by Becky James
“I’ve had… had enough of beasts…” I pushed myself upright anyway, leaning heavily on the man to limp where he led me.
“You have to get in, you need to go before the police get here. I’ll say you fled the scene. Luc will take you to our house, and I’ll be right behind you, I’ll tell him to ice you up and keep you awake until I get there. You probably have a concussion… Luc! Get out, open the door for him.”
An armoured door on the side of the shiny beast opened. Out stepped a dream version of me, eyes flashing angrily. “James, what is this?”
“I don’t know! I thought we should get him home before the authorities see him, we’d never get any answers then. Quick, back door.” The dream version of me opened another panel, and the green warrior hustled me into its belly. Inside were seats like a train or bus beast, but these were cramped, the ceiling low. “Lay down there, fold your legs up. Luc, ice, water, don’t let him sleep.”
“Understood,” the other version of me said. A loud slam made me jump, and pain flowed over me. Their muffled words washed around me, then the beast roared underneath my stomach, rocking me.
“I need…I need to find…”
“I closed that hole you made. I don’t think anyone noticed it. You’re lucky,” the dream me said.
“I need to find her. I need her. I have to… I need…” Then it rapidly got too dark to see.
“I said don’t let him sleep!” An exasperated man.
“I couldn’t exactly prevent it, James. He slipped away on me.” A sardonic drawl.
“We’re lucky. Really lucky he hasn’t got a concussion. He could have died, and then we’d have a dead body in the house, and—”
“Don’t get in a flap, I’d just dump him in Oberrot. And the sheets… those sheets are ruined now.”
I tried to move my head or open my eyes.
“Soldier, can you hear us? Stay still. You’re waking up but take your time.”
“Mm not… soldier… Special…”
“Special Forces?” Someone prodded my forearm with the identification tattoos on it. “Right. Here it is. Now, there’s no rush, take it slow.”
“There … is a rush. Evyn. Evyn!” I forced my eyes open.
I lay flat on my back in a bed with my arms up by my head. The space around me looked wide and bright. Looking down at me from either side stood two men. One I recognised as the medimancer from earlier, out of his armour. The other was a version of myself. “I’m dreaming,” I told myself.
This version of me was older, with lines around his eyes and etched around his eyebrows, as if he did a great deal of frowning. “No, afraid not,” he said. “I’m Luc. Lovely to meet you. I’d shake hands, but…”
I moved my arms. They brought up short. Slowly, I tilted my painful head back to see a pair of very thin manacles holding my wrists, the short chain in the middle passed around a wooden slat in the headboard.
“Those are police grade, quite impossible to get out of,” the me calling himself Luc said. “I won’t ask why you have such high standard cuffs in your toy chest, James.”
“Good,” the medimancer James sniffed. “I’m allowed some secrets from you.”
“Are you going to interrogate me?” I asked.
“No, not at all. We just didn’t want you to move.” James rubbed the back of his head.
“Are you going to let me go?”
“We’d like to have a chat first, if that’s okay.” James was squirming.
“Like this?”
He glanced at me and away. “Um… yes. Afraid so. Can’t be too careful.”
“Indeed. You can’t.” Taking a breath, I gave a sharp tug of my arms. The wooden slat snapped and splintered. I grabbed hold of the broken wood as a stake, straining my protesting stomach muscles to flip upright. Sitting up, I turned to face Luc.
James backed away sharply. Luc just stood there smiling.
I nodded. “So we’re actually going to have a chat like this. If that’s okay.”
“Fine by me,” Luc murmured.
“Now then. Where am I?”
“Sheffield. City of Sheffield.”
“And this place?”
“Our apartment. ‘Flat’ is typically what it’s called here.”
“Why’d you bring me here?”
“Because you are from Oberrot and you look exactly like me.”
“What do you think I’m doing here, and why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know what you’re doing here. I can guess as to why you might look like me. How old are you?” Luc asked me.
“Two turns shy of a score.”
“So… Shardsson?”
My heart hitched. “Does everyone know but me?” I groused.
