Episode Ten: Brother
"Miss Kieme?"
Uncertain as usual, Amercy shuffled into the tent which Kieme had been given. He stared at the ground, twisting his hands. "You…what should I…"
"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you." The burgundy-haired woman turned in her chair to face him. She had tied back her curls to keep them out of her face, and her appearance was casual and disarming, but Amercy couldn't help being apprehensive. "Come on, have a seat." She motioned towards a cushion on the floor.
"Uh…thank you…" Amercy sat awkwardly.
"I know about the Tresuan," Kieme said, "but it'd be better for both you and I if the rest of the world didn't. So keep your mouth shut and don't tell anyone—for your safety and everyone else's. I won't bother you about your past if you make that one promise."
"But—but Triana…" stuttered Amercy. Kieme cut him off impatiently.
"Especially Triana." She looked at him sternly. "Look at all the trouble your master went through in trying to capture you. What do you think would happen if word got out about Triana? The fact that she doesn't know is what's kept her safe all these years—and if you told her, you'd put us all in danger. Well," she laughed, "more danger than we're already in."
"I…I see," Amercy replied. "May…may I ask you a question?"
"You can ask anything that you want. I reserve the right to deny you an answer, but you're free to ask."
Amercy swallowed. "Who are you?" His face reddened. "Well, you know, I mean—"
"Why do I talk like I've got authority, you mean? Well, the Queen can't be everywhere at once, but her most trusted servants have a link to her—a mental link, I guess you'd say. No matter how far apart we are, we can still communicate, and she can express her opinion, give instructions, and so on. Aradel, a couple others, and I can speak with her voice."
"Oh," Amercy said, feeling as if he should give some sort of acknowledgement. "They say that the Queen of Shadows is a demon from this planet, determined to punish the trespassers on her ground. That's what they said at home, I mean."
Kieme shrugged. "She seems perfectly Elorhan to me."
"I know," Amercy replied. "The dralions—and the people who created them—are the real demons."
Their eyes met, Amercy's plaintive, Kieme's emotionless as usual. "Don't call yourself a demon," she said sternly. "If you know you're a demon, you know how to stop being one. I think we're finished here. Go. Re wanted to see you."
*
The city appeared iridescent in the sunlight, stones that had seemed white at first glance displaying hues across the rainbow under closer inspection. The shiny reflections were painful to look at until the eyes adjusted to the light—and realized that its source was not just reflected sunlight. In the distance, what appeared to be a tangled mass of vines emitted an eerie reddish glow, as well as a low hum that resonated between the pyramidal buildings. It was the only sound that broke the silence.
Kreis wondered absently why he didn't have a shadow, watched the colors flow and shift beneath his feet. Where was he? How long had he been standing here—the sun had just been high in the sky, and now it was setting rapidly—too rapidly. It was all too strange.
He didn't remember seeing that disc of light and color, but he didn't remember it appearing, either, nor the small boy who floated above it, his arms wrapped around his knees. "Hi," said the boy.
"Hi," said Kreis. "If it's not too much trouble, would you mind telling me what’s going on?"
"You're asleep," the boy replied, "and dreaming."
"Oh, well, that makes sense, I suppose," Kreis said with an agreeable shrug. He sank down onto the steps of one of the buildings and looked up at the child. "What's your name?" he wondered.
"It's Kaelor."
"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm—"
"Kreis, yes, I know," Kaelor interrupted. "This is your dream, after all. Your mind."
"Oh. I'm sorry, I just didn't think we'd met before."
"We haven't." Kaelor smiled. "But I've heard all about you from Kieme."
"Then I hate to think of the picture you've gotten of me."
"No one's perfect." He grinned again. "But at least you didn't get stuck with father's nose."
"What are you talking about?"
"We both got his hair and our mother's eyes," continued Kaelor, "but our ears are unique, I think. Yes."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, we are brothers, after all."
Kreis wasn’t as shocked as he would have liked to have been. "This is so…strange…"
"Yes, I do suppose it would be," Kaelor sighed. "Dreams are strange."
"You're my brother? How—"
"It's not important right now," Kaelor interrupted. "Or rather, it is important, but it would take far too long to explain things, and we're short on time tonight as it is."
