The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  "You are Sapphire? His drake?" Triana asked in reply.

  Sapphire regarded the Were-cat matriarch with a penetrating stare. "You are Triana. His mother," she said after a moment.

  "I am," she said in a blunt tone, now showing the massive creature any fear at all. "What happened to him, dragon? Tell me everything you know."

  "Is he well?"

  "If I can find out what happened, he may recover what he's lost," she replied immediately. "Tell me."

  Sapphire hunkered down so her head wasn't fifty spans over them, and then described things that she had seen. She told them about sensing the other dragon after the restoration of the Weave, and her flight there to defend Tarrin from it after she was fully restored to her rightful power. Then she told them about clawing her way in and challenging the rival dragon, and the most unusual way the battle ended. "He just surrendered," she said in a perplexed tone. "I guess after five thousand years, once freedom was his, he decided to take it despite the situation."

  "What happened to Tarrin after that?" Triana prompted.

  She went on tell them about how Tarrin had brought the Firestaff down and stared at it for quite a while, then took it. She described the fire that surrounded him in detail. "When it stopped, I found him like he was when I brought you to him, Kimmie. Before the fire, he was like he always was. But afterward, he looked like he does now. I didn't know he could do that, Kimmie. I knew you could change into cats, but you never told me you can change into humans too."

  "The Firestaff did it to him," Triana said with a sour look.

  "What can we do, Triana?" Kimmie asked fearfully.

  "Well, we need him to wake up so he can tell us what happened. After that, well, we'll see."

  "What do you mean?" she asked.

  "I guess it'll be up to him, Kimmie," she said with a stern look. "Any of us can restore him. We just have to bite him. But you know the law. It has to be his choice."

  "What kind of stupid remark is that, Triana?" Kimmie flared suddenly. "That's Tarrin in there, not some hinkypink guttersnipe! We wouldn't be biting someone against his will, we'd be restoring an accepted member of Fae-da'Nar!"

  "Oh really," Triana said archly. "If he refuses and you bite him anyway, how do you think he's going to feel about it, girl?" she demanded in a nasty tone.

  "But, but it's Tarrin!" she said worriedly. "He's--it's what he is, Triana! I love him!"

  "I love him too, Kimmie," she said with sudden compassion. "Believe me, it's all I can do not to march right back in there and bite him while he's still unconscious, and he has no idea what happened. But I'm not going to do that. Not yet. Until I can inspect him thoroughly and make sure what happened to him doesn't have any permanent side effects, I'm not going to be rash."

  Kimmie was on the verge of tears, feeling her nose burning. But it was Tarrin! It was unnatural for him to be laying in there the way he was! She sniffled when the tears did come, wiping at her cheek with the back of her paw.

  "I know, cub, I know," she said gently, putting her paw on her shoulder. "I feel the same way. But until we know what's going on, we have to leave things the way they are. And it's not like he died or anything, is it? He's still there, and he's still Tarrin."

  "I guess you're right," she sniffled.

  "What happened to my friend, Tarrin's mother?" Sapphire demanded. "It sounds serious, from the way you two talk."

  "It is," Triana said honestly. "Whatever happened to him stripped him of his Were nature. He's nothing but a human now."

  "Well, fix him," Sapphire told her imperiously. "I know what it's like to be forced to be something other than what you are. If he's become something he's not supposed to be, you have to fix it. Before it causes him pain."

  "I'll do what I can, dragon," she promised. "He's not in a room with a window. Do you want me to make you one, so you can look in and see him?"

  "That crazy Wizard, Phandebrass, he knows a spell that temporarily changes someone from one shape to another," Sapphire said. "I guess I'll have to ask him to use it on me."

  "It only works on humans, but I know a spell that will shrink you, Sapphire," Kimmie offered. "I can make you the size you were before you changed, and it should last about an hour. Will you trust me to cast a spell on you?"

  "I trust you much more than I trust him," Sapphire snorted. "Go get what you need, Kimmie. I want to be with Tarrin."

