by Terah Edun
“No.” Raisa chuckled. “I just woke their inner gifts and tied them all in a loop through yours.”
Ciardis's mind fumbled for the connection. “Loop,” she spluttered. “You were going on and on about that earlier.”
“So I was,” said the dragon with a pleased grin.
Ciardis froze. “So all of those questions in my head when we stood on the sand dunes. All of that torture.”
“Had a purpose,” said the dragon with a pleased growl.
Ciardis felt her fury explode. “Who gave you the right? The right to turn me inside out.”
“You did,” Raisa said flatly.
Ciardis balled her fists. “I did no such thing.”
“When you began this journey into the western cities, Ciardis Weathervane,” the dragon said in a tired tone, “you asked me what you could do, how you could change, how you could adapt, how you could survive. This is how.”
“By being manipulated. By being browbeaten,” Ciardis spat.
“By acting like a woman grown,” the dragon said. “By taking responsibility for your own mistakes.”
Ciardis looked at her and said, “Let's finish this.”
Raisa tilted her head. “Nothing else to say, Ciardis?”
Ciardis gave her a cold smile. A promise of things to come. “Not to you. Not today.”
Raisa let a growl of approval come from her throat.
It was so low, so visceral that a thread of fear went through Ciardis's body. For a moment she wondered if she had gone too far with a dragon who gave her some leeway in her actions, who called her sarin, who had hadn't threatened to eat her once today.
Then Raisa spoke in a voice as soft as a purr. “Now you're being to think like a dragon queen. Or dare I say, a human empress?”
Ciardis felt a shudder run through her, but she decided that silence was her best option here. Raisa continued to radiate approval as she did the same thing that she'd done to Sebastian and Thanar to the last member of the triad—Ciardis Weathervane.
24
Ciardis didn't feel herself drifting off to sleep.
Neither did she feel herself being carried over to a pallet on the floor with a profusion of pillows and well stuffed with blankets.
She just knew when she woke up. Which was two hours later.
She lay still, snug in her blankets. Her body was turned on its side and her head was resting comfortably on a pillow and her arm, which felt dead.
Wincing, she rolled on her back and studied the ceiling.
The room was quiet. No one was talking.
She guessed that was because they were all still sleeping. Sebastian had been in her eyesight before she rolled over, so she knew that he was still sleeping.
What she didn't understand was how she knew the precise time upon waking.
There was no sundial in line of sight or mage instrument that struck out the time on the hour.
She had spoken to no one since she woke up.
She just knew. Like a cat who could see in both night and day, Ciardis could somehow sense the temporal change without an outside force.
She pushed her arms under her head and thought about it some more.
She wondered if she should panic.
Or be frightened? she wondered.
Then she heard an amused voice in her head. A familiar one.
Frightened of time? said Thanar in a voice that sent melodious waves of black through her mind. Like a big panther had rolled through her thoughts and against her face all at the same time.
Ciardis flipped over so fast that she hit her arm on the floor with a smack.
“Ow,” she said.
But she didn't let that distract her from her primary focus. Thanar was also lying down, a few feet away from her. He was on his stomach, as was customary with beings who had wings.
Ciardis narrowed her eyes and said slowly, “You sound different.”
Her words were somewhat slurred as well.
Thanar looked at her with puzzlement on his face. “And you sound drunk.”
He flicked his lazy eyes up to view someone Ciardis couldn't see. She heard footsteps at her back, but now that she was on her stomach, it was too much effort to flip back over and see who it was.
It didn't matter anyway.
The person spoke, and Ciardis recognized the woman without delay.
Raisa said, “She's all right. The union just hit her harder than you.”
Before she could gather her wits about her and speak a coherent sentence, Ciardis felt Raisa's hand on her head and her fingers slipped down to close Ciardis's eyes. Just before her vision was closed off, Ciardis saw the brilliance of the dragon's magic once more.
As she began to doze, she heard Thanar say, “And the prince?”
Ciardis giggled in her mind and thought at him, You're the prince, silly.
Thanar, mercifully, didn't answer her.
Raisa said, just as Ciardis felt her mind slip once more into slumber, “The prince heir will be fine.”
This time she slept for a long time. She felt the temporal shift again and again, hour after hour falling behind. She didn't dream much during that time. About her past. About others.
Visions flew in and out of her mind like dreams. She saw Thanar when he was younger standing and staring into a pool of water with such hardened eyes that she wanted to wipe the emotions from his brow and start him anew. Before she could grasp where she was, the vision changed again, and she was somewhere new. In a palace. No, racing outside the palace into the gardens, with roses everywhere.
On legs that ran as fast and far as they could carry her. She felt tears on her face but didn't stop.
Not until she reached the center of the rose garden and collapsed into a huddle, hiding underneath a garden bench. Her safe haven wasn't safe for very long. Angry hands dragged her out from under the bench kicking and screaming. Just before a punch connected with her eyes, she heard her attackers taunt her with “Poor, pitiful prince, who's the heir now?” in singsong voices.
