Dream Finder

career.

Pandra joined him and, for a few moments, scuttled about fussily, unnecessarily moving cushions and picking up an odd book and a few papers from the chairs and placing them on a table.

'Sit down,’ he said finally to Estaan and Antyr. ‘And come in, you two,’ he added to the two wolves who were peering nervously around the door.

'It's all right for you, but this place is going to stink of wolf for weeks now. How I'm supposed to get any rest with my nerves permanently twitching at the scent, I don't know.’ Antyr caught the loud whisper from Kany, but Pandra shushed him hastily.

'I got your address from the Guild House,’ Antyr began, sitting down. ‘We … I've … a problem and I didn't know where to turn, to be honest. I…'

'Just tell me what's happened,’ Pandra interrupted paternally. ‘I'm glad to see you again. I must admit, you've been constantly in my mind since we met in the library, and one doesn't have to be a Companion to see that you're disturbed about something.'

The latter part of his remark was obviously spoken for Kany's benefit, but it provoked no response, and Antyr could feel the three Companions talking urgently at some level below his awareness.

Pandra leaned forward confidentially. ‘That miserable porter at the Guild House said you'd been arrested by the palace guards. Quite smug he was about it. I was most concerned…’ He tailed off absently, then, ‘And I've been thinking about your story … That separation from your Companion … One gets into such a rut, one forgets. It came to me last night, though I'm hesitant to mention it, it sounds so foolish…'

'I've been into one of the worlds of the Threshold,’ Antyr blurted out starkly, before Pandra could continue.

Pandra stared at him blankly at first, then his face became a mixture of excitement, disbelief, and alarm. He looked at Antyr intently. ‘You seem no madder than you did yesterday,’ he said with unexpected bluntness. ‘And I don't think I am. We must talk…’ He flicked a significant glance towards Estaan.

'Shall I wait outside?’ Estaan said, intercepting the look.

Antyr shook his head. ‘This is Estaan,’ he said to Pandra. ‘He can stay, for the moment, at least. He's been a witness to today's events and he … felt … something himself. And he's one of the Mantynnai. He was instructed to look after me after…’ He looked about the room self-consciously. ‘After I was appointed to be the Duke's Dream Finder.'

Pandra raised an eyebrow but scrutinized Estaan first. ‘Mantynnai, eh?’ he said. ‘Kany?'

'He is,’ the rabbit replied after a brief pause. Pandra nodded sagely.

Estaan shifted uncomfortably as this unseen judge announced his verdict.

Pandra turned again to Antyr, eyebrow still raised. ‘Your fortunes seem to be rising, young Antyr,’ he said with some irony. ‘Arrested one minute, Dream Finder to the Duke next. And now escorted personally by the Mantynnai.'

'I wasn't arrested,’ Antyr said, shaking his head. ‘I was being sought out by another … important … client.’ He waved his hand irritably. ‘But that doesn't matter at the moment.'

His expression became anxious. ‘How well did you know Nyriall?’ he asked.

'Hardly at all,’ Pandra replied. ‘I've met him once or twice at Guild meetings, but it was a long time ago. An unusual man. You could feel that, just by speaking to him. But a bit too much of an idealist from what I've heard. Seemed to think he could do something about everybody's happiness.’ He shook his head ruefully. ‘But you've got to accept reality sooner or later, haven't you? There's only so much you can do for anyone. And you'll do no one any good by starving to death for them.’ He paused, then said, ‘I gather from the past tense in your question that he's probably done just that.'

Antyr shook his head. ‘Not quite,’ he said. ‘But I'm afraid he is dead. Though far more strangely than by starvation.'

Pandra waited.

Plunging in, Antyr told of his visit to Nyriall and the strange events that had passed there.

The old Dream Finder was silent for a long time when Antyr had finished.

'Then they're truly there.’ The voice was Kany's, and it was subdued, awe-stricken almost. ‘The worlds of the Threshold. Truly there. Just like it says in the Treatise. I'd never given it two minutes’ serious credence; this is an age of reason, isn't it? And now you've been there. And even drawn your Companions after you. All three of you there, for a brief moment … I didn't believe you, Tarrian, Grayle. I'm sorry…'

'But what does it all mean?’ Antyr asked. ‘And why's it happening to me? I'm no … Master. I've had no special training. Nor done any special study. In fact, if the truth be told, I've neglected my craft as diligently as others have pursued theirs.'

Pandra shook his head. ‘You ask unanswerable questions, Antyr,’ he said. ‘It seems you are a Master, regardless of your application to your craft. Your … great … talent is perhaps as chance a thing as any Dream Finder's ordinary one. And there's neither rhyme nor reason as to why that's handed down to some and not to others. At least, no reason that we can see.’ He paused thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps you went … astray … because of the extent of your ability. Great talents are not always a blessing. I've a client who's a fine painter; brilliant even. His work is much praised and some of it is actually hung in the palace. But he sits far from easy in his life. He's a peculiarly tormented individual.'

Antyr grimaced. ‘Master,’ he muttered to himself in denial. ‘Maybe you're right. I don't know. I certainly don't feel like one.’ Wilfully, he moved away from the subject. ‘But, whatever I am, I've still to find out what's happening, and why. I have to find out who those two figures were and what they were doing there, creating such havoc and…'

His face became grim as the thought formed in his mind. ‘Murdering Nyriall!'

The words hung in the air like acrid smoke and for a while no one spoke.

'You can walk away,’ Pandra offered tentatively. ‘It might have been something that Nyriall brought on himself and it may have died with him.'

Antyr shook his head. ‘No. I don't think so,’ he said. ‘The evil in it was something I'd felt before. And I've got the feeling that if I run, it'll follow me. Predator after prey.'

Silence returned to the room.

'We must look in the Treatise first,’ Kany said eventually, his voice determinedly calm. ‘You've been thrashing about so frantically in your fatigue and fear, and Tarrian's been so full of guilt at what he sees as his responsibility for failing to stop your seemingly relentless decline, that you've failed to consider the most obvious source of information.’ He paused. ‘As have we, if I'm honest. Too old. Too stupid. Go and get the book, Pandra.'

Pandra hesitated.

'Go on,’ Kany snapped, his normal manner reasserting itself. ‘It's on the top shelf in the back room.'

'I know,’ Pandra replied testily. ‘But I don't see what good the Treatise is going to be. I don't remember anything in it about how to become a Master, how to reach the Threshold or…’ He paused as if suddenly recollecting something.

'No, you never read it properly,’ Kany shouted into his reverie. ‘Dream Finders never do. Learn a few tricks then think they know it all. Now go and get it. You, Mantynnai, go and help him, it's heavy and it's on a high shelf. We can't afford physician's fees if he falls off something and injures himself.'

Estaan stood up uncertainly, still unsettled by this strange conversation that was half spoken out loud and half echoing in his head. He looked at Antyr who, despite his own confusion, could not prevent himself from smiling.

'Yes, it is a rabbit who's ordering you about,’ he said. ‘Don't fret about it. Look at Tarrian and Grayle.’ Estaan glanced at the two wolves, both sitting still and subdued in a corner.

Still preoccupied, Pandra took the rabbit out of his pocket and, putting him on the floor, nodded graciously to Estaan who had already moved to open the door.

'Pick me up,’ Kany said sharply to Antyr as the two men left. ‘I want to get a close look at you.'

Antyr did as he was bidden, taking the rabbit in both hands and lifting him up until he was opposite his face.

'You are a ruffianly looking creature,’ he said as he surveyed the rabbit's battered features.

Kany's nose twitched vigorously. ‘You're no Buonardi sculpture yourself, Dream Finder,’ he replied.