The King of the Hippos stepped toward the river bank. He placed a foot upon it, pushing half his body from the water. Moss and water dripped from him. He was the fattest, most powerful creature Moonmist had ever seen, larger than five horses.
"Yet the river remembers," he rumbled. "The Guardians of the River remember." He roared again, showing his teeth. His mouth was so wide, Moonmist knew he could swallow her whole. Yet she refused to run. She could not. Not while her people needed her. Not while Dream was in danger.
"The war between Yor and Phobetor is being fought," she said, pushing herself to her feet. "The war between Dream and Nightmare. Niv herself called out the banners. Will you not fight for Yor, your king and god?"
The hippos rumbled, so loudly that the ground shook and Moonmist slipped again, had to place a hand down to steady herself.
"We have no kings but our own," the hippo rumbled. "Yor! We asked him to name us gods of the river, yet our request was declined. Why would we help the Twig Eater now?"
Moonmist lowered her head and replied in a soft voice. "Because if you don't, all of Dream will be destroyed, including this river."
The hippo laughed. "Let Loor come here, then. Let him try to claim this river."
Tears burned in Moonmist's eyes. "Don't you care if Loor destroys the rest of Dream before he comes here?! Don't you care about any land beyond your own?"
The hippo pulled himself out from the water. He came stepping toward Moonmist, enormous in his girth, waddling yet endlessly powerful. He towered above her, his head larger than the dresser in her old chambers. His flesh was wet and gray, his smell tangy and strong. Moonmist quivered at his strength and power.
"Why should we?" he asked, his face so close to hers, she could feel his breath, scented of grass. "Has the rest of Dream ever cared about these rivers?" He grunted. "Yor never visited here, nor Niv nor Alandria. Only your god Tam ever came to see us, to listen to us. Only Tam came to sing our songs with us, to learn our music and teach us new music."
Moonmist stared back at the hippopotamus, her feathers hanging over her face. She spoke softly. "In the battle I fight, Loor has slain Tam. The furless fox placed his head upon a spike."
For a moment there was silence.
And then, the roar that came tossed Moonmist back. She fell to the ground. All the hippos tossed their heads back, opened their mouths wide, and cried in anguish. The earth shook and the trees quivered. Their fury was terrible and their eyes burned.
She had always imagined the Water Horses to be slow and clumsy, so fat they were, but they were fast, fast as real horses. They bounded out from the water, crashing against each other, thundering in rage.
"Tam! Oh, Tam!" they cried.
"Climb onto my back," said the Hippopotamus King. "Show us the way to Loor. Today we trample the flesh of Nightmare!"
* * * * *
"Go on, pull that beam down," Tasha cried, perched atop a stack of wood, her voice echoing in the watery belly of the whale. "To the left, left!"
Standing in the puddles below, tying together beams of wood, Little Star glared up. "I hear you, mouse. It's not as easy as it seems." The Elorian woman pulled a wooden beam down, wrapped old wires around it, and tied a knot.
Tasha gazed at the raft. She tapped her cheek. "Well, she's ugly, but she'll do."
Little Star tossed a handful of mud at her. "Who you calling ugly, catfood?"
Cade looked up from his side of the raft, where he was tying the last few logs. "She was referring to the raft, Little Star. Not to you."
Tasha nodded, suddenly looking guilty. "Uhm, yeah... the raft. That's the ticket."
As Little Star glared at the mouse, Cade rose to his feet, stretched, and rubbed his back. The other whale dwellers gathered around him. They surveyed the raft in silence. Cade found himself agreeing with his sister. The raft was ugly, a hodgepodge of broken wood and branches strung together with old rope and wires. There weren't many supplies in the whale's belly, but they made the best use of what they found. Cade nodded. She'll do.
He gazed at the whale dwellers. "Are you sure you guys don't want to come with us?" he asked.
They shook their heads. "We're sure," said Rondel, rubbing his eel hands against his pants. "What awaits us outside? We are exiles in Nightmare. Criminals. Unwanted. Let us stay here, where we're safe."
Cade nodded. Only Little Star had volunteered to join them. "I go to Dream," the Elorian had announced, eyes flashing. "To fight for Yor."
