Peering into his distant memories, Matthew dredged up what he needed. When he spoke again it was in a tongue he had never attempted before, “Can you understand me now?” His own ears told him that the accent was terrible, but it was good enough that she should be able to make sense of it.
Karen looked up, “What was that?”
A language called ‘Erollith’. The language of the She’Har. Their children are created knowing it, he replied mentally.
It sounded like gibberish to me. I told you, I’m human. There’s a hole in your theory somewhere, she replied.
Matthew thought for a moment, There’s no guarantee the She’Har that came to your world were the same as the ones that came to mine. They may have had a different language.
Anything could be possible if you keep resorting to explanations like that, she argued.
I can check, if you don’t mind, he offered.
“How?” she asked suspiciously.
The She’Har have a special organ, the seed-mind, nestled within their brain. It provides their inborn knowledge, grants them perfect recall, and—when the time comes, it germinates and grows into a new tree. I can search inside you, to see if you have one.
That sounds painful. You want to root around inside my brain? she asked, a hint of fear tinting her thoughts.
It won’t hurt, he told her. I could probably have done it without you even knowing, but I thought it better to ask.
“Well that’s very considerate of you,” she said aloud. Should I lie down?
You don’t have to, but it might make it simpler, he replied.
Matthew found the bedroll and spread it out on the ground for her. Karen stretched out on it, and he sat next to her head. Gazing down on her, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. One of Tyrion’s memories floated up in his mind, and for a second he saw the terrified faces of the women Tyrion had experimented on. An involuntary shudder ran through him.
Pushing those images aside he focused his attention. He only needed the knowledge Tyrion had gained, not the traumatic experiences that went with that information. He sharpened his magesight and went beneath her hair, past skin and bone, into the complex organ that served the central function of intelligence.
It took only a short span of seconds, it wasn’t there. Karen’s brain was simply that, a human brain, without the foreign seed the She’Har put into all their children.
Sitting back, he muttered to himself, “It isn’t there.”
“Told you,” said Karen. “I’m just the defective product of several generations of inbreeding.” Her face was scrunched up as she struggled to contain her emotions. A moment before she had been arguing for her humanity, now she wanted to weep for it. The idea that she might have been something other, had been frightening, but also attractive.
Matthew could see her misery, and it sparked a feeling of anger within him. Her aythar was chaotic and incomplete, it sputtered through her body, filling certain areas and missing others. Perhaps it was because she had lived without it for so long, but it hadn’t reached every part of her. She was a mosaic of light and dark, aythar and void.
In his mind, it was a perfect reflection of her own self-hatred—and he couldn’t bear to see it any longer.
He didn’t know what was right or wrong, but in that moment, he no longer cared. Reaching down, he put his hand in the center of her chest, over her breastbone, and pushed. Directing his will, he flooded her body with a cascade of his own aythar, smoothing her aura and filling in the voids.
Karen’s eyes flew open when his hand touched her, “What are you…!” And then her words cut off. A wave of sensation raced through her, setting her nerves on fire with something that was akin to pleasure, yet so intense it caused her back to arch with pain. Her mouth opened and she gasped for air. The air shimmered around her, and she could see it, in a way that made no sense at all.
Matthew was glowing, the earth was alive, and she could count the trees on the other side of the river, trees that were certainly outside her line of sight. For the first time in her life, she was no longer empty, she was connected. Whole.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“What did you do?” Everything was sparkling, and she found herself watching his heart beat, its rhythm a counterpoint to her own.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “It just looked like it needed to be done.”
She caught his hand before he could withdraw it. Experimenting, she tried to send some of her own energy through it, to mingle with his. A shield sprang up, a barrier that separated them. “Let me,” she protested.
“You’re confused, probably disoriented,” he responded. “If this is the first time your gift has fully awakened you might have some nausea…”
She pressed again, and this time he lowered the barrier. She flowed into him like a gentle rain soaking into dry soil. I want to see it all, she thought to him.
You aren’t thinking clearly, you need to adjust, he told her, trying half-heartedly to pull away.
Karen wrapped one hand into the hair at the back of his head and pulled him in, kissing him. I don’t care.
I’m not interested. I have duties…
This time she heard the words, understood the undertones, but unlike before, she also felt his emotions. He wanted her. His lust was as great as her own. “Shut up. I don’t give a damn about your responsibilities. You can be an asshole tomorrow. Tonight, you’re mine.”
Chapter 13
They had been flying for less than an hour when Desacus spotted the telltale signs of a village ahead. After a short discussion, they made a careful landing a half a mile from it, on the verge of a small field, to avoid alarming the residents. Dragons were still new to Lothion, and it would almost certainly have caused a panic if Desacus had come down in plain view.
“Do you know these people?” asked Karen nervously.
Matthew was busy removing his armor and redressing himself in the tunics she had seen him in when he first came to her world. The clothing was rumpled but relatively clean after his efforts at washing it the day before. He shook his head negatively, “No.”
