Down a Lost Road Read Free Page B

with
him?”
    “ Merelin, go! Go or he and
you and all the others will be in danger. Now!”
    I didn’t get a chance to ask him anything
else. The shop door crashed open with the sharp shattering of
glass, but before I could see what happened my vision gave way to a
grey blur. I thought I’d fainted, but at the same time I knew I was
awake. I didn’t hit the ground – if the ground was there, it was
like I fell right through it. I couldn’t move my arms, couldn’t
catch myself. Just kept freefalling. Couldn’t feel any direction.
Up, down, side to side all gave the same sickening surge in the
stomach. Too fast for terror, but it felt unending. Then all was
still. I was still. And it was hot.
    * * *
    The heat registered first, then the light,
blindingly bright against my eyelids. I forced open my eyes.
Dazzling gold-white and blue stretched as far as I could see, the
whole image swimming from the curls of heat that sweltered over the
gold. I blinked, focusing on my hand beside my face. Sand cushioned
it, sifting between my fingers, hot and coarse.
    Sand .
    Sand? I scrambled to my feet, dizzy,
terrified. My balance gave way, like the world’s gravity had
shifted. I steadied myself, concentrating on the wheeling sands and
trying to calm the nervous race of my heart. My stomach churned
again, blood pounding in my ears. I thought I would be sick.
    It’s not possible. But it wasn’t
convincing with the sand whipping up into my face. I must have
fallen asleep. When or how, it didn’t matter. Or I had fainted. But I had to be dreaming now. There was no way I could be
here, in a desert, when a moment before I had been in Mr. Dansy’s
shop on Main. The sane voice in the back of my mind said, quite
rationally: Close your eyes, count to ten, and open them, and
you’ll see you haven’t gone anywhere . I did. I squeezed my eyes
shut, counting slowly to ten, trying to ignore the hot buffeting
wind and the sting of tiny grains of sand on my cheeks. I counted a
few extra seconds to be sure, then nervously opened my eyes.
    Nothing had changed.
    Where was I? I turned a slow circle,
scanning the horizon until I glimpsed a dark shape in the corner of
my view. I jolted around stifling a scream. A man stood in front of
me – or I assumed he was a man, since the hood of a thin dark cloak
shadowed his features too much to tell.
    In that first moment of shock, running never
even occurred to me. One glance around and there was no way I’d be
stupid enough to try. There was nothing but sand as far as I could
see.
    Nothing but sand, and this strange man at my
exact spot as if he’d been expecting me.
    But he didn’t pay any attention to me at
first. His head canted to the side, like he was staring intently at
some spot past my shoulder. He didn’t move at all. Even his hands,
poised in front of him, were tense, the veins standing out between
the tendons. Was he going to attack me? Was he even aware of me
standing there, right there, two feet in front of him?
    I glanced over my shoulder but couldn’t see
anything interesting. Only the shimmers of heat seemed a little
thicker in one particular spot, like a mirage hanging in the air.
But even as I stared, the wavering light seeped away. I frowned and
turned back, only to find that the man had finally shifted his
attention to me.
    “ Do you have
it?”
    I jumped. My first thought was one of sheer
relief. At least he speaks English . And even if the question
was abrupt, he had a nice voice – warm, low, and strangely
accented. For a good minute I stared at him. Finally I stuck my
hand in my pocket, racking my memory for the name Mr. Dansy had
given the coin.
    “ Pyelthan?”
    “ Aye, but you should not
have spoken that name so readily. You do not know who I
am.”
    “ What difference would that
make?” I countered, terror making me bold. “It’s mine.”
    “ Aye,” he said. I couldn’t
tell from his tone if he was more amused or amazed.
    “ This place can’t be real,”
I