A Mapwalker Trilogy

by J. F. Penn

  The man swam towards the bank.

  Mila knelt down and put her hand in the canal water at the side of the lock, feeling the cool flow touch her skin. It rippled through her body as her connection with the water expanded.

  The man had almost reached the side. She had to stop him.

  As his fingers touched the bank, Mila slipped into the water without so much as a ripple in her wake. She became one with the liquid, sliding sinuously through the darkness of the canal, her senses attuned to the invader. Slipping past him, Mila grabbed his leg, tugging him away from the lip of the canal before he could get out. His muffled cry came from above as she pulled him underwater, slipped on past, turned with an undulation and then came back for him.

  In these moments, Mila felt like any hunter. The thrill of the chase, the knowledge of strength. The pity she might have felt for the Feral subsided under a need to protect what was hers. And this canal was hers, no doubt about it.

  The man flailed in the water, trying to paddle to the shore again, his breath ragged. Mila slid past again and pulled him down under the water. He wrestled with her, his fingers sliding over her skin smooth as silk, part of the water.

  She propelled herself down, dragging him towards a patch of weed that grew at the edge of the canal, taking him down. He kicked and flailed harder now, desperate for air. Silt rose around them in a cloud as Mila thrust him to the bottom. She took a handful of weed and wound it around his neck, anchoring him to the canal floor. His mouth pursed, desperate not to breathe and then he couldn't help himself. As she tightened the weed around his neck, he opened his mouth. The water poured in. He kicked and fought, eyes bulging.

  Mila wondered if there was someone waiting for him back in the Borderlands. What would they do when he didn't return? She hovered in the water above him, watched his eyes go blank, his body go limp.

  He wasn't her first, and he wouldn't be her last. Mila would do this again and again to stop them coming through. She thought of the allotments above, the flowers and the hedgerows of the canal as she tightened the weed around the man's neck to keep his body down. The Ministry team would come and sort out the remains later. Ferals from the Borderland had no identity on this side, so it wasn't murder. It was defense.

  This was war.

  Mila slipped away and pulled herself out of the canal. She shook the water off like an animal as Zippy ran to her side, jumping up and barking in excitement. "It's okay, boy. We're alright."

  She sat down on the bank to catch her breath, Zippy nuzzling into her lap. Mila watched the water go by as a heron fished in the quiet shade of a willow tree.

  6

  The noise of the alarm echoed around the Illuminated Cartographer's library.

  "Come down quickly," Bridget called up. "I need to get to the War Room."

  Sienna hurried back down the ladder, clutching the star map to her chest. At the bottom, the Illuminated Cartographer held out a hand. "You can't take it with you now. It belongs here until such time as you go into the Borderlands."

  "But I –"

  "We need to go now." Bridget stood by the door, one hand holding it open as she beckoned.

  Sienna hurried after her but turned at the door, looking back at the old man tethered to the map room, his life blood sustaining the core of the Ministry. He smiled at her, and in his eyes, she saw a promise of something she didn't quite grasp yet. Had those same eyes smiled at her father as he left?

  "Let's go," Bridget said. "The alarm means there's been another breach. Stay close now."

  Bridget hurried through the corridors, twisting left and right until Sienna was unsure how far they'd come or if they'd just doubled back on themselves multiple times. They reached an open door leading into a wide room with a huge table in the middle. Above it spun a three-dimensional computer model of Bath, The Circus in the middle. It pulsed with a dim light as if some power hummed beneath. Mist hovered at its center while moving dots ranged out from the darkness. Another light flashed scarlet by the canal.

  A group of people stood around the table, all talking at once, pointing at charts on the walls around them. The hum of voices coalesced into one, but Sienna heard snatches of the conversation.

  "Multiple breaches …"

  "Feral wolves …"

  "Fatality on the canal …"

  Bridget called for silence, and Sienna stood back a little, watching as the Irish woman took control of the situation. She turned to a man holding a tablet. It looked to be running some kind of mapping software. "Status update, please, Jerod."

