Excerpt: The Tree & the Egg

Bethany

November 30, Wednesday night
21 Days to the Winter Solstice

Kyrah, where are you? Please call out to me! I want to help you!

Bethany Dilly Giscard was flying around, a sure sign that she was dreaming, ‘cause she didn’t have wings in real life. Moreover, Bethany was aware that she was dreaming, which was pretty cool—and usually a sign that it wasn’t her own dream—she was Dreamwalking. In the last year since Bethany had become a Guardian, she’d learned that her power was not limited to simply being a big, walking Null. As a Guardian to the Sphere of Dreams, she could visit that Blessed Realm in order to enter the dreams of anyone.

Since entering another person’s dreams constituted a severe breach of privacy, Bethany didn’t do it often. Tonight, however, she was searching for her friend.

Her best friend, Kyrah, had been captured by the Dark Triad, the three powerful sorcerers who were driving the Elven War. Bethany had been trying to connect to Kyrah in the Sphere for Dreams for more than a week, yet she’d found no sign of the Seeress. That was disturbing on many levels. Kyrah was a savvy Dreamwalker in her own right. She and Bethany had often shared dreams before.

And yet... nothing...

Kyrah! Bethany called out, flying over a misty, indistinct landscape. Kyrah!

Then, faintly, as if from a great distance, she heard a response: Bethany! Here! I ‘m here!

Bethany saw Kyrah in the misty landscape below. Suddenly, in that weird way of dreams, Bethany was standing next to her friend in a cramped cell of iron and rock. A tiny, barred sliver of window showed a sky whited-out by snow.

“Is this my dream, your dream, or are we dreaming together, like a dream telephone?” Bethany asked, just to be sure.

“It’s a dream telephone, Bethany,” said Kyrah.

“Awesome, those are the best dreams,” Bethany grinned. Relief flooded her. She grasped Kyrah’s hands, which felt real in hers.

But cold. So cold. Her friend didn’t grin back. Bethany’s relief transmuted into anxiety. Kyrah looked like a shadow of herself, thin and drawn. Dark half-moons under her eyes made her tight-skinned face look like a skull.

“Kyrah, where are you? Are they hurting you?” Bethany asked. 

“I’ve been captured by the enemy,” said Kyrah. “I’ve been trying to reach out to you since November. I’m not in the Mundane Sphere any longer. I think I’m in Izdarq, the capital of Azirak. Bethany, it’s awful.... There is so much pain here. So many minds trapped and suffering...”

Read The Tree & the Egg