Two Worlds of Oblivion

by Angelina J. Steffort

  His breath caught in his throat as he inhaled the singeing air, and his eyes watered the same way as Seri’s. The roaring noise of the raging fire drowned out all words Seri commanded behind him. Only, as her dagger touched his back, he set in motion, following Langley and the men toward the spare rooms where he had first kissed Maray. His stomach lurched at the thought that it might never again happen—even if he survived this.

  From the corner of his eye, Jemin saw burned bodies, some of them still moving, others lifeless, just adding the horrible smell of singed flesh to the suffocating smoke.

  “Jemin.”

  From the distance, like an illusion through a haze, her voice pierced right into his heart, making him forget for a brief second that he had to escape a fire. His head snapped up, and there, behind a wall of angry flames feasting on fallen revolutionaries, she was: Maray, hand clutching her side, and behind her, Heck tugging on her arm.

  He knew she knew that he saw her despite the smoke, despite the watering eyes—his vision on her was as if he was seeing her for the first time; not as Rhia’s copy or as the girl he had been protecting, but as Maray, the powerful Princess of Allinan, who was risking her life, trying to save him. Warmth settled his heart, coming with an adjacent panic he had never felt before—the fear for her life with no realistic chance of him saving her. It was his task as a guard to protect the crown, not the other way around. As he kept biting back the urge to run to her, his instinct got the best of him, and he called her name. He knew she’d heard him. The way her posture changed, her upset struggle as Heck kept urging her to run from the flames. He wanted him to succeed. Just as he was about to call out to Maray to leave, to save herself, one of the supporting pieces of wood detached itself from the ceiling and crashed down onto him. He pulled his arms up as best he could, shielding his head from the impact, and waited for the plank to smash him… and waited…

  Corey

  Corey stumbled to the side as Wil wound past her.

  “Don’t move,” he whispered and stabilized her with his free arm as he passed her, sending a sensation of delight and panic down her neck as his breath tickled her ear. Had it been under different circumstances, she might have just turned to the side and let his mouth touch her lips, but she couldn’t allow herself to think like this—not now. They were being attacked. Of course, it was four against one, but while Maray was injured, and after what had happened, in no shape to fight or conjure magic, she herself was still incapacitated by the image of the burning wood crashing down on Jem. So in truth, they were two against one. Two boys against one seasoned warrior.

  Corey did as Wil had told her—almost. She crept closer to Maray, grabbing the princess’ hand around the wrist. Maray’s dagger was still clutched between her fingers. It didn’t glow orange any longer, though. Whether the color had been just the reflection of the flames in the blackened silver or if the dagger had taken part in Maray’s rampage was something they had yet to find out.

  Maray didn’t respond to Corey’s touch. The girl had frozen, observing the fight wide-eyed.

  “They can take him down,” she whispered, hoping to reassure Maray. “Heck never loses a fight.”

  To no one but Jem, she added in her mind. But that was no longer relevant. Jem would never fight Heck again. Profound silence settled in her head…

  Heck was like a panther as he jumped and danced to the side, escaping blow after blow, but he appeared tired, used up from the strain of their mission. Wil, on the other hand, was less like a cougar and more like one of those knights in the King Arthur legends from the other world; graceful, strong, and noble. Feris had a collection in his study about the knights of the roundtable, and she’d read quite a bit during the lonely nights of her childhood.

  “Stop, silly boys,” the man cautioned them between blows. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Heck and Wil didn’t halt but put even more force into their moves.

  Footsteps from the wrong end of the corridor made her spin around. There were men behind them, too, spilling into the corridor.

  “Wil!” Corey tried for his attention, but Wil was too busy swapping places with Heck as they managed to force the black-eyed man further into the corridor. She pulled Maray along with her as she moved toward Wil. “Wil!” she yelled, and the boy’s head jerked to the side mid-strike, eyes widening as he noticed the armed people behind the girls.

