by Becky James
I held Waker in my arms, not my soul.
“Thorrn, are you hale and well?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m fine.” I had to tread carefully.
Her eyes welled with tears, and that would usually break my heart, except for the fact I knew it was Waker. It disgusted and angered me. How dare she use my soul’s face! “Are you coming? Are you on your way?” she asked.
“Yeeees,” I said, trying to think quickly.
She frowned lightly. “You don’t sound very certain.”
“I have to recover first. It will take time. Car beasts are very destructive.”
“Oh, I see. Yes. Thorrn, I overheard Waker talking to Aubin. They’re planning something horrible for me. Please, whatever you do, stay away. Give me up for lost. Definitely don’t barge in here. She’ll offer a Thrall contract, so don’t you dare take it.”
“Oh, okay then. I won’t,” I said, sitting back on my heels.
“Excuse me?”
“I was going to barrel down there and so forth, but yes, alright, you’ve convinced me.” My skin crawled where this fake Evyn touched me.
“Right. Good.” Her frown deepened, wrong-footed.
“Very well. Great.” Something flickered in the corner of my vision. I turned my head to see another Evyn, her finger pressed to her lips. She pointed to one of the empty cells and tiptoed in.
“Yes, well.” I set the Waker-Evyn on her feet. “I guess I’d better put the rest of this dream to good use. I’ll… Yes, I fancy some busty townswomen today. Yes. You don’t like watching that, so I’ll say goodnight here.”
“Oh. Alright, then.” She lifted one hand in farewell.
“Sweet dreams,” I said, turning away firmly.
“Yes. Indeed,” she called after me.
“Now where are they… aha, here you are!” I said, going into the cell and slamming the door behind me. Locking it, I peered out of the grate. The Waker-Evyn had gone. “Evyn?” I whispered, searching the darkness.
“Over here.” She held out her tattooed forearm. “Nice art.”
“Thanks. You too.” Grabbing her, I lifted her off her feet, and she squeaked but let me, squeezing her arms around my neck. “Evyn,” I breathed into her hair.
“I saw you get hit by a car. Are you in the hospital? It nearly hit us, Aubin got us out of the way, but you ran right out into it. I’m so sorry.”
“Car beasts can’t down me for long,” I said, grinning. Quickly, I ran through my meeting with James and Luc, his bizarre likeness to me and the family connection, and his decision to assist us, setting her down and sitting by her side holding her hand as I did so.
She put her free hand to her mouth. “That’s incredible. You’re amazing! I’m flabbergasted.”
“I am pretty amazing, aren’t I?” I squeezed the hand that I refused to let go of. “And you? Where are you, are you hale and well?”
“Yeah, I’m leading Aubin on a merry dance. We’re travelling on trains up and down the country. He has no idea where the MasterMage Palais ping-through point is, but I told him I’d take him there. He is on edge and not very talkative, but he hasn’t tried to hurt me, and he can’t stay this alert forever. But someone will be bound to notice and inform the British Transport Police. They’ll try to arrest him, and he might get desperate again. And I don’t want to ping back into Oberrot and leave him here stranded.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry, though. I will if it gets dire. I’m not trying to talk him round exactly, I’m just talking about what I’m thinking or feeling, but he’s not really minded to listen to me right now.” She closed her eyes briefly. “I still think the only way he’ll come around is if he sees they aren’t real, by seeing as much in the dreamlands.”
I ran my free hand through my hair. “Well, without Ellesmere providing a link, we can’t guide him through anything. And in the meantime, he’ll be trying to get you to Waker so he can deliver you up in return for a Thrall contract. He’ll be lost to us forever, and Waker will have you.”
Evyn’s lips thinned. “I don’t think he would do that.”
“Tuniel agrees with you, but I don’t want to bet your life on it.” I looked up at the dark ceiling.
“She agrees?” Evyn said slowly, picking her lip.
“Keep doing the dancing. We’re on our way to Cambridge, but I can get Luc to change direction. Where are you now?”
She looked up, determination shining in her eyes. “I can get us to Cambridge.”
