The Hidden Fire (Book 2) by James R. Sanford Page A

that, when Rolirra came over and sat
down beside him.
    ‘ I
do not know how I found you on the other side ,’ she said-signed.  ‘ I was
looking for another, the dream master of our clan.  But you are like a — ‘
    She
used a sign Kyric didn’t know.
    Lerica
translated.  “Sinkhole.”
    ‘
— a sinkhole that draws all the waters around it.  How is it that you can — ’ she searched
for simple signs, ‘ — carry things from one side to the other? ’  She
showed him a discolored patch on her leg.  ‘ This is from the firebird.  It
came from the other side.  This is called — ‘ she said the word, “Ti’ilve.” 
‘ Only the elder dreamers from the time before the days of cold could do this .’
    Kyric
held out his hands.  ‘ It is nothing I try to do.  When I was young, I was —
‘ he couldn’t think of the right sign-sounds, ‘ — I was touched by a power
that cannot be known. ’
    She
was quiet for a moment.  ‘ I am sorry.  All this time I thought you were a
master dreamer, knowingly coming to aid us.  You always found a new way, even
when I was lost. ’  She laid on her back then, patting the ground next to
her.  ‘ Come.  We shall see if we can go to the meeting place together .’
    Apparently,
the meeting place was in the dream world.  All around the cluster of trees, the
other Terrulans were bedding down in small groups.  He laid next to her and
closed his eyes.  She covered the tip of his little finger with hers.
    After a day like today, he knew he
couldn’t easily fall asleep.  He didn’t understand what Aiyan was doing.  If he
had no respect for Thurlun, then he had nothing to prove.  Had he simply lost
his temper?  Wasn’t their freedom and safety worth one day of working with
slave-takers?  If it was only a trick to get away, it wouldn’t make them real
slavers, would it?  Would it? ”
    “It
poisons your heart the first time you allow another to treat a person as
property,” said Rolirra
    They
sat in the shade of a great tree beneath a mild summer sky.  The wind blew, and
sunlight ran in iridescent waves across a grassy slope leading down to a
village, one of a chain of villages surrounding the hill, all connected by
gardens thick with fruited trees and blossoming vines.
    “But
they would use your people as slaves whether I was among them or not.  It
wouldn’t change what is happening.”  He looked at her.  She was young and
beautiful as she was in the other dreams, and he was older and stronger once
again.
    “It
would change what is happening to you .  You would have to send men to
their deaths.  If you thought in your heart that you were not a slaver, you would
still be one with your hands.  And how would you wash that blood away?”
    He
remembered the river of blood.
    “I
see,” he said.  And he repeated what Aiyan had told him:  “All battles are
battles of the spirit.”
    “That
is wisdom.”
    “Not
my words.”
    The
trunk of the tree had a girth of many arm spans, splitting into dozens of
branches that arched far into the field.  Shining golden moss ran in patterns
through the wrinkled bark, and the leaves glowed like green lights.  There were
others sitting beneath it as well, and Kyric recognized many as slaves from the
camp.  Some of them stood and went down the hill.
    “I
am glad we could come here together,” Rolirra said.  The dream tree lies very
close to the other side.  For those of my clan, this is the beginning place.  I
was surprised when I went through and found myself in the desert of light.”
    “Why
didn’t you speak of this when we first met?”
    “The
farther you go, the more the memory fades.  If you go deep enough, you lose
your other self.  It is the same on both sides.”
    He
nodded.  “In the desert, I didn’t realize I was dreaming.  It felt like I was
in the waking world.”
    She
looked at him seriously.  “You do not understand.  It is all a dream. 
Only there are two aspects to it.