Bridge of Dreams

Chapter 23

“We’re being followed,” the Knife said as he came abreast of the driving seat.

“The same Clubs who were behind us at the traveler’s well yesterday?” Lee asked. They’d found him a hat with a soft brim that helped conceal the dark glasses as well as provide the extra protection he needed to ride on the driving seat during daylight hours.

When the Apothecary made an odd sound, Lee wondered if he’d asked a question that shouldn’t have been asked.

“Some of my brethren have made sure those Clubs are well behind you and will stay that way,” the Knife said. A moment’s silence, then he added, “Hiring this many Clubs to chase you down takes a hefty bag of coins.”

“Are you wondering if it would be worth switching sides?” Lee asked. He heard the Apothecary suck in a breath, and figured he’d deeply insulted the Knife.

“I’ve chosen my side, and I told you my reasons,” the Knife replied calmly. “But I’m wondering what makes you so valuable—or dangerous—to whoever is changing the city.”

When the Knife said nothing more, Lee thought, Whatever you give to the world comes back to you—and that includes trust. “I’m a Bridge. I have the ability to connect pieces of the world, even pieces that are distant from one another. The men who are changing the shadow streets are called wizards. They’re dangerous men who came from my part of the world.”

“Is that why they’re after you?” the Knife asked. “To force you to make this magic so they can travel to and from Vision?”

Lee shook his head. “At first they wanted to use me to reach my sister, who is their most dangerous enemy and lives in a place that they can’t find by themselves. Now I think they want to stop me from reaching her. Without my…magic…I think the journey to your city would be a long one. And I don’t think anyone in my part of the world knows about Vision, including my sister.” Well, there was Teaser, but this wasn’t the time to tell the Knife about the incubi and the way they could travel through the twilight of waking dreams.

“So the wizards’ enemy won’t be able to find Vision unless you get back to your part of the world and tell her,” the Knife said, nodding.

“Yes.” Lee sighed. “And even if I can get back, whether help can reach Vision will depend on Ephemera.”

“Then let’s hope the world is looking kindly toward us. I’m going to drop back a bit to stay between the Clubs and you, but not so far I’ll lose sight of the wagon. You need to get where you’re going before dark. My brethren will delay some of the Clubs permanently, but there aren’t enough of us who can see the northern community up ahead to keep you safe if enough Clubs have a chance to catch up.”

“If there are that many of the bastards after us, you should stay close,” the Apothecary said. “We can’t afford to lose your skills if there’s a fight.” When the Knife dropped back, he added quietly to Lee, “And I’m not sure he’ll still be able to see the road we’re traveling if he’s too far back. This isn’t a part of the city his guild usually visits. Clubs are dangerous, but they’re hired muscle and don’t stand in the shadows as deep as the Knife Guild.”

“So he could lose sight of us and the Clubs won’t,” Lee said grimly.

The second shutter behind the driving seat opened, and Zhahar muttered at Lee’s left shoulder, “Zeela says she can fight.”

Lee wasn’t sure Zeela was fit enough, but having two people with fighting skills gave both of them a better chance of surviving—and gave all of them a better chance to reach the spot where Vision was connected to Tryadnea. “How much farther?” he asked Zhahar. “Can you tell?”

“I don’t know exactly where the connection is. But it’s that way.” Reaching between Lee and the Apothecary, she pointed.

Thankfully, the road was still going in the right direction.

“We’re close,” she said, withdrawing her arm so that she was no longer immediately visible to anyone they might meet on the road.

“How long will the connection remain once you’re back in your homeland?” Lee asked.

“Since we’re the last Tryad in the city, not long,” Zhahar replied. “Less than an hour, I think. Then Tryadnea will be adrift again.”

Less than an hour is still too long, he thought. If the enemy was close behind them, having that connection last even a few minutes after they crossed it might be too long. So he would need to break that connection and change it into something else as soon as they were on Tryadnea ground.

A sound came from behind him. Not the hummm he associated with Zhahar talking with her sisters. This sounded more like annoyed buzzing. And judging by the way the Apothecary suddenly hunched his shoulders, Lee wasn’t the only one hearing it.

“If you all keep trying to come into view and talk at the same time, at least one of you is going to end up with a sore throat,” he said.

The buzzing stopped.

“You usually whack a hornet’s nest to see what happens?” the Apothecary asked quietly.

“I’m usually smarter than that,” Lee replied.

“Could you try being smarter when I’m close enough to you to get stung?”

Lee huffed out a soft laugh. Then he sobered.

No way to tell if this was going to work. No way to tell if his presence would negate the effort of the others to send out a call for help through the currents of the world. No way to tell anything, but he had to believe that, if Glorianna received the message he’d sent through Kobrah and Teaser, she would help him.

Glorianna would help him. He was sure of that. He believed it with all his heart. But would Belladonna help him?

He twisted on the seat to look toward the window. “Can I ask you something?”

Zhahar’s face appeared in the window. “Sholeh says the community up ahead is an artisan community. When she was researching other parts of Vision, she didn’t find mention of any shadow streets or dark places.”

“Every community has a shadow street of sorts,” the Apothecary said. “But it might not be dark enough to have shadowmen.”

“Why was Sholeh looking for a street like that?” Lee asked.

“In case we needed to try again in a different part of the city.”

“But Sholeh…” Lee paused. Thought. Sholeh definitely belonged to the daylight landscapes. Zeela? Yes, that sister would like the things that weren’t so proper—and might even need to spend time in shadowy places to feel comfortable with her surroundings. “Must be a challenge to find a place that suits all of you.”

No answer.

“Was that what you wanted to know?” Zhahar asked.

Distracted by thoughts of Zhahar and her sisters and where they could live, he’d forgotten what he’d wanted to ask. Something about sisters. Ah yes. “If one of you was upset with someone, would all of you be upset with that person? Could one of you stop the others from helping that person?”

“Damn fool,” the Apothecary muttered as he hunched his shoulders and told the horse to giddyup.

The horse made an effort, probably because it could hear the angry buzzing too.

