by Becky James
“Stupid, dumb, desperate and always escaping into books,” Evyn said automatically with rancour.
I tipped her chin up and looked into her red-rimmed eyes. “You are amazing. You. Saved. Me. If that is what has been in books this whole time, I will be heading straight to the library on my return!” Warmth flooded her gaze, and she rewarded my wit with a smile. Catching my breath, I continued. “I’m looking forward to finding out how else we complement.”
“Not much else to me, I’m sorry to disappoint.”
“Ah, low self-worth. I can definitely balance that out. I have a somewhat high opinion of myself. Have you noticed?” She grinned again. “And how does the bond feel to you?”
“Comfortable, like I’ve known you all my life. Mum explained it, like… we have the same spirit or something? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around.”
“One spirit experiencing the world through two bodies, to live different sides of the equation and differing viewpoints. So the researchers say, anyway. When we die, we’ll fuse together in the Labyrinth. Until then, we’ll find out how we complement one another, and then what our essence is at its core, the embodiment of our true nature.” Excitement at the discoveries to be made rose inside me, now that she had accepted my apology – and me – at last.
“Hm. Mum told me people can chop and change souls. Not that I want to do that!” The sudden surge of fear subsided, and she patted my hand. “I’m just asking questions.”
Chest eased somewhat, I went on, “Some people don’t believe that the soul companion we are born with has to be our soul throughout our lives, and that it can change. Soul searchers have magic that can sense and break the soul bond and reforge it to another.”
“Huh. I take it you don’t like that idea.”
“Of course not! I do truly believe that our spirit resides in us both. I wanted my soul, not someone else’s.”
She twisted her hair with her fingers, eyes lowered. “Please don’t say we have to get married and have babies? That’s what soul mates means here, and… don’t take this the wrong way, but, uh…”
“No! No, nothing like that. That’s not what a soul companion is. That’s what something we call wives and husbands are for, if you’re traditional.”
She pushed her hair back with a happy sigh. “We use the same words. Good, okay, phew. I didn’t know how to break it to you that I had high standards.” Stillness settled over my limbs like a cold blanket. “Don’t worry,” she soothed. “I’m not surprised you said those things. I say those things to myself on a daily, hourly basis.”
Straightening up, I said, “That stops now. Next time you feel the urge to say those things to yourself, instead chant: ‘I saved Thorrn’s life. And I burnt his pizza.’”
“Oh god!” She wriggled up.
I laughed. “Those things are delicious but perhaps not worth the effort of getting them.”
My bath was cold when I managed to go back to it. I made a full inventory of my injuries and played “guess what caused them, car or bar”. Painful swelling marked my cheek, but I did not remember getting punched there, so I thought that was the car. My shoulders were a combination of both and were mainly muscle pain and scrapes. My arms were badly bruised from the crowbars, and my forearm might even be broken based on the swelling. I was peppered with scrapes caused by rolling on the road, and my back and hips were mainly aches from the car hitting me.
My chest was the worst; it was completely blackened and by poking each rib I estimated I had eight broken, all on the left side. I levered myself out regretfully before I became too stiff to move and found Evyn sitting outside the bathroom door.
She put her book down. “Put some clothes on,” she tutted.
“I have a modesty towel. My clothes are bloodstained, I’ll need fresh from my pack.”
“Give the old ones to me, I’ll put a wash on.” Frowning, she said, “You’re really battered.”
“Let’s go to Oberrot tomorrow and have a medimage or mancer take a look,” I suggested, moving to the stairs.
Evyn intercepted me. “You can’t be wandering around like that with the curtains open. Someone will see and get the wrong idea.” Her face reddened, and she jumped down her stairs two at a time.
“What idea? Oh, that we are inamorata?” Thinking about it, I shrugged. “It could be a good cover.”
She came back up, holding out my pack. “You are impossible,” she muttered.
I laughed, taking it from her and returning to the steamy bathroom to pull fresh clothes on.
Using her device, she summoned another pizza cooked by a chef outside the abode. She and I ate it sat on the sofa where she tentatively reinvigorated the flat box. “This is not actually here in this room with us. Okay?”
“Yes. I can more easily understand that given that these are… moving drawings?”
“Cartoons.” She leant back and I did the same, sinking into the sofa next to her.
We watched the box until I noticed that the night had drawn in. I glanced at Evyn beside me. She was asleep, her head to the side and resting on one of the armrests. Closing my eyes, I let my head fall back.
My soul. Pulsing between us was the bond, a push and a pull toward my other half. She breathed deeply and evenly in time with me, or maybe I breathed in time with her.
I smiled at my brave soul. Remembering the hopeless feeling of realising they were upon us, seven brutes and only one of me, I should have realised I wasn’t alone. I should have known she would come to save me.
Fear brushed my heart when I remembered the test to get into Special Forces; something about choosing duty over your own soul. I knew what I would choose right now, and that would get me banished from Special Forces. Perhaps my father would give me time for the bond to bed down and settle so that it wasn’t this overwhelmingly strong compulsion to keep her alive, safe and happy, whatever the cost.
