Theorad Dreams (5)

It was a warning.

Seredi understood now. If she tried to make excuses, she would die.

She held her tongue and forced herself to sit still.

“Consider yourself fortunate,” the elf said. “If we'd met outside this mansion, I would have killed you immediately.”

“…”

“Removing someone like you from the world would be easier than stepping on an insect. But I won't do it. This is Theorad's mansion. A death here would cause trouble.”

Seredi scarcely dared to breathe.

“Disposing of your body would be simple. But a guest who was alive yesterday and vanishes overnight is bound to attract suspicion. That's why I'm letting you live. Aren't you lucky?”

The invisible blades surrounding Seredi dissolved like snow under the sun.

At last she was able to release the breath she'd been holding.

“If you don't want that good fortune to turn bad, remain calm. Act as though nothing happened, and leave the mansion tomorrow morning. That's your only remaining choice.”

The elf reached behind her back and untied her apron.

Seredi stared, unable to understand why she was doing something so ordinary after threatening her life.

“Answer me.”

Seredi jolted.

“I'll remember! I swear!”

“Good.”

For a fleeting instant, something moved at the corners of the elf's lovely lips.

She took off the rest of her maid's uniform, laid the clothing on the desk, and climbed into her bed in her undergarments. She drew back the covers, settled herself, and pulled the blanket up.

Then she closed her eyes.

She behaved as though there were nothing dangerous about the demon still sitting a few steps away.

After a moment, she opened her eyes again and glanced over.

“Are you going to sit there all night?”

“Ah, um… Would it be all right if I slept somewhere else? Perhaps another room…”

“Didn't you hear the chamberlain? Every spare room is full of goods. There's nowhere else to sleep.”

“Then perhaps I could manage in the hallway…”

Seredi smiled desperately, sweat gathering along her skin.

Sleeping next to that monstrous elf was the last thing she wanted to do.

The elf, however, had no intention of letting someone dangerous wander out of her sight.

Her cold eyes settled on Seredi's face.

“You talk too much.”

The killing intent behind the words made Seredi's skin prickle.

Another objection might shorten her life.

“I'm sorry! I'll sleep here. Good night!”

“You should have said that at the start.”

The elf gave her one final glare and rolled onto her side.

Uneasy silence filled the room.

Seredi slipped off her shoes and lay on the other bed. She pulled the blanket up to her waist, trying not to make a sound.

From across the room came the rustle of sheets.

The elf turned several times, unable, it seemed, to fall asleep. Eventually she lay on her back and stared at the ceiling.

“You.”

Seredi stiffened.

“Y-yes?”

“Have you slept with many men?”

“Well, of course I—”

She caught herself.

She'd nearly answered, Of course. I'm a succubus.

But perhaps the elf didn't know that much.

If she had recognized Seredi as a dream mare, surely she wouldn't need to ask whether she'd slept with men. She'd already know the answer.

Perhaps she only knows I came from the demon realm. She may not know my species.

There was no reason to volunteer information that could put her in greater danger.

Seredi cleared her throat. Her self-directed brainwashing still gave her enough composure to make her voice sound almost normal.

“Yes. Quite a few. I've had relationships with men on all sorts of occasions.”

“I see. Why do you sleep with them?”

To absorb human energy, Seredi almost answered.

That would reveal far too much.

She searched instead for an explanation that fit what people commonly said about sex.

“Sometimes it's to show affection for someone you love. Most of the time, though, it's for physical pleasure. The pleasure two people feel when they join their bodies can be extraordinary. Some people even say living creatures exist to have sex.”

“That sounds obvious.”

If it's so obvious, why ask me?

Seredi kept the complaint to herself.

The elf turned her eyes toward her. Seredi went rigid, afraid her thoughts had somehow shown on her face, but the next question was delivered in an ordinary voice.

“What was your first time like?”

“My… first time?”

Why was she suddenly so interested?

Seredi searched her memory for that first experience.

“It hurt, but by the end it felt rather good. I think the pain was bearable because we'd spent a long time on foreplay.”

“So it doesn't hurt?”

“Well, for me the pleasure outweighed the pain. But everyone's different. The pain of a first time isn't the same for every woman. Just because mine wasn't terrible doesn't mean no one else feels it. Why do you ask?”

The elf stared at the ceiling and blinked slowly.

“You don't need to know. Be quiet and go to sleep.”

What an odd change of mood.

Seredi shut her eyes. There was no benefit in prying into the creature's thoughts, especially when one wrong question could cost her life.

In the darkness behind her eyelids, however, her mind was already working.

