Anne Bishop - Bridge of Dreams

“Suit yourself,” Lee replied. “I’m going to check out that other bridge and see if I can determine who made it and what landscapes are connected by it.”

“You can do that? Tell who made a bridge?”

Can’t you? Too many questions about this man and none of the right answers. “Sometimes I can recognize the resonance of a Bridge I know.” And he wondered if that unknown bridge would resonate with Mace.

“That’s interesting,” Mace said.

Lee started coughing again. He wished he hadn’t responded to that hail, wished he’d stepped onto the island and gone back to Sanctuary, or at least been standing on safe ground while he observed the man. Now that he’d spoken to Mace, he didn’t want to leave the other Bridge alone in one of Nadia’s landscapes.

“You don’t sound good,” Mace said. “You sure you’re up to more walking?”

Lee struggled to draw in the air he needed without starting another coughing fit. “Do you see a village or farmhouse where I could ask for shelter?”

“No.”

“Then I’m going on to the next bridge to see if it will lead to a place where I can stay for a few days.”

“What if we cross over into one of Belladonna’s landscapes?”

“We hope whoever finds us doesn’t want to eat us.”

Mace didn’t say another thing all the way to the next bridge.

Lee saw the men clustered around a small fire near the bridge and slowed down. The other reason he wanted to buy some time before getting closer was walking beside him.

While the majority of people weren’t sensitive enough to Ephemera to notice such things, a landscape did hold the signature resonance of the Landscaper who kept it balanced, and a bridge held the signature resonance of the Bridge who created it. He was close enough to that other bridge now to be certain that it connected to a landscape he didn’t know—and that Mace had been the one who created it.

Did the other man cross my path by chance? Lee wondered. Or had it been Mace’s intention all along to get me close to this bridge and these men? He wasn’t carrying a pack because he’d left it on the island. Mace wasn’t carrying anything either, and if the man had been wandering as he’d said, he should have picked up a water skin and some kind of pack that would fit a change of clothes and a day’s worth of food.

Unless Mace had left his gear at a camp.

“Maybe they’ll share their fire and a bit of food,” Mace said, raising a hand in greeting.

“Don’t call attention to yourself,” Lee said as he slipped a hand into his trouser pocket. “Don’t you remember any of your training? Those are rough-looking men. I didn’t get the impression you knew much about this landscape, so we don’t have anything between us worth stealing and no information to trade.”

“Don’t you know this landscape?” Mace asked.

“Like I said, I know parts of it, but not this area,” he lied. His fingers curled around three smooth stones in his pocket. Infusing the power of a Bridge into the stones, he could create one-shot bridges that would take a person to a specific landscape—if the person resonated with that landscape. Or he could make resonating bridges from the one-shots, which would send a person to one of the landscapes that resonated with that person’s heart.

Something about the way those men stood up and watched him and Mace made Lee wonder how they had been able to reach one of Nadia’s daylight landscapes in the first place.

He took a step to the side, putting a little distance between himself and Mace as he rubbed the stones and began turning them into resonating bridges.

“What’s wrong? They might be able to help us.” Mace’s face held an expression of hurt puzzlement.

The expression was perfect. Too bad it didn’t match the look in Mace’s eyes.

“Help us do what?” Lee asked. Holding the stones, he pulled his hand out of his pocket. His other hand reached back for his island. For a moment, his fingers brushed against the bark of one of the trees that grew near the path. Then he felt nothing.

Come on , he thought as he shifted another step away from Mace, who now watched him with predatory interest. Come on. Why aren’t you there?

The men were moving toward them, and two of them…Oh, he’d seen enough of them in his life to recognize that resonance.

“You bastard,” Lee said softly. “You’re working for the wizards ? Don’t you know what they are, who most of them serve?”

“They’re going to save Ephemera,” Mace said. “ We’re going to save Ephemera. And you’re going to help us.”

Lee glanced at the men approaching too fast. Guardians and Guides! Why couldn’t he find the island? All he needed to do was stay free long enough to take that step. Then he would be out of reach and could shift the island back to Sanctuary. But the island kept fading, as if it couldn’t be here long enough to hold him.

“What did they offer you?” he asked, stalling for time.

“I’m going to be the wizards’ personal Bridge,” Mace said. “They know about places you haven’t imagined, but I’ve seen those places. I’m going to be the most important person in the world. After the wizards, of course.”

“What about the Dark Guides?” Lee took another step back. “Don’t you think they’re important?”

“ Belladonna is the only Dark Guide,” Mace said earnestly. “And once she’s destroyed…” He shrugged and gave Lee a happy-child smile.

He’s insane , Lee thought. Or else he’s controlled enough to be a danger to everyone Glorianna tried to protect from the wizards and the Dark Guides. If he finds a way to help those bastards reach Sanctuary and the Places of Light…

The Warrior of Light must drink from the Dark Cup. What Glorianna had become in the dark landscape she had created to hold the Eater of the World had changed her. He couldn’t accept the woman who came back because she had made that terrible place from the darkest parts of her own heart—and he still saw that darkness when he looked into Belladonna’s eyes. But she was still his sister, and he still loved her, and this he could do for her and their mother.

Guardians of the Light and Guides of the Heart, keep my family safe.

Clenching the three stones that just needed to connect with another person to become active, resonating bridges, Lee held out his other hand to Mace and said urgently, “Take my hand. The magic that will take us to one of Belladonna’s landscapes lasts only a moment.”

If Mace had been in his right mind, the words would have made no sense. But he held out his hand without hesitation or question. Grabbing Mace’s hand, Lee ran toward the men, his chest and lungs burning.

I reject all that is Belladonna. I deny all that is Glorianna. I have no place in her landscapes. I do not belong to any place that resonates with her. I WANT NO PART OF HER!

A moment of pure anger, of truth unfettered by a lifetime of love.

Lee felt something snap inside him, felt the change in the resonance of his own heart. Felt the pain of losing something he had counted on existing forever.

He slammed into the other men, knocking two of them down and yanking Mace off his feet to add to the tangle. The other men fell on him, and the two wizards were grabbing and yelling, “Don’t kill him!”

Ephemera, take me to the landscape farthest from this place. And take these hearts with me.

He wasn’t a Landscaper and had no reason to believe Ephemera would listen to him the way it listened to Glorianna or Michael. But as the wizards grabbed him, Lee opened his hand, and the three stones that were now resonating bridges fell into the tangle of bodies and limbs.