The Tenets in the Tattoos (The King's Swordsman Book 1)

by Becky James

  “Of course it’s real. And it can be so much better than the real world. All of your problems, all of the people you miss, all your secret wishes and longings… they all exist here.”

  Across the bridge, the Skienien guards were changing, shedding their furs. Stepping out of them came an average-sized man and a young boy.

  “Evyn! I’ve missed you,” the boy said.

  The man smiled. “Evyn, darling, come here.”

  I grabbed hold of my soul. She had not made a move, but the lash against my heart felt so strong, I knew the blow to hers was immense.

  “They aren’t real. That’s Waker tricking you,” I said quietly. “It’s low and disgusting and I’ll kill her for this.”

  She clung to my arm but could not take her eyes from the apparitions. “I… I know. But to see them again… even if it’s just the memories she’s got from my head…”

  “Anything is possible in dreams and aspirations,” Waker whispered. “Which means that I can make anything real. Your friend can grow up. Ben, wasn’t it? His life was cut cruelly short. He never had a chance to live. You can give him that chance, here. And your father. You can save him. You can finally tell him what you want to tell him, and it will work, he will stay his hand and be with you. You would have changed his mind.”

  Evyn’s breathing became erratic. I know she tried hard not to cry. “Evyn, don’t listen to her, come away.”

  “But we have to go through. We have to get to Gaddy.” She took a deep breath. “He’s alive. We can do something for him.” Taking my hand, she reached past me and held out her other hand for Aubin. He took it, holding it tight.

  She walked us to the end of the bridge. “Evyn…” I warned.

  “It’ll be okay. I have to do this.” She stopped. The man looked at her with shining eyes, and the boy beckoned her to run with him.

  “Ben, I’m sorry you died. It wasn’t your fault. There was nothing anyone could do, and it was so unfair. I think about you most days, what you’d be doing, what you’d be up to, but I learnt a long time ago that while your life stopped, the world didn’t. It’s monstrously unfair, but I didn’t want to overwrite my imaginary Ben over the top of you. I keep you as you are, as you were. And that’s the best I can do.”

  The boy smiled and vanished.

  “Dad.” The man perked up, pride in every line of him. Evyn’s face creased. “I’m sorry you felt the way that you did. I’m sorry you thought there was only one way out. It was your choice to make. I couldn’t affect that; no one could. I can’t be someone’s everything.” My heart thudded in my chest. “It doesn’t work like that. There was nothing I could say, or do, or be for you that would have made you stay. That was not up to me.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I love you. I know you loved me as much as you could. But I can’t carry that around with me. I have to take what I need and put the rest down.”

  The man nodded. Then he started to swell, growing into a giant. Spikes and fur burst from his skin. “You might have put your father to rest, but not me. I’m with you forever,” it snarled.

  Evyn shrieked, leaping into a guard stance. Aubin and I were right there with her. “Freud would have a complete ball with this!” she cried. I knew she wanted to make light so I laughed for her, even as I quickly assessed for weaknesses.

  “Aubin, we’re going to take its legs out. Evyn, you and I will go for its arms when it’s down.”

  “Or… I could shoot it with this.” Evyn had a huge silver tube in her hands.

  “You imagined that?” It looked like nothing I had ever seen, a cylinder of metal. “What does that do?”

  “Come over here and see. I need to rest this on your back over your shoulder. Bend down on one knee, like that, great.” The tube thudded into my back. “Sorry. There.” The opening peeked over my shoulder.

  I stayed firm, staring at the mouth. “What is that?”

  “Something called a bazooka. I imagine we push the trigger and—”

  A deafening fwoosh detonated from it, throwing me backwards. A projectile launched from the end, thudding into the chest of the monster. It exploded, tearing the monster into pieces.

  I sat up, laughing. “I have got to get one of these!”

  “Thorrn, you’re shouting.”

  “Am I? My ears hurt!” Tapping my head, I picked myself up, reassessing the battlefield. At least the field was clear to Gadamere’s dreamland.

