“Perhaps it’ll last only a minute, like the damaged eyesight. Yours is returning at the same rate as mine.”
With a few more blinks, both Cantor and Bixby could see. Bixby heaved a sigh of relief, for Cantor had been right. With the returned vision, the uncanny feeling of housing two personalities vanished.
She looked first to see Cantor’s face. He seemed to be back to normal. His gaze wandered the area around them. Vaguely, in the distance, she could see walls, but they appeared to be a good hike away.
“Observatory of the universe, huh?” Cantor shook his head. “It would seem the universe is a rather empty place.”
Bixby agreed. In the immediate vicinity, there were five dragons and five humans, and nothing else. Those who had been sitting on the chairs now sat on the floor.
Rollygon went to the lady dragons and offered a hand to help them stand. When they looked comfortable once again, the young dragon faced Dukmee and Chomountain.
He looked disgruntled. “This isn’t exactly what I expected.” He paused for a moment to survey the surroundings. “You told Totobee-Rodolow that it would be more interesting than a parlor. This is less.”
Totobee-Rodolow laughed, her sophisticated lilting voice ringing through the air.
“Good acoustics,” said Lupatzey. “We could sing.”
“Perhaps later.” Chomountain turned to Dukmee. “The globe, if you please.”
The wizard removed the orb from its resting place and placed it in a pocket. He plucked the square from the air and disconnected the stones before storing them away. Then he pulled out the clear ball again.
Dukmee smiled at his small audience. “You know that I see letters, numbers, objects, and pictures in the globe.” He held the intriguing orb in the air. “In this place, what was inside comes out.”
Dukmee tossed the ball in the air. It sailed up and floated down in a long, narrow arc. The globe stopped about nine feet from the floor and began to revolve, slowly at first, but then picked up speed as it revolved. Bits of colored light such as might break off a rainbow seeped through the covering and were hurled into the room. Sparks added to the sporadic flow of textures thrown out by the spinning orb.
Bixby shook her head, trying to counteract the dizziness produced by the free-flowing kaleidoscope. Failing to regain her equilibrium, she closed her eyes tightly for a couple of seconds, then opened them. The room was full. Animals, trees, birds, waterfalls, insects, birds, buildings flew past them and even through them. Anything that could be thought of escaped the confines of the spinning sphere, gained shape and color and whirled away.
Had they stood there for hours or only a few minutes? The orb hung in midair but no longer spun. Things crammed the space around them and cluttered the area as far as the eye could see.
“What is this?” asked Rollygon.
Bridger beamed. “I think it’s all the things in hampers.”
“Yes,” declared Dukmee. “But it’s more. Remember? Observatory of the Universe. Come stand close to the globe.”
Five dragons and three humans drew near. Chomountain came last with a contented smile upon his face. “I love this sort of thing.”
When they had all gathered in a tight circle, Cho stretched up his hand with one pointed finger. The orb floated down and touched the tip of that finger. The globe shimmered, enlarged, then, with a poof and a couple of pffts, surrounded them. They now stood within the orb, which continued to expand. When it stilled, the inside was cool and smelled like a loaf of bread fresh from the oven.
“Sorry about that,” said Cho. “I was hungry.” He held a long loaf of bread. Breaking off pieces, he went among the friends, giving warm, fragrant chunks to everyone. “Here’s a big piece for you, Cantor. You didn’t eat your supper.”
Bixby’s head spun. “This is very confusing.”
Chomountain placed his large hand on her thin shoulder.
“I’m not surprised, my dear. This room is difficult for me to grasp as well. We have stepped out of the confines of time and are now in eternity.”
Bixby gasped. “We’re dead?”
A chuckle rumbled deep beneath his beard. “No, no. Our stay here will be brief. Dukmee will locate the stream of time in which the Lymen planes come within range of their primitive vessels.”
“Then what?” asked Cantor.
“We shall watch what they do and plan a way to disrupt their actions.”
Another thing to confuse her. Really, this was more complicated than her apprenticeship to the chemist. She needed more thorough explanations. “But —”
Chomountain held up a finger. “You see, we will be watching what is happening then, but when we leave this room, it won’t be then but now. And we’ll have a day or so to prepare for then.”
