Her daughter nodded immediately. "I do want the truth."

She looked closely into her eyes. "It will not be easy to accept. It will be a painful experience, but with the truth you can learn to move on."

Adesina paused, making sure that this was really what she wanted. "I want to know everything."

E'rian took her daughter by the hand. "Come with me."

She was startled by her mother's determined tone. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to visit those who can give you the answers you seek."

They walked from the Garden to a door in the white marble corridor that lay beyond. The wood of the door was ornately carved with vines and flowers. The latch had a silver bird with delicate wings and glittering jewels for eyes. E'rian placed her hand on its finely wrought body and lifted, pushing the door open.

The room beyond was dimly lit, with the fireplace as the only source of light. The walls were covered in weapons arranged in various designs, and the large table in the center of the room was overspread with maps.

Adesina lowered her voice, even though she wasn't quite sure why. "What are we doing here?"

E'rian held up a finger, urging patience.

A burly man sat in a large velvet armchair, watching their entrance. He had a dark complexion and was dressed in a strange fashion. There were ruffles on the edges of the clothing and quite a bit of gathered fabric. It reminded Adesina of one of the few ill.u.s.trations found in one of the history books she had read in the Shimat library.

"What do you want?" he asked in a voice that was rough but not unfriendly.

E'rian smiled at his abrupt manner. "We need one of your memories."

The man nodded in understanding. "Which one?"

"The night you were executed."

His features darkened in anger. "Ah."

He stood and set aside the book he had been holding in his lap. Adesina appraised him as he approached. He was much taller than she antic.i.p.ated, and he held himself like a warrior. He stopped a couple of feet away from Adesina and held out his hand. E'rian gestured her daughter forward with an encouraging expression on her face.

The young woman took his hand, momentarily surprised by his gentle grip. There was a pause before a flash of light enveloped her vision and she felt a strange tingling pa.s.s through her body. When the light disappeared again, they were no longer standing in the room to which E'rian had led her. Adesina looked at her surroundings in confusion.

They stood together, still clasping hands, in what appeared to be the attic of a derelict house. E'rian was nowhere to be seen, which caused Adesina some alarm. She glanced towards the windows in an attempt to ascertain where they were, but the windows were boarded shut.

"Where are we?" she demanded of the burly man grasping her hand.

He looked around the room, his face filled with emotion. "We are inside my memory."

She tried to pull her hand out of his, but he tightened his grip. "Do not break the connection, or you will be pulled out of my memory."

One large candle flickered in the center of the room, but its light was hardly adequate. It took Adesina's eyes a moment to separate the flickering shadows around her. To her dismay, she discovered that they were not alone in the room.

There were several figures wearing black cloaks with the hoods pulled down to hide their faces. They stood in a semicircle on one side of the room, while the other side held only three shadowed figures.

"Do you know why you are here?" asked the foremost of the three silhouettes. It was a deep, commanding voice, p.r.o.nouncing each word in clipped tones.

"No, your Majesty," replied one in the semicircle.

The tension in the room jumped even higher as the figure was given a t.i.tle. It was as if they didn't want to acknowledge whose presence they were in.

Adesina frowned in confusion. "Can they not see us?" she asked her guide.

The man shook his head, but said nothing. She looked around, trying to piece together what was going on. There were very few monarchies left in the world, and those remaining had practically been reduced to feudal lords. That meant that this memory must have taken place several hundred years ago. Her line of thinking was interrupted by the king's overbearing voice.

"You who are gathered here are the best a.s.sa.s.sins in the realm. What is more impressive is that you are also the least known. Your skill in being undetected goes beyond your work; so much so that, to the civilized world, none of you exist."

The figures in the semicircle shifted restlessly. They already knew this.

The king puffed out his chest in self-importance. "For this reason, I propose an alliance."

A surprised pause followed this declaration. One of the forms across the room sneered. "Why would we want an alliance with you?"

"And more importantly," inserted another shadow, "why would you want an alliance with us?"

The monarch let those questions linger for dramatic effect. "I offer you permanent amnesty and generous funding in exchange for your exclusive services and pledged loyalty."

The air was filled with a mixture of emotions: surprise, apprehension, irritation, and cautious excitement. It was a while before the silence was broken.

The sneering silhouette shook his head. "I will not be the king's dog."

He twitched aside the corner of his cloak and swept out of the room. Several others followed him, but the remaining six shadows stood in a thoughtful silence.

"Is this to be a written contract?" asked one of the remaining shadows.

Adesina could hear the grim smile in the king's voice. "I would prefer to have as little doc.u.mentation in this affair as possible."

Another voice spoke, this one female. "Who else is to know about this?"

He made a circling gesture. "Only those of us in this room."

"None of your counselors or military leaders are privy to this endeavor?" she asked curiously.

The king's tone became a touch sharper. "That is what I said."

"How long is this arrangement to continue?" asked another shadow.

The ruler's voice was unflinching. "As long as I and my posterity are living."

Each of the six remaining shadows considered the offer for several minutes. Then, one by one, they got on their knees and pledged their loyalty to the king. Adesina strained to hear the words they spoke, but the memory had taken on a fuzzy quality.

Her vision was once again engulfed in light, and she found herself standing back in the room with her mother and the burly man.

She looked around, feeling a bit disoriented. "What happened next?"

The man moved away from her and sat down in his velvet chair. "One of the a.s.sa.s.sins killed me and the other King's Guard, after insisting that there be no witnesses. I a.s.sume that those who refused the king's offer did not live much longer."

The young woman frowned. "So you do not know what became of this secret organization?"

