“I suppose we might as well turn around and go on back up to Mount Shrak,” Sorgan said. “That fire—or the two of them, actually—put an end to this third war. Our ‘unknown friend’ ended the second war with a sea of water, but she ended this one with a sea of fire.”

“Three down, and one to go,” Padan noted. “If we step right along, we should be able to finish that last war before next spring rolls around. Then we’ll all be able to go on home and spend the next thirty or forty years counting all the gold we made this year.”

THE RETURN TO THE LAND OF DREAMS

1

Balacenia was alone in a seldom-used chamber in Dahlaine’s cave under Mount Shrak. There were several things she needed to consider, so she’d separated her awareness from the sleeping Eleria so that she could be alone with her thoughts.

She had been more than a little startled by just how far Mother had been willing to go to halt the invasion of the North by the creatures of the Wasteland. Unleashing perpetual fire seemed to be more than a little extreme.

“It was necessary, Dear Heart,” Mother’s voice came out of the darkness near the back of the cave. Her presence didn’t particularly surprise Balacenia. Mother had almost always appeared when Balacenia was troubled.

“I don’t see just exactly why, Mother,” Balacenia replied. “The outlanders had things pretty much under control, and I’m sure they’d have defeated the servants of the Vlagh.”

“But not in time, Balacenia.”

“Is time really all that significant, Mother?”

“More significant than you could ever imagine, Dear Heart. If something doesn’t happen when it’s supposed to happen, the servants of the Vlagh will overcome our friends, and then the world will be hers. Her children are advancing much more rapidly than you could ever imagine, Balacenia. If we don’t destroy them all very soon, they’ll become more intelligent than people, and people will go down the path to extinction. We must move against the Vlagh now.”

“We?”

“You and the other children, Dear Heart. I love the elders dearly, but they’re too close to the end of their cycles to be of much use. That’s why the Vlagh waited so long. Her observers had described the slowing of thought that infects older ones, and she deliberately waited until now to unleash her servants. The local natives and the outlanders are still more clever than the creatures that serve the Vlagh, but that superiority won’t last very much longer, I’m afraid. The servants of the Vlagh are filching thought from people. It’s been less than a year since the incursions began, and the creatures that serve the Vlagh have already learned the value of weapons, and also the importance of fire. I shudder to think of how far their minds will have gone by next spring. Gather up your brothers and sister, Balacenia, and take them to that Land of Dreams you and Vash created. We need to make some decisions, and we don’t have very much time.”

“We need to talk, Eleria,” Balacenia said, sending her thought out to her sleeping alternate.

“Who are you?” Eleria mumbled in her sleep.

“I am you, Eleria. I’m who you’ll become when you grow up.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Yes, you do—if you’ll think about it a little.”

“You’ve come back to visit me from the future?”

“Or the past. We’re in the Land of Dreams now, Eleria, so time doesn’t mean anything. Mother needs our help.”

“Why didn’t you say that before? I’ll do whatever Mother wants me to do.”

“I know,” Balacenia replied. “I feel much the same.” She hesitated. She and Eleria were one and the same, but there were several differences, and she didn’t want to disturb her other self. “There are going to be a few times in the not-too-distant future when I’ll have to step in and take over for you, Eleria. Some things are about to happen that we must prevent. I’m more experienced than you are, so I’ll be able to deal with those things more smoothly than you will. Please don’t fight me when I do that, Eleria.”

“Well—all right, I suppose,” the child replied, “but it’s going to cost you quite a few kisses.”

Balacenia laughed. Eleria, it seemed, was much more advanced than she seemed at first glance. Something came to Balacenia that would probably never have occurred to her if Eleria hadn’t mentioned kisses. “I was going to visit a certain place alone,” she said to her alternate, “but maybe you might want to come along.”

“Where is it?”

“In my imagination, dear—mine and the imagination of our brother Vash—or Yaltar, if you’d prefer.”

“What’s this place called?”

“It’s the Land of Dreams, Eleria. I think you’ll like it. I know that Mother does.”

“Will she be there?”

“If you want her to be, yes.”

“Let’s go, then,” Eleria said enthusiastically.

There was an almost homelike familiarity about the Land of Dreams Balacenia and Vash had created in years long past. The dark forest was still uncluttered by bushes, the streams of clear water showed no trace of mud, and, most beautiful of all, the multicolored aurora seethed above the horizon like a rainbow that had finally found its native home.

“Your imagination does nice work, Balacenia,” Eleria observed.

“Our imagination, child,” Balacenia corrected.

“Not entirely, alternate me,” Eleria slyly disagreed. “You left out the sea, and there’s hardly a trace of my pink pearl.”

“Can you ever forgive me?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Then Vash, Dakas, and Enalla came out of the forest, but they stopped, staring in open astonishment and disbelief at Eleria.

“Was it really a good idea to bring her here, Balacenia?” Vash asked in a slightly worried tone.

“A very good idea, Yaltar,” Eleria said, stepping past her older identity. “I’d have nagged poor Balacenia for weeks if she hadn’t brought me along. She told me—or probably would have eventually—that Mother comes here quite often. I really want to see Mother, and to talk with her.”

“About what?” Balacenia asked, greatly puzzled.

“You’ll find out all in good time, Big-Me,” Eleria replied with a grin.

“Whatever seems best to you, Little-Me,” Balacenia said. Then she looked at her brothers and sister. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do,” she told them, “but I’m almost positive that you’ll all have to do exactly what I just did. When Dahlaine snatched us up while we were sleeping and pushed us back to infancy, he separated us from our previous identities. Eleria is me, of course, but she’s not the me you all know and love. The same will be true of Yaltar, Ashad, and Lillabeth. They’ve encountered things that we’ve never seen, and we need to know about those things.”