Nine Kingdoms: Dreamer's Daughter Part 4

She wasn't sure she would ever forget that moment.

"I suppose we must discuss our plans," Rnach said quietly. "And come to terms with our magic."

She heard something in his voice she hadn't before. It wasn't so much doubt as it was perhaps unease. She s.h.i.+fted to look at him. "Did something happen to you this morning? Well, besides being deafened in the library."

"Nothing terribly important. I took the opportunity to try out a few spells with Astar in Seannair's lists." He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Let's just say that it didn't go particularly well."

"Are you going to give me details?"

"When I'm sure they won't turn your stomach." He smiled wearily. "It was either too many of my father's spells lurking in darkened corners of my soul or perhaps just being here. For all the peace and quiet, there is something about this country that is . . ."

"Unusual?"

He nodded. "Don't you think? In spite of its faade of ordinariness."

"Absolutely."

"I'm not sure what that means for the remainder of our journey."

She knew exactly what he was talking about. If his magic didn't work as it should have in Cothromaiche, what would happen inside Bruadair's borders? Rnach's grandfather had, when pressed, admitted that even his magic hadn't worked as it should have within Bruadair's borders. That Rnach's would likely suffer the same difficulty wasn't something she wanted to think about.

She met his very lovely green eyes. "But we should solve that before too much longer, is that what you're saying?"

"I don't think we have a choice," he agreed. "Perhaps we would do well to make ourselves a bit of a test here. I'm sure no one will notice us at it."

"If Her Highness catches us together, you know she'll turn me into a toad."

He leaned over and kissed her. "I know more spells than she does, I guarantee it."

"I'm not sure why that leaves me feeling so relieved."

"Because I could turn her into a toad if necessary." He looked at her. "In honor of that, why don't you try something now?"

"Rnach," she said with a sigh, "you know I have no magic."

"That stream of something extremely beautiful we encountered in that terribly cold river recently seemed to think so. I wonder what Cothromaiche thinks of what you can do?"

"Are you purposely trying to make me uncomfortable?"

He leaned back against the window and smiled. "Of course not. I'm just curious."

"And we all know where that leads," she said grimly. "Very well. What shall I try?"

"What is your magic called?"

"How would I know?"

"I thought you might have asked it at some point."

She attempted a glare but she feared it had only come out as a weak sort of whimpering thing. "We didn't have time to find ourselves on a first-name basis while you and I were coming very close to dying."

He smiled. "Fair enough. Try Croxteth. It's a very st.u.r.dy, sensible magic that Cothromaiche likely won't find objectionable."

"I forgot the spell."

"And I imagine you haven't forgotten anything, but I'll let that pa.s.s and give it to you again."

She suppressed a s.h.i.+ver when he taught her the spell, then forced herself to repeat the words. It wasn't terror that gripped her, it was the feeling that she was a child in a roomful of things belonging to her elders and she was contemplating touching something she'd been specifically instructed not to play with.

A ball of werelight appeared in front of them, spluttered, then disappeared.

She looked at Rnach. "See?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think that was any lack on your part."

"You try something so we'll know for sure."

He considered, then tried his own spell in Fadaire. The light that appeared there was beautiful, true, but there was something about it that seemed . . . strange. As if she were seeing the light through a window made of gla.s.s that was slightly flawed.

The light disappeared abruptly, leaving behind a shadow of something that faded so quickly, Aisling was certain she'd imagined it. She looked at Rnach, but he was only continuing to look without expression at the place where his ball of werelight had lingered.

"Perhaps 'tis something I did," she offered.

"When you spun my magic out of me, then did me the very great favor of helping to put it back in my veins?" he finished. He shook his head. "Aisling, this isn't anything to do with you. There is no darkness in you. For all we know, Uachdaran decided to drop a shard of obsidian in my veins as punishment for all the spells I poached from him in my youth."

"Perhaps 'tis just a shadow," she said. "From the light coming in the window, of course."

"Of course."

Though she had the feeling it might not be. The look he gave her said he was thinking the same thing.

"I think it might be wise to discuss this with Soilleir before we go any further," he said reluctantly. "I'm not sure he'll offer an opinion, but we can try. I'm sure he's loitering uselessly about somewhere in the palace."

He rose, but she shook her head. "I think I'd like to stay here and spin a bit longer, if you don't mind."

He shot her a look. "Stalling?"

"Absolutely."

He laughed a little, then leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I'll come fetch you for supper, shall I?"

"No need," she said, looking up at him. "I'll find my way there."

"What you mean is that you'll find a way to remain in the kitchens," he said dryly, "which whilst I agree with thoroughly, I can't condone. Come to table or I'll come find you."

"You, Your Highness, are a bully."

"I was hoping to hide behind your skirts, which makes me less a bully than a coward." He walked toward the door. "Pleasant dreams, Aisling."

She looked at his back in surprise. "I wasn't planning on napping."

He turned around slowly and looked at her. "What did I say?"

"You said, Pleasant dreams."

He drew his hand over his eyes, then smiled weakly. "We need to get out from under Seannair's roof," he said. "I can see why Soilleir boards in Beinn rain. Pleasant spinning, Aisling."

She nodded, then rose and wrapped her arms around herself once he'd closed the door behind him. She didn't want to think about her future or her past or what she'd seen just then lingering after Rnach's spell, something very dark- She took a deep breath and walked over to her wheel. She sat, but found herself back on her feet almost immediately. She was accustomed to very long hours at her loom, but she wasn't sure she could have managed the same at present with a score of Guild guards standing behind her, their hands on their swords. She had to have a distraction far past what spinning could provide.

She paced around the chamber, bending to touch wool occasionally, more often than not reaching out to touch the strands of sunlight that came through the windows. If she was careful, she found she could wrap those strands about her fingers.