  The man adjusted his glasses. "There are multiple breaches this time. Mist descended on The Circus about twenty minutes ago, and the howling of feral wolves has been heard. Police investigators were already on the scene because of the murder." His eyes flicked to Sienna and then back to his screen. "Mila reported a Feral on the canal, but she closed the breach before anything else could come through."

  "Where's Xander?"

  "He's gone up to The Circus to deal with the wolves."

  The door banged open. Perry stood in the doorway, his clothes burned full of holes, the scent of smoke on him. "Where do you need me, Bridget?"

  She held up a hand to stop him, nodding to Jerod to continue.

  "There are reports from Oxford as well as London. Multiple breach points."

  "They're testing the defenses," Bridget said softly. "The canal is new. They haven't used water magic before. And so soon after Michael …" Her voice trailed off. "We can't wait any longer. We can't be on the defensive anymore." Bridget looked over at Perry and then to Sienna. "The new team of Mapwalkers must go into the Borderlands. We must have the Map of Shadows."

  Sienna didn't understand why Bridget was looking at her in that way. She was overwhelmed by the things she had seen today; the existence of the Borderland and magic; her father's decision to leave her, and the possibility that he could still be alive. Her head reeled with it all.

  And she was no Mapwalker – was she?

  "Perry, take Sienna to the training room." Bridget's eyes narrowed. "We'll see what she can do."

  Sienna took a step back. "No, I don't want this. My father and grandfather didn't even want me involved. I'm leaving."

  She stared at Bridget with an unflinching gaze until the woman nodded.

  "Go then, back to the map shop. But be aware, Sienna, there is no way you can escape this. The border is weakening, and if Bath falls, the rest of the country will follow. The maps will be rewritten and you may not have a choice in the days to come. Perry, escort Sienna back up to the Abbey level."

  Perry turned, gesturing towards the door. "Let's go."

  They walked back down the corridor as the sounds from the War Room faded behind them. Sienna felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment in herself and yet she wondered why. After all, she didn't ask for this. Perry walked by her side in companionable silence, but as they passed the room where he had been burning everything but the maps, he spoke.

  "I know how you feel, Sienna, but Mapwalkers don't choose this life. We are born into it." He sighed. "Sometimes our parents are not the people we want them to be. Sometimes we are not the people we want to be. But if you're a Mapwalker, and Bridget believes you are, then I hope you might come with us into the Borderlands." He stopped and turned to her. Sienna looked up at his earnest face. "There are two sides, and we defend the border between them. Right now, we need all the help we can get."

  He led her back through the winding corridors up to the Abbey level and held the door open for her to leave. "I hope to see you again."

  Sienna emerged into the sun in the heart of Bath. A tourist group of Koreans wandered into the square, their guide talking into a tiny microphone as the huddle looked up at the Abbey. Sienna turned with them, trying to see it again with new eyes. The church loomed over the city, its ancient walls hiding something she had never known was beneath. She supposed that she wouldn't even be able to get back down there again unless she decided to join them. The best thing
to do was forget this ever happened.

  She walked back up towards the map shop, but the police now barred the way toward The Circus. Through the cordon, up the road, she could see mist hanging in the air around the Georgian buildings, obscuring the trees. She wondered who Xander was and what he could possibly be doing with the beasts. A smile ticked at the corner of her mouth. How could she even be thinking about these things?

  Sienna took a detour around the edge of Royal Victoria Park and up past the Marlborough pub, then walked back towards the map shop. Mila sat on the doorstep, a puddle of water around her as she dried herself in the sun, her face turned up to the bright rays. Zippy wasn't with her this time.

  She opened her eyes at Sienna's approach, arching one perfect eyebrow. "I heard you turned Bridget down."

  Sienna smiled. "Word travels fast. But I don't have any Mapwalking skills, so I don't know what I could do to help even if I wanted to."

