A Darkening Honor

Chapter 11

When Lydian and Callum unlocked the door to the room they were staying in, Lydian gasped with delight, and Callum felt himself smile. She ran to one of the beds and collapsed backward onto it, sighing. Callum laughed. It did him good to see her happy.

"This is beautiful, Callum. After that tiny bed on the ship... It's wonderful."

Callum took the other bed, silently agreeing that this was a step up from their previous sleeping situation. He hadn't told her that he was sleeping out on the deck, feeling bad enough that she was forced to sleep on such an uncomfortable bed, and he didn't want her to feel bad that he didn't have one at all.

"I have to agree with you, Lydian." She smiled, and Callum closed his eyes, letting the silence wash over him, letting his mind settle. But thoughts of his mother crept in, and with them, the fear that she would find him, with the Dreambender's daughter, no less. "Lydian?" he asked, opening one eye.

"Yes, Callum?" He saw that she, too, had closed her eyes. She looked peaceful. He hated to ruin it.

"My mother can find us here. She couldn't come to Osira, but she could call on me when I'm on the mainland. She doesn't know I'm on the mainland, and I don't want to work for her, but if she finds me, I'd have to go with her, to cover up what we're really doing. I just want you to know. In case I disappear." Lydian was silent, and Callum opened his eyes to gauge her reaction.

She had sat up on her bed and was crossing her legs. Her head was cocked to the side, like she was thinking.

"Could I stop her from finding us?" she asked, and Callum blinked in surprise. "If I dreamt her away?" Shocked into silence, Callum just stared. "My father can change things, can't he? Change the way the world works, if he wants? That's why everyone wants him."

"I don't know," Callum said. There were rumors, of course, that the Dreambender had powers beyond that of just dreaming, that he could bend reality itself, but Callum didn't know if they were true, much less if his daughter would be able to perform the same feats. "Are you sure you'd want to try?"

Lydian nodded, her jaw set.

"If I can use my magic to save my father, then it will all be worth it."

"We can try, later, but you're tired now. Anything beyond your normal capabilities could exhaust you to a dangerous point." Lydian stared at him, clearing considering his words.

"Well, my normal capabilities include seeing real things, yes?" Callum nodded, warily.

"I'm going to find your mother, then," she said, and Callum groaned. "She won't be able to see me, the King couldn't, so I won't be in any danger. Besides, it will be useful information."

She lay back on the bed, and closed her eyes without another word. Callum sighed, rubbing his aching head, but knew that she would hold her ground on this one. So instead of fighting, Callum spoke to her, leading into sleep, guiding her to unconsciousness. Eventually Lydian would be able to dream on her own, find her powers herself. But for now, his job was to get her to the point where she could dream properly, and let her handle the rest.

Callum watched her breathing slow, saw her lie completely still, and he knew she was dreaming.

___

Lydian opened her eyes to darkness. There was nothing, she was nothing. Clearing the fog from her mind, she tried to remember why she was dreaming.

Callum. Laszlo.

She had to protect them both from Callum's mother, a woman called Niamh whom Lydian feared more than she would ever let Callum know. While Callum was kind, far kinder than many humans she had met, his race was at war with her own, and from his own descriptions, they were fierce fighters. She knew they would not hesitate to hunt her down if they knew what she was. If they discovered her existence, she would have a bounty on her head higher even than that of her father's. She would be forced to flee from both men and demons alike. She could not decide which would be worse if she were caught.

She didn't even know what Callum's mother knew, what she was planning. So that was what she must find, Lydian remembered. She had to find Callum's mother.

She focused her thoughts on her friend, on what he had told her of his mother Niamh, and closed her eyes. The darkness helped her. When she opened her eyes, the world was gray and black, and still dark, and Lydian found the Shattered Realm surprisingly beautiful.

Lydian was surprised at how easily she identified Callum's mother, kneeling on the stone in front of her, but the likeness was rather incredible. They had the same brown curls, same dark eyes. Niamh's skin was tan, like Callum's, but she had no freckles across her cheeks and nose the way Callum did, and there was a gray tint even to her, none of the sun captured in her skin the way it caught in Callum's, and her own. Her skin stretched tight over lean muscles, and Lydian wondered how old Niamh was, how many decades, centuries, millennia she had been at war.

Niamh knelt at the feet of another demon, this one impossibly tall, wearing armor that fit him like skin. Lydian did not know what it was made of. Remembering that she did not exist here, she crept up to him and tapped the armor on his arms. It was solid, something hard like stone, but Lydian watched the demon shift and saw how flexible it was. It rang clearly, like a bell, and Lydian had felt its strength. No blade would pierce this.

"Niamh," he was saying, and Lydian retreated to observe. "News from our spy?"

Callum, Lydian thought.

"Lord Hadeon," Niamh answered, her head bowed. "Our spy is on Osira. The Dreambender is gone, in all likelihood to the mainland." Lydian heard a low growl emanate from the lord, and she shivered. "Callum will remain on the island, as the Dreambender is expected to return. When he does, he will be brought to us. The war could be over in months."

"I see. Are you going to Galrude, for the King?" Lydian held her breath.

"No, my lord, I planned to return to the field, to aid our brothers and sisters in battle. The human general has gone, to be their king. It will be simple to defeat them. They have no one to look to. I believe my son can handle his assignment." Hadeon nodded, slowly.

"I see. I will find another to handle the King. You may go."

Niamh nodded, and she stood, bowed, and backed away slowly, and Lydian's mind released the dream, fading out into golden smoke as usual. Lydian released a breath she had not realized she'd been holding, waiting for her mind to wake so she could tell Callum what she'd seen. They did not need to stop her, for she was not coming for them. Not yet.

The smoke was reforming. She had not realized it, until it was too late, and she didn't know how to stop it. Lydian was still dreaming, but she felt wildly out of control.

Looking around in desperation, she saw a room, similar to their own, but the belongings were not theirs, and the man seated on the bed was not Callum. Lydian's breath caught as she recognized the man, who was holding a letter crumpled tight in his hands.

The Crown Prince.

Her breath caught, and she muffled her voice before remembering he couldn't see her. Except his head raised fast as an arrow, his red rimmed eyes widening in disbelief, and Lydian knew that he saw her.

"Who are you?" he asked, voice hoarse. "How did you get here?"