  “I have a theory,” Aubin said, holding Evyn’s hand. She smiled shyly. I looked at it pointedly, but he pretended not to see. “I think Waker can only concentrate on making something real for one person at a time. The dreamlands are created by the dreamer, and she can walk them and influence them somewhat.

  “But I think nightmares that she deliberately wants to bring to the fore take a lot of power. I think she can only do that for one person at a time. Otherwise, why not create something for each of us just then?”

  “She wanted to go after Evyn,” I said, nodding in agreement with Aubin; a strange sensation for me. “She’s the strongest one here.” Evyn’s eyebrows raised at that, and I shrugged. “You are. You battle bad things of your own all the time. I don’t know how I would fare against something like that. She had me ensnared with a bit of…” I glanced at Aubin. “Never mind. And while we are growing closer, I am still affected by magic. You can actually actively fight it as it’s happening. And Aubin’s just a straight Oberrotian. He doesn’t have anything special to protect him.”

  Aubin lifted his head. “Which is why I think I should go distract Waker.” He held up his hands, stopping us before we could say anything. “She will concentrate on me for a time. She won’t be able to make nightmares to stand in the way between you two and Gadamere, and anything that does come up you can deal with.” He took a few paces away from us, back over the bridge.

  “But she’s most able to get nightmares from you,” I pointed out. Then I thought about it. “Nightmares that she can’t deploy against us because we’re not together…” He inclined his head, and I slowly nodded. “It makes a lot of sense.”

  “Wait, no,” Evyn interjected, “hang on, we can’t just leave you to it. That was mental torture. She’s going to torture you.”

  “Yes, Evyn.” He held his head up. “But I know it’s not real. I can hold on to that.”

  “Besides, his nightmare was you rebuffing a marriage proposal,” I said. “That’s no big hardship.” I looked over my soul’s head at Aubin. He held his shoulders very stiff.

  “Look after her,” Aubin said. “But I know you will.”

  “No, no, no, you don’t get to go all self-sacrificing and stuff—”

  “Evyn, it makes sense to do it this way,” I said. “I don’t like it, but it’s a brilliant idea. We’ll pick him back up before we go get Gough and make it better.”

  “Aubin has no protection against her, she’s going to drive him insane.” She scowled, and I simultaneously wanted to congratulate her for standing up for something and groan against her stubbornness. “By the same logic, I should go distract her because she’s interested in me. You said it yourself; I’m the strongest one here. She already had a go and I defeated it. I’m not letting you go off on your tod when she can just squash you like a bug.”

  Panic flailed at me. “No, Evyn—”

  “You two get Gadamere. I’ll go for Gough. That will get her attention.” She squatted.

  “Evyn, wait—” She leapt, and I grabbed hold of nothing but air as she launched herself into the sky.

  “Get after her!” Aubin said.

  “Get after her where? Where’d she go?” I scanned the sky desperately.

  “Waker snatched her up already.” Aubin started swearing.

  “When you’re done, I have some new words for you,” I snapped. “What a bright idea that was. Next time, please quietly sacrifice yourself in the corner.”

  He pulled his sleeves down with jerky movements. “Let’s get Gadamere as quickly as we can.”

  We ran a
cross the bridge and up into the foothills. The landscape looked Skienien with its snow-tipped peaks and roaring rivers, but tamed into the efficiency and neatness of an Oberrotian field.

  We came upon a feasting hall and ventured inside. It had none of the usual trappings of a feast hall, such as the mess and dirt and blood, and inside proved a quaint and tidied-up version. “This isn’t like Skien at all. This is someone’s sanitised version of Skien. Look. The serving wenches have their blouses on and everything.”

  Aubin sighed, approaching the man sitting on the throne. Lounging, actually; one leg thrown indolently on the arm of the chair, his large bulk swathed in furs. Gadamere frowned at me as I paced up to him. “Luc? What are you doing here?”

  “Who is this Luc that I keep being mistaken for? Thorrn Shardsson, at your service.” I saluted the soul companion of the queen. “You’re in a dream, sir. MasterMage Waker has you under her thrall.”

  “How do you know it’s a dream? You could be dream things.”

  “Uh, well, sir, if this were a Skienien hall, there’d be a fight in here any heartbeat now. Everyone looks… civilised.”

