Anne Bishop - Bridge of Dreams

Michael lowered his tin whistle and shifted on the bench that sat on the safe part of the playground. “Glorianna, come take a look at this.”

Glorianna took a step toward him, then clamped both hands over her nose. “I’d rather not.”

“Now, don’t be getting all prissy. It’s just a smell.”

“Well, at least…” She pointed a finger, then adjusted direction so she wasn’t pointing directly at the house. “Ephemera, shift the wind so it blows that way.”

yes yes yes

When the world shifted the wind, she stepped into the gravel side of the playground and sat beside Michael.

“All right, wild child,” Michael said. “Show Glorianna what you just showed me.”

Palm trees that held the scent of dusty heat. Dark plants whose flowers looked like turds. Stinkweed. A heart’s hope. Grapes and a different, earthy smell. Lots of sharp, jagged bits of stone. A piece of granite. A wilted water lily.

And a gold pocket watch.

“You found Lee,” Glorianna said as she studied Ephemera’s message.

“Don’t know what landscape he’s in, but, yes, darling Glorianna, the wild child found him.” Michael bumped her shoulder with his. “What’s Ephemera telling us?”

She felt Belladonna scratching along the threads that connected the Light side of her heart with the Dark. Threads Michael shaped and strengthened each day by playing the music he heard in her—the music that wasn’t just Belladonna or just Glorianna but was both. Not who she had been, but who she was now.

“It found Lee,” she said grimly. “And it found some wizards in the same landscape.”

Michael nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

And wizards, among a people who didn’t know what they were, could twist enough hearts to change the resonance of a landscape before anyone realized the danger. Nothing she could do about them, and nothing she could do to help Lee. Not yet. So she would take care of the things she could do something about.

She gave Michael a sideways look. “That wasn’t all you were thinking, Magician.”

“It wasn’t?”

“You were thinking that parts of that landscape need to be returned to where they belong.”

“I was thinking that?” Michael asked innocently.

She sighed and leaned forward, bracing her forearms on her thighs. “Ephemera? Hear me.”

???

“Take the parts you shifted to that landscape and put them back where they belong.”

???

“Put. Them. Back. Now.”

!!!

Michael frowned. “There’s no cause to be using that tone, wild child.”

!!!

Glorianna looked at her lover and narrowed her eyes.

“Now, don’t be giving me that look,” Michael said. “I’ve made some mistakes when I’m talking with the world, and I’m bound to make more, but this I didn’t do. Whatever it is.”

“Well, someone… ” Glorianna studied the offerings in the sandbox. “Is there a Landscaper in that landscape?”

yes yes yes

Everything sank under the sand except the piece of granite.

“Anger makes stone,” she said reflectively, “and strength makes stone. That stands for strength.”

“If Lee and this Landscaper are in the same place, let’s hope they can help each other.”

“Let’s hope.” I can do more than hope. Ephemera, hear me.

She sent her heart wish through the currents of power, both Light and Dark.

A whisper of another heart wish came back to her from an unexpected place.

She gripped Michael’s hand. “Come with me.”

The quick grin and the heat in his smoky blue eyes faded as he studied her face. “I’m guessing we aren’t going inside for a nap.”

“No.” She paused and considered the feel of his mouth and the touch of his hands. A different kind of music that also reached both sides of her heart. “Not yet anyway.”

They left the playground and went to her walled garden, the place where she tended all the landscapes in her care. She led him to the part that held the dark landscapes.

Michael studied the triangle of grass. “It’s still tugging at you, isn’t it?”

“It is. It resonates with me—or some part of it does—but not enough to cross over. The call isn’t strong enough yet.” She looked at him, her partner in so many ways now. “Do you hear anything, Magician?”

“The music of the place, you mean?” He tipped his head and closed his eyes. “Chords. Three notes played together. Not a tune, as such. Dark tones and light. I’d be careful about going there unless I was sure of my welcome.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Is that what you wanted to know?”

“It is.”

“Why are you asking? Are you thinking it might not be yours?”

“Oh, I know it’s mine—or will be.”

Glorianna hesitated. She hadn’t told Michael, hadn’t told anyone that the dark landscape that held the Eater of the World—the landscape that should have been closed to everyone —was a place Belladonna could reach simply by taking the step between here and there. And sometimes she craved the power she had wielded there without constraints, without conscience. That was the main reason she felt so wary of that triangle of grass that was almost an access point. Belladonna could cross over to the Eater’s dark landscape, but she wasn’t sure if Belladonna would be able to leave again—and she was sure the part of her that was Glorianna wouldn’t survive.

“I felt a heart wish in the currents a few minutes ago,” she said. “Faint, but it was there. It felt like it came from the landscape where Lee is, but it also has some connection to that landscape.” She tipped her head to indicate the triangle of grass.

“But it’s not Lee’s heart wish.”

“No.” Let your heart travel lightly. The best thing she could do for Lee—and the rest of the family—was remember the truth of that saying.

She smiled at Michael. “Let’s go take that nap.”

Guardians of the Light and Guides of the Heart were created by Ephemera long ago to help the world manifest the true wishes of the human heart. The Guardians preferred to be cloistered from the turmoil of daily life, but the Guides walked among the people, lived like the rest of the people, except they could talk to the world. After the war with the Eater of the World, the Guardians disappeared. So did the Guides, but their descendants are still known by many names—Landscapers, Magicians, Heartwalkers, Heart Seers, Shamans. They are the ones who now provide balance between Ephemera and the people who live in the world (although a few Guides still exist and still walk in the world).

Ephemera also made beings called the Dark Guides as a response to the people who embraced the darker aspects of the heart. Most of the Dark Guides were trapped in a place called Wizard City, but there are still some wandering through Ephemera’s landscapes. Their descendants are called wizards, and they have the power of persuasion as well as a deadly magic they call wizards’ lightning. Many wizards nurture the dark feelings in the heart, but some are called Justice Makers and do, in fact, help maintain order in their part of the world.

There was a brief discussion of men called Bridges and their ability to change an ordinary bridge of wood and stone into something that can link different parts of the world.

I feel confident that Lee believes what he told me about Guardians, Guides, Dark Guides, and wizards. However, his comments about Bridges might have been a test to see if I’m gullible enough to believe everything he says.

—Sholeh’s first report to Shaman Danyal

Danyal put Sholeh’s report in a separate file from his notes about Lee. It disturbed him to see Shamans listed so casually, and yet there was an odd relief that Shamans were not as unique as everyone in Vision believed. But the words, so casually spoken and so carefully written down for anyone to see, made it clear that Shamans, like the Landscapers and Magicians that had also been mentioned, did not have their roots in humankind. That was something he wanted to discuss with Farzeen in private before telling the rest of the Shaman Council.