A Kingdom Built from Our Bad Dreams

How it begins

Julia Calder recognized her mother's nightmare in the western wall.

It had the same blue door, the same sound of water climbing stairs, the same small pair of shoes abandoned on the landing. Julia had heard it described over breakfast for twenty years.

Now it stood thirty feet high between two watchtowers.

She stopped the inspection cart.

"That section wasn't on yesterday's plan," she said.

The foreman looked at the stone. "New shipment. Strong material."

"Where from?"

He shrugged with the care of someone who preferred not to have been asked.

Below the wall, morning traffic gathered at the city gate. Bakers, wool sellers, children carrying slates. Thousands of people entering a place that promised to keep their worst fears outside.

Julia touched the blue door. Cold water ran over her fingers, though the sky was clear.

"Don't," said a voice behind her.

Mateo Quinn stood at the top of the stairs, wearing the plain traveling cloak of the enemy kingdom. Two guards waited below him, offended by the amount of permission he'd apparently brought.

"Your mother isn't the only one who can't wake properly," he said.

Julia withdrew her hand. The water vanished.

"You shouldn't be on this wall."

"I shouldn't have found one of my soldiers' childhood memories in your foundation either."

He opened his palm. In it lay a tiny stone horse, crudely carved, its legs moving as though it were trying to run.

Julia knew the object immediately. She had approved its use three weeks earlier because it had tested exceptionally well under pressure.

The horse turned its head toward her.

For the first time in her working life, Julia wondered whether the things she built were keeping someone in.

Behind Mateo, the guards began climbing again.

"We have about a minute," he said. "What would you like to ask first?"