Dreamside

FOURTEEN



"If that there King was to wake"

added Tweedledum, "you’d go out—bang!—

just like a candle!"

—Lewis Carroll



Ella only knew that sleep had finally taken her when she became aware she was on dreamside. Lee was standing close by. He was looking at her strangely.—I've been waiting—he thoughtspoke.— You're here. It feels cold—

He touched her, and brought her to him. In the embrace they rediscovered that shivering intensity, the tremulousness beneath the surface of things, but with something else, something extra.

A colourless, tasteless, odourless sense, oppressive and insistent. It grabbed like a hand inside the stomach, itching at the very membrane of dreamside. It was the claw of a dread anxiety. Something predatory hung watchful on the air.

—Is anyone else here?—Before Ella had even completed the thought, she saw Honora standing under the oak, looking out over the frozen snow-covered lake. She seemed carved from ivory. The scene was encompassed in still mists.

Everywhere was ice; mist-bound and ice-locked. Dreamside was precisely as Honora knew it, and exactly as Ella and Lee had glimpsed it on their single fleeting return visit. It was a mockery of the place it had once been, and a snowbound shadow of the polluted lake as it was now.

They waited, scraping their boots on the frozen grass at their feet. Even those small movements seemed ready to burst the dream as they waited for the one who was missing.

—Must we have him here Ella?—

—We all have to be present—Ella was firm, authoritative. Perhaps she knew more than she was saying. She seemed certain in the knowledge that the fourth member of the group would appear. They waited; and they waited.

Brad came from nowhere. He came wide-eyed, and in a dangerously befuddled state. He stopped short of them, like a nervous animal, staring at the ground. They all watched him, but were afraid of him. They didn't dare to speak to him, and even sought to disguise their thoughts. They stood rigidly, like figurines carved from a single piece of horn.

Brad seemed confused, lost. He looked from one to the other as if he was about to speak. Then he looked wildly over his shoulder. He moved closer to Ella, mouthing words that failed to come. Then:—Help me—

—What is it Brad?—

—Can't awaken. Can't wake up. Help me Ella!—

Brad was stricken with panic. His eyes were all black pupil and they leaked frosty tears. He stood close enough for Ella to feel his cold breath on her face. She put out a hand to touch him and was shocked to find him stiff with frost. He snatched at her hand and gripped it fiercely. The cold from his fingers burned, and her skin seemed to sear and stick fast to his. Their eyes locked as he dared her to snatch her hand away.

At last he relaxed his hold. Ella felt a blistering pain as she withdrew her hand: she felt a fine layer of skin ripping from the back of her wrist where he had gripped her.

—The dream won't break Ella, the dream won't break—

—We're all here Brad. We're not going to desert you—

—You can't do anything. The dream won't break. I'm tired from staying awake. So tired. And we have to stay awake. Awake. They're waiting for me to sleep. The ice. The frost. The cold. They wait for you to sleep. And then they take you—

Ella saw it clearly. She didn't need to be reminded of the predatory nature of the elementals. She could recall their attacks with vivid horror. How they waited for the moment before sleep within the wheel of the dream. How they silently infiltrated invisible tendrils into the blood and fibre and flesh of your dreaming body. Transforming you, until you were lost to earth or water or fire or ice. But now she saw for the first time that the elementals were not a group of entities at all, not a colony of predatory beings. They were all a single expression of the same force, the life-creating and life-devouring, birth-giving and soul-sucking power of dreamside.

And now the toughened membrane of the dream wouldn't break. Brad had been trapped, to walk in terror of the sleep within sleep, of being imprisoned for ever in the ice-sleep. No one could stay awake indefinitely, here as within the waking world. Brad was merely postponing the inevitable. Even now the frost was squeezing him, congealing his blood. This was the fate of those who stayed too long on dreamside.

—This is how it will be for all of us—It was Honora. She seemed strangely resigned.—This is how it will be—

—None of us will wake! There is no waking!—A tear welled at the corner of Brad's eye. In a moment his anguish gave way to laughter echoing eerily across the mist-shrouded lake, jagged laughter which ricocheted back at them, and sliced through the air. Ella shot a panicked look at Lee.

But Lee was pointing at something on the edge of the lake. The other three turned, their eyes following the direction of his finger. Brad's laughter stopped.

—It's her—He swayed unsteadily.

—I knew it—Ella breathed.

—She's the one!—Brad shouted.—She's the one who is keeping me here. She's the one who will keep us all here!—

But they already knew. She stood twenty feet away from them, in her ill-cut dress, her skin the colour of milk and her eyes like black holes. Only here she looked stronger, stronger than them. They all knew her, and they were all afraid of her. They gazed at her stupidly. Her eyes blazed back at them. An aching loneliness blew from her like an icy wind.

—Speak to us—Honora approached timidly.—Please speak to us—

But the girl tossed her hair and set foot on the frozen lake, glancing over her shoulder as if daring them to follow. Honora took a few steps towards her.

—Honora, don't!—It was Lee calling her back.

—Wait! Wait and watch!—This time it was Ella, unsure whether to trust the girl; unsure whether their roadside encounter had been a snare set with treacherous clues.