He shook his head. "I suppose I could have asked someone who witnessed the growth and final form of the organization began by those a.s.sa.s.sins, but quite frankly, I do not want to know the details. Such corruption must eventually fall, and that is all I need to know."

Adesina didn't know what to say to such a statement. E'rian took her daughter's hand and gave the man a sad smile. "Thank you for your help."

He nodded and turned his attention to the maps on the table.

The older woman led the way back through the door and into the Garden. Adesina was still carefully a.n.a.lyzing what she had seen.

"Mother, why did you show me that?"

She glanced up at the sky, as if measuring the time. "Dream again tomorrow and I will show you more. It will all make sense in time."

Adesina wanted to resist, but she felt the pull of her own world. She yielded and closed her eyes, knowing from experience that it made the crossing easier.

When she opened them again she was lying in the L'avan camp. E'nes saw that she was awake and knelt by her side. "How are you feeling, Adesina?"

She sat up slowly, trying to a.s.sess her personal well-being. "Better."

"Are you still able to travel?"

Adesina nodded and got to her feet, ready to help break down the camp. She didn't say much to her companions, nor did they say much to her. Her brother continued with his lessons on the L'avan language, in which she was growing quite proficient, but Adesina seemed more anxious to stop for the night.

As soon as the evening meal was over, she wrapped herself in her blanket and reached out to connect to her vyala. More than willing to obey her command, the power sent her speeding back into the world of Dreams.

E'rian was waiting for her next to the shimmering fountain. She stood when she saw her daughter approaching.

"Do you wish to continue?" she asked in a gentle voice.

Adesina nodded without hesitation. "Yes."

Her mother took her hand and led her back to the wooden door. She stared at it in confusion. "Are we visiting the guard again?"

E'rian smiled and shook her head. She opened the door to reveal a large open field bathed in the sunlight of early summer.

Adesina was bewildered. "Where is the room?"

Her mother smiled mysteriously. "The room is where is has always been and where it always will be."

She began walking through the tall green gra.s.s, holding out her hands to let the blades brush her fingertips. Her daughter hurried to follow.

"What do you mean?"

She didn't slow her pace as she explained. "The door leads to many places, Ma'eve. It is a way to connect the world of the spirits. Just as the Garden is my place of rest, this field is the resting place of another. The door is a way to visit parts of the spirit world other than one's own."

Adesina looked back, expecting to see the building from which they had just come. Instead she saw the wooden door standing on its own, with nothing to connect it to any structure. The sight was slightly unnerving. She hurried to catch up with her mother while processing this strange new information about spirit worlds.

The Shimat were not religious in any sense of the word. They relied heavily on science and did not believe in anything that could not be proven. They believed that superst.i.tions were evidence of a weak and uninformed mind. However, Adesina found herself thrown into a world where one was continually met with something unexplained by the rationality of science: talking animals, spirits of the dead, life force turned into some kind of "magic." For all of her extensive training, she felt completely lost, which was a feeling she greatly disliked.

If E'rian noticed Adesina's souring mood, she said nothing about it. She kept walking at her businesslike pace, not looking back to see if her daughter was following.

There was a large oak tree not far in the distance that was clearly their destination. Resting in the wide branches of the tree sat a young man singing softly to himself. He was probably Adesina's age, with fair features and clothing that looked like it came from another period of time.

Unlike the man from the night before, who had been very formally dressed, this boy looked more like a well-groomed peasant.

He looked up when he heard them, giving them a puzzled smile. "h.e.l.lo."

The Dream woman raised her hand in greeting. "I was wondering if you would be willing to show my daughter one of your memories."

The young man hopped down from the tree. "Which one?"

"When you were a servant as a boy."

His youthful face stiffened. "The a.s.sa.s.sins."

She nodded. "The founding of the fortress."

He was clearly reluctant to relive such memories, and felt the need to explain himself. "I was very young when they asked me to serve them. My family had nothing to offer me and serving was an honorable profession. I had no idea what kind of people my masters were."

E'rian nodded in sympathy. "You do not need to justify yourself to us. We do not judge you."

Still, he looked as if he wanted to say more. "I am not like them. I did not wish to take part in their ambitions."

He looked at the mother and daughter for a few heavy moments. Finally, he held out his hand to Adesina.

The flash of light took them to the familiar courtyard of the Shimat fortress. Adesina looked around in amazement. She had been away for a long time, but she was surprised to find that she still remembered the smallest details of her former home.

Closer inspection showed her that it was different from how she remembered it. It looked run-down and abandoneda"weeds and moss grew in between the stones, the wood of the gate was rotted and broken, the roofs were in desperate need of repair, and so forth.

Six figures walked around slowly, as if inspecting it, while the seventh stood off to the side with his arms folded. Adesina spotted the form of a young serving boy waiting at the edge of the scene. The figures all wore heavy black cloaks with the cowls up around their faces, and they walked with a feline grace that spoke of danger.

The seventh figure also stood apart in the way he was extravagantly dressed. Even though he wore a modest cloak to cover the gaudy material, it was now thrown back to exhibit his obvious wealth. The man had an arrogant look on his face, which marred the youth of his features.

"There should be adequate s.p.a.ce for you and your subordinates. It can serve as a training ground as well as a fortress."

Adesina recognized the voice of the king.

He received no response, so he continued with his recommendations of the abandoned castle. "It is also ideally locateda"isolated from the rest of the kingdom."

"Will it be kept that way?" asked one of the inspectors.

The king was irritated by the question. "Of course! I have gone to great lengths to ensure secrecy."

A reedy woman turned her sharp eyes to the king. "Will we have autonomy?"

"Yes."

The woman wasn't satisfied. "I want an official doc.u.ment stating it to be so."