“Why do you ask?” Zeela growled.

“My sister,” Lee replied quietly.

A pause. Then Zhahar said, “Oh.” She reached through the window and rested her hand on his arm for a moment before withdrawing again. “We might not help with a small thing if we were upset with someone, but we wouldn’t walk away from someone in real trouble. Not if we cared about him.”

Not the same. There was Light and Dark in each aspect of Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar, and that wasn’t the same as Belladonna. Not the same at all.

Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna.

He was going to hope—to believe—that was still true.

Hurry, Zhahar thought. Hurry hurry hurry.

Kobrah, keeping watch out the wagon’s door, gave them constant reports now of four riders—still following from a distance, but closing on them. The village itself was up ahead, and the Apothecary was aiming for it in the hope the Clubs wouldn’t attack them with other people around. But the connection to Tryadnea wasn’t in the village, and once they were out of sight of other people…

*Maybe if we take Lee, those Clubs will leave the others alone,* Zhahar said.

=Not anymore,= Zeela said. =At this point, everyone with us knows more than those wizards want anyone to know. Maybe the Clubs have orders to capture Lee instead of killing him, but the wizards have no reason to think the rest of us are anything but trouble if we’re left alive.=

Shaken by her sister’s assessment, Zhahar leaned out the window and pointed west. “We have to go that way.”

“Let’s see if we can get into the village itself before heading in that direction,” Lee said. “Being the only wagon on the road makes us conspicuous.”

Saying nothing, the Apothecary coaxed the horse into a trot. A short while later, they slowed to a walk as they joined the other conveyances on the main street. Being on horseback and more able to maneuver, the Knife rode up ahead, then returned in a few minutes to ride beside the wagon and report.

“The market fills the center of the village,” he said. “I don’t think wagons or carts are allowed in there once the merchants set up their booths, but even if we did go in there, we’d never get through with all the people on the street. I saw what looks like a western road just before the market begins. When I inquired, a young man confirmed the road headed west, but he said there is nothing but woodland and fields that way because the bridge doesn’t work. He said his uncle, who’s a Shaman, was up here visiting and warned the village not to use that bridge—that it didn’t lead to the fields beyond it that the eye could see.”

“That must be the connection,” Zhahar said.

Lee nodded. “Makes sense. It sounds like the connection turned an ordinary bridge into a stationary bridge that links the two landscapes. It’s not surprising that a Shaman trying to walk across that bridge would sense the other landscape, but I think most of the villagers would have crossed that bridge and ended up on the road they’d always traveled.” But a few of them would have crossed that bridge and gotten lost in Ephemera’s landscapes.

“What about us?” the Apothecary asked.

“Zhahar resonates with her homeland. Her presence should be enough to get us there.”

“Then let’s move,” the Knife said at the same time Kobrah said, “Four riders. Almost on us.”

They turned onto the narrow western road, still moving at a walk while they were in sight of houses and workshops. As soon as the fields were the only thing in front of them, the Apothecary whipped the horse into a gallop.

Zhahar grabbed the window ledge and Lee’s arm. Behind her, she heard Kobrah yelp as the wagon rocked enough to make standing precarious.

“You need to pull up on the other side of the bridge as soon as you can,” Lee said.

“We should keep going as long as the horse can,” the Apothecary argued.

“Unless there are armed Tryad waiting right on the other side, we can’t outrun the Clubs long enough to find help if all of us cross that bridge,” Lee argued. “But I can stop them from reaching Tryadnea.”

=Can he do what he did to Teeko?= Zeela asked.

Zhahar relayed the question and saw the Apothecary tense when Lee replied, “Something like that.”

The Knife shouted. Zhahar didn’t catch the words, only the urgency.

“You sure this is the place?” the Apothecary asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lee said before Zhahar could reply. “Just get us over that bridge.”

“The Knife is behind us,” Kobrah shouted. “The Clubs!”

“Bridge is up ahead,” the Apothecary said.

Zhahar wasn’t sure if he said that in case Lee couldn’t see it or to make sure she was aware of it.

A few lengths from the bridge, the Apothecary eased the horse back to a less reckless speed.

Hurry, Zhahar thought. Hurry hurry hurry.

::I can feel Tryadnea,:: Sholeh said.

“Give the Knife room to get off the bridge, then pull up,” Lee said.

Horse and wagon clattered over the bridge, followed by the Knife, who turned and pulled out a long blade from a sheath on his saddle.

Lee scrambled off the driving seat and ran for the bridge.

Zhahar climbed through the window to the driving seat, jumped down, and ran after him.

Lee dropped to his knees and grabbed the post on one side of the bridge.

“Lee!” she yelled as two of the Clubs rode onto the bridge, with the other pair a length behind.

“Stay back!” Lee snapped. He flattened on the ground, but his hands still held the post.

One of the Clubs was focused on Lee; the other on the Knife. Zeela came into view, ran the few steps between her and Lee, and pulled the knife from her boot.

The Clubs came over the bridge, weapons raised—and disappeared in the moment their horses’ feet would have touched land.

The men coming behind the first pair vanished too, but Zeela could hear them.

“What happened? Where did they go? Where’s the wagon?”

A clatter of hooves, as if the second pair of horses was being turned around. Then no sound from the riders. Too quickly, there was no sound.

Releasing the post, Lee rolled onto his back. “Guardians and Guides, that was close.”

Zeela watched the Knife dismount. She didn’t think a man like him was used to feeling so wary of another man, and she didn’t know how he would respond to a man who could do…What had Lee done?

As Kobrah and the Apothecary joined them, both looking around with dazed expressions, Lee sat up, pulled off the hat, and scrubbed his fingers over his short hair.

The Knife took a step toward them. Zeela stepped in front of Lee, who didn’t seem to notice.

“What happened?” the Knife asked.

“There was a tree on this side of the bridge,” the Apothecary said. “I saw it. Now it’s gone.”

“It’s not gone,” Lee said. “It’s just not in this landscape.”

