Dreamside - By Graham Joyce Page 0,82

scraped away a layer of snow and scratched at the ice, never averting her gaze from them. She looked away only to stoop and to rub at the tiny clearing she had scratched in the snow. Then she moved away from the clearing she had made and stood at a distance.

Honora was the first to approach. She looked through the cleared patch to the gluey grey formations of ice beneath. What did it mean? Honora and Ella looked to the girl for an answer, but she had turned defiantly towards the shore.

Brad had reached the cleared space and was on his knees, rubbing at the surface of the ice with an outstretched hand and peering at the geometric shapes below.

—There's something there—he said.

The others turned slowly.

—There's something there. I can see it. Under the ice—

—What? What is it?—Lee kneeled beside him.

—It's under the ice. It's trying to get out—

—What can you see there?—

—It's trying to get out! IT WANTS TO GET OUT FROM UNDER THE ICE!—

—Tell us what you see!—Ella commanded.

But Brad was half-crazed. He seemed to detect a new movement.—It's moving! It's trapped. Look! It's trying to get out of there! It wants to get out!—

Suddenly his body went rigid, his breath coming in short gulps.

Lee bundled him aside and began pawing at the ice himself, clearing away the snow on the surface. In mounting horror he saw what Brad had seen. It was an image of Brad beneath the ice, hoary and encrusted, bruised and blackened and floating like a corpse— but it wasn't dead. It was waving rigidly, pressing against the under surface, mouthing silent words that distorted the face, trying to find a way out.

The image of Brad was not alone. Three other figures floated there. Images of Lee, Ella and Honora, all pressing against the ice and mouthing unheard cries. They were all prisoners.

Now they all saw it. They were hypnotized by the revelation. They were fixed, locked into the images of themselves, gazing down in horror at this shivering incarnation of their enjoined destinies. They felt the elemental cold slowly beginning to transfer itself to them, to still the flow of their blood.

—We're trapped—whispered Honora.—It's the dream within the dream—

Lee looked to Ella, but her eyes were on the little girl. The girl was kneeling on the frozen lake, hands clasped in anguish beneath her chin like someone at prayer, eyes streaming with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably. Ella was mesmerized. Lee saw in Ella's eyes a glitter, like sunlight on frost, of the mad priestess. He realized with shock and admiration that she was about to take charge. Her confidence fluttered around her like a protective cloak.

—Keep moving! Don't stand still! We have to undo what was done!—Ella's words eclipsed everything. She had remembered the golden thread she had been spinning before falling asleep. It came out like a formula, like a spell.

—Church and steeple! Door and people!—She was yelling at them, without shifting her eyes from the kneeling, weeping girl.— Faith and desire! We have to end our mistrust! No more indifference! Honora, take your curse from Brad's head! Do it now!—

—How can I ?—

—Just lift it! Lift the curse!—

—But it's only words! Words are not real things!—

—Just! Lift! It!—

—I unmake it I unmake it I unmake it!—Honora was screaming. She was hysterical. She wanted to run to the girl but Ella held her back.

—Open the door! We must open the door! Can't you see it! Open the door and the people will escape! Here are the people! We are the people! Dream a hole in the ice!—

But Ella didn't wait for the others. She turned her gaze on the clearing of snow, at the figures floating beneath the ice. Remaining perfectly still she recalled all the forgotten powers of dreaming and focused them on the submerged figures. She was willing the ice to melt. Lee and Brad were activated by her raw energy. They followed her lead blindly, standing perfectly still, concentrating their minds, dreaming a hole in the frozen water. And slowly the ice began to melt.

None of them heard Honora moaning softly.—I've been in this dream before! You must stop! I've seen this!—

It was too late. Tiny hairline cracks suddenly began to appear in the ice, multiplying and discharging in all directions. There was a thudding sound from somewhere beneath them, like the banging together of great ice floes or the grinding of huge rocks.

—No! No!—

Now Lee saw what Honora was most afraid of. It was his turn to