“I made it through my first missions without it.” Jace started walking toward the open gate.
“Be careful,” Skye said, her voice quavering.
Jace paused where the Red Road became black beyond the fence line. Cole held his breath. He had a sick feeling the next step could be the end of his friend. He wanted to call out for him to stop. Hands over her mouth, Mira looked away, but her eyes were promptly drawn back.
Jace glanced at Mira and gave a casual salute, then stepped forward.
And vanished.
Cole looked to Skye. “What happened?”
“Hard to say,” Skye replied. “There are powerful enchantments here. I can sense the energy. Everything we see could be a seeming. Or maybe I’m sensing the enchantments that imprison the torivor. We can only wait and see if Jace returns.”
“That was really brave,” Dalton said.
“Jace has no shortage of courage,” Mira replied.
Cole picked up a pebble. Approaching the fence without stepping onto the Red Road, he tossed the pebble underhand through the open gate. The stone disappeared as soon as it crossed the fence line.
“I think it’s an illusion,” Cole said. “I think he’s okay. We just can’t see him.”
“Either that, or everything that enters gets vaporized,” Twitch said.
Mira glared at him.
“What?” Twitch exclaimed defensively. “It’s one or the other. We were all thinking it.”
“What’s our next move if Jace doesn’t return?” Dalton asked.
“I’m going after him,” Mira answered.
“You mustn’t hand yourself over to Trillian,” Skye said. “Without a daughter of the High King, the revolution is doomed. I’ll go in before you will.”
Jace stepped out from the open gate onto the Red Road, seemingly materializing out of nothing. “Hey,” he said.
“What happened?” Mira asked.
“The torivor wants all of you to step onto the Red Road,” Jace said. “Unless you do, there won’t be any bargaining.”
“You talked to him?” Skye asked.
“No,” Jace said. “One of his servants. I’m not supposed to explain.” He turned and walked back through the gate, vanishing.
Mira stepped onto the road. “Come on,” she said to the others. “This is why we came.”
“Or this is how he’ll destroy us all at once,” Twitch murmured.
“His servants can probably attack us whenever he wants,” Mira said.
“At least Trillian seems willing to talk,” Skye said. “I wasn’t sure we could hope for that much.”
Cole walked onto the Red Road, as did the others. There was no sensation to indicate the road was magical or had any effect on them. Cole noticed that Twitch stayed near the edge of the road, one foot on the curb, slightly crouched, ready to jump. They waited tensely.
Jace returned. “The torivor wants Cole and Mira to enter with me.”
“Do you think they should?” Skye asked.
“I’m not supposed to give details,” Jace said slowly. “But who cares? I think it would be stupid for Mira to come. It looks beautiful once you step through. It might all be an illusion, and it could absolutely be a trap.”
“I’m coming,” Mira said, walking toward the open gates.
“No,” Cole said, grabbing her wrist. “We don’t have to give this guy everything he wants. I’ll go. You stay.”
“But—” Mira began to protest.
“You have to stay back,” Cole insisted. “What if getting you is all he cares about? We won’t have any room to bargain.”
“There’s no telling what the torivor might want in exchange for Honor,” Skye said. “But, Mira, Cole is right. Putting yourself in his power will only weaken our position.”
Mira paused. The reasoning seemed to sink in. “You may be right.”
Jace folded his arms. “Cole, if you’re coming, we should go. They’re waiting.”
Stomach fluttering, Cole walked to where the Red Road ended. He glanced over at Jace. “Why me?”
“They didn’t explain,” Jace said. He stepped forward, vanishing.
Cole looked back at Mira and nodded. He waved at Twitch and shared a look with Dalton. Then he stepped forward.
The sensation was like passing through a membrane made of static electricity. It was only vaguely tangible, but left the hair on his arms standing up.
The scene before him changed dramatically. The Red Road extended before him, its color so rich and vibrant that Cole felt he was seeing true red for the first time. The grounds around the keep were now composed mostly of huge crystals streaked with veins of light. Elegant groves of trees huddled around clear ponds. A flock of birds wheeled overhead in synchronization, as large and bright as kites. The castle had changed into a gleaming monument of pearl and platinum.
Three figures confronted him. A woman sat astride a chestnut stallion as broad and beefy as a bull. Her hair was like molten silver, and her beauty so flawless that she seemed more a work of art than a person. Two brawny men stood on the ground near her, clad in snug, cunning armor made from overlapping rings of varied size. The men carried long halberds with elaborate heads, and the woman wore a dagger at her slender waist.
“Where is Mira?” the woman asked, her voice clear and resonant.
“She’s not coming,” Cole said.
The woman closed her eyes for a moment. “This does not please us.”
“She sent me to hear what the torivor wants,” Cole said.
The woman threw her head back and laughed. It sounded so mirthful and genuine that Cole had to resist joining in. “Does she imagine herself safer than you where she now stands?” the woman asked.
“Yes,” Cole said. “Who are you to boss her around?”
“I have authority to speak on Trillian’s behalf,” the woman said.
“And I can speak for Mira,” Cole replied.
“Can you really?” the woman asked.
“That’s why she sent me,” Cole said.
