Realm at the Edge of the multiverse

by B G Mitchell

  He also noticed the cloud cover was heavy. Once he got bored of city watching, he decided to turn on his laptop and write down some more of his ideas and note down information he had seen in a journal, as there was not a lot to do in this realm besides play the inbuilt spider and solitaire, and you could only play those games so many times. Once his laptop had booted, he went towards his document folder when he noticed a little pop up saying 3G signal detected. A bit stunned, he clicked on it and found the signal strength to be non-existent and constantly dropping out, but it was there.

  He noticed Bloodhammer popping out from the stairs on to the roof, no doubt in search of supper, as Gary began waving the laptop about. Bloodhammer gave him an odd look before asking him, “What this about then?”

  Gary stopped his laptop waving. “I had a 3G signal.”

  “Ah,” Bloodhammer replied. His tone indicated he knew exactly what Gary was speaking about. “What’s a 3G signal?”

  Gary thought for a second. He knew what it was, but to explain it to someone who referred to his laptop as the magical tome would be difficult. “It is a way of transporting information from one magical tome to another. “

  “So there might be another magical tome out there. Where do you think it might be?”

  Gary got up and walked towards the south end of the roof and noticed a brief flash as the words “signal detected” appeared on his screen before vanishing again. “I would have to say the signal is in that general direction,” he said, pointing south.

  Bloodhammer got up and grabbed a beer on the way. “How far do you think it is, lad?”

  Gary frowned as he thought. He suspected 3G had a signal of twenty kilometres, if he remembered correctly, but his laptop was designed for mobile use, and he knew the aerial connected to his 3G card was quite large. He shrugged before replying, “Possibly thirty or forty kilometres, I would guess.”

  Bloodhammer thought for a second before replying, “What’s a kilometre?”

  Gary mentally kicked himself. He did not know what the distance of measurement was. Then he had a thought. “Well, this roof is about twenty meters end to end, then a kilometre would be fifty of these roofs laid end to end.”

  Bloodhammer looked thoughtful for a moment while drinking his beer, then nodded, much to Gary’s relief. He seemed to get the concept. He replied in a thoughtful voice, “Well, that could be a problem. It’s close to the border with Morkangin.”

  He again looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think after our duties are done tomorrow, you and I better investigate this. Now supper, lad.”

  Gary nodded and as he thought of a possibility of going home an interesting concept and part of him was not too keen on going back home. He had rather made a home here and had not much to go back to besides a sequel to his favourite game, but he would have to cross that bridge if he came up to it.

  She looked through the journal once more. Her name was Lathenia. She was a grey elf with dark red hair with streaks of black in it as well as dark red eyes. She was currently wearing an officer’s uniform of the Lerwyn army, which consisted of a long, double breasted coat which was black with golden buttons and red trim. Her pants were black with a red stripe along the side of her legs, and she wore black boots that passed her ankles and had a slight heel on them. She also had a couple of gold coloured bars on the left hand side of her chest which indicated her rank of Elter, which was the equivalent of captain.

  She was one of the youngest military officers in the Elven army. The fact she already had the rank of Elter was unheard of for someone her age of just a hundred and sixty. One of the reasons for her rapid rise was the fact that she was in fact a sorceress, which was a rare thing in this world, as sorcerers and sorceress could use magic without having to perform complicated rituals or craft an object of power like many wizards had to.

  The other reason for her rapid rise was her maturity as well. With great power like hers, she had learned very quickly to control them and herself. As she looked through the journal again, she admired the writing. It was done in the Dark Elf script, and the words seemed easily formed. She never thought she would read a Dark Elf journal, as the Dark Elves had very little to do with their cousins in the last thousand or so years. She had heard the stories before about how the Dark elves, led by their evil goddess, had terrorized their elven cousins and were often used to scare small children, but lately they seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth, and then one had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, carrying the very journal she was reading with her and seemed more interested in the habits and features of her surface cousins than fighting them.

