Dreams of the Sleeping Gods (Tales of the Misplaced Book 5)

Book summary

In "Dreams of the Sleeping Gods," Nora's quest deepens as she delves into the secrets of her dreams while Mira faces challenges to ensure the safety of loved ones. Meanwhile, a ruthless army's conquest sweeps across Danu, sparking a revolution in the Kajoran Archipelago, where Nora's reluctant aid is sought to awaken the long-lost Noélani gods. Unseen for centuries, the existence of these divine beings remains a mystery, shrouding Nora's mission in uncertainty and intrigue.

Excerpt from Dreams of the Sleeping Gods (Tales of the Misplaced Book 5)

Scorpions were pretty terrifying. Especially when they were giant-sized and chasing after you. They scuttled along in quick sprints, then they would pause for a moment and reorient. But even those sprints could cover a lot of ground. A couple of them had already circled around ahead of us on our left.

“I’m going to have to make a portal!” I called to the others. “Get ahead of me!”

I felt Anazhari’s muscles moving beneath me as she raced along the street. She had slowed only a moment to allow the others to move ahead. I connected to the Ralahin and reached out with my senses. There! I found the thread I’d tied to that piece of wood. I hoped it was on shore by now because if not we were going for a swim.

I opened the portal about fifty feet in front of Mehrzad and Laleya, who were running neck-and-neck. They went through with me and Anazhari close on their heels. At the last moment, I looked over my shoulder and tied off a thread of magic to a lamppost. Then we were through, and I closed it behind us.

“That was too close!” Luci said as the Rorujhen slowly came to a stop.

We were in a clearing, and the guards that had gone ahead were nearby with their griffins. They’d looked up at our arrival. I gave them a wave and a nod of thanks.

We’d arrived ahead of Zoriaa, Kerbas, and the others. By the time they’d arrived, the sun had fully set and we had our wind back and were rested.

“We saw from above,” Zoriaa said. “I thought they had you. That was a very dramatic escape!”

“I’d rather be in situations that allowed for a more casual exit,” I told her. “I guess the next thing is to get Jack to your healers, right?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “We should leave soon, it’s already dark and we have at least an hour to go.”

“Alright.”

I glanced over at Grace. She seemed to be chewing on something in her mind. She’d been pretty quiet the last couple of days as we’d been in Danu. Everyone dealt with grief differently, and I’d been giving her space. But as I well knew, time stopped for no one. She’d come with me almost immediately after Katya was killed, hoping to find who was responsible, but we weren’t any closer to answers on that.

“You need to go back.”

She looked up at my words.

“You said you only had a limited time,” I went on. “You have to take care of Katya’s funeral. Deal with her family. And what’s going on here… It isn’t your problem. I really appreciate how much you’ve helped me, but I had no right to ask it of you so soon. It’s time to send you home.”

“I needed it,” she admitted. “I needed the distraction. Keeping busy. But you’re right; it’s time. I’m sure the Zahradis, Katya’s parents, have been trying to reach me.”

“Your car’s at my house, I should probably send you there.”

She nodded. “Just give me a moment with Laleya first, please.”

I checked on Jack while Grace made her farewells with Laleya. His condition was unchanged. The sheath he held against his chest still gave off a glow that encompassed his body. His body was taut, as though caught in a seizure, but he was alive.

After Grace said goodbye to the Rorujhen and gave Luci a hug, she walked over to where I waited.

“Katya would have loved all of this,” she told me. “This world and the magic and the people. It is a shame that her life ended just as the adventure she’d always dreamed of was opening in front of her.”

“I’m sorry—”

She silenced me with a shake of her head. “There is nothing for you to be sorry for. You did not do this.”

“We still need our answers,” I said. “But I’m starting to think they’ll be found on Earth, not here.”

“I agree.”

“That means you could be going into the lion’s den, Grace. Please be careful and I’ll be back there as soon as I can. Aren’t there others like you and Katya around? There’s strength in numbers.”

“I will reach out to the local covens,” she nodded. “They will want to know what happened to Katya as well. Katya was well-liked; it won’t be hard to bring them together.”

She gave me a hug and then stepped back, waiting. Since we didn’t know whether the police were allowing access to the crime scene yet, I opened a portal to my most familiar spot — my bedroom at home. Grace gave us a nod and stepped through.

After closing it, I went over to Laleya.

“I should probably send you home as well,” I told her. “Although, you’re probably the only one who can keep him in line.” I nodded toward Mehrzad. He flipped an ear and turned his head away, ignoring me.

“Just don’t let him take the lead at night,” she teased. “Rorujhen mares have better night vision than the stallions. At night they can’t see much further than their—”

“There’s nothing wrong with my night vision!” Mehrzad cut her off before she could finish.

I could hear Laleya’s laughter in my mind, and even Anazhari joined in.

“Where would you like me to send you?” I asked her. “I’m not sure what would be good. I don’t think my rooms in the royal wing would work for you, but I don’t have many places I know well enough to open a portal. I should have thought of that when we left and set something up.”