Their friends had scattered. Rollygon and Tegan stood next to one wall of the confined area. Bixby could see beyond them to a wooded land. Tegan spoke with gestures as he pointed something out in the trees. Totobee-Rodolow and the other female dragons grouped together at a point where a market appeared to be a few feet away from the outside of the globe. Dukmee seemed to be staring into a darkened sky.
“This place makes me dizzy.” Bixby put her hand on Cantor’s forearm to feel connected with something steady and sure.
“I think Jesha has the right idea.”
The cat sat in the middle of the floor, deeply immersed in the strenuous ritual of the feline bath. She paid no attention whatever to the unusual surroundings or the people she regarded as her own.
Bridger sat beside her. Bixby realized he hadn’t chosen a subject to watch for himself, but divided his attention among the visions in front of his friends. Very much like Jesha, he was content to wait until some real action came along.
“If you want to know something,” said Chomountain, “look out of our enclosure, and whatever is on your mind will appear before you. Bixby, those chemistry problems would be explained in a way you will understand and be able to remember.”
She frowned. “That isn’t something I feel the need to pursue. Perhaps I could look at textile art.”
Bixby chose a vacant spot, and lovely examples of stitched art appeared before her almost immediately. Her mind wandered, though. She turned from the wall to see where Cho and Cantor had gone. They were with Dukmee. She left the display of fabric and joined them.
Her throat tightened in alarm as she recognized their planeary system with two extra planes sliding toward them. The bigger plane, Lyme Major, would pass between Richra and Derson. Lyme Minor would slip between Derson and Zonvaner. As she watched, tiny ovals shot out from the planes’ top surface, all headed for the stacked planes.
She wanted to see them better, and the image immediately grew larger. This time it showed just the three planes being invaded and the renegade realms approaching.
Cantor pointed to the spectacle before them. “We should stop those vessels before they land.”
“How?” asked Bixby. The others turned, just now realizing she had joined them.
Chomountain acknowledged her presence with a nod. “Keep watching, my girl. Perhaps we’ll see something to give us an idea.”
The image enlarged again as the first pods landed on Derson.
Bixby felt tears threaten as she realized her home plane was safe. “They’re not going to Richra.”
Dukmee put his hand to his chin and whispered. “Why is that? Why is that?”
The violence that followed was hard to watch. The drawings Cantor had made with the pens they found in the ruins should have prepared her, but she found the Lymen invaders hideous. The large green men hoisted themselves out of the plant-like pods they traveled in, then attached the vessels to their backs. Whether the bulk was lightweight or the Lymen were immensely strong, the ships did not encumber the Lymen one bit.
The invaders stood on two legs with a vine tail they often used as a third arm. Their arms resembled huge leaves, but one edge had teeth, much like a saw, and they ripped through wood and people with
ease.
A huge bud sat on their shoulders. Multiple eyes lined what would have been a chin on a human. The skin on the face stretched upward to a huge mouth, which opened wide enough to swallow cats, dogs, and lambs. The creatures ate voraciously, as if they hadn’t had food in a long time.
Watching them march across the countryside made Bixby sick to her stomach. The invaders had hampers. They ate quite a bit of what they found in their paths, but much was stuffed into the hampers. They sliced the heads off the animals and stored the rest of their kill.
Men ran up to do battle, but the beasts sliced through them with their arms, jagged blades of destruction. The worst happened in the villages. Lymen slaughtered all adults they encountered. With relish, they scooped up babies and children. Apparently, a young baby eaten whole was a great delicacy.
When a youngster was found, an outburst of fighting among the scavengers settled who would swallow the tender morsel. The victor left his comrades behind, while smacking his lips over the snack.
Bixby wrapped her arms around her middle and turned away. Bridger and Totobee-Rodolow stood behind her. She didn’t know when they had taken up that position. Totobee-Rodolow opened her arms, and Bixby walked into them. The comfort of the dragon’s embrace only slightly nullified the horror of the Lymen invasion.
