Warper: Origins

by Riley Tune

  “Brother, you knew what this was from the start. You also knew what would come of it. If you don’t have the stomach for it, then return to the main house, read your books, and act like you knew of nothing. With or without you, the plan will continue.”

  Remy slammed his hand down on the table, causing his wine to fall over and his plate of food to jump.

  “Fine. Fine. I’ll return to the main house by today's end. I just hope you know what will come of this,” he said. He stood up so forcefully that the chair he was sitting in went flying back. “Let’s just hope The Keeper has mercy on you for sending people to their deaths.”

  “Let’s,” Rema replied.

  I heard a creak on the floor that sounded close to the door I was listening at. Quickly I turned my head and saw the room I had been sleeping in down the hall. I locked my eyes on the couch and warped. Seconds after I reappeared, the door to Remy’s room opened and he stormed out. Rema followed behind him. She turned and saw me sitting up on the couch.

  I rubbed the back of my neck and wiped my eyes, trying to seem as much like a person who had just woken up as possible.

  “Good morning, Mr. Lox,” she said as she walked over to me.

  “You sound like Jolin now,” I said as I cleared my throat.

  “Would you prefer if I called you Warps?” she asked, behind a smile.

  “No. Just Lox is fine.”

  I stood up and stretched.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked, trying to avoid her eye. I felt that if they lingered too long she would somehow know I heard their conversation.

  “Jolin and Vida are outside getting the carriage ready. My brother is—” She let her words fall short as she looked towards the ground blankly. “He is returning to the main house. Seems all of this is too much for him to handle.”

  I nodded slightly.

  We stood in silence for a second.

  “Well, let us get started. Meet us outside when you are ready, but be mindful. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  With those words, she did a slight nod and walked away, heading outside to speak with Jolin and Vida. We didn’t actually know what they plan was, and I had a feeling we were about to find out.

  Once we were outside, Jolin, Vida, and myself listened to the plan Rema had come up with the night before. She was proving to be as smart as Remy time and time again. It would have taken me a few nights to come up with this plan.

  Basically, we needed to get information from The High Lady before her escorts to the palace arrived. What we were to do was simply to serve as a fake escort. Arrive to her home in our fancy carriage provided by the wealth of the Thornes; we were to have Vida change into Bren again, while Jolin would be dressed as the driver. Once there, he would ask her anything he needed to, in order to get answers. At her old age, she should apparently be more vulnerable to his powers as a Tongue. At least, that’s what Jolin had said. I was still learning about it as I went.

  Then there was my part. I, too, was to dress up as a guard, and provide backup if needed. Rema all but assured that it wouldn’t be needed. The only issue was that Rema wasn’t able to provide the outfit for me, and, since I couldn’t change my appearance like Vida, I would have to acquire one the old-fashioned way. From a guard. A real, live, breathing, weapon-carrying guard. Which wouldn’t be hard. I just had to get one alone.

  That was why I was currently warping from rooftop to rooftop, searching for a small patrol of guards, or—even better—a lone guard. I needed to be as fast as possible. The High Lady lived almost near the edges of Thera, so it would take a little while to get there; as I hunted, Vida and Jolin had already started the trip.

  It all seemed easy enough. I just didn’t have any time to waste.

  I didn't know why, but something inside of me was drawing me to the portion of Thera that was known for its brothels. I warped to the rooftop of a two-story building that seemed abandoned. It was funny. Just two streets over was where I had failed in hunting Ashland, and here I was again, in the same area.

  My luck was proving to be impressive, because, as soon as I reappeared from my warp, I saw a guard. A lone guard, who appeared to be off-duty, and was heading directly to a brothel. I was so shocked to see the guard, almost waiting for me, that it made me pause. I usually didn’t get this lucky, and things didn’t come easy. I don’t know what had pushed me to check this area, but I was glad I had.

  I glanced up to the sky for a moment. “Keeper?” I whispered to myself. Then I shook my head and washed those thoughts away. “Don’t be foolish. You had a gut feeling that worked in your favor,” I said under my breath.

  I felt naked as I crouched here, without my cloak, trying to stay hidden as I watched the guard. I had decided to leave my cloak behind, since I was going to discard my current clothing anyway.

  The guard was so set on his destination that he didn’t even notice me when I reappeared from a warp, not even a foot behind him. The street was empty. This, too, seemed to play in my favor. The ease of this all set a knot in my stomach. It all seemed too easy. Like the world around me was being bent so that everything worked out.

  I came in close to the guard, standing slightly to his left side. The side his sword swung on.

  “Excuse me,” I said as the guard stopped and turned around.

  “Be quick, boy, I—” The guard's words were silenced by my fist to his throat. He placed both hands on his throat and struggled to breathe.

  With his hands up on his neck, his stomach was open and unprotected. I had two options here. Punch him in the stomach, or kick him in his stomach. The latter would get the job done faster, and I had a schedule to keep.

  I spun around to build momentum and delivered a kick to his stomach. The little air in his body that he had left rushed out in one massive gasp, and he bent over slightly, one hand on his neck and one hand on his stomach. He was exposed, and he was at my mercy.

