by Jack
Neither Damin nor Tarja seemed too pleased by her command, but they did as she bid, retreating up the hall out of earshot. Adrina put them out of her mind and turned to the cell. ‘Now, as for you, my lad,’ she said, shifting a little on the uncomfortable wooden chair, ‘why don’t you tell me how you got Tarja Tenragan believing your arrival heralds the end of the world?’
* * * *
Chapter III
‘The Lord Defender doesn’t want to believe me, my lady,’ the young man said, taking a cautious step closer to the bars, one eye on the bare sword only a few feet away. ‘If he did, he’d give me the help I need, not make me the feature attraction of the morning matinee for bored princesses looking to relieve the tedium.’
Adrina stared at the young man in surprise. ‘I could call my husband and the Lord Defender back, you know. They might be able to torture some manners into you, if nothing else.’
The young man seemed to realise his mistake. He bowed apologetically, brushing the dark hair out of his eyes. ‘I’m sorry. It was not my intention to offend you, your highness.’
‘Do you have a name?’
‘Of course.’
Adrina glared at him silently.
‘Oh ... I mean yes, yes ... Dirk Provin.’
‘And where are you from, Dirk Provin.’
‘Ranadon.’
Adrina’s brow furrowed for a moment. ‘I do not recall ever seeing or hearing any reference to a country called Ranadon.’
‘That’s because it’s not a country, your highness. It’s a world.’
‘I don’t understand.’
He dabbed at the blood leaking from his split lip with the edge of his sleeve. ‘I come from an entirely different world, your highness. We don’t even share the same sky. On my world, we have two suns.’
‘And yet we speak the same language.’
‘We all come from the same Creator.’
‘How did you get here?’ Adrina asked, thinking she should have listened to Tarja. This glib boy was talking nonsense.
‘The veil between our worlds is breaking down. I crossed into your world near a place on my world called Omaxin. I came out east of your citadel and found my way here, where I was arrested for ... well, I’m not exactly sure what I was arrested for. All I know is that when I asked to speak to someone in charge about the threat to both our worlds, they locked me up and started beating the crap out of me, mostly, I gather, because they don’t like what I’m saying.’
Adrina couldn’t help but smile at his wounded tone. If he was making this up, he was a very good liar. ‘Don’t people on your world draw the wrong sort of attention for suggesting the world might be about to end?’
He shook his head. ‘Not as a rule. Generally they start religions.’ He smiled then, as if his comment was a joke only he understood. ‘I’m sorry ... the answer to that question is the reason I’m here. When we realised the problem on our world, I came to yours, looking for the solution.’
‘You say we, as if others on your world know of this impending doom. Were you able to convince the rulers of your world, then, that your preposterous story is true?’
‘Yes.’
‘They must have a great deal of faith in you.’
‘On my world, I am a religious leader.’
‘You’re very young for such responsibility.’
A small self-deprecating smile flickered across the young man’s battered face. ‘It kinda helps that the most powerful prince on Ranadon is a cousin. And that he owes me a favour.’
‘You are a prince?’
Her question gave Dirk pause. He thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. ‘Well, technically. I find it’s much more useful to be Lord of the Suns. That way I’ve got everything covered.’
Adrina was beginning to regret volunteering to talk to this seemingly harmless youth. He was toying with her. ‘You have about one minute left to start making sense, young man, before I call my husband and the Lord Defender back and let them do with you what they will.’
He took a step closer to the bars, close enough now to grip them. His fingers were bloody and swollen, but seemed to be intact. ‘Let me ask you a question, first, your highness. Don’t you ever get the feeling there is something wrong with your world? Something not quite right with it?’
Adrina paused for a moment before answering, the boy’s question chillingly close to the uneasy feeling she’d had for some time. ‘I don’t understand what you mean.’
He thought about it for a second or two and then said, ‘All right, let me put it another way. Don’t you ever get the feeling you’re just marking time? That nothing in your world is progressing the way it should?’
Adrina rose to her feet, suddenly nauseous. ‘Explain what you mean by that.’
‘I mean, your highness, your world and my world and all the other worlds touching them have stopped. Worse, they may soon disappear.’
‘What other worlds?’
‘The other worlds of the Creator,’ he said.
‘You mean the gods?’
He shook his head. ‘No, I mean the one who created the gods. And the goddesses. And you, and me, and this place, and my world, and your world, and everything else we see, and hear, and feel.’
Adrina took a small step back from him, bumping into the chair. Her experience with Xaphista’s followers had left a bad taste in her mouth and a deep suspicion of all monotheistic religions. ‘You believe in one god? Like the Kariens and their worship of Xaphista?’
‘Your highness, I don’t even know what a Karien is. Or a Xaphista, either, for that matter. I’m just convinced everything comes from one Creator and I think something has happened to the Creator, which is why the veils between our worlds are failing. It’s how I can be here. It’s why I came here.’