“I’d like to go back north,” she answered. “I would like to see it now that the Riders are gone.”

“Oh, that’s easy. I could send you to Shianri, my estate. That’s where I learned to make portals, so I know that area well. And the groom there will take care of your saddle and gear and store it for the future if you need it again.”

“Very good.” I felt her attention shift to Mehrzad. “Promise to be good when I’m away.”

“I’m always good,” his reply was gruff.

“You’ll have to take over minding him,” she sent to Anazhari with a chuckle.

I already had the portal forming, and as soon as it was stable, she went through.

“Are we ready to go yet?” Kerbas asked impatiently.

I looked over at Luci, who nodded her readiness.

“We are,” I told him. “Let’s mount up. How will we follow you from the ground if you're flying in the night sky? We won’t be able to see you.”

Kerbas scowled at that, at a loss for an answer.

“Oh, I know.” I walked to the piece of wood that still had the magic thread attached. I tossed it to him as I went to Anazhari. “Hang onto that and I’ll be able to track you.”

To make things easier, I attached the other end of the thread to my wrist. I’d had to search a bit for the thread last time I’d tried this. The more I traveled around, the harder it would be to locate these loose threads.

Luci and I spent the next hour and a half on our Rorujhen racing through the forest. I used my connection with Anazhari to let her know where the others were flying above and she navigated through the trees with Mehrzad close behind.

We came to a large clearing shortly after I’d sensed them landing and I saw an enormous encampment of tents. There were a lot of people and a lot of griffins. The lack of any permanent structures made me think that the Wyl-Dunn were a nomadic people. I shoved my curiosity to the side; we needed to get Jack situated so I could go after Emma.

Luci and I followed Zoriaa and the others as they carried Jack into a tent and set him on a bunk.

“Képa,” Zoriaa spoke to the woman in the tent. “He has many bahrantu stings. Please do whatever you can.”

“Wait outside,” the woman answered. “I need room and you are in the way.”

We exited the tent and almost ran into two approaching figures.

“Your Majesties.” Zoriaa gave a deferential nod of her head. “May I present—”

“Mirabella nya Balangur,” I cut her off with a nod of my own. I recognized that the pair were royalty, probably the ones that had cut off Jack’s arm before Nora healed it. I wanted to establish some semblance of an equal relationship as soon as possible. “Noble of the Ashae Capital of Shifara in Daoine by right of conquest,” I went on, “and member of the Ulané Jhinura Diplomatic Corps of Su Lariano. This is my aunt, Luciana nya Balangur.”

“Oh, my,” the woman’s eyebrows rose.

“Mirabella nya Balangur.” Zoriaa tried to regain her footing. “This is King Edrigun and Queen Iratzé of the Wyl-Dunn of Danu.”

“I am honored to make your acquaintance.” I gave them another nod of respect.

Luci gave a little bow, too. As well as giving me a look from the side of her eyes.

“Forgive me,” I went on, “but I am using a translation spell and I believe I am missing a nuance. Your titles of king and queen seem to be a little… different.”

Iratzé nodded. “Common translation spells usually miss the nuance. Yours must be better than most. Edrigun and myself are kagan and kaganum. Collectively, we are the kagana. We preside over the lesser gans and ganums of the various ganesh within the Wyl-Dunn kaganesh.”

“I think you lost me on that.” I frowned.

“The kaganesh is all of the Wyl-Dun, collectively,” she explained. “But within that you have smaller sections. Those are Ganesh. They are ruled by gans and ganums. Like a barony would be ruled by baron and baroness. The entire kaganesh is ruled by a kagan and kaganum. We preside over the gans and ganums.”

“I think I got it.” I nodded. “And kagana refers to both the kagan and kaganum. Does that mean gana would be both the gan and the ganum?”

“Correct.”

“More humans arriving on Danu,” Edrigun commented. “I assume it is not a coincidence?”

“Correct, Kagan,” I answered, trying to use the correct form for his title. “You have met Nora. She’s my sister, though not by blood. I only recently returned to Earth from Daoine to find out that the accident that sent me to Daoine also sent her here. I’ve come to bring her home.”

“Am I to understand the way to Daoine is no longer blocked?” Iratzé asked.

“You are also correct, Kaganum—”

“You may call me Iratzé,” she interrupted.

“Thank you, Iratzé.” I nodded in appreciation. “Please call me Mira. And yes, there was a spell on Daoine to speed up time on that world, making any crossing extremely difficult and unstable. In fact, it was making the entire world unstable. Not anymore.”

“And who do we have to thank for this?” Edrigun asked.

“Laila,” I said, recalling my last moments with the little woman. “Laila, an Impané of Avrenik, gave her life so that it could happen.”

“A loss that has left its mark on you,” Iratzé observed.

“One of many.” I shook off my melancholy. “If it pleases you, I would suggest that you debrief your people so that you will be up-to-date with what has happened since they left; I’m sure you have many questions. And perhaps my aunt and I could take a meal and some refreshment until you are ready to talk with us? It has been a very long day.”