There came a point where she realized she was no longer standing where she had been, taking threads of sunlight and separating them into colors. She was somehow wandering inside Inntrig, but she felt as if she were wandering in a dream. She saw that while she had imagined that all the non-human things within the palace were silent and only mildly interested in the doings of the inhabitants, that wasn't exactly true. They were silent, sentient guardsmen, unmarked until they were needed. The doors to the library, which she could see as clearly as if she stood in front of them, were wood, but only as long as the inhabitants of that library didn't require their services. She saw with startling clarity how they had on several occasions become an impenetrable barricade to keep safe those inside.

She wandered in the garden, knowing she wasn't really there but feeling as if she couldn't have been more present. The flowers, trees, stones of the path, benches of wood and granite, were in their own way just as vocal as what she'd found in other places. They were simply discreet and watchful, as if they grew and flourished in their own good time, taking pleasure in watching over those who strolled through their midst, unaware and at peace.

The whole country was alive with a magic she had never expected and hadn't seen. It was as if she walked in someone else's dream and saw Cothromaiche through their eyes.

She could no longer tell the difference between dreaming and waking, but saw no way out of where she was. She was half tempted to see if she could spin herself back out of wherever she was, but- She almost tripped over the spell before she realized it was right there in the air in front of her.

She took it in her hands and examined the whole of it. It wasn't like a book, but rather a rose with petals that seemed to represent steps that had to be followed in a certain way. She peeled the petals back one by one, memorizing their structure as she did so, until she reached the center and saw how the spell could be used. She paused, for the magic was unusual. Then again, she was in Cothromaiche, where it turned out that nothing was as it had seemed at first.

She took a deep breath, then began the spell. She took strands of sunlight and bent them into a flywheel, using the spell to help her. It seemed to be perfectly happy to do her bidding and the sunlight didn't protest being turned into something else. She sculpted a bobbin from the breath of the flowers that bloomed just outside the spinner's chamber, marveling as it took shape beneath her hands and became something other than what it had been while yet retaining what had made it alluring before.

She realized with a start that she was standing quite suddenly back in the chamber where she'd begun her adventure. In front of her was a spinning wheel. Well, it was the flywheel at least, and a bobbin, and a strand of something binding the two together, a band of gold or silver or dream . . .

A commotion behind her had her whirling around with a squeak.

Soilleir and Rnach were falling over each other to get inside the room. She watched them pick themselves up off the floor, then simply stand there and gape at her. She frowned.

"What?" she asked.

Soilleir looked as if he'd just been in a windstorm. Rnach looked equally as disheveled. That obviously wasn't because of any piece of weather outside else she wouldn't have had sunlight to create with.

"What did you change?" Soilleir wheezed.

She suppressed the urge to scratch her head. "Change?"

Soilleir and Rnach both looked as if they needed to find somewhere to sit very soon. Rnach wound up being a shoulder for Soilleir to lean on. Soilleir struggled for breath for a moment or two, then looked at his support.

"I didn't teach her that."

"Well, don't b.l.o.o.d.y look at me," Rnach said. "I didn't give her any of your spells."

Soilleir bent his head and laughed. Aisling thought that perhaps what they needed wasn't a chair but a brisk slap or two to bring them back to their senses.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

Soilleir pointed to a place behind her. She looked over her shoulder at the wheel that was s.h.i.+mmering there in the air. It was, she had to admit, a spectacular piece of work. It needed a base, but she supposed that could be made. The fact that it was simply hanging there in mid-air was a bit disconcerting, but she thought she might do best to simply add it to the list of other things that had unsettled her. She looked back at Soilleir.

"What?"

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

"I found a spell in a dream," she said. "And I made that out of sunlight."

Soilleir leaned over with his hands on his thighs, apparently trying to decide if he should laugh or continue to try to breathe. Aisling looked at Rnach.

"What's amiss with him?"

Rnach patted Soilleir rather too firmly on the back, almost sending him toppling over, then walked over to her. He reached out and touched the flywheel, giving it a gentle spin. He watched it for a moment or two, then looked at her.

"He's coming to grips with what it's like to have a dreamspinner in his grandfather's hall."

Aisling suppressed the urge to go find her own chair. "Why?"

Rnach was smiling, looking equal parts amused and slightly unnerved. "Because that, my love, was a spell of essence changing you just used."

"It was just a spell," she protested. "I found it in a dream. As I said."

"Aye, in my dream," Soilleir said, apparently deciding on a laugh. "Good heavens, woman, you poached one of my spells out of my dreams."

"Just recompense for your being so old that you need a nap in the afternoon," Rnach said with a snort.

"I have the feeling I'm going to soon need another one to make up for the first."

Aisling would have wrapped her arms around herself but she found she didn't need to. Rnach had done the honors, pulling her close and giving her shelter she couldn't deny she desperately needed.

But she didn't miss the look he and Soilleir had exchanged.

"What?" she said, finding she was trembling.

"She's going to need a rest, Rnach," Soilleir said quietly.

"Am I?" Aisling asked, finding that her teeth were chattering.

"Aisling, my dear girl, not only did you just use an immensely powerful spell, you filched it out of my d.a.m.ned head. You ought to go sit in the corner just for that alone."

She winced. "I didn't mean to."

Soilleir shook his head, smiling. "I'm vexing you about it unnecessarily. I am happy to give you spells as you require them, but I have the feeling you'll find them lying along your path at just the right moment without any aid from me." He shot Rnach a look. "You'd best keep any eye on this one."

"I intend to."

Aisling gestured toward her wheel. "And what am I to do with that?"

"I'll have to give that some thought," Soilleir said with a s.h.i.+ver. "Perhaps after supper."

"Where I'll likely be the main course," Rnach said grimly.