I winced. “That’s awfully close to the Palais. I can meet you anywhere else on Earth, and we can have a trap ready to spring. We will get Aubin back and talk to him.”
Evyn let go of my hand. “But that failed. He seemed pretty much himself, but he still wanted to go find his family. While he has them as motivation, he will never really trust us.” Evyn gave me a wide-eyed look.
I clung onto her hand. “No. Whatever it is you’re planning, no. Evyn, no.”
“If Tuniel says he won’t actually do it, then we can be sure in that. She knows him the best, after all.” She swung her legs over the edge of the cot, smiling.
“Evyn, no, don’t you dare—”
“It might be the only way to prove to him they don’t exist.”
“Or Waker can capture you both and we’ll lose you!” I howled. “Evyn, please, don’t. Don’t risk yourself for him. Let’s have you safe and then we can think about what we can do for him—”
“This is the only opportunity, Thorrn. Trust me. It will be fine.” Her smile widened.
“I trust you, but I don’t trust him! Evyn, Waker broke him, he’s not who he was. Please, don’t do this!”
She winked at me. “Race you to Cambridge.”
“No! No, don’t, no!” I reach out to grab her but she was gone already.
“No!” I screamed aloud, jolting upright in the waking world.
Tuniel shrieked and Luc swore. “Bad dreams, sleeping beauty?” Luc snarled.
“Evyn is heading to the MasterMage’s Palais!” I tossed in my seat, but the seat belt restraints held me firm.
“So what else is new?” he snapped.
“She’s going willingly! She thinks this is the only way to break Aubin free from Waker’s lies.”
Tuniel gasped. “If he gets to Waker, he’ll sign another Thrall contract. He might not even try to put break clauses in it.”
“I told her that! She said he wouldn’t get that far.” I pulled at my hair. “I told her you didn’t think he would deliver her to Waker, and she took it to heart! She’s going to force the issue and make him choose, in the hopes that he makes the right choice.” I slammed my fist into the door.
“This is a BMW seven series. Stop that!” Luc roared.
“Yes, the rear passenger airbags are sensitive,” James chipped in.
“My apologies. I lost my composure,” I said through gritted teeth.
Luc huffed. “We are nearing Cambridge. We can make a portal and go through.”
“And we have that damnable cliff to scale,” I muttered.
Tuniel raised an eyebrow. “You do that. Luc and I will swing around to look for the canals,” she said. “If Waker is looking for magical potential, she will find it with us. You will stay undetected.”
“And then what? Wait outside the entrance to the Palais for Aubin and Evyn to appear?”
Tuniel nodded once. “If Aubin is communicating with Waker through his lodestone, she will be preparing for him, readying the Palais to escort him in. We must be ready for that. When it appears, that’s when we will know he’s close.”
“Too close. Far too close.” I nearly hit the door again, refraining at the last moment.
Luc proved as good as his word and we entered the city of Cambridge shortly after. Scanning the scenery, I yelled, “There!” when we passed a canalside. Everyone shouted at me to quieten down.
Pulling us to one side, Luc bade us to disembark, with James changing to pilot the car beast.
“Thank you,”
I said to James, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
He hesitated, half in and half out of the door. “I could wait at the train station. Maybe I can see a girl that meets the description—”
Luc put his hand on the door. “No, James. I want you to stay out of it,” he said firmly. “Besides, I need to get close to Waker.”
I grimaced. “You’re using Evyn and Aubin as bait.”
“You can think of it like that, if you wish. I prefer to call it capitalising on an opportunity.”
“Then I will wait at the train station,” I said.
Luc glared at me. “This is your one chance to come through. I’m not going back and forth opening doors. I have a MasterMage to deal with, and this way I am guaranteed to get close to her. We’re going through.”
I acquiesced, even though my nerves were stretched taut at the idea of letting Evyn get that close to Waker’s base of power.
We pinged through when Luc allowed, again waiting until he felt secure before doing so, and I stared up at the towering mesa. Somehow it seemed taller than it had before.
