They had stayed awake long into the night, letting movies play in the background on low volume as Daggeuro conveyed his plans to them. For the time being, they would cross over to Ether Plane in Celia and regroup with Selena, Turot, Marianna and Rasmus. Selena's family home had managed to be among the few lucky homes left mostly intact during the attacks and over the years, so there would be familiarity for the humans.
The group would gather what supplies they could scavenge or barter for with other locals and make their way through an Ether Door under the ruins of the Royal Guard barracks to Wistren, a village no longer populated some four days' march south of The Boneyard. Then, on to The Boneyard itself, to discuss the next move with the Faded Army's command council.
Daggeuro tried to explain the various dangers they would face on the road as Law and Order played on the television. There would be various types of specters, brigands, patrols of the Loyals, as the lizardmen and gotrin called themselves. They also had to be on guard against a relatively new phenomenon called 'wild bursts', pockets of concentrated magical energy that randomly released spells of various types. These were apparently more frequent out west than in the old Amermidst territories.
"They've been the cause of many deaths among what used to be Rangers," the kennin said with a heavy sigh. "Those men and women, the ones left, they've been the best able to adapt. They were already accustomed to being away from broad civiliazation. Some few merchants have also thrived, though not many."
"Are there any dragons, lizardmen or gotrin who are pro-faerie," Byron inquired.
"A handful of gotrin, but no lizardmen that I know of. There is one dragon sympathetic to us, a shadow dragon named Skydancer," Daggeuro replied. "But shadow dragons have ever been fickle creatures in the best of circumstances."
"Take what you can get, though," Kathy said. "All right, we'll need a couple of days to square things away here. Is your family safe without you there?"
"For now, yes," Daggeuro said as he stretched out on the couch, pulling the blanket draped over the back down onto himself. "Two days to prepare, and then we go, my friends." He closed his eyes, and was asleep before Kathy or Byron could even think of any more questions.
Kathy felt the raw heat from below swirl up around her, a deadly ensnarement offering false comfort if only she would jump off the cliff into the burning city below. She yelped in shock, wheeling her arms and stepping back from the edge. She panted, catching her breath as it seared her nose and throat.
"Uncomfortable, I know," said a familiar voice to her right. She spun, and found sitting there on the edge, feet dangling over the drop, a human-sized King Ovin. He was peering down over the drop, his long, dimly glowing brown hair hung down around his head. His blue cloak and deep red surcoat clashed visually, but they were undamaged. "I've been dealing with this place a while now, though how long precisely I haven't any clue."
Kathy eased back to the edge, sitting down an arm's length away from the fairy King of Amermidst. "Is this a dream," she whispered.
"Yes and no," Ovin replied, his voice not regal and powerful, as she'd always heard it, but reserved, knowing. "I'm grasping at straws, trying to reach every ally I've ever had for help. None in Ether Plane could hear me. Yet, you are the third Awakened to meet me here."
"So, I wasn't your first call, huh? Poor form, your highness. A girl likes to feel special." He actually managed a smirk and a single chuckle.
"You joke, but only as a defense measure. This all must be very strange to you."
"Generally speaking, yeah. My dreams aren't usually so lucid."
"That's because part of your spirit is here, with me," King Ovin said. "Listen carefully, Lady Potts. I don't know how long I've been here. I've lost track of time. I have no idea what things are like out in Ether Plane. What can you tell me?" Kathy took a deep breath, exhaled, and began relaying to the fairy King what Daggeuro had told her and Byron. It took less time than she expected, and when she was finished, the monarch of Amermidst Kingdom that was looked like he'd been told he'd lost his entire family.
"I'm so sorry," she finished softly. "I know it isn't what you wanted to hear."
"It's not your fault, Lady Potts," he said. "I always feared what might happen if I was no longer King. It sounds like all would have been well, but for The Destroyer. I believe the dragons are not to blame. After all, their god was slain by the very creature that abducted me and brought me here to this strange place." Kathy flinched, her head suddenly throbbing. She clutched the sides of her head and groaned. "You're going to wake up soon," Ovin said, taking Kathy by the soulders, turning her to face him. "Kathy, tell Sir Daggeuro to look in the Gray Wastes! That's where this place is located! But beware; the Destroyer has it guarded by creatures from his own world! He isn't of Ether, or Spirit Planes! He is an outsider, and must be avoided! Remember," he shouted as Kathy's vision began to fade. "The Gray Wastes!"