The Knife shook his head. “What happened to the Clubs?”

“For the moment, this is a resonating bridge. It can send a person to any landscape that resonates with that person’s heart. The Clubs who crossed over the bridge are now in a landscape that matches who they are.”

“Where is this landscape?”

“Don’t know. The other two are still in the northern community—unless they tried to cross the bridge. In which case, they’ve also crossed over to somewhere else.”

“You don’t seem too concerned about that.”

“Why should I be?”

The question seemed to shock everyone—even the Knife.

Chilled by the casual way Lee had just sent two men into the unknown, Zeela sheathed her knife, and Zhahar came back into view.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Finish this,” Lee replied. “This bridge no longer connects your homeland to Vision. I don’t know how long it will take for Tryadnea to start drifting, so we need to talk to your people’s leaders, and we need to do it fast.”

“This leads to our mothers’ village,” Zhahar said, pointing to the cart track. “At least, it did when I left here.”

“No reason why it wouldn’t still lead to the village,” Lee said.

Isn’t there? she wondered.

He looked around, picked up his hat, and headed for the wagon.

The Knife and the Apothecary stared at her.

“Is he going to help us?” the Knife asked.

“Yes,” she replied with all the conviction she could put into her voice. “He said he would, so he will.”

Nodding, the Knife returned to his horse and mounted while the Apothecary and Kobrah returned to the wagon.

=Lee’s sister isn’t the only one who has a dark side,= Zeela said.

*I know that,* Zhahar replied. *But I wonder if it’s occurred to him?*

He had frightened a Knife. He knew plenty of demons who wouldn’t hesitate to kill a human—or kill anything else, for that matter—but in the landscapes he’d called home, he hadn’t heard of anything like a guild of assassins.

Shadowmen.

If he understood the neutral morality and position the shadowmen held in Vision, would his ability as a Bridge make him a shadowman?

He had always considered his power as something neutral. He made a bridge, and what happened to the people who crossed that bridge was none of his concern. People were drawn to the landscapes that resonated with their own hearts. Nothing to do with him.

When he’d been in Elandar and tossed a one-shot bridge at a man who was about to start a brawl, he’d known the man would end up in a rough landscape and might not live to find a gentler one. But the Dark currents in Raven’s Hill had been swollen by the Eater of the World, and that had turned his heart toward darker feelings.

Hadn’t it?

He and Glorianna had the same mother, and through Nadia’s bloodlines, they had a strong connection to the Light. But they also had the same father. A wizard. Whose power had come from the Dark.

Glorianna could command the Light and the Dark landscapes in Ephemera. That’s why she’d been more of a danger to the wizards than other Landscapers. Because her father was a wizard.

Their father was a wizard.

It hadn’t occurred to him until now that he shouldn’t have been able to travel through all of Glorianna’s landscapes. All the daylight ones, sure, but not the dark landscapes. Not all of them. But where she led, he could follow.

Because the power he’d inherited from his father had come from the Dark. Which meant that some of his power as a Bridge also came from the Dark.

Compared to other Bridges, that made him something other than neutral.

When he threw the stone that held a one-shot bridge at Teeko, he’d wanted the man to end up in a dark landscape, and he knew with a bone-deep certainty that Teeko had crossed over to a dark place. He’d known when he turned the bridge that connected Tryadnea to Vision into a resonating bridge that the Clubs who were riding over it to kill him and the others would cross over into a landscape that held dangers they couldn’t begin to imagine. And because they would have killed Zhahar, he had no regrets that those men had little chance of surviving.

What did that say about him?

What did that say?

Zhahar sat on the window seat, her view restricted to the strip of space between the Apothecary’s body and Lee’s. The Knife was riding beside the wagon instead of scouting ahead, because she’d warned the men that people of single aspect usually thought of her people as demons and, therefore, something to destroy, so an armed man riding toward a village would be seen as an enemy.

=We’d get there faster if we walked,= Zeela growled.

::The horse is tired,:: Sholeh said.

*We’re all tired,* Zhahar said.

::Yes, but we didn’t have to pull the wagon, so the horse is more tired.::

Zeela swore.

“Is there any food left?” Zhahar asked Kobrah. She was usually more vigilant about how long they went between meals.

Kneeling on the floor, Kobrah checked the food box. “A couple of dates and a piece of flatbread.” After wiping her hands on her trousers, which weren’t all that clean either, she handed the food to Zhahar.

“Do you want some of the bread?” Zhahar asked.

Kobrah shook her head.

Zhahar ate one of the dates, then bit into the bread, chewing slowly. Zeela came into view and took a bite of bread. Then they insisted that Sholeh eat the rest.

::Will we be home soon?:: Sholeh asked.

=I don’t know,= Zeela said gently. =The village lookouts will spot us soon, I think.=

Unless things drifted on this side too and we’re no longer close to our mothers’ village, Zhahar thought, being careful to keep that thought private.

“Zhahar?” Lee said. “We’re close to some structures. Is that your village?”

While she hurriedly chewed the last bite of bread, Sholeh made noises so he would know they had heard him. As soon as Zhahar came into view, she twisted on the seat to look out.

“Sorry,” she said. “Sholeh needed some food. I can’t see. Can you…?”

Lee leaned to his right, giving her more of a view.

Her heart sank. Did he think she came from such a rough place?

“It’s a camp,” she said, then added silently, Where our village used to be.

“Would your leaders be there?” he asked.

=They would have set up the camp near the connection, hoping we’d get back before Tryadnea went adrift again,= Zeela said. =But the camp and the connection must have drifted apart.=

“They’ll be there,” Zhahar told Lee. She touched the Apothecary’s arm, then pointed toward the right. “Those ropes and posts are pickets for horses. You should tie up there.”

“They know we’re here,” the Knife said quietly, “and I guess they really don’t like company.”

“They’ll have to cope with more,” Lee said as he climbed down.

