Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 306
fire, and fell instantly asleep.
He dreamed about dolphins, which he had heard of but
never seen. In the dream they swam in the earth itself, and
leapt and splashed in it as though it were a liquid. He chased
them across a rough, rocky landscape and at times he almost
caught them, but they laughed as they danced just out of reach.
Finally he made one last effort and dove after one as it entered
the ground, and he followed it into dark liquid earth. He slid
among the rocks and sinews of the solid world with perfect
ease, knowing now where the dolphins were going: to find a
secret buried deep in the earth.
He woke up. He lay on his back by the cold embers of
the fire, and it seemed like some sound hovered above him.
Someone had spoken.
Jordan rolled over. It was early morning, and
fantastically misty. It looked like the camp had been put inside
a pearl. Directly overhead, it was bright; at the horizons dark
still reigned. There was no sound at all now. The mist
absorbed everything, causing him to cough hesitantly to check
that he could hear at all.
As Jordan sat stoking the fire, Tamsin emerged from the
wagon. She was dressed in woolen trousers, several layered
white shirts and something she had yesterday told him was
called a poncho. She looked around once, and a big grin split
her face. It was the first time he had seen her smile, and it
utterly transformed her. She became at once ugly and
electrically exuberant when she smiled.
"It’s great!" She waved at the mist. "I’ve never seen it
so thick. I’m going to go see what the lake looks like."
"Okay."
She walked purposefully into the directionless grey,
stopping when she had become a two-dimensional shape