on a tremulous breath. “What happened?”
“Dreams.” One paused then corrected themselves. “Nightmares.”
“Nightmares?”
“In the most literal sense. Mounted riders came on nightmares. They scooped you and your companions up. I grabbed you and pulled you away.”
“Others?” The stilted questions were about all she could manage with her spasmed diaphragm. Luckily Kirby seemed pretty good at reading her.
One shook their head slowly. “Only you. We,” he looked at Bunny and Hello, “tried to grab the others but our teeth went right through them. They were transformed to dream.”
“Why–” Prairie fought to pull in a breath to ask more, ended up settling on, “Me?”
“You were, but we are connected so I was able to grab you.”
Heart in her throat, Prairie looked around the bailey. The empty bailey. “Others?”
“Rode off on nightmares.”
“Bad! Find?”
All three of Kirby’s heads bobbed. It was Bunny that answered. “Find good!”
“Okay.” Prairie felt her diaphragm relax a little. A very little. Enough that she was able to rock back to sit on her heels with her hands resting on her thighs. For a moment she rocked, focusing on her breath until she was able to pull in at least enough air that her head wasn’t light.
Several meros later she felt good enough to push up to her feet. When she wobbled Kirby bumped up against her, pressing into her side to keep her upright. She dropped a hand on Hello’s head, patted, then moved to pat Bunny and then One for good measure. One’s expression tightened a little but they bumped their head against her hand just the same so she gave them an extra scritch.
She shifted her hand back to Bunny’s head. “Find!”
“Hee hee, hee hee,” Bunny giggled and Kirby took off. Prairie had to haul butt to keep pace as they tore across the bailey and towards the gatehouse. The door was opened, invitingly so, and Bunny didn’t even slow as they flew over the threshold.
The gatehouse opened to an inner bailey. Unlike the outer with its crushed stone surface this space was a veritable garden. Or maybe just a garden. What was veritable? Whatever the definition the bailey was full of flowering trees, with lush grass under them, and in neat raised beds a variety of roses grew.
Roses again. Ineresting. But not enough to slow Prairie’s steps as she hightailed it over the grass in pursuit of Kirby lead by Bunny who took that moment to let out a baying that would better suit a bloodhound than a big whatever breed Kirby was. Did psychopomps have breeds? Since Kirby was the first, and only, one Prairie had encountered she had no basis of knowledge to determine that.
From within the cover of leaves a cluster of crows could just be seen with their black feathers contrasting with the light green of leaves and the white petals of flowers. Not cluster. Murder. Prairie had always found that term fun. Not that murder was fun. But calling a group of crows a murder tickled her to her toes.
Crows were just so smart and many associated them with death. Being carrion birds they did feast on the dead and historically were seen on battlefields. They were also often psychopomps though Prairie had never encountered one fulfilling that role.
If not for Dan mentioning earlier a crow as being in Gerda and Kai’s story Prairie might have run right on past. But, with that mention in her head, she stopped chasing Kirby for a moment and lifted her hand to wave at the trees.
“Hello, crows!”
Silence. She supposed it was too much to ask for a nice talking crow or murder of talking crows to give her direction. Oh well.
“Goodbye, crows!” she called and then ran after Kirby who’d cleared the far side of the bailey and was approaching the entrance of the keep. Kirby stopped their forward movement and Bunny’s head turned to look at Prairie.
“Door!”
Prairie eyed the door Kirby paused in front of. “I suppose I should open it?”
“Yes! Open! Door! Find!”
Bumping Kirby’s shoulder with her hip, Prairie reached around the dog’s mass and grasped the iron latch of the heavy wood door. She’d barely got the latch disengaged when Kirby pushed past her, battering the door with Hello’s head and sending it flying back on its hinges.
Hello looked back at Prairie. Their expression was expectant. “Hello!”
“Hello.” Prairie nodded.
Hello thrust their jaw forward. “Hello!”
“We should continue?”
“Hello!”
Prairie looked at One and lifted her brows. One blew out a harsh breath that was definitely more of a sigh and looked at Hello. “Hello?”
“Hello!”
One shook his head then looked at Prairie. “We should continue, my One. Before Hello passes out from excitement.”
Ready to move forward Prairie paused a moment to question this. “What would that look like?”