Then Ciardis was gone from this dream as well.
She desperately wanted to wake. To untangle her thoughts, to reclaim her memories, to throw away these strange, hateful dreams that were both hers and not her own.
But she fell deeper. So deep that she couldn't discern memory from fantasy. Dream state from reality. And eventually even the visions became disconnected.
They had no accurate timeline. The colors became off, with entire worlds in purple. Faces became strange shapes. And voices unintelligible.
She had no idea where or who she was.
When she fell through the floor and into a pool of white, it was almost a relief.
She could rest. Just for a moment.
But then the water began to drain and she began to circle in a whirlpool of changing colors.
Black. Then gold. Then blue.
Until it melded into something indistinguishable and she had disappeared from view once more.
When she woke again, she wasn't really sure what to think.
She searched her mind for more memories.
But they were all jumbled.
She still knew what time it was, but that was it.
She felt exhausted, and as she looked around all were still asleep.
She lay back on her pallet, wondering if she could sleep and deciding that she had to try. She needed to recuperate, and she couldn't do that by lying awake.
She was only a little afraid of what her slumber would have in store for her this time, but she didn't have much choice either.
She couldn't avoid sleep. Not forever.
So she lay back down and wiped her mind.
She fell back to sleep, and this time she slept for five hours.
It wasn't a full night, but it would have to do. She hadn't tossed and turned as much as she thought she would have. The dreams hadn't been a living nightmare so much as a very strange fantasy.
This time she'd dreamed of beasts that she couldn't name
and creatures that roared in the night and a silent world passing her by. Disturbing but not mind-bending.
When she woke up, her covers were sweat-stained but she felt semi-rested, and had no little sense of relief. She finally felt like she was stepping out of a bad dream. She tossed the blanket aside as she stood up.
To her surprise, enough time had passed that all others had been relieved of duty and Thanar stood in the guards’ place by the door.
She looked around for Sebastian and Christian and the Muareg and Rachael and Raisa and Terris. They all slumbered in various corners. It looked like Terris and Rachael had actually been up to a game of cards before they nodded off.
Walking over to Thanar, Ciardis looked at him with questioning eyes, waiting for him to say something, anything about their new bond.
I'm not calling it a flamme gebunden, Ciardis thought with distaste. If seeleverbindung was good enough for what Thanar and I alone had, it's good enough for all three of us.
She couldn't really say that with certainty, but for once in her life she didn't care. She refused to let one more new bond rule her life. It was the old bond in her mind, just expanded a bit.
“They decided to stand on watch together,” Thanar said with a shrug, his eyes on the two women who were sleeping where they had sat.
“Oh,” Ciardis said awkwardly. “Bet the game was interesting.”
“Somewhat, I'm sure,” Thanar said.
Ciardis had to do a double take. “You almost don't sound like you. Did the new bond hit you that hard?”
Thanar furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
She shook her head. This was getting more and more confusing.
“How can you not remember?”
Thanar frowned. “Are you all right? Did you hit your head?”
“Are you hearing me?” Ciardis asked in frustration.
Thanar stood staring at her, as if she was the one who was misremembering.
Suddenly Thanar's face shifted. First it was subtle. Then his eyes began to stretch into an unnatural shape. Then his jaw began to fold in on itself.
As she stumbled and fell backward over a rolled carpet that tripped her up, he reached for her with a hand that was melting on the edges.
As he reached for her face and she prepared to scream, she felt the world falling away, and this time she woke again. Tangled in sheets and wondering what in the seven devils was going on.
She turned to look, and there stood Thanar by the door.
She was panting as if she had just run a mile. She kept repeating to herself frantically, “It was just a dream. Just a dream. They all were dreams.”
It felt so, so real, Ciardis thought with a hand over her quickly beating heart.
He looked over at her suddenly awake form and said in her head, Are you all right?
She opened and closed her dry mouth and then stammered, “Fine. Just fine.”
Before he could ask more questions or see the panic in her eyes, she turned back over and buried her face in the pillow.
Wishing again for a silent, dreamless sleep that wouldn't leave her screaming into the night.
The next time Ciardis woke, she took an entire ten minutes to calm her breath, feel the cloth under her fingers, and even speak to someone who wasn't a part of her triad just to ensure she was sane.
As she stood up and stretched, Sebastian came over while rubbing the back of his head.
She could feel that his head was hurting him. He'd bumped it or smashed against something or other. This, at least, was a comforting reaction to her. She'd been able to sense Sebastian's feelings and emotions for a long time, as long as their mind meld was clear and he wasn't blocking her.
This felt like a far easier meld. She slipped into her mind almost unconsciously as he neared.
That was some wild ride, he commented.
Yeah, she agreed weakly—still wary that she was in fact still sleeping and would once more wake from a new dream.
Sebastian shook his head. I heard that. It's not.
She paused, then asked, “Did you get all of my memories?”
