Chapter 1: Dreaming

Eli floated in the darkness. He knew that it was a dream and that was the cause of his terror. Things could be done to him in a dream that could never be duplicated while awake. Eli was sure of that because he had tried to duplicate what had been done to him in dreams, on thralls he had captured.

Testing unusual ways the body could be tortured was easy for Eli, because he was a Brujo of the first order. He could force a person's mind to accept the unnatural, physical indignities that a person's body could not endure. Eli could use flows of air to hold a body still while another flow twisted off an arm or a leg. Eli's test subjects always died, so he knew that what happened to him in his dreams couldn't be physically duplicated. Yet Eli's body had endured untold tortures in dreams. Eli had to clamp his jaws shut to keep them from chattering in his terror at the reality of the darkness around him.

A veil parted and he saw another figure emerge from the darkness. Another first order Brujo, Taklishim, the gray one, materialized in front of Eli. Taklishim's expression of terror confirmed for Eli that he wasn't in a normal nightmare. Eli knew that nothing physical could cause fear in Taklishim.

The Dream, the Nightmare, had taken him. It had taken both him and Taklishim for some reason that Eli didn't want to imagine. The only time the Dream had communicated with him in a dream in the past, was for punishment. Memories of those punishments were the cause of a terror so profound that he feared losing his mind. Eli clenched his jaws even as he whimpered in fear to keep from gibbering in terror.

Eli and Taklishim hung in the darkness for what could have been seconds or lifetimes. There was no light. There was no sound. For Eli, the only gauge to measure time was the cycle of expressions of fear, anger, hate and back to fear that crossed Taklishim's face. Eli suspected that Taklishim had the same measurement to go by.

Abruptly, the pair of them were turned, and the darkness was broken by a window to a scene in a mountain canyon. A Ford Bronco followed by a Rambler Station Wagon skidded to a stop on a bench above the canyon floor. Flows of air had materialized around both vehicles and stopped them before the flows condensed into solid shields. The shields were just in time because shots were fired at the lead vehicle. The bullets simply slowed before dropping to the ground before they could reach the Bronco.

A gigantic shard of stone that ran hundreds of feet into the ground suddenly lurched upward to block the road across the canyon. Eli and Taklishim could see the power, the energy that had been expended to create the roadblock and the Brujo holding that power was revealed. Cocheta glowed with power.

The back seat passenger door opened on the Rambler and a baby boy slid out the door and stood facing the canyon. He couldn't be more than a year old but he exuded power. He was dressed in blue jeans and a checkered shirt. The baby was wearing cowboy boots and had a canteen hanging from his shoulder. The shields of air originated from this baby boy and both Eli and Taklishim could see that he was preparing to strike back at his attackers.

A knife of air sliced the canteen into two halves without touching the boy and the contents soaked the baby's leg and the ground under him. The Brujos could see his shields around the vehicles falter. A club of air struck at the baby but he blocked it. Another knife of air cut his connection to the shield around the Bronco and a barrage of bullets slammed into the big vehicle.

Eli and Taklishim could see the passengers in the Bronco hunch down to avoid being hit while still firing back at their attackers. The Brujos glanced at each other and smiled as the driver of the Bronco was hit in the arm. They had recognized the baby boy as the Mage that had caused them so much trouble. They had recognized all the passengers in both vehicles and their attackers. The man that had been shot was Seth Flynn, adopted father of the baby. The baby was Sean David Kilpatrick Flynn, a Wizard that was only a year old. Brandon Walking Wolf Begay, also known as BB, was in the front passenger seat of the Bronco. Pete Sandoval, a Department of Public Safety patrolman was in the back seat. Both Pete and BB were firing back as Seth swore about being shot. A large dog had jumped through the window of the Bronco just before the bullets hit the vehicle. It was racing toward the figure of the baby boy standing beside the Rambler.

Ben Cavalla was the driver of the Rambler and Martha Flynn, Sean's adopted mother, was in the front passenger seat. Both of them had weapons but didn't have a target that would enable them to shoot back. Udit, a White Mountain Apache Shaman was in the back seat behind the driver. The Shaman was firing his shotgun towards the attackers but he wasn't waiting for a target. It was only harassing fire, because shotguns couldn't do damage at that distance. Liz Cavalla, Susan Sandoval, and Sheila Begay were all the way in the back of the Rambler. Liz was in the process of giving birth to a baby girl.

The expression on the Wizard's face showed the beginnings of panic when the canteen was sliced. Eli was disappointed when the panic seemed to fade away after the dog reached him. The dog whirled to face their attackers and the boy rested his hand on the dog's ruff. The Brujos hanging in the darkness could see the tendrils of power reach out through the ground and locate the source of the knives and clubs of air. Eli was sure the boy had found his doom when his search revealed one of the most powerful Brujos in the world; a Witch named Magdalena.

The boy was readying a club of air to strike at Magdalena when he was distracted by the roar of a large cat. A pair of mountain lions were racing towards the vehicles. The boy released the club of air and reached with a tendril of power to touch the pumas. They both dropped in mid-stride, asleep.