Secretly, Cade was relieved. The raft was only large enough for two people anyway.
"When Phobetor is defeated, we'll send word back to you," he told the whale dwellers. "Then you'll be free to live as you will."
They nodded and took turns shaking his hand. A few hugged him.
"Now let's get this raft up!" Rondel said.
Cade nodded, and they hoisted the raft onto pulleys. The ropes ran up the whale's throat, attached to its teeth far above. Cade, Tasha, and Little Star climbed onto the raft. With his left hand, Cade held onto the raft. With his right, he held his makeshift oar.
"Let's go," Little Star said. "Come on!"
The whale dwellers grabbed the pulleys and heaved. The raft began to rise into the whale's throat, moving into soft, moist darkness.
"Goodbye, my friends," Little Star called. "Stay safe."
Tears filled her eyes, and many of the other whale dwellers cried too. With every heave on the rope, the raft moved further up the throat, until the belly disappeared from view, and Cade could only hear dim cries of "goodbye!" from below.
Soon they reached the mouth of the whale. Its teeth stood before them as columns. The mouth was closed tight, letting in no light. Cade jabbed the mouth with his oar.
"Open wide!" he said, hitting the roof of the mouth.
The whale grunted and sloshed its tongue. The raft bounced upon the tongue, nearly flying off the ropes. With a yelp, Little Star fell off the raft. She caught Cade's leg and clung. Tasha too flew through the air. She landed onto Little Star's back and clutched her shirt, barely hanging on.
"Cade, do not do that!" the mouse said.
Cade pulled Little Star back onto the raft. They clung to the wood until the tongue stopped flapping. For a moment they lay, catching their breath.
"I have an idea," Tasha said. She jumped onto the whale's throat and began to run around, tickling. "Go on, cough, monster," the mouse said. "Sneeze!" She danced about. "Something, come on!"
The whale would not budge.
An hour later, they were still sitting on the raft, heads and spirits low. Little Star was chewing on a piece of crust from Cade's breadbox.
"You wanna try tickling it again, Tash?" Cade asked wearily.
Tasha shrugged and stood up. "I suppose," she said and gave a rudimentary tickling to the top of the whale's mouth. "Nothing," she said, jumped back onto the raft, and plunked herself down with a sigh.
They sat for a moment in silence, staring at the teeth.
Suddenly Cade straightened.
"That's it!" he said.
Tasha and Little Star stared at him glumly. "Don't hit it with the oar again," Tasha said. "Please."
"Oh, quiet." Cade cleared his throat and announced loudly: "Rise, mighty Leviathan, god of the depths. Rise to feast!"
Tasha and Little Star stared at him quizzically.
"Are you nuts?" Little Star asked.
"Just wait," Cade said, then cried out, "Rise, great whale of Phobetor! The time to feed has come."
For a moment there was silence.
Then the whale began to move and grumble.
"Take this offering, Leviathan, in the name of Phobetor," Cade shouted.
With a great creaking and moaning, the mouth of the whale began to open. Whooping with joy, Little Star began pulling the ropes, dragging the raft out. Cade joined her, and soon the raft flew from the mouth into the air.
Cade glimpsed a land of brown hills and barbed wire before the raft slammed into the noxious lake, droplets
splashing all around them. At once, Cade began to oar, steering away from the whale. Little Star oared with him. When Cade glanced behind him, he saw the whale roaring, black and bumpy. The factories were far behind.
"We made it, Tash!" he said, when suddenly a great mouth burst from the water, chomping a piece out of the raft.
"Sharks!" Little Star cried.
A second shark leapt from the water, and Cade, heart pumping, slammed at it with his oar. A third shark leapt clear over the raft.
"Quick, to the shore!"
They oared madly, the sharks slamming against the raft, knocking them about. Tasha nearly fell into the water. Cade caught her before the mouse could hit the lake.
A shark bit his oar, shattering it into a thousand splinters, just as they reached the shore. They leapt onto the black earth, hearts hammering, and scurried up the hill.
They fell to the ground, panting, watching the sharks gnaw on the raft. The whale still roared in the distance.
"Great place, this Nightmare," Tasha muttered when she had caught her breath.
