The Tapestry's Colors
Dream reached out and shook Callas. His bright eyes gleamed in the night as the moon poured through the window, "We have to go, Callas and we have to hurry. Lazlo is out hunting, hard. He will be behind us quickly."
The room was small and dark, a single glowing crystal rock was placed in a niche in the wall. It pulsed with a regular light that light up the niche brightly every 5 seconds or so. Suddenly it flared to life for a moment and then resumed its pulsing. Though more dimly than before.
"That was 3 days ago when the Fleece and the mace were taken from you. Let me take you back farther."
The room shifted a bit fuzzy for a second then refocused. The same room, the same stone. The light was a steady beacon gleaming in the room. A room too bright to hold your eyes open for very long.
"This was the source before the first artifact was destroyed." Dream said. He paused and looked at the ceiling, like he was listening to something. "We have to go."
Epona sat at a round table, others were seated as well. Aine, Airmid all the other gods but Morrigan. There wasn't even a place for her set here.
"When the battle finally comes, we have to have someone in place that can get to the Ancient. Someone that is beyond a shadow of a doubt, against us." Airmid was saying.
"Someone that hates one of us already that can used to our advantage." Nechton stated.
"I know of such a person." Epona said, "One that hates and is hated."
"Sorcha." Aine commented, "But for this to work, you will have to build a curse that will keep her angry and alive for centuries."
"And one that can be voided at the last possible moment for this to work." Shannon said.
"We don't have time for more, Callas. Lazlo can't see this." Dream whisked her away.
Dushela stood on the wreckage of her island.
"Nothing left. No lab, no research, no servant, no Nik, No Aru." Dushela sat down in the dirt, "nothing but the bitter taste of losing everything, you held so dear."
"Nothing left but vengeance."
"Master, hear me. We tried to do what you ask but it is difficult. They are always there. What do you wish of us?" Sorcha prostrated herself before an empty stone chair. Candles burned and flickered all around.
"You have done as much as you can, Sorcha. Continue on course as you always have. Regroup, get more orbs and try again. Change targets if you have to but continue until only Morrigan is left." The voice was deep and booming but a voice that Callas has heard before. But where?
"Let them breathe for a moment. Not enough of Morrigan's forces are dead but within the month all will be ready. Throw them Lazlo if you have too, but kill the rest of the gods."
Juri sat in front of an alter to a god of Death.
His prayer starts with "Agia, Hear me."
"Time is getting shorter, Callas. He is here."
Lazlo stepped into the room. Dream motioned to go, the door opened but then closed just a quickly. "Caught you finally. This is my realm. Not a place for you to play in."
Dream grabbed Callas, a door opened for a split second. Dream shoved her through.
Callas reappeared in Dream's stall.
Jonas was there, standing over Dream, the horse, "He is still alive, but I don't know what happened to him. The plague?"
"Don't ask questions boy, just go get Callas." Maria shouted at him.
*********
A scream tore itself from Callas' throat as she woke, pulling herself out of Galvin's arms, her feet hitting the cold stone of the floor before she truly came to herself. Galvin blinked, sitting up, asking, "What's wrong, Callas? What did you dream?"
He could see her shoulders shaking in the light of the one lamp left burning low in the room. "Lazlo. He has Dream. He nearly had me."
He stood out of bed and slid his arms around her, holding her to him. "Ah, no, I am sorry, ma petite. What can we do?"
She closed her eyes, thinking. "There is nowhere that Lazlo can hide Dream from me. I can take Gemma and Aiden and perhaps Riyor or Gaius into dreams, hunt him down, distract him. The one vulnerability that Lazlo shares with us is that when he's in dreams, his body is completely unprotected. If his attention is entirely in the dream realm, you can do as much damage as you can to his body. If you kill him here, he dies in dreams as well."
"If he dies in dreams, does he die here too?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Why don't we all go into dreams? You're strong enough to hold all of us now. I just don't like the thought of you going to confront Lazlo with only a few people."
She shook her head. "It might work, but he's a master of the dream realm. Whoever goes with me is in serious danger of dying. One person can probably take care of Lazlo's body, if he's asleep, but... I've had enough experience with Lazlo to know what he can do to us--he can shunt you off into other planes as easily as thinking about it. Gemma can counter that and so can I, if I know it's coming, but the rest of you...a moment of inattention on my part, and whoever I lose dies in flame if I can't find them quickly enough." She shivered.
"So why Aiden and Riyor?"
"I'm thinking Riyor because of his luck and his way of seeing things. It depends on what sort of traps Lazlo has on his lair--we might need him on the material. And I want to take Aiden in with me because Aiden's insanity is an asset in dreams. Your thoughts control the space around you."
"I'm not sure I really would want to see Aiden's dreams."
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Callas pulled on a robe and answered it. Outside was Matthew, with a grave look on his face. "Callas, you're needed in the stables. Something's wrong with Dream."
She nodded and looked over her shoulder. "Wake the rest and tell them what's happened. Gemma, too, and tell her that she is absolutely forbidden to go after Dream by herself. Tell her I need to talk to her about Lazlo. I'll be back in a few minutes. I learned a lot, this evening, and we need to talk about that as well. We've all of us been dancing to a tune played by someone none of us even knew existed--us, the council, even the gods."
She started out the door and then paused, her hand on the lintel. She shook her head, her eyes hard as green flint. "They've taken so much from me, Galvin. They will *not* take Dream." She turned and walked through the doorway, towards the stables.
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