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“However,” Siofra said, “perhaps, if I knew more about the story that he’s given you, I might be moved to appeal for leniency, once we reach Penley.” His eyes widened, mock-apology. “Oh, I don’t think I mentioned—

you’re to be tried in your capital before your Elders. I’ve become quite… familiar with the High Seat, Channing.”

I’ll just bet you have.

Dallin wished his hands were free; he’d like to drape himself back over his chair for a more cavalier effect. He settled for stretching out his legs and slouching a bit.

“You assume it was necessary for him to give me a story at all.” Dallin quirked his lips. “You assume very many things. I thought you knew what I am.”

Siofra’s mouth pinched. “I don’t
care
what you are,”

he said through his straight, white teeth. “You’re no threat to me anymore.”

“Perhaps not.” Dallin shrugged. “But he knows what
he
is now. He knows what he can do.” He cocked his 292

Carole Cummings

head. “What frightened you the most, d’you think? You knew about the elements when you stole him away, so it must not’ve been that.”

The narrow features froze for a moment before Siofra’s eyes narrowed. “It was him that called the storm outside Dudley, then.”

Dallin almost jumped up and did a little jig. One little bit of confession and from Siofra’s own mouth.

Corliss, you’d damn-well better have your ear plastered
to that door.

Because he hoped this was just the beginning.

“What else can he do?” Siofra demanded, all pretence at indifference abandoned.

This morning I watched him call fire and tame it to his
hand. Bet
that
would send your stones up to your throat.

Dallin widened his eyes, all innocence. “P’raps when you see him again, you can get him sotted on leaf and make him tell you. That
was
how it worked, wasn’t it?

Steal him and then try to steal his power?” He let his face go hard. “But you didn’t know what else he had in him, did you? You knew he was the Aisling, but you didn’t know about the dreams, right? And when you found out, you kept him drugged for decades so you could twist them yourself.”
I just wish I could see your face when you find
out the hard way about the pushing.
Dallin leaned in, narrowed his eyes. “I wonder what your dear,
familiar
Channing would think if he learned you’d been using a man’s dreams to gain advantage against his country?

Magicking without a license in Cynewísan is rather frowned upon, and I’d say magicking with criminal intent toward the Mother’s own Gift wouldn’t go over very well at all. How old
are
you, anyway? Ah!” He sat back again with a serene smile. “But then, I suppose you reckon the Elders won’t find out, yes? Because the only one besides you who knows about it will never make it to Penley for 293

The Aisling Book Two Dream

trial, am I right?”

Siofra’s complexion had gone rather gray—a mixture of rage and fright, Dallin guessed. Hoped. To Dallin’s sincere satisfaction, Siofra’s hands were gripping at each other so hard his fingers had turned wax-white.

“I rather thought ‘shot while trying to escape’ had a nice ring to it,” he said.

Dallin chuckled. “From the sound of it, I don’t suppose there are many left in Putnam who will dare to object.

Nice trick, that. How did you get them to arrest Jagger so quickly?”

“
I’m
to be asking the questions!” Siofra snarled.

If Dallin had a hand free, he would have held it up, placating. “Ah, right, sorry, I forgot.” He dipped his head. “As you will.”

Siofra sputtered for a moment, off-balance. It was only with an obvious effort that he reined in his fury and too-evident unease. He took a long breath. “
What
,” he seethed, “can he
do
?”

Dallin allowed a snort this time. “You don’t really think I’m going to tell you
that
, do you? Honestly, man, do give me at least
some
credit.”

“Oh, I give you all sorts of credit, young man. But you’ve obviously heard as much about me as I have about you.” Siofra leaned in, more confident now. “You know I can find out.”

Dallin shrugged, unconcerned. “You can try.”

Almost immediately, the air thickened, grew heavy, and a light buzz fizzed at the back of his brain. Where before had been an unsettling annoyance, this was an all-out cloying assault. Dallin narrowed his eyes; it was getting more difficult to maintain the smirk, but he kept it, hardened it.

You’ve been doing it all your life.
Wil’s calm voice, guiding him resolutely through the locks and chains of his 294

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own mind.
Just find it and make it stronger.