  “We need to get out,” he said, his sword still lingering on the man’s blade, pushing it down while Heck lifted his weapon to deliver a killing blow. “Now.”

  “Wait.” The man let himself drop to his knees, lowering his saber. “I surrender.”

  Heck and Wil both eyed him with disbelief, and Heck stopped his sword at the slit-eyed man’s throat. Something wasn’t right; Maray seemed to notice, too. Her eyes darted back and forth between the small group of people closing in from behind them and Heck and Wil, who apparently had defeated the offensive stranger.

  “What are you doing, LeBronn?” one of the men asked as they got close enough to fully assess the scene. He stopped at a safe distance, signaling the rest of the group to stop with a lift of his arm.

  With surprise, Corey noticed that the tides had turned. The revolutionaries were concerned about one of their own’s safety.

  “I failed,” the man kneeling, LeBronn, said a bit theatrically.

  “LeBronn? As in Seri’s father?” Wil asked, to everyone’s surprise.

  Corey remembered petite Seri; delicate, beautiful, and Jem’s favorite sparring-partner—right after Heck. She ground her teeth.

  “Exactly,” he admitted then bent forward, right into Heck’s blade, making Heck withdraw a bit so he wouldn’t impale the man, and whispered, “We need to leave.” His eyes were on Corey and Maray, indicating with the tiniest nod of his chin that he wanted them to come closer.

  Corey hesitated, suspecting a trap, but LeBronn’s face was dead-serious. Beside her, Maray nodded, earning a disapproving glance from both Heck and Wil. As she stepped closer, right to Heck’s side, Corey instinctively followed. She felt uncomfortable even an inch away from the rest of them. Even with having been trained in basic fighting skills, her focus had been on potions and herbs and spells, her place being at Feris’ side as his apprentice—and adopted daughter. After what had happened with Maray in the corridors, she couldn’t even think of using her special magic—what Gan Krai would probably call ‘battle magic’, ‘forbidden magic’—but had to rely on others to protect her. Wil was at her side, sword ready, should any of the new arrivals lash out at them.

  The men were still standing at a safe distance, observing the small group holding LeBronn at Heck’s mercy with weapons ready in their hands.

  “Let him go,” the man who had spoken before demanded.

  “Hendrick Brendal,” LeBronn whispered, ignoring the man, “if you give me a chance, I swear, you won’t regret it.”

  “What are you whispering over there?” the man inquired and took a step closer.

  “Don’t move, or he is dead,” Heck opposed the development, forcing the impatient revolutionary to freeze.

  Corey grasped Maray’s arm again as LeBronn raised his hand around Heck’s sword in slow motion. She was expecting Heck to do something about it—or Wil. Both of them had fought LeBronn a minute ago. What had changed?

  Then she saw it. He was holding out a silver bracelet; a bracelet she herself had carried in her own hands earlier that day; Jem’s bracelet.

  “Let me, and I’ll take you to him.” LeBronn gazed at Maray now, and Corey imagined she could hear her heart breaking. Jem was dead. She had seen the wood crash down on him. They all had seen it. Except for LeBronn.

  LeBronn’s eyes locked on Corey’s. “If there is any chance in hell that he survived this, I know where to find him.”

  “All right.”

  To Corey’s surprise, Maray overruled everyone’s hesitation and reached out a hand for Jem’s bracelet, moving Corey’s own hand with her. Heck and Wil bo
th put their hands on Maray’s shoulders, attempting to hold her back, but they were too late. LeBronn’s fingers wrapped around her hand together with the silver bracelet, and the five of them disappeared into a white haze under the cursing of the rest of the men in the tunnel.

  Maray

  Jemin’s bracelet was the only comfort as she lost control over her own body the moment LeBronn touched her. Familiar white haze enclosed them and disappeared a second later, leaving her to wonder if she had been taken back into the other world—a world where the laws of physics were ones she knew, ones she had grown up with. But the fact that Heck’s sword was still there, as was his frowning face beside her, made her doubt they had crossed the border.