  "I'll be right back," she said brusquely, then she and Triana went back inside.

  Kimmie was really worried. What could have done this to her beloved mate? It seemed absolutely unbelievable! And yet the proof was laying in that bed in Arlan's room. If Triana said that Tarrin was human, then Tarrin was human. She wouldn't lie about something so deadly serious.

  Her poor mate. Stripped of his Were nature, it was like a human losing his humanity. She just hoped that he wouldn't suffer like that for very long, and that they could restore him to what he was meant to be as soon as possible.

  Tired.

  He was so very tired.

  But he was in a warm bed, and there were soft voices around him. All in all, he was rather comfortable, so much so that going back to sleep seemed like quite the good idea. They were very soft voices, speaking a strange musical language he had never heard before. There was light shining on his closed eyelids. Strange language. It sounded like singing. Maybe he was actually dreaming, and they were nothing but figments of his imagination. Some of the voices seemed harsh, but others were very sweet and melodious. Some were very deep, and others very high. He didn't recognize any of them, though, so maybe it really was a dream. Besides, he was tired. Maybe he should drift right back where he was before he became aware. Yes, just a little more sleep....

  Then he heard a voice he could identify. It was Dolanna. She sounded a bit harried, and her voice was very distant from him, like she was across a small meadow.

  Maybe it wasn't a dream. And maybe what happened before hadn't been a dream either.

  It certainly seemed like a dream. After all, things like that certainly didn't seem very real. It was still fuzzy in his mind, but then again, nightmares tended to be like that. Some kind of wild-looking half cat, half human creature, with burning green eyes and white fur and a tail. She had been naked, and he could only barely recall hazy impressions of him and her wrestling around in a room with a big open window. They'd wrecked the place. She'd broken his arm, torn him up with her claws, but then everything just went...blank.

  He struggled to remember. The last thing he remembered...no, it had to be a nightmare. It was him sticking a dagger in her chest. She fixed him with a baleful look after that, moving her head. She bared fangs, and then sank him into his arm--

  --and then nothing. The next thing he knew, he was just waking up in his nice, cozy bed. It certainly was a nice bed. Duke Arren had been very nice to give him such a nice room, and make sure he got a good meal and a bath. He was a friend of Dolanna's, and he knew Tarrin's father! That surprised him quite a bit.

  Dolanna was speaking in a language he could understand now. "He still has the braid and his brands," she said adamantly. "There has to be some trace of it left. It took it away, changed him, but not completely. If the change had been absolute, then his hair would be as it was two years ago, and the brands would have been wiped away."

  "What is that going to mean?" a stranger asked.

  "I am not sure. Everything that he knew for those two years is gone from him. I can even affect him with Mind weaves," she said in a surprised tone. "For all intents and purposes, he is human, Triana. I think those memories are still within him, but they are lost in the dark tunnels of his subconscious. The change back was not an absolute."

  "Would a bite restore his mind?"

  "I do not know, but I doubt it," she answered. "It would return him to his former condition, but I doubt it would restore his height. That was a function of age, and the age has been purged from him by whatever did this to him."

  "Damn his height. I just want my son
back," the woman called Triana said bluntly.

  "You must go gently, Triana," Dolanna said. "His mind is as it was before he was bitten. I am the only person he is going to know. He will wake up thinking he is in Torrian, on his very first journey from home. And we both know what happened that night."

  "Will he remember that?"

  "I cannot tell you, but I think he will remember some parts of it. Enough for you and Kimmie to startle him. We must introduce you to him very gently, or he will be afraid of you. But what I remember of him from that time should make it easy. He was a very receptive and good-natured boy, and he had a very open mind. As soon as I put his fears aside about what happened with Jesmind, he would meet with you and not be afraid." There was a pause. "He will be nothing like what you remember, Triana. The boy before the bite was a completely different person. It may surprise you."

  "What about his magic?" another voice asked.

