City of Gods [Book 3 of the Teadai Prophecies] Read online

  She gazed up at the stars then to the dream bubbles. Wren would know what has happened. So would Elder Siri or Lyssinya. But Wren often assisted Maesa in the Netherworld when she slumbered. Where was the white-haired woman? She went in search of her and spent quite a while flying around the numerous dream bubbles. Everywhere, middling dreams floated past her as she searched for her kin’s footprints.

  She located Henny’s, a dulled, purple snowflake. If Henny slept and Maesa couldn’t see the rest of her other kin, perhaps it was early morning and the others had awakened already. She and Henny did have a habit of sleeping too long on occasion. At that thought, the sun drifted just above the eastern horizon and gave off early morning light. She watched it briefly then turned her attention on Henny’s dream bubble and the footprint that marked it. The other youngling had no slumbering Energy, not even a slight amount, and Maesa’s wasn’t strong enough to enter another’s dream, not without assistance. Frustrated, she attempted to go to her body and wake. Again, no results.

  She decided to sit where she could watch Henny’s dull print drift nearby, and she flopped onto the sand. Had this been the mundane world, she wouldn’t have been so careless in such a nice gown. Wren often checked on younglings in the Netherworld, especially Maesa. Since they both possessed mind-healing Energy, they would eventually work together. She felt comforted that at least one of her kin would find her here.

  “I wish Adelsik were here.” She drew lines in the sand with her fingers.

  The other woman’s image filled her mind but her likeness didn’t appear. The girl with white-blonde hair and doll-like features had become a confident new-oathed Gypsy. So much had happened in a year’s cycle. To all of them. Maesa used to jump at every sound and fear retribution from Haranda and the other Gypsy mothers. But no longer. Of course, she wasn’t stupid. Punishment certainly didn’t appeal to her, but she no longer felt like wetting herself every time a Gypsy called her down. Ved’nuri was different altogether. Maesa would wager her boots the crowned woman could make a full Gypsy grovel with a simple look, even an Elder.

  Something caught her side vision and she turned to see a glowing figure over the ocean. As it came closer, she saw that it was a boy, not much older than twelve. He flew low over the water until he reached the sand then took to walking in his bare feet. His clothes seemed quite outdated, a pauper no doubt. Maesa had never seen such dress in her days and didn’t remember thinking about such a boy. She watched as he stepped toward her.

  “Allo there,” he said as he approached. His dark hair curled about his shoulders, and bright brown eyes that stood out against dark skin studied her. He wore tattered breeches cropped just below his knees. A billowy blouse was tucked into his breeches, and a small eating knife hung at his waist. Perhaps he was from a traveling family of performers. That would explain the strange garments. Performers always seemed to wear things that made them stand out in a crowd.

  “Hello.” Maesa’s heart raced as she studied him.

  She had never seen this boy before, she was certain of it, yet he stood here in her memory dream, speaking to her. What had happened here? Had the Netherworld been affected so much by the imbalance that middling dreamers now crossed boundaries? She had felt nothing when he pushed into her memory dream. He was certainly no Gypsy, not without a footprint. And he was too young. He had to be a middling. Or perhaps he was an errant. But how could he find her here?

  “You be waitin’ for a body?” The boy spoke with a dialect Maesa had never heard.

  “Yes. Who are you?”

  He flopped onto his bottom, not an arm span from her and smiled. “Me name’s, Myad de Hench. What be your name?”

  “My name’s Maesa.” She didn’t want to give him the rest of her name just in case he remembered this dream. She had heard the name de Hench before, but where?

  “What body you be waitin’ for, Goodwoman Maesa?”

  No one had used the Goodwoman title in centuries. Her history studies as a child had been clear on that. This was an odd boy for certain. “My kin.”

  “Ah.” Myad scratched at dirt on his arm and looked around. “This be a fine place. Where be it?”

  Maesa studied him a heartbeat. “Just a place I remember.”

  “Ah.”

  “How did you get here, Myad?”

  “Over the sea.”

  “How did you find me?” He cocked his head and gave her a look of not understanding. Could he be a rogue slumberer, not even knowing what he was doing? But he had no footprint. Surely, an errant couldn’t learn to hide that without training, not in the Netherworld. “Where’s your home, Myad?”

