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Keleios woke instantly, staring up into the darkness, gasping for air A screas

"Safe," she whispered, "safe, only a dream" Even as she said it, she knew better The last had been very real There was still soic, and not her own The tower rooht came to her: if it wasn&039;t in the room, there was one ers to her chest and searched herself A touch of ic There had been a spell tied to the phantasm like a tail on a kite Fear slid down her spine like ice Keleios had not known such a spell was possible How could she protect herself against so she did not understand? Keleios forced herself to breathe past the fear

"I aht," Keleios whispered She was not all right, and she knew it The spell was dormant, but it was still there, and Keleios could not tell exactly what spell it was She sed hard, and refused to be afraid Fear would not help her now

So there was a spell inside of her coiled like a snake, but she was alive and sane She had her dream Unlike ing the terror fresh and horrible She had to tell someone Already, the coroorse

She sat up in the narrow bed The night breeze from the openplayed coolly on her sweat-soaked body The covers were drenched as if she had had fever in the night

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed Her feet dangled helplessly above the floor There were good points and bad points to being half-elven In most households she would have had no problem, but the Astranthians were a tall race

Her clothes rinkled froowns or bed shirts, but Keleios felt unprepared in nightclothes

Most drea prophecy to all ere near Keleios appeared in ru to tell only a select few She was unimpressed with hysterical dreamers Visionaries could sometimes be excused; the immediacy of vision was often too much even for the trained prophet Visions did not stay with the prophet the way drea There was no excuse for lack of control in dreams

She retrieved her boots from beside the bed and sat down to put theirl who dreae with such a talent there were excuses Keleios frowned; there was so She should have been worried about Alys but couldn&039;t think why

She padded over the cool stone floor to the water-filled basin She spoke, "Thanks be to Urle, god of prophecy, that I have pierced the veils once and seen that which is to be, that which has been and that which is now" She splashed the water on her face and arms It fell in cool splendor down her chest Keleios hesitated, feeling especially reluctant to finish the ritual tonight "Thanks be to the Shadow Lady, god of evil dreams, that I have pierced the veils once and seen that which is to be, that which has been, and that which is now" She splashed more water upon herself and added as she turned away, "Even the shadows deserve their duty"

It was an ancient phrase used without ic is different There was a quiet surge, as if the stones drew a breath The air was suddenly cool A pleasing da Her pulse pounded in her throat, and she couldn&039;t breathe the cool air

So shadow of prophecy and long-cast spells, so powerful

A woman&039;s voice entered the silence, a deep rich alto, not unpleasant "Thanks be to the prophet orships the shadows still"

Keleios tried to say, "I don&039;t," but she could not speak

Waran to creep into the room, and the unnatural dampness stole away The spells of the tower resue, that she could hear with the inner ear of ainst the table, suddenly weak It was not easy to be brushed by the od had her power

Keleios drew in careful breaths of the dry, warh theShe stood away from the table, afraid Keleios shook as if with fever, her breath co her fro, and it had not even been a spell, only will and power Shadow ers were not that uncommon in unprotected towers Until the sys could coo She had to spread the alarm before more monsters came

Alys had been in the toith a phantasm loose What chance did a five-year-old have? How many others had been in the tohen it caled with her fear It tried to force itself upon her She had to waste ti for control of the drea now, she would be useless for a time There was no ti, concentrating on the simple flow of her own body When she opened her eyes, she was no longer tre The dream was contained, for now

She opened the outer door, but the drealed beneath the calm It was a calm not of placid waters but of carved steel

The outer chalowed, popped, and flared The flash of light shone on Selene&039;s hair, croing black, and Melandra&039;s upturned face Selene was a journeyirl stirred at her entrance The prophet keepers had changed, perhaps ht Keleios stopped just in front of a ward sprinkled in a semi-circle before her door It would not let her pass The wards protected the prophet keepers froet so to set watches Sometimes a prophet came out temporarily mad, without aid of a phantasm Once they had only had sound wards but a journeyman dreamer killed one of the keepers and a ward of enclosure was added

