Bridge Between the Worlds

by R. B. L. Gillmore

  Once they had neared the entrance to the clearing, Laszlo carefully checked that no one was in sight before they left the path. The tree stood gleaming in front of them and Amy heard her mother’s breath catch sharply. She and Laszlo stepped forward and placed their hand on the trunk of the tree. Eventually they turned away, looking anxious, and there was a hurried tone in their voices as they started to question Amy.

  “You say that when you touched it in the dream you were surrounded by a golden light?”

  “Yes… is there a problem? I mean, I thought it was odd too. None of the other dreams were like that…except for the one where I created Snipping I guess.”

  Amriel, Laszlo and Snipping all exchanged furtive looks.

  “Would someone like to tell me what the matter is? You all look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Amy, dreamwalkers can create replicas of existing realities, they can form raw reality from nothingness with no existing base. What you have done is… none of these things. You have pulled things into our world from the realm of the arbiters and we know for a fact that this sent shockwaves through reality, both here and in the dream planes. We felt the disturbances and feared that it was a sign of Gorhoth returning. But the timing matches with your actions. This should have been impossible. It cannot be done even in pure theory. There is no telling how far those shockwaves reached but I have no real doubt that the echo of them would have reached through the planes to Otthon and this kind of disturbance… it draws attention.”

  Everyone was looking at Amy with concern, including Martay even though he didn’t fully understand the gravity of the situation.

  Amy felt strangely forlorn. What on earth had she gotten herself into?

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Arnorial lay awake, his eyes wide open, yet not seeing anything. He was deep in thought. A search for the prophet would take a significant amount of time and effort and he still had nothing to go on, even if he made contact. It made more sense to gather information first before seeking help. His mind walked carefully through the halls of memory, piecing together all he had learned in recent years. So far as he could tell, strange happenings had begun two years ago. The first important memory filled his mind’s eye.

  A dense and impenetrable fog hung between the trees, blocking sight beyond a meter. Everything was still and quiet. Even the animals wouldn’t bother to make an effort in this weather. Arnorial sat in one of the high chambers meditating. The routine of his day had changed very little since the Queen’s departure and he counted this as a blessing. No change meant nothing to worry about. For all his very long life he had been a Guardian, usually protecting important members of the elvish council or even the royal family. Now he had taken it on himself to guard all of Otthon, a lone sentinel watching patiently for any sign of wrong.

  The North Kingdom had been at peace for a full fifteen years now, guided well by the Duke and his Lords. The borders of the Kingdom in particular had flourished and there was ever-expanding trade with the Eastern realms and the reptilian folk of the south west. The south east remained quiet. The Hartiani were rarely seen and the Minotaurs seldom travelled far from their underground cities. All this, Arnorial knew from consistent meditation. He had scryed the lands all around, every single day as he kept watch.

  On a day like this it was quite pleasant to let his mind stretch out and see the distant places. The Duke swam into view. Something about his face was odd today.

  “Tell me again” he said to someone in front of him.

  Arnorial widened his view and saw the council seated together, looking very grave.

  “A village on the northern border of Silas’s Kingdom was attacked my Lord. The entire place was burned to the ground, which is no mean feat considering it is marshland. The King is furious. He has sent messages to us asking if we know anything which might explain it. It is the border with our own territory after all.”

  “I see. What does the King know of the attackers? Perhaps we can offer him some insight.”

  “My Lord, I am afraid he will not be able to provide you with any such information. The attackers were never seen and there were no survivors.”

  The entire room sat in horrified silence for a moment.

  “Do we know of any enemies Silas may have made?”

  “No, my Lord. He sees to it that his Kingdom remains very inward facing. With the exception of ourselves they do not really trade with outsiders. Even our own trade dealings seem to cause an element of bickering.”

  The Duke sighed heavily.

  “Very well. We shall have to respond saying we cannot help Silas with this mystery.”

  “I will word the letter for you myself Lord.”

