01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
"Then, stop complaining!"
Danyk grinned.
"I think my meditation session was more exciting that you wandering around the complex
like a Vix in heat!"
Steve sat on the edge of the bed.
"Do tell."
Danyk outlined his dream without the embroidery of emotion. Steve stared at him when he
finished.
"They say that lightning never strikes in the same place twice."
"Lightning?"
"Your dream and my dream are practically identical."
"I had another player in mine."
"The man in the second Pentacle?"
"Yes. I was becoming reacquainted when you returned."
Danyk felt the attempt to mask the thought in Steve's mind.
"You needn't try to block me, Steve. I know that it's my image in the first Pentacle."
Steve stared into his eyes.
"What do you think about that?"
"Confusion. What else would you expect me to think?"
Steve looked away.
"I wish I knew what this all means."
"Zayez gave us the answer - perhaps, you didn't listen as I did. It becomes even more
obvious that we are linked together. One soul in two skins. I don't pretend to understand how
or why."
"And yet, we keep on getting clues. The unreal world of purple sand, the black ocean, the
red star, the arch -"
"And now, the other man who was not in your dream."
"The Pentacles are the link - and if Zayez is correct, there are two more - The question is
where?"
"Beyond the world in our dreams, perhaps. Beyond the arch through which you, me and
the unknown man must journey."
Steve stared resolutely out of the window.
"If I were you, I'd give a lot of thought before you decide to exchange what you have for
some wild ride through an arch."
"If you have told the truth - you took the wild ride!"
"I had no option!"
"Perhaps, I have no option either!"
"Who's going to force you? Zayez? I won't!"
"Why should Zayez force me? No, Steve, it will be the same force which brought you to
us. For whatever it means, mine was the image on the Pentacle you discovered on your
world. It brought you here. This man is an image on the Pentacle on this world. It will bring
us there!"
Steve looked at him. Danyk felt the fear stir in his mind.
"What the hell does it all mean, Danyk? What in hell's name gives whoever these people
are, the right to shuffle me and perhaps you, around the universe to satisfy their whims?"
"Their will is law! They cannot be denied!"
The anger flared in his mind.
"Let them try me! They'll find they've picked the wrong boy if they imagine they can push
me around!"
"But you are here, Steve Holt!"
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