Free The Sword of Straw by Amanda Hemingway Page A

having a secret from his mother was, in his view, the benchmark of maturity. “Since we’re being so frank, have you had any significant dreams lately? I’ve noticed a certain…restlessness in you. Maybe it’s your age. You don’t have to confide in me if you don’t wish to.”
    “There was one,” Nathan said slowly. He explained about Osskva. “And…I’ve had a few dreams about another world. Not like Eos. More…like some period from history. Medieval, I suppose.” He didn’t intend to mention the princess.
    “Hmm.”
    “Uncle Barty, do you think I have these dreams because I
want
to, or because something else makes them happen? Or—are they just random?”
    “
Do
you want to?” his uncle inquired.
    “I—yes, I do. It’s frightening sometimes, but in a stimulating way—an adventure. With this new world, I want to know it better, find out more. Like when you visit another country”—Annie had taken him twice to France, once to Holland—“only another universe is a million times more exciting. I mean,
anyone
can go abroad.” He grinned, looking suddenly very young.
    “Indeed,” Bartlemy said, “but remember, any dream you have is not a sightseeing trip. I believe there is a purpose behind your wanderings, though I am not yet sure exactly what it is. Does this new world seem to have any connection with the Grail?”
    “No,” Nathan said, “but they talk about a sword. The Traitor’s Sword.”
    “Ah,” Bartlemy said. “Well, dream carefully.” It was not the first time Nathan had been told that. “Take the precautions I taught you. Keep the Rune of Finding in your room, and drawn on your arm. Use the herbal mixture I gave you, which helps to bring the spirit home. Don’t get lost.”
    “I won’t,” Nathan said confidently.
    “He is always confident, Rukush,” Bartlemy told the dog when he had gone. “I hope he is careful, too…The sword. Well, well. There is a pattern developing here. The Grail relics—if I can call them that—were evidently hidden in different worlds, and it seems to be Nathan’s job to retrieve them. At least, that’s what it looks like. He’s clearly on the trail of the sword now. But who gave him this task, if anyone did? The Ultimate Powers? Those who maintain equilibrium throughout the multiverse rarely involve themselves so personally. Or could the knowledge of what he has to do have been born in him, part of the heritage of two worlds? Maybe
this
is the special destiny for which he was created. After all, I’ve never heard of any other mortal—and few immortals—able to move so easily between universes. Objects—occasionally; but not people. People are too perishable. And what of the Grandir of Eos? This evidently fits in with some long-lost plan one of his forebears made to save a dying cosmos, but…Yes, that’s the trouble.
But
.” He added with a sigh: “I wish Annie would tell Nathan the truth about his conception. The time is coming when that information may be essential for his safety.”
    Hoover looked at him with an expression both alert and meaningful.
    “All right,” said Bartlemy. “I’ll talk to her.”
     
    B UT A NNIE, when the time came, proved more recalcitrant than ever. “It isn’t just that he doesn’t
need
to know,” she said. “I think it might be safer if he
didn’t
. Suppose I tell him his real father could be a—a being from another universe, a superhuman entity who impregnated me for a mysterious purpose? At least, I expect so, since he obviously didn’t do it for fun. Anyhow, that may explain to Nathan why he can dream himself into other worlds, but then he’ll start agonizing over his destiny, and all that sort of thing, when he should be agonizing over exams—he’ll worry about the father thing—it could distance him from his friends. I don’t mean it would make him conceited, but it isn’t good for any boy to be told:
You’re special. You aren’t like the others. You have a Destiny with a