He hesitated for a second. "Actually, there are other magic users in Draconis that might help you to understand your powers. It's a long shot. They are as mistrusting of humans as we are, but they have their own brand of magic."
"Who?"
"The dwarves," Milo answered for him.
"You are correct. They live beneath us in the depths of the mountains. We do not like to mix with them, but we have a mutual arrangement. We protect them from humans up here, and they provide us with gold. It is a mutually beneficial agreement, but that is all. We do not socialize, and I cannot promise you will find what you are looking for."
"Thank you." I didn't hold out much hope that the dwarves would be able to help us, but I had no other leads to go on, and as Vasuki said, they were magic users.
"If that is all, I will take you back down the mountain. Night is drawing near.."
It was indeed getting darker.
He shifted quickly, allowing Milo and I to jump on his back, which was a marked difference to the way Nyre flew us. Less terrifying for a start. He dropped us off near the base of the mountain, leaving us to walk the last part.
We'd not learned much, but at least, Milo finally knew my secret. A secret I'd hated keeping to myself.
In the woods, he stopped me.
"What?"
He cleared his throat. "I can probably get us in to see the dwarves. Humans generally aren't allowed in their mine, but they know me. It's possible that they will talk to you. I don't know what they can tell you, though. They don't care about human gods any more than the dragons do."
I sat on the boulder we'd used to drop our armor on before and dropped my head to my hands.
"I don't know what else to do, Milo. I have my father trying to get me married and hundreds of men wanting to marry me. My mother is sick, and no one believes me that it's Derillen. They all think it's some copycat, but I know it's her, and I know she wants me. I've been told lies about my history all my life, and I don't know who I can trust anymore."
I felt the tears begin to sting my eyes.
He pulled my face up so I was looking right at him.
"You can trust me. I don't know anything about Derillen, and I can't do anything for the queen, but I'm going to enter that competition, and I'm going to win."
I nodded my head slowly.
"And until then, I'll be right by your side while we try and figure out what is going on."
He kissed my cheeks, wetting his lips with my tears.
He spoke with such earnestness, but how could he compete with over a hundred men? I was going to end up married to a total stranger.
"If you are going to beat this thing," I said, my voice wavering. "We will need to practice." I pulled my sword out and stood up. With a smile, he did the same, matching my stance.
We had no armor with us, so we couldn't try too hard without the risk of hurting each other. I didn't even know if sword fighting was one of the things my father would add to the competition, but if it was, I needed Milo to be the best.
We spent hours like that, just the two of us with our swords and our freedom. When it became so dark, we could no longer continue, so we walked back into the castle. I half-expected my father to be waiting for me, but he wasn't. I kissed Milo quickly outside my bedroom door and shut it behind me.
"You've been out a while."
My heart lurched, and my breath caught in my throat. In front of me, the bolt on the door closed of its own accord.
Turning, I found Caspian lying on my bed, a smug grin on his face.
"I thought we'd established that you were not to come into my room without permission," I said, storming over to him.
"I remember, but I thought you'd want to know. I've found out how to get into the Dream Realm."
13th January
Breakfast was a miserable affair with both my mother and father missing. Ash and Hollis had wolfed down their food and had left, leaving only Remy and me.
He sat gazing at his bowl, an empty stare down at the food he'd not touched. That wasn't like him at all. Remy loved food, and yet, he'd not even picked up his spoon.
"You okay, Remy?"
He looked up, dazed as though he'd forgotten I was even there.
When he spoke, his voice came out in a whisper. "Mama."
My heart dropped. He missed our mother. Of course, he did. The castle was in chaos, and Remy didn't understand what was going on. I'd been so preoccupied with my own problems that I'd not thought about Remy. Standing up, I rounded the table and brought him into a hug.
"It's going to be alright, Remy. Mama is asleep. Would you like me to take you to see her?"
He nodded his head, and a little of his sparkle came back. Had no one thought to take him to see her in all this time? It broke my heart to think how confusing all this would be for him.
"Can you eat your breakfast first? Momma likes to know you've been eating properly."
He obediently picked up his spoon and began to spoon the cereal into his mouth, bringing a small smile to my face. I made a mental note to pay more attention to him. He had his own member of staff just as I did, but she was only to help him get dressed and bathe and get to bed. Unlike myself and my other brothers, it had been my mother who had taken most of the responsibility for Remy. There'd barely been a minute in his whole life that he hadn't had her at his side, and now, he'd gone over a week without her.
"Come on, honey," I said once his cereal was finished. Taking his hand, I led him up to our mother's room. Knocking quietly, I opened the door. I expected my father to be there, but it was only my mother's maid. She dropped a book she'd been reading onto my mother's nightstand and looked towards us guiltily.
"It's ok," I said. "I don't mind you reading. We are here for a visit."
"Very well, Your Highness." She stood and curtseyed.
"How is she?" I asked, although it was obvious. There was no change in my mother. She slept as soundly as she had the last time I saw her.
The maid stood, picking her book up and lowered her eyes. "Still the same, I'm afraid. I've been moving her position to prevent bedsores, but I'm not sure there is anything else I can do for her. I wish there was."
