Part 16: Searching for Answers

The small Portal wyrm, or G'herd'sol as he had been called by his mother, lay awake long after Raina Lynn and her human bondmate had fallen asleep. Tonight, he was curled up on the floor in their cabin. The man, Krisr, was sprawled out across the bed, his head and arm dangling over one side and his legs hanging over the other. Raina Lynn, the Machesri Red, was curled up at the end of the bed. G'herd'sol peered at them through cautiously slitted eyes, wondering at the strange world he found himself in.

Before his egg had been sent through the portal to Bishen Realm, he had been warned by his mother. *Do not trust the humans,* she had said, *even for an instant. They have evil in their hearts. Do what you can to discover the nature of the situation. We will find a way to contact you.*

G'herd'sol shifted uncomfortably on his stony underside plates. The Machesri seemed to trust the humans... even treating them as equals and valuable caretakers for their children. Krisr, although certainly not very wise, did not strike the young wyrm as evil. Some of the elder Machesri remembered the dark times of war and death, but the younger ones, such as Raina Lynn, knew these times only as stories. They did not face them as a harsh reality. G'herd'sol wondered why the people here were so very different. He again examined Krisr and Raina Lynn.

The Red Terran was in a deep, restorative sleep. From what G'herd'sol had seen, she slept little but always slept well. The human was in a lighter sleep, his mind still wandering and processing the days past and the days ahead. Suddenly, the wyrm had an inspiration. Now might be the perfect time to find out a bit more about the human.

G'herd'sol slithered quietly across the floor, trying to keep his belly from scraping. Once he reached the side of the bed, he flipped his stringy hair from his eyes and reached his nose out to touch Krisr's limp hand. His rough muzzle softly pressed into the human's warm hand; he waited. Krisr did not stir.

G'herd'sol closed his eyes and tried to reach out with his mind to Krisr's slumbering one. At first, he was struck with a flurry of thoughts from the day--the face of the sorceress, Ramona, knives, the Realm Center... G'herd'sol moved deeper, soon passing into the darkness of the man's consciousness. Finally, the wyrm began finding memories. First, a replay of the day's events, then an archive of events. He could sense the memories around him, but where to start?

He began sifting through them, and he found one that seemed to glow. He looked into it... it was like pushing into a bubble. He saw Raina Lynn, younger and in a different place. He felt Krisr's pride and joy, heard Krisr's thoughts saying, "She's a shrape!"

This must be when Raina Lynn became a Terran, G'herd'sol realized. He put the memory aside and moved elsewhere.

Next, he found a memory that seemed to crackle and glint. He pushed into it and found himself on a busy street. Raina Lynn was around his neck--a wyrm now--and he--no, Krisr--was pointing a knife at a shocked, burly human. G'herd'sol felt Krisr's anger and fear, and he instinctively knew that the other human had been trying to take Raina Lynn, hurt her. G'herd'sol could not help but feel anger, as well as some surprise at Krisr's brave protection of Raina.

The wyrm again moved on, not noticing that Krisr's breathing had become less even. The next memory that drew G'herd'sol's attention seemed to be dark and brought the color of blood to mind. He pushed into it and was immediately assaulted by a barrage of pain, fear, and hatred. He was lying prone on the floor and a huge, vicious man was towering over him, fist raised. G'herd'sol drew back a bit to get some perspective and escape the overpowering emotions and realized that Krisr was smaller in this memory, still a boy. Suddenly, he physically felt Krisr tense, and the human gritted his teeth and gasped in his sleep. In surprise, the wyrm realized that the human must be reliving the memories as he accessed them. G'herd'sol was about to leave when the memory changed. A woman--Indyana--entered it, shoving Krisr's assaulter back roughly, easily dodging his clumsily thrown strike and engaging in battle with him. G'herd'sol felt hope and relief from the boy in the memory, and sleeping Krisr relaxed a bit, his breathing steadying. G'herd'sol found the memory ended here, fading out... Krisr must have fallen unconscious. It connected with other, happier memories, however. Taking a glimpse, G'herd'sol saw time spent with Indyana and other creatures he did not know--a great, gold dragon, a canine with piercing yellow eyes, some smaller drakes, a hunter armed with a large bow...

G'herd'sol left these memories, noticing that Krisr had slipped into quiet sleep once more. The wyrm pushed further back into the human's memories. In these older times, there were fewer memories... time seemed to flood together. The days and places melted into a homogeneous backdrop. Krisr on a dozen corners, in a dozen seasons, cold, hungry, always younger and younger.

Where are his parents? G'herd'sol wondered. He kept searching.

Krisr being struck, Krisr being chased... Krisr with other children. Always hitting, always hungry, always yelling all around... always someone bigger, always someone stronger. The memories got more and more distorted and faded.

In his sleep, Krisr made a sound of dissent and shifted his head away, as though trying to escape his memories. G'herd'sol drew back, allowing the images to settle away. Krisr calmed, but his face appeared worried. As Krisr drifted deeper into sleep, the wyrm withdrew from his mind. G'herd'sol leaned back, breaking contact with Krisr's hand, and opened his eyes.

He suffered much as a boy... you would not know it to look at him, G'herd'sol thought to himself. The human always seemed so... cheerful. Other humans had done him so much harm, yet he did not seem bitter. The wyrm slid under the bed, into the comforting darkness there and curled up. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift off to sleep.