Impossible Dreamers

Chapter 56 (quetwi-tag): Four wrists, two flyers

They were ready to fly to Bartyronis.

Liana arrived at the packaging warehouse before the time agreed. The time by the clock. There had been no clocks in Seren-ila – people worked out when to do things by the sun's place in the sky, or the position of the moon, or just when it felt right. But the Bartys were obsessed with time. Things had to be done at particular times; time to get up, time to work, time to sleep. There were clocks all over the place. The strange thing was that the Bartys counted time according to the Seren system. The numbers went up to twil, not dak, as you'd expect. Twelve, not ten. Why did they do that? Liana wondered. Usually, the clocks were annoying to Liana, reminding her of how the Bartys had to measure everything, even the time itself. But tonight it was a good thing that they would be able to tell when it was 'ten-clock', time to meet.

A clock chiming told Liana that the time had come.

Herago wasn't there. She began to get worried. If she was caught by a Guardian, she could be in trouble.

The packaging warehouse stood exactly where the House of the Green Jewel had been, but of the old, beautiful building with its fine decorations, not a fragment remained. It had been replaced by an ugly square box – a pile of boxes, one on top of the other. Liana moved to the side of the building, so as to be out of sight of any passing Guardian patrols. As she did so, she realised that she was now in the old courtyard where she had spent so much time with her friends. She looked around on the ground, half-hoping to find one of the stones that Herago had used in his Impossibles, or even a piece of Silmoa's charcoal. The ground was empty, flat and lifeless.

Silmoa. Liana hoped she was OK. If things had gone to plan, Silmoa would have called out 'yes' to Liana's name, or rather to the name 'Ling', and arranged her bedclothes to make it look like she was sleeping there. It was brave of Silmoa to do that. If she was caught, she would probably be sent away somewhere, or worse. And if they discovered that Liana and Herago weren't in their beds, they would probably have Guardians out looking for them. Suddenly, Liana wondered if this had been a good place to agree to meet. Wouldn't this be one of the first places the Guardians would look? Too late now to worry.

Then Liana saw a figure coming towards the building. Was that Herago? No, this person was taller, with a strangely humped back, and he was walking carefully, as though he was trying hard to hold himself upright. Liana moved back into the darkness of the shadows. As the figure got nearer, she saw that indeed, it was Herago. She moved out of the courtyard, so he could see her.

'Sorry I'm late. Couldn't get away when I wanted to.'

'Well, you're here now,' said Liana. It must have been difficult getting out of that place, and maybe some time she would ask Herago how he had managed it. But now there was no time. She suddenly thought, perhaps this could be another type of Impossible that they hadn't thought of – a dak type of Impossible – getting out of a place that you're locked up in.

Liana looked hard at Herago. He was older, his skin less smooth than when she had last seen him in reality, and she realised that the Herago she had seen in her dream was not the Herago she saw now. She had seen the Herago that lived in her mind, the Seren-ilian – not the Grabbler. She wondered how much she had changed, also. Did she look very different from her Seren-ilian self?

'You recognised me, then?' Liana said.

'Of course. I'd know that red hair anywhere.'

Yes, everyone knew her red hair.

Liana moved towards Herago to hug him, but he held his hand up to stop her.

'Just in case,' he said. 'Bartys never hug one another. They might be suspicious if anyone saw us looking too happy.'