And with a sudden surge she was gasping, sitting up in bed. Byron lay snoring beside her, undisturbed. She got up, went to the bathroom, and returned to bed to find him still sleeping peacefully, rolled over.
She hoped that when all was said and done, they could come back to this.
When Kathy awoke, it was to the glorious scent of cooking bacon. She rolled over to discover Tigger lying on Byron's pillow, fast asleep. She climbed up out of bed and rubbed her eyes, shuffling off to shower and begin a day of preparing to leave her world yet again.
She quickly cleaned up and got dressed in jeans and a cream colored blouse, then made her way to the kitchen. Byron stood at the stove, Daggeuro seated and already diving into a plate of eggs, bacon and pancakes. Byron had Kathy's plate set except for her own meat, which he brought over seconds after she sat down.
"Thank you, love," she said, giving him a quick kiss as he leaned down.
"Welcome. Hope you're hungry. I'm cooking up about half of all our perishable breakfast stuff today, the other half tomorrow morning."
"Good idea," Kathy said. "I'll make all the forward payment arrangements with the bank after we eat."
"I do not understand this idea, though you told me once before," Daggeuro said between bites. "Why pay good drakes for what you have not yet used, nor will be using?"
"Because this is America, home of the free and the brave, where you have to pay for everything short of air and bravery is waving your AR-15 in the air and screaming about your second amendment rights," Kathy quipped, getting orange juice out of the fridge.
"I don't get it," the kennin said. He shrugged his shoulders and continued eating with a fervor. When he finished, he eased back into his chair with a cup of coffee and sighed. "It's been months since I had a meal so pleasant. I eat fine at the Boneyard, but when I'm out on excursions, it's slim pickings for good eating. I have my enchanted bag to store foodstuffs in, and I heartily recommend a trip to the grocer's to stock up."
Byron and Kathy agreed, and in the quiet after the humans ate, she said, "I had a dream last night that wasn't a dream." The men gave her a curious look together, and she launched into an explanation of her spirit meeting with King Ovin. Daggeuro looked like he was on the verge of tears when she finished.
"He yet lives," the kennin breathed. "And you're sure he said the Gray Wastes?"
"Yes. I remember you mentioning that region once before."
"I may have done," said Daggeuro, pensive now, eyes unfocused. "Even the dragons seldom go there to that bleak land. It carries gloom in the very air, and storm clouds ever gather overhead. There has not been sunlight there in three millenia and more." He sipped at his coffee, grunted.
"Are there any Ether Doors leading within," Byron asked.
"No, never has been," Daggeuro replied, back with them now. "The nearest one comes out in Danip Cavern, four days' southern ride from the Wastes. Danip is also the host to a kalpa passage."
"Kalpa," Byron asked.
"Nebulous labyrinths connecting whole realities to one another," Kathy said, reciting from memory what she'd learned of them. "Each reality is comprised of three Planes, being Mortal, Ether, and Spirit. Nobody knows how many realities there are, and not every one has kalpas connecting them properly. In most realities, access to the kalpas is only found in the Ether Plane or Spirit Plane, rarely in Mortal Plane."
"Exactly right," Daggeuro said, drinking off the rest of his coffee before motioning for a refill from Byron. "The kalpa entrances have been guarded by lizardmen for a few years now, ever since the dragons realized people were escaping through them."
"They're really taking the whole 'world domination' thing pretty seriously, eh," Byron asked as he set Daggeuro's mug down before him.
"They are. I believe they're worried about people returning with reinforcements," the kennin warrior said. "There's precious little need, though. The kalpas themselves are usually full of dangerous traps and creatures. Those who survive the trip through aren't likely to want to make a second pass."
"Do the dragons ever give chase," Kathy asked.
"They can't," said Daggeuro. "Dragons are among the few life forms that cannot access the kalpas." Kathy and Byron did a double-take at him. "What?"
"Why haven't you and your family gone through one yet, then," Kathy blurted out. "Escape seems a better option than sticking around for fifty years!"
"Because Ether Plane is our home," Daggeuro said evenly. "This reality is our home, and it is worth fighting to reclaim it. Wouldn't you agree?" Kathy looked down at her empty plate and nodded. "Then you understand. We cannot simply abandon our world. And I believe rescuing King Ovin is the key to saving it."
Kathy and Byron agreed, clearing the table and cleaning up while Daggeuro sat in the living room, cleaning up and fixing his armor. In the kitchen, Byron leaned close and whispered to Kathy, "What do you think?"
"I think we need to be careful," Kathy replied, setting plates in the dishwasher. "And I think I need to call the bank. Run this, would you?"