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“To get back here,” Zaine replied defensively. “I had to rescue Trianna.”
“You should have shut it behind you,” Guyan said, her anger vanishing as quickly as it had arrived. Her shoulders sagged as she turned away from him to look at the door again.
He looked up at the door as well, wondering why it was so dark. Then he saw that around the edges of the door, the blue sky of Zhan was beginning to fade. The colour was seeping out of the sand, the sky, the ground – everything. The dreamlink was spreading into Zhan!
His throat went dry, and his mouth felt full of sand when he tried to swallow. His mind ran around in circles as he desperately tried to work out how to get rid of the door. He may have saved his mother only to have brought the nothingness of the dreamlink to the entire world of Zhan!
“As usual, he’s managed to put every world he touches in danger,” Trianna said sourly as they watched the shadowy world of the dreamlink grow larger.
For once Zaine didn’t feel she was being too hard on him. She was right. Every world he’d ever been in he’d almost destroyed one way or another. Not for the first time he found himself wondering how he could fix a terrible mistake.
Jumping up to close the door was not an option, as the door was too high. Nobody could go close enough anyway, or they would end up in the dreamlink again.
“Fix it!” Trianna yelled, startling him.
With a sudden thought, he ran into the stone cottage and picked up the metal chair. Then he rushed outside and stepped around the shadowy stain on the ground. The only part of the circle that he could get close to was one of the stone pillars. He raised the chair and struck the stone as hard as he could. He felt the impact jar through his arms with a pain that made his teeth hurt. He flicked his eyes to the door and then raised the chair again. The second strike threw him backwards and the chair fell into the circle. He got up and ran back to the pillar. A piece of stone was loose and he dug one finger into the top of the crack, and then pulled.
It came free in his hand and he stepped back from the circle with it. He felt tears prick at his eyes as he saw red sand race unhindered across the grass. There was no sign of the door hanging in the air, nor the creeping shadows that had been taking over Zhan. The link to his home world was gone.
He threw the chunk of rock to the ground and avoided looking at anyone. His life-reading had finally come true; he had destroyed his own world with one finger.
“Where has it gone?” Trianna asked in the silence that followed. Only the rushing of the red sands answered her.
“We need to get the herbs for the king,” Zaine said, trying to put his own heartache aside and get on with what had to be done.
“You have a king here?” Trianna started to brush down her cloak and pat her hair back into place. She put on her most charming smile and stepped closer to Guyan. “I would like to meet him. Perhaps I can offer my services?”
Zaine looked at the false smile and shook his head. Trust her to adjust so quickly to their changed circumstances. Only a moment before, she had been permanently trapped in this world, and already she was plotting to get in a position of power again.
“You runes won’t work here, Mother,” he said flatly.
Trianna’s body was rigid as she turned to look sharply at him. She glared at him in disbelief, but he just shrugged.
“Try them then,” he suggested.
Trianna muttered something under her breath and waved her arms dramatically. Dom looked at her cautiously, stepping back to wait to see what would happen. A few seconds later, when nothing had happened, Trianna looked confused and fell silent as she reconsidered her position yet again. Zaine had no doubt she would find some other way to try to turn the situation to her advantage.
Davyn stirred, and Zaine turned away from his mother to rush to his father’s side. The older weaver put his hand to his head and opened his eyes just a little. His eyes were glazed and unfocused, but as they cleared a little he smiled.
“Zaine, you’re safe,” he sighed with relief, and then he looked around. “And Guyan got home after all.”
“We seem to be stuck in Guyan’s world and they don’t really like us,” Zaine said, trying to explain the situation as quickly as he could. “And our runes don’t work here.”
“We should get moving before my runes wear off. Sy will be angry and his weaving is a lot stronger than mine,” Dom warned them.
Zaine looked back to the cottage they had come out of. Even as Dom spoke, Zaine could hear Sy yelling. His face appeared at the doorway and he glared at them across the sands. Guyan grabbed Zaine and pulled him around the side of the cottage, out of sight of her cousin.
Seconds later, Zaine, Davyn and Guyan were the only ones left by the cottage. Zaine looked around cautiously. Where had everyone gone?
“I guess not all of Sy’s runes are drawn on.” Guyan’s voice was laced with equal measures of awe and distaste. “He has teleported them back to the other cottage. He can’t teleport us if he can’t see us. We’d better get out of here.”
“What will he do to them?” Zaine asked, wanting to look around the side of the cottage to see if they were safe.