Luc laughed, the sound filling the bright, white room. “My older half-brother. My other older half-brothers are Gough and Torgund.” My eyes widened. “How did you find out?”
I didn’t think mentioning the alternative versions we met during a dream would play to a case of not sustaining a head injury from the car beast. “… Never mind. Take a guess as to why I’m here.”
Luc’s brows knitted, those well-tracked furrows coming into play. “I don’t know, I said.”
“But you are thinking of something, otherwise why would you manacle a helpless man to a bed.” I jiggled my bound hands, holding the stake firmly.
“I think you might be a messenger. You would be an interesting choice to send. But I cannot escape thinking that you might also be a man of ambition.” His voice had grown cold.
“You think I want the throne? I protect the throne, or at least, the true king. That’s what I do.” It felt good to say it out loud, ringing true to me like another tenet. Something to swear to when I returned, perhaps, and add to my code.
But Luc’s brown eyes narrowed. “And many are the men who decide they would rather sit on it than serve it.”
I scowled. “Not me.” Throwing the stake, it clattered into a table, wobbling the statue atop it. I held out my hands. “Get these off me.”
“Of course.” Luc nodded to James. With shaking hands James unlocked the manacles. “Would you like some tea?”
I nodded, rubbing my wrists and marvelling at the restraints. “Those are the most comfortable manacles I’ve ever worn.”
“Worn many, have you?” Luc said. “Sugar in your tea?”
“What’s that?”
“Saccrine, excuse me.”
“Then yes. In copious volume.”
Once I had my tea cupped in my hands – the movement familiar to me and sending a pang of loss through me – I moved my body to the edge of the bed slowly, assessing the damage. Bruised and battered again. “Can you heal me up, medimancer?”
James rubbed his elbow with the opposite hand. “Uh, it doesn’t work like that on Earth. I’m not an Oberrotian, I’m English.”
“An Earthian,” Luc supplied.
I nodded to Luc. “You have an Earthian soul too. And you, what, ping back and forth here?”
“Yes.” Luc sipped his tea with an ungentlemanly slurp. “Sheffield is very handy for Tergue Hall. The summers on Oberrot are unpleasantly hot but it is nice to get some winter sun.”
“Who else knows about you?” I paused to think. “Ellesmere and Gadamere. So, Gough must know too.”
Luc’s eyes flashed. “Yes. The deal is, I leave them alone, they leave me alone. I have no real claim to the throne apart from blood. Blood can sometimes be enough for those ambitious men I mentioned, and blood is what they will take for it.”
“Torgund.” I nodded. “He had Shard executed and tried to have me killed as well.”
Luc’s eyebrows raised, the only outward show of shock I saw. “So that’s why I have not heard from Ellesmere in a while.”
I stiffened, berating myself internally, but sending tension through my body hurt. I bit back the pain. “I don’t know that I should have given you that information. I will inform Queen Ellesmere upon my return.”
Luc tipped
back in his seat, placing one ankle on the opposite knee. James followed suit at exactly the same time. They were close. “And do you have a way to get back?” Luc asked.
Memory trickled back. “My soul companion. She can travel between the worlds. But… something happened.” Closing my eyes, I tried to stay calm. “She was taken. She fell through here, somewhere nearby.” My attention snapped to James. “Did that car beast hit her? Is she hale and well?”
James frowned. “There was no one else involved in the RTA. Witnesses said it was like you appeared out of nowhere. There was one man that said he saw another man get a girl out of the way,” he supplied.
Sitting forward, more pain flared in my back and sides, but I ignored it. “Where did they go? Which direction?”
“They could be anywhere by now,” Luc said. “Are you the Finder?”
I growled. “No, I’m the stupid Caller.”
“Hey!” James protested.
“It is stupid, right now. I need to find her. She’s in danger. Something happened, something…” Aubin flashed in front of my mind. Aubin deadly and dangerous, Aubin holding a knife to Evyn’s throat, Aubin slashing and Evyn’s blood spilling on the ground… The mix of dreams and reality collided inside me, making me dizzy. Putting my tea down with a shaking hand, I rasped, “I remember now. She’s being held hostage. He’s taking her to the MasterMage’s Palais.”