“I’ll always be there for you,” I whispered to her. “I’ll never let anything hurt you ever again.” A tall ask. An Earthian soul companion was going to be an interesting adventure. With a jolt, I realised that I would become immune to magic over time as our bond strengthened and grew. As long as the legends were true, that is. And why wouldn’t they be? It turned out that Earth was real. That would really be something. Except then the medimancers couldn’t heal me. Ah.
Still. That would come in handy if ever I needed to face off a magic user to defend Evyn from them. Thinking about the satisfying reactions of smug mancers who suddenly realised I couldn’t be blasted and how I would smash them across the field, to the adoring cheers of my soul from the safety of the sidelines, I dozed off.
Chapter 8
Evyn shifted in her sleep. That shouldn’t have woken me while we were in such a deep sleep, but she happened to press on my forearm. My broken forearm. It was too swollen to be anything else, the blood underneath the skin obscuring my tattoos.
Footsteps rang, coming up the path. Carefully but quickly, I lifted Evyn’s upper body off me. My entire shoulders and core screamed at me in response but I set my jaw and pushed through it. Lifting and replacing her slowly so as not to wake her, I stole to the window.
A man in Special Forces red approached the house, and I took a defensive stance. It was probably about Dan and his group yesterday. All of a sudden, the horror on Evyn’s face as the crowbar pressed against the side of my head flashed back to me. Dan deserved what he got. Although I had brawled in the mansion of the local lord; possibly they did not take kindly to their citizens being completely routed.
The soldier knocked on the door, and a chime sounded throughout the house. Evyn blinked awake, yawning. “Who’s that?”
“Special Forces.” Flattening myself against the wall, I peered over the sill at him. He looked too rotund to be an elite force, but I knew appearances were deceiving on this world. Social norms I knew could not be trusted to guide me here.
“Special Forces! How did they get over here?” Evyn joined me, mimicking my clandest
ine spying before sighing and straightening up. “It’s the postman. He’s got a package.” She opened the door and exchanged pleasantries with the man, who handed her a brown box and had her put her imprint on yet another of those handheld devices. Evyn thanked him and closed the door. “It’s for Mum.” She placed the package on the stairs. “I wonder when she’s coming home.”
“Today, the note said?”
Evyn nodded.
“Then what should we do until then?”
“Probably stay at home because you’re moving like a scarecrow. You’ll cause something of a stir walking around like that.”
We spent the morning at leisure, something I was grateful for. Evyn had me lie on the sofa, shaking her head when she saw how I draped off the edge of it. While she brought me food and drinks along with ice to put on various parts of my body, I told her stories about Oberrot, about my training and my friends, what I liked to do, what I wanted to be, and where I wanted to go. Evyn’s smiles were frequent and made my heart soar every time she flashed me one.
By midday, however, her countenance was downturned. She chewed her lip. “Mum still isn’t home yet.”
“It hasn’t been a full day. Try not to worry. But…” I shifted my shoulders. “I could do with seeing someone about my broken arm.”
“It’s broken?” Evyn stood up hurriedly. “Oh no! I had no idea. It looks pretty bad, but I’ve never broken a bone before.” She studied my forearm as if she could see through tattooed skin and muscle to the bone.
“Ordinarily, that glare would receive results immediately, but sadly bone cannot see it and respond to it.”
She scowled at me. “We’d better get you to a medimancer then. Are you in pain?”
“Yes.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t you say something, I have paracetamol here… I should have offered it before. I’m such an idiot.”
“You are not an idiot. I probably should not take any powerful medicines from this world. The same goes for you over there; I don’t know whether taking some of our medicines would be poisonous to you.”
“Mm. We can ask Aubin about that, right?”
My heart jumped. I looked her in the eye. “No one can know you’re from Earth, Evyn. Dangerous does not begin to describe the consequences of letting slip that secret. We cannot tell anyone, and I won’t, not even under pain of death.”
“Don’t go all dramatic on me, sheesh. Mum already read me the riot act. I won’t tell a soul. Figure of speech here. Anyway, clothes should be dry by now. I’ll get them and shut the house down, and then we’ll go.”
The walk back up the canal path was short in distance but took a long time. Evyn did not hurry me at all; instead, her face darkened with upset whenever she looked at me. With my other arm around her shoulders, I said, “Evyn, please smile. Don’t fret. I’ve had worse.”
“You have?”
“Indeed. Gavain can hit really hard. He broke my femur once. Now that hurt.” I stared at the grey stones crunching underfoot. “Don’t worry about Gavain and Aleric. I might need to break their heads a few times, but I will make them come around. They were… following my lead. For that I apologise.”
“Don’t hurt anyone on my account. They can think what they like. I’m used to it.”
Hugging her close, I resolved that my soul would receive love and acceptance for the love and acceptance she showed the world. I would be the one to illuminate those gifts. No more hiding away and making herself smaller; I would help my soul step into her power and make an impact on my world.
I caught myself. Which world would Evyn want to live in? She had fled my world because of me… Well, now she would be introduced to its wonders, thanks to me. It was true that here she would be safer, but over there she would be treated as royalty. I could think of no higher honour than protecting the daughter of the king’s soul companion for the rest of my days as we travelled around Oberrot.
