he had a lot of ground to make up. Using basic line of sight, he had to assume that his tutor was tracking the right of the two rivers that issued from either side of the gate. With Daisy a weightless passenger he covered the ground with ease, sprinting across the rugged the terrain and crushing rocks and stones under foot. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of his life.
A quick glance over his shoulder revealed Billy’s feline form bounding along behind him, doing his best to keep pace. Ryan smiled inwardly.
‘Come on Bambi, let’s see what you’ve got,’ he muttered, surging forwards.
He paid barely a thought to following the course of the river, which twisted and turned constantly as it wound its way down the hillside. Instead he made a bee-line for the last location he had seen Tristram, correcting his course slightly at the top of each rise. He slid sure-footedly across slopes of scree and leapt the river every time it stood between him and his goal. Then he reached the top of one ridge could see no sign of the winged man. Ryan stopped and the cloud of dust he had created swirled round him. A few moments later the snow leopard arrived at his side.
‘What is it?’ asked Billy, without any hint of the scorn or sarcasm that usually pervaded his address.
‘Lost him. Damn it!’
‘He must have found the dream he was looking for,’ said Daisy.
The sound of her voice made Ryan jump.
‘God Dizz, I’d completely forgotten you were there.’
‘It’s okay,’ she smiled. ‘I was enjoying the ride.’
‘Looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way,’ said Billy grimly.
Ryan looked at him without his normal sense of loathing.
‘Right,’ he said. ‘You want the left or right bank?’
‘I’ll take this side,’ came the reply. ‘The river is… err… getting a little wide for me to jump.’
1-0 to the tin man, Ryan thought, smiling to himself.
‘What should we be looking for?’ asked Daisy.
‘Anything with Tristram or Sophie in it,’ said Billy.
Together they scoured the banks of the river for the dream, still moving apace to keep ahead of the flow. It was tough work negotiating the steep banks while scrutinising the waters at the same time. There was a great deal going on in some of the dreams, making them even harder to check. Others were more placid and only required a cursory glance.
After a while they rounded a bend in the river and the land flattened out abruptly, leaving a beach and a vast expanse of blue ocean before them. They were nearing the end of the watercourse but continued their search all the way to where the Sea of Broken Dreams lapped happily against the shore.
‘Bugger,’ said Ryan, staring back up at the winding vale they had just descended through.
‘You must have missed it,’ called Billy from the other side, taking care not to get too near the water.
‘Me? Why me?’ shouted Ryan, feeling he could have kicked the cat into the river had Billy been on the same side as him. ‘There’s two of us over here.’
‘Boys, don’t start,’ said Daisy, climbing off Ryan’s back. ‘We’ll just have to check again, won’t we? And this time we’ll be more thorough about it.’
To Ryan and Billy’s amazement she proceeded to drift slowly out over the water, as if she was a feather blown gently on a light breeze. Beneath the long gown she was dressed in her feet did not appear to move. Ryan looked on bemusedly, wondering whether he had actually seen her walk – in the usual sense of the word – anywhere during his time on the Dream Isle.
‘Dizz, what the hell are you doing?’ he asked, almost accusingly.
‘What spirits do best, Ryan,’ she replied airily.
‘How long have you been able to do that?’
‘Since I first arrived. I’m a girl though, so I don’t feel compelled to show off all the time.’
Ryan scowled.
‘Okay then. Let’s get on with it.’
They set off back the way they had come, moving at a light jog to maintain their sense of urgency – except Daisy of course, who just drifted calmly up the middle of the river staring intently at the images passing beneath her. For a long while there was nothing. Naturally there were plenty of blonde girls and dark haired men in the dreams, but none that looked anything like Sophie or Tristram. Then, as they were rounding a broad, sweeping bend in the river, Ryan, who was on the outer bank, saw it.
‘There!’ he shouted. ‘It’s Tristram.’
On the far bank Billy stopped, while Daisy floated over to take a look. Sure enough, the image showed their tutor creeping carefully through a dark, snowy forest, while ahead of him the glare of torches swept through the trees, seemingly seeking him out.
‘He’s right,’ she called over to Billy.
