I ended the spell before it got too far. I didn’t want to hurt Attar—

  I didn’t want to kill Attar—

  I knew I’d regret it later if I killed him.

  Probably.

  I could only hope that the blades had been pointing toward the far side of the inferno and not back directly into it. Surely he wouldn’t be suicidal after a single day.

  How was I going to get over there?

  I inspected my swan shift. The feathers were soaked with water, blackened and cracked. I didn’t know the art of turning into a swan, but I imagined if I used this shift to do so I’d be ready to serve at the Feast of Rebirth.

  I let it drop to the ground. It was only robbing heat from my body.

  I could summon an acid colossus to eat a hole through the flames. I had no idea if it would work, but I could try.

  Or...

  I could follow the path ringing the manor about the manor.

  I took note of the sun. I wanted to be on the due west side. If I ran I might get there before Attar moved too far on.

  Greater Heal

  Lesser Heal VI

  It was a shame only two of my spells didn’t need the ring. It was nice to cast spells without needing to thumb through my book. My master would have called me lazy, but I’d never seen him thumb through a nearly falling apart spellbook while covered in burns, so what did he know?

  It was probably overkill, as my other spells would have me fixed in under an hour, but I wanted to start moving now, and that meant reopening the wounds. I’d take what extra help I could get.

  I started to run.

  ***

  The fire and the exercise warmed my frozen muscles as I ran. By the time I was a quarter of the way there I was sweating, by half way I had to move to the far edge of the path to avoid more burns.

  The manor was large but I was fast. The journey only took about ten minutes until I was on the west side of the estate. Attar was there, standing in the middle of the road. He was naked. I guess he’d been more insistent on refusing whatever clothes had been forced upon him then I had. Then again, I should have guessed that from all the fire.

  “By the gates, who are you? You’re a vision of the first sails on the horizon.”

  Was that a good thing or a bad thing on the Bronze Coast? Didn’t they experience frequent raids?

  “I’ve come to free you from this place. The longer we linger, the more it controls our minds.”

  He startled and looked me up and down again, “What manner of woman are you? From where do you come?”

  I laughed. I was still only wearing the shendyt. I was very clearly not a woman.

  “I am Oswic, Magus of the Sacred Order. I am no woman, but I was possessed by a goddess who left her mark on me. One less visible than your flames.”

  I gestured to my evenly cooked skin, but the burns were no longer easily visible under the golden glow.

  Attar winced, “I didn’t know there was anyone else here. No one real. I thought at worst this was another warlock stronghold and they deserved whatever happened to them.”

  “They probably do,” I conceded, “I can tell you more once we are free from here. If you are willing to trust me?”

  Attar had already trusted me once when I looked far more inhuman, so I was pretty sure this time wouldn’t prove too difficult, but I wanted to be sure.

  “Get me out of here and I will be your humble servant, so long as you let me kill a few warlocks on my way out.”

  I removed the dream potion from my belt. It had made it through the fires unscathed. My heart began to pound. I hadn’t even considered it might not until now. I’d gotten lucky.

  The potion tasted like a memory I’d long thought I’d forgotten. The memory itself, not any specific flavour.

  The effect was also that of memories. It was like coming awake in the middle of the night, suddenly aware that reality was was in fact a dream of the dream.

  I gestured in the manner Attart had and the same wooden door appeared and swung open.

  “Here is our path out. Mind your step, the floor wobbles on the other side.”

  Attar nodded, “I’ll keep it in mind.”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He’d been there this morning. Or at latest yesterday. From his perspective. Eight years had still passed.

  Attar stepped through the portal without hesitation. I couldn’t hear him, but his shock was clear on his face as he caught sight of his other self.

  I let him deal with it. I didn’t know how much time I had left and I was fairly unskilled at dream weaving. I needed to concentrate.

  I spun on the spot. When I’d completed a full circle Attart was sitting in the same chair I’d met her in at the same table wearing the same governess outfit.

  “I need your help.”

  I’d tried to imagine my words anew, and I’d half succeeded. I still spoke with all the vibrancy and allure of that feminine youth, but no longer with the reality-quaking tones of a goddess. It was a start. The marks of life could be altered, but never fully removed. I’d have to find an acceptable compromise which kept the goddess’s mark yet gave me back my voice.

  Attart cast a disdainful eye up and down, “You need a tailor, not a necromancer.”

  “What happened to the souls you bound?”