The prophecy spoke to her sorcery, her ic, and it whispered, "Cross the barrier We are powerful, ill not be har of invincibility was a delusion The power offered was real enough Her left hand itched and burned, it too felt the power of dream The pals that held it in place traced a webbing across the back of her hand to her wrist It was a mark of power to some; to others, corruption; to Keleios, an unfortunate accident The left reached for the ward She clinched it into a fist and placed it rigid at her side Most of the she could ignore it, but after dreah she had once held the rank of master dreaes Tiny sparks ofto s past the building power Sorcery was the worst for a dreamer to have for it was soonto her side and blinking into the near-dark She clutched a knit shawl across the shoulders of her brown dress She scra in disarray over her scarred face She was only thirteen and still had baby fat to lose Her face was an old face, broken and battered She was a Calthuian, and they outlawed e her father and ic out of her Magic will come out one way or another She was an enchanter and worked in flour, sugar, and spices

Selene ake, brown eyes searching the dark, as if this wasn&039;t where she expected to be when she woke up She stood tall for a Zairdian noble, and slender The square-cut bodice of her dress was covered in white lace that formed a frill around her neck, traced by black velvet The only skin that shoas face and hands

Melandra was already kneeling by the ward, having sensed Keleios&039; haste, but paused and looked up at the older girl "Was it the sign of ending, or of infinity that allows safe passage?"

"Could you really trace a symbol of infinity in such a small space? I don&039;t think I could"

Melandra shook her head andtraced through the reddish powder andneutral until the symbol iped away Keleios stepped over the line, careful not to se it A shudder ran down her spine

Selene asked, "Are you all right?"

"No, there was a phantasasped Melandra said, "Keleios, how?"

"There&039;s no time Is anyone else in the tower besides o

"The child Alys is still here" Selene paled "Oh, Keleios, do you think?"

"Melandra, go find a healer, preferably a white-robed"

The girl nodded and was gone, running down the stairs A tic had begun just under Keleios&039; right eye, a sign of stress The dreaone; no time, it cried, no time Her back rippled, and she covered her face with her hands "I control my powers; they do not control me" When she felt steady once more, she put down her hands

"Keleios, you are too full of dreaone, time is precious Open the ward to h as a fellow journeyued Keleios stepped in front of the child&039;s rooathered her will one last time There was no way to tell what sort of power lurked in the rooer was still vivid and close Evil was abroad tonight, and if one spell could enter the tower, there could be others

She pushed the door forward, fighting an urge to usethe apprentice sorcerers not to use their power on trivialities like opening doors

The room was as dark as her own had been The furniture was the saure tossed, crying out, one tiny hand flung upward as if avoiding a blow

Keleios hurried to her side The wavy froth of pale brown hair was plastered darkly to Alys&039; head The child murmured words in her sleep, words she couldn&039;t know, ancient phrases of great power She was fighting with o

The phantasotten her Alys had hidden herself in one of the tower&039;s dreareat talent for that Now she was trapped The i had she been like this? How long had she been fighting to break free? If it were too long, it could be fatal

Keleios sat upon the bed and grabbed the flailing hands, her own delicate hands encircling the tiny fists She spoke quietly at first "Alys, Alys, can you hear me?"

The child whimpered and called out, "Keleios! Keleios, help me, save me!"

"Wake up, Alys, it is a drea on face and flowing in tension through her hands She was trying, but so her It took only a moment to find the twist of spell on the child, not a full binding, not even active It was not holding her to the dream yet, but it was there

Where were all the Vered the child into her arirl to her There was tooto have to use sorcery, but an awakening spell was sihtly to her straining power Too much, and she would wake all the sleepers in the keep "Awake, Awake!"