‘Told you you’d missed it,’ replied the snow leopard.
Ryan flexed his metal fingers in frustration.
‘Never mind that,’ said Daisy, again trying to cut through the tension. ‘How are you going to get over here?’
Billy leant down and sniffed the water’s edge.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I can jump it.’
Ryan perked up.
‘I’ll come and get you then,’ he said, sensing a chance to get one over on him again.
‘No, no, it’s okay. I’ll just wander back up and find a narrower section.’
‘That’ll take too long. I’m coming across.’
Ryan took two steps back and then ran forwards and cleared the river in one easy leap, ensuring that he sent a shower of stones in Billy’s direction upon landing.
‘Thanks for that,’ growled the big cat.
‘No problem,’ grinned Ryan. ‘Up you get then.’
‘Look, I’m really not sure about this…’
‘Don’t be a pussy. Oh, sorry… you are one.’
‘Shut it Butler.’
‘You’re wasting time. Get on.’
Billy glowered at him.
‘Fine,’ he growled, and leapt onto Ryan’s shoulders.
Unfortunately his claws could not get any sort of grip on Ryan’s slick bodywork, and in the end he was forced to rest in a most undignified manner, half cradled in one of his arms. Ryan took another couple of steps back and then launched them both across the river. Billy weighed a good deal more than Daisy, but it did not present him with any problems; his strength felt limitless on the Isle. They were almost across when he noticed Tristram’s silhouette in the dream below and came to a snap decision.
‘See ya Billy!’ he cried, and before his passenger knew what was happening Ryan hurled him into the dream.
A moment later he landed back at Daisy’s side. She stared at him open-mouthed.
‘He shoots, he scores!’ Ryan grinned.
‘I can’t believe you just did that,’ she said, her features betraying a small smile.
‘It’ll teach the smug git a thing or two,’ he shrugged.
‘We’d better follow him before he gets into trouble,’ said Daisy. She floated out over the water and disappeared gracefully into its depths.
‘Here we go then,’ said Ryan to himself, before cannonballing in after her.
16
There was something odd about the world Ryan Butler descended into. Somewhere, caught within the boyish mess at the back of his mind, there was a memory, or something at least, that gave him a sense of familiarity in a place he had never been.
He was standing in the middle of a snow-covered wood, but it was hardly surprising that that should feel familiar. After all, give or take a few species of tree, woods the world over were pretty much the same; trees, bark, earth – the usual. The presence of snow just gave it a Christmassy feel. So it had to be something else. Maybe it was the lie of the land; the sculpted relief that the architect of the wood had chosen for this particular piece. Or perhaps there was merely something in the air; something tangible yet unquantifiable, gently probing the extremities of his senses.
As he peered through the darkness at the monochrome scene the feeling grew, giving him a sense that at some moment everything would suddenly snap into full, high definition colour. Then would come a blissful moment of recollection when the link between his senses and the niggle at the back of his mind was made.
A movement to his right shattered his focus and he looked over to see the ghostly shape of Daisy Rose creeping slowly towards him. She was no longer a true spirit as she had been moments before; it was the cold light of the moon cast upon her raven hair and brilliantly pale skin that gave her such an appearance. There was something ethereal and beautiful about her here, as if she was born to walk through the snowy, moonlit forests like the elves of myth. It was a place she truly belonged.
Ryan smiled as she drew near. Seeing her that way he suddenly felt proud to have known her longer than all but her closest kin, and to still be considered her best friend. But he rejected the urge to reach out and embrace her; it wasn’t the done thing for boys his age and he was content with the warm feeling inside that her presence gave him. It was time for an adventure again; just like when they were growing up. Except this time it was real, in a manner of speaking.
‘Hi Ryan,’ she whispered. There was no clear need for caution, but something about the place, perhaps the same something that was niggling Ryan’s mind, hinted that it might be a good idea to keep quiet.
‘Hey Dizz,’ he replied. ‘You okay?’
‘Yes, thank you. Are you?’
‘Yeah, fine.’
‘Is Billy around?’
‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.’
The tall, gangling figure of Billy Richards should have been all too easy to spot. Unless, of