‘For what?’ Adrina asked. ‘We’ve never even heard of this Creator of whom you speak. How do you suppose anybody here can help you find him?’
‘Magic.’
‘Magic?’ She repeated with a frown. ‘What’s so special about our magic? Surely your own magic is powerful enough?’
Dirk shook his head. ‘Well, there’s the rub. You see, on my world, there is no magic. And much as it irks to admit it, your magicians may be the only ones who can find him.’
‘You mean the Harshini?’
‘Are the Harshini like the woman with the black eyes they brought here this morning to see if I was telling the truth? Her name was Shannon ... or something like that.’
Tarja had mentioned that Shananara had already been here to see the prisoner. ‘Yes ... she is Harshini. But what do you expect of them?’
‘I’m not sure yet. But the Creator must have given them powers for a reason, so we might as well avail ourselves of their skills.’
‘In that case,’ Adrina said, shaking her head, wondering what Shananara had made of this strange boy, ‘you don’t need the Harshini, Dirk Provin. If what you say is true — and I’m not saying I believe a word of your ridiculous story, mind you — then you may need something far more powerful. You may need the Demon Child.’
‘You believe me,’ the young man said, sounding surprised. He studied her with his disconcerting, metallic grey eyes.
‘I never said that.’
‘You do. Otherwise you’d have handed me back to the Defender’s torturers, by now.’
‘I may yet,’ Adrina said, moving the sword so she could use it like a walking stick. Damin would be outraged to see her damaging the tip so carelessly, but gods, her back was aching. ‘Explain to me how you’ve come to the conclusion this Creator of yours even exists.’
‘Because we’ve stopped.’
‘Stopped what?’
‘Everything.’
Adrina rolled her eyes. ‘I said proof.’
‘I could show you proof, but it’s mathematical and you wouldn’t understand it,’ he said patiently. ‘So, let me ask you a question instead, your highness. How long have you been pregnant?’
‘I’m du
e to give birth any day now.’
The young man nodded. ‘Fine. Leave me here to rot. But humour me, if you would, my lady. Start keeping a tally of the days from now. Come back when you have the proof for yourself.’
‘What are you suggesting? That I’m not nine months pregnant?’
‘For all I know, you’re nine years pregnant.’
That tallied so closely with what Adrina had been feeling for a while now that she paled at the thought of his seemingly absurd suggestion. ‘That’s ridiculous.’
Dirk Provin studied her with those unsettling, metallic grey eyes that saw right through her hollow rejection of his theory. ‘But you know I’m right.’
‘What you’re suggesting is impossible.’
‘So is the idea I crossed into your world from another world. But it’s true, my lady, and if you want your world to go on, then we have to do something about the Creator.’
Adrina shook her head. ‘This is nonsense.’
‘The Lord Defender doesn’t think so.’
‘Of course, he does,’ she said. ‘That’s why you’re locked here, fool.’
‘If the Defenders thought I was merely some village idiot having delusions, then I’d have been out of here hours ago. I’m still in prison because he fears I might be telling the truth, my lady. He doesn’t want me out there spreading seditious suggestions that we’re in trouble.’ He gripped the bars even tighter, pleading with his eyes as well as his words. ‘Don’t you see? That’s why he brought you and your husband here. And that Shannon woman ... She told him I was telling the truth. He just doesn’t want to believe what I’m saying and is hoping you’ll tell him he’s right and I’m wrong.’
‘Is that a fact?’ Adrina smiled sceptically. ‘And how do you know that?’
‘Because I died today, my lady.’
‘You died?’
Dirk nodded. ‘Been three times now, Lord Tenragan’s Defenders have tortured me to death trying to force a more palatable truth from me. And because I’m not going to lie to make them happy and because I’m not of this world, I keep coming back.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
Dirk pointed to the sword. ‘Then try it yourself, your highness. Run me through.’
‘I’m not going to help you kill yourself!’
‘But I won’t die, don’t you see? And until you believe that, I’m going to rot in here and you’re going to ...’
‘Feed crumbs to the same sparrow every morning,’ she finished, mostly to herself.
He looked at her strangely. ‘Sorry?’
‘Nothing,’ Adrina said, hefting the sword in her hand. Being Damin’s sword, it was long and heavy and built for a man of considerable strength and stature. Adrina could barely lift the damn thing.
She managed it nonetheless. Dirk Provin didn’t even flinch as she approached, intending to call his bluff. She was convinced he would back away at the last second, certain the lad was thinking no woman — and a pregnant one at that — would have the mettle to do anything so insane as run a prisoner through.