  He smiled. His adult teeth had grown in a bit crooked. “I be from the Hench.”

  His family must go back pretty far to have the same name as his village. “I’m not certain I know that place.”

  “It be a small shore village.” Perhaps his attachment to the sea led him here. “How ‘bout you, Goodwoman Maesa? Where you be hailin’ from.”

  “I was born in Bedlon.”

  “Ah. I not be knowin’ that place. It near here?”

  “It’s a ways off.”

  “Ah.” He snapped his head toward the ocean and his eyes grew distant. “Well, I best be gettin’ off. Me mates be wonderin’ where I got to.”

  “Wait.” Maesa had a sudden urge not to be alone again. “Can’t you stay a while?”

  Myad smiled and rubbed at his nose. “Ah, why not. Me mam always says, ‘a new friend is treasure more en gold.’” He squinted up the beach. “You seen her ‘round here?”

  Maesa couldn’t help but smile at this boy. “Sorry, no. You’re the first person I’ve seen today.”

  “Ah. Been lookin’ a while now for me mam.”

  “How about your friends? They might know where your mother is.” The boy had probably lived in the same village since birth. No doubt his neighbors knew more about his business than he did.

  “They be new mates. Ones I met here. Like you.”

  “Oh. Then you know you’re dreaming.”

  “Dreamin?” He scratched his head. “Is that what I be doin? Wondered ‘bout that.” He leaned in and offered a crooked smile. “Wondered when I learned to fly.”

  Maesa chuckled.

  “If I be dreamin’ then you be dreamin’ too, Goodwoman Maesa.”

  “Yes.” No point explaining about slumbering. She still didn’t know how he found her, especially since she didn’t feel him push through her memory dream. Even as weak as her slumbering Energy was, she always felt an intruder. “Where did you come from, Myad? Before you flew across the ocean? What’s on the other side?”

  “Me friends. They fly hither and there. Came on ‘em one by one, I did. Some been away awhile, now. Woke up, I guess.”

  Something still didn’t make sense to Maesa. “Do they ever talk of waking?”

  “No, Goodwoman. You the first to talk dreamin’. I just be lookin’ for me mam.”

  Memories filled her mind as the boy talked. Her heart raced and her palms began to sweat, though she knew that didn’t really happen to one’s otherself. Visions of an attack filled her mind. A woman? Yes. Croferituus! Goddess, help me. The woman attacked me in my dreams.

  A vision of the yellow-eyed woman looming over her took her thoughts. A pillow pressed to her otherself’s face. She couldn’t slumber, couldn’t break through Croferituus’s Energy to cry for help. If she couldn’t wake now, then the woman must have her bound somehow. Is Croferituus nearby? Is she doing this? Taunting me with this boy?

  What happened in the Netherworld could happen to a Gypsy’s mundane body, and Croferituus knew that. Maesa must be in a deep sleep. The type that kept a person unconscious for a while, days, weeks even. Wren had taught her about that kind of sleep. But how had Croferituus found her? She had been exhausted. Yes. From traveling. Had she forgotten to protect herself, forgotten to dull her footprint? She and Henny had talked quietly in the stone building before the others came to bed.

  I must
have fallen asleep. Goddess, help me. I don’t remember protecting myself. She glanced up at Henny’s dream bubble. Had the other youngling made the same mistake? Had Croferituus gotten to her, as well?

  Myad’s bright brown eyes studied her as he sat across from her in the sand. Perhaps he wasn’t real. Croferituus might have conjured him with her slumbering Energy. Perhaps he was Croferituus. Her heart hammered in her chest. But Myad hadn’t harmed her. The yellow-eyed woman would want to harm her, not play with her dreams.

  Perhaps the boy was in a deep sleep. An accident maybe? “Myad?” She concentrated to keep her voice steady. No sense panicking the boy. “When were you last awake? What’s your last memory?”

  Wide eyes gazed at her. Fearful, she realized. She didn’t think he was a conjured image now. He scrambled up and backed away from her. “Me mam be lookin’ for me. You not be talkin’ that way.”

  Maesa got to her feet. “What way, Myad? What do you remember?”

  “No!” He pushed off and flew so quickly out over the sea that she almost lost sight of him.

