Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 198

Chapter 198: Stay calm
As Trace was speaking with Sanders, trying to reason with him, the soldier who could predict emotions stepped closer.

“One minute,” He whispered. “Try to be calm, I will help.” He turned back towards his comrades in arms as if he’d never spoken.

Trace didn’t have the time to piece together what that meant, as Sanders and the king began yelling at each other.

When the barrier around the king and all the other mundane people went up using Trace’s own powers, he gasped. As it began corralling them all towards the exit, many things all happened at once.

At first, Trace was only aware of his desperate run and dive to break the barrier and free Anaisa from Sanders’ trap, but when he got to it, he realized her eyes were not on him like he expected, but over his shoulder.

Screaming erupted from more than one side.

Trace conjured a battering ram to break the glass, shattering it into sand and terrifying the nearest soldiers.

Sanders and Emily screamed almost in unison, while the doctor cried out with effort, one hand on the woman and the other on Trace’s mother. Crickets and beetles and all manner of other insects swarmed towards Sanders, but met a wall of their own kind in a miniature battle of two magicians: Trace’s father pushed his forces forward to overwhelm those being used by the Seer.

Catching on quickly, as terror and calm battled within him–could the soldier who predicted emotions now influence them in part?–Trace threw the full force of his power at Sanders. He produced some of the most horrifying images from the deepest nightmares of the war and threw them towards the man’s face, all in a torrent.

Anaisa ran past him as he did this. She ran to Calvin, and the two huddled over the infant Ewan protectively.

The golden tree they crouched under was emitting a strange keening, its light dimming. The ground quaked beneath them.

Trace swayed, but kept up his barrage of power against Sanders, who sent it back at him with intermittent force. Trace could feel the magic leaving his body with alarming intensity, exhaustion coming upon him quickly. The sound of Emily’s screams resounded in the back of his mind, echoing and magnified as he resisted it… or perhaps his mother was trying to dampen it for him.

He was using far more power than he ever had before, creating a dream inside of reality and using it to attack Sanders, who was throwing as much back at him. The other magic users began dropping, one by one.

The light from the tree dimmed further, and its leaves began to shrivel and crack, falling to the ground dull and brown and lifeless.

The trunk itself began to quiver and unravel as first the doctor sank to his knees. The man continued his fall to the ground as Trace’s mother and father dropped.

The Dreamwalker had no chance to absorb these occurrences in full, he was concentrating so hard on Sanders. The man had blood streaming from one nostril and both ears. Looking on the verge of death as his wild eyes roved in all directions with panic.

“It—it—everywhere!”

The last word from Sanders’ mouth burbled from his lips just as he began to sway.

He hit the ground with his eyes fixed open, seeing nothing at all.

_

Anaisa’s panic as the screaming infant fell silent in her arms turned to terror and fear. The world felt wrong. Ewan felt it too, shivering despite the warmth of his blanket.

The mundane people in the room looked about in confusion and unease. The enormous cavern was lit only by torches and lamps held by the army now; no one else had felt the need to have light in the presence of the magical tree.

The tree!

Anaisa moved to look at it, but stumbled after a few steps. She glanced down, horrified, at the unconscious doctor who lay there.

Was he breathing?

She knelt down, knowing he must have used an enormous amount of power trying to keep the others alive.

Laying one hand on his back, she could feel his heart thudding softly and breathed a sigh of relief. Carefully, she pulled at his shoulder and rolled him onto his back, hoping he would be more comfortable that way.

“I need a lamp over here, please!” She cried out. The king approached with an aid, baffled but having regained the stoic air of a monarch.

“What happened?” He asked regally, kneeling down with her.

“Hold your son, if you would, Your Majesty,” Anaisa requested gently. The king eagerly held out his arms as the lamp was held closer.

“Ewan,” He said softly. “He’s all right.”

Anaisa checked for wounds on the doctor but found none. A soft groan drew her eyes, as a head of dark hair shifted against the rock floor of the cave.

“Emily!” Anaisa leapt over the doctor to get to her. “Emily, are you all right??”

The woman groaned again and rolled. Her eyes wept tears of blood.

“I… no,” She rasped. “Sanders–”

“I think he’s dead.” Anaisa didn’t know whether to apologize or congratulate the woman who had saved them all by helping orchestrate the execution of her own brother.

“You are safe now,” Emily nodded and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. My whispers…”

“Did not make him choose the path he did,” Anaisa pulled the woman into her arms. “It’s not your fault.”

“I’m sorry,” Emily repeated anyway, but she wasn’t talking to Anaisa anymore. “I’m sorry, Sanders. I’ll be there soon.”

“Be where?” A strange emotion was bubbling up in Anaisa’s stomach. “Emily, no!”

“Thank you for helping me see sunlight again,” Emily’s eyes focused briefly on Anaisa’s face. Another bloody tear streaked from one eye, and Anaisa wiped it away. Anaisa’s clear weeping joined Emily’s.

“Please don’t go. Please come enjoy sunlight with me again,” Anaisa begged.

“My brother worked hard so that I would not be alone,” Emily’s breathing turned shallow, and she convulsed. “I cannot leave him alone in death.”