The drone rose in octave, skittering over Dallin like tiny little insects crawling over his skin, slithering up his backbone. It was… familiar. Good thing for the shackles, else Dallin would’ve smacked himself in the head. Instead, he barked a laugh.

“It was you,” he snorted. “I felt you coming. Shit, wish I’d known what it was before. Would’ve saved me an awful lot of wittering.” He shook his head, still chuckling.

“I kept thinking something terrible was coming, and all along, it was only you.”

The buzzing stopped abruptly. Siofra sprang from his chair, lunged across the table; Dallin consciously controlled the instinctive flinch and kept his smile. Siofra’s long fingers curled around the edge of the table, clenched.

“Laugh it up,
Guardian
,” he hissed. “Laugh all the way to the noose, for all I care. But then, as you say, you won’t make it that far. Just know, as you hear that bullet coming for you, that it’s all for nothing—I’ll find him and I’ll have him. He’s
mine.
You’ve failed, as the others before you did.”

“Have him.” Dallin lifted his eyebrows. “I thought you wanted him dead.”

“Is that what he told you?” Siofra sniffed. He pulled back and examined his fingernails. “Well. I’ve decided I may have been a bit… hasty.” He smirked, a cold, nasty little thing. “He can be a good lad, with the proper motivation. I’ve become fond of him over the years.”

Uh-huh. And the fact that Æledfýres has discarded
you and sicced the Brethren on Wil has nothing to do
with it, right? Just like I’m sure you’re not even a little
bit worried that they might beat you to the next one,
because let’s don’t forget who laid that particular gem in
your palm in the first place, and who he’s talking to now
instead of you.

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The Aisling Book Two Dream

Dallin let the smile drop from his face, let his expression turn cold. “I wonder what Æledfýres thinks about that?”

He watched carefully as Siofra’s face went from smug to blankly stunned. It wasn’t just surprise that Dallin knew how Siofra had found Wil; there was fear there. Dallin’s eyes narrowed just a little. “What did you promise him in return for telling you where to find the Aisling?” he asked, low and smooth. “Or should I say, on what promise did you renege? He must’ve been mightily pissed, seeing as how he’s turned to the Brethren and cut you loose. Were you one of them before? I’ll bet you were. I’ll bet they were just as useful to you once as they are to him now.

I’ll bet they helped you ambush and kill the Aisling’s first Guardian, and then you stole him right out from under everyone—even Æledfýres.” Oh, this was just too rich—

Siofra had lost so much color, he was almost transparent.

Dallin pushed it harder:

“I have to hand it to you,” he admitted. “Biting the hand of a god. Pretty nervy. I should warn you, though—

the Mother and the Father are sorely displeased with you.

You might want to watch your back.”

Presumptuous, but likely pretty accurate. He’d just more-or-less spoken for gods, but he thought They might be somewhat forgiving of the circumstances. Now, if only one of Them would see fit to give him a bit of a hand here—pop loose the shackles or something, make Siofra choke to death on his own rage… really, anything, he wasn’t picky.

“I’ve nothing to fear from either of
Them
,” Siofra snarled, but it didn’t have the venom behind it of only a few moments ago.

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that,” Dallin told him sincerely. “They’re quite cross that you’ve used Their Gift so badly.” His own teeth clenched and he set his face hard. “And Their Gift is no longer addicted to leaf and 296

Carole Cummings

helpless to fight you. So, you see, regardless of whether or not your bullet finds its target,
or
your noose, I’ve not failed. The Guardian has fulfilled his Purpose.”

Siofra’s jaw twitched. “You expect me to believe you’ve seen Them?”

“I don’t really give a shit what you believe. I don’t really give a shit about you at all.” Dallin sighed. “It’s so very strange,” he mused. “I’ve been expecting someone powerful, someone to fear, someone… someone with a bloody
spine
, at least.” He shook his head. “You’re so much smaller than I’d thought.” And then he shrugged.

“It seems you’re only scary when you’re drugging little boys and stealing their power from them. It’s a little…

disappointing.”

Siofra just stood there for a moment, seething. Dallin wondered if he realized just how much information he’d given up during this supposed interrogation. Realized he truly didn’t care. He didn’t know exactly what he’d be able to do with the new erudition, considering his current circumstance and his apparently rather limited lifespan, but it was something. A victory. Somewhat.