Luc frowned. “Through Earth?”
“It’s in Cambridge. That’s the ping-through place. He’s not well. Waker did something to his head. He thinks he has a family and children and everything, and Waker has told him she’ll give them back in exchange for Evyn.” I stood up, legs shaking. “You have to help me.”
Luc blinked slowly, his face darkening. “Excuse me?”
“Get me to Cambridge. Ping me through. I’ll pay you. I’ll do anything.” I swung to look at James. “Those were really comfortable handcuffs.”
He paled. “I mean, there’s a safe word, I don’t… I don’t… argh.”
Luc raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think my soul companion would really want to take advantage of a boy who looks like me. That’s a kink too far.”
James squeaked.
I screwed my fists shut. “Fine. Anything. I have the ear of the queen.” Disquiet clawed at me. “As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
Luc stood up, unwinding from the chair. His height matched mine, a streak of silver at his temples, eyes flicking between mine. “There isn’t anything I want. If I start meddling in Oberrotian affairs, I stand to lose a lot.”
“You’ll just be taking me somewhere and letting me in close to Waker.” My eyes narrowed. “Wait. She knows you too.”
Luc inclined his head. “In the latter days of my youth, I attended the Academy. I was one of her brightest pupils.”
“She’s really interested in you. Me. Why is that?”
Luc shrugged. “Perhaps she saw the resemblance and started making assumptions.” His lips thinned. “If I help you, she could accuse me of trying to overthrow her. With my connection to the royal family, she could make a case that the royals encroached on magical affairs. The Accords would be broken, and there would be war.” Luc moved toward the doorway out, shaking his head.
“Or…” I was close to grabbing him, feeling the opportunity slip away. “You could just open one little portal and I won’t say a word to anyone. Not under dire torture.” I looked again at James.
He threw his hands over his eyes. “I just use them for show! Honest!”
Luc looked back over his shoulder. “I will take you through to Tergue Hall. You can make your own way from there.”
I licked my dry lips. “But that’s not fast enough. Evyn and Aubin are on this side. They can get to Cambridge in less than a day here. Over there, I’m looking at a sennight of travel from Tergue Hall to the Palais. Please. Please, you have to help me.” My knees trembled.
James peered through his fingers at me. “Luc, could we buy him a train ticket?”
Putting my hands together, I locked my fingers to stop myself reaching toward this man. “I need to ping through the other side. I would need you along.” Luc shook his head again. “Waker won’t ever know. Please.”
The dam inside me burst, and words flowed free. “Evyn is my soul companion, she’s Earthian, and he’s going to deliver her up to Waker. Waker hates her because my soul can use the dreamlands, she’s good at it and she gave Waker a hard time, so Waker took her inamarato and tortured him until he turned against her. This is what Waker is waiting for. She’s doing all this for revenge just because Evyn could best her. Evyn rescued the queen and Gadamere from her—”
“Waker has done what?” Luc snapped.
I grasped hard onto my mug. It gave a warning creak. “Waker is working with Torgund. She put the royals under a magic sleep. Evyn went into the dreamlands to rescue them, and we got Ellesmere and Gadamere free.”
“Waker is interfering with the royals? Then she’s risking war.” Luc straightened up. “That changes things.”
“So… are we going on a road trip?” James asked.
Luc’s face gave nothing away. “I want to talk to Ellesmere. Come with me, boy. James, prepare the car.”
We all stepped out of the apartment and down a lit corridor. A well-dressed older woman came out of her apartment as we neared a set of silvrine doors. I saluted her, and she returned a horrified look at my condition. “What have you two degenerates been up to now?”
“Good afternoon, Mrs Wakefield,” Luc said smoothly.
“What have you done to the lad!”
“Oh, I’m fine. They have very comfortable manacles, my lady. Good day.”