  She pulled the key to the shop from her pocket. Mila stood up. "I drowned a Feral this afternoon." Her voice sounded strangely disconnected. "He looked like a man, but he didn't exist on this side of the border, so perhaps he wasn't real at all."

  Sienna didn't know what to say. Perhaps this was all some kind of weird joke to scare her off so she would sell the map shop. She thought of Sir Douglas Mercator. All she had to do was call him, and she could move to London and forget all this.

  Mila put her hand on Sienna's arm. "This is real and you must be curious. What if you can mapwalk? What if you could see your father again? Come with me back to the canal boat, and I'll help you try."

  Sienna looked around the shop. The maps whispered to her, speaking of dormant power and far-off places. She had spent too much of her life not knowing what she wanted, aimless and wandering. Maybe it was time to make her own map.

  She turned back to Mila. "Okay, I'll come for coffee, and we'll give it a go. But if nothing happens, I'm selling the shop."

  They walked up through the back streets and out onto the towpath at Bathwick, emerging by the side of the canal. It felt like a different world to the teeming city they had left behind. Their footsteps crunched along the gravel, and the sound of birdsong rang from hedgerows wound through with dog roses and elderflower. Violet irises grew in the reeds along the edge of the water and ducks swam along, skimming for bugs. The afternoon sun shone through the canopy of trees, dappling the path as they passed narrowboats moored on the bank.

  "I never liked the city much," Mila said as they walked. "I grew up in London and escaped onto the canals when I could. Turns out I can mapwalk through waterways, which explains why I've always been so drawn to them."

  They turned a corner to where a boat was moored. It was the green of spring leaves painted with a five-pointed compass alongside a map of the sinuous canal waterway dotted with trees and intricate birds. Zippy lay on the bank in a patch of sun, guarding the entrance. He saw them coming and ran to meet them, barking happily as he bounced up and down. Sienna couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm and bent to rub his fur.

  "You are a lovely boy. Yes, you are."

  Mila laughed. "See why I have him? No matter how the day goes, no matter what craziness the world throws at me, I arrive home to this bundle of joy. Come in. I'll put the kettle on."

  The boat rocked a little as Sienna stepped aboard. It was long and narrow inside, like a gypsy caravan. There was a tiny kitchen area right by the door, a little stove, and a bench top with a few mismatched mugs in different patterns. A small table next to a window looked out on one side to the path and on the other side to the canal itself. Two foldable chairs sat stacked against the side. Further back, there was a bookshelf, then a little sleeping cabin with a curtain across. It was a tiny self-contained world and Sienna could see that it had everything a person might need. Mila seemed to have her life pretty sorted.

  Zippy ran down the middle of the boat and back again, twisting around their legs, wagging his tail, his little face alive with happiness. Mila laughed and opened out the chairs. Zippy immediately jumped up onto one of them. "Welcome to our humble abode."

  "Do you move the boat a lot?" Sienna asked.

  Mila shook her head. "Sometimes if I need to escape, but I like it here. We have quite a community on the canal. I have friends, people who love Zippy. We are the misfits up here. Sometimes Bath likes to forget we exist because most people on the canal don't have normal jobs. There are craftsmen, artists, some barely eking out a living doing odd jobs here and there. But I like being free. I can just untether myself from the bank and go if I want to. Not very fast, of course. It takes forever to get through the locks, especially if you're on your own, but I love it."

  Mila put the kettle on and pointed to the chair. "Have a seat. I'll make us some tea and then show you how my Mapwalking works."

  As Mila brewed and poured the tea, Sienna felt a nervous energy, her anticipation building. After taking a sip, Mila knelt down and pulled away a rug from the floor, revealing a tiny trapdoor underneath, lined with a waterproof seal.

  "This is not normal on a narrowboat," she said with a laugh. "But I find it easier to travel this way because otherwise people would be questioning why I was jumping in and out the water all the time. This way I can slip in and out and no one knows about it."

