Story: Oneiromancy, XXIII

(Part O , XXII , XXIV)

The man continued to hang on the tree. "Who on Earth are you? You're not from Omega." The figure stiffened in anticipation. "If this is all just some new trick to torture me, then just get on with it."

Helen took the lead, while Stanley examined the bindings on the captive. "We're not from Omega. In fact, if I'm understanding you correctly. In our time frame, we are from Omega, just the very beginning of it. Or the very end of Alpha, depending on what happens next. This doesn't sound like me at all, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. Are you waking up and going all gooey?" Stanley asked, just as Helen popped out of the Dreamline. "Blast."

"I don't suppose you would care to untie me before you pop out of existence too, would you?" asked the prisoner, in a well-cultivated Southern accent. "That monster is due to come round soon for her latest round of torture and abuse, and who knows when you might pop out."

"That's the tricky question, isn't it? How do I know that untying you won't make everything even harder on us? Are you some ally of the monster, or a friend from the future? You're not even supposed to be lucid in the Dreamline. Helen and I can only do it because we're in close proximity, or so the Professor says. I personally think he's full of hooey."

"You're cutting my ropes anyway, though." Observed the captive, or former captive.

"Yes, because I'm an idiot, and want to do something before I pop back up to the world of the waking. Tell me something to pass on to the Professor. Why are you so coherent?"

"I'm coherent for the same reason you are. I have a partner. Had a partner." He winced as one of his arms swung free. "Sadly she wasn't stable."

"The Tweedy Woman." Guessed Stanley.

"Yes. Madeleine. The Grand Blockage. The Tweedy Woman. I was sent here with her to keep her locked up, a perpetual jailor. Permanently."

"I'm guessing from the reversal in the captive stakes, that she turned the tables."

"Yes, and then ran amok, after running amok in the real world. So many people gone. So much devastation. Now, we're going to have to take her down." The captive stretched for the first time in what might have been a few hours or hundreds of years. "However, for now, it's time you took a trip. Come back when you're good and tired." He grinned somewhat crazily, and waved as Stanley vanished. "Good. This is going to be a long one, and I want to carry the can without those guys for a while."

Up in the sleeping room, Stanley sat up, and then began shaking like a leaf in a stiff breeze. Then he cried.

There shall be more...