  She decided to follow. Wind tossed her long hair as she soared after the boy, now just a glowing figure over the vast ocean. “Myad! Please, wait!”

  But it was no use. He didn’t stop. His figure snaked in front of her and she tried desperately to keep up. The water seemed to go on forever and she wondered whether she would see the edge of the world if she kept going. It didn’t appear, thankfully. Besides, she didn’t actually believe there was an edge, just a gentle curve.

  Another glowing figure caught her corner sight and she turned to see a woman come toward her. She flipped her head back to call to Myad again but he was gone. Could that woman be Croferituus? She decided not to wait and find out and pushed herself as fast as she could possibly manage and still keep control. Her body began to jerk against the wind.

  “Wait!” a woman’s voice called out behind. “Maesa, wait! Please, wait!” That didn’t sound at all like Croferituus. The yellow-eyed woman hadn’t tried to talk to her before their last encounter. In fact, it sounded like Adelsik’s voice.

  With nothing but water ahead of her, she decided to turn back. The woman closed in, Adelsik in peasant clothes, not the Gypsy attire she usually donned when she slumbered. And a beautiful sight! She flung arms about her friend and sister as they hovered over the ocean. Adelsik sobbed.

  “What is it? Adelsik? What’s wrong?” She held her sister and flew toward the shore. Perhaps her slumbering Energy had grown after all. If Adelsik could find her then she must not be in a deep sleep. Those injured in such a manner couldn’t be reached, even in the Netherworld. When their feet touched sand, Adelsik sank to her knees. Maesa was pulled down with her and she rocked her former clan sister and stroked those soft, white-blonde locks until the woman finally calmed.

  “You have to tell me what’s wrong, Adelsik. I can’t seem to break out of this memory dream. But I’m not harmed. At least, I don’t think so. Am I in a deep sleep? The kind Wren taught us about?”

  Reddened brown eyes looked at her a heartbeat. Then Adelsik broke into tears again. This was getting nowhere. Obviously, the woman had been through something. Maesa grabbed Adelsik by the arms. “Did Croferituus harm you? You need to tell me. Did she find you here? Did she harm Henny?”

  Adelsik sniffed several times and blew her nose twice on a crying cloth she created before she spoke. Not necessary, of course, not here. “Is it really you, Maesa? Please tell me this is real.”

  She didn’t care if the concern showed on her face as she patted her chest. “We’re here in the Netherworld. Together. What’s happened, Adelsik? Are you stuck here, as well? We need to find a way to get to Elder Siri and the other slumberers. I don’t think they sleep, yet. I can’t find their footprints. Why are you asleep?”

  “I came looking for you after—” Adelsik began to sob again.

  “After what?” She cupped the other woman’s chin and forced her to look up. “What has happened?”

  “You don’t remember?”

  “I remember talking with Henny before we slept last night. I think I forgot to use the Energy for protection. Croferituus attacked me here in the Netherworld but I must have fought her off. I don’t remember everything.” She glanced at Henny’s dull print that floated nearby. Did something happen to Henny? Did she forget to protect herself too?” Adelsik stared at her and she shook the woman. “Tell me what has happened.”

  “Yes.” Adelsik sounded like a small, lost child. “Croferituus found Henny. She beat her.”

  “Oh, Goddess help her. Is she all right?”

  Those innocent features screwed into helplessness and pain. “No, Maesa, she’s not. She’s not all right. Henny is—”

  “What?”

  “She sleeps.”

  “Yes. I can see her footprint.” She flicked a hand at Henny’s dream bubble.

  Adelsik shook her head. “The healers can’t wake her.”

  Just as she suspected. She studied Henny’s print again. “Have you tried to reach her from here?”

  “Yes. We tried all last night. Even Ved’nuri couldn’t reach her. She sleeps even within her dreams now. Henny is—dying.”

  Maesa felt as though someone had punched her in the gut. “What? That can’t be. I see her. Right there.” Anger built. “Has anyone caught Croferituus?” That woman needed to be bound and disciplined.

  “No. We interrogated Mindona two nights ago. Croferituus has been in contact with her, but Mindona doesn’t know how to reach the bloody woman.” Large brown eyes peered from red-rimmed sockets. Adelsik didn’t curse often and that made Maesa even more concerned. “There’s something else. I wasn’t certain I would find you. There are so many specters here.”

