Chapter 23
Jamie stared at the cloth for a moment in disbelief. Droplets of water from the night’s storm rolled off the material and fell to the damp earth.
“The inside is still dry,” he marveled. Del reached for the cloth and rubbed it between his fingers.
“Good material. Delfan weave. Someone will be missing that.”
“You recognize this?”
“Only the cloth,” Del said. Realizing the question was more important than it seemed, he took a closer look. “Like I said, Delfan weave. They make the best cloth,” he clarified. Jamie nodded. “Expertly sewn,” Del added pointing at one of the seams. “Tucked and rolled for extra waterproofing. My guess is you could stay dry in a monsoon with this.” He let the fabric fall. Jamie watched the length of fabric swing from his hand.
“The man in my dream wore this,” Jamie said. Del cocked an eyebrow at him but didn’t comment. “I don’t suppose the color means anything to you?” He asked hopefully, trying to shake icy feeling from his thoughts.
“Not really,” Del said. “It looks like it would be easy to hide in the woods with that on though.” Jamie nodded thinking of the men from his dream and the way the cloaks had moved.
“Especially at night.” Jamie looked around the clearing. Nothing else seemed out of place. There were no markers or messages. Nothing but the cloak looked out of place.
“I wonder why she wanted me to see this?” Jamie mused, more to himself then Del. “The fairy Queen wouldn’t have seen my dream.” He glanced to Del.
“No to my knowledge that is not one of the fairies gifts. They may be small and good at sneaking into things but sneaking into another’s dreams has thus far eluded them.”
“Can anyone else do it?”
“Sneak into someone else’s dreams?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm,” Del said rubbing his chin in thought. “I suppose it is possible although I’ve never heard of anyone doing so. Not that I think someone would brag about that skill. It would make them very unpopular I would bet. I know of some who can send dreams after a fashion.”
“After a fashion?”
“Well they never arrive in exactly the same condition because it is mind to mind.”
“Wouldn’t mind to mind be clearer?” Jamie asked.
“Not really,” Del said shaking his head. “Think about it. We all dream in images not words. So if I wanted to send you a message I would have to convert it to an image first. So If I wanted to tell you that I was coming for a visit I might send you a picture of myself with a suitcase boarding a train. You might see the image and think I was in trouble and running away. Or I could think I need to tell you that I am going to be late. If I didn’t send the image then your brain would just convert it into something that makes you think of being late. You might not think of me at all.”
“Huh,” Jamie said as he thought about it. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“Course there are some that claim every now and again to have gotten it right. Never really is though. Kinda glad of that.”
Jamie looked around the clearing once again. In the trees, just a little further east of where he was standing Jamie could see a squarish outline that didn’t look altogether natural.
“Is that an old out building? Jamie asked, leaving the topics of dreams aside. Del turned in the direction Jamie was pointing. He shrugged.
“Don’t know. It’s not too far though if you want to look. And we do have some time before we need to get back.”
“And the building is due east.” Del shrugged at the comment and followed as Jamie headed out of the clearing and towards the building. He frowned as he moved.
“There is a sort of path worn into the earth.” Jamie pointed down to where the grass had been worn away and a straight line of trampled dirt shown through.
“Looks like it,” Del said. “I’m not much to the woods though so I’d have to take your word for it. Could be natural though, animals maybe?” Jamie thought about the purple suit and shoes Del was wearing when he first met him.
“Maybe,” Jamie conceded but he didn’t really think so. The pair reached the small building. Jamie stopped and stared at it for a moment. It reminded him of a small child’s drawing of a house. It had a sharply gabled roof and one small four paned window.
“All that’s missing is the chimney,” Jamie muttered. The small building was about two paces wide and as Jamie walked around it he discovered it was about two paces deep. On the far wall he found the door. It had a set of two concrete steps leading up to it. “I think we can rule out animals making the trail.”
“Why is that?”
“Animals don’t tend to put new hinges and doors on old buildings.” Del looked around Jamie to the door. It was new metal without a scratch on it. It was painted a dull rust brown in what Jamie assumed was an attempt to make it blend with the wooden frame building. Unfortunately while the door was wood like in color, the wood of the house had faded to a grayish tone. The hinges were bright silver. Jamie started forward but Del grabbed his arm.
“Oh no you don’t. I’ll go in first in case there is someone inside.” Del pushed past Jamie and climbed the two stairs to the door’s threshold. He raised his walking stick in a defensive position. With his free hand he turned the door knob. He pushed hard and the swung in soundlessly. Del pushed it hard enough to thump against the wall. Jamie could feel his heartbeat in his throat as Del stepped inside. As the building was small and had only one room it didn’t take Del long to look inside. He stepped back through the door with a grim expression on his face.
“I think you’ll want to see this,” he told Jamie. Jamie walked up to the door and followed Del inside.
“What the hell,” Jamie said as he looked around. Various pieces of lab equipment were laid out on a work table. The air had a thick chemically smell to it with an undertone Jamie couldn’t place.
“Is it a meth lab?” Jamie asked.
“What’s a meth lab?” Del asked.
“Methamphetamines, it’s a type of drug,” Jamie clarified.
“Oh, then no this isn’t a meth lab.”
“What is it?”
“Well I’m not a hundred percent certain but I believe this might be where our false Keeper made his human suit.”
“Oh,” Jamie said looking around a bit more. In one corner there was an old oil drum. The lid was slightly askew. Jamie walked over, not really sure he wanted to see inside but unable to resist. He gingerly pushed the lid to the side and peered in. It was filled with a dark liquid. Jamie sniffed, wondering if it was blood. Whatever was in the tub lacked the coppery smell of blood. Instead it had a briny, meaty scent.
“Was he pickling something?” Jamie reached forward but Del grabbed his wrist to stop him.
“Somehow I don’t think that is a good idea.” Del tilted his head towards the lab set. “No telling what that is or what it’ll do. Best call in someone who might.” Jamie nodded, slightly embarrassed by his own stupidity.
“So do we call the High Talbot?” he asked.
“Probably for the best,” Del said. “Of course it will save him a bit of reward money since you found it and not some yabo in the woods.”
“Actually I think Queen Genivia or one of her people would count as the discoverers,” Jamie said. “Although if they were interested in the reward I doubt they would have told me this in the middle of the night.”
“There is that,” Del said. He shrugged. “Well best we can do is leave things the way they are and send word of it. Your visitor’s will be arriving soon and we’ll be needing to get back to see to them.” Jamie glanced at his watch and realized Del was right. They would have to head back now and at a pretty fast clip to make their nine o’clock deadline. They stepped back out into the sunshine and Jamie shut the door firmly behind him. He still held the cloak in one hand.
“At least no one was reading my dreams,” he said. “That has to be a plus.” They turned back to the woods and took the shortest path back to the house, moving at a speed far greater than they had entered the woods. Both of them arrived in the front yard gasping for breath. Jamie had a stitch in his side. They walked towards the front door and realized their first visitor was waiting on the front porch.
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