by Becky James
“Legionnaires? Soldiers?” I spun around as fast as I could in the water to make a complete sweep of the area. That made Evyn laugh in relief too. It was big belly and chest laughter. It sounded good.
Chapter 12
Evyn and I helped each other to the bank while Aubin shook his hair off and wrung out his stolen uniform. Boots slopping and sloshing, and the wind spiking along our wet clothes, we walked the half a turn of the glass to Evyn’s and her mother’s house. Heady with the relief and accomplishment that floods fighters post-battle, I kept one arm around my soul. I had rescued her! We were not sundered! We were together!
But by the time Evyn pulled her keys out of her dripping wet pockets and opened the door, I had sobered and chilled significantly, and not just from the weather. “We’re wanted criminals now.”
“Indeed.” Aubin looked around the house with interest. Still no sign of Rose; Evyn’s shoulders slumped when her mother did not answer her hails.
Evyn showed Aubin all the rooms and introduced them and their function. I followed along as I had not had a similar induction. When we got to the kitchen, my stomach growled warningly.
“Pizza?” I asked hopefully.
Evyn sighed. “There are other types of food here.”
“Just as good, though?”
She rolled her eyes. “There’s only one bathroom. How about one of you go first, and I’ll get some stuff organised.”
Aubin and I glanced at each other. “We can bathe together, you know,” I said. Evyn spluttered a bit at that. “What? He’s a man, I’m a man. Don’t you share baths here?”
Evyn continued to gibber. “I’ll leave you to it. I need to change some sheets.”
While we were alone in the bathroom, I confronted Aubin. “You’re something more than a mere apothecarist,” I accused.
“Insightful observation.” He peeled off his purloined jacket, thumbing the vials out of it and setting them to one side, a small frown on his face. “I have picked up a range of skills, as I needed to defend against anyone who thought to use me against Tuniel. Many souls of magic users may think that their only options are to die or to rely on their partner for defence, but you can also accept being a target and take steps to make that a difficult proposition for anyone to undertake.” Sinking into the warm bathwater, he murmured, “As well, a man has to make a living.”
“So you’re a Skienien Battlemistress blade fighter? How does that make money?”
“The apothecary side, Thorrn.”
“Oh. Well… wait. If you know which plants heal, you also know which ones hurt…” I nearly jumped out of Evyn’s small tub. “You’re an assassin, aren’t you!”
“That’s an interesting conclusion to jump to. Better to think of me as a contractor. Now move over. You’re taking up rather a lot of space. You’re far too disgustingly tall.”
We drained the water and started it again for Evyn. I found her outside the bathroom and enveloped her in my arms. “Thorrn, you’re all clean and I’m filthy!”
“Don’t care. I have my soul back.” I felt her grin against me before she pulled back.
“Aubin, you’re in Mum’s room.” She pointed to the door next to the bathroom. “I changed the sheets. There’s some of Dad’s old clothes laid out. We didn’t keep much, I’m afraid. Thorrn, I’m not sure what to do clothes-wise for you. Have a go at some of those things.”
I nodded. “And then food and sleep. I’m exhausted.”
“Yeah. Uh.” She seemed uneasy, glancing at Aubin and then blushing. “Will you stay with me in my room?” she asked me.
“Of course. Where else would we go?”
“I, yes, sorry, I just didn’t know if it was the done thing.” She tugged at her knot of wet hair.
“New souls tend to want to be together,” Aubin said lightly. “This room has the clothes in it, you said? My thanks.” Walking in he closed the door, and Evyn let out a sigh of relief.
“Enjoy your bath, Evyn. I’ll be right outside.” Keeping Aubin away from you, I added silently. She squeezed my hand and went into the bathroom.
Aubin came out wearing a button-down shirt and a pair of heavy cloth trousers. “She’s right. There’s little for you here.”
“I guess I’m wearing a towel. Come downstairs. We will put a pizza into the furnace.”
Some searching in the coldest humming white box turned up many pizzas. I skinned them all and pulled off their membranes. I put them all in, but the furnace was not in the least hot or humming. Aubin and I stared at the multiple dials, turning this one or that, but nothing fired to life.