Alys moved fitfully in her sleep but did not obey

"Loth&039;s blood, I&039; to have to enter herto escape, but her struggles were not ive up or die in the dreairl rushed through the door, questions ready, but there was no ti at the thrashing forirl into Selene&039;s arrew less She was shivering, li

Selene said, "Keleios, you aren&039;t going to enter her mind? It isn&039;t your best spell"

"There is no tiht, but we&039;re out of tiainst Alys&039; skull Sorcery ca power She concentrated and held back Lightly, lightly, or you shatter the mind you probe

She entered Alys&039; h all was fear Keleios called quietly, "Alys, do you hearcame from far away "Keleios, help me"

"Showof power, and she entered The world was the chaos of battle, weapons ringing,Keleios knew this dream It was the battle of Ohi-elle The shorter blond natives foughtAstranthians used both A fireball threw the field into high relief, screaods would soon be released She had to find Alys before that She stood perfectly still, only her eyes searching for the child As she didn&039;t draw attention to herself, no one noticed her Alys must have interfered somehow

Then in the distance over a litter of bodies was a s herself with sorcerous powers that she never outside of dreahost that the screah; she was mist until she chose to act So she waited until she could be close enough to grab Alys

Dusk fell and with it the gods of the natives They rushed onto the battlefield, shrieking and throwing ic to h approached Alys The sword that he wielded shoneon a body that hung spitted on a broken spear Keleios paused, willing the panic to pass If she lost control, she would be caught in the fighting and never reach the child in ti herself in The creature approached the child faster Keleios was almost there, just a few feet She could clasp Alys to her and they would disappear to the sight of the drea the bolts of energy Alys threw at it

Keleios could al doard, and there was no time left

The twist of spell inside Keleios flared to life Real, it said; pain, it said If she hesitated, Alys would die; if she went forward, they ht both die, or not Keleios took the &039;or not&039; and flung herself forward, suddenly appearing to the dee course Though it was only a dream, Keleios screamed as the blade broke her collarbone The spell forced her to stay for the pain She screamed and lashed outith power She released a burst to the thread that bound her to this dream as surely as it bound Alys As she lay there, ioing up into the sky, "I a," she told herself "This is only a dream" Her heart pu screams came from just behind her Alys of course, poor child Keleios dreer, all that she could find Reaching outward and inward, she blasted the threads The threads in the sky shriveled as with fire The dreaht vision did not touch Velvety soft it was, and coed at her, pulled at her Magic seeping through her ic She lashed out at the touch, and it broke abruptly There were other things to do besides floating in the dark Alys had to be found and helped Yes, helped "Help ent awful drea

Keleios opened her eyes to look at Bertog, the journeyhtness about her blue eyes and Keleios knehere that second burst of ic had come from The healer had used a deep probe to waken her, and Keleios had har She tried to speak, but a hoarse rasp was all that would co "Don&039;t try to talk or er, and Selene has gone to fetch a full healer"

Keleios irl sat very stiff, every inch an Astranthian noble The yellow silk of her dress was almost the same color as her hair "I met Selene in the hall I carab the healer&039;s flowing sleeve, but her hand would not do it There was a fading pain frole of dull throbbing

Bertog went on as if reluctant to have Keleios speak, "Alys is fine She is asleep, an exhausted one I have studied drea, except the dreairls have"

Keleios had her voice "Correct," She coughed to clear the hoarseness from it and tried to relint of silver as the sword descended -- yes, it had been so of a neck cut Throat wounds so the co about the spells and the phantasm, but she distrusted the healer The healer&039;s vows prevented her fro anyone, but she could still bear secrets For a white healer the girl spent entirely toowith the followers of Mother Bane The door swung inward

Jodda, in the shapeless white robe of a full healer, ca caainst the snowy cloth Her blue eyes were concerned, her face professionally blank but pleasant Behind her was Belor the Dreaic He was short, broad-shouldered, yellow-haired A fir soft and boyish He wore a pair of baggy trousers stuffed into over-the-knee boots A blue tunic gaped open and beltless over his bare chest The tunic and trousers did not match Belor&039;s illusions were the envy of the rest Even the school&039;s High- froift: deh their veins As her hand behind its leather prison, so with his inborn lance was enough between theht His fear lessened

Melandra ca low so her hair would hide her face She had a girl&039;s crush on Belor, but she thought herself hideous and so ard in the role

Jodda traced a red line from Keleios&039; left shoulder near the neck, to disappear into the cloth of the tunic she wore "You got this in a dreaed a yes