Bunny nudged Prairie’s side with its head. When she looked down and it was clear Bunny had her attention, Bunny made a big deal of comically dropping their head sideways with their tongue protruding.
“Ah. That’s what?’
Bunny snapped their head back to the proper alignment and Kirby’s short tail wagged hard enough it whipped up a small breeze. Then Kirby surged through the open door. One cast a look back at Prairie.
“Coming?”
“Breathing hard.”
Kirby screeched to a halt. As in their claws screeched across the marble floor they were running across.
One gave her a quizzical look. “Breathing?”
“You’re pretty!” Bunny said with boisterous enthusiasm.
Prairie got the point. She wondered how often Bunny had been told “at least you’re pretty” that they went there so fast.
Still she played at ignorance. “Pretty funny?”
“Pretty pretty! Very pretty! So pretty!”
Prairie giggled and patted Bunny’s head. “Thank you.”
One blew a breath. “Are you done?”
He had very ‘disappointed dad’ vibes.
“Yes.” She grinned. “I’m done.”
“Can we continue?”
“Yes, Dad.”
One’s expression softened. “Dad?”
“Very Dad vibes.”
“I like that.”
“I do too.”
She smiled at One. He did the doggy equivalent back at Prairie which looked odd on One’s usually solemn face. Prairie was not going to say anything, especially since her first response was “Aw, that’s so cute!” Which really conflicted with his Leader of the Pack mien.
Prairie shifted her attention to the room, taking it in rapidly. Stone floors which seemed on theme. Rose silk on the walls. At least it looked like that. She wasn’t close enough to be absolutely sure but rose and cloth for certain. It wasn’t a huge space but it definitely wasn’t small. And it was entirely empty except for suits of armor spaced evenly along the length of each of the side walls. Shields hung on the walls in the spaces between the suits of armor, along with swords, maces, and morning stars.
It was all very “dial a medieval castle” chic. It was also, as she’d already noted, completely empty. Although—she squinted at something like a shadow on the floor a short distance from where she and Kirby stood.
“Is that poop?” The question just popped out.
Bunny canted their head in the direction of the pile and made a big show of drawing breath through their nose. “Poop!”
Prairie walked over and stared down at the pile. It was a hazy charcoal gray, almost like it was made of clouds or smoke. Despite Bunny’s dramatic sniffing it gave off no obvious aroma. Still Prairie did not need to stoop and examine it closer to determine that it was, for certain, horse droppings. That was obvious from the bits of straw sticking from the translucent mass.
She looked over to meet One’s gaze. “I think we are on the right trail.”
“Poop! Find!” Bunny bayed. And then Kirby was off and running again. One gave Prairie a fast lingering look before their head snapped forward as their body ran ahead of their intent.
“Poop!” Bunny cried from further up the room. Prairie hurried to catch up before the dog left her behind.
At the end of the room was an arched doorway. The door was slightly ajar and gave quickly to the thrust of Kirby’s shoulder.
“Horse!” Bunny howled out. “Poop! Poop poop poop!”
The enthusiasm was catching, even if it was for piles of manure. Prairie found herself picking up her pace, swinging her arms to give her steps speed, and dodging random plops as she rushed to keep up with her buddy. Buddies. Sometimes the distinction was hard but Hello, Bunny, and One were so clearly their own selves despite sharing a single body that Prairie determined they were individuals not a single entity. So, buddies.
“Poop!”
Holy sh—uh, manure, that was Hello. Saying something other than Hello. How disconcerting. It was great they could say more than Hello but did the addition to their vocabulary have to be Poop? Eesh!
The door opened into a long, dark hall. Torches marched in even spaces along the walls, casting pools of light that were enough for Prairie to keep her steps even and to avoid the piles of ghost – no, dream – manure.
At the far end of the hall, far enough it was a challenge for Prairie to see in the uneven light, Kirby came to a halt. A screeching halt. A spinning screeching halt as their claws careened over the marble floor and their body torqued so their butt was facing in the forward direction and their faces were pointed at Prairie. Those faces reflected three very different examples of shock as their body continued across the slick floor before fetching up against the wall.
“Fire!” Bunny howled.
“Fire?” Prairie quickened her steps until she felt like her feet were a blur. She almost barreled into Kirby before she could stop herself. As it was she had to pinwheel her arms to keep herself upright.