Little Star rose to her feet. She breathed deeply for a few moments, then smoothed her shift. "I hope I never see it again," she said and looked east, back to Dream. Tears sparkled in her eyes. "I am returning there." She looked at Cade and Tasha. "Will you come with me to Dream?"
Cade stood up and looked west. His compass pointed there, to the black heart of Nightmare. He shook his head slowly.
"My time here is not done. Goodbye, Little Star. And thank you."
As Cade and Tasha walked deeper into the darkness of Nightmare, the skies grumbling above and storms of thunder booming in the horizons, Tasha stood up on Cade's shoulder and kissed his cheek.
"What was that for?" Cade asked.
Tasha shrugged. "Back in the whale, Little Star asked me to give it to you."
* * * * *
They rumbled across the fields of Dream, thundering, sending clouds of birds into flight. Never had the landscapes of Dream thus trembled. Never had a stampede of such power thus disturbed the birch leaves and set the clouds themselves astir. The River Horses were wroth this day, and anything seemed possible ere the sun set.
Moonmist rode upon the Hippo King, holding onto his back as he ran. As fast as the fastest horse he raced, and he sang as he galloped, a song in his guttural voice, words from the Dreamsong.
And thus was conceived a new god of Dream
the son of Niv and the Enchanted Waterfall
Tam, she named him
Tam, a god of music and art
who filled Dream with his paintings and music
and brought joy to all the kingdom
and to the dreams of all sleepers
The other hippos, hundreds of them, tossed back their heads and howled in anguish. "Tam, oh Tam! We shall avenge you."
The wind blew back Moonmist's feathers, and her tattered cloak flapped behind her. The world rose and fell, and she wept because she had never loved her home more.
She could see the mountains ahead, and soon they were climbing between boulders toward the caves. She could see the battlefield above, a black stain upon the mountainside. Rocks cascaded as the hippos thundered up. A foul stench reached them, and the Hippo King gave a cry and stopped. The others stopped behind him. Moonmist stared up, and her breath left her throat, and a cry fled her lips.
Thousands of bodies littered the mountain. They lay black and countless like the wilted cyclamens. The wind shrieked between the boulders as a wraith.
The Hippo King grumbled. "There is no life here. None have remained."
Moonmist clutched her Dreamblade to her breast, horror swirling through her as she shook her head. "No. They cannot all be dead. Niv said she'd wait... she said...." The words caught in her throat, and she could not speak for her grief.
Niv.... Oh, Niv.
Through the tears that veiled the world, she saw that the rot of Loor stretched down the mountain. A black trail ran from the caves down into the fields, like a knife's scar. Along the black trail, all lay wilted, flowers dead, the grass gone, the earth itself blackened.
"Loor," she said. "He has gone into Dream and left his wilted malice as a wake." She tightened her grip on her Dreamblade. A chaotic smile found its way to her dried lips. "Let us give chase."
With cries of renewed fury, the hippos ran. They thundered down the mountain and entered the black trail, where the air was cold and foul and the sky seemed gray. Their feet pounded upon ashy earth and dead flowers.
"Loor!" the Hippo King cried. "Soon we trample demon flesh."
Moonmist stared into the distance, the wind whipping her face. If Niv and the pegacats were still alive, Moonmist swore that she'd find them.
They thundered across the scorched earth for hours, yet Loor remained unseen. The air stank with rot and ash flew on the wind. Loor is moving fast. As they traversed the landscapes of Dream, anguish filled Moonmist at the destruction she witnessed. These had once been fields of trilliums and goldenrods, but where she rode, Moonmist could see only destruction. Loor and the wraiths had swept across the land and left it desolate. Even the sky was ashy and dark.
Soon the sun descended, yet the hippos would not rest. They kept thundering along the black trail in the darkness.
"Loor, Loor," they chanted, "soon we trample god flesh."
Moonmist felt weariness overcome her. Though the Hippo King bounced as he ran, Moonmist felt herself drifting off into slumber. Her head bobbed, and she lay on her stomach across the hippo's back. As the hippos ran, she drifted off into sleep.