“Oh. You have to put the timer on to make the oven go.” Evyn came in brushing her long hair. She tapped some buttons and turned a dial, then scowled at the haul. “Are we really going to eat all of these?”
“Are there more?” I asked seriously.
Evyn showed me how the box with a circular mouth worked and put our sodden clothes into it. Watching the spinning thing mangle and eat our clothes, I said, “I don’t relish wearing an ill-fitting soldier’s uniform for long. If it comes out of that intact.”
“We can go shopping tomorrow.” She yawned with a big crack from her jaw. “Oh. Did anyone get hurt? Are we all okay?”
“Bruises. Tired muscles. Nothing more,” I replied, moving my limbs carefully.
“Some abrasions,” Aubin noted. “I will need to restock my supplies. It would be useful if I had a guide to the local flora.”
“Oh, sure.” Evyn disappeared into the room menaced by the TV and came back with a thick book clutched to her chest. She opened it onto the table. “Let’s see… British hedgerow plants, native species… I’m sure we have another book too…” She went to get another. “Organic gardening…” And another. “Habitats…” Sitting next to Aubin, they poured over the books together. Evyn showed him what was available, and Aubin asked many questions. Eventually he asked for paper and a steele, and Evyn gave him a small bound notebook and a little wooden stick. “Pencil,” she pronounced. She offered me one, but I had nothing to do with it except spin it. It would not make a good weapon at all.
“Do you have any armaments here?” I asked.
Evyn winced. “Uh, I suppose you can make do. Household chemicals can make some nasty stuff. Generally, when we say weapons, we mean knives or guns. Guns fire small projectile bullets made of metal.”
“Small? Like…?” I held my hands a foot apart.
“No, like…” She put her thumb and forefinger very close together.
I snorted. “Does that act as an irritant?”
“Depends on the force behind the projectile,” Aubin said with interest. “If it is significant, then the damage would be substantial.”
Evyn nodded. “You got it. But guns are illegal in Britain. Unless you’re a farmer or sometimes a vet.”
“Crowbars are obviously legal—”
“You can’t just carry weapons around here. And there’s really no need. Crime is statistically really very low.”
“I mean for when we go back to Oberrot,” I said. “I’ll need a weapon then.”
“What about the wrapped sword you were carrying around?” Aubin asked.
I snapped upright. “My father’s sword.”
Retrieving it, I carefully unwrapped it in the room with the spinning clothes box in it. Soggy papers stuck to the oil cloth and melded to one another. Evyn and I pulled them apart carefully, and she pegged them on a line criss-crossing the ceiling. She squinted at a few, flattening them out.
“We’re going to want to read all of these when they’re dry,” she said. I nodded. I cleaned my father’s sword, lost in shining up the well-worn metal that had served my father faithfully for more years than I had been alive. Although Shard had been a head shorter than me, he favoured a long blade, so it fit me well, and the balance was just right. Gripping the hilt, my fingers followed the well-worn impressions his strong guiding hand had left in the leather.
We ate all the pizza, to Evyn’s horror,
and we all retired even though it was only quarterday and the sun was still high in the sky. Entering Evyn’s room I immediately felt too big. It featured a bed and then every other available surface was given over to books. At least it was a big bed; I fell into it and, as soon as Evyn lay beside me, I was out.
“Thorrn.”
Evyn was calling me. She was in the Last Tower, guards posted at every choke point. Gritting my teeth, I waited for a break in the projectiles rattling into the wall beside me. They hit and bounced and rolled along the stairs in a silvrine rain. I picked one up, an insignificant scrap of metal. “It’s nothing,” I scoffed. With a roar, I rounded the corner and charged.
The shards of metal tore into me. I gasped, but my lungs ripped and rent open. My legs failed me. Still the rain came, Evyn calling my name.
I lay dying, having failed her—
“Thorrn! Wake up.”
I jolted awake. I was in her room on Earth that looked very much like a library, and Evyn was at the foot of the bed holding a steaming mug.
“I made you tea. It’s well after nine in the morning, lazybones. We slept all afternoon and the night.”
“Nine? Tea? I’m not sick.” I sat up. “I need to visit the bathroom.”