Dukmee’s voice penetrated Bixby’s attempt to blind herself to the fierce assault. “Here comes the second wave. These Lymen are gatherers. The first were hunters.”
Bixby turned in Totobee-Rodolow’s arms. She could see a portion of the vision through a gap between Cantor and Dukmee.
The second surge came in smaller pods. The warriors were smaller as well. They put their vessels on their backs and crossed the countryside, scraping fields of grain into their hampers.
Bixby remembered a tale in the Book of Primen about locusts devastating the land of peace. Could this record really refer to a Lymen invasion?
Bridger shuffled his feet. “The first wave of invaders and the second did the same thing.”
Bixby turned her head to look at the dragon. “How do you mean, Bridge? The first ate meat.” She swallowed hard. “The second are eating grain.”
“Vegetables and fruit as well,” Cantor interjected.
Bixby glanced over to see an invasion force sweeping through an orchard. “They both have hampers. They leave nothing behind.”
Bridger pointed to one group and then the other. “They left their plane and came down. I don’t think they’re capable of rising in those weird little pods. I think their only options are straight forward or down.”
Rollygon had joined them with Tegan. “If that were true, they wouldn’t be able to get back to Lyme Major and Lyme Minor.”
Chomountain nodded. “Logical. We shall watch them traverse the plane. Then we shall see them depart.”
The men continued to watch, but Bixby had had enough. She left them and found Totobee-Rodolow, Lupatzey, and Ethelmin following her.
“Why are they watching?” Ethelmin’s voice wavered.
Bixby lifted her chin, giving herself a façade of courage she didn’t feel. Sometimes when she tried to look brave, the false front propped up her weakening resolve. “They’re trying to spot weaknesses so they know how to fight them.”
“I only saw one die.” Lupatzey, with her pale skin even paler, looked like she would lose her dinner.
“I saw that too,” said Ethelmin. “He was killed by another Lymen when the two fought over a child.”
Totobee-Rodolow snapped her fingers. “That’s enough. We shall do something else while they watch.”
“What?” Lupatzey had tears on her face. “I don’t want to window shop.”
Totobee-Rodolow took the younger dragon’s arm and patted it as they walked. “No, darling. Of course not. We shall look for Odem and Ahma.”
Bixby flung herself at Totobee-Rodolow and gave her a hearty hug. “Oh, thank you for thinking of that. It’s the perfect thing to do.”
GATHERING TO BE DONE
The invasion riveted Cantor’s attention, but he knew when the ladies withdrew and left the viewing of slaughter to the men. He had experience with Bixby in battle and counted her as reliable in the middle of bloody chaos. But as the Lymen slashed through everything in their path, he sympathized with her need to turn away.
Cantor, Dukmee, Rollygon, Tegan, and Chomountain sat in chairs provided from Chomountain’s vast hamper that no one could see. Occasionally one or the other of the men would get up and peer more closely at a particular scene being played out. The conversation between them was sparse.
As far as Cantor could tell, Chomountain was the only one among the six males who wasn’t being dragged down by despair. In the two hours they had been watching, Cantor had not seen one Lymen killed by someone from their planes. A few invaders had met their end at the hands of other Lymen, usually over spoils from their pillaging.
Tegan crossed his arms over his chest and kept most of his emotion from his face, though muscles in his jaw tightened, and his mouth pressed into one hard line.
Bridger had turned part of himself into a chair and sat with his chin in his hand, his elbow resting on a conveniently padded armrest. “Maybe fire,” he said. “Perhaps fire-breathing dragons could hold them back.”
Dukmee rubbed the base of his skull, rotated his shoulders, and moved his head from side to side before he spoke. “I wonder how many fire-breathing dragons are available.”
Bridger gestured to himself and the other dragons in the room. “You have five here. There should be mor dragons still in service to realm walkers. And on Algore, there’s a whole tribe of fire-breathing dragons.”
Rollygon shook his head. “The gorus dragons are an unreliable bunch. I hear there are over five hundred of them, but they don’t play well with others.”
Dukmee clapped a hand on Bridger’s shoulder. “They fight well, and that’s what we need.”