  I could have ended his life. A simple stab or slash of my dagger and he would have taken his last breath as he bled out and died in the street like a rat. It is what Ember would have done. He likely would have made it so the body would have never have been found, too. But if I did that, the curse would start, and I knew how that would end. I took a deep breath, and, instead of ending his life, I opted for extreme pain instead.

  As he continued to lean over and try to gather himself, I took a slight push from my foot and sent a knee to the front of his face. As my knee connected, the guard let out a grunt and fell backwards, arms stretched out, on the ground. When he woke, he would have a horrible headache, but he would be alive.

  I picked up the body and dragged him to a side alley. He was a little smaller than me, so his clothes were a tight fit in some spots, but I was still able to wear the uniform. I thought about it. The odds of me finding a guard alone, that was nearly my size, were almost impossible. I glanced up to the sky again, and continued to get dressed in silence.

  Once fully dressed, I tossed my unneeded clothes and three gold yolars on the guard's body. Still enough for him to enjoy himself at the brothels when he woke up after the pain had passed. That was the least I could do. A small thank you from me, as it were. This had been quicker than I expected.

  Turning my view to the same building I had been on before I attacked the guard, I warped off in the direction of Jolin and Vida so that I could catch the carriage. I wasn’t about to let them have all the fun without me.

  20

  I caught up to the carriage with ease about ten minutes after I left the guard unconscious in the alley. Warping over buildings was much faster than bending to the rules that came with moving through Thera on foot or by carriage.

  I was currently on a taller building now. From my view, it was one of the tallest in the area. Even though I was five stories up, I could see the carriage moving through the city streets. Jolin was taking his role as carriage driver seriously, and was driving with little to no regard for the surroundings.

  In the last few seconds alone
he had narrowly missed three people walking, two people on bicycles, and he had clipped a building while turning. I shook my head as I warped from the building and reappeared in the street before the oncoming carriage.

  Jolin had to pull hard on the reins to bring the caprongs to a halt.

  “Mr. Lox!” Jolin shouted as he put a hand to his chest and got his breathing under control. “Are you trying to get run over?” he asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

  “No. But neither is anybody else on the street,” I replied. I slowly walked to the side, not taking my eyes off the massive caprongs in front of the carriage. They were such beautiful creatures. Until the horns grew in, that is. Then they were like the caprongs that the guards of Pradeep had ridden.

  The thought caused my stomach to churn as I climbed up inside the carriage.

  Before I sat down, I stuck my head back outside the carriage.

  “Get us there in one piece, please.”

  Jolin smirked and nodded some as he gave the reigns a good shake once more.

  The caprongs flared to life again, unleashing primal sounds while pulling the carriage with ease. We began moving so fast that I was thrown back in my seat, and the door slammed shut beside me.

  “You okay there, Warps?” The voice of Vida came from the large manly figure known as Bren, who sat across from me.

  “You know, that’s just creepy,” I said to her. To him. To Vida.

  “What is?” she asked.

  “Your voice, coming from his body. It’s—” I tried to find the a nicer way to say what I was thinking. At that same moment, the face of Bren smiled some and leaned over towards me.

  “It’s what, Warps?” she said as she rubbed her hand on my thigh. I jumped back in my seat as Vida burst into laughter and tossed her head back.

  The face of Bren was turning red now from laughing so hard.

  “It's still me, Warps,” Vida’s voice said through broken laughter.

  “Yeah, I know,” I replied as I looked out the carriage window. “I’d just rather it be you touching me, as yourself.”

  The words were out of my mouth and into the world of reality before I realized what I said. Had I really just said that?

  Her laughter had stopped now, and the only sound was the bumping of the carriage and the occasional screaming person from outside as we passed. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest harder than before.

  Bren cleared his throat and stood up from his seat in the carriage. While it was Bren that stood up, it was Vida who sat down beside me. She had changed into herself again. There was plenty of room on the seat, but she had decided to sit close beside me. I felt her hand on my leg again.

  “This better?” she said as she looked at me slowly.

  All I could think was that she was different. She was her own kind of special, wrapped inside of the right amount of dangerous. She was different, like me, and for some reason that drew me to her.

  I had seen her fight, and it was possible that she could have beaten me in a straight-up fight if she wanted to, and that made her even more appealing. I looked at her, sitting beside me now, bobbing up and down as we road in the carriage.

  Even now, she was beautiful. The clothes she had on from her recent change were tight just in the right places, causing her curves to stand out. I don’t know if this was done on purpose or by accident,and I didn’t care.

  “It’s—”

  I opened my mouth to respond, and at that moment she kissed me.

  Full force, on the lips, her tongue in my mouth, she kissed me. I had thought that when I warped I was touching greatness, grabbing a lightning bolt, and feeling a sliver of infinity, but this—this kiss was all of those things amplified.

  I didn’t have much experience in kissing. I went with instinct and pushed back towards her slightly, and she didn’t stop. Time was standing still for me, and it was then that I decided to go for an even bigger move. I put my hand on her thigh, and in return, she placed her hand on mine.

  I thought she was going to move it, but she didn’t. I couldn’t feel anything but fire inside of me now. It was as if the carriage had stopped moving, and nothing else existed.