  “Rude girl! Introduce a topic before diving in. You will splash all over the place. I ought to lock in the dungeons and let my rats have at you.”

  “And the souls?”

  She sighed and cast her fan about, “They are still bound. You rewound my time, not yours. Now please, fix your voice, and stand up straight when I am speaking to you. If you are going to trollop around three quarters naked you could at least try not to sound ridiculous.”

  I shifted my weight to stand more fully upright, I didn’t have the time to argue. I’d already tried to fix my voice “Can you send them to Attar?”

  She tutted, “Necromancy is not a topic befitting a lady. They are already his. They need merely follow.”

  “Can you make them follow?”

  Attart withdrew a comb from somewhere in her voluminous dress, “If that is what it takes to keep your attention. Now, comb your hair.”

  I took the comb.

  “Thank you.”

  “Hmmph.” She began to fan herself, “It is rather hot today.”

  I pulled the sense ring from my pocket and tried to fit it over my finger, but the shape wouldn’t budge. Who would have thought controlling my dreams would have been such an important skill to develop?

  If I couldn’t change the ring, perhaps I could shrink myself?

  For a moment it seemed to be working, the world grew around me, my finger slimmed in accordance with the hole on the ring, and then everything rebounded back. Just like they did when I tried to lucid dream.

  What if the ring was always an earring? Or a necklace?

  It didn’t take.

  The potion might wear off at any moment, the door out of here might close. I could try finding myself some clothes or giving myself a suit of armour, but I didn’t want to risk being trapped.

  I fled through the door.

  ***

  For once my sudden nakedness was welcome. The swan shift and spellbook I’d damaged in my flight through the fire were no more, and the unharmed versions waited me on the other side.

  I could even see this time, thanks to my skin.

  Two Attars were waiting for me, both eyeing each other warily.

  That was different. When I’d had two bodies and still only had one soul. Neither was the “real” me, and we understood each other perfectly.

  But the second Attar had spent time in the book. It would have changed his soul.

  But I’d also spent time in the book, so that couldn’t be it. I’d reintegrated with my past self just fine.

  They were necromancers. Perhaps whatever soul rejoining took place, they were able to stave off.

  “Who is this doppelganger? I feel him tugging on my soul.”

  I could only tell them apart by the fact that “my” Attar still held the cutlass I’d lent him and wore the kā?āya. He’d been the one who’d spoken.

  “I did menti—” my voice had been restored, both inside the book and out!

  For a given value of restored. It was still a woman’s voice, but every oak began its life as an acorn.

  “He is your trapped self which did not travel back in time. Your soul is not being absorbed, but is attempting to bridge the divide. When I myself went back in time were joined instantly.”

  Attar smiled focusing on my voice rather than the words, “You’ve regained your humanity, Oswic.”

  I wobbled my way over to my pile of clothes—clothe—and began putting it on.

  “With the dream potion in that dream realm, all is possible as in dreams. Yet I’ve never been skilled in dreaming, otherwise I’d have regained my timbre as well.”

  The other Attar jerked upright, “I’m skilled in dreaming. Why not give the potion to me?”

  I’d thought about it, “Because you had no reason to trust me, and every reason to abandon me there or use the potion for other gains. And may have been wise to do so. We needed to escape as fast as possible so that the book had as little effect on our souls as possible. When last you were trapped there it warped you body, soul, and mind, until you resembled the very governess whom convinced you to burn the place down.”

  Both the men (man?) gave cries of alarm.

  “Truly?”

  “Never!”

  I finished attaching my belt and my pouches.

  “The book is a dark, broken thing. There is no room for straightness nor individuality there. To fit its shape you must break likewise, and thus those who wish to conform to you will break in turn.”

  The swordless Attar stepped back from the book, “Let us be rid of it then.”

  Fireball

  The book quickly became cinders at the centre of my fire.

  “What now?” asked Attar with the sword.

  “I need to regain my strength,” I replied, “The room with the glowing rock is said to be safe by the spirits in this place. You,” I pointed to the swordless one, “Have your own spirits, correct?”

  He shook his head, “I once bound many but...” he trailed off as his awareness expanded to presumably take in the army Attart had sent after him.

  “Where did...?”

  “I managed to retrieve them for you. It was the first effort of my delay leaving the book’s realm.”

  “How did you know about the spirits?”

  It was time to explain to the both of them how I’d came to be here. It was a long story, but it would pass the time until sunrise.