She pointed at his mail, “Maybe you should wear it instead.”
He laughed, “There’s no danger.”
Karen wasn’t so sure, and her uncertainty showed. Plus, she was blue. She pointed at her face.
Matthew’s aythar flashed as he spoke a few short words, and it flowed outward, briefly covering her. You look like anyone else, he said, speaking inside her mind. Changing the color of your skin is the simplest of illusions.
What if we aren’t in your country? she pointed out. They still might not be friendly.
A shimmering barrier sprang up around him, hovering a fraction of an inch from his skin. Wizards are rare, even in this world, he told her. Normal people don’t hold much danger for us. My father insisted I learn to keep a shield around me at all times.
She knew for a fact he hadn’t been keeping a shield around himself for the majority of the time they had been in his world. Had he not felt the need? Or had he wanted to avoid putting a barrier between them? “Can I do that?” she asked.
He nodded, Any mage can, but you will need to practice first. I’ll show you after we do some trading. For now, I can manage a shield for both of us. To illustrate his thoughts a similar shield sprang up around her.
They crossed the field and found a small cart track leading into the village proper, a small collection of ramshackle wooden buildings. Several small children played in the empty area in the center, which was occupied by what appeared to be a well.
The children stared at them as they approached, and several ran into the buildings. A heavyset man with an impressive beard emerged from the largest and assessed Matthew with a critical eye.
“Good day,” Matthew began, hailing him.
The stranger’s eyes took in his sword and clothing, with hardly any hesitation he bowed deeply, “Pardon me, my lord, I do not know your name to greet you properly.”<
br />
“You can address me as Lord Illeniel,” Matthew informed him. “What is your name, and the name of this village?”
The villager went to his knees, keeping his face down toward the ground, “Nathan, Lord Illeniel, this is the village of Dabwold.”
“Rise, Nathan,” pronounced Matthew. “You have shown courtesy enough, I do not need a display of obeisance. Who is your lord?”
“Baron Elmwood, my lord.”
He had never met the man, but Matthew had been required to learn the names of every member of Lothion’s peerage. The name told him much. He was in southern Lothion, which meant they had been traveling through the Southern Desert. Albamarl was probably only a couple of hours by dragon to the north and east of them.
Karen watched the entire exchange with a growing feeling of unease. She was still uncomfortable with her new senses, but she could see the people hiding in their homes all around them. She couldn’t understand the conversation, but the peasant’s immediate subservience felt wrong. People shouldn’t have to kneel.
Matthew finished talking and directed his attention to her, They’ll feed us and provide some bread and cheese we can take with us.
They don’t look like they can afford to give away food, she returned with a note of disapproval.
I’ll be paying them.
They waited in the center of the village, while the man went to make good on his promises. Matthew was staring down into the well, while Karen had trouble deciding what to do with herself. She could feel eyes on her from every direction.
“Shouldn’t we go inside to eat?” she asked.
Matthew glanced up and raised one brow, “Do you want to?” Then he added mentally, It would only frighten them more if we went inside.
In truth, she had no desire to enter any of the dwellings there. The smell was bad enough outside, and from what she could see it was probably much worse inside. She felt a surge of aythar and realized her companion was doing something at the well.
Matthew’s power stretched down, into the depths, and earth and stone began to shift below them.
“What was that?” she asked.
I deepened it. They were probably having trouble getting enough water from it, he explained.
Nathan returned with two women who might or might not have been young. Karen couldn’t be sure, but life had certainly been hard on them. They carried two bowls filled with a mush that was probably meant to be stew, though it was impossible to identify the ingredients. The vegetables had disintegrated, and if there was any meat in it, she couldn’t detect its presence.
Karen managed to get the flavorless stew down, though it was obvious salt was unknown to these people’s cooking. The cheese they presented to her was revolting. She couldn’t get it close enough to her mouth to taste, once the smell reached her nose.
Once she had forced the stew down she followed it with the hard bread, which was at least edible.
Matthew ate quietly and packed away the extra cheese and bread when he had finished, slipping it into the seemingly bottomless pouch he wore. That done he produced a purse of coins and handed several to Nathan.
As they walked back to where they had left Desacus Karen spoke up, “Is it like that everywhere?”
With his growing command of the language Matthew understood, but answering was more difficult, “Yes and no.” Mentally he added, In most of the Kingdom this is typical, but things are much better on my father’s lands. Both of my parents were raised as commoners, so they have worked hard to improve the lives of those they are responsible for.
Couldn’t you use magic to improve things?
He shrugged, We do what we can, like with the well back there. Wizards are incredibly rare, though. As far as I know, there are only six in the entire world, seven while you are here.
Karen found herself depressed thinking of the overall condition of the people she had met. This magical world wasn’t at all what she had expected. Someone should do more. The people of her world had managed far more with no magic at all. Of course, it had taken them a long time to get to the utopia that everyone now enjoyed.