She dreamed that she was back home, in the Begemmed City. In her dream, she lay in the gardens at night, amid the green flowers with the glowing centers that bloomed only in darkness. The world was peaceful, and nobody had ever heard of Nightmare or Phobetor. She lay amid the flowers with Sir Cade, and they held hands and watched the light dragons.
When she finally awoke, it was morning. Moonmist could not believe how long she had slept. The hippos were still running, and every muscle in Moonmist's body ached. She looked around her, blinking in the feeble light, and her heart sank. Still the black trail stretched on, and there was no sign of Loor, but his stench was stronger.
"We're gaining on him," the Hippo King grumbled, noticing that Moonmist awoke. "We caught sight of his camp during the night, but the craven fled. We will trample him soon."
Moonmist could not feel the rage of the hippos, nor their excitement for battle. Only sadness filled her, a great sadness such as she had never felt or imagined, and as she looked around at the world, pain filled her heart. War and wickedness covered Dream now, and wherever Moonmist gazed, she saw only wilted flowers, dead trees, and the bodies of animals. Nightmare had come to her home.
Along Beluga Beach they rode, where once giraffes ran across green hills, and belugas leapt in clear waters. The grass was wilted now, the waters dark and polluted, and the belugas lay beached and bloated upon tarry sand. Moonmist reached into her pocket, and found three of the white jasmines she had taken from the Begemmed City, taken to battle for good fortune. She gazed at the flowers in her palm and wept for Dream. She tightened her fist around them, then let her hand fall to her side, and her fingers uncurl. Thus she let a trail of white, crumpled petals fall behind her as they rode.
"Let this be a wake of beauty here," she whispered. "Let this be a whisper of a dream for thee, nae loor Eloria, my beloved Dream."
The jasmine petals glided behind her, dancing in the wind, and Moonmist watched them for a long time, and it seemed that they could never fall but would keep dancing forever.
In sadness, tears falling, she watched the destruction roll past her. When they came upon Butterfly Valley, where Niv would live, she could not stifle a sob. Even the hippos here slowed to a mournful, solemn pace, heads hung low, as they moved through the destruction of the valley. Loor had torn the flowers away, and the butterflies lay like pieces of burnt paper upon the barren earth.
"For thousands of years," Moonm
ist whispered, "had this place been a beacon of truth and beauty in Dream. Ayendey, til rana del Niv." Farewell, the home of Niv.
Her tears coursed down her cheeks as she rode upon the Hippo King, and the hippos too wept, great tears that crashed upon the earth, soon turning into salty streams that swept the dead butterflies away. Their river of tears flowed upon the countryside. May the tears of good creatures wash some of this evil away. Let whoever finds these lands know that not all goodness has perished. Let them know that we have trodden here, and wept.
Through her tears, she saw starlight reflect in the river, and she smiled, then laughed as she cried. There was still goodness here.
It was thus, heavy of heart, that the convoy of hippos, led by Moonmist of the Begemmed City, came upon Loor in Sunflower Corner. The sunflowers were blackened now and wilted, and Loor stood upon Dandelion Hill, which had become a gray heap. Surrounding the sad god stretched hundreds of wraiths.
"You are too late," Loor called down to Moonmist, and he laughed a deep laugh that echoed across Dream. "Dream is mine now, girl. So are Niv and her pets. Turn back lest I claim you too."
Moonmist shook her head and spoke softly, so softly even the hippo she rode could not hear her, but she knew Loor could hear.
"Not while there is still breath left in me."
The Hippo King raised his legs then, and kicked the air, and tossed back his head and howled. Behind him, three hundred hippos, huge and terrible in their fury, howled with him. Moonmist held on tight as the world trembled, and when she caught the flash of fear in Loor's eyes, she smiled wryly.
"We offered you a home here, once, many years ago," she said to the Sad God. "And yet you betrayed us, and now I will show you no quarter. I am not Yor, Loor. The Twig Eater would have spared you, so might have his daughter." She raised the Dawnstone above her head, and snarled, and her hatred and fury surprised her. "I will not."
She screamed then, and the hippos thundered forward in a din that deafened her, and the sky itself trembled, and Loor turned to flee. But it was too late now. He was too slow now.
The Gods of Dream: An Epic Fantasy Page 24