“Yours?” asked Sebastian. “No, just some rather disturbing dreams. Glad to be awake now.”
Ciardis felt a bit disappointed.
“But not to worry,” Sebastian assured her. “We're getting them in a few minutes. Raisa said you went through both of ours the longest. Ours will be quicker experiences.”
“Hmmm,” murmured Ciardis. “Did she say why?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Something about sparing us a long night, which was long enough, in my experience. Although it was more day than night for a good portion.”
Now she felt angry. Raisa had sent her in with no forewarning.
“How long did we sleep?” Ciardis asked absentmindedly, even though she already knew the answer instinctively.
“Twelve hours,” answered Sebastian with a grunt.
“Quite a while,” murmured Ciardis with a stretch. “No wonder I feel rested.”
“That is something,” Sebastian said.
Then he popped a muscle in his arms.
She felt it like it was her own.
Ciardis stared at him. “Do that again?”
He adjusted a crick in his neck.
Felt that, they said at the same time.
Ciardis blinked, and so did he.
This is getting weird, they said in their minds in tandem.
Ciardis winced and said aloud, “You're telling me.”
Sebastian grinned. “We're worse than twins now.”
Ciardis sighed heavily. “Well, twin speech isn't going to help us much before the Council of Ten.”
“No,” said Sebastian. “But these merged gifts will.”
“Have you tried it yet?” Ciardis asked hesitantly.
Sebastian raised his eyebrows. “It's less about trying and more like blocking it out.”
Ciardis said, “What do you mean?”
Sebastian turned his head to the ceiling and thought about it.
“When you woke, did you wonder what time it was?” he said when he finally looked back at her.
“Well,” Ciardis said slowly, “no, I just knew it.”
“And have you ever been able to do that before?”
“No,” she said. “It's a handy…ability, I agree, but not exactly miraculous.”
Sebastian shrugged. “As far as I can tell, this enhanced bond not only allows all of us to share and take advantage of each other's powers equally, but it also bestows some of our natural gifts on the other without calling them up.”
Ciardis tried to see if she recognized any other natural talents that had just popped up.
She sighed. “Nothing.”
Sebastian gave her a smirk. “Well, we have Thanar to thank for the temporal awareness thing. And I have you to thank for something else.”
“Me?” asked Ciardis eagerly as she racked her mind. “What'd I give you?”
Sebastian said, “I can see auras now for mages. Don't even have to dive into my gift to do it. It's just always present…like an outside sense or an extra set of ears.”
Ciardis laughed. “That's a good way to describe it.”
He nodded happily.
Ciardis fidgeted and then said, “If you don't mind, I'm just going to have a word with our benefactress.”
Sebastian bowed and said, “By all means.”
She smiled and left him behind while she walked over to a dragon as fury began to build in her mind.
She hadn't wanted to release her wrath on him. That was for one person alone.
25
Ciardis walked up and said without preamble, “You knew this would happen. That I would see their memories, relive their childhoods, be consumed by their fears.”
“And they yours,” said Raisa solemnly.
“Couldn't you have warned me?” Ciardis cried.
“I did,” said Raisa.
“Oh, right, the torture session,” Ciardis said in disgust.
Ciardis paused.
“No,” she said reluctantly.
“Then you were well prepared, I'd say,” Raisa said.
“Unlike them,” she said, and nodded at the two males who all of sudden looked like they'd been through hell. Ciardis guessed that the “repressed” memories had hit them full force now.
Ciardis had a moment to feel pity for them, but that quickly dissolved the moment she heard Sebastian muttering about “girls and dresses” off in a corner.
Ciardis shook her head ruefully. “I think it's time we faced our trial.”
Raisa purred in contentment and stood as she looked at the door. “And just in time.”
Without further ado, the doors of the chamber were thrown open and in strode Seven.
He paused and took a good look at all of them, pausing especially on Sebastian, Thanar, and Ciardis's faces. “If I didn't know any better, I'd say you three already went through a trial. You look like hell.”
“Well, it's nice to see you too,” said Christian to the strained room at large.
Ciardis snorted and walked over a visibly trembling Sebastian and stoic Thanar.
She could tell without even diving into their minds that they were still getting over the rapid imposition of new memories, which had been thrown into their minds like so much trash.
She'd taken all night to reconcile theirs with hers. So in a sense, Ciardis realized, Raisa had done her a favor.
Not that she'd admit that.
Crossing her arms, she said defiantly, “We are ready. Bring us before your council.”
Sebastian spoke into her mind. I don't know if we should journey with him.
Do we have a choice? a clearly disturbed Thanar asked.
Sebastian sent a wave of unease to both mind-to-mind. He is more than he seems.
I know, she replied to Sebastian and Thanar.
Ciardis nodded and said to Seven, “Shall we go, then?”
Thanar said in their minds, Hidden powers are never a good thing.
The idea in general didn't really surprise her. They were always coming across creatures or individuals that hid the extent of their capabilities until their trap had struck.
