Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Too much power
Trace wanted to be as far away from that plant as he could. It upset him, deeply, to be able to manipulate reality.

Maybe because Anaisa had once accused him of being manipulative. Maybe because he had been manipulative, albeit at the behest of a blackmailer.

What if that blackmailer knew that, in the presence of this tree, Trace could change reality itself? How much use would Trace be then?

Far too much use. Far too valuable for anyone intended to rule the world to let go.

If Oakdown found out about this, he’d find some way to make it permanent. Maybe if Trace was forced to take a stone from the tree, it would enhance his power. Make him like that permanently. Make it so that no one would ever be able to trust their own eyes and ears around him, because he could simply change things.

It was too terrible a fate to contemplate for long.

He started feeling marginally better when the tree was out of sight, and relaxed a little more when they left the room entirely. Every step further away from that magical tree felt a modicum more stable. He was never meant to hold so much in his control.

Anaisa was clearly curious about his reaction, but didn’t inquire until they were well into the tunnel back to the others.

“Would you rather keep all that information to ourselves? The existence of the tree and what it does?” She asked tentatively.

“I.. won’t stop anyone from our family that wants powers to help us protect the kingdom,” Trace answered slowly. It wasn’t his decision to make for them. “But if it’s all the same, I would rather not let Frank and Gary gain magic. I don’t entirely trust them.”

“Me neither,” Anaisa said with relief. “I’d like Katia and her husband to stay out of everything, if they can. Maybe go home and get reinforcements of some kind from the town… Barnabas will come here sooner or later. I’m sure he has some sort of lines of communication set up between here and himself.”

“I’m counting on sooner,” Trace smiled. “In fact, as soon as we’re able to get out, I intend on summoning him here.”

“Summoning him?” Anaisa pulled on his arm and looked into his face. “He’s dangerous, Trace. Your powers grew so much, I can only imagine that his will do the same. Why would you bring him here?”

“Where else would we be able to set a trap for him?” Trace reasoned. “This is one place we know we can make him come. And we have to do it before Denholm marries Sapphira. It’s not that long from now. If we summon him tomorrow, he’ll think he has enough time to come here, destroy us all, and get back for the wedding.”

“I don’t understand,” Anaisa worried aloud. “What kind of trap could we possibly set? He would send lackeys, certainly. He wouldn’t come himself.”

“He will if he knows we have the tree. He won’t be able to stand us having access to it.” Trace hoped his reasoning was sound, and Anaisa slowly nodded.

“All right, how do we start?” She asked.

They discussed strategies and shortcomings of various angles all the way back to the cavern where the others were resting. Most of the group was asleep, but Martin was sitting up, staring at Emily.

Trace knew there could be trouble if the two were ever left alone. It seemed the man wasn’t going to easily let go of his rage and fear of the woman who’d screamed into his mind.

“How are you feeling?” He asked Martin quietly, kneeling down beside the stone-mover.

“I’m fine.” He said defensively. “Ready to let us all out, if these lazybones will all get up for it.”

“You could open it up now,” Trace invited. “And I’ll get everyone up and ready.”

“Suits me, I’d like to be gone before Boss finds out and hunts me down. Maybe start a new life in Foundrel. There are mines there, maybe one would pay me well.” Martin grumbled.

“That’s an excellent idea,” The farmer smiled at him. “You’ll make a fortune, I wonder why you never did that before.”

“Cause he’d hunt me down, like I said. Course, maybe for now you’ll be his main target, instead of me. I’ll get a head start on the matter.” Martin’s lip curled in a snide manner.

“If all goes according to plan, he’ll never hunt you down at all. He’ll be in prison for the rest of his life,” Trace assured the man.

“Promises, promises,” Martin shrugged. “I don’t intend to stick around long enough to find out if you’ll keep ’em or not.”

He waved his hand, and a distant rumble notified Trace that the entrance was probably open again. Anaisa moved away to start gathering the others.

“Hey, Martin. I want you to listen to me for a second,” Trace said softly. Martin belligerently stared back.

“What?” He asked rudely. Trace took a deep breath and mustered some compassion for the other man. He didn’t know what kind of life Martin had lived before, and didn’t want to make assumptions. Even so…

“I intend to never see you again. I want to let you go your own way, live your own life, and not have to hear about you doing anything immoral ever again,” Trace narrowed his eyes. “But you should know, that if you come back and try to double cross us, trap us, or betray us in any way.” He raised one finger and tapped his forehead. “The power you experienced earlier has no limit on its range.”

Martin’s eyes narrowed. “Almost killed me, it did.”

“And I’m very sorry about that. I don’t want to watch you die. I had more than enough death in the war, and I promise I prefer to let you live a good life.” Trace smiled. “So please, allow me the pleasure of doing so.”

The older man searched his eyes for a long moment before standing up.

“Before I go,” He said, “There’s something you should know about the boss, and something I want to do for you.”

“Oh?” Trace raised his eyebrows. “What’s that?”