It took a special sort of insanity to kill a man in cold blood — which was unfortunate for Dirk Provin, because Adrina was being driven more than a little bit insane by being stuck here in Medalon, feeding that same damn sparrow every morning, waiting for a child who — if this boy were to be believed — would never be born.
Grabbing the hilt with both hands, she raised the blade, pointing it at Dirk’s chest and took another step closer. ‘Are you sure you want me to do this?’
Rather than pull away, the boy gripped the bars even tighter. ‘Just don’t miss,’ he said, with a grimace, as he braced himself for the impact. ‘This is going to hurt. I’d hate to suffer all that pain for a flesh wound that proves nothing.’
The lad’s bravado was impressive, but Adrina was still certain it was motivated by his belief in her cowardice, more than his belief in his own immortality. She stepped even closer. The blade was growing heavy in her arms. She rested it for a moment on the cross-piece of the barred cell door, the tip only inches from the boy’s chest.
She hefted it a little higher. Dirk Provin closed his eyes and looked away. The blade was trembling in Adrina’s hands. It had occurred to her that this lad might simply be trying to avoid any further suffering at the hands of the Defenders by arranging for someone to kill him, because he lacked the wherewithal to take his own life. But somehow, she knew that wasn’t the case. And it appalled her a little to realise that even if it was, she was prepared to take the risk, because she needed to be certain, one way or another, that he was lying.
At least, that’s what Adrina told herself as she thrust the blade forward, squeezing her eyes shut. The blade was sharp and heavy. It caught for a moment on the young man’s ribcage, and then he cried out as it slid, almost without resistance, into his heart.
* * * *
Chapter IV
‘You said you were going to talk to him!’ Tarja shouted at her. ‘Not kill him!’
‘I didn’t kill him,’ Adrina pointed out calmly. ‘The boy is fine.’
‘You ran him through, Adrina.’
‘And no sooner did I pull the blade out than he jumped to his feet, as right as rain.’ She turned to her husband. ‘You’re going to think I’m insane —
‘No! Really!’
‘Don’t you take that tone with me, Damin Wolfblade!’
The Queen of the Harshini, ill-equipped to deal with any sort of emotional extremes, stepped between Damin and his wife. ‘Adrina’s action, shocking as it is, your highness, leaves us little choice but to believe the boy’s tale,’ she said.
‘It’s crazy,’ Tarja said. ‘He’s crazy.’
‘Then how do you explain how he keeps coming back to life?’
Damin’s eyes widened in shock. ’Keeps coming back?’
‘I didn’t run him through on a whim, Damin. Tarja’s heavy-handed thugs have killed the boy three times already. And now for a fourth time, he’s come back to life. He claims we can’t kill him here because he doesn’t belong in our world.’
‘And, naturally, you couldn’t resist trying to prove him wrong?’ Damin turned to Tarja. ‘Is that true?’
‘It is,’ Shananara said, before Tarja could deny it, lacing and unlacing her fingers. For a woman denied emotional extremes, she was very unsettled.
‘Then Dirk Provin is telling the truth?’
Everyone looked to the Queen of the Harshini for the answer, but she simply shrugged. ‘I can tell you only that he believes what he claims is true, and that his gift for resurrection would seem to support his claim, Beyond that, I can tell you nothing for certain.’
‘Well, for what it’s worth, I believe him,’ Adrina said. ‘I don’t know if what he’s saying about a Creator is true, but I know in the very core of my being we have been here far longer than we should, and I am damn sure I should have given birth ages ago, too.’
‘Even if it is true,’ Tarja said. ‘What are we supposed to do about it?’
‘I think the first thing we need to do is confirm the rest of his story,’ Damin suggested.
‘You mean running him through and having him survive the experience without a mark didn’t convince you?’ Adrina snapped impatiently.
‘I mean finding this break in the veil between worlds he claims to have used to get to our world.’
Adrina perked up at the idea. ‘Will it take us long to get there?’
‘I’m not letting you anywhere near this wretched veil, Adrina,’ Damin said, looking a little panicked.
‘Why not?’
‘I imagine he doesn’t wish to endanger his heir, your highness,’ Shananara said with a faint smile.
Adrina shrugged. ‘I’d say his precious heir is in far more danger from me staying here waiting for something that’s never going to happen.’
‘That’s a valid point,’ Tarja said, surprising Adrina with his support. The Lord Defender looked thoughtful, making Adrina wonder what else he was concerned a
bout. Whatever it was, he wasn’t planning to share it with them now. He rose to his feet and announced decisively, ‘I’ll make arrangements for us to leave this afternoon. They picked Provin up not far from the Citadel, so I don’t image his magical veil between the worlds — assuming it exists — is too far off the beaten track.’
‘He’s playing a prank on us,’ Damin warned. ‘He’s probably laughing himself silly at the idea we’re falling for this.’