  "That is the interesting part," she said. "His powers of Sorcery are still intact."

  "But his Druidic powers are gone," the woman Triana growled. "They were an extension of his Were nature. Without that, he has no power."

  That seemed to upset this woman Triana. Tarrin was rather glad she wasn't mad at him. She certainly didn't sound like she was the type to cross. She reminded him of his mother. Nobody crossed Elke Kael if they wanted to enjoy the rest of their lives in peace.

  "Do not do anything rash, Triana," Dolanna warned. "Remember that his mind is not as it was. If you bite him, the shock of it will cause him to suffer through the adjusting all over again. If he regains his memory, then it may not affect him. But if he does not, then it may be better to leave him as he is."

  "Leave him? That's my son, woman!" the woman Triana snapped hotly at her. "Seeing him like that is the same for me as it would be for you to see your own child laying in a bed with his arms and legs cut off! He managed it once, he'll manage it again. It's that simple!"

  "I can understand that, but you should at least give us the chance to try to restore his memory," Dolanna said in an almost pleading tone. "You know how much he suffered the first time. I do not want to see him have to repeat it!"

  The woman Triana snorted in a peculiar fashion. It didn't sound like a sound a human could make. "You're right," she growled. "I can't bear to see him like that, but we have to try to restore his mind as well as his body. Who he is is what he knows as much as what he is. Without the memories to go with the body, it just won't seem like my son."

  "He is your son, Triana," Dolanna assured her. "When he gets accustomed to you, you will see that. His personality will be different from what you know, but it will be your son. Maybe now you will get a chance to know him as I have known him, to understand why I love him so dearly as a friend. He is a remarkable young man. Perhaps more remarkable in how far he has come than from where he originated."

  There was a long pause. "I think I'd like that, Dolanna," she told her.

  Tarrin decided that it wasn't interesting enough anymore to bother. He drifted back to sleep, wondering just how much of that strange dream he'd remember when he woke up. Boy, he'd have a couple of wild ones to tell Walten and Faalken in the morning.

  Light.

  There was light touching his eyes. It had to be morning.

  Without opening his eyes, Tarrin stirred. He was in a soft, warm bed with covers that felt like silk, they were so soft. He certainly felt rather well, if a little sleepy. The weariness of the days on the road had been completely wiped out by that good night's sleep. Even if he had had a few strange dreams.

  Very strange dreams. Dreams of some great journey or voyage, where he was running off to the far corners of the world. Where he was meeting the strangest people and doing the weirdest things. Travelling across vast plains, sailing in ships across the sea. There were faces in those dreams, but he could never make any of them out, and there had been voices without words. That had been the strangest part. Voices that called, that he could understand, but he couldn't remember anything any of them said.

  Yawning, Tarrin sat up slowly in the bed, still yet to open his eyes. He put his hand down as he rose up, rubbing at one of his eyes--

  --and something pulled painfully at the back of his head.

  Looking down, opening his eyes, he found himself looking at sleek, sheer sheets and a dark blue cover that looked like it was made of satin. They certainly didn't look like the covers that had been on his bed the night before. Under his hand, pinned between it and the bed, was a braid. A braid of very thick blond hair, and from the feel of it, it was attached to the back of his head.

  He moved his hand and picked the thing up. It was surprisingly heavy, nearly as thick around as his wrist, and it had to be long enough to touch the backs of his thighs were he standing. What was this. He didn't have this when he went to bed! Had Faalken convinced Dolanna to come in and play a trick in him? He certainly seemed the type.

  Putting his hand to the back of his head, he realized that it was real. They hadn't glued some woman's braid to the back of his head. It was his own hair. It had to be Faalken. Dolanna was a Sorceress, he was sure she knew some kind of magic trick to make hair grow. Faalken and Walten had probably snuck into his room with Dolanna last night and convinced her to make his hair grow. Then they braided it up the same way his mother did and left him.