“They’ll be okay. He may be nasty like his father, but he wouldn’t go as far as to cause them actual harm,” Guyan assured him. “And there are no starlinks left for him to send them into anyway.”
“Can you walk?” Zaine asked, helping his father to his feet. “I need your help to mix up a potion for the king.”
“It’s just a bang on the head.” Davyn grinned to cover the obvious pain he was in. “What sort of potion do you need?”
“You can tell him as we go,” Guyan suggested, coming over to help support the runeweaver into the stone cottage.
As they walked quickly through the tunnels of Zhan, Zaine told Davyn of the poison that he suspected had been given to the king.
“We’ll need some fresh herbs and berries,” Davyn said, not sounding too hopeful. “How long has he been ill?”
“Two or three days, I think,” Guyan answered. “There’s a cave up ahead where you can get the things you need.”
The tunnels had all looked the same to Zaine, but as they turned the corner they emerged out into a small low-roofed cavern. It had the same clear-stone roof as used at Royal Heights, but, instead of trees full of wooden houses, there were small bushes, plants and even vines growing up the walls.
“This is where Uncle Eldric grows all the herbs for healing,” Guyan said.
Davyn had already pushed away the supporting hands and was walking in amongst the bushes and plants. Zaine followed him, mentally identifying many plants, but there were just as many that he had never seen before.
Zaine picked the leaves and berries that Davyn pointed out, and then as they worked their way back to the entrance Davyn looked around, frowning. He was looking for something, but didn’t seem to be finding it. Finally, he grinned and led Zaine over to where a small ring of stones stood next to the cave wall. A pile of ashes were heaped inside it, and Davyn scooped a handful into a small wooden bowl that lay next to the stones.
Again Davyn looked around. Zaine followed as Davyn hurried over to a long stone bench carved out of the wall. On the bench were all of the tools of trade for a healer, and Davyn quickly set about grinding down the herbs. After a few minutes he handed the task over to Zaine. As the herbs were crushed, Davyn took a pinch of each and stirred in the same quantity of the ash.
He tipped a small amount of the final mixture into a clay goblet, and turned to those waiting by the door. “Now we just need to add some water and get him to drink this.”
Guyan looked delighted as she took the goblet and led them back through the tunnels. She paused as they came to a larger tunnel opening.
“There’s something going on,” she said, turning back to them.
They walked slowly out into the main cavern of Royal Heights, where it looked as though the entire population of Zhan was assembled underneath the trees. Between many of the trees were benches and swings hanging from the lowest branches. Flat, pale grey stones formed a path that wound around all the trees. People were sitting on the benches, standing on the paths, and even perching on low branches.
All of them were facing the far end of the cavern, and the shadows under the trees seemed even deeper with all the rune-covered people of Zhan gathered together.
The trio headed into the crowd, and people parted quietly to let them through. Most looked concerned and rather frightened. When they saw Guyan, they drew back with a fear in their eyes that Zaine had seen before – it was how his own mother had looked at him for the past year.
“The new king is holding a meeting,” Guyan said flatly. The fearful looks were obviously bothering her as well.
The tunnel that led to the throne room was visible from here, and the new king was just emerging from it. His deep crimson cloak floated out behind him as he walked slowly down the stone steps. He stopped halfway and turned to face the gathered crowd. He stood out clearly against the chalk-white walls of the cavern. He raised both arms, as if trying to silence a crowd, but the people were already waiting quietly for him to speak.
“People of Zhan. Today is a great day. Today, we will stop the sands!” King Eldric’s voice boomed out across the trees. An excited buzz of conversation spread through the crowd. Only a few still looked upset and were looking around as if searching for someone.
“And what of King Reko and Queen Mya? And the dragons? Where are they?” one of them shouted. The crowd fell silent. Every eye was on King Eldric as they waited for his reply.
“Bring back the king!” another yelled.
“I am your king!” Eldric replied, quickly and loudly. His face went a darker tinge of red; he paused and looked to be struggling to remain calm. “And I will lead you to the land above, where we will all live with room to move.”
Cheers rose from under the trees, drowning out any further protests or questions.
“We need to take this to the king,” Guyan whispered to her companions, holding up the goblet and pushing her way to the nearest stairs.
They headed up the stairs, but it seemed to take far longer than Zaine remembered. Had they come up a different way? It seemed an age before they followed Guyan into the wooden castle. She rushed up to the bedroom upstairs, but came down just moments later.
“He’s not here,” she said, looking worried.