The girl paced farther out on to the ice. Honora hesitated at the edge of the frozen water.

—Don't go!—Lee commanded.

—It's a trap! She wants you to go out on the ice!—Brad was hysterical.—It's a trick! You mustn't trust her! Don't trust her! I know who she is!—

The girl stopped and turned to them, as if she was waiting. She mouthed something incomprehensible. As she saw Honora set a tentative foot on to the ice, she turned and proceeded out into the middle of the lake. Honora looked back at Ella, who nodded almost imperceptibly. She began to walk across the ice. Ella left the others and followed her.

Lee's protests strangled in his throat. He found himself following the two women out on to the lake, with Brad staying close behind him. It was if the four of them were roped together. When the girl came to a halt, they all stopped short.

She looked back at them again. Then she scuffed at the ice with the edge of her shoe. She scraped away a layer of snow and scratched at the ice, never averting her gaze from them. She looked away only to stoop and to rub at the tiny clearing she had scratched in the snow. Then she moved away from the clearing she had made and stood at a distance.

Honora was the first to approach. She looked through the cleared patch to the gluey grey formations of ice beneath. What did it mean? Honora and Ella looked to the girl for an answer, but she had turned defiantly towards the shore.

Brad had reached the cleared space and was on his knees, rubbing at the surface of the ice with an outstretched hand and peering at the geometric shapes below.

—There's something there—he said.

The others turned slowly.

—There's something there. I can see it. Under the ice—

—What? What is it?—Lee kneeled beside him.

—It's under the ice. It's trying to get out—

—What can you see there?—

—It's trying to get out! IT WANTS TO GET OUT FROM UNDER THE ICE!—

—Tell us what you see!—Ella commanded.

But Brad was half-crazed. He seemed to detect a new movement.—It's moving! It's trapped. Look! It's trying to get out of there! It wants to get out!—

Suddenly his body went rigid, his breath coming in short gulps.

Lee bundled him aside and began pawing at the ice himself, clearing away the snow on the surface. In mounting horror he saw what Brad had seen. It was an image of Brad beneath the ice, hoary and encrusted, bruised and blackened and floating like a corpse— but it wasn't dead. It was waving rigidly, pressing against the under surface, mouthing silent words that distorted the face, trying to find a way out.

The image of Brad was not alone. Three other figures floated there. Images of Lee, Ella and Honora, all pressing against the ice and mouthing unheard cries. They were all prisoners.

Now they all saw it. They were hypnotized by the revelation. They were fixed, locked into the images of themselves, gazing down in horror at this shivering incarnation of their enjoined destinies. They felt the elemental cold slowly beginning to transfer itself to them, to still the flow of their blood.

—We're trapped—whispered Honora.—It's the dream within the dream—

Lee looked to Ella, but her eyes were on the little girl. The girl was kneeling on the frozen lake, hands clasped in anguish beneath her chin like someone at prayer, eyes streaming with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably. Ella was mesmerized. Lee saw in Ella's eyes a glitter, like sunlight on frost, of the mad priestess. He realized with shock and admiration that she was about to take charge. Her confidence fluttered around her like a protective cloak.

—Keep moving! Don't stand still! We have to undo what was done!—Ella's words eclipsed everything. She had remembered the golden thread she had been spinning before falling asleep. It came out like a formula, like a spell.

—Church and steeple! Door and people!—She was yelling at them, without shifting her eyes from the kneeling, weeping girl.— Faith and desire! We have to end our mistrust! No more indifference! Honora, take your curse from Brad's head! Do it now!—

—How can I ?—

—Just lift it! Lift the curse!—

—But it's only words! Words are not real things!—

—Just! Lift! It!—

—I unmake it I unmake it I unmake it!—Honora was screaming. She was hysterical. She wanted to run to the girl but Ella held her back.

—Open the door! We must open the door! Can't you see it! Open the door and the people will escape! Here are the people! We are the people! Dream a hole in the ice!—

But Ella didn't wait for the others. She turned her gaze on the clearing of snow, at the figures floating beneath the ice. Remaining perfectly still she recalled all the forgotten powers of dreaming and focused them on the submerged figures. She was willing the ice to melt. Lee and Brad were activated by her raw energy. They followed her lead blindly, standing perfectly still, concentrating their minds, dreaming a hole in the frozen water. And slowly the ice began to melt.

None of them heard Honora moaning softly.—I've been in this dream before! You must stop! I've seen this!—

It was too late. Tiny hairline cracks suddenly began to appear in the ice, multiplying and discharging in all directions. There was a thudding sound from somewhere beneath them, like the banging together of great ice floes or the grinding of huge rocks.

—No! No!—

Now Lee saw what Honora was most afraid of. It was his turn to panic.—We have to get off the ice!—

—Not yet! Break open the ice! Dream open the door! Release the people! Here is your golden thread, Lee!—Ella still commanded the situation.

The lake answered. From deep, deep under the ice came a low, blasphemous groan. There was a series of dull, sonorous thuds like distant detonations, followed by a terrible tearing sound. The ice began to tremble.