It became clear very quickly what Bunny was hollering about. There was another arched doorway. This one had a fully open door beyond which a bonfire reached towards the ceiling. No. She squinted. Not a bonfire. Dogs. Big, towering dogs made of fire. So tall their heads almost brushed the ceiling that had to be twenty feet high.
For a moment Prairie just goggled at the sight of the gigantic, fire creatures. She threw her hand up to shield her eyes and attempted to peer past the dogs. Tears burned her eyes and she had to avert her gaze to protect her skin from the heat pouring off the creatures.
From behind the shifting wall of fire dogs Prairie could hear cursing.
“Ow. Mother fucker! Damn it!”
Prairie tilted her head so she could squint from the corner of her eye. “Kim?”
“Prairie?”
“Wa-ooo!” Kirby came to stand with braced legs next to Prairie. It was Bunny who howled. “Found!”
Without shifting her focus from the fire, Prairie dropped her hand onto Kirby’s shoulder, butting against her hip.
“Found.”
Kirby’s shoulder bunched, like they were readying themselves to dash into the flames.
“No!” One snapped.
“Find!” Bunny whimpered.
Prairie patted Kirby’s shoulder. “Kim. Can you get your dogs to retreat?”
“No?”
“No?”
“Every time I do this black horse tries to grab me with its teeth. The dogs are keeping it at bay.”
“Oh.” Prairie thought a moment. “Is it from the front or back?”
“Both. But mostly the front.”
“If you call the dogs away from the door Kirby and I can join you.”
“Give me a mikro.”
Prairie could hear Kim’s voice washing in and out around the crackle of flames. “Great. Protected. Appreciate you. Fine. Yes.”
It took more than a mikro but eventually the large fire dogs close to the door padded forward, clearing the door so Prairie and Kirby could move forward. Kirby took a step then stopped and jumped back, its front foot lifted and quivering. Prairie looked to One.
“The floor is hot.”
Prairie blinked to clear her eyes from the fire flash and looked into the other room. Kim’s form was kind of visible, with a bit of a halo, sitting against a wall with her knees bent.
“Kim?”
Kim turned her head to look at Prairie. “Hmm?”
“Can you do something about the floor?”
“The floor?”
“It’s hot.”
“Oh.” There was a long pause and then Kim shook her head several times. “I bashed my head on the floor when I fell. Kind of fuzzy. Here.” She whispered something Prairie couldn’t quite hear and then a breeze whipped through the room, flowing out from where Kim sat and then over where Prairie and Kirby stood at the door. The short hairs around Prairie’s face whipped back with the enthusiasm of the wind.
One looked at Prairie then looked at the floor beyond the door then took a tentative step forward. He breathed a long sigh and padded forward another step before turning to look at Prairie. “Better.”
“Thanks!” Prairie called into the room.
“Welcome. Any chance you have a headache potion? Or an ass ache potion? I can’t decide which hurts worse.”
Prairie patted her pockets and pulled out a small pill. “I have a pain pill.”
Kim turned her head and then made ‘gimme hands’. “Please. Apparently I was pulled up on a horse’s back–” she tapered off then corrected, “a nightmare’s back and was riding off who knows where. Fire snatched me free but it couldn’t catch me. I guess Air tried but I fell a little too fast and the horse jerked away from the fire which made my fall weird. And anyways.” She rapped her knuckles against the marble floor. “I hit like a stone. I have to thank Air for trying or I suspect my brain would be splattered on the floor instead of just feeling like it is.”
“Lucky.” Prairie walked over and held the pain pill out to Kim who snatched it and shoved it into her mouth before dry swallowing it.
“Yuck.”
“Unfortunately they don’t work as fast as a potion.”
Kim shrugged. “Better than nothing.” She grunted. “I think I hit the wall on the way down.” In evidence she turned so Prairie could see the right side of her face which was reddened. Some of that was probably reflected light from the fire dogs bracing on that side but it was also pretty apparent that she had come into contact with something hard. Something hard being the wall but also came into contact hard.
Prairie winced and moved closer with her hand out. “Can I?”
“Sure.”
She very gently took Kim’s chin in her fingers and tilted it so she could examine the skin of her cheek. “Hurts?”
“Like a wall to the face.”