  The man who had addressed the Duke bowed low.

  “Thank you, good man. You may go.”

  The man made to leave but as he reached the door the Duke called out to him again.

  “Pardon my rudeness, what did you say your name was?”

  “Vencel my Lord. One of the court clerks.”

  Vencel bowed again and departed.

  The scene disturbed Arnorial deeply. An unexplained attack on a reptilian village with the sole apparent purpose of destruction? It was most unpleasant news but then there could be simple explanations. Arnorial made a note of the incident and returned to his scrying.

  The memory of that first strange occurrence faded. That was where it had all started. A small attack on the border between two Kingdoms that he now knew was the precursor to many more. Perhaps these skirmishes were a good place to begin searching for clues. After all, he knew from his watches over the past two years that the attacks had continued.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Chapter 5

  They had returned to the house where Amy’s father was now striding back and forth in the lounge room. For the moment no one was speaking but this was merely a lull in an ongoing discussion between Snipping and Amy’s parents. They had been speaking in elvish the whole time, which greatly annoyed Amy and Martay. They assumed of course that the use of elvish meant secrets were being kept from them, and given how much they already knew they felt this was extremely unfair. Amy had tried to interrupt at one point without any degree of success and had returned to waiting quietly. Unable to understand what was being said, she and Martay got drowsy as night closed in outside.

  The conversation at this point went something like this:

  “If Gorhoth finds out about the second world, do you think it would be possible for him to find us?” Laszlo’s voice definitely sounded strained.

  “It is hard to know,” answered Snipping. In elvish he had no accent. “I believe that you both would remain unnoticed. As for your daughter, I am not so sure. Her dream state should definitely stand out… and yet, until now the Arbiters had not been aware of her. I do not fully understand how this can be. Perhaps even the Arbiters would not be able to explain it. We had certainly noticed the unusual activity in your sector. The pulling of a tree from the Arbiter’s realm into your reality sent a powerful wave through our plane, as you already suspected, yet we couldn’t find a cause. That was what I was doing when I found miss Amy, investigating the strange creations that we could not stop. It was pure coincidence that I found her personally however. It was more like she found me, and I did not even suspect her until the last moment, despite having been right next to her in the dream plane. It is not Amy alone that I worry about. I do not know what will happen when I dream here. In the Arbiters plane our dreams are self contained, totally isolated. Here, who knows. My dream pattern will most likely stand out.”

  “We can do nothing with surety,” said Amy’s mother, “until we gather more information. To start with Master Ratchet, have there been any signs that Gorhoth has returned?”

  “Well, in truth, no. When we picked up on the strange echoes of creation we feared the worst but suspected otherwise. If Gorhoth has returned then we have seen no sign of it. Not that this is proof in itself. He is cunning.”

  “That is all t
he comfort we could hope for and yet I am uneasy. I would rather be wise like the Arbiters and fear the worst. To be more precise I think we should prepare for the worst. I do not genuinely believe that he was destroyed by Teldenar. The Arbiters never gave him any weapon that we were aware of. He stood against Gorhoth by his own strength and, great though it was, I do not think he had any greater chance of success than my mother did. As such, we need to know what Gorhoth may be capable of in the dream plane of this world.”

  “We should get through to the Arbiters and seek their advice,” Amy’s mother continued. “We need a way to speak to them and we cannot use Amy. I do not want to expose her unless it is absolutely necessary.”

  Snipping shifted his weight in an expression of hesitation as an idea started to form in his head.

  “Do you think perhaps, if miss Amy was able to draw me out of the Arbiters’ plane, perhaps she could send me back?”

  The two adults glanced at each other. They didn’t know. It was already eleven in the evening. Martay had gone into the kitchen to make coffee. He and Amy weren’t about to lose interest in what was going on but they were struggling to keep their eyes open for very long.

  Martay could hear the talk getting shorter back in the lounge room. All three of the converserants seemed to be bouncing an idea around. At least, so he guessed.