  It was about then that he noticed Dolanna. She was laying on the side of the bed--a circular bed!--with her dress on, feet on the floor but laid out on the bed, sleeping. Looking past her, he realized that he wasn't in his room anymore. Where was he now? This place was, was huge!

  It was a room so big that they could have put the family farmhouse in it! A vaulted ceiling over a truly palatial chamber. There were a bunch of fancy looking chairs and backless couches right in the middle of it, and there was very expensive art hanging from the huge walls, as well as marble stands holding delicate sculptures along the walls. There were strange chest-like things with drawers in the front not far from the bed, and on the wall behind it were two doors and a big archway that led into some other room. Was this the main hall of Torrian Keep? They'd walked through it the night before, and it looked nothing like this! But it was the only room in the castle that could be large enough! There was light in the room, but there were no fires, no windows, and he couldn't figure out where the light was coming from. It was just there. It was the strangest thing he'd ever seen. He couldn't deny that the room was very beautiful, maybe some queen's grand bedchamber, but how had he ended up there?

  Tarrin was about to get out of bed and try to figure out where he was, but he realized he didn't have any clothes on. What happened to his nightclothes? He couldn't get out of bed naked with Dolanna in the room!

  Dolanna stirred then, then quickly sat up, her eyes opening. She looked at him very carefully for a long moment, then she gave him a warm smile and her expression became very relieved. "You are awake," she said with a sigh. "Finally. How do you feel?"

  "Uh, I'm fine, Dolanna," he replied respectfully. "Where are we? This isn't my room."

  "We, had to move you to another room," she said carefully, scooting around the circular bed until she was sitting on it closest to him. She reached out and put a hand to his forehead. "What is the last thing you remember?"

  "Well, going to bed," he said.

  "Nothing after that? Not even something that may seem like a dream?"

  "Well," he said, his expression turning thoughtful. "I did have this strange dream," he admitted. "There was this weird woman with fur and a tail. She tried to kill me. But it had to be a dream. She tore me up pretty well before the dream was over. Strange, I can remember feeling pain. I didn't think you could feel pain in a dream."

  She smiled wanly. "Good," she said. "That did happen, my dear one." Tarrin blinked, looking at her. She'd never called him that before. She was nice and all, and he did kind of like her, but he thought that maybe it was a bit too soon for her to be saying things like that. "Can you remember anything else? Any d
reams, anything?"

  "Sort of," he said, straining, as if trying to look through a cloud. "There was this long journey, but I can't remember anything other than that. I sailed on a ship, then walked across a desert."

  "It is as I feared," she sighed. "Kimmie's spell only barely affected you."

  "Spell? Who is Kimmie, Dolanna?"

  "I am afraid that I am the bearer of bad tidings. As usual, it seems," she said with a rueful chuckle.

  "What are you talking about, Dolanna?" he asked. "Where are my clothes. If we don't get going, we're not going to have much time to travel today."

  "Where are we, dear one?" she asked intently.

  "Torrian," he replied. "We just got here last night."

  "We are not in Torrian, dear one," she told him.

  He scoffed. "How can we not be in Torrian, Dolanna? Have I been sleeping that long?"

  "In a manner, I guess we could say that you were," she said. "You have lost your memory, dear one. It was an...injury of sorts. We left Torrian two years ago, Tarrin. Your injury has caused you to forget everything since then."

  Tarrin looked at her in surpise. An injury? What was she talking about? It seemed outlandish! And yet, the braid....

  Tarrin put his hand on the strange braid, feeling it. She had no reason to lie to him. This thing certainly wasn't here when he went to bed--or at least when he thought he went to bed. They certainly weren't in his bedroom anymore, and this place didn't look like it belonged in Torrian. It looked like some queen's personal bedchamber.

  She could certainly be telling the truth. She would have no reason to lie to him, and he didn't think that Faalken and Walten would be cruel enough to put her up to that kind of a sick joke. Dolanna wouldn't be the type to go through with it. She was one of his best friends--