“The pill should help.”
“That would be nice.”
Prairie dropped back when Kim shoved her palms against the wall and rose to her feet. She leaned her head back against the wall and blew a long breath towards the ceiling. Then she blinked and focused on Prairie. Prairie leaned in and stared into Kim’s eyes, assessing her pupils.
“Your pupils are evenly contracted. I don’t think you have a concussion.”
“That’s something.” Kim blinked slowly then turned her head so she could look out over the blazing fire dogs to her right. “We need to find the others.”
“We do.”
“Any thoughts?”
“Poop.”
Kim did a double take. “Poop?”
“Poop!” Hello whoofed. “Poop!”
“Did Hello add a word to their vocabulary?” Kim shot the question from the side of her mouth.
Prairie couldn’t suppress the giggle that came out. “Yes. Poop.”
“Poop!” Hello repeated then pressed their nose to the floor and took a big sniff.
Kim narrowed her eyes on Hello then winced. “Yeah. That was a bad call.” She pressed her fingers to the space between her eyes, smoothing her thumb in one direction and her index finger in the other along the line of her brows. Then she shifted a little to look at Prairie around the barrier of her hand. “Poop?”
“There’s ghost poop. Actually dream poop? Ghost poop isn’t a thing.”
“Good to know. About ghost poop. But, there is dream poop?”
“Kirby and I followed a trail of it. I can’t tell if it continues because fire is very bright.” She shielded her eyes with her hand to make her point.
“Oh. Well, if they go away this happens.”
Kim reached out a hand and laid it on the back of the closest fire dog. It winked out of existence and then all the others did too. The brightness dropped about 90%, the area now lit only by evenly spaced torches on the walls of the room. Within a mero there was the sound of hooves on marble and a mikro later a dark figure mounted on a dark horse clopped into view.
It was a little hard to tell details of the figure as it was made of writhing shadows but based on the way it sat the horse it appeared to be a woman riding sidesaddle. The horse drew closer to Prairie and Kim, keeping a sedate pace, and the figure reached out an arm towards them. Before it could make contact fire dogs burst into view. The shadowy figure was chased into ribbons of gauzy darkness by the brightness of the fire dogs and then dissipated completely.
“Dreams don’t like light.”
Prairie nodded. “We can use that when we find the others.”
“Anyhow. Poop?”
Prairie considered their options. “If you let the fire down the riders come. But if you keep it up the poop, I assume, disappears. So, we can’t follow it. I have a feeling this place is very large so going room to room would take a while.”
“I mean, it’s an option.”
“Reaching you was fairly straightforward. A single hallway leading to a room leading to another hallway. I guess we could just start forward and hope that continues.”
Kim shrugged. “Sure.”
With that she made a small noise and suddenly the very large, very protective fire dogs shrank down to the size of normal dogs. Albeit larger normal dogs, like shepherds or mastiffs, but they shrank.
The dogs flanked Kim on either side. Sparks formed the ruff of their doggie manes but they stayed very close to the base form of the creatures so they didn’t prove any threat to Prairie when she fell in beside Kim with Kirby ambling along on her free side. When she cast a quick glance behind her she saw another pair of fire dogs taking up the rear of their group. They cast a mellow glow that formed a circle of light around their small group, reflecting off the marble floor.
That reminded her. “The floor was hot when we found you.”
“Okay?”
“Usually your friends don’t affect the environment when they come to you.”
“Usually I call them. And I ask that they not radiate heat if it will hurt you guys. I didn’t call them this time.”
“They act independently?”
“They are always independent. They have their own purpose. I’m just lucky that they like me enough to help when I ask.”
“Oh. Okay.”
There was a door on the far side of the room. They approached it and then went through to another long hallway lit with torches. It was all very repetitive.
“Kim?”
Kim paused just beyond the door and looked at Prairie who’d fallen back so she could file through the door with Kirby at her side. “Yeah.”
“May I touch you?” At Kim’s confused look Prairie hurried to explain. “I’ve noticed you have some issues with people touching you and I didn’t want to overstep.”
“Oh.” Kim worked her jaw then wet her lips. “I didn’t realize it was obvious?”
“Kind of no? But being a trauma nurse I’m trained to catch nuances. For diagnosis. It seems to carry over into my real life though.”