—Wait! Wait!—

This time the sound of groaning and splitting sounded loudly in their ears and a violent tremor in the ice sent them rocking. Ella staggered backwards. The cracks in the ice expanded into jagged black forks, splitting off in all directions. Lee saw that Honora and Brad were paralyzed. They wanted to escape from the lake but were unable to tear themselves away. Ella was still locked into the consummation of the ritual she had initiated. He couldn't seem to make her hear him. She was entranced by the ugly, multiplying fractures in the ice. Lee shook her violently. She looked back at him as though he were someone from another world. It was like looking across time.

The ice was splitting everywhere. Ella came to her senses. She took hold of Honora. Lee propelled both of them towards the bank. They clung to each other, slipping and skidding as they tried to scramble off the ice. With the sound of ice splitting and splintering around them, Lee hoisted Brad off his knees; but in flailing and staggering wildly Brad brought them both down. Lee tried to struggle to his feet but Brad clung desperately to his legs. The two men slithered hopelessly.

Ella and Honora stood on the edge of the bank screaming at them. Brad groped blindly at Lee, dragging him back. At last they scrambled to the edge, where the two women pulled them to safety.

—The girl!—said Honora.—Where is the girl?

No one answered. Behind them was a mass of deep interlacing cracks, darting across the lake like snakes' tongues and splitting still farther as they watched. Then the ice began to groan like a wounded primeval beast, folding against itself and crushing upwards, breaking up in huge slabs which collapsed in clouds of steam. Churning grey waters tossed in the air, waters that broiled and bubbled and released billowing jets of cloud.

A wind of hurricane strength blew up from nowhere, or from within the depths of the lake itself. It threatened to pick them up like straws. The willows screamed as the wind tore through their dead branches, and the old charred oak creaked and leaned with the wind. Ella stood behind its huge trunk, her hair whipping in her eyes as she called to the others, urging them to make a chain around the tree. But the wind stole the words off her mouth as she reached out for Lee and pulled him to her. Honora saw them, and with the hurricane shrieking and raging around her and the water boiling behind her, she took hold of Brad's outstretched arm and battled to reach Lee and Ella.

—Circle the tree! Circle the tree!—Ella was mouthing orders that none of the others could hear. The lake was now a boiling cauldron, releasing great geysers of water and steam thirty feet into the air. Huge waves radiated from the centre, buffeted by the wind and crashing on the banks of the lake, hissing and sizzling as they fell on frozen earth. Lee guessed what Ella was trying to do. He threaded his way around the tree trunk, inching into the full force of the hurricane, pulling the chain of the others after him. Circling the tree, he was able to link arms with Honora, but the force of the wind pressed him flat against the blackened trunk like a pin on a magnet. On the other side, Ella linked arms with Brad.

The earth at their feet was scooped up in giant handfuls and flung around their heads and into the lake. The wind was digging them out. The ruined oak creaked and groaned and leaned. The angry wind clawed like a live thing at the ground, throwing up earth and exposing its roots. It seemed that even the tree might be dug out and dragged into the lake. The four clung grimly to each other's arms, faces pressed against the charred trunk. Ella thought that if only they were able to hold on they might have a chance.

But the hurricane shrieked and howled like a thing enraged, and Ella slipped and fell as the earth was dug out from under her feet. The wind ripped up clods of earth and loose soil, tossing it in the air and lashing it at their faces. The others held her up as she found new footing on the exposed roots. Then the roots themselves curled and bent in the wind as if twisted by a giant fist. They began to snap, were torn off and bulleted into the lake. The tree groaned and leaned with the wind. It was being dug out of the earth.

Then Lee felt Honora stiffen, and saw her mechanically turn her head towards the boiling lake. Her features reset themselves in that familiar gaze. Her face was ivory. He felt her loosen her grip, as if she wanted to be taken by the wind, as if her resistance was exhausted. He knew that she was going into the lake.

—No Honora! No!—The wind lifted the words from his lips.

Ella saw what was happening.—Stop her!—

—I can see her in the water! She wants me! I'm going to her!— Honora slipped Lee's arm. He lunged to pull her back, but she fell away easily.

—Hold her! Keep her there!—Ella called out to Brad, knowing that somewhere in the storm he too was holding Honora. Then she felt Lee stumble towards her and a sudden absence of pressure at her other hand.

Brad had slipped Ella's hold and had gone with Honora. Ella and Lee slithered to the base of the tree, clinging to its exposed roots. They saw Honora plunge into the raging water, crying out unintelligibly into the heart of the storm. It was Brad who plunged in after her and dragged her, kicking and thrashing and screaming, out onto the bank. Then he fell or dived back into the water. Fell or dived they would never know, but they saw him look back at them as he was dragged under. Lee grabbed Honora and brought her weeping to the tree, where the three of them clung like survivors of a shipwreck groping for a plank of driftwood.

As quickly as it had appeared, the wind dropped, and the waters on the lake calmed. Brad did not come up again. The three lay panting, exhausted on the bank of the lake. Already it was beginning to ice over. Then the dream broke.