“Your towel has fallen off,” Evyn pointed out.
“It’s only you and Aubin here.”
“I suppose you did bathe together last night.” Evyn chuckled.
When I came back, I took the tea from her. “Thanks.” I downed it in one smooth gulp. “I need to do some training. Something, anything.”
“Whoa, okay. We need to find some clothes for you first, you definitely can’t run around the park in a towel. Let’s think. Why don’t you put the uniform on? I put it up this morning so it’s dry now, and then you can go run around the park.”
“Like a dog, yes? And you’ll come with me?”
“Not like a dog, but yes, I’ll come with. I won’t be doing any running, though.”
“Hm.” I stared into the empty tea container. I had not left my soul happily disposed toward training. “It might be useful if you learnt some basic defence.”
Evyn waved her hand. “I can ping away.”
I coughed. “Stepping over the sky is not going to be my preferred method of keeping you safe.”
“It kind of worked.” She wiggled her fingers. “With practice I could probably do it better. I’d hate to create a portal into a block of stone, though.” I shuddered at that.
We retrieved the uniform and I touched some of Shard’s papers fluttering over my head on the line. Evyn nodded eagerly. “They’ve dried nicely. I can have a go at categorising these for you? From what I’ve glanced at, there’s things like land deeds and some legalese and then there’s more personal writing.” She touched my hand. “It’s things that Shard wanted you to know or have.”
“Land deeds.” I took a deep breath. “That will be the family’s burial plot.” My heart hurt. A place Shard would never be taken to.
She froze in place. “Oh, Thorrn, I’m so sorry…” An ache brushed me, a glimmer of her sympathy pulsing through the bond, and we moved as one toward each other, touching hands in concert.
I smiled sadly at her. “What are the personal writings about? My father never had the time to sit and write. He was always moving.” Touching one of the papers lightly, I saw the ink had smudged. I had failed my father again by not taking care of his papers.
I looked down at Evyn. Her smile lifted my heavy heart.
As the kettle boiled, I sat at the table while Evyn busily sorted papers into piles, shuffled them, reshuffled them, combined piles, separated another pile, and then lined them up. “There. Legal-looking things are at the back, the… land deed is here, and there’s something that looks like a checklist for a day—”
I picked that last up, forcing my eyes to focus on it. “Training. Meetings. More training. Strategy. This is his to do list.” I turned it over. “From last turn.” I placed it down and Evyn refiled it efficiently. “This is a collection of his effects, isn’t it? Barlay wrapped it up in case I wanted it.”
“There’s also this.” Evyn slid a small scrap of paper to me. It had been written in haste with a shaking hand. She glanced at me, and then cleared her throat. “Thorrn”, she read out loud, “the final spire is a ruse. The real escape for our true charge is a spirit’s first rest. Find if there are answers there. Go well, my boy.”
I stared at the note. “Did he write that… as they were coming for him?”
“I think so,” Evyn said quietly. “And he bundled it with all these papers to obscure it.” Evyn sat in the seat next to me. “I think he was trying to leave you a clue to where Gough and Mum had gone. He couldn’t be obvious in case someone else went through his things and he didn’t know if he could trust them.”
“What? A clue to Gough? How’d you come to that?”
She pointed. “Final spire alludes to the Last Tower, right? It’s supposed to be the last bastion of defence for the royal family. That’s what Mum said to me on our visit. But Shard says here it’s a ruse, a fake. I did think it was a bit stupid to advertise that that was where you’d be holing up. So, if Gough and Mum didn’t run to the Last Tower to stay safe, where else could they go?”
I pondered this for a moment. “But, I mean, that’s it. That’s what the Last Tower is for.”
“Maybe to everyone except the king and the captain of Special Forces, who know where the real escape is. And the true charge is Shard saying that while the crown is what Special Forces is charged to protect, the real one – the true charge – is still Gough. I just don’t know what a spirit’s first rest is.”
“It’s Spiritshere mountain.” Aubin leant against the doorframe. I straightened up, clutching my father’s note tight. “Do you have any restorative?”
“I have tea? Coffee?” Evyn offered, standing.