I nodded my head. "That's fine. Thank you."
The maid walked past us, leaving just Remy and me in the room with our sleeping mother. She looked like an angel in sleep. Her perfect face rested peacefully. I hoped that wherever she was, whichever part of the Dream Realm she was in, it was a nice place. Caspian hadn't mentioned much about what it was like except to say that her exits were blocked.
"Mama," Remy said, approaching her cautiously. He stroked her face the way I'd seen her do to him a thousand times.
"She's asleep, Remy," I told him. "She worked so hard looking after us and being the queen that she needs a lot of rest."
He looked at me and nodded. I wasn't sure if he really understood. It was hard to tell with Remy, but I could see the grief in his eyes. He pulled the covers back quickly. My heart started to race as I wondered what he was going to do. He climbed in next to her and snuggled up next to her body, closing his own eyes.
"Are you tired, Remy?" Had he even been sleeping himself, or had he lain awake as I had, worrying about everything? I had no way of knowing, but he looked so sweet and comfortable snuggled up to her that I didn't have the heart to move him. I wondered if somewhere my mother could feel him beside her. I hoped so. I hoped it would bring them both comfort. I pulled the cover back over both of them and kissed Remy's cheek. A small smile came to his lips.
"I'll let you nap here and come back for you later, okay?"
He nodded his head almost imperceptively and closed his eyes.
I left him there, feeling a little bit better about having ignored him for the past week and headed through the castle to somewhere I never expected I'd ever voluntarily go. I went to Caspian's room.
After throwing him out of my own room last night without hearing him out, I figured I probably should go and find out what he
had to say. If there was any way of getting my mother out of the curse she was in, I'd do anything, even if it meant listening to Caspian.
"Hello," he said, opening his door with the same smug grin on his face he'd been wearing the night before. "I knew you'd come to me, eventually."
I bit back the vomit rising in my throat and gave him a smile of my own. It wasn't one of pleasure.
"Shut it, buster. I'm here to find out how I can save my mother, and that's all."
He tapped his fingers against the doorframe. "You didn't seem to care last night when you were unceremoniously throwing me out of your room."
"I was tired, and I was angry because of you," I said, my anger rising. Every conversation I had with this guy made my blood boil. I took a deep breath and plastered on a smile. "I've calmed down now, so if you'd please let me know."
He wavered. "It's a pity..."
I sighed. "What's a pity?"
"I thought you were here for something else," he said, raising an inquiring eyebrow. "I thought you wanted my company." His smug grin widened.
Sanctimonious bastard!
"I'm not sure how I can say this without offending you, but seeing as I don't care about your feelings, I'm going to go right ahead and say it anyway. I do not want your company. I've never wanted your company, and I see no reason why I would ever want your company."
"Well, then," he said, his hand dropping from the doorframe to the door handle. "I see no reason why I should tell you what I know."
I pulled out my sword and held it to his throat.
"Is this reason enough?" I said. This time, the smug grin was all mine.
He held his hands up and backed into the room.
"Tell me what you know," I growled.
Quick as a whip, his sword matched mine, knocking it away from his face.
His grin returned, but I'd been practicing with Milo and was better than I'd ever been. He seemed surprised as I came back from his defense, recovering quickly.
His eyebrows rose, but the grin remained. "I see you've bettered yourself. What fun. I do like an opponent who can fight back."
Every thrust I gave, he parried. We were now equally matched. "We both know you can't kill me," I said, sweat forming on my brow as the exertion of keeping up with him was beginning to wear me down. He was good, really good, and I wasn't better than him. Not yet, but I would be.
"We do, do we? I don't recall signing anything," he said.
"Sign this!" I shouted out, slicing through the top layer of his immaculate jacket. He looked down at the rip, surprise filling his eyes.
Now, he really came at me, and it took every bit of effort I had not to fail under the pressure. It was like fighting a whirlwind, and everywhere my sword was, his was there ready to knock it down.
I panted, as the fight became something it was never meant to be. Dangerous. I'd only meant to scare him, not to injure, but I could see by the look in his eyes, that we were both beyond that point. This was a fight to the death.
Dragon balls, my father was going to kill me himself if Caspian didn't. What a ridiculous position to find myself in.
"I surrender!" I said, pulling back and narrowly missing the sharp end of his sword. Almost instantaneously, I found myself lying flat on my back on his bed, him lying on top of me. His hot breath came quickly, a sign that he was as exhausted by our fight as I was.
"Get. off. me!" I growled, shoving him in the belly with my hand. Unfortunately, my sword was in my other hand.
"I don't know," he mused. "Why should I?"
He had a point. He had me completely at his mercy, and I was in no position to make demands. Damn it all!
"Because if you don't, I'll slice your head off so quickly you'll be looking at your back from the wrong angle."
Caspian craned his head around to see who was speaking, and I looked over his shoulder to see Milo standing in the doorway, his sword held aloft.
The weight on me lessened as Caspian stood up, his hands in the air.
"Just a little fun and games," he said. I sat up and gulped down a couple of breaths.