  Mila tugged open the trapdoor to reveal the canal water beneath. The smell of weeds and rushes rose from the hatch. "So, I mapwalk through waterways," she said. "It's hard to explain how to do it, but I sensed you felt a pull towards the maps in the shop. For me, the pull is towards water. I haven't seen myself traveling, of course, but it feels like I'm some kind of water creature because I don't have to come up to breathe. Like being in a ripple, moving in the spaces between the waves as they cross the water. It's not so much swimming, more like a direction with my mind. I've become better at it over time." She grinned. "First time I tried it I ended up in a weir getting rolled over and over by the flow, wondering if I could get out. But sometimes you just have to just try things."

  Mila put her hand down into the water, and her skin rippled as if her flesh had become liquid.

  Sienna gasped. "That's incredible."

  "Call it magic." Mila shrugged. "Call it a different kind of human. Call it what you want, but I was born with this. Your family are known as powerful Mapwalkers, so perhaps you have something too." She pulled her arm out of the water and closed the hatch. "I'm not going to take you into the water today. We don't want you gasping and panting as you try and breathe underwater."

  Sienna frowned. "Does that mean you can take other people when you mapwalk?"

  Mila nodded. "Yes, as long as you're connected somehow. Holding hands or tied together or something. How many people you can take with you is entirely dependent on the level of your control and your power. I've only taken one other person before, but I heard your grandfather once rescued a whole group of people from a prisoner-of-war camp, transporting them out through a map. There are rumors of Mapwalkers like me helping boats through storms." Mila's eyes shone with excitement. "I like the idea of being some kind of superhero." Then she frowned. "But most of our work is about protecting the border and artifact retrieval these days."

  "So how would I mapwalk?" Sienna asked.

  "It's like giving in to a sensation," Mila said. "Your body knows what it wants to do. You were born for it, so you just have to let it do what it knows deep inside." She walked to the bookshelf and pulled out a map of Bath. She opened it on the table in front of Sienna. "This is a good start." She pointed to a place on the canal path. "We're here. There's The Circus. That's where the shop is. Why don't you start by using this map to get us back to the shop?"

  "How?" Sienna's heart pounded. She felt like she was about to cross a line. Her father and grandfather had wanted her to stay away from this, but something inside made her desperate to try.

  "Just put your hand on the map."

  Sienna placed her fingertips onto the paper. An electric sensation of vibration traveled through her
skin. She pulled her hand away quickly.

  "It's okay." Mila smiled with encouragement. "Just relax."

  "What does it look like to someone watching?" Sienna asked.

  "I've seen your grandfather travel, and he just disappeared," Mila said. "Whereas I shimmer as I go into the water. That's what Perry told me anyway. I think you met him."

  Sienna smiled. "Yeah, fire boy."

  Mila grinned. "You need to meet Xander as well. He's way too good-looking, but he can do some pretty interesting things with illustration. He has earth magic. He can form creatures and animals on the vellum of maps. If he draws it, it can become real."

  Sienna frowned. "What type of magic does my family have?"

  Mila went to the window and paused a moment before speaking. "Your grandfather and your father both had blood magic."

  "That doesn't sound good."

  "Well, it's a mixed blessing. It's the most powerful magic, used to create the original maps. You can draw a new map, or reinforce the borders, whereas the rest of us can only travel through existing ones. Blood Cartographers can remake reality."

  Sienna laughed nervously. "Doesn't quite sound like me."

  "Well, if nothing happens, then you don't have to worry about it. Just try thinking of the map shop. Visualize the lines of the city. Think of the whispers of the maps. Let them speak to you."

  Sienna placed her hand back on the map. "Do I need to close my eyes?"

  Mila smiled. "Whatever feels most natural. Just relax."

  Sienna closed her eyes and concentrated on the sensation of the map, the feel of the paper beneath her fingertips. She could almost sense each individual molecule in it. Then it was as if she rose above her body, a sensation of weightlessness, of almost flying. Suddenly she could see into the map like a 3D image of the city below.