  Once she had heard the news of the Dark Elf’s capture, she had immediately gotten involved and taken charge of the operation, and here is what she knew: currently the Dark Elf had taken a bad knock to her head, so she was being moved to a hospital, where using healing magic, she was saved from having any permanent damage.

  The fact that the healing magic used was clerical was an interesting sign to Lathenia, as that would not have worked on any true Zateria worshiper. She had then, under orders from her superiors, moved the unconscious dark elf to one of the holding cells in the city barracks. It seemed, despite having the same facts she did, they still regarded the lone Dark elf as a threat. She heard a knock on the door and replied back, “Enter.”

  In stepped a soldier again in the same uniform, except wearing a steel helmet with a cap in front as well as a steel breast plate. “She has awoken.”

  Lathenia stood. This was the moment she had been waiting for, as it had been decided to make sure the Dark Elf was unconscious until she was safely locked up. She followed the guard down the hallway to the base’s prisons and noticed the guards had been increased outside the prison itself which was a square, grey building of only one story and was mostly used to hold captured vips, or magic users. It had the advantage that most of the cells were in fact underground.

  When she entered the building, she found that the Dark Elf had been transferred to the deepest level, once down a couple of flights of stairs and past heavily armed doors and the odd lights made by luminous moss as well as the odd flickering candle, she arrived at the cell which contained a solid, wooden, reinforced door. The guard got out his set of heavy, brass keys and unlocked the door with a satisfying clink and opened the door. Lathenia took a deep breath and stepped in. She heard the door close behind and noticed that the guard did not lock it.

  She saw the dark elf laying there on a simple, wooden bed with a simple, white mattress. She had light blue eyes as well as light blue hair with a white streak on the fringe. She also noticed that her ankles had heavy, metal rings on them that were connected via a heavy chain that was connected to a steel ring. The only other features of the small cell was a wooden table and a simple wooden chair. She looked into the eyes of the Dark Elf and noticed that there was fear in her eyes. She noticed that the eyes flickered to the journal she was holding.

  She could sense no magic in the journal itself, so she handed it back to the Dark Elf who very carefully took it from her. “My name is Lathenia Elter in the Lerwyn Army. If I may ask, who are you and what are you doing in the realm of Lerwyn?” She had tried to use her softest voice, something she was not used to. She did not want to frighten the Dark Elf any more than she had to.

  The Dark elf spoke up in a soft voice. “My name is Sylviania from the city of Narderba and I… am here because I wanted to…” Lathenia decided not to fill in the silence left hanging. She noticed Sylviania clutched her journal a bit tighter before continuing. “…see the surface.” She said it in such away, like she was revealing a guilty secret.

  Lathenia simply nodded before firing off her next question. “How is Narderba these days? We hear that there has been a change of government.”

  If Sylviania was shocked by the up to date knowledge they had of the city, she did not show it. She simply replied, “Many things have changed.”

  There was a loud knock on the door, and Lathenia open
ed it up for the prison guard to present her with a tray of prisoner’s food, which included some green stuff which apparently passed for vegetable soup in some kitchens, bread, and a large jug of water. Lathenia then put the tray on a small, wooden table. The guard then handed her a small wash basin, then a set of prisoner’s clothes, which consisted of a pair of underpants, a bra, and a short skirt that ran from the shoulders to her thighs. Latehnia at last received a brass key which she used to unlock the padlock holding the chain to her ankle cuffs while maintaining eye contact with Sylviania to assure her that she wasn’t going to hurt her and pulled the chain through, leaving it next to the wall. She then decided to leave Sylviania alone, opened the cell door, and left the guard to close it behind her. She heard the distinct sound of the door being locked as she headed back to the surface.