I have to enter Theorad's dream.

That was the only way to carry out Lerazie's order.

The problem was the elf in the neighboring bed.

If she found Seredi interfering with Theorad's sleep, there would be no mercy left.

But would she even be able to tell?

Entering another person's dreams was a particular kind of personality magic practiced by dream mares. Seredi had heard that a few unusual human astrologers could do something similar, but she'd never heard of elves studying that art.

If she slipped into Theorad's dream quietly, extracted the necessary information, and returned before anyone noticed, she might still finish the job.

Seredi opened her eyes a fraction and watched the elf until she seemed to be asleep.

Then she whispered the incantation under her breath.

Hummm…

The spell took hold.

Seredi's soul separated from her body.

Now a spirit, she checked the sleeping elf once more and slipped through the wall.

She passed through several more walls before entering an old-fashioned chamber with marble flooring and finely crafted furnishings.

By the window stood a bed.

Theorad lay upon it, waiting for sleep.

Seredi floated closer and looked down at him, licking her lips.

He really is handsome.

Dark hair, fair skin, a sharp jaw, and features that managed to look both neat and striking.

If it weren't for that elf, Seredi might have set aside her other concerns and tried to seduce him.

That was a pity.

But she was here on business.

She summoned the shape of Theorad's dream into the air before her and plunged into it.

---

Darkness surrounded her.

Seredi fell through a space that seemed to have no bottom.

Down.

And farther down.

At last, something touched the soles of her feet.

She had reached Theorad's dream, the world formed from his conscious and unconscious mind.

Seredi landed lightly, looked around, and spoke the incantation for Interpretation of Dreams.

The personality spell spread from the ground beneath her in a widening ripple.

Her interference began.

Whoosh.

The darkness peeled away.

A clear blue sky opened overhead, and flowers of every color spread across the earth.

Seredi found herself on a fragrant, flower-covered hill. She walked a few steps, bewildered by the beauty of it.

This is Theorad's dream?

It was far too gentle for the man she believed responsible for the bishop's downfall.

Everything was peaceful, pastoral, full of quiet hope. Even the defensive mechanisms that sometimes appeared to expel an intruder were absent.

It's warm.

The dream seemed almost welcoming, as though ready to forgive a stranger who had entered it only to steal its secrets.

How could the unconscious mind of a human being be this delicate?

Seredi moved onward, marveling at it.

Then she saw Theorad.

He was a little boy, perhaps five years old. His small figure and youthful face were not especially surprising. Dreams didn't have to resemble the present.

What caught her attention was the person sitting with him.

A witch?

At the center of the flower garden sat a woman wearing a broad-brimmed black pointed hat.

Her clothing had once been expensive, but it was in ruins. A blade had torn the front of her bodice, and half of her black robe had been burned beyond recognition.

She stared at the ground with lifeless eyes.

Her lips were dry and parted. Long, neglected black hair trailed down past her waist and onto the earth.

She looked like someone who had gathered every despair in the world and could no longer bear its weight.

Black mana seeped from her body. Wherever it reached, the flowers shriveled.

Ugh…

A gust of wind carried a stench so foul that Seredi wanted to flee.

She endured it and kept watching.

Little Theorad sat before the witch, talking to her.

In his small hands he held a wreath he'd made from flowers.

What is this supposed to mean?

At first the dream seemed to have no purpose.

Then Seredi understood at least part of it.

The child was trying to comfort the miserable witch.

Was that all?

While Seredi wondered, little Theorad rose and placed the wreath upon the witch's head.

Only then did she look up at him.

Her teeth clenched. Suddenly she shouted, then began to sob. A moment later she laughed through the tears, her shoulders shaking.

She looked almost mad.

Yet even when she frightened him, little Theorad stayed by her side.

Wait. That witch…

Seredi frowned.

She'd seen her somewhere before.

And just as the memory began to surface, a voice spoke beside her.

“The Black Flame Witch.”

“Oh, that's right! The Black Flame Witch!”

Seredi snapped her fingers.

Then her whole body went rigid.

What?

Someone else had spoken.

Here.

Inside Theorad's dream.

And the voice had belonged to an elf.

“The human unconscious is remarkable,” the voice continued. “Even after I erased that memory, it survives in his dreams. He won't remember it when he wakes.”

Seredi swallowed and slowly turned her head.

The silver-haired elf sat in an old chair nearby, her hair stirring in the breeze.

She watched the witch and little Theorad with an expression full of distant feeling, as though she were looking back on something long past.

How did she get here?

Seredi could think of only one answer to what her presence meant.

I'm going to die.