“Why do you want to touch me?”
Prairie cocked her head. “Doesn’t this all seem a little too uniform? Repetitive?”
“I guess. But what does that have to do with touching me?”
“People get pinched to see if they are asleep.”
“And you want to pinch me.”
It wasn’t a question but Prairie responded just the same. “I do.”
“To see if I’m asleep.”
Prairie nodded hard enough she felt her ponytail swish against her neck. “I didn’t think I was asleep until I hit the ground when Kirby grabbed me from the horse I was on. So are we awake? Or is this another dream? In a dream?”
“Pain will clarify that?”
Prairie shrugged. “I don’t know but can it hurt?”
“Yes. It can.” Dry. So dry Prairie almost coughed. “The aching ass and head aren’t enough?”
Prairie shrugged. “Maybe?”
Kim heaved a sigh and held out her arm. “Go for it.” She winced in advance of the promised pain.
Prairie reached out and twisted her fingers around the muscle in Kim’s forearm.
The problem of this occurred to Prairie as Kim cried, “Ow!”
“If we are dreaming and Dream-You knows I’m trying to cause you pain would you feel it? In the dream?”
“No clue. Not a dream expert. But I think eventually we just have to accept that whether we are awake or dreaming we are awake we have to continue under the hope we are awake. If that makes sense?”
“It does. As much as any of this does.” Prairie swept her hand out to indicate the castle and the torches and the fire dogs and Kirby and all of everything they were seeing as real. Because what was truly real when ARFA was involved?
That was something she’d been toying with for a while and she had not come to a good conclusion beyond she had to believe in something being real and it might as well be this group of friends and the adventures they had. Even if they were a dream or some really strong hallucination generated by a machine or—There were too many “or”s and they’d consume her if she focused on them too much. So, she just went with the reality she knew to be real was in fact real.
She shook off the rumination.
“I think that pill is kicking in. Let’s move before it fades.” Kim jerked her head to the side, indicating moving forward, then winced. “Kicking in. Not kicked.”
“I’m sorry.” Prairie gave Kim an encouraging look. Her instinct said to gently touch the other woman’s arm but after their conversation she knew to hold that back. Not everyone responded to a touch – gentle or otherwise.
Kim pressed her hand above her eyebrow, screwed up her mouth, then focused on the darkened hall leading away from them. The fire dogs ran ahead of them and Kim, Prairie, and Kirby hurried to keep up.
They continued this through three more doors which lead to another room, this one hung with teal fabric but otherwise looking very similar to the first room with the rose walls with suits of armor and shields and weapons, another hall lit by intermittent torches, then into another room. This one had bronze fabric on the walls. It was as empty as the rose and teal rooms. Also with suits of armor and weapons and shields on the walls. But, unlike the rose and the teal rooms the bronze did not have a door on the far side.
Kim stopped, fists on hips, and stared where the door should be based on where it had been in the rose and teal rooms.
“No door.”
“No door.”
Fists still firmly on hips Kim stalked the length of the room in one direction. When she hit the far wall she pivoted and doubled back then followed the wall to the other side of the room. Prairie stood and watched the movement, her head moving like she was at a tennis match. She looked down and saw both Bunny and One were doing the same. Hello was staring at the ceiling.
Prairie tilted her head back to do the same because maybe Hello was seeing or sensing something the others were not.
“Hello?” She asked.
“Hello?”
“Do you see something on the ceiling?”
Hello shifted their gaze to Prairie. “Hello.”
Was that a “yes” hello? A ‘no” hello? A “I have to potty” hello?
Probably not the latter. Prairie had never seen Kirby pee. Or eat. Maybe because they weren’t really a dog? Maybe manifested psychopomps didn’t pee or eat? It wasn’t something she’d ever really thought about.
Kim tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. “Nothing.”
Prairie squinted her eyes then screwed up her nose. “I think you are right.”
“This can’t be the end.” Kim went quiet and her gaze scanned the room but it was clear she was not actively seeing the space around them. Finally she focused on Prairie. “I’m estimating, based on the amount of distance we covered and the relative dimensions of the castle from the outside, if we are to believe that they maintain unchanging and who knows about that. Whoa.” She stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. “That sounded really convoluted.”