Zhahar scrambled to get the wagon’s door open. As she came around the side, she saw Lee, the Knife, and the Apothecary standing next to the wagon, their hands at their sides, holding no weapons. Facing them were a dozen Tryad, all armed. And standing slightly in front of her warriors, dressed in fighting leathers, was Morragen Medusah a Zephyra, leader of the Tryad people—and their mothers.

Zhahar rushed over and wrapped her arms around one of Lee’s. As her mothers’ faces kept shifting, she saw the desperate fury and despair over what would happen to the Tryad when the last connection broke completely—and also saw a painful joy that the daughters had returned.

When Morragen came into view and stayed, Zhahar said, “We ask our mothers and our leader to accept the presence of our friends, and to listen to this man. He comes from a different part of the world, and he can help us.”

Morragen stared at Zhahar, then focused all her formidable presence on Lee.

“The connection between Tryadnea and Vision has broken,” he said.

“I know that,” Morragen said.

Under that voice, Zhahar heard Medusah speaking the same words with the same controlled fury—and realized, when Lee stiffened, that he heard that second voice too.

“Yes, you know that.” Lee nodded. “But one—or more—of you have also sent a heart wish through the currents of the world, and that heart wish was strong enough to create a tentative connection to another part of Ephemera. If you act now, I think you can send a message to the person who can connect your homeland to another landscape. But if you do this and she answers, you have to accept that her heart will be the bedrock of your homeland.”

“Do you think we haven’t heard such promises before?” Morragen snarled. “‘Give us your gold, your jewels, your livestock, your crops, your bodies, or whatever else is wanted in order to be accepted.’ The one-faces take and take and never accept, never give anything in return. And now you want the rest?”

“I don’t want anything,” Lee said quietly.

“Nothing?” Morragen sneered.

“Well, yes, there is something. But, frankly, it’s none of your business, even if you are Zhahar’s mother.”

=By the triple stars! Did he really say that? To Morragen?= Zeela sounded shocked, but not anywhere near as shocked as Zhahar felt. Of course, she hadn’t told him about the taboos surrounding any involvement with a man of single aspect, so he had no way of knowing how badly he had rocked the Tryad just now.

::Could have been worse,:: Sholeh said. ::He could have said it to Medusah.::

For the first time in memory, none of her mothers’ aspects seemed able to respond.

“I can assist you in sending a call for help through the currents of the world,” Lee said. “The rest you’ll have to discuss with her.”

“With who?” Morragen and Medusah asked.

Zhahar felt a shiver run through her a moment before Lee said, “With Belladonna.”

Silence. Then Morragen looked at Zhahar. “Do you trust him? Do all of you trust his words?”

“Yes,” they replied. “We trust him.”

Morragen gave the at-rest signal, and all her warriors lowered their weapons. Then she looked at Lee. “What do we do?”

“Want this with everything in you, and say these words: ‘heart’s hope lies within Belladonna.’”

“Should Morragen be the only one saying these words?” Zhahar asked.

Lee shook his head. “The more voices, the more hearts, the stronger the wish will flow in the currents and the faster it will be heard.”

“If we do this, how soon before we have an answer?” Morragen asked.

“I think there is already an access point to Tryadnea in her garden.” Lee waved off questions before they could be asked. “What is important to you right now is that if you truly want her to help, Belladonna can reach us simply by taking a step from her garden to here.”

Morragen studied him for a moment, then nodded. “We will try this.”

::What if Belladonna doesn’t answer?:: Sholeh said.

*She’s his sister,* Zhahar replied. *She’ll answer.*

Turning slightly, Lee looked at the Apothecary, the Knife, and Kobrah. “Since you aren’t from this land, I think it’s best if you three don’t participate. Might tangle things up in the currents.”

The two men nodded. Kobrah said nothing.

“Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna,” Lee said, raising his voice.

Morragen Medusah a Zephyra raised their voices. “Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna.”

The next time, Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar added their voices. After that, one by one, the Tryad warriors joined the chant.

Two people appeared out of nowhere—a black-haired woman with green eyes so cold and deadly even Morragen flinched, and a dark-haired man with sharp green eyes who rubbed his thumb against his finger pads in a way that made Zhahar think of someone striking flint against stone to start a fire.

Was that what he was doing?

“I am Belladonna,” the woman said. Her eyes were focused on Morragen, who had turned to face her.

“I am Morragen Medusah a Zephyra.”

The man’s eyes roamed over the rest of them, assessing them in a way that had Zeela pushing to come into view. Then those eyes passed over her and settled on Lee.

“Hey-a,” he said.

Belladonna looked away from Morragen.

“Lee?” She pushed past Morragen and the warriors as Zhahar released Lee’s arm and stepped aside. “Lee!”

Belladonna let her pack slide to the ground as she threw herself into Lee’s arms. He grabbed her and swung her around. “Glorianna!”

Zhahar sucked in a breath. So did Morragen. The face hadn’t changed the way it did with the Tryad, but the difference between the woman who had appeared out of nowhere and the woman Lee now held in his arms was like seeing another aspect come into view. Everything about her felt as if she were someone else.

Glorianna cupped her hands around her brother’s face. “Oh, Lee. Your eyes.”

“It’s all right,” he said, wrapping his hands loosely around her wrists. “They’re getting better.”

“Let me see.” She reached up to remove his dark glasses, but he pulled his head back. “I need to see.”

Lee let her take the glasses. Reaching behind her, she said, “Hold these.”

Her companion took the dark glasses and tucked them into his shirt pocket.

Glorianna stared at Lee’s still-cloudy eyes—and her face changed as she gave him a hard shove that knocked him back a couple of steps.

“You ass!” she screamed.

“I could say the same about you,” Lee growled. “And if you want to have this out here and now, I’ll oblige you.”

“Oblige me? Oblige me?”

“But first you need to anchor this landscape to one of yours. Tryadnea is adrift in the world and won’t survive long without a connection.”

“It’s connected to the Den,” Glorianna shouted. “A border formed as soon as Sebastian and I crossed over. Which you would have realized if you were using your brain these days to do more than try to look up your ass!”