  “Hey!” a voice came from outside as it knocked on the carriage door.

  We both suddenly stopped kissing. Apparently the carriage really had stopped moving. I looked at Vida, who smiled at me.

  “Time to go to work, Warps,” she said as her face transformed into Bren's.

  The door swung open, and Jolin stood there.

  “What are you two doing?” he asked as he saw Bren and I, sitting close and looking at each other.

  “Nothing,” I said, quickly, as I realized what it must have looked like to him.

  Jolin grinned. “Well, hurry up and finish doing nothing. We’re here, and we have to hurry.”

  He left the door open as he left us alone again. I didn’t know what to say to her.

  “That was—” I searched for the words.

  “Your first time?” Vida asked. I didn’t reply; I felt heat rushing to my face. “I could tell, but you did good. Plus—” Vida stood to get out of the carriage. “Practice makes perfect.”

  I could feel my eyes pop open at the realization that more of this was to come.

  I stepped out of the carriage and joined Jolin and Vida in front of what seemed to be a larger-than-normal house, behind a gate. I looked to both sides: the gate seemed to surround the entire house and a few small buildings as well. Two men stood in front of the gate, and both had swords at their sides.

  These swords were different than ones I had seen on guards before. They seemed more elegant. Instead of a straight blade, they were rounded, like a large hook. Both sides were sharp, and the handle itself had a short blade at the end, too.

  “That’s smart,” I said under my breath to myself. I decided to keep this sword image in my mind as a mental note.

  Vida and I stood behind Jolin. Vida, as Bren, was a large and scary man; I myself tried to seem as menacing. I kept my posture straight, and allowed my lips to form a thin line. I looked ahead and tried to act as if this was a normal thing. Now we would see how well Rema’s plan would work.

  “Good morning, gentlemen. I trust The High Lady has informed you that her escort to the palace would arrive today?” Jolin asked.

  The guards stood silent for a second. Then one spoke.

  “She did, but you’re early. You’re not scheduled to arrive for another hour.” The guard had a funny accent that I couldn’t place. He seemed more nervous than we were, and I could see beads of sweat forming on his forehead, just below his black hair.

  Jolin glanced to Bren on his left and then back to the guards. “We left earlier than expected. Now, kindly let us in.”

  Vida stepped a little closer to the door guard. The guard stepped to the side and removed a large key from his pocket, beginning to unlock the gate.

  “Thank you, sir,” Jolin said as he walked pass the guard. We followed closely behind him down the walkway.

  The area behind the fence, leading up to the house, seemed to be a courtyard. There were various trees that seemed well taken-care-of, sitting areas, and even a tiny fountain. The house itself and the walkway seemed to be made entirely out of stone, something that wasn't commonly done. There hadn't been a previous high lady, and likely wouldn’t be a next. The name, the title, and everything associated with it had been created by the Empress for her mother.

  Crafting the home entirely out of stone was something done simply to make the place stand out, and it was a success. The fence alone made it stand out. Even the door was unique. Instead of being made out of wood like most doors, it was composed of a mixture of stones, glass, and wood. How they had made it, I’d never know, and to be honest it was a hideous door, but it was different, and apparently that was what the Empress had wanted.

  Jolin knocked at the door firmly. “High Lady,” he said as he knocked once more. “This should be easy,” Jolin said, turning to us.
“The older a person, the more vulnerable they are to my abilities.”

  The door swung open, and there stood a short lady. She was round in the face and body, and slumped over slightly. Like her daughter, she still had red hair, but it was gray in areas. It curled down her head and to her neck slightly.

  She smiled, and through the smile her old face seemed to be made bright. Her wrinkles seemed to stand out strong in the light, while her eyes were dim and dull brown. “Come on in,” she said as she smiled to us all and walked away.

  We followed her into her the house.

  While the outside was a marvel to see, inside, the house was pretty normal. Some areas were extremely messy, while others seemed to be cleaned on a daily basis.

  “You’re early,” she said as she walked through the house, using the walls here and there for support. “I was just about to eat.” She led us to a room with a large table inside of it.

  The table looked as if it could seat over a dozen people, but it had only a few chairs at the end of it.

  She sat down and began eating.

  “Oh, where are my manners? Would you like some?”

  Vida and I stood silent. Guards didn’t talk unless addressed directly, and we had to keep up the ruse. In this situation, only Jolin could speak.

  The High Lady shoved a chunk of bread in her mouth and chewed it slowly as she sipped a steaming liquid from her cup. Jolin pulled out a seat and sat down beside her.

  “Ma’am, Ms. High Lady—is it okay if I ask you some questions as you eat?”

  She nodded. “I don’t see why you couldn’t, my boy,” she said as she patted Jolin’s hand. I could see him swallow for a second, and he cleared his throat.

  Then, it flooded the room, as fast and as bright as sunlight. Stronger than I had ever felt it before. He had done it. Somehow, he had begun to use his ability as a Tongue. He wasn’t speaking, but I could feel the effect of it already. It wasn’t as strong on me, because I was to the side, but I could feel it in the air. It was as if he could turn it off and on at will before he even started speaking.