“Good luck with that. Looks like the sort of thing you’d enjoy,” Luc remarked to me.
“The handholds are generous and well-engineered.” Tapping my hand, Tuniel pulled my arm so I would lean down toward her uplifted face. Her cheek brushed mine as she brought her soft lips close to my ear, and I became acutely aware of the warmth of her body not a handspan away from pressing against me.
“If you kill my soul, I will end you,” she whispered. Patting my cheek once, she let me go. I straightened up, flushing, and backed away.
“Young love,” Luc said, that smirk flicking between us.
“Yes. Nothing more motivating than sweet nothings.” Shaking my arms out, I prepared to climb.
“Just keep that in mind, Shardsson,” Tuniel called over her shoulder, walking along the dusty path. The dry wind tossed the silken strands of her silver hair.
I let out a low breath. “Yes, will do. Thanks for that.”
I started to scale at speed, but soon had to slow down. The climbing proved easy with the handholds close enough together, but the steady workload built up on my body and the relentless heat took its toll. I cursed that I hadn’t brought any water. In addition, the yawning gap below my feet served as a constant reminder of the price of any slip up or inattention.
Despite that, I lost myself in the repetitive task, in the give and take of my body ascending, in the slow burn of my muscles and the thump of my heart under strain. My mind turned over my challenges as I worked.
What was I to do with Aubin? I wanted to intercept him and disarm him before he reached the Palais. If he got inside, I would be at best delayed by Waker’s defences. The Palais was protected by a mundane guard, as well as magics. I could deal with normal fighters and magic users, but not in volume, and not all magical traps could be anticipated. Magic had limits in the power and imagination of the wielder. One magic user against a mundane would win easily. When there were many mundanes, the tables could turn.
The way Special Forces trained was to press, press, press, never letting up, in the hopes that one fighter out of many could get close and end the fight. Yes, it was optimistic in the extreme to think one lone man could fight through them all. If Aubin made it inside, I would be killed if I tried to follow him.
Really, I wanted Evyn. If I could get Evyn away from him, I would be sorry to lose Aubin, but I would not be able to do anything further. A terribly tragic fate awaited him. Waker would give him a contract to sign, but I could see her never giving him the promised reunion with his family. With a fully binding contract, and no conditions attached, Aubin would be Waker’s unthinking tool for life. It was unfair, it was wrong, and it wasn’t meant to be this way.
I paused, panting.
I couldn’t afford to think of what might have been. I had to deal with how things were. I had to focus on what I could do to help.
Pressing on, my hands started to shake. I willed them to stillness. Evyn might not like it, but I would not want to live like that. I would rather be dead. But could I kill an ally like that? Would I truly be able to make that choice and determine it aligned with my code not to kill unless I had to?
Was this necessary?
By the time I gained the top I was completely out of breath, thirsty and shaking with exertion.
Luc and Tuniel sat on the bluff sipping water.
I croaked, “You are joking.”
“The canals are about a quarter mile down the way,” Tuniel said, inclining her head toward the south. “I came back to get you, but you were already above hailing distance.” Sitting, I snatched a water bottle, guzzling three quarters of it. “You made excellent time. I’m impressed.”
Luc smirked, and I held up a hand, growling at him, “You keep trying really hard to make this happen but it’s just not.” Collecting myself, I scanned the horizon. “Where is the Palais?”
Tuniel shook her head. “It’s not showing itself yet. Aubin and Evyn aren’t close enough.”
“But will it appear in, say, a few lengths’ distance away, or miles?”
Tuniel shaded her eyes, frowning at something. “No one can say. It’s just how the Palais works.”
“It actually takes advantage of quantum theory.”
My eyes bulged and I nearly fell backwards. Evyn and Aubin walked toward us, but behind them strode another me and Tuniel.
Chapter 29
“We thought you could use some help. You seemed to be in a sticky situation when we saw you last.” Alt-Evyn stopped a short distance away, her companions arrayed behind her. Alt-Thorrn had the king’s huge double-handed sword drawn, alt-Aubin his Battlemistress blades out, and the other Tuniel held her hands tense and stiff. The Luc in our midst held their focus.