Then, the young Wizard reached out and called the birds. Eli envied the ease of his calling. He envied the response to the baby Mage's call as hundreds, thousands of birds responded. The birds attacked the thralls viciously but they couldn't help the boy against the Brujos. Magdalena created a whirlwind around herself that the birds couldn't penetrate.

Cocheta was also a first level Brujo and was controlling the animals. Eli smiled when he saw the ease of Cocheta's defense. The birds tried to attack Cocheta but a wall of pure hate held them at bay. No thinking animal could penetrate that wall and retain any hope of survival.

The anger, rage built in the little Wizard as his every plan seemed to be thwarted. One of his party was wounded and the others would soon follow. But, Eli hadn't considered what the rage would do to the birds. They became frantic in their efforts to reach the Brujos and the Brujos helpers. It didn't help against the Brujos but the firing had stopped because the Thralls had to defend themselves from the birds. One thrall and then a second stumbled onto the road trying to fend off the birds. More could be seen, still hidden by the brush as they were attacked by the birds. Wrens, hawks, jays and more attacked the thralls.

Cocheta stepped onto the road and sent a lumbering brown bear toward the Wizard's party. Eli could see how the Mage tried to put the bear to sleep like he had the cats, but he couldn't. Cocheta had firm control of the bear's mind and the baby's efforts couldn't get through.

The little Mage's aura became white hot with anger. He raised one hand and the cactus covering the canyon sides abruptly wilted as he drew power; and the bugs came. Flying, crawling, slithering and burrowing bugs erupted from the seemingly barren canyon floor and walls. The cactus wilted farther and clouds of flying insects flowed over the ridges and descended on the Mage's adversaries.

The birds and the bugs devoured the thralls as Eli watched. Cocheta was the first Brujo to fall. His wall of hate didn't even slow the insects as they fell on the ill fated Brujo. Cocheta opened his mouth to scream as thousands of insects decided to feast on his body. A croak barely had time to escape his throat before his mouth was filled with bugs.

The bear stopped in confusion when Cocheta lost control of him. Cocheta fell to his right knee as a particularly vicious colony of fire ants ate through the tendon holding his leg stiff. His efforts to brush the insects from his face and body grew weaker as he fell to his back and then ceased altogether. His body wasn't still though. It seemed to undulate unnaturally as the bugs devoured him.

Magdalena was having more success against the bugs. Her whirlwind had turned into a mini tornado that the flying bugs couldn't penetrate. Something that crawled or burrowed got through her maelstrom though and started feeding on her legs. Magdalena turned to run.

"Run," Eli thought frantically. "You can't win now. Run!"

The young Mage drove a spike of air through Magdalena's foot and pinned her in place. More crawling insects reached her and began feeding. The Mage cut her flow to the tornado and the flying insects descended in a cloud as the wind died. Thousands of insects started feeding on the still living body of one of the most powerful Brujos in the world, simultaneously.

Eli heard a baby crying over the cries of terror and horror the battle generated. The baby's cry seemed to reverberate throughout creation and the earth itself answered. The wall of stone blocking the path of the little convoy was driven back into the ground with effortless ease. Another Mage had entered the world and Eli quaked in terror because this one was at least equal to the source of all the carnage in the canyon.

Eli heard the whining noise from the human shape that used to be Magdalena made before it fell. It was the only sound possible for the shape to make because every orifice was filled with biting, slicing, and stinging insects. A hand raised futilely to brush insects away but only the bare bone of a finger could be seen through the bugs as it fell back to the ground. An occasional glimpse of black cloth could be seen through mass of insects as the shape moved and writhed in ways impossible for human muscles.

Silence settled over the canyon. Eli saw the baby Mage slump back against the side of the Rambler. He was surprised at the perfect white hand print on the dogs ruff where the Wizard's hand had rested. The scene started fading, with the exception of the shapes of Cocheta and Magdalena. Their shapes remained in sharp contrast until even the movement of the feeding insects ceased. Bare bones covered by tattered clothing was all the remained of two of the most powerful beings in the world.

Abruptly, wraiths that resembled Cocheta and Magdalena arose from the bones and were suspended before Eli and Taklishim. Chains of fire wrapped around the wraiths and screams of inhuman agony erupted from the figures. The screams didn't stop. Each time the screams seemed to reach a crescendo of pain the chains of fire flailed at the wraiths causing their hopeless wails to go higher. There was no hope for the release of death to end the anguish.

A voice boomed in the darkness.

"These creatures failed me," the voice thundered. "They were directed to bring me the boy Wizard, and they failed me. Death is no shelter from my wrath. There is no escape when you fail me. Eli, gather your forces and power. Your time will come to serve me. Taklishim, the child Wizard will come to your domain next. You have time to prepare. You have years to prepare to capture him. DO NOT FAIL ME!"

The thundering voice followed Eli into the blackness and he woke with a gasp. He lay quietly, quivering in terror as he replayed the scene in his mind. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when he realized his only task was to gather his forces. He didn't have a specific task other than gathering his forces. Then he remembered why the Dream, the Nightmare, wanted the boy's body. The Nightmare wanted to take shape. It wanted a physical presence in this world. Eli cried.