She spread her hands apart and formed a rough rectangle then moved the right up to define the height of the space she was mapping out. “The keep should have several floors if nothing else and we have not ascended. So, unless we missed a door or doors there has to be a set of stairs or several sets somewhere. Hence, this cannot be the end and–” she turned her face upwards to glare at the ceiling. “ARFA or this castle or a combination of the two are fucking with us.”
Prairie shifted her gaze around to see if ARFA had responded in any way. It had not. Well, okay.
“There has to be a way forward or up or something then.”
“Logic says that’s– Ah!” At Kim’s cry Prairie spun to look in the direction the other woman was pointed. A rider approached on a dream horse. Instantly the two fire dogs flanking Kim stepped forward and grew until they stood about shoulder height to Prairie, casting Kim and Prairie in a bright light.
The rider didn’t seem phased. Perhaps because it wasn’t targeting them? Instead it rode past and Prairie could see a second person mounted behind the rider, arms wrapped around the rider’s waist. They had a hazy look to them, not quite matching the rider and horse but also definitely not solid.
As Prairie watched the horse rode up to the wall she and Kim stood in front of and then walked right through it. Prairie slanted Kim a look. “I think I know how we go further.”
Kim planted her fists on her hips and glared at the wall. “That makes no damned sense! There has to be a way for people to move through the rooms. Unless this is a castle built for dreams.”
“Maybe it is.”
“Really?”
Prairie shrugged. “Maybe in the original story it is a normal castle with normal rooms and normal ways to move through those rooms, but this isn’t really the original story, is it?”
“Irritating.”
“Me or my logic?”
Kim snorted. “The logic. And not even the logic so much as the reality that you are acknowledging. This isn’t the original story. ARFA is fucking with us. We have to accept that. But it is irritating. So–” She stared at the wall and then sighed hard. “The only way past this point is on a dream horse but if we are on a dream horse we are probably asleep and part of the dream in which case what keeps us on point? Nothing.”
Prairie turned to Kirby. “You can get me off the horse, right?”
One gave her a solemn look. “Of course I can.”
Then Prairie turned to Kim. “I’m guessing your elements can get you off again.”
Kim screwed up her mouth. “No question. But maybe this time I won’t get bashed into a wall.”
Prairie was pretty sure the spray of sparks from the fire dogs looming over them was a fire equivalent of laughter. Kim throwing her hands up and narrowing her eyes on them pretty much confirmed it. And when she said, “Not funny!” Prairie was sure of it.
Kim stared into the air for a moment. Or, probably stared at Air. It felt like that should be capitalized to differentiate. After a mikro or five Kim focused on Prairie again.
“We won’t be taken unaware again so this should be far smoother.”
“Great.” Prairie turned to look in the direction they’d come and from which the rider had appeared. “Now we just need a rider or two.”
“Any idea how we make that happen?”
“Patience.”
“Not my strong suit.”
“No kidding.”
Kim widened her eyes. “Prairie? Did you just sass me?”
“I can sass. I am very sassy.”
One snorted and butted her with his head.
Bunny lowered their head and sniffed the floor. Then shifted and sniffed another inch to the left. Then did the same to the right. Then lifted their head and looked at Prairie. “Find?”
“We need a ride first, Bunny.”
“Ride?” Kirby’s shoulder dipped and Bunny gave her an entreating look. “Ride!”
“No, Bunny,” a smile curved Prairie’s mouth. “Not you. A horse. Or two.”
“Ride two horses?”
“Two people. Two horses.”
“Yes.” Bunny’s head bobbed. “Two.”
A clop of hooves on marble signaled the approach of a dream rider. Prairie patted her side and looked into One’s eyes. “I think you should catch a ride with me and then separate.”
“As we did before. Yes. That is a wise plan.”
“Thank you.”
Kirby dissipated into something resembling the shadowy substance of the dream riders and mares. The haze coalesced and snaked towards Prairie and a mikro later she felt the subtle weight of Kirby settling against her side. She shifted to look at Kim who then shifted to look at the fire dogs.
“I think you need to disappear so the rider can get us.”
Two of the dogs immediately dispersed on the air. One of the dogs gave her a long look and then wandered towards the far wall, taking its light with it. And one just stared at her. Prairie couldn’t be sure because fire dog features were not quite as defined as say One, Bunny, and Hello’s were but she was fairly sure the fire dog was questioning Kim’s choices.