First, I had to make sure she liked it and that it was safe. Easy.
As I planned which places to take her to first, Evyn opened the way. It was very much like the television; a panel hanging in mid-air. The stones of the castle made a fine welcome, and I eagerly hobbled toward it and the healers within.
After checking both ways on the corridor, I reported it clear. “Let’s report to the king first. Although it is up all those stairs.”
Evyn looked distracted. “Are there healers closer?” she asked.
“Yes, the infirmary is on the way to the barracks.”
“Then let’s go there first. Get your broken arm seen to and fixed up.” She held out her hand. Taking it more to hold it than out of necessity, I walked us slowly up and out of the secret corridor.
The castle was quiet, the usual noise from the mess hall absent despite it being the mid-sun meal. Our steps echoed in the hallway. The sun was brighter than the one on Earth and I had to blink to clear my eyes as we stepped out.
A grim sight confronted us.
A post had been erected on the training grounds, a hangman’s noose dangling from it. Next to it hung a man in chains, clearly dead; his head had been removed. The body had been fitted into a special set of restraints made just for him, keeping him upright as he slowly rotted.
Clapping her hand to her mouth, Evyn gave a muffled shriek. “What the—?”
“That’s a gibbet. We only do that for treason.” I pointed. “See, he would have been hanged slowly, lifted up from the floor and tied there. Then when he passed out, he’d be lowered and his head removed. It’ll be on a pike over the gates to the city. The body will remain in there for seasons until it rots away.” I crinkled my nose. “It often stinks.”
Evyn looked like she was going to be sick. “Wha… why?”
I shrugged a shoulder and winced. “Shouldn’t have committed treason. That’s happened fast, though. Gavain and Aleric will be able to tell me what went on.” I must have missed a great deal to have the body of a traitor gibbetted in under two days. “They’ll move it eventually. It’ll go on a kind of tour around the city.”
Evyn threw up, and I patted her back until it passed. “Come away,” I soothed. “Let’s get to the infirmary.”
We never made it.
When we approached the doors, someone called, “Get down on your faces!” I turned to see Gavain, a contingent of soldiers behind him.
“Gavain! It’s been an exciting few days. Seems like it’s been exciting here too—”
“I said get down!” he yelled. The soldiers levelled their spears at us.
I held my arms up. “Gavain, it’s me.”
“I won’t ask again. On your faces!”
“Better do as he says,” Evyn said quietly. Grousing about being made to lay down when my whole body hurt so much, I complied. Gavain marched up to us, the soldiers ringing to surround us.
“What’s going on – ouch!” I repressed a groan as Gavain grabbed my wrist and a soldier passed him a manacle. My shoulder screamed from being twisted around. “Gavain, stop!”
He cuffed me across the head. “Just lie there. Please,” he grunted. He grabbed my broken arm and I hissed with pain. “Trust me. Lie still, or I’ll have to do something worse.”
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. There had better be a good reason for this. I let him manacle both my hands behind my back. When I saw them approach Evyn, I snapped, “Get away from her.”
“Silence,” Gavain said heavily. “You are under arrest.”
“No, am I? What for, Gav?”
“You are to be arrested on sight. You vanished under mysterious circumstances.”
“The king knows all about it. Talk to the king.” I smiled grimly in anticipation of the look on his face when I referred him to the king and Gough came down on him hard for interfering.
Gavain winced. Picking Evyn up, he set her on her feet while three soldiers levered me up and used my broken and battered arms to do it. I growled again at the pain.
“Where did you go?” Gavain asked
me.
“The king knows.”
Gavain frowned at my face. “You got in a fight?”
“Big one. Seven men against me. Could have done with you there.” The men held my arms tight. I drew in a quick breath. “Gavain. What is going on?”
His lips thinned. “Thorrn, I can tell you don’t know, and it’s not an act. I’ve known you all my life. I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“Get the king. Get Shard. Where’s my father in all this? He put an arrest warrant on me? The king sent me, he knows what I was doing!”
At the mention of my father, Gavain’s gaze lowered to the ground. The soldiers looked at one another and then over my head.
I looked where they were staring.
At the gibbet.
At the man hanging from the gibbet.
“Thorrn, I’m so sorry,” Gavain said.
I screamed.
Chapter 9
I woke up in chains in a cell. My shoulders and arms hurt from the beating I’d taken on Earth and… something else. I tried to sit up, making several attempts. Everything ached afresh. Had I been in another fight? I lifted my head slowly on slack, unresponsive muscles.
One window flooded harsh light into the cell. All it showed me was the gibbet. I broke down and I sobbed.
“Thorrn!” A rattle and clatter sounded behind me. Evyn pressed herself against the bars separating us in adjoining cells, wiping away her flowing tears.
“Are you hurt?” I asked. “Did they harm you in any way?”
“They locked me up, that’s all. I mean, that’s a lot, but they didn’t hit me or what have you. I’m not tied down either.” She waved her hands to show me. “Thorrn. I’m so sorry about your father—”
“He wasn’t a traitor. He could never be a traitor.” This belief – this fact – kept me from breaking down. It simply could not be true. My stomach clamped painfully at the thought, as though I might be sick at any moment.