  The meeting between the Elves and the dwarves was an interesting one. It seemed to be a bit of a technology exchange. Gary was now stuck with Bloodhammer and an Elf whose name he had learned was Arderan. He had short, black hair with just hint of grey and a red streak in his hair. He also wore the same uniform but had a stylised golden bird like the city symbol, which meant his rank was Reltorian, and from the power and prestige he had it seemed that rank was close to General.

  Gary himself was in the equivalent dwarf formal wear, which consisted of dark blue pants and a white shirt with what many on his planet would call a Mao collar and a single breasted dark blue suit that matched his pants. Bloodhammer also had the formal wear on as well.

  The General had been talking about his daughter, who happened to be in the army as well aa powerful sorceress, he did seem rather proud of her achievements. He then turned to Gary, no doubt noticing that Bloodhammer’s look had become rather glazed, and decided most likely for the best to change the topic of conversation. “So that tome you have there is impressive. I assume it is from your home dimension.” The tone was rather like someone asking a person about how their holiday went, but at least Bloodhammer perked up when he heard the conversation change.

  “Well,” replied Gary. “It is a common tool from where I am from.” Arderan nodded as Gary continued. “Just out of curiosity, do you have many people that come from another dimension?”

  Arderan took a sip of his drink and smiled. “Well, the humans here do have legends about heroes from other realms, mostly to overthrow a practically corrupt or evil king or kill an evil sorcerer and lead the people as a good king or leader. Well, until he is either killed or dies of natural causes and another evil sorcerer arises in his place.” Arderan took another sip of his drink before carrying on. “But it seemed one of the human sorcerers, once he seized power, got rather annoyed by this practice and destroyed all dimensional transport devices, and Morkangin has been a magical Oligarchy ever since. This was of course before the elves arrived to this land.”

  Gary idly wondered if any of the adventures were from Earth and what time period, but didn’t think Arderan would know.

  Bloodhammer then decided to get involved and spoke to Arderan. “In fact, we think we have picked up a signal of what we suspect might be another tablet near your borders of Morkangin.”

  Bloodhammer turned to Gary, who happily filled in the details. “Yes, we think it may be about twenty leagues, I think is the proper term, due south.”

  Arderan gave a look like a world war one British had just been told the Germans were about to attack with post world war two tanks and then replied like a British general (Gary thought he could really use a beard or moustache to stroke, but alas he did not). “Yes, I can see how that can be an issue, but that would place it in the lake of Drahven. It might be on a small island or at the bottom of the lake. Hmm, tell you what? I will send a message to the lake patrol, and they should be able to give you a lift, but if you do find anything please make sure you share your find with us.”

  Bloodhammer nodded as if deep in thought, then replied, “Not a problem. I will get our embassy to sort the paperwork, but we will be on our way tomorrow. I assume the coach to Drahaven still runs twice daily?”

  Lucinda looked over the ledgers with the new dwarvern miners. She could see that the city was now on a more stable level. She had even managed to convert some more land into farms and was showing a surplus in food production (consisting mostly of Fungi and mushrooms). Most of her hard work had ended in building her army as the clashes seemed to become more frequent and she had to suspend a couple of mining operations until she had enough soldiers to guard the mines. If that was not enough, it seemed Nataylia had become more withdrawn with the disappearance of her sister which had not stopped veneration of Mikiria. She herself in her more desperate moment had even offered a pray to her once or twice.

  Lucinda blinked and put down the ledger. She was spending way too much time in the office lately. She had been out once or twice, inspecting a new farm or visiting the university which had caused her to offer more prays to Mikiria. All the magical power of the former university now just consisted of a handful of students, one of which had managed to burn down the theocracy department. The only people she could turn to were the dwarfs, but they were not known for their wizarding powers. Nevertheless, she had sent a message to Blindstone, offering silver and gold for anyone willing to train their wizards. She had yet to hear a response.

  She looked at the candlelight and felt her eyes sting. She stood and looked out the window. It was past midnight, and she decided it was time to go to bed. As she stood up, she heard a knock on the door. She internally sighed and sat down again. “Enter,” she replied, knowing that they would not being knocking at this time unless they had a very good reason.

