The Treasured One

‘She’s dreaming,’ Eleria replied. ‘That’s what we’re supposed to do. We make things happen with our dreams - things that those who care for us aren’t permitted to do.’

‘But aren’t your elders gods?’

‘In a sense, yes they are.’

‘But gods can do anything, can’t they?’

‘Not really,’ Eleria replied in a somewhat obscure manner. ‘They can’t destroy life - of any kind.’

‘Not even enemies who want to kill them?’ Trenicia was made aghast by this limitation.

‘That’s why those of us who look like children are here. We destroy the enemies with our dreams. Back in the Beloved’s Domain, I had a dream about a huge flood, and my flood drowned thousands of our enemies. Then, a bit later, Vash had his volcano dream, and he killed even more than I did.’

Trenicia looked at Lillabeth with a certain awe, and as she looked more closely she saw something in the air directly above the sleeping child, and the object had shifting colors that looked almost like fire. ‘What’s that pretty thing just above her?’ she asked.

Eleria glanced at the sleeping child. ‘It’s a seashell,’ she replied. ‘Abalone, I think. It’s kind of pretty, but I think my pearl’s even prettier. Our jewels are the things that give us our dreams. They’re the voice of the One Who Guides Us. She uses the jewels to tell us what we’re supposed to dream.’

‘Who is she?’ Trenicia asked.

‘I’m not really sure,’ Eleria replied. ‘I’ve known her since time began.’ Then the little girl laughed a bit ruefully. ‘The only problem there is that I can’t quite remember when that was. I was there, of course, but it was so long ago that I can’t put any kind of number to it. As I remember, we were all very busy back then.’

‘Busy?’

‘We were making things. Our elders had been doing that for a long, long time, and they were growing very, very tired, so we told them to rest, and we took up the burden for them. We’ve just about reached the point where we’ll have to do it again, I think. The Beloved’s starting to get just a bit strange. She’s very, very tired, and she needs to go to sleep. I’ve been slipping around behind her back taking care of things for her, but that’s all right. I’ve done that many times in the past.’ Eleria glanced at the sleeping child. ‘I think Enalla’s just about to wake up now. She’s probably already put her dream in motion, and her dream will probably win this war.’ She pursed her lips. ‘Dakas might have to help her - sort of like Vash helped me last time,’ she added in a speculative tone.

‘Do you children all have different names?’ Trenicia asked. ‘I thought Aracia’s little girl was named Lillabeth.’

‘That’s what Aracia calls her, but her real name is Enalla.’

‘What’s your real name then?’

‘Balacenia, of course. When Dahlaine came up with this idea, he decided not to use our real names. That was part of his deception. The other part involved pushing us all the way back to infancy so that our elders wouldn’t realize just exactly who we really are.’

‘When Aracia came to the Isle of Akalla, she didn’t say a thing about this,’ Trenicia said, feeling a bit offended.

‘Aracia’s like that sometimes.’ The child laughed. ‘She really irritates Dahlaine sometimes. He knows that she really wants to be the dominant one during their next cycle, and he doesn’t like the idea.’

‘Why are you telling me about all of this?’ Trenicia demanded. ‘If it’s anything even close to being the truth, shouldn’t you be trying to conceal it from me?’

‘We’re not all like Aracia, dear,’ the child replied. ‘I’ve always felt that being honest works a lot better than deception. I’m sure that the time will come when it’ll be very important for you to know the truth, so I just took you for a little stroll down the path of truth. After a while, when you’ve had time to think it over, we might want to go a little farther down that path.’ She paused, and then she gave Trenicia a childish little grin. ‘Won’t that be fun?’ she asked with exaggerated enthusiasm, clapping her hands together.

4

Sorgan Hook-Beak, his cousin Skell, and First Mate Ox were standing on the south-side of the first trench peering into the darkness.

‘I think you worry too much, cousin,’ Skell said. ‘From what I saw during that last war, Trogite armies don’t fight wars very good after the sun goes down.’

‘That might be true when you’re talking about a real army, Skell,’ Sorgan replied, ‘but if Torl was anywhere close to being right about what happened down there on the south coast, we’re talking about a mob, not an army. If they’ve seen all that false gold out there, their brains have shut down, and they won’t think - or behave - like soldiers any more.’

‘I’d say that might depend on whether they’ve finished their bridge or not, Cap’n,’ Ox added. ‘If they haven’t managed to get up here yet, all we’re doing is wasting sleep-time.’

‘Not entirely, Ox,’ Sorgan disagreed. ‘Padan said that he’d send somebody up here to let us know when that bridge is finished, and if his messenger doesn’t know where the trail through the poisoned stakes is, he’ll probably die before he reaches us.’

‘Somebody’s coming, cousin,’ Skell hissed, pointing off to the south.

‘I make it to be Rabbit, Cap’n,’ Ox added, ‘or somebody who’s almost a small as he is, and Rabbit knows the way through the stakes.’

‘It’s about time,’ Sorgan said with a sense of relief.

‘Is that you, Cap’n?’ Rabbit’s voice came out of the darkness.

‘Who were you expecting?’ Sorgan replied. ‘What’s happening down there?’

‘Those soldiers in red clothes finally finished their bridge, Cap’n,’ Rabbit said as he joined them, ‘but things aren’t going exactly like we thought they would.’

‘Problems of some kind?’ Skell demanded.

‘Maybe so, or maybe not,’ Rabbit replied. ‘Everything was going pretty much like we expected. The soldiers in red clothes finally managed to get one log across that last gap, and when they saw the peaks with imitation gold on them out there, they got all excited. After the sun went down, eight or ten of them came sneaking across that log - probably trying to get a head start on all their friends.’