Thats not possible! Dahlaine protested.
Why and how am I here, then? Balacenia demanded. Your little game was very clever, Dahlaine, but it got away from you almost right at the beginning. You thought that you could step around us with your infant hoax, but it started to come apart when Eleria had her first Dream. That was the one when she saw the very beginning of this world. Then, a little later in the Land of Maag she had a variety of Dream that you didnt even anticipate. She had what we call a warning dream, and it was that Dream that saved Longbow and his friends from the intentions of the Maag called Kajak. You might not have been aware of what that Dream suggested to us. Dreams can be warnings as well as predictions.
That did startle me just a bit, Dahlaine admitted. Id sort of believed that I might have some control over the Dreams, but the children keep slipping around me.
Actually, its Mother whos guiding the Dreamers. She picked up your little game, and shes doing things with it that you couldnt even imagine.
Mother? Dahlaine sounded startled. We dont have a mother.
Where did we come from, then? Balacenia demanded.
Youll really like her, Dahlaine, Eleria said. She can do all kinds of fun things. She was the one who took me down under the sea so that I could pick up my pink pearl. Thats what started all this, remember?
Shes the mother of the whole universe, Dahlaine, Balacenia added, and shes more than a little peeved with you right now. The outlanders are all right, I suppose, but Mother was and still is dealing with it in her own way.
That will do, Balacenia, a melodious voice came through the open doorway. Why dont you let me deal with this? Then a misty sort of form that seemed to be pure light came through the open doorway. What were you thinking of when you hired all those outlanders to come here and fight this war for you, Dahlaine?
You do know that we have limitations, dont you? Dahlaine demanded. Now that I think about it, if youre who Balacenia says you are, youre probably the one who came up with them. You may have forgotten, but we arent permitted to kill things even when theyre attacking us. We needed armies, so we went out into the world to hire outlanders to do the killing for us.
That particular limitation might just be a little outdated, the glowing presence conceded. Right at first, there were very few living things here, and we didnt want to lose any of them at least not until the populations had grown to the point that extinction was no longer a distinct possibility. When the incursions by the Creatures of the Wasteland began, I was going to take care of it myself, but before I could even start, the whole Land of Dhrall was crawling with outlanders. Youve got to learn to trust me, Dahlaine.
Longbow suggested something you might want to consider, though, Zelana stepped in. The assorted outlanders are helping us to hold back the Creatures of the Wasteland, but Longbow seems to think that its much more important that the more greedy outlanders come to realize that the people of the Land of Dhrall are quite capable of making life very unpleasant for any invaders. The outlanders are helping, but theyre also learning. The greed of the Amarite Church down in the Trogite Empire was almost legendary, but you dealt with that in a way that advised all outlanders that an attempted invasion of our part of the world could be a ghastly mistake.
And your blue fire in Crystal Gorge made it more obvious, Dahlaine added. Nobody in his right mind walks into fire. Some of the more greedy outlanders might want to come back, but I dont think they will. He hesitated. You seem to be very attached to us, for some reason, he said rather carefully.
You are my children, the glowing form replied, and I will protect you. Youve come a long, long way, but you might want to go back a bit and have a look at where and when this began.
Zelanas mind suddenly reeled as memories came rushing back from so far in the distant past that there was no word for that many years. The suggestion of the hazy figure of glowing light had seemed to set off bells inside Zelanas mind.
Dahlaines eyes suddenly went very wide as evidently the same memories came flooding over him.
All in all, you did quite well, my son, Misty Lady continued. Your notion of the Dreamers was brilliant, and its worked almost perfectly except that youll have to come up with a way to persuade the Dreamers to reunite with their previous identities. Things are just a little touchy this time, however, so I want all of you children to back away and let me deal with the situation in Aracias Domain. Its almost reached the point that shed rather die than hand her Domain over to Enalla. Weve got to get her under control, because shes getting very close to total insanity. If she crosses that line, well lose her, and that will lead to a disaster not immediately maybe but if shes a raving lunatic when she wakes up from her sleep-cycle, the entire Land of Dhrall will be at risk and that risk will make the invasion of the Creatures of the Wasteland look like some childs game by comparison.
2
Z elana was certain that it was just after sunrise when the commanders of the outlander forces, led by the bleak-faced Longbow, came through the door and out onto the balcony that encircled Dahlaines map room.
The map seems to have changed a bit, Longbow said, looking down at the map Dahlaine had put in place after Balacenia and the strange, mist-covered figure of Mother had left.
Dahlaine shrugged. Weve finished here in my part of the Land of Dhrall, he explained, so I laid out a lumpy map of sister Aracias Domain. Ordinarily, wed have relied on Aracia for a map, but her view of her Domain is just a bit vague, since she almost never leaves her temple.
Being worshiped would probably take quite a bit of time, Sorgan Hook-Beak said, peering down at the well-illuminated map. Just exactly where is this temple-town thats got everybody so worked up?
Dahlaine reached out with his hand, and a bright beam of light came from his forefinger and illuminated a spot on the representation of the east coast.
Thats a useful idea there, Lord Dahlaine, Sorgan said, particularly when were all standing ten feet or so above the map.
It does seem to work fairly well, Dahlaine replied modestly.
And wheres this Long-Pass that everybody keeps on talking about?
Dahlaines glowing little spot of light moved along the eastern edge of the map to a sizeable replica of a bay with a fairly wide river running down to it.
Then the rivers not in any way connected to your sisters temple-town? Sorgan asked.