Cantor knew about the dragons from his studies, both with Odem and at the guild. They were reportedly a vile, lazy, selfish bunch. “What will motivate them to come to our aid?”
Chomountain lifted an eyebrow. “I shall be persuasive. Being the right hand of Primen does have advantages.”
Cantor heard Bixby cry out, “There they are!” The strength of her joy reached him as well and sent him running to her side.
He looked at the image of Ahma and Odem, Ahma’s constant, Tom, in his dog form, and Odem’s Nahzy in his donkey form. “They’re alive!” He grabbed Bixby by the waist and spun around.
When he set her down, he examined the image more closely. “Where are they?”
Totobee-Rodolow clicked her tongue. “I believe they’re in the old mines of Richra.”
Bixby gasped. “They are. I recognize that geological formation. It exists only in those caverns. Why are they there?”
Lupatzey pulled a disapproving face. “They don’t look healthy.”
“And they’re dirty,” Ethelmin added. “I think they’re being held against their wishes.”
The vision grew smaller, as if the watchers had stepped away, but now they could see more of the area around Ahma and Odem.
“They aren’t alone,” Lupatzey said.
Ethelmin blinked her eyes rapidly. “There must be fifty people in that cavern. And look at all those animals. Do you suppose they’re all mor dragons?”
“I think they are. Dozens of realm walkers and their constants. And that’s just those we can see.” Lupatzey tore her gaze away from the scene and looked at her friends. “What’s going on?”
Totobee-Rodolow scowled. “Those are almost all seasoned realm walkers. Some might say they are beyond their prime, but the collective wisdom in that stony room is phenomenal.”
Ethelmin’s voice reflected her disbelief. “Then why don’t they escape?”
Chomountain and Dukmee joined them. Dukmee gave Ethelmin a scathing glance. “I was trapped in a walled city, and I’m a pretty clever fellow. Sometimes your talents need the a
ssistance of others.”
“There’s plenty of others,” Ethelmin objected.
“Yes, but the others are just as trapped. Probably their gifts have been harnessed in some way.”
Chomountain added his opinion. “And I was trapped in a valley. As you dragons were in the cave. There will be a simple key to unlock whatever holds them. Once they know they are free, it doesn’t take but a second to revert. You see, deep in their being, they know they belong to Primen.”
The right hand of Primen rubbed his hands together, and his face beamed with enthusiasm. “This is just what we need. Bixby, Totobee-Rodolow, Cantor, Bridger, Rollygon, and Tegan will go to Richra and free these realm walkers. Explain our peril and bring them to the western edge of Derson. Ethelmin and Lupatzey will go with Dukmee and me to Gilead and solicit a list of all active realm walkers. Inactive as well. They might come in handy.”
Jesha let out a sharp cry from where she sat, still in the middle of the floor. Cho turned to look at her. “Yes, you’re going. With Bridger, naturally.”
Cantor felt doubt surfacing to quell any plans. “The guild has their own plans for massacre on that day. I doubt they’ll be interested in cooperating with us.”
Chomountain tilted his head back and looked down his nose at Cantor. He looked every inch the right hand of Primen, haughty and uncompromising. “I doubt they will choose to countermand a direct order from me.”
He paused as if waiting for another objection. With their silence, he went on. “I’ll send out messengers to gather the realm walkers.”
“What runners would be fast enough and able to leap through portal after portal?” Ethelmin nodded at Lupatzey. “You can’t think we’ll do it. We’re not fast enough or strong enough or smart enough in geography. We’d be lost in an hour.”
“Thankfully, I do not require your assistance at this point.” He surveyed his audience to be sure everyone listened. “I will send Primen’s warriors. A desperate time requires desperate measures. Primen probably has them on standby.
“After our work in Gilead is done, we’ll go to Algore to recruit the gorus dragons.” Chomountain looked pleased with himself. “Everything is falling into place nicely. We’ll just watch the end of this bit of mayhem and then be on our way. Must see the ending, you know. How they get off the plane when their pods only go straight or down. Bound to be something clever at play.”