get there quickly. Seel was not entirely happy about Gelaming strangers remaining in Saltrock while he was gone. He wondered if, as Thiede’s agents, they would set about making changes and indoctrinating hara the minute his back was turned. Grudgingly, he offered them accommodation in his home, sure they would be poking into everything.
Seel returned to his house to gather a few things for the journey, and found the Gelaming sprawled on the porch, laughing together and sharing a drink. They seemed more like ordinary hara now. But what specimens they were. These were the kind of hara Thiede had instructed Orien to find for him: the best. The cream of Wraeththu.
Seel took his unexpected guests around the house, pointing out where things were kept. He wasn’t completely sure he was awake, for these were creatures from a dream. They were so much taller than him, and somehow so much bigger in more than a physical way. One of them went unbidden into the room Seel had shunned since the night of Orien’s death, Cal’s old room. The Gelaming looked round it without speaking, then came out again, closing the door behind him. ‘We could clean that for you,’ he said.
‘Yes,’ Seel said. ‘Yes. Whatever.’ The room was clean of blood already, but he knew what the har meant.
The other Gelaming said he’d be happy to care for Seel’s animals, so a tour of the stables and yard was also necessary. As Seel indicated where the feed was kept, the Gelaming said, ‘You mustn’t fear. Immanion exists at the end of your journey. It will be worth it.’
‘Mmm,’ Seel murmured in a non-committal tone.
‘You won’t wake up and find this is a dream,’ said the Gelaming, smiling. ‘Believe it.’
Outside the house, Colt was already mounted on a Gelaming sedu, which was prancing around, tossing its head. Colt, however, looked perfectly at home. ‘It’s like sitting on a time bomb,’ he said to Seel, grinning. Colt was an excellent rider.
Thiede handed the reins of another sedu to Seel. ‘Mount,’ he said.
Seel paused. ‘How do we do this?’
‘Just mount.’
The minute he was on the horse’s back and had gathered up the reins, Seel was aware this was no ordinary beast. It felt, if anything, like a machine that was designed to obey his commands. There was a sense of quivering power, and of alien intelligence that he could almost feel pushing against the boundaries of his perception.
‘The sedu will follow the others,’ Thiede said. ‘He’s well trained, so you don’t have to worry. Our intention will be strong enough to carry all five of us.’
‘Intention….’ Seel said.
‘Intention and will are the aids these horses obey,’ Thiede said, swinging up into his own saddle.
The other two Gelaming positioned their mounts behind and to the left side of Seel and Colt, Thiede in the lead. Seel cast a glance at Colt. ‘We’re not doing this, are we? I mean…’
Colt shrugged. ‘Let’s see, shall we?’
Thiede raised his hand and the sedim began to walk down the main road. Once Thiede’s horse started to trot, the others followed, their pace increasing all the time.
This is like taking off in a plane, Seel thought. They will take off any minute.
He couldn’t help laughing out loud, because the sense of power beneath him was so strong and so awesome. The horse felt as if it was revving up, the muscles roaring with energy.
But the sedim didn’t gallop up into the night sky. Suddenly, there came a crack of thunder once more and the air splintered around them. Seel’s breath was knocked from his lungs. He lurched forward and had to grip the horse’s mane. Its neck reared up and hit him sharply in the face. There was no reality. It was beyond dreaming, unimaginable. No harish mind could conceive of this even in dreams. He was aware of other presences around him, but knew he had no body, no substance. In this no place, he was pure essence, clinging like a leech to a presence more at home in this environment. It would be so easy to lose his grip, to float off into the void, be lost forever. Cosmic winds he could not feel buffeted his being, trying to rip him from the sedu-essence. There were entities in this wind, but he could not perceive them properly, just sense they were near. These presences were malevolent, eager to claw him away from his companions.
Just when he thought he was lost, hard air splintered around him and the