  He re-entered the room holding two mugs of strong black coffee but Amy was already dozing. Her eyes had finally lost their fight with gravity. Martay sat back down and sipped at his own drink. Occasionally he thought that he understood a few words in the discussion and even whole sentences at times. Clearly Hungarian and Elvish had a lot in common.

  The conversation was drawing to a close. Laszlo had the last word before they finished, and Martay was concerned. He had distinctly understood the word ‘dangerous’ and Laszlo had been looking directly at Amy when he had said it. Laszlo bent over Amy and shook her shoulder gently to wake her up. Amy’s expression indicated quite clearly that she was not impressed.

  “Ready to tell us what you’re being so secretive about now?” She looked around accusingly.

  “We are sorry Amy. There was a lot to discuss and you are not ready to hear a lot of it, for your own sanity and safety. Forgive me for having to do this. I know it must be very frustrating and I wish that we could be more open after everything you have been through but we do not want to put you in harm’s way unnecessarily.”

  This didn’t square with what Martay had caught in their conversation and he cocked an eyebrow at the remark.

  “We need you to try something for us. We need to see if we can send Snipping back to the Arbiters.” Laszlo’s voice sounded calm but there was definitely an odd edge to it. Martay picked up on it at once and immediately cut it. His concern for Amy was too strong an emotion to restrain.

  “Doing that is dangerous isn’t it. You just told the others it would be dangerous. Quite a few of your elvish words seem to be close to Hungarian.”

  Laszlo smiled mildly. He was quite impressed with Martay.

  “Yes,” he said, looking back to Amy again, “it could be dangerous. It could attract unwanted attention in the dream plane. Precisely what we want to avoid but we need to try.”

  “And how am I supposed to send him back?” Amy wasn’t perturbed by the idea of danger at all. She was excited by the idea that her parents might teach her more about her skill.

  “We aren’t certain ourselves. We do not even know if it is possible. Snipping does not belong here and his presence could potentially create more dangers than an attempt to return him to his home. We are balancing risks at this point.”

  Amy’s mother added to this. “Snipping believes he can guide you through the dream plane if you are willing. If anyone has a chance to find a way back, he does.”

  Amriel was looking hard at her daughter who returned the look with a determined focus.

  “Ok. I’ll give it a try,” she said, “just tell me what to do.”

  Amy was so excited about what she was trying to do that it kept her wide awake, a fairly critical problem for their plans. She thought about what Snipping had said when she asked him if he was also struggling to get to sleep. Actually, she had woken him up with her question. He had replied, “When dreamwalkers ‘ave spent a long time actively entering and exiting the dream plane, fallin’ asleep in the physical world becomes more like wakin’ themselves up rather than goin’ to sleep.”

  The more Amy thought about this, the less sense it seemed to make but eventually she was overcome by raw exhaustion and she drifted off fitfully.

  Amy stepped slowly and hesitantly across the glade. Light was streaming down, spreading warmth through her but the trees closed in tightly again a little way ahead, where the light struggled to find its way through the canopy. Amy didn’t particularly want to leave the sunny clearing but knew that she had to. She was looking for something, for someone. She couldn’t remember why she was searching in the forest.

  She heard a soft crack behind her and spun around to see what it was. Nothing was there. She could hear something very faintly though. It sounded like… Amy’s eyes widened. The noise was getting louder and it was unmistakably the sound of a long, continuous scream.

  She spun in all directions trying to work out where the scream was coming from. It didn’t stop or even halt its long drawn out wail and its volume continued to grow. With a shock Amy realised it was coming from above her. She looked upwards just in time to see the imp, Snipping, crashing through the tree branches towards her. She jumped out of the way just in time and avoided being landed on. He slammed face down into the ground with a sickening thud. Amy rushed over to him with deep concern. She could hear him moan deeply and to her amazement he slowly picked himself up off the ground. He staggered shakily while regaining his bearings and his eyes slid back into focus. Immediately he grabbed Amy’s hand and pulled her onwards through the trees.

