Free A Warrior of Dreams by Richard Parks Page A

annoyed Joslyn for some reason she could not name. Musa looked at her. "Nightsouls do not tarry long after death; they are manifestations of Somna and she reclaims them all. I don't know what nightmare you've created for yourself but I do know that you don't need to true-dream to perform your duties, Child. Auguries rather require a Nightsoul alert and unfettered by its own illusions. I'll wager the first thing you learned was how not to dream."
    Joslyn sat up. "How did you know that?"
    "I watch, and I listen, and I've been doing both for nearly sixty years. Now, then, Joslyn — I tell me the rest, and don't dawdle."
    "There are places... I don't know what else to call them. Places beyond the Nightstage! Places closer, perhaps, to the heart of Somna's Dream. I found one of them back before I knew what I was doing, the night before I was taken into the Temple. It looked like a wall, and there was more beyond it. I've always wanted to go back, to learn what else there was to the Dream. I've never found that place as a wandering Nightsoul. Only while I dream for myself can I reach it."
    "And you think Dyaros's angry spirit stands between you and the mystery? For the moment let's assume you're right. Have you confronted him?"
    "I try," Joslyn said. "I do! But I always wake up, the dream is always... shattered. Then I learned of Nightseed, that it would force me to sleep. So that — "
    "So that you could not run away?" asked Musa.
    Joslyn would not look at her, but she nodded, slowly. "Yes."
    "Then you have two tries only, Joslyn. Make them count."
    Joslyn stared at the old woman. "You promised!"
    Musa shook her head. "Nothing, if you'd been paying attention. Pay attention now. Nightseed, for a start. Do you really think you were the first dreamer to hear of it? It will give you sleep on demand, truly, but use it more than twice and it's the drug you crave and the dreams be damned."
    Joslyn eyed her prize as if it had just sprouted teeth. "I'm not sure I believe you."
    "Then don't exert yourself because it makes no difference. This is all you get, Child. Use it well."
    There was a note of finality in Musa's voice that convinced Joslyn not to press the matter. "All right, damn your slippery hide. But will you grant me something else?"
    "What is it?"
    "Stop calling me 'child.' I turned eighteen three months ago."
    Musa smiled. "Two years in the Temple and eighteen in the world? Barely an instant, as the stars turn. Well, off with you before the street wakes up and sees you out of the Temple alone."
    Joslyn peeked out the door, again checking left and right before braving the daylight. Musa closed the door, and this time Joslyn heard the snick of the bolt.
    That's right, Musa. Take no chances .
    Later Joslyn would wonder — not for the first time — how simple Musa knew so much about the business of the Temple. But not then, there was no time. Joslyn quickly vanished into the light.
    *
    Tagramon's kindly face was at that moment the incarnation of strained fatherly patience. He wore a white robe embroidered with clouds in cloth-of-gold, and he held a slim ivory wand across his knees. He stroked it, idly, as a young man in a blue tabard kneeled before him. The boy was saying something with nervous intensity, but the Dream Master wasn't listening. He finally held up a hand for silence. "Ter, why must you lie to me?"
    "Master, I swear — "
    "No need to repeat it, Lad. I heard you the first time. I am a little surprised that you and Alyssa managed to come up with the same one. Was that planned, or merely odd coincidence?"
    The boy's resolve was no match for Tagramon's calm certainty. It crumbled, and Ter looked at the floor. "I failed you, Master. There was no augury."
    "Obviously not. The best you and Alyssa could manage was vague pronouncements of wealth and happiness. By the Dreamer, Ter! The lowliest crystal-gazer could do better. What happened to you?"
    The boy looked lost. "I don't know! I searched for the Supplicant's Nightsoul