“I’ll try this coffee.” He sat himself at the table, and I dragged the piles of my father’s papers toward me before his sharp eyes could mark them.
Aubin rolled his eyes and went on. “When we die, our spirits travel the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth spans the entire world, and the start of it is said to be Spiritshere mountain. A spirit’s first rest is bound to be that.” Aubin shook his head. “It’s not a very hidden message at all.”
“Let’s see you try better when there’s men coming to hang you,” I snapped.
“Point.” Aubin folded his arms. “Gough is likely to be in Spiritshere mountain. Interesting.”
“And Spiritshere is a good, what, four, five days from the city?” I asked. Aubin nodded. “Four or five days of travel without being seen. Our faces are probably in every lodestone in Oberrot by now.” I balled my fists.
Evyn put Aubin’s coffee on the table, frowning in thought. “Do we have to travel in Oberrot? Can we travel… over here?”
“And ping across every now and again to check where we are? Evyn, you’re a genius!” I said with a smile.
“It’ll be safer, but it will take longer. A lot of trial and error,” Aubin mused.
“But we have proper automotive power over here,” she said. “I can get to Scotland in less than a day. We can cover a lot more ground.”
We stared at her, and she rubbed her temple. “Oh, yeah, you have no idea where Scotland is in relation to us, so you have no context. Right, hang on. Aubin, did you see a map in Mum’s room? She has a map of the UK in there, right?”
“Yes, I saw a map. I studied it briefly. It was interesting to me how many of our places share the same names.”
“They do? Are you sure? Let’s have a look.” Evyn ran up the stairs with little thuds on each riser. Aubin gave a sidelong look to his coffee. I peered into the container to see it; black and frothy. He made a face, and I grinned.
“Here it is.” Evyn flourished the map. It had been set in a frame with glass over it. “Here’s where we are, and here’s Scotland.” She pointed to two places on the map. “And… And it’s…” She trailed o
ff, then looked up at Aubin. “Did you say shared names?”
“Indeed. Look. Here’s Dinareh. That’s the capital of Dinahe. There’s Long. There’s Tergue Hall. There’s Doblanshi.”
“Those aren’t the real names of these places, though.” Evyn’s eyes widened. “I’d never really looked at this map before, I just assumed it was a generic map of the UK that Mum had on her wall, since she likes maps… But she’s made notes on it.” She smiled, open-mouthed. “Mum has done the hard work for us. These are locations in Oberrot overlaid on the ping-through places here in the UK. And look.” She pointed to the west of the island on the map, above a jagged protrusion. “Here’s Spiritshere.”
Chapter 13
We made plans. Evyn charted our course on the Earthian side and we determined to leave by quarterday, so we had time to make preparations. I needed clothes, and Aubin wanted to collect samples of plants to make his potions with them.
Walking down the road to the park, Evyn described everything to me and Aubin in great detail, passionately explaining things and making little quips. She had skill in bringing her explanations back to a context we could grasp to make sure we understood. I tried to listen, but mostly I liked hearing the sound of my soul’s voice. Whenever I could, I walked next to her.
We took the kissing gate out of the other end of the park, turning in a different direction than the one we had taken to Teresa’s mansion. This route was thick with cars and other manner of beasts. Aubin looked calm on the surface, but his gaze snapped around to take everything in. Evyn slowed down in response to explain some more things, and I tapped my leg impatiently. This uniform proved tight and uncomfortable, and I wanted to get on.
We waited for a short time at a three-walled shelter. We were the only occupants, so Evyn continued talking. Aubin asked more questions, and Evyn’s explanations became more detailed. She smiled warmly, and her hands were animated. I couldn’t stop grinning at her. A glance at Aubin showed a small discreet smile on his face too. Hm.
A bus beast heaved to a stop beside us. We stepped aboard, and I went first to show Aubin how it was done, choosing a seat amongst the Earthians. Evyn sat next to me, and Aubin stood. As the bus lurched off, Evyn and I dipped forward in our seats, but Aubin did not move a hair. He turned around and around slowly as the beast progressed and the landscape changed. It moved from taller buildings to smaller buildings and then to taller buildings again, these ones displaying gruesome gibbets in the windows.