  “What game are you playing, LeBronn?” Wil’s voice came from behind her, and she turned her head, finding both him and Corey right there, and noticed their hands on her shoulders and arms. What was missing was the group of revolutionaries who had stood behind them in the tunnel. It was empty again.

  LeBronn cleared his throat after giving her a moment for orientation. “I apologize for the extreme measures, Princess.” He attempted to get to his feet, but Heck held him back with his sword.

  “Don’t even try before you have explained yourself.”

  Heck’s fierceness was such a different side of him. Of course, losing Jemin and then learning he might be alive must be worse for him than for anyone else. They had basically grown up together. Maray swallowed a lump of despair and eyed LeBronn closely.

  “You saved us,” she noted. “Why?” It didn’t fit into her head how he could have first demanded to hand her over and then rescued all of them from a precarious situation.

  “Forgive me, Your Royal Highness.” LeBronn inclined his head. “I had to be sure you were who you claimed to be and not…”

  “And not her,” Maray finished for him. “And not my grandmother.”

  LeBronn nodded.

  “Let him go.” Maray glanced at Heck, hoping he would follow her request.

  Heck slowly let the tip of his sword sink toward the ground.

  “Thank you, Your Royal Highness.” LeBronn got to his feet, picking up his saber in the process and making Heck and Wil block Maray from his reach. “Oh, do not worry, boys. I’m not going to harm her.”

  Maray peered through the shoulders in her field of vision, finding LeBronn pushing his weapon back into his belt.

  “We need to get out of here before the others follow,” he urged.

  “They have keys?” Heck asked suspiciously. “They aren’t guards of dimensions; they are not supposed to…”

  “No, you are right,” LeBronn agreed. “But some of them can still cross the borders.”

  “How?” Beside her, Corey tossed her ebony curls out of her face.

  “I’ll share everything as soon as I get you to safety,” said LeBronn in a convincing enough tone that even Wil and Heck stood down.

  “Lead the way,” Heck ordered, sword still ready but no longer threatening LeBronn. “All I want is to get her to safety, too.”

  “And find Jemin,” Maray added, still clinging to LeBronn’s words that there might be a chance that he was still alive.

  “And Jemin,” LeBronn agreed, his face relaxing as he began to win them over. “This way.” He pointed at the door where the other revolutionaries had come from and started walking.

  “Let me go first,” Heck whispered and pushed past Maray as she turned to follow LeBronn. “If this is a trap, I want to make sure I die first for allowing you to tap into it.” His face was serious although there was a tiny grin on his lips that showed her that the Heck she knew was just beneath the surface, ready to break through at any moment. Maray nodded, grateful for his selfless offer and, at the same time, petrified by it.

  They made their way into a labyrinth of stairs, Heck’s bouncing black hair an ideal image to focus on as her side started stinging again. She gasped in pain once she had made it up the first set of stairs.

  “Help her, Wil,” Heck asked over his shoulder.

  His sword-hand had never pulled back entirely, showing Maray that Heck didn’t fully trust LeBronn but took this opportunity to find a way out of the underground system. They could have gone back to the burning corridors; the fire shouldn’t be there in this world, but her instincts told her it was a better idea to stay far away from them.

  Wil’s arm caught her around her shoulders, pulling her forward. “You’ve got this,” he encouraged her. “You’ll make it out of here. We all will.”

  Corey made an undefinable sound behind her.

  Maray wondered if this would include Jemin. Had he escaped the angry flames or had the wood crushed him? She hardly dared to think about it. Now that LeBronn had stirred hope inside of her, she was even more scared of learning the truth. She focused on her feet. One step after the other, up the stairs, Wil’s arm enough support to not fall backwards if she stumbled.

  “We are almost there,” LeBronn announced, and his footsteps quickened.