The woman closed her eyes for a moment. “True enough, I suppose. Very well, follow me. My master will see you.”
She turned her horse and started walking along the Red Road toward the glistening keep. The men fell into step behind her.
Cole glanced at Jace, who shrugged. They looked back at the fence. Beyond it, all was impenetrable blackness.
“Does Jace have to come?” Cole asked.
“Both of you,” the woman said, not looking back.
Cole walked to the side of the road, crouched, and tried to pick up one of the smaller crystals. Most of them were anchored to one another, but after a moment he found a loose one. He turned and prepared to throw it out through the open gate.
“Don’t toss it,” the woman said. “And don’t dally.”
Cole looked over at Jace, who glanced toward the fence and gave a nod. Cole winged the crystal sidearm. Just before it reached the blackness beyond the gate, one of the guards appeared and caught it.
“Did he just teleport?” Cole muttered to Jace.
“He’s got some skills,” Jace murmured back.
The guard gestured with his halberd for Cole to follow the woman and the other guard. Cole and Jace obeyed.
The woman continued ahead of them on her muscular steed, with one of the guards flanking her. The other guard followed behind them. Craning his neck back, Cole saw that the sky was a swirling cloud of opalescent light. He observed no sun or moon or other specific light source, yet the whole area was quite bright. Light glowed down from above, out of the crystals, and from the very air itself.
“What’s your name?” Cole called to the woman.
“I am Hina,” she replied, not looking back.
“Have you lived here long?” he asked.
“Sa
ve your questions for Trillian,” she replied.
The Red Road ended at a cascade of steps leading down from the mirrored doors to the palace. Hina dismounted, and the guard took the reins of her horse. “Follow me,” she instructed.
Hina swept up the steps to the castle door, which opened at her touch. Cole hurried in order to stay close. The inside of the castle shone like the outside. They passed through minimally furnished chambers of pure white marble and chromium. All surfaces appeared smooth and highly polished. Glowing crystals of odd shapes and sizes served as decorations. Everything was so clean and white that Cole couldn’t decide whether it looked more like heaven or a fancy insane asylum.
After a climb up a long staircase, Hina indicated a door to Cole. “You may await my master here,” she said. “You will not be able to leave this room unless he allows it.”
Cole reached for the doorknob, and Jace moved to follow, but Hina placed a hand on Jace’s shoulder. “I have a separate room for you.”
Cole and Jace shared an uncomfortable look. “Can we stay together?” Cole asked.
“You cannot,” Hina said.
“Their house, their rules,” Jace said.
Cole went through the door, and it promptly closed behind him. A smooth, white floor sloped up into smooth, white walls that curved into a smooth, white ceiling. The room lacked edges or corners. A low, crystal table sat surrounded by cushions instead of chairs. A large round bed filled one side of the room. Billowy pillows topped the silky white sheets.
Cole crossed the room to a small window on the far side. Looking out, he had a bird’s-eye view of the crystalline grounds around the castle, as well as the towering wall of blackness that prevented any view beyond the outer fence. It looked like somebody had carved a glittering kingdom out of dark nothingness.
Cole sat on a cushion by the table. The crystal surface felt cool against his palms. He wondered how long the torivor would make him wait. Would Trillian come to his room or summon him? What was a torivor, anyhow? What if he looked like a giant spider? Or a gooey slug? Would he speak Cole’s language? Was Trillian already talking with Jace?
As time passed, Cole became drowsy. There wasn’t much to do in the bare room. He wandered over to the bed and tried it out. He couldn’t believe how soft it was! He laid down and sank into a cool comfort like he had never experienced. Despite how yielding the mattress felt, he didn’t end up in an awkward position that might lead to a kinked neck. It was less like lying and more like floating.
The comfort of the bed begged him to sleep. His eyes felt heavy. How would the torivor react if he entered to find him dozing? But what else was he supposed to do? Sit at an empty table? Trillian had given him a room with a bed. Why not steal a little nap? His sleep lately had been on the ground or in rickety cots. This bed was more relaxing than any he had ever known. It would be a crime to waste it.
Some part of him warned that he shouldn’t let his guard down in an enemy castle. But that objection stayed remote, a concern of the waking world. Effortlessly, Cole slipped into the embrace of dreams.
CHAPTER
28
TRILLIAN
Cole stood in a posh chamber. Full of warmth and color, it was less sterile than other rooms in the castle. Precious metals and deep-blue stones decorated the floor in an elaborate pattern. Thick wooden beams added character to the walls and ceiling. Fine paintings and tapestries hung in abundance. The center of the room featured a generously open space, but the perimeter had furniture of exotic shapes and materials.
Cole failed to notice the man until he moved. His age was difficult to gauge, somewhere between a young man and a grandfather. He wore a loose golden robe with fur on the collar and at the end of the sleeves. He seemed a product of many ethnicities, with Asian the most prominent among them. Light suffused his skin, as if his entire body gently glowed from within. The man walked slowly, almost carefully, all the while regarding Cole with penetrating eyes and a cryptic smile.
“Hi,” Cole said. “How did I get here?”