Please, Corliss, be out there and listening. And if
anything happens to me, find him and help him.

“When next I see him,” Siofra said, low and thick,

“I’ll be sure to give him your regards.”

“Do that,” Dallin said with a bored sigh.

“And perhaps I’ll tell him that you’re the one who whispered his true name into my ear.” His mouth curled up in a vile, humorless smile. He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll tell him you were the one who gave me the key to his soul. I’ve no doubt he’ll be…” The smile curled into a grin that turned Dallin’s stomach. “Utterly shattered, I should think.” Siofra dipped his head in an ironic half-bow. “But you take solace in that Purpose of yours, Guardian. Perhaps it will make your grave less dark and cold.”

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The Aisling Book Two Dream

Dallin kept his face completely blank as Siofra turned slowly, walked to the door and let himself out. A moment ago, Dallin had been almost exhilarated, the heady kick of knowing he’d got the best of Siofra, that he was truly, in fact, as small as Dallin had said he was.

And then he’d parted with that last shot, left Dallin’s ears ringing with it.

Have I a true name?

The question had been so quietly earnest, hope edged with trepidation. There had been real pain behind the anger when Wil had first told Dallin he had no name.

And now it seemed there was one. Not only a name, but a key.

Dallin shook his head, growled. Fucking hell, he’d just got done bulling his way through a thousand mysteries and secrets, and now here was another. And this one…

I’ll tell him you were the one who gave me the key to
his soul.

What the fuck did
that
mean?

He didn’t get a chance to ponder it. A gentle little brush swiffed at the back of his mind—not the harsh, insectile buzz of Siofra trying and failing to force himself through the cracks of consciousness, but a light, grazing warmth. A request. No voice, no words, just knowledge, instant and clear:
Get ready. I’m coming
.

Dallin jolted, sat up straight, eyes wide and teeth clenched:
Oh no, you’re bloody not!

The badger, snapping its teeth without looking first to see if he was latching onto a garden snake or the tail of a dragon; the crow, flying too fast to see the glass ahead.

The fear on Wil’s face when just the sound of Siofra’s voice had stopped him so cold it was like he’d died on his feet and forgot to fall down.

Siofra was small without Wil’s power to suck dry, but he knew how to get it. Considering him a negligible 298

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threat when Wil was safely away was one thing, but Wil ramming half-arsed into some stupidly brave mission to rescue his Guardian would surely get him caught again. If things went the way they looked to be going, Dallin’s time might well be limited; who would be there to help Wil this time? Who would care? Siofra had done enough damage already—what if he got hold of Wil, found out how to take and use the rest of all that vast power? Siofra up there, perhaps waiting, and Dallin down here, shackled and useless. And Wil was going to walk right back into it.

Dallin didn’t even have any money to give bribing a go.

Bloody typical.

Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare, Wil, I swear,
if you show up here, I’ll shoot you down…

No answer, no propinquity, not even so much as a characteristic snarl or the snapping of ghost-teeth. Only silence and into it, the too-loud turn of the latch on the door. Corliss stood framed by Woodrow and the bored bailiff from earlier. Corliss gave Dallin an avid glance, while Woodrow looked close to terrified.

Oh, thank the Mother.

“We’ll take him from here, Tripp,” Corliss told the bailiff. “He’s our disgrace, no need for you to dirty your hands on him.”

Dallin forgave her immediately. He stood as the bailiff looked him over with a disgusted grunt then waved his hand. Dallin made his way around the table, walked to the door with head bowed, allowing Corliss to take one arm and Woodrow to take the other.

“I don’t know how we’re going to get you out of here without starting a war,” Corliss muttered under her breath as they climbed the stairs, the bailiff lumbering his slow way up before them.

“I still say we just kill the bugger,” Woodrow put in.

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The Aisling Book Two Dream

“And you want to take out a company of the Commonwealth’s finest while you’re at it?” Corliss hissed. “The orders were clear. We’re to serve and protect our ‘guest’ and those boys are duty-bound. We take one shot at the man, and they’ll open all twenty guns on us.”