The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen

“so go ahead and ask your question, Son of Adam.”
    John thought for a moment, biting his lip in concentration. What to choose? What to ask? Then, suddenly, it came to him.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    Jack stared at John in amazement. That was not what he had expected his friend to ask. And judging by the expression on Bert’s face, he didn’t expect it either.
    The reaction of the Morgaine was different. They looked at one another and nodded, as if confirming something they had suspected but not known until that moment. Even Cul’s features softened as she began to answer, although she never stopped unraveling the tapestry.
    “Well asked, young Caretaker John,” she said, her voice a softpurr. “You understand that all that happens is not mere cause and effect, but that there are causes underlying causes, and it is those that truly shape the events of history.
    “The world is unraveling. Someone has changed Time itself, and a new event has taken place that was not in the Tapestry before. Thus, we must unweave all that has happened since, for a new weaving must be created. You may ask another question.”
    “Do you have to unweave the entire Tapestry?”
    Again came the nods, as if this question also met with their approval. “No,” said Cul. “We must unravel it only to the moment of the change—seven centuries past. You may ask another question.”
    “What caused the change?” asked John.
    “Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica ,” Cul replied, turning fully to stare at them. “ You did.”
    Jack snorted. “Of course,” he said flippantly. “We just went backward in time seven hundred years and accidentally killed Genghis Khan, or stepped on a butterfly, or something equally catastrophic.”
    “That can’t be,” Bert protested, with no hint of irony or mockery. “If that had happened, we would have a historical record of some sort….”
    “That’s why you’re unraveling the tapestry now—because the event that changed things didn’t happen seven centuries ago, did it?” John asked the Morgaine.
    “No,” said Ceridwen, “it happened nine years ago .”
    “We have answered all the questions agreed upon,” said Celedriel, “and more, because you have shown yourself to be wise.”
    “And because of the wisdom of your questions, we will offer you one further answer to do with as you will,” Cul intoned. “Theunraveling began when history was changed, but the thread was first loosened when two brothers made a choice .
    “Both of them believed his choice may have been wrong. One of them was. When you determine which, and in what way, you may yet have a chance to save the children of this world, and your own.”
     
    As a group, the companions exited the cave, shielding their eyes from the glare of daylight. They went across the clearing and sat to discuss what the Morgaine had said.
    Over near the cottages, Charles had cornered Magwich by brandishing a pair of hedge shears and making suggestive threats about what might get pruned if he didn’t keep his distance and stay quiet.
    Jack waved for Charles to come over and join them. He left the Green Knight muttering to himself and kicking stones, and trotted over to the others, where Jack quickly filled him in on what had transpired in the cave.
    “John’s a deeper thinker than I’ve given him credit for,” said Charles. “I react too much in the moment, I’m afraid. I wouldn’t have had the sense to ask what he did.”
    “Nor did I,” said Jack. “What made you think of it, John?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seemed to me, in that moment, that if these women were as important and powerful as Bert has always claimed they are, then perhaps what they were doing had a larger purpose. I simply got lucky that it did.”
    “Not luck,” said Bert. “Intuition. The best skill of a Caretaker, and you have it in spades. By the way—what do you make of their answer to Jack?”
    “That the Dragonships are