"Short on time for what?" Kreis demanded. He was starting to feel impatient, or at least felt as if he should feel impatient.
"We have work to do if you're going to defeat Sephoni tomorrow."
"Excuse me?" A million things seemed to laugh in the face of Kreis's common sense. This small boy who appeared about five, but spoke as if he was much older—part man, part child, and part something even more alien—he was odd, even for a dream. His brother? It was just a dream, thought Kreis, and when he woke up the next morning, nothing that happened here would be of any consequence, would it? He could accept strangeness; that was what one had to do in dreams. Only Triana could dream of reality.
"It's just so bizarre," Kreis said, running his hand down a smooth, cool stone column. Cool? Smooth? Could one sense that in a dream?
"You can sense anything through dreams, if you know the right way to go about it. It's a wonderful escape, but it still isn't reality." Kaelor's voice was wistful. "It is not the same as breathing air in the infinitely complicated real world. How can a dream, with all its fantasy and surrealism, compare?" The city faded away, Kaelor with it. Kreis blinked. Or did one blink in dreams?
He stood in a room. While the whirlpool-disk rematerialized, Kaelor did not. "Now what?" demanded Kreis. "Where am I?"
"So, you're Kreis, huh?" The voice was female and casual. "I didn't realize there was anybody else here like that."
"Like what?" Kreis searched for the source of the voice. A robed figure was standing in the shadows, grinning under her hood.
"This fight might be entertaining after all." She winked at him, then pulled a sword from under her cloak. Kreis looked down to see a sword in his own hand, then dropped it in shock. It fell to the floor, and everything else was still and silent until the echo of the clatter stopped.
"I don't want to fight," he said at last.
"What a shame," his opponent sighed. She sheathed her sword and pushed back her hood. "It's just as well," she added. "People such as you and I shouldn't fight. It's in both of our best interests to work together." She revealed her own ears, which resembled Kreis’s. She was pretty, but there was something not quite—right—about the way that she smiled.
"What are you talking about?" Kreis wondered. "Now what’s going on?"
"Frankly, I don’t see why you put up with it," she continued. "We both have the power to destroy them, you know. Of course, I could do it without you, but I think we could both benefit from the other’s help."
"Do what?" Kreis wondered. "What is it you want to do?"
"Well, one of us is destined to rule the world," the young woman laughed. "It’s only natural, after all, seeing as we are God's chosen. Come on. It won’t take long to destroy everyone who stands in our way if we work together."
Kreis stepped away. "I can’t…"
"You can’t? You doubt yourself too much. You think you’re weak? Test yourself!" The sword was in his hand again, and the woman in the cloak held hers straight out at him. "Tomorrow, you’ll see just how strong you are!"
*
A cry awakened Kreis, and he looked around him to see that neither Arik nor Gregan were in their bedrolls. A moment later, Gregan ran in, clutching a bleeding arm and cursing between clenched teeth. Kreis began to stand
"What the—"
"If you’d been paying attention that wouldn’t have happened!" Arik said, running in behind Gregan.
"Goddamnit, that hurt!" Gregan shouted. "Kreis, d’you know where the bandages are?"
"Crybaby," Arik said. "I barely scratched you. I thought you said you knew what you were doing!"
"What the hell is going on?" Kreis wondered. He shuffled through a bag, found a roll of bandages, and tossed it to Gregan.
"We were practicing," Arik began.
"And that kid tried to take my arm off!" Gregan interrupted.
"It was your idea," Arik muttered. "’It can’t be that hard,’ you said. ‘I’ve done it a million times on the stage,’ you said. How the hell do you expect to become a soldier?"
"I don’t believe you guys," Kreis groaned, shaking his head.
"Well, I’m sorry that I wasn’t nobly born, so I couldn’t train with a sword since I was in the cradle!" Gregan continued, ignoring Kreis. He tore the bandage off savagely. "How am I going to learn anything if you decide to maul me every time we practice?"
"A little scratch isn’t ‘mauling’ you, crybaby…"
"Are you guys trying to wake the whole camp?" Kreis interrupted. "Some of us need our rest..." If we've got to fight some crazy sorceress tomorrow, he added silently.