Prairie was kind of doing the same. Not Kim’s choices per se. Rather their shared choice to let themselves be carried away by a nightmare. Even if they had a plan to get out of it there was a chance it wouldn’t work. She didn’t think there was any other option but still this was a bit of a leap of faith.
She had no more time to think or regret or consider if there was any other options because the dream rider coalesced a short distance from she and Kim then picked up its pace. Right behind it another formed. Almost like the dreams knew they each needed a ride.
Or, probably ARFA knew. As the mare’s teeth closed on her sleeve and yanked her off her feet Prairie had a very small window to hope that this fulfilled this part of the test ARFA seemed to be giving them.
One moment she was watching the bronze wall tilt as she was yanked up and back, the next she was in a field. The sun was warm on her face. A prickly wool blanket pressed against the palms of her hands which in turn pressed against the ground. She turned her head and smiled at the picnic basket sitting on the checked surface of the blanket. A noise drew her attention to the left. She turned to focus on the man leaning back on his elbow next to her, chin propped in his hand.
And bam she was hitting a marble floor butt first. She had a mikro to relax her muscles as she hit and to curve her neck so her head remained clear of the stone. Her shoulders collided with warm muscle and fur instead of the hard floor. She turned her head to see Kirby lying on their side, front paws on her ribs and the tongues of all three heads lolling in doggie smiles.
Seeing her attention One instantly sobered. “It appears to have worked.”
Prairie nodded then smoothed back the hairs that had escaped her ponytail before rolling to her side and away from Kirby. Immediately she cast her gaze around, looking for Kim. It took a mikro but then she found her friend floating a short distance from the floor about a third of the way across the dimly lit hall they found themselves in. More stone floor. More torches interspersed on the walls. Very much a place that didn’t call to linger but practically screamed “And we’re moving. We’re moving.”
Responding to the imagined prompt, Prairie rolled to her knees and then gained her feet. Kim did the same then turned and murmured something to the air. Four fire dogs sprang into life from the space around her then padded out a distance to form a rectangle around Kim, Prairie and Kirby.
Kim looked down the length of the hall. “And we’re moving.”
Prairie frowned at her. “Did I say that out loud?”
“You did.”
Kirby nudged Prairie’s hip. When she looked down One said, “You did.”
“Oh.” Prairie grinned and started moving down the hall. “I guess we are.”
At the far end of the hall was another door, partially ajar. Prairie looked at Kim who lifted a shoulder and indicated the door with a lift of her chin. Taking that direction Prairie pressed her palm to the door and pushed it fully open. As she did so she considered why she wasn’t considering pulling her weapons. Maybe it was the silence. She’d noticed it upon first entering the castle. Or coming out of the first dream. Or something. It was an odd silence. Not so much odd in its silence, but odd in the fact that it was so silent. Which barely made sense.
“It is very quiet.”
Kim nodded. “You’d think there’d be some sound. Not creaking floors since,” she tapped the floor with her toe, “stone. And not creaking walls–”
“Because stone.”
“Yep. But, even in the dead of night my place isn’t completely silent. I live alone so no rush of someone else’s breathing or anything but there’s always a hum or a pulse of energy or something.”
“I’ve always thought of it as the sound of Magick. Or my brain’s interpretation of it.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense. If Magick is a current, which I think it is based on how we interfere with electricity which is another current, then it would account for the hum or the buzz of an empty house. Only this place–”
“Is completely silent. No hum.”
“No hum. You also notice,” Kim tapped her foot on the floor, then tapped it with more vigor. “No sound.”
“Oh.” Prairie stared at Kim’s foot then shifted her gaze to look around. “You’re right.”
“Also,” Kim swept her hand to encompass the two fire dogs in front of them. “No crackle. Or flare. Fire always has a sound A rhythm. And there is none.”
“Makes you wonder if we are asleep.”
“And sharing the same dream?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. It is possible.”
Kim frowned. “My brain hurts.”
“The pain pill isn’t working?”
“No, it’s working fine. Just thinking about too many impossible things at the same time makes my brain hurt.”
“Oh.” Prairie nodded. “It makes me feel dizzy.”