  Gadamere frowned, sitting up. “Where’s Elly? Queen Ellesmere to you.”

  “She was imprisoned in her dream city. But don’t worry,” I said quickly as he got up with a roar. “We rescued her. We got her out of her cage and into safety.”

  “No one puts my soul in a cage. No one! Where is she now? I want to see her.” I imagined the safe place and the door popped into existence while Aubin peered at it curiously. Ellesmere beckoned Gadamere inside, and he happily followed her.

  “That was easy. Too easy,” I said.

  “Because my theory was right and Waker is distracted.” Aubin glanced up at the sky above. “However, she might have realised what we’re doing, and Evyn is in her way.”

  We hurried back to the bridge and Ellesmere’s city. “Where would the king be?” Aubin asked.

  “In the castle.” I pointed at top of the hill where Oberrot Castle stood proudly. We jogged toward it, the sky growing darker as we passed between tall buildings.

  Waker’s voice rolled out from the thunder. “I don’t have to use just you. I can reach out across worlds for your consciousness! There are versions of you that have seen and done terrible things.”

  “Is she talking to us?” I panted.

  “I think Evyn is giving her a lot of trouble.” One side of Aubin’s mouth went up.

  The castle courtyard looked busy, but when I caught glances of faces hurrying around us, their features were indistinct. Gavain had once hit me so hard on the head my vision had blurred and I could only recognise my contingent and even my father by how they walked and moved. These figures reminded me of that time, triggering half-remembered snatches to tug at my memory for a name or status but no definite characteristics.

  “As I suspected, Gough is clearly unaware of the great majority of the people who work for him,” Aubin said in a flat voice.

  “He can’t be expected to, surely.” I attempted to tap a dream thing on the shoulder. It turned smartly toward me, leaning in and tipping its face up to meet mine. “Ah! That nose. That’s definitely one of the stewards. I think we’re seeing what Gough remembers about people. It’s troubling me that all of these seem somewhat familiar.”

  Aubin folded his arms. “Marginally better, I suppose.”

  “You’re detail-orientated, but I bet you couldn’t remember every man, woman and child in the castle.”

  “I seem to recall my dream world being sufficiently detailed and realistic.”

  I walked next to him, keeping him within arm’s reach. “And entirely empty of people.”

  “What was your dreamworld like?” he asked pointedly.

  “Um, doesn’t matter.” White space and a woman. “It’s not as if these things say anything about you as a person, I assume.” I tried not to make that a question.

  “I would be tempted to make inferences, yes.” He grabbed my arm and I dropped into a guard stance in response. “Evyn! There!”

  I followed his line of sight. Evyn stood framed in the double doors to the gallery, squinting into the mess hall and looking up the stairs as if worried she needed dispensation to get in. Or she was looking for something. “Great catch,” I said.

  We navigated around the dream folk, or at least I did, weaving and turning to avoid the stream. Aubin walked straight through them; they reappeared behind him, shaking their heads and moving on.

  Approaching the side of the door, to remain unseen by anything inside, I leant toward Evyn. “What’s the situation?” I asked her.

  Evyn jumped with a squeak, and bolted back into the courtyard.

  I was so surprised I hesitated. “It’s us! Wait!” I ran after her.

  “She might be a dream thing,” Aubin said.

  “She looked real. As real as you, and not like these things.” I couldn’t help but wince as I blundered into the crowd, apologising under my breath to the dream things I scattered and trampled through.

  “It could be a trap. Be on your guard,” Aubin told me, at my heels.

  “Always.” Once through the gates to the castle courtyard I picked up the pace and gained on Evyn easily. Instead of halting her headlong dash, I thudded along beside her. “Hello?”

  “Thorrn!” she shouted. “Alts incoming!”

  “What?”

  She drew to a halt, panting and blowing, her hands on her knees. I glanced about for a threat, Aubin pulling up next to me. “Are you hale and well? What’s happening?” I reached out to her.

  “Back off,” a man’s voice growled. From the gap between the barracks and the armoury came a man wearing the reds. A very familiar man.

  Another me.

