From: peters@physics.ubc.ca (Dan Peters)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [BBD] Myrnien: Another Dream
Date: 19 Nov 1993 18:07:00 GMT
Message-ID: <2cj204$5cj@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca>



This time, the scene was a room deep under the Temple of the Balance, in
a remote corner of A'komo Province in the Mbaki Empire.  

The room's floor, walls, and ceiling were entirely covered by tiles of a
variety of colours.  The tiles were arranged to depict fantastical creatures,
most of which were not even remotely familiar to Myrnien, but they all 
seemed demonic to her.

In her dream, as in reality nearly eight years before, she stood within a
triangle made of blue tiles, on one end of the room.  She shared the triangle
with a tile-creature which had seven tentacles and three glaring red eyes.
She was standing on one of the eyes.  

The Priestess Ebineke, A'komo's Lorekeeper, was also in the triangle with
Myrnien.  The Lorekeeper was a full-blooded Mbaki, with skin so dark that it
seemed black in the dim light.  Her hair, arranged in hundreds of tiny braids,
had presumably been pure black once; it was now partly grey.

Many of the Gelten, Myrnien's people, were barely aware of the existence of
the Mbaki.  Myrnien was educated enough to know that her homeland had been
conquered by the Empire nearly nine centuries ago, and had remained occupied
for three centuries.  More recently, the only Mbaki to be found there were
merchants.

She had come to the Empire in search of knowledge, but she had never expected
to gain an audience with a Mbaki Lorekeeper.  It was here that she had been
told how to find Generica -- among other things.

The Lorekeeper spoke, the same words she had spoken to Myrnien in reality.
"Perhaps you are familiar with the Legend of the Whirlwind.  It is a story
of your country, not of mine."

There was a pause.  Eight years ago, Myrnien had nodded at this moment,
indicating that she knew the Legend; now, in the dream, she was ignoring the
Lorekeeper, and concentrating on moving gradually through her layers of
subconsciousness to achieve the shallowest sleep possible, while remaining
in the dream.  

The exact nature of the dream was irrelevant.  All that mattered was that
nothing shocking would occur.  This dream should suffice, Myrnien thought.
So far it appeared to be simply a replay of her memories.  Some of what
Ebineke had revealed had been surprising, but it couldn't be too surprising
the second time around.

The Lorekeeper continued.  "Your people, for the most part, are unaware that
the Legend is in fact true.  When the Whirlwind departed from what you call
the Inner Lands, it turned south, and spoke to the Mbaki as it had spoken to
the barbarians...."

Myrnien moved her right hand toward her left wrist, very slowly.  She was now
sleeping shallowly enough that she knew her real hand was also moving; she
could even feel it.

The task was to remove the bracelet.  Its magic prevented her from even trying
to remove it while awake, and as long as she wore it, she was a slave.  At
first, a slave to BBD, the man known only by his initials; now, a slave to
Velric, who had taken over the organization since BBD's demise.

She had tried the trick many times already.  Each time so far, she had awakened
before finishing.

As her fingers found the clasp, the dream began to fade.  She fought to regain
it, and succeeded.  

The other end of the room, previously dark, was now illuminated like the end
occupied by the women.  The Lorekeeper turned to Myrnien.  "As you can see,
`Whirlwind' was not a very accurate name for this demon."

At the opposite end, perhaps fifteen paces away, there was another triangle,
similar to the one in which Myrnien and Ebineke stood.  In the air, just above
it, there was a disturbance.  It had no discernable form, but it was undeniably
there.  Myrnien couldn't focus on the wall behind it.  Occasionally something
vaguely reminiscent of a human head or limb would form for a moment within
the disturbance.  Once a hand-like thing lashed out, only to stop abruptly as
if it had struck a wall, immediately above one of the sides of the triangle.

Myrnien had, eight years ago, asked Ebineke if it were not dangerous to hold
a demon prisoner under a Temple.  The Prophets of the Inner Lands, whether
Gelten or Kwija, had taught that to deal with a demon in any way other than to
destroy it or to banish it to its own plane was to commit an abomination of
the worst kind; and Myrnien had been brought up steeped in their teachings.
She had, of course, been wise enough not to bring this up with the Lorekeeper.

Ebineke's answer, then, had been: "There is no safer place than a Temple."

In the dream, Myrnien didn't ask the question, and she heard Ebineke's voice
saying, "You have visitors."  She turned, and found that the Mbaki woman was
no longer in the triangle with her.

Turning back toward the Whirlwind, she was startled to find that the
intervening space was now occupied by two pairs of eyes, eyes which were not
human.

She found herself awake in bed, with her heart beating quickly, and her right
hand moving away from the bracelet as the thing's power took effect.  The 
words "Please don't go, stay and speak with us" were echoing in her brain,
fading quickly, but unmistakeable -- and she felt that the eyes were somehow
familiar.

Then she realized what was familiar about them.  A few weeks before, she had
been forced, by the power of the bracelet, to fight her brother.  Her blows
had all missed Kaalzic, despite his incompetence at combat, and during her
last few swings she had had strange momentary visions of eyes -- which were
just like the eyes in her dream.

Fear gave way to curiosity.  Soon Myrnien was asleep again.
------------------------------------------------------------
--
^..^      / |       Dan Peters      |  This   @@@@@    This is       }}    |
/_/\_____/  | peters@physics.ubc.ca |   is   @@@@@@@  your brain     }}    |
   /\   /\  | (A gamer who pretends |  your  @@@@@@@  after grad    ####   |
  /  \ /  \ |   to be a physicist)  | brain:    @@@    studies:   ######## |