“Think back to your arrival,” the man suggested. Cole heard the words with his ears, but also in his mind, as if the message might have arrived even with his ears covered.
“I’m asleep,” Cole said, recalling the bed.
“I’ve been waiting,” the man answered simply.
“You’re Trillian,” Cole realized.
The man gave a slight bow. “I have that honor. And you are Cole Randolph.”
Cole felt some relief that Trillian didn’t look like a giant spider. He was also glad that he seemed polite. “This doesn’t feel like a dream,” Cole said. “I feel awake. This room almost seems more real than the room I was in.”
“Perhaps it is more real,” Trillian said.
“But it’s a dream,” Cole replied.
“Must a dream be less real than the waking world?” Trillian asked.
“Dreams go away when you wake up,” Cole said, confident in his answer.
“Must something be permanent to be real?” Trillian asked. “You dwell in a temporary reality. Everything you know will end one day—your body, your possessions, the entire world where you were born will one day cease to exist as it presently does. Does that mean your life has not been real?”
“I guess it will all end someday,” Cole conceded. “But it lasts longer than a dream.”
“Does it?” Trillian asked. “Dreams sustain many through their entire lives. For some, dreams are their most personal and permanent possessions. The world I come from is much more like a dream than what you consider reality. My world existed long before your world, Cole, and it will endure long after your world crumbles. Mine is an eternal world, and I am an eternal being.”
“You’ve lived forever?” Cole asked incredulously.
“Time is irrelevant where I come from,” Trillian said. “I have always existed, which means I truly exist.”
“Are you saying I don’t exist?” Cole asked, ready to argue.
“On the contrary,” Trillian said. “Your current state will end, but part of you is eternal and will move on to other states of being after your body dies. That part of you exists as much as I do.”
“You mean I’ll go to heaven?” Cole asked.
“Those specifics are beyond my view,” Trillian answered. “But there is more to reality than you presently understand. There are circumstances when a conversation in a dream can leave a deeper impression than a conversation in the waking world. This is one such circumstance.”
Trillian waved a hand, and the walls and ceiling fell away. The room re-formed into a small ship. They sailed on calm, turquoise waters, a mountainous jungle coast in view on one side, distant islands barely visible on the other.
“See,” Cole said. “Dreams change too easily.”
“Do you not hear the water lapping against the bow?” Trillian asked. “Do you not feel the breeze on your face? Smell the salt in the air? Is your mind foggy? Is the experience dulled in any way?”
“It seems very real, and I feel awake,” Cole admitted. “The illusions enchanters make seem real too.”
“Who is to say they are not real?” Trillian asked.
“Me,” Cole replied, “when I walk through them.”
“I see,” Trillian said. “Things must be tangible to be real. Light is not real. Neither is knowledge. Neither is love.”
Cole gave an exasperated sigh. “You’re saying dreams and illusions are real?”
“Nothing matters more than what happens in our minds,” Trillian said. “Your experiences in what you consider your real life in the real world only exist in your mind and in the minds of others. The mind is everything. And dreams are the playground of the mind.”
“Your world is a dream?” Cole asked doubtfully.
“It’s the best comparison I can give you,” Trillian said. “When you want to c
hange something in what you consider to be the real world, you must first think the matter through and make a decision, then you physically take action. When I want to make a change in my home world, I simply exert my will. The shaping here is like a dim shadow of what I could accomplish where I come from.”
“I heard you were a shaper,” Cole said.
Trillian waved his arm. The boat was gone. They stood in a warm, humid greenhouse with a roof and walls of glass. The air smelled of fresh leaves and blossoms. Beyond the windows stretched a snowy expanse of tundra.
“I am the shaper,” Trillian said. “Where I come from, shaping is a way of life, as intuitive and natural as breathing is to you.”
“Where is Jace?” Cole wondered.
“He’ll be along later,” Trillian said. “For now I would prefer to keep this between the two of us.”
“I’m a little surprised you speak English,” Cole said.
Trillian laughed. “You should not be surprised. Have you ever met somebody in the Outskirts who did not speak your language?”
“No,” Cole said. Some people had accents, but everyone he had met spoke English.
“In the Outskirts, we all hear our native languages,” Trillian said. “It takes great effort not to be understood here. I know why you came to me.”
“You do?” Cole asked.
“You hope to take Honor away from here,” Trillian said.
“Did Jace tell you?”
“You’re scrambling for the best arguments to use,” Trillian said. “Don’t bother, child. Assume I know everything that you know. I know about Morgassa and the threat that she poses. I know what Stafford did to his daughters. I know about the shapecrafters and Jenna and your family back home in Mesa.”
“How do you know all that?” Cole asked, feeling off-balance.
Trillian smiled. “This is a meeting of minds. Yours is open to me. It opened as soon as you entered my domain.”
“You can read my mind?” Cole asked.
“Effortlessly,” Trillian said. “Where I come from, there is no verbalization. Not like here. All communication is mind to mind. There are no secrets. No lies. Cole, I know details about you that you have long forgotten—places, events, people. Also things you have not recognized or refuse to admit. Please feel free to speak openly. You can hide nothing from me.”