"Actually, Caspian was going to tell me how I can find my mother. He says he knows how to get into the Dream Realm."
"I suggest you talk then," Milo said, cocking his head to the side to indicate the bed. He pressed his sword to Caspian's chest to give him no option but to sit back on the bed. I jumped out of the way as he sat down.
A sneer came over Caspian's face. "I could defeat you with magic right now. I don't even need to pick up my sword to fight you."
It was true. The first time he'd come into my room, he'd made my old sword disappear with a wave of his wand.
I stood up in front of him and considered being nice to him, then I decided against it. "Look, Caspian. You've come here as a guest of my father. I don't think he will take too lightly to you fighting his guards, not to mention his only daughter. One word to him, and he'll have you packing your bags. I suggest that if you want to stay here and still be included in the competition to win my hand in marriage, you tell me what you know."
He seemed to consider my words. I had no clue why the guy would want to marry me. He clearly couldn't stand me. Perhaps, it was about power. Whatever it was, he backed down.
"There is only one way into the Dream Realm from the outside without dreaming, but you will not find it in this kingdom. It is not in a set place, so it is hard to find. Only Morpheus himself can open the portal."
"So how do we find it?" I asked, biting back a curse. I was getting more and more frustrated by the second.
Caspian shrugged, the grin creeping back onto his face. "That's where your problem lies. You need to find Morpheus."
"How?" Milo asked.
Caspian shrugged. "I don't know. He's a god. He lives in a place that we mere mortals cannot get to. Only in death do we travel there."
I sucked in a deep breath and tried hard to refrain from hitting him square in the nose. He was enjoying this a little too much.
"So you are telling me that to save my mother from dying, I have to die first in order to enter the portal to the Dream Realm and then come back to life once I return from it?
"No," he replied. "Once you are dead, you are dead. There is no coming back. The dead are not able to enter the Dream Realm at all. Dead people don't dream."
I stood, frustration running through me. "Let's go," I said to Milo. "This guy is wasting our time."
"You could, however, try and find him when he is in our realm. The mortal realm. Maybe if he is feeling generous, he might let you into his domain."
"How do you even know this? You said you'd ask your friend."
"And, so I did," he answered.
"You told me your friend lives in Urbis. That's three days' journey on the Urbis Express or longer by train."
"I have many ways to contact my friends, none of which I wish to share with you. Why do you care anyway as long as you get the information?"
I did care because it was awfully convenient that he had "ways" to speak to his friend, who was days away. It didn't lend much credibility to his story.
I walked toward the door.
"You won't find him anyway," Caspian continued. "It's extremely rare that the gods come down to the mortal realm. It's not unheard of, but it's rare. Even then, you could speak to him directly and not even know it's him. The gods don't like to make their presence known. They are masters of disguise. You could look for him forever, and never find him."
He was still giggling as I slammed the door shut behind me.
"What a jerk!" Milo said.
"Do you think he was lying?" I asked. I wanted Morpheus to be real, just so there was something I could do. Some way of bringing my mother back. I was willing to latch onto anything, even if it came from that lying scumbag.
Milo shrugged. "I don't know. I never held much stock with Gods and religion."
"I guess there's one way to find out."
I strode down the corridor so quickly that Milo ha
d to run to keep up with me. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going to my room to pack. I can't stay here anymore. You heard him. I have to find Morpheus. If there's a chance that Caspian is telling the truth, I need to know."
"Yeah, I heard him. I also heard when he said it would be impossible to find him. What about the competition?"
I turned to face him. "I don't want anything to do with the stupid competition. You know that. I never did. I don't want to get married. Not even to you."
I saw his face drop a little, and I realized how harsh I sounded.
"I'm sorry. You've become so important to me these past couple of weeks. I like you a lot. I can't imagine a life where you are not in it and one day, yes I'd like to get married. I can see a beautiful wedding surrounded by our friends and family. Your mother will create a lovely tiara for me, and my parents will be there looking on proudly. I can see your face full of love, and I can feel the happiness in my heart. But none of that will happen if I get married in a couple of weeks when my father wants me to. Marriage to you would fill me with joy, but not like this. Not because I have to. We don't even know each other. We've been dating for less than two weeks, and most of that was fake dating. There's every chance you won't win anyway. There are so many entries. Who knows what will happen?"
"I love you," he said, breaking my heart into pieces.
Tears coursed down my face. I leaned forward and kissed him slowly. It would have to be enough. He had loved me for a long time. I'd only just met him.
He held my hand. "You don't have to spend your life looking for Morpheus, you know. There is another way."
I smiled, grateful for the change in subject. I wasn't ready for declarations of love. I wasn't ready for any of it.
"We only have to find Derillen," he explained. "She is the one stopping your mother from leaving the Dream Realm, according to Caspian, right?"
I sighed. "Yes, but she could be anywhere. Where would I even start?"
Milo took my hand. "Where would we start? I'm coming with you. At least, you know what she looks like. With Morpheus, we don't even know that."
I nodded. What he said made sense. "Where do we start?"
Heiress of Embers Page 8