  Chapter 21

  “I fancy this is the king’s version of me,” I said, taking a guard stance in front of Evyn. This Thorrn sported an angry scowl and carried a huge double-handed sword, a twin to Gough’s. “Why do I have the king’s sword? I don’t favour it at all. Impressive shoulders, though, I wish I really did have shoulders like that.”

  The other me careened toward us, raising his weapon. I cocked my head. As he entered range, I knocked his sword back with my lighter blade, and he overbalanced and staggered to the side. I kicked his leg, and he went down. “Hm.”

  “Don’t hurt each other!” Evyn said.

  “He did try to attack me,” I reminded her. The other me jumped to his feet, putting his hands up to bare-knuckle fight. I tutted. “That’s shocking. What, did you forget basic training? Guard One is the first thing we learn. Centre your balance. Move your leg that way. That way. The other way. Hands up a little more. Like this. See this? Copy that. There.” I balled my fists. “That’s more like it. We can fight now, and I won’t feel bad about grinding you into the floor.”

  “Are you… teaching him?” Evyn straightened up.

  “It’s second nature to correct poor form, but you’re right, I should take advantage of it. It just galls me to see someone wearing the reds and conducting themselves like that.”

  Aubin frowned at Evyn and said, “Thorrn, there’s something…” A shadow passed over us, and a man landed lightly beside him, straightening up “…strange going on.”

  “You can say that again,” a double of Aubin said.

  “I don’t need to. We seemed to understand each other the first time,” my Aubin replied.

  “This dream thing has personality. That’s interesting.” The other Aubin cocked his head.

  “Stop studying it and attack it. They are after Evyn!” the other me roared.

  “Okay, time out. That means everyone stop.” Evyn held up her hands. “We aren’t going to hurt each other. They weren’t chasing me, I just panicked a bit,” she said, but to the other version of me.

  Evyn flashed me a dazzling smile. “Hi. I’m another version of your soul Evyn. I’m also Evyn. We’re kind of… travellers, between the worlds. Do you know about alt-histories?”

  “Alternati
ve histories? Those are stories.” Aubin looked his double up and down. The other Aubin’s teeth showed, the smile clashing with the sharpness in his eyes.

  “Earthians are stories too.” She winked, holding out her hand. I took it to bow over it. “Oh, no, sorry, I meant to shake. Here.” Turning my wrist to the side she put her palm to mine, her small fingers closing around my index and middle finger. When I did the same, my hand swamped hers. She moved her arm up and down. “There you go. Handshake. Hello.”

  “You really don’t know me, do you?” My head swam. “You’re… alternative versions of us? Not dream things?”

  “We’re from a different timeline in history, yes. I don’t feel much like a dream.” She patted herself, and I had to admit she looked solid enough; fully formed, and exactly the double of my Evyn. She shifted from foot to foot exactly like her. “Would you mind telling us who the rulers are in this world?”

  “I suppose not,” I said, glancing at Aubin. He shrugged. I went on, “It’s King Gough and his Queen Ellesmere. They’ve been put under a spell by MasterMage Waker. Torgund has taken the crown for now, but I plan to wake Gough and depose Torgund soon enough. We’re here to rescue them. Evyn – my Evyn, that is – she’s split from us to distract Waker. I want to find her as soon as possible. Have you seen another Evyn? Potentially flying around, giving Waker all sorts of trouble?”

  Evyn shook her head. “Sorry, I haven’t. Who’s MasterMage Waker?”

  Before I could answer the other Aubin replied, “She was the MasterMage before Luc.”

  I held up my hand. “That name keeps coming up. Who is Luc, and why do I keep getting mistaken for him?”

  The other versions glanced at each other. “Apparently their MasterMancer,” my Aubin said.

  “Alright, and why do people think I’m him?”

  “He’s an offshoot of King Dolobere,” the other Aubin replied. The new Evyn looked daggers at her Aubin.

  I frowned. King Dolobere of Oberrot, Gough and Torgund’s father, was also known as the Mad King. He was said to suffer a battle madness, and have a wandering eye. The king’s mother, Tormend, had taken Torgund back to Daron after one too many indiscretions. “That being said, that still doesn’t answer why I’m—”