Aeolia

30: The Ensnarer

"Dreamfisher! Dreamfisher!" Frost cried, lifting his muzzle to the canopy. His gaze was round with concern—and maybe anxiety, too. "We must consult you!"

     "How will this being help us?" Ravine asked as they walked among the star-trees, whose trunks pierced up, up, through the gently-drizzling clouds.

     Frost shook his pelt and turned his attention to the woman.

     "Look around you, Ravine," he said. "Isn't this place familiar?
     Isn't the word kingfisher  familiar?
     For whatever reason, you're pressing back quite recent memories.
     You know how the Dreamfisher will help you,
     Because it has, in the same manner,
     Time and time again,
     Like it has helped all of us.
     Remember, Ravine.
     From where do you know this bird?"

     Ravine was hesitant. "Well...."

     Frost leaned towards her, attentive.

     "I had this dream a while ago." After a beat, she continued. "But before I fell asleep, I had just met Spire, in what I call the Demon Forest. A silly, fantastical name, sure, but a place of terror nonetheless. And I was running, running, running without stopping. The events of this day are so blurry, so surreal already, that now I'm not sure if that part was a dream as well."

     "That's okay," Frost said. "Keep going."

     "And then we came to this meadow. Everything was dead. And I...I was so tired. I knew there was something wrong with that place—but I fell asleep anyway. And then I had this dream."

     She paused and took a deep breath.

     "I was too scared to say anything to you about this, Frost. Wasn't sure if I would sound insane or not, and that reality also scared me. But in this dream, I was high in this nest—like I was in a book I loved as a child—and there were stars in my hair. I thought I was in heaven, though I'd never believed it was real till then. I know that place was undoubtedly this, but that doesn't make any sense. I knew this forest, though I'd never seen it or heard of it before."

     Frost nodded in silent understanding. Ravine went on.

     "Then I started...remembering things...from the time my parents were killed, right before I ran away, in this dream of mine. Then this snake, this dark viper with horrifying eyes—eyes that could entrance you, sway you, make you pity the thing—came up to me. And then...it was over. I don't know. It just kind of ended that way."

     "...But?" Frost prompted, sensing there was more she had to say.

     "I don't know if this is relevant," Ravine continued, as raindrops pooled on her scalp and trickled down her neck, making her shudder, "but then I appeared to have woken up. And Spire was asleep now, lying on the ground—in the same kind of stupor that he's in now. And then...I heard this voice, this awful ancient hissing voice, and I knew it was the Viper. I knew the Viper was torturing Spire in his sleep. But how could that be?"

     "This is more relevant than you know," Frost replied, entranced by the woman's monologue. "I have pieces of the puzzle now, just pieces. Keep going."

     Ravine resumed. "And...then I don't really know what happened next, but I suppose I'll try to explain the best I can. So...there I was, the only thing awake in this sleeping meadow. I had to escape. First I thought about my dream; then this ...shadow...came over me. I wasn't myself, not really. I started to shake uncontrollably. I wasn't quite Spire, wasn't quite the Viper, but all of a sudden I had its voice. And I said these words—bone-cold, colorless, dark. I'll never forget them. I'll never forget that experience, either, of being yourself but not. Then the landscape changed. It was light now, all clinical moonlight. I saw white hills, white mountains, sharp, like torn paper. I heard these hidden things talking to me. Spire woke when I made to leave, and said in the same hissing voice: Falling, flinching, shaking. So I flinched. I started to shake. But my head told me to stop. So I stopped. And that was that. The Viper was gone. I didn't see it depart, but I felt its absence."

     "What direction did you feel it move?" Frost asked, his tail compulsively corkscrewing in and out.

     "I...." Ravine turned in an about-face. "Since this is north, this'd be east." She stretched her arm to the right. "East, Frost. The Viper went east."

     "The Ensnarer, you mean."

     Ravine and Frost whipped around. A shimmering kingfisher stood before them, its feet planted lightly on the forest floor. It was the most extraordinary bird Ravine had ever seen. Its blue feathers were waterfalls, dripped with dew from the clouds. Its plumage had adopted the scent of the star-fruit, like blossoms at the beginning of spring. Its talons were weathered and nicked, but smoothed by years of soft rain. Its beak seemed strong enough to capture anything.

     Strong enough to capture dreams and twist them, something in the pit of her stomach thudded.

     "Yes," the Kingfisher said, in its deep resonant way. "I am quite strong. Quite old. And quite knowledgeable."

     Ravine's bones vibrated as the wondrous bird spoke. It made her afraid, but enticed her. "We need your help," she managed to say.

     "Ah, yes." The Kingfisher seemed to smile. "I believe you do. I felt your coming, and heard your dilemma. Let me carry you. Imbued with dreams, and other cosmic things, I have not the normal dimensions of the common kingfisher. My talons alone can clench your shoulders, Ravine, and I can take you both to Dreams' Lattice. There we will discuss your troubles in further detail."

     The Kingfisher leapt from the ground and treaded air, its talons outstretched. Ravine cast Frost a paralyzed glance.

     "It's alright," the whisperer assured her. "Even if we could not trust this bird, at least we would be betrayed by the most beautiful being in the east. Our pain would be picturesque. We would understand our troubles. Come, Ravine." Frost sprang beneath the Kingfisher's talons, and they closed around him. "I think this being is better to be clenched by than by your being in the north."

     The woman swallowed and gave herself over to the Kingfisher's grip.

     "My being?"

     Frost gave a short laugh. "By the Mist, Ravine. I thought it was obvious.
     We're hiding from the Viper.
     This is the only place we're safe from it, where you're  safe from it.
     I think the Viper has been trailing you for longer than you realize...
     But we can assess that theory later. Anyway, I thought it was clear what
     We were seeking solace from when I said we sought sanctuary.
     But things have not unfolded as I so thought they would.
     Because somehow...somehow your Spire-bird isn't any better than before."