by Perrin Briar
“Where’s Puca?” Jera said, a sudden fit of panic coming over her. “Where is he?”
“Be calm, my dear,” Queen Fae said. “Your dear Puca is in a better place.”
Jera felt her eyes sting as they filled with tears.
“He’s dead?” she said. “I thought he was going to get better?”
“Oh, he is,” Queen Fae said. “He’s over there, eating. Where he was didn’t have any food. He moved to a better place.”
“Where?” Jera said. “I can’t see him.”
“That is because you are not looking for the right Puca. Puca has changed.”
Jera looked around at the animals. The rabbits munched on grass, but their fur was the wrong colour, white and grey. Puca’s was an earthy brown. Earthy brown. She saw him.
“Puca?” Jera said. “Is that you?”
Puca had a long goatee, whiskers, and two long pointy horns with wood-like rings about them. He was happily chomping on a mouthful of foliage. It was definitely him. Jera recognised the contented way he ate.
“Meeeeh!” he said. “Meeeeh!”
“Puca!” Jera said. “You’re a goat! You look great!”
Jera turned to Queen Fae.
“How did this happen?” she said.
“He has experienced a strong emotion,” Queen Fae said, “intense turmoil. No doubt the Gap flowers played an intrinsic part. Now, it is time for me to fulfil my side of the bargain.”
Queen Fae put her tiny hands on the tree. The other fairies did the same. Queen Fae’s face contorted with concentration. Light filtered through the grooves in the bark of the tree, and then the light was pulled into the area halfway up the trunk where Queen Fae had placed her hand. A circle with square notches around it glowed from the grooves in the tree bark. The light grew as bright as the sun on midsummer’s day, and then darkened and became solid. It was the Wheel of Fortune.
Queen Fae removed her hand. Her wings struggled to keep flapping, slowing to a stop. She fell. Elian caught her, and held her in his hands. Queen Fae was grey and haggard, her skin was covered with lines and wrinkles, her eyes sunken.
“What’s happening to you?” Jera said.
“We are dying,” Queen Fae said. “Without the wheel we have no anchor in this world, no force. No power.”
“You’ll die? We’re collecting these parts in order to save life, not to save some and kill others.”
Queen Fae smiled weakly.
“We do not die,” she said. “We are simply transposed to another location, another world. And once there we carry out our duties. In some worlds our power comes from people or creatures. In other worlds it is a magical artefact such as this one.”
“How many worlds have you been to?” Jera said.
“Worlds beyond counting.”
“Where will you go next?”
“We do not know. Wherever the universe deigns to position us.”
“Did they all have people?”
“Humans? No, not all of them. Some had other creatures. No two worlds are the same, although there are similarities. There is only one thing that is never changing: the clocktower. And the clocktower in this world is the most important of all. It is the original. You must protect it. But be warned: there is great unrest in the world. Creatures are not happy with the way humans have treated them. They have been downtrodden for too long. Soon they will rise.”
Queen Fae smiled sadly.
“We must go now,” she said. “Good luck on your journey. I fear it shan’t be easy.”
The fairies began to fade. One moment they were there and then they were gone, like a ray of light disappearing from a window. Elian and Jera’s bodies shivered. They could have both sworn the world had just gotten a little bit colder, and ever so slightly darker.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The men deposited the final crate on Maