“As you wish,” Lhandon said as he crouched down, quickly writing the words on a piece of parchment he’d taken from the front of his robes.
“From what I can tell, using the rune while my power is activated resets my daily limit. I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s going to actually work. I mean, if I’m reversing time, wouldn’t I just reverse this interaction up until this point? Wait, that’s not what I mean…”
“I don’t know, it depends on the point which time is looping back to,” Lhandon said.
“I did not sign up for this,” Roger said as Lhandon handed me the piece of parchment. “I’ve seen some pretty weird things, but if we are going to start reversing time…” An idea came to him. “Actually, there are some things I regret that happened in Dornod. If you are able to reverse time, maybe I could write myself a little note reminding myself not to spend an evening with the white birds. Fun as it was, I’m still troubled by it.”
“Okay, does everyone see this piece of parchment?” I asked, holding out the parchment.
“We see it,” Saruul said.
“You know what would be better? I want each of you to put a mark on it as well,” I said, motioning Roger and Saruul forward. Roger simply dipped his foot in the ink and pressed it onto the parchment, while Saruul signed her name next to what Lhandon had written.
They stepped away again, and I activated my power, tracing the rune.
“All right,” Lhandon said, rubbing his hands together. “Since you aren’t going to agree to let us come with you to the Emperor’s Palace, I suppose we should move on. Let’s see what happens when you cast Ra-Mu after you have activated your power.”
“Lhandon, I want you to read this,” I said as I handed him the piece of parchment, my hand shaking a little with excitement.
“Who wrote it…?” His eyes went wide. “Oh, oh my.” Lhandon mumbled something to himself for a moment. He cleared his throat and read the note: “‘Nick is reversing time. He asked you to write this after using his ability four times. It is evidence that he has reversed time yet again.’ Your name is signed here as well, Saruul, and I believe this is your footprint on the back,” he said, showing Roger the back of the parchment.
“Five times now,” I told them. “And every time I use it, it seems to reset to the point in which you say a line about moving on and seeing what happens after I cast the rune. But I don’t know how to change the point which time is resetting to. You would think that by the fifth time, you would understand what has transpired…” I shook my head. “It makes no sense.”
“But this is good,” Lhandon said, placing the piece of parchment in his robes. “It is something we will have to experiment with. But now is not the time, clearly.”
“So you telling me that when Nick slows down time and casts the rune that speeds up time he ends up reversing time? Because that’s crazy talk.” Roger pretended to faint off Saruul’s shoulder, gliding away from the ground at the last moment.
“What’s gotten into him?”
“He wants to know if you are suggesting that using the rune to speed up time while my ability to basically stop time is activated ends up reversing time. He’s being dramatic,” Saruul translated.
“No, I’m not!”
“That is precisely what I believe is happening,” Lhandon said. “At least according to this note. But we don’t yet know how to set the time which Nick will return to. If that makes any sense.”
Saruul shook her head. “This is dangerous,” she said firmly. “While I see its usefulness, something tells me that it could also cause trouble for us in some way.”
“Maybe so, but maybe we could…” A thousand thoughts came to me and I suppressed them all.
Unless I was able to control the exact point which I returned to, the power would be nothing more than a parlor trick. If I unlocked that part of it, then it would actually be useful.
“We will continue to explore it,” Lhandon said, “but for now, maybe it is best that you head to the palace. There’s no point in delaying this any longer. It’s time for you to meet Emperor Hugo.”
I placed my hand on the hilt of my Flaming Thunderbolt of Wisdom. “Roger?”
“Let’s go,” he said upon landing on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about us,” he called Lhandon and Saruul. “Nick and I have got this.”
“I suppose I should have asked for the direction of the palace,” I told Roger as soon as we were out of the Temple of Ocean Sky. I didn’t want to turn back to Lhandon and Saruul; I didn’t want to see the concern in their eyes.
Hugo and I had known each other since middle school, and even though he had played sports in high school and I’d gravitated toward the marching band, we’d always been close. I had drunk my first beer with Hugo, we had worked a couple summer jobs together, and we had talked whenever we could once he was sent overseas.
He was rough around the edges, but a good man, one who had served his country, and I was convinced I would be able to get through to him.
But getting through to Hugo would require access, and as we made it to the end of the lane, and even as I asked someone where the palace was, I was well aware that getting this access may not be as easy as I had hoped.
“So, what’s your plan?” Roger asked as we turned in the direction of the palace. “Are you just going to waltz in there and say ‘Hey, it’s me, your old buddy,’ or something of the sort? What about ‘old dude?’ Is that how you would say it? ‘Hey, it’s me, your old dude.’ Do you want to send me in with a message? Maybe that would work. I’m assuming you two read the same language.”
“We do, and I’m going in without a plan,” I told him.
“That seems mighty competent of you.”
“I want to know what’s happening, why he has done what was done, and once I know those things, I can start to formulate a plan, if there is even a plan involved here. Maybe today I will just meet with him, let him know that I’m staying in the city, and then we can meet again and see if we can get to the bottom of this. Don’t forget that we saw someone kill themselves after we freed them. This is a different world, and while I have taken one path here, Hugo has clearly taken another.”
Roger shook his head. “Understatement of the century.”
We continued down a road lined with palatial estates with wrought iron fences shielding them from the street. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but Anand had a charm to it, especially after seeing the cold white lines of the buildings here, how everything looked impeccable in an almost distasteful way.
It reminded me of some of the newer shopping centers in towns across America, everything perfect, square, manicured, yet still missing something.
The people moving in the streets were a mixture of red-skinned island dwellers, sunburnt denizens with ingrained wrinkles on their faces, mouthy merchants, and women with feathered hair that I first assumed was a regional thing in and around Anand, but was starting to think otherwise.
I was glad to be wearing a fresh set of robes, the saffron-colored material cool against my skin.
We were on a hill now, and I could see the ocean in the distance, a sparkling line of blue. I noticed a group of seagulls flying in a circle over the beach as someone fed them, and quickly decided that it was a quaint scene, something that called out to me.
After coming downhill, it was impossible to miss the palace.
The grand structure backed up against the ocean, and there were guards on the wall walk, in the street, and at various stations around the outer walls, which were made of polished gray stones. The structure itself was the same white as the rest of the buildings in the city, but there was something polished about it, something that made it look more like ivory than bleached sandstone.
There was a line of vendors in front of the palace offering partial tours and selling tchotchkes, as well as wealthier citizens moving through the streets in palanquins. There were poor people as well, street urchins running out to the wealthier citizens, begging with their hands
outstretched, a soldier chasing a few of them off as I neared the palace gates.
I looked up at the wall in front of the palace, which was easily fifteen to twenty feet tall.
From there my eyes came to one of the guards standing before the wall, at yet another guard station. As I took a few steps closer to him, he turned to me, revealing an additional guard standing next to him. Both of them approached, the two soldiers in full armor and holding spears and shields with golden accents.
As they did, I traced the rune that allowed me to absorb three strikes.
“I’m here to see Emperor Hugo,” I said as I lowered my hand.
“So move aside, motherfuckers,” Roger chimed in.
“You and everyone in the country,” the lead guard growled. I quickly surmised that he was in charge, based on the elaborate display of rankings on his breast, as well as golden markings on his helmet, but he looked young, with his stringy mustache and acne on the sides of his cheeks. “I suggest you turn away.”
“I don’t think you understand,” I told him. “I am old friends with Emperor Hugo. Send word to him now that Nick is here; I guarantee you these gates will open up. I’m from the same world as Hugo.”
“That’s Emperor Hugo. And you claim to be an outsider?” the other soldier asked.
“I am indeed. Now, please send word to him that I am here.”
“I’m sure everyone in the city would claim that they are an outsider to meet Emperor Hugo,” the lead guard said, a snarl forming on his face. “There is nothing about you that is special.”
“Do you really want to do that?” I asked as I watched the other soldier start to lift his shield, aiming his spear at me. I placed my hand on the hilt of my Flaming Thunderbolt. “Because I think that’s a terrible idea.”
“Drop your weapon!” the lead guard said as he also aimed his spear. I hadn’t fought someone with a spear before, but it was fairly simple to whip my sword out and swat his weapon away, my fiery blade alone startling the two soldiers.
Roger flew up into the air for a moment, and then return to my shoulder. “We have company,” he clucked as more guards came. I glanced up to see that there were now arrows aimed at me.
“Take me to Emperor Hugo!” I said, starting to visualize the switch that stopped time.
“You just signed your death warrant,” the lead soldier said, nodding to the fact that there were now a dozen spear points aimed at me, as well as a wall walk full of archers. He now held a sword, his spear on the ground and blazing with fire.
“Again, I don’t think you realize who I am,” I told them firmly. “I’m not from this world; I’m from the same world as Emperor Hugo. He’s an old friend of mine. It’s not my goal to fight any of you, but if I have to prove my power, I will do so.”
“Is that a challenge?” the lead guard asked, baring his teeth. He grunted, and the guards all brought their shields up.
“I, too, am indestructible like Emperor Hugo.”
The lead soldier scoffed. “How dare you!”
“Shit, I really should have asked you to give me my dagger before we approached them…” Roger grumbled.
“Shoot me with an arrow,” I said, my sword still at the ready. “That should be proof enough.”
“Shoot you with an arrow?” the lead guard looked at one of the other soldiers, who nodded at him. “How do we know this isn’t a rune?”
“You don’t. But it should be proof enough to at least grant me an audience with the Emperor, that I am being true to my word. You can come with me if you’d like; I’m certain he will recognize me. Or you can make this easy: shoot me with the arrow, see that it doesn’t actually do anything to me, and then go tell the Emperor that I am here, that his old friend Nick Barnette is at the gate.”
“Nick Barnette…” the man said considering my name for a moment. “That isn’t a name from this world.”
“You’re catching on.”
“Unless it is a name from another continent, one that I haven’t heard of…”
“Just get this over with,” Roger said, one of the soldiers bristling, his spear tip moving even closer to me. “If you value the ability to see, put your spear down!”
The lead guard looked at Roger, wondering why the bird was squawking.
“All right,” he finally said. “I will have one of the archers fire an arrow at you. If it doesn’t penetrate your flesh, I will send word to Emperor Hugo that you are here, Nick Barnette.”
“That’s all I ask,” I said, looking up at one of the archers.
The lead guard pointed at an archer, and gave him the signal that meant to fire. The arrow struck me in the chest, and bounced off as if I were made of plastic.
“Do you need more proof?” I asked him as I slowly lowered my weapon, ready to sheathe it.
“Send word to Emperor Hugo,” the guard called to one of the soldiers behind him, honoring his promise. He returned his focus to me. “And until that time, I want you to stay right where you are.”
Chapter Thirteen: Ultimatum
The gate started to open.
“You would be wise to sheathe your weapon,” the lead guard said with a low grunt. “Apparently, and against all odds if you ask me, you’ve been granted an audience with Emperor Hugo.”
“I didn’t ask you,” I told the man as I stepped past him, where I was met by two guards in helmets with red accents and flowing red capes with white trim.
“These are the special guards,” Roger cackled as I began following them through an area that had carriages and other transportation equipment arranged and ready to go. “Better than the guards out front. At least one can hope.”
We moved into a courtyard that looked like it doubled as a training ground, dummies everywhere, as well as an arrangement of both wooden and steel weapons. The tile had recently been polished, but I could tell that there’d been blood spilled on the ground, a few of the crevices between the tiles partially crimson.
There was something odd about the space, and I had the feeling that it had been hastily set up, that the original courtyard was likely filled with ponds and flowers, matching the courtyards of many of the palatial homes we had passed.
We were led up a long stairway made of polished white stone, a red carpet cutting down it and providing little friction for our boots.
“Where are we going?” I asked one of the men in red helmets.
No response.
“It is shitbirds like this that really get on my nerves,” Roger started to say. “You ask a simple question that demands a simple answer. Instead of giving you the answer you desire, they blow you off. Talk about a pair of birdholes. Just like the seagulls at the coast with their projectile feces. This is exactly what happened when I came asking, when you and Saruul were still at sea.”
“Let’s keep our voices down,” I told him, lowering my voice, “and careful what you say in front of anyone, they may understand you.”
The inside of the palace matched the outside with its white stone, epically high ceilings, and statues carved into the walls. We continued down the red carpet, where we came to a towering oak door, easily the height of the gate outside the palace. Two soldiers, also clad in red armor with flowing red capes, came to the door at once, opening it for us.
The throne room reminded me of a monastery with its stained-glass images that circled around the space. But instead of monks and images of holy men, these motifs showcased epic battles, soldiers charging forward, blood being spilled, bodies scattered across a beach. There were cushioned seats at the front, where people would likely sit and listen to their ruler, who was currently perched on a throne made of gold.
“Hugo?” I asked as we approached the man, his face partially concealed by the way he was sitting with his chin on his fist.
He moved his hand to the side and dropped his leg to the ground.
“Nick,” he said, a faint smile coming to his face.
Hugo looked thinner than he had when I last saw him. His dark hair was sh
aved into a military haircut, bare skin on the sides and just a little on top. He was in a kurta similar to what many of the townspeople wore, but he had shoulder armor on as well, his other hand resting on a red helmet that hung from the end of his armrest. He wore numerous rings, several necklaces, and there was a crown on his skull made of what looked like platinum, fashioned into the head of a rattlesnake, its eyes glowing red.
The Hugo I knew would have gotten out of the chair and ran over to me, hugging me and clapping me on the back, practically tackling me.
Especially after what we had been through.
But the new Hugo merely sat there, looking me over.
“Do your guards need to be here for this?” I asked him, looking to the two men that still stood on either side of me. There were also the two men at the back, the ones who had opened the door.
“I suppose they should go. Please stand outside, but leave the door open.” Hugo waved them away with a single hand, the men bowing before they stepped out.
“Fuck this guy, fuck this guy, fuck this guy,” Roger said under his breath.
“You have a bird now?” Hugo asked, looking up at me with his dark eyes. I saw a flash of red behind them, or at least I thought I did.
“Yes, he has joined me on this journey.”
“I’m curious, Nick, what power have you received by coming to this world?”
“Don’t say anything,” Roger said under his breath. “Do not admit what your power is to him…”
“Power?” I asked, going with Roger’s advice. “What do you mean?”
“All of us have gained a power since coming here, have we not? The scholars here have explained to me how the Immortals work, and how the five of us all fit the criteria.”
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