Lee took the two steps that separated them, his hands clenching into fists. “At least I haven’t been acting like some pouty, prissy prig girl!”

“Idiot!”

“Moron!”

“I’m not the one who let wizards take me to an unknown landscape!”

“And I’m not the one who locked myself into a landscape with the Eater of the World!”

Glorianna balled her hand and looked like she was going for a roundhouse punch.

Zhahar leaped forward to help Lee but was hauled back by the man who had come with Glorianna.

“No no no no no,” he said, pulling her away. “This fight is long overdue, and you do not want to get in the middle of it. Trust me.”

As Glorianna threw the punch, the ground all around her and Lee changed into knee-deep mud. She slipped and landed face-first. Lee, who had jerked back out of reach, fell on his ass. Snarling at each other, they made it upright as far as their knees before they started slinging mud.

“In one of the landscapes, mud slinging is a time-honored tradition for settling some kinds of disputes,” the dark-haired man said as he released Zhahar. “Give them a few minutes. We’ll all be better off for it.” He gave her a smile that said he really enjoyed women. “I’m Sebastian. Are you Zhahar?”

“Yes.”

He looked around, puzzled. “Where are your sisters?”

It was petty to want to unnerve this man because he stopped her from helping Lee, especially since Lee didn’t look like he needed help, but she did it anyway. One by one, the aspects of Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar came into view.

“We,” Sholeh said.

“Are,” Zeela said.

“Here,” Zhahar finished.

Sebastian stared at her. “Guardians and Guides.” Then he let out a wickedly delighted laugh. “Oh, do I have questions, but—” He glanced at Morragen. “I think they should wait for a more appropriate time.”

“Like when my mothers aren’t close enough to hear them?” Zhahar asked sweetly.

Another glance at Morragen. “That too,” Sebastian agreed.

“Did not!” Glorianna shouted.

“Did too!” Lee shouted back as he slung a handful of mud at his sister.

Sebastian gave them a considering look, then shook his head. “They’re still in the ‘nyah, nyah’ stage of the fight, but that usually doesn’t last long.”

“How can you tell?” Zhahar asked.

“I’ve been watching them do this since we were children,” Sebastian replied. “They don’t fight with each other very often, so when they do it’s always the same pattern. Although the mud wallow is new—and wasn’t, I think, something either of them asked Ephemera to make.” Turning away from the mud wallow, he looked Morragen in the eye—something very few people would dare to do. “So. Being the Den’s Justice Maker, I have to ask: why do you think Ephemera wanted to connect your land to a dark landscape like the Den of Iniquity?”

“Perhaps because we’re demons,” Morragen replied coldly.

Sebastian tipped his head. “Nope. I can see why the prissy prigs in the human landscapes would slap that label on you, but while you may be unusual, you’re not a demon race.”

Morragen looked surprised—and curious. “How would you know?”

“First, I’ve seen my share of demons. And second, being an incubus, I am from a demon race.” Sebastian smiled. “Having three lovely faces makes you interesting, but it doesn’t make you a demon.”

“You’re a sex demon?” Zhahar’s voice had a bit of a squeal from Sholeh.

“Yes. No. Sort of. I am an incubus, so I am a sex demon, but I retired from that line of work when I got married. Now I’m the Den’s Justice Maker.” He gave Morragen a “women are wonderful” smile. “You have questions, but”—he listened for a moment to the voices behind him—“all the intriguing questions will have to wait.”

“I didn’t want this for you!” Glorianna’s voice broke. “Not this, Lee. Never this.”

“I never thought you did.” Lee’s voice broke too.

They knelt there, covered in mud, barely moving to avoid falling down.

“You didn’t want to see, but that doesn’t mean I wanted you to be blind,” she cried.

“What are you talking about?”

“You! That last time in the garden. Y-you didn’t want to see me, couldn’t accept what I am now, and I was angry and hurt, but I also knew…” She slipped in the mud.

Lee grabbed for her—and went down with her.

“Knew what, Glorianna?” he asked when they got to their knees again.

“It was time for you to go.” She began to cry. “The heart has no secrets, Lee, and yours was telling me it was time for you to go, to cross over to someplace that wasn’t mine because you needed to be away from what was mine. So that day, when you left the garden, I asked Ephemera to give you the opportunity to find a place that resonated with your heart but not mine. So that you could go and make your own life. Without me. But I didn’t want you hurt. I didn’t want that. Neither part of me wanted that.”

He gathered her in his arms and held her tight. “This wasn’t your doing. It was my choice. Another Bridge got a couple of wizards into one of Mother’s landscapes. They were a mile from a bridge that could have taken them to you. I couldn’t risk that. And not just for you, Glorianna. I couldn’t risk them finding a way to reach the Places of Light. I didn’t expect this to happen either when I threw those resonating bridges into a pileup of bodies. I didn’t expect to end up in a city unlike anything I’d seen before, and I didn’t expect to be held captive. But neither of those things was your fault!”

“You hate me.” Her voice cracked with the pain in those words.

“I don’t hate you. I—” Lee released her and moved back, putting a little distance between them. His voice rang with anger. “I could have reached you, Glorianna. I could have gotten my island into that landscape and reached you, except the damn Magician started that fight and broke my arm, and then it was too late. But I could have reached you, and I’ve only just realized in the past few hours why I could have gotten into a landscape that dark.”

“You could have reached me in that landscape,” she agreed. “Because you’re my brother, you could have reached me. But even using your island to get in, you couldn’t have gotten out—and you wouldn’t have survived. So Michael did what I asked him to do. He kept you safe. The others as well, but mostly you because you could have reached Belladonna, but you wouldn’t have survived. Not with her. Not in that landscape.”

Crying, they hugged each other.

Zhahar felt tears well up and spill over. She looked at Morragen and was surprised by the tears in those eyes. Just as Zeela was the warrior of the a Zhahar Tryad, Morragen was the warrior of the a Zephyra Tryad—and like Zeela, Morragen rarely cried.

“She was a single aspect?” Morragen whispered.