“That too.” Kim shook her head and took a deep breath through her nostrils before shifting her gaze to encompass the room they’d entered.
It had the same marble floor. Well, the floor was marble but this marble was dark with silver veins and white flecks. The walls appeared to be covered in fabric. This was a deep crimson and the fabric looked like maybe it was velvet. Considering the length and breadth of the room that was a lot of velvet. Prairie’s mind boggled a bit considering the cost of it all.
Of course it wasn’t real so cost was probably not a big issue!
Where the other three rooms they’d entered were lit by torches mounted on the walls this space had a series of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. They were brass-toned, as best Prairie could tell, or maybe they were gold. Again, no expense incurred in an altered reality.
Where the other three rooms were large but still within the parameters of a social space within a castle, this room was clearly meant to be a ballroom based on the size. And the lighting. The red of the walls made it appear slightly more intimate but that effect was negated by the sheer length, breadth, and height of the space.
Kim had turned to peer along the wall to their right. “Prairie?”
“Yes?”
“There are a lot of doors.”
“What?” Prairie shifted her attention from the ceiling to follow where Kim was looking.
Slowly she tracked her gaze down the length of the wall. Her gaze drifted over one, two, three and then four doors. A sense of certainty in her chest, she shifted to look at the left wall where there were an additional four doors widely spaced along the length. She squinted to try to see down the length of the space to the far wall. The brightness of the chandeliers made it less difficult to discern that wall and the two doors in it.
She turned to the right wall. Counted again. Turned to the left. “Ten. I’m sensing a pattern.”
“I’m sensing that this isn’t going to be the cakewalk it’s been up to now. How do we decide?”
“Maybe we explore each one?”
“I’m not saying we don’t have all day because we might, but I am saying I’m really not feeling exploring ten different directions.”
“Will it sound lazy if I agree?”
“Did it sound lazy when I said it?”
“Yes,” One gave an exaggerated cough to cover which was very comical.
Kim narrowed her eyes on Kirby then gave an equally exaggerated shrug. Then she shifted back to assessing the ballroom and its ten exits. Well, eleven? Because they entered in one?
Prairie turned just to confirm and, of course, the door they entered through was gone. Because ever forward, right?
“What?”
Prairie turned at Kim’s question. “What?”
“No,” Kim shook her head and waved her hand vaguely at shoulder height. “Air.”
“Oh.” Prairie nodded like she understood. Which she maybe did. For sure she’d been ‘caught’ many times talking to people others couldn’t see. She was probably the most likely of their group to get Kim talking to invisible people. Or things.
Which, actually, well… As Kim held her conversation with the air, Prairie straightened her shoulders, lengthened her spine and then took a deep breath before relaxing until she felt like her spinal cord was melting into her hips. As she did so she released her hold on her Magick.
Hello?
Kirby shifted next to her, bumping her hip, and Hello looked intently at her. She shook her head then lowered her eyelids to half-mast as she focused her Magick further.
Hello?
And she suddenly realized why the silence had bugged her so much. There were no spirits. Not even the hint of one. She was so used to the low-level susurration of spirits affecting the Real, stirring up their own currents that added to the hum she experienced as Magick, the complete and utter lack of it was jarring. Her conscious mind must have needed time to catch up with what her Magick and her subconscious had internalized.
It was another argument that none of this was real. Not Real, like the world that was not spirit. But real as in not fake, not manufactured, not something that wasn’t quiet a dream spun up by the will of a machine.
She cast back through her memory, trying to recall if she’d sensed this silence on their other trips through ARFA. But her friends were just so loud – physically but also in their very presence – that it was impossible to not hear them. And hearing them meant not hearing the subtle shift of spirits altering the tide of reality. It was very possible, and she was thinking likely, that spirits did not exist within this construct. Unless they were devices of ARFA.
Which started that whole brain spiral again of if the Real was created by ARFA were the spirits she encountered an extension of ARFA? Code, as Abe referred to it?
Genuinely there had to be a point where she just let go and let God. Or ARFA.
And around she went again. Enough!
Luckily for her sanity Kim took that moment to speak. “Air is going to explore the ten directions. Hopefully it will find some sign of which way we need to go. Even better maybe it will find the others.”
Prairie lifted her hand and made a big show of crossing her fingers. “Let’s hope!”
Enter The Woods 