  In entered Mayli, who looked like she had been woken and hastily dressed. She performed a half bow before speaking. “Sorry to bother you, Mistress, but I have just had a report from my tracker about the fate of Sylvania.” Lucinda indicated a seat for Mayli as she took a seat behind her desk. Mayli sat down and continued. “She has been captured by the surface elves, according to my tracker. He lost sight of her near one of their roads and was unable to pick up the trail, but he did hear a large commotion in the woods when he went to investigate. He found that Sylvania was on the ground. She looked unconscious and was surrounded by at least three surface elves, one looked to be kneeling beside her in civilian garb, the other two looked to be members of the military, and while he sat and watched, more members of the military came, and one member even had manacles with them. He had to flee before he was discovered.”

  Lucinda thought for a second. At least she was alive and she had options now that she knew where she was. She now had a plan. “Send a messenger to awaken Nataylia and to bring her here, and get me another messenger.”

  Mayli nodded and left the office, leaving Lucinda alone. She decided not to look at her paperwork, but brought out a fresh piece of paper and started writing. Once she put her pen down, she heard another knock at the door. In entered Nataylia. She indicated to her to take a seat as she sat down behind the desk. “I have news about your sister. It seems she has been captured by the surface elves.” She could see that Nataylia was on the verge of tears again. She continued, “I have a plan. I am going to send a message to the surface elves via the dwarves and offer them what I can to get her back.”

  Nataylia’s reaction was a nod, but she still looked fearful and stressed. She managed a quiet thank you.

  Lucinda then heard a knock on the door. “Enter,” she replied, and in came Mayli, who stood to attention.

  “The messenger is ready.”

  Lucinda picked up the note she had written, put it in an envelope, grabbed a burning candle, and poured some wax on the seal, which she stamped with the family coat of arms. She then handed the note to Mayli. “Tell the messenger that this needs to go to the dwarvern king as urgent.”

  Mayli grabbed the note and left as Lucinda turned to Nataylia, who had let a couple of tears out and was currently trying to wipe them away before speaking in a quiet tone, “I am sorry, I should be happy to kn
ow she is alive, but I worry what the Surface Elves will do to my sister. You remember the stories, right?”

  Lucinda stood up and went over to where Nataylia was sitting. She put a hand on Nataylia’s shoulder and knelt down so she was eye level with her. “I am sure that was just Zateria propaganda. She will be back.” Nataylie stood up, followed by Lucinda. Nataylie then grabbed Lucinda in a hug and began to cry on her shoulder. Lucinda just held her, feeling rather awkward. She told herself that this was to secure an ally, but something stirred deeper within her.

  Well, that was fun, thought Gary to himself as he got off the coach and retrieved his bag from the roof rack along with Bloodhammer. Luckily the coach stop was close to the military harbour, but it was one of the last stops for the coach. The problem, it seemed to Gary, was sitting down for long periods of time in a horse drawn coach did not do his back any favours, but at least the ride was smoother than he was expecting. When he got off at one of the countless villages on the way, he actually noticed the coach and some sort of metal suspension. The elves, it seemed, were at the seventeenth century, by the looks of it.

  The harbour itself was surrounded by a large, grey wall that blocked anyone’s view, and they had stopped in front of a large, solid, white gate made out of metal. A guard appeared from a small guard room built into the wall and smiled and spoke, “Bloodhammer, I assume you are expected. Please wait while I get my commanding officer.” Another guard, as if by magic, appeared next to them. He noticed that his guard also had a flintlock rifle.

  While waiting, Bloodhammer reached into his bag and pulled out what looked like a sword in a wooden sheath. It rather looked like one of the Japanese swords that he had seen on his laptop. He handed it to Gary. “Here you go, lad. I will keep my axe, but you should be able to use this if we run into any problems.”