“Yes,” Zhahar replied.

Sebastian cleared his throat. “She split her heart between the Light and the Dark in order to save the world. Right now she’s Glorianna and Belladonna—and she’s trying to learn how to be Glorianna Belladonna again.”

Zephyra came into view. “Perhaps we have some knowledge that would help—at least in terms of learning how to live with two aspects.”

“I guess you would know all about being separate and together.” Sebastian lifted his chin toward the mud wallow as Glorianna and Lee climbed out. “You have a couple of big washtubs or an outdoor trough?”

“Why?” Zephyra asked.

He looked scandalized. “Do you want to let those two into your house to get cleaned up?”

Morragen Medusah a Zephyra stared at Lee and Glorianna. “By the triple stars. I—”

“Don’t feel obliged because of some misguided sense of hospitality,” Sebastian said cheerfully. “Even my auntie, who is their mother, wouldn’t let those two, looking like that, anywhere near the house.”

::Let me ask,:: Sholeh said.

Giving in, Zhahar’s aspect waned so that Sholeh could come into view.

“If the world made the mud, couldn’t it make water for them to wash in?” Sholeh asked Sebastian.

He studied her. “Which one are you?”

“I’m Sholeh.”

Now he grinned. “That’s not a bad idea.” Turning toward his cousins, he said, “Hey-a, Glorianna. If you don’t want to be chiseling mud out of your hair, Sholeh thinks you and Ephemera should call up some fast-moving water that will clean you off before you start to harden.”

“Sholeh thinks that, does she?” Glorianna asked.

“I didn’t say that!” Sholeh squealed. “I didn’t!”

“Not in those words, but that’s what she meant,” Sebastian said.

Zeela pushed her way into view—and noticed Medusah had done the same.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Zeela snarled.

“Priming the pump,” Sebastian replied. His eyes gave her a fast—and thorough—look. “You’re Zeela?”

She held out her left arm, drawing his attention to the scar. “I won that fight.”

“Good for you.” He looked at his cousins. “You two still thinking about this?” He turned back to Zeela. “If your sister Zhahar is…whatever she’s doing…with Lee, you and Sholeh will have to get used to the rest of us. Might as well start now, when the odds are even.”

What did that mean?

“Ephemera, hear me,” Glorianna said.

A moment later, they all stumbled back a few steps as the mud wallow changed into a part of a river.

Sebastian pursed his lips as Glorianna and Lee turned to look at him. “I said fast-moving water. I didn’t say anything about rapids. Neither did Sholeh. I’m not going to guess what Zeela’s thinking.”

“Nobody has to guess what Zeela’s thinking, since she looks ready to punch you,” Glorianna said. “Lucky for you, you’re so damn charming.”

“He’s not that charming,” Zeela muttered.

*Zeela!* Zhahar shouted.

Sebastian burst out laughing. Then he looked at Medusah. “Do you have any rope?”

Following Glorianna’s instructions, Ephemera obligingly made some adjustments to produce a waist-high pool up against the bank and below a short waterfall, a spot of relative calm compared to the rapids roaring around it. With ropes tied securely around their waists, Glorianna and Lee slipped into the pool, while Morragen and Zeela secured the ropes to stone pillars that had risen on the bank.

While Glorianna and Lee let the water pound the mud off them, Zeela assessed the people around her. For all his light words and distractions, Sebastian watched everything that concerned his cousins, as aware of the people around them as she was. The Knife, the Apothecary, and Kobrah, as well as her mother’s warriors, were hanging back enough to be considered spectators rather than participants. As for her mother’s Tryad…

*What do you think?* Zhahar asked.

=I can’t tell if they’re stunned or angry,= Zeela replied.

::Are we safe now?:: Sholeh asked.

Good question. One she thought the Tryad’s leader would like answered very soon.

“Could someone give us a hand?” Lee asked tartly.

Sebastian helped Zeela haul Lee out of the pool and up the bank while the Knife stepped forward to help Morragen pull up Glorianna.

After freeing them from the ropes, everyone stepped back while Glorianna bent to one side and wrung water out of her long hair.

Lee scrubbed his fingers over his head. “Well, that was invigorating.”

Holding out the dark glasses, Sebastian said, “What did you do to your hair? You look like a sheared sheep.”

“It was hot.” Lee took the glasses and put them on. “Short hair was practical. And what do you know about sheep anyway?”

“They rattle less than cows when the demon cycles eat them.”

“That’s because they’re smaller than cows,” Glorianna said, straightening up and pushing her hair back. “And the Den does owe that farmer for three sheep.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll fix it with Dalton.”

“So now that we’ve got…that…settled,” Lee said, as he and Glorianna turned and pointed to two adolescent boys who were standing with the warriors.

“What is it?” Morragen asked sharply. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Glorianna replied absently. Then, tipping her head toward Lee: “You felt it?”

“I felt it.” He wagged his finger and raised his voice. “You two. Over here.”

The boys came forward slowly, their eyes flicking between Morragen and Lee.

*Zhahar, you take this,* Zeela said. *I think the incubus cousin will be more inclined to talk to you than me right now.*

Zhahar came into view and whispered to Sebastian, “What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “Landscaper and Bridge, darling. They’ll tell the rest of us once they have it sorted out.”

“Not here,” Glorianna said when the boys stood in front of them. “But it was here.”

Lee nodded. “We need each of your aspects to come into view and hold for a few seconds.”

The boys glanced at Morragen, whose aspects were continually shifting because it was unclear which of them was best suited to deal with whatever was happening now.

=Mother has never dealt with anyone like them,= Zeela said.

*I don’t think any Tryad has even seen anyone like them,* Zhahar replied.

::There is so much we could learn,:: Sholeh said wistfully.

“Go ahead,” Zephyra said, apparently having decided the heart aspect was the one who should be in view.

The boys’ aspects changed and held for a few seconds before the next set of brothers came into view.

“There!” Glorianna and Lee shouted, pointing to one boy. “Hold right there.”