They found the dragon waiting at the edge of the forest. He seemed glad to see them, and he broadcast his latest musings as soon as they were close, I have had an idea.
“What is it this time?” asked Matthew.
What if I ate people accidentally? responded the huge beast.
Matt frowned, How?
Suppose I was tricked. Maybe someone slipped in a few people with a side of beef, and I didn’t discover it until after I had already eaten them. Am I required to try and vomit them up, or do I just call it a mistake and chalk it up as a learning experience?
Matthew put one hand over his face, Now you’re just being ridiculous.
Desacus was insistent, I need to know.
“Why?” asked Matt.
So I know what to do if the situation comes up, said the dragon.
Karen chuckled, Seems reasonable to me.
“Don’t encourage him,” said Matthew, trying out his English again. Then he added, in Barion, “In the unlikely event that ever happened, I’d rather you didn’t make a mess by vomiting.”
“Where are we going now?” asked Karen.
“Where do you want to go?” he said, returning the question to her.
After the briefest pause she answered, “Home.”
“Good,” said Matthew. “I still haven’t found out why your world would send agents to this one.”
Of course, a better plan would have been to return to Castle Cameron. His mother would be worried, but he doubted he could convince her to let him leave again after what had already happened. He discarded that idea immediately.
Instead, he told his companion to wait and asked to borrow Karen’s pack. He got out his sewing kit and a long strip of white cloth and began to embroider the cloth with runes in black thread. As he worked he explained what he was doing for Karen’s benefit. It wasn’t information she was able to use yet, but eventually she would need to learn.
Actually, it was probably an enchantment she would never be able to do, since it required his special gift, but the basic principles of enchanting were the same for most enchantments. It took him a couple of hours to finish his needlework, which was considerably neater than hers had been when making her shirt. He didn’t consider himself particularly accomplished with needle and thread, but even though women did most of the sewing back in Castle Cameron, it was still considered a useful skill for everyone to learn.
He stitched the cloth strip along the inside of the main opening to her pack, but he didn’t invest the aythar to activate it yet. For that he needed to be back in her world first. Opening a pocket dimension here would defeat the purpose of creating one that they could use in her world.
That done, he once again emptied his pouch onto what remained of his blanket and tied it together with some of his rope. Once they had arrived, he could stow everything in her pack.
With his preparations done they mounted Desacus once more, and he began the process of shifting them to Karen’s home plane.
Chapter 14
He avoided the place he had entered her world before, which meant their arrival point was completely random. In case that happened to be a dangerous location he had donned his armor once more, but that turned out to be a disastrous decision.
They were blinded by startlingly bright sunlight when they left the place in-between and then they sank. A wall of water struck them, and Matthew was washed from Desacus’s back.
Karen managed to keep her seat, but the dragon was suffering again from a bout of serious nausea, which was only compounded when he managed to inadvertently swallow a huge mouthful of salt water. Flailing his legs and wings, he surged up and down in the choppy water while she hung on for dear life.
Meanwhile, Matthew sank into the blue depths. He had kept his mouth closed, but being unprepared, he hadn’t taken a full breath before being plunged into the water. With his magesight agai
n being severely limited it was difficult to get his bearings, but he didn’t panic. He surrounded his body with a shield and waited until he could figure out up from down.
One direction was considerably brighter than the other, though it was getting dimmer by the second. That had to be up. Envisioning a fish, he shaped his shield accordingly, creating a large fin on the part beneath his feet and willing it to swing back and forth. There was no air inside his shield, and his armor made him heavier than the water, but his motions created enough thrust to move him upward. He seemed to pick up speed as he went, and when he reached the surface, he burst into the air like a dolphin breaching on a summer day.
He flailed in the air but retained enough presence of mind to solidify the surface of the water beneath him before he fell back into it. He landed with enough force to thoroughly remind him of all the bruises on his back. He lay still on the shifting surface for several seconds, breathing and getting his bearings.
Sitting up, he saw Desacus some twenty yards away. The dragon had steadied himself and was now treading water gently while Karen studied the water around them.
“Matthew!” she yelled in relief. “I thought you had drowned!”
Taking a firmer grip on the water around him, Matthew stood with what dignity he could muster and smoothed the surface in front of him so he could walk over to his companions. He was rewarded by yet another look of amazement from Karen.
“You can walk on water,” she said as he climbed back onto the dragon’s back.
Matt shrugged. Exerting his will again he helped Desacus to march up out of the water onto a smooth surface he could launch himself from. Karen’s stomach lurched as they were suddenly airborne.
I’m glad your father chose not to give us feathered wings, observed the dragon.
Karen gaped at Matthew’s back, Your dad made Desacus?
That’s a long story, said the young mage. Do you have any idea where we are? We need to choose a direction.
Demonhome Page 11