Time Dancer by Inez Kelley

rest. As a bear hibernates in the winter, I carry the gift of dormancy. I can give you the depths of dreamland in an instant.”
    Jana fingered the cotton sheet with her clean hand. “Then what do I do?”
    “I will call to you. Focus on me, on bringing me into your dream world. Once there, I can guide you.”
    Keeping the tiny spot of blood steady, she slid beneath the blankets, let him tuck them around her and then watched him. He paced, shrugging his shoulders, flexing his arms, loosening his muscles. Argot did much the same when he was preparing to spar with another soldier. She slid her ringed hand beneath the coverlet.
    Darach stopped with his eyes closed. A stillness wove into the chamber, silence but with an unheard pulse that vibrated through her. With the breath held tight, he opened his eyes. They shimmered with magic. He sank to one knee beside her bed and held out his hand.
    Her fingers trembled but she placed them in his. It should feel strange, this man who wasn’t quite a man holding her hand while she was in bed, but numbness had stolen into her skin. Strong, lean fingers laced with hers, the small blood smear wet between them.
    He blew into her face and the scent of minty winter blanketed her. The darkness came.
    Black.
    Nothing but black.
    Echoing, empty, cold black.
    Jana whirled, searching for light, searching for a sound, anything. There were no walls, no air, nothing, yet something heavy pressed against her, something thick and damp. Invisible fog. Fright skittered along her skin. She thrust her hand up before her face. but she couldn’t see it.
    Fear sent a bitter wash into her throat. She was alone in the darkness. Voices exploded around her, hundreds, thousands, all talking at once. She clamped her hands over her ears to block the roar.
    His whisper broke through them all. “ Call for me , Jana .”
    Terror paralyzed her. The echoes grew, pounding inside her head, in her chest, in her blood. They bounced off unseen walls and hit her from all sides. A scream worked from her throat but it was lost beneath the cries and calls of people she couldn’t see.
    “ My name , Jana . Use my name and draw me to you .” Rich and powerful, even in a whisper, his voice soothed her.
    “H-help, p-please.” So cold. So dark. So empty. So loud. Fright ripped all sanity from her mind. “Please, oh God, please, help me.”
    “ Jana !” The power behind his words were a mental slap. “ Use my name and command me . Time bows to you . Master it .”
    She had to believe him. Faith-bound, he claimed them. Pinching her eyes tight, she blocked out the voices and summoned him. “I call Darach, my guide. Come to me. Show me the path I need to take.”
    In the darkness, he took her hand. She gripped his, digging her nails in, feeling the harsh calluses. He was so solid. Blind and panicky, she clung to his neck. “I’m scared.”
    He wrapped his arms around her. One hard palm stroked her spine in an oddly hesitant but soothing caress. He was more than warm. Intense heat washed through her. A granite jaw pressed against her temple and, if she could have trusted her terrified mind, she would have sworn she felt him smile.
    His voice, that decadent growly voice, bathed her cheek in a private whisper. “I am here, my charge. I will always come when you call.”
    “It’s so dark.”
    Firm fingers lifted her chin. “Call the light.”
    “I can’t.” Her mind was blank.
    “You can. You have all the power in this world. It is your dream, control it.”
    Sapping strength from his embrace and calm from his faith, she nodded. Calling light was the first lesson all children were taught at the Endicort Academy. She had struggled with it but she’d learned it, even if she hadn’t used it in ages.

    “ Like a sun , like a star ,
    Come near from afar .
    Light hear and light obey .
    Come and do as I say .
    Banish the black .”

    A muted light from no source sprang around them. She blinked as her eyes adjusted, using his