  As they made it through a trap door at the top of the stairs, and then further up out of something which reminded her of an old, abandoned basement, Maray could feel that LeBronn was speaking the truth. The air was changing, humidity turning down, temperature falling, and the light was changing from the artificial, magical glow that reminded her of energy-saving light bulbs to the pale glow of Vienna’s afternoon light.

  LeBronn led them into a large room where he stopped between artifacts and images which were enclosed in narrow glass showcases.

  “A museum?” Heck asked, incredulous. He glanced around and pushed his sword into its sheath.

  “It’s not open,” LeBronn reassured them. “No one will see us here.”

  “What about those?” Maray pointed at two surveillance cameras in the corners.

  “Never mind about those.” LeBronn shook his head at her.

  Maray didn’t understand. In the world where she had grown up—and they definitely were in that world now—surveillance cameras meant that a room was visible somewhere else, on a display. “What about security?” She wondered if this was an issue of lack of knowledge of world-specific technologies, or if LeBronn knew something she didn’t.

  “Security belongs to me, Your Royal Highness.” LeBronn gave her a smug smile that made her wonder if she’d been wrong to trust him.

  “What does that mean?” Corey asked, and Maray realized the warlock girl was the only one who had never been in this world. She turned around and found Corey unnaturally insecure, studying one of the showcases with a crease on her forehead.

  “Security is like the palace guard,” Heck explained. “Just not as stylishly dressed.”

  Corey tilted her head, and Maray noticed she had her hand raised in front of her, palm facing upwards as if she was trying to conjure a little flame, but there was only air where the fire should be.

  “We are actually in the other dimension, aren’t we?” Corey concluded and turned her back on the photograph of soccer-players behind her.

  Maray nodded. She understood that this must be as scary for Corey as the fire underground. She remembered how she had felt the first time she’d been taken to Allinan. The wonder, the shock, the fear; all those rules and mechanics—magic—she didn’t understand. “You’re not alone,” she said, pushed her dagger into her belt, and laid her hand on Corey’s shoulder instead. It was a good feeling, consoling someone instead of being the one everyone was worried about for a change.

  “Welcome to my own little private headquarters,” LeBronn announced without warning. “This is where Jemin will be brought if he survived the fire.”

  Heck and Wil both had their hands on the hilts of their swords, ready to draw them as LeBronn strolled over to Maray and Corey. “You need not fear this world, Corey,” he said and leaned closer. “You have two eager protectors right there.” He pointed at the boys with a grin.

  Maray couldn’t make up her mind if LeBronn was on their side or if he was just trying to make them feel saf
e. She was unsure about the way he seemed to not fear for his life and how he belittled Heck and Wil with his words—

  But they were in her world now; a world where the mechanics were known and understood by her. A rush of confidence infused her system, and she straightened despite the sharp pain in her side.

  “Name one good reason why I should trust you.” She stepped toward him, pretending she wasn’t afraid.

  LeBronn didn’t pull back but stood his ground, eyes fierce and sparkling. “Your Royal Highness,” he bowed without looking away. “You are right. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be suspicious, but believe this one thing—” He leaned closer, almost whispering now. “If you thought Langley was a force to be reckoned with, you haven’t met my daughter.”

  “Seri,” Corey spoke beside them, and LeBronn nodded, his breath touching Maray’s face. “I thought Seri was dead. Everyone thought so after she went missing…”

  He didn’t seem aggressive but merely eager to study Maray’s face in detail the way she had noticed any Allinan was when seeing her for the first time.

  “Seri was in there with Langley and Jemin, too,” Corey finished her thought. “She might be dead for real now, just like Jemin and Langley.”

  Maray’s stomach tightened at her words. She didn’t hope for Langley to be dead, but it would certainly make things easier if the Yutu-shifter—and leader of the rogue fraction of revolutionaries—was out of the equation. But if he was dead, Jemin was, too. As was Seri—

  “If she was in there with Langley, that means she can’t be trusted,” Wil deduced, earning a grin from LeBronn.