I stared. “You’re really here. And you’re really alts? Of… us?” It was painfully obvious and yet absolutely fantastical. I pinched my inner elbow hard. It hurt, so I was awake. Incredibly.
Alt-Evyn tucked her hair behind her ear, and the movement was so Evyn that my heart squeezed painfully. She said, “I’m what you’d call a travelling mage. I explore alt-histories, yes. Of which this is one.”
“Do you meddle often?” Luc asked.
They all flinched when he spoke. “No. But we got to know you through that shared dream and…”
“You got attached to the study materials.” Luc smirked again. Alt-Evyn bit her lip.
Standing up slowly, my Tuniel approached her double, halting three paces away. “Well met. Mage, I assume?” Tuniel made her signs, and the other mage returned something. My Tuniel gasped, with alt-Tuniel giving her a small smile. “Are you still a stone mage?”
Alt-Tuniel spoke, her voice exactly the same; a northern accent with a clipped delivery. “According to reports from these three, there seems to be only one point in our Oberrotian history that’s different for our timelines, leading to different life chances for Evyn and Thorrn, and probably for others on a wider scale.”
“And what would that be?” Luc asked.
They met his question with silence.
I cleared my throat. “Apparently you were their MasterMancer.”
“Me?” His eyebrows went way up in complete shock. “Me? Me, MasterMancer? No. Really?”
“Indeed.” I stood up to face them, scanning their faces. “That was your Luc. Whatever he did, whatever he was that means you’re looking at this one accusingly, this one is from our timeline. They might look the same and they might act similarly, but they have had different life experiences. This Luc is on our side.”
Alt-Thorrn’s eyes flicked to alt-Evyn, who was scowling; alt-Aubin didn’t seem to be listening, watching Luc, his hands wrapped around his blades, ready to raise them.
“I’m on my own side, Shardsson.” Luc waved his finger at me. “That’s why you think I can kill Waker. I mean, I know I can, but you know I can because I’ve done it on their world.” That sardonic smile was back, recovered from the s
hock and deployed to full effect. He surveyed the alts. “So, what am I doing on your timeline now?”
More silence.
“I think you might be dead,” I said. Alt-Thorrn growled at me.
“Oh well.” Luc shrugged. “I’d like to avoid the circumstances that led to his demise. Perhaps I can learn from them.”
“So far so good,” alt-Aubin muttered.
Alt-Evyn rubbed her temples. “We really don’t like to affect the timelines too much.”
“And yet here you are.” Luc stood up, and alt-Thorrn raised his sword with a jerk that nearly overbalanced him.
Tutting, I said to my alt, “I want a good few turns of the glass with you, which we might not have, but I need to make a start. Get over here.” I pointed imperiously at the ground in front of me. Alt-Thorrn approached, keeping his eyes locked on Luc.
Jumping up, I knocked his hands. The sword clattered to the floor between us, and alt-Thorrn’s eyes bulged. “What is that? Just… what is that?” I asked him, putting my hands on my hips.
“I’m self-taught. My Special Forces won’t touch me,” he snarled.
“That’s because we’re the elite, and you’re…” I clucked my tongue. “In dire need of some training. So, why are you wearing the reds?”
“It would take too long to explain,” the other Tuniel said, but it slipped into place for me.
“You’re married,” I said. Alt-Thorrn flushed. “You need a way to spend a lot of time together, so you’re the appointed bodyguard. A mage doesn’t need a bodyguard—”
“MasterMage,” both Tuniels snapped.
I blinked. “Excuse me, MasterMage—”
“We’re married?” the Tuniel from my timeline said in horror. Alt-Tuniel nodded slowly, and she put a shaking hand to her mouth.
Heat flared in my chest, anger and affront and something else. “You don’t have to look so disgusted! What’s wrong with being married to me?” I challenged Tuniel.
Her eyes were chips of ice. “Do you want a list? I’m an intellectual. You’re a… a—”