The boy looked scared but seemed to find reassurance in Zephyra’s presence.

“What are you two sensing?” Sebastian asked.

Glorianna smiled. “He’s a Bridge.”

Lee nodded. “His brothers aren’t, but he is a Bridge.”

“What does that mean?” Zephyra asked.

Lee gave her a brilliant smile. “It means that, with proper training, he can help you keep Tryadnea connected to other parts of the world.”

“Parts of the world that are compatible with your people,” Glorianna added.

Zhahar sucked in air and swallowed hard. Heart’s hope. Heart wishes. In a few words, Glorianna and Lee had said what the Tryad had yearned to hear for generations.

“Well,” Glorianna said. “That will have to wait until we deal with what’s in front of us.”

“Agreed,” Lee said. “You’re sure the border is solid?”

“I’m sure,” she replied with no hint of temper.

“Then the first thing I need to do is break the resonating bridge I made.”

“You think the Clubs can find their way into this land?” the Knife asked.

Lee shook his head. “It’s unlikely anyone from the city will reach Tryadnea. But the people in Vision don’t know about these kinds of bridges, so I’m concerned with someone from that northern community accidentally crossing over and getting lost in the landscapes. They were told not to cross the bridge.…”

“But boys of a certain age might not be able to resist a game of ‘dare you; double dare you,’” Glorianna finished. “All right. While you do that, Ephemera and I will make the cairns to mark the border.” She looked at the camp, then at Morragen, who had come into view again. “Temporary lodgings?”

Morragen nodded. “Our village is an hour’s ride from here.”

“Being a few miles away from a border isn’t unusual,” Glorianna said thoughtfully.

“I’ll go with Lee,” Sebastian said.

“So will I,” the Knife said. “There could be trouble there. A weapon could come in handy.”

Sebastian held up his right hand and rubbed thumb and forefingers together. “I have a weapon, but yours would be more easily understood.”

Zhahar stepped away from him. “You said you were a sex demon.”

“He’s also a wizard, so he does control the wizards’ lightning,” Lee said absently as he turned in the direction of the bridge. “His wife is still working out how much lightning is needed to properly broil a steak.”

“I wouldn’t mind the experiments so much if we didn’t have to eat the failures,” Sebastian muttered, lowering his hand.

::Do you think he’s teasing?:: Sholeh asked.

=Yes,= Zeela replied.

*I don’t know,* Zhahar said. *They’re strange enough that he might mean it.*

Lee turned back to Morragen. “Could we borrow a couple of horses?”

“Horses?” Sebastian sounded pained. “We’ll have to ride horses?” He sighed.

“The man doesn’t blink about riding demon cycles, but he whines about horses,” Lee muttered.

Morragen gave the orders, and three horses were saddled. Kobrah handed Lee his hat. As the men mounted, Glorianna said, “Travel lightly.”

Lee looked at her, standing between Morragen and Zhahar. He smiled. “We won’t be long.”

They rode off, the Knife in the lead.

Glorianna watched them ride away, and when they were distant enough to hide details, Belladonna came into view.

Zhahar stared at the face so alike and yet so different from Glorianna’s. So cold and deadly. She glanced at her mother and saw how intensely Morragen watched the woman who now controlled their homeland.

Belladonna closed her eyes, and Zhahar felt shocked when she heard the faint notes of a tune instead of a third aspect coming into view.

“I hear the music, Magician,” Glorianna and Belladonna whispered. “I hear it.” Then she opened her eyes and said briskly, “Let’s define the border in a way your people will recognize.”

She walked away from them.

Medusah came into view and studied Zhahar. “Who have you brought among us?”

“I don’t know,” Zhahar replied. “Lee was in danger. He could have gotten away alone, but he wouldn’t save himself until he got me home. I did what I thought best.”

“They have powers and magics unlike anything we’ve ever seen, but they recognized that same magic in one of us.” Medusah hesitated. “Zephyra says she felt music when the woman’s core aspect tried to come into view. You felt it too?”

Zhahar nodded.

“A core aspect being remade with music,” Medusah said thoughtfully. “That too is unknown to us. But even if the core can be remade to some degree, I don’t think she will ever be a single aspect again.”

“Do you think you can help her accept what she is now?” Will Lee listen to me when I tell him how I see his sister?

Morragen Medusah a Zephyra looked at her daughter. “I will try.”

Lee reached for the end of the bridge, swore quietly, and stepped back. He turned to look at his two companions.

“Problem?” Sebastian asked.

“Besides having the two of you ready to stab or sizzle anyone who comes over the bridge? No problem at all,” Lee replied.

“Then the sooner you take care of this, the sooner we can step back,” Sebastian said.

The Knife didn’t indicate in any way that he would step back or lower his guard.

Not that Lee blamed the man for being wary of having an enemy reach them from the bridge, but having a wizard and an assassin standing behind him made his shoulder blades twitch. He figured it was a waste of breath to talk to either of them right now, so he focused on the task of changing a resonating bridge back into an ordinary bridge.

Within moments of his breaking the power he had put into it, the physical bridge disappeared.

“Where…?” the Knife asked, looking around.

“It was never part of this landscape,” Lee replied, turning toward the men. “Now it’s completely back in Vision and connects nothing but the road on either side of that creek, just like it used to.”

“Can you give us a minute?” Sebastian asked the Knife.

“I’ll wait by the horses.”

Stepping in front of Lee, Sebastian said, “Glorianna won’t feel easy about asking, and Aunt Nadia and Lynnea won’t feel comfortable asking either. So I will. Your eyes. How bad are they?”

Lee shifted so his back was to the sun. Then he removed the dark glasses, keeping the hat on to provide some protection.

“I can see you well enough to know who you are. This close, I can see your expressions. I know your hair is dark, but if I didn’t already know they’re green, I wouldn’t be able to tell the color of your eyes. Sunlight hurts. Colors are mostly light or dark. Can’t see well enough to read. The eyedrops the Apothecary supplied are reversing the damage the wizards did, but there’s no way to know until the treatment is complete how much of my sight I’ll regain. I can get around on my own in a familiar place, but I’m not sure my eyes will ever be good enough to travel alone the way I used to.”