She went white with shock. James started pushing a button very rapidly. “May God have mercy on your soul,” she whispered.
“Thank you. That’s very kind.” I bowed to the priestess. The silvrine doors eased open, and we all went inside.
“Great. Now the old bat will be slipping Bible scripture through our door again,” James sniped when the doors closed.
We stood in silence. The box hummed. “And now what happens?” I asked, as the doors opened to reveal another world. I jumped backwards into the wall, and it clanged like a struck gong. “What the hell? Where are we now?”
“Ground floor. Come along.” Luc walked with his hands behind his back.
Following him, he led us outside and down the street. Very tall buildings hemmed me in, reminding me of the Academy but open to the sky, itself an uninspiring grey colour looming low overhead. Luc and James parted ways, James saying something about filling up a tank. I picked up my pace to draw level with Luc’s long strides. My back and legs hurt, but I forced them onwards.
Luc led me to a street packed with red-bricked blockwork lazing at only two stories high. A slate grey river oozed over a weir where it rumbled and boiled white. Looking around, Luc flicked up the collar of his coat. I had no coat and had to concentrate to stop shivering, my breath clouding out in front of me as if I were on fire inside. In a way I was: I had a burning need to chase down the man who had my soul and free her, except I had no direction. I focused on Luc, willing him to get on with it.
After much peering about to ascertain our complete privacy, Luc opened a way. I stepped gratefully into the heat, keeping a mere handspan away from the mancer. “I wouldn’t get so close if I were you,” Luc murmured.
I maintained my lack of distance. “I don’t want you deciding to duck back.”
“If you made the mistake of touching me, you would regret it.”
“Don’t duck back and we won’t need to regret anything.” Not my finest riposte, but I was in a great deal of pain, both physically and emotionally.
Luc turned in place, peering up and down the streets as if they had caused him personal affront. “Now it’s your turn to guide me. I visit Tergue Hall, but I do not know where Ellesmere would be.”
“Queen Ellesmere is in the Queen’s Halls, the administrative wings.” I emph
asised Ellesmere’s title. “This way, sir.” I used the opportunity to slow the pace a fraction; I did not want to limp into Ellesmere’s presence. Anticipating that medimancers and mages awaited me kept me upright and stiff-backed. I just had to limp on a little longer.
A Regular in the greens passed by the end of the street, doubling back. “There you are!” he shouted.
“Is that a good shout or a bad shout?” I wondered aloud. I sank into a guard stance, my body screaming at me, but I had no weapons. I had an even chance of losing this. Luc stayed calm; that small smile on his face started to annoy me. Did the man have to smirk about everything? Mancers.
The Regular panted up to me, and when he saluted, I could have kissed his cheeks. “Sir! Queen Ellesmere has been looking all over for you. Do you need assistance?”
I saluted back, wincing when I thumped my sore chest. “I’ll survive. Take us straight to her. Thanks, soldier.” Saluting again, he marched off. I groaned inwardly at his rapid steps.
He led us through the city and as we passed them, groups of Regulars started to stand down from their search. Luc’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
We entered the cool of the Queen’s Halls, and the Regular made double-quick time up the stairs. I made it halfway up at his heels but had to slow to hang on to the balustrade, and he and Luc pulled ahead. Luc waited for me at the top, that smirk glowering down at me. Gritting my teeth, I imagined the immense satisfaction of punching him.
The soldier put us straight into Ellesmere’s rooms, the queen’s desk unoccupied, and said he would fetch her directly. Looking out of the window, Luc slowly surveyed the sprawling city, the high sun winking off the white walls. As soon as the soldier left, I leant against one of the fancy puffy chairs in this greeting room.
“Sit, before you fall,” Luc observed without turning from the view.
“We stand for the queen,” I corrected him.
Luc rolled his eyes but then Ellesmere burst in. She didn’t notice Luc at first; she rushed straight over to me, flinging her arms around me. “Thorrn! Thank the gods you’re alright! Where’s Evyn? Is she here—” Spotting Luc, she froze with her arms around my waist.