  “Snipping are you alright!?”

  The imp completely ignored her question. He was speaking only to himself in low grumbles.

  “Bloody untrained, would be, ‘alf elf dreamwalker, can’t even open ‘er bloody dream state properly. Who in the ‘ell lets someone into their dream by makin’ em fall out o’ the sky? Stupid, inconsiderate little… I’m SOOO gonna burn ya breakfast in the mornin’ for this.”

  This went on for some time as Snipping quickly guided Amy back to the strange tree she had created in the park.

  “Right! Now, place ya free hand on the tree like I ‘ave. That’s it.”

  Amy did as she was told. It didn’t occur to her to try and argue. She was meant to listen to Snipping. She sensed that.

  “Very good. That’s the easy stuff out o’ the way. Now…” his forehead creased with deepest concentration, “’ow to create a link…” It was as if Snipping was talking to himself when he said this but now he looked directly into Amy’s eyes.

  “Amy, ya need to try and remember. Ya know why we‘re ‘ere, why we came to this tree. It doesn’t belong ‘ere, just like I don’t belong ‘ere. Ya know that. Try to remember! We need to go back where we belong.”

  These last words were so earnest and emotional that Amy was taken aback. He was squeezing her hand tightly. Amy blinked a few times as if she was bewildered. Then, suddenly understanding dawned. Dreams were like that.

  “Ok Snipping, what should I do? I don’t really understand how I create things. It just sort of happens.”

  “Ya need to feel a burnin’ desire to send me somewhere else, anywhere really so long as ya remember that it needs to be somewhere the tree and I belong. If this works, you should open up a kind o’ portal to my ‘ome.”

  Amy concentrated as hard as she could, frantically trying to work out how to generate a specified emotion on the spot. She tried to think about how she felt when she was away from her parents for a long time, how it felt when she wanted nothing more than to be home. She was staring at Snipping all the while and the world around them started fading to black.
Snipping was expectant and excited. Then a whisper crept into Snipping’s head where it seemed to echo and magnify inside his skull. Amy heard nothing. The voice was for Snipping alone.

  “You are needed. You shall not return yet.”

  Light was flooding into the room. The curtains were wide open. Amy struggled to remember… something. What was she struggling to remember?

  “Damn, stupid, bloody misery.”

  It nagged at her mind until suddenly she sprang up and looked around wildly. She heard Snipping before she saw him pull a blanket away from over his head.

  “Bugger it!”

  He sounded groggy and utterly displeased.

  “Good morning.”

  Amy tried to sound chirpy but in her heart, she was disappointed. It hadn’t worked and she was personally responsible. Maybe she just hadn’t tried hard enough? Snipping cocked a very disgruntled eye at her and then headed for the door.

  “Good mornin’ indeed! You ‘umans use the most ridiculous adjectives sometimes! O’ all the words ya could choose from to describe this particular mornin’, ya chose ‘good’.”

  He had not paused one step while he was speaking and was by now making his way out of the door. Amy jumped out of bed and followed.

  “I’m sorry Snipping! We didn’t know if it would work to begin with. Oh, and by the way it turns out I’m not actually human.”

  “A good ‘alf of you is and it couldn’t be clearer right now!”

  His speech melded away into more grumbling. Martay poked his head out of the guest room and, seeing that Amy was up, followed her downstairs.

  The kitchen filled with wholesome smells and Amy’s parents soon joined the three of them. Nobody seemed to want to discuss what had happened. It was abundantly clear that the plan had not worked, otherwise Snipping would not now be serving eggs to Amy’s parents. The previously enticing smell from the kitchen now suggested that some of the remaining bacon was burning. The source of the burning smell was soon dropped onto Amy’s plate. She felt Snipping was being unfair. She had tried her best and it was her first ever attempt at something that might not even be possible. Was he really going to burn her breakfast because she couldn’t get him home first try?