  “I haven’t seen any.” Two nights ago? How long have I been asleep? “Adelsik, you have to help me wake. I’m having terrible trouble getting back to my body. I know I’m not dreaming. Everything is so brilliant. I know what we’ve been taught, but I think my slumbering Energy has improved. Or else, I’ve learned some way to get more control. I can’t be in a deep sleep like Henny any longer or else you wouldn’t have come to me.”

  “Goddess help me,” Adelsik mumbled.

  “Am I still in a deep sleep?”

  That blonde head shook side to side. “Not a deep sleep.” Her eyes began to run again.

  Maesa took her by the shoulders. “No. You can’t weep. Not until you tell me what to do.” She forced her sister to look at her. “I don’t care if you are new-oathed now, Adelsik Nunsey. You will do as I say and tell me how to get back to my body.”

  Tears streamed down rounded cheeks. “You can’t wake, Maesa. You—I can’t!”

  Maesa kept a tight grip on Adelsik’s shoulders. “Tell me.” Before she could hear what her friend said, memories of the Netherworld unfolded again. A woman with yellow eyes. A pillow hovered above her face. Panic, fear. Something blocked her from waking. But I fought her off. She couldn’t breathe, gasped for air that didn’t come.

  Adelsik sat in front of her now, both on the sandy beach. The blonde woman had her by the arms. “Maesa? Oh, Goddess, help me.” Her voice caught. “I didn’t want to have to tell you this. I hoped you already knew. Like the specter from Saldia’s nightmare. I’m sorry. If I could bring you back to the mundane world, I would.”

  Maesa fought Croferituus. Yes, but did I win? “I’m dead?” She surprised herself by how calm her voice sounded when inside there was panic and disbelief. “You’re saying that I’m dead? I’m a specter?” She stood and took a couple of steps before turning to study her former clan sister.

  “I miss you, Maesa. Please, I’m so sorry. The healers tried to revive you. You died during the night, in your sleep. I found you.” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

  “No! You don’t cry again!” Innocent brown eyes looked up in shock. “I can’t be dead. I’m not dead!” She hauled Adelsik to her feet and shook her. “You tell me how to get back to my body, right now!”

>   “You can’t.” Adelsik hadn’t spoken that time. The voice came from behind Maesa. Lyssinya.

  She released her blonde sister and spun around to glare at the Sage. “You lie! Croferituus put you up to this. Perhaps she’s taken your form. I know she can do that here. She fooled Mother Haranda and Thad.”

  “I’m not hear to fool you, child.” Tears welled in the Sage’s green eyes. “Adelsik tells the truth. I thought she might come looking for you, as distraught as she’s been, so I decided to follow.”

  “No.” This couldn’t be happening. “I’m too young to die. I haven’t reached new-oathed, yet. I’m slumbering. Can’t you see? The brilliant colors. Those are mine.”

  “Yes, I know. But they’re not created by slumbering. You’re—you weren’t that strong. Can you feel the Energy? Sense it beneath your feet? Slumberers can feel the Energy here.”

  Maesa hadn’t been able to sense the Energy since coming to this beach. Nothing she did altered this memory dream except occasional thoughts. And they only changed day into night and night into morning. Shells didn’t respond to her. She had no luck changing their colors. Loss filled her and she gazed up at the tall woman.

  “I don’t feel the Energy.” Something in the distance caressed her and she turned toward it. “I feel something, though. Out there.” With her head, she motioned to the vast ocean.

  Lyssinya stepped to her and caressed her cheek with the back of her hand. “The Goddess has other plans for you, little one.”

  “What plans? To die? That’s no plan.” She glanced at Henny’s dream bubble. The purple snowflake hovered near the same place as before. “No.”

  “Silence your thoughts, Maesa. You’ll know the truth.”

  Something in Lyssinya’s words made sense. She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm. The memory of struggling, of trying to breathe, filled her mind. She remembered fighting with all her might and the numerous attempts to flee back to her body, back to the mundane world. Then she was here, on this beach, watching the peaceful surf. “She suffocated me.”

  A single tear streaked down Lyssinya’s cheek. “Yes. She will pay.”