“How far along in the treatment are you?”

“About two-thirds. Yesterday Zhahar said there was a third of the bottle of eyedrops left.”

“Can’t the Apothecary make more of the eyedrops?”

“I’ll ask, but he told Zeela that what can be restored of my sight will happen in the time it takes to use up that bottle.”

Sebastian sighed. “Then we’ll hope for the best.” He gave Lee a strained smile. “And I hope you and Glorianna work things out so you can spend time in her landscapes again. Lynnea and I would like the baby to know Uncle Lee.”

“What…? Baby?” He gave Sebastian a bruising hug and laughed. Then he released his cousin and slipped the dark glasses back on—and felt awkward, almost shy. “We’ll work things out. Maybe not having one kind of sight has helped me see a few things.”

“Then let’s get back to it.”

They joined the Knife, mounted the horses, and rode back to the camp.

*I think Sholeh should handle this,* Zhahar said as she followed Glorianna to a piece of ground that didn’t look any different from the rest. Medusah also followed, but stayed back far enough to indicate that the a Zhahar Tryad was expected to take the lead.

::Me? Why?:: Sholeh sounded surprised—and thrilled.

*You’re the one who was learning about Vision and different races in Ephemera, so you have a better chance of understanding what Glorianna is doing.*

=And you’re more likely to know what questions to ask,= Zeela added.

Sholeh came into view and watched Glorianna walk back and forth. She wanted to learn, to know about so many things, but it wasn’t easy to ask questions anymore when the asking felt so formal. Before she had been dismissed from the school in Vision, some of the instructors had implied—or said outright—that her lack of intellect wasted time they could spend on more deserving students. Even the ones who didn’t think her stupid were curt because she missed classes. Those things hadn’t diminished her desire to learn, but they had made it harder to approach people—something neither Zeela nor Zhahar would understand.

Before Zeela and Zhahar realized something was wrong—or worse, before the a Zephyra Tryad realized something was wrong—Sholeh blurted out, “What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you to ask me what I’m doing,” Glorianna replied with a smile.

Stunned, Sholeh looked into Glorianna’s eyes.

The heart has no secrets. She’d heard those words when Lee and Glorianna were fighting in the mud, but she hadn’t considered the significance of those words.

Glorianna knew. Sholeh wasn’t sure how she knew, but Glorianna knew why she was hesitant to ask questions.

“Borders and boundaries,” Glorianna said. “A boundary is a place that connects two landscapes that belong to the same Landscaper or connects landscapes that resonate with each other but belong to different Landscapers. Those require a bridge in order to cross between one part of Ephemera to the other. Borders are places that connect two landscapes that belong to one Landscaper and that resonate with each other. No bridge is needed.” She gave Sholeh a considering look. “Until we have a chance to discuss what challenges your people may face when crossing a bridge, having a border is the safer choice. Limits where you can go, but my sense is what you need first is a solid connection to another part of Ephemera.”

Sholeh nodded, struggling to sort through all the words. “Borders,” “boundaries,” “landscapes,” “bridges.” Common words that had uncommon meanings. Lee had talked about these things, but talking about them wasn’t the same as seeing physical things appear and disappear just because someone spoke a few words.

“Give it time,” Glorianna said. “It will make sense. Right now, some decisions need to be made.”

“I—” Sholeh looked back at Medusah, who didn’t step forward. “What kind of decisions?”

Glorianna wagged a finger in a “come here” movement. When Sholeh stood beside her, she pointed at the ground. “This is one end of the border. You stay there.” She took several long steps, then pointed again. “This is the other end. Which means this one is wide enough to accommodate a wagon.”

“Aren’t all of them?” Sholeh asked.

Glorianna shook her head. “Some are narrow enough that only a person on foot or horseback could use them. Even some bridges are nothing more than a couple of planks over a stream—sturdy enough for a person and maybe a horse or cow. How two landscapes connect depends on a lot of things. This”—she moved her finger to indicate the space between herself and Sholeh—“needs to be identified in some way so that people who want to find it can, and people who aren’t intending to cross over don’t find themselves in a strange place.”

Sholeh looked at the ground. “How?”

“At some borders, we use cairns to indicate the spot without calling too much attention to it. The border between the Merry Makers and the Den uses Sentinel Stones because those are common in Elandar, even if they usually indicate a resonating bridge. What we want here is something that would have significance to your people.”

“A triangle of stone,” Sholeh said without thinking. Then she winced. The Tryad had needed to be careful about how much one-faced people knew about them, and they used the triangle for so many kinds of secret communications.

Glorianna thought for a moment, then nodded and said quietly, “Ephemera.”

Two triangles of rough-hewn stone rose out of the ground. The base of the one next to Glorianna faced them. The one next to Sholeh showed the point.

“Coming and going,” Glorianna said, sounding pleased as she examined her triangle. “Walk around to this side and take a look. Around, not between.”

Sholeh jerked to a stop. Or, more accurately, Zeela jerked to a stop, preventing them from darting between the triangles.

“Between is the border,” Glorianna said sternly. “And no one walks through it until I do.”

Blinking back tears, and self-conscious because she’d been reprimanded in front of Medusah, Sholeh scurried around the triangle.

“Do you see?” Glorianna pointed as if nothing had happened. “The triangles point in opposite directions. That’s good.”

“We’re still in Tryadnea,” Sholeh said, noticing how Medusah warily came around the stone to join them.

“And that’s how it should be,” Glorianna said. “You’ll remain in your own land unless you walk between the stones.” Now she looked at Medusah. “You should come with us, since there are decisions that will have to be made for your people. You may want to leave some guards here until you have time to explain what this is and what it does.”

“We’re still not sure what it does,” Medusah said.

“The first time you cross over, you’ll understand.” Glorianna walked around the stones and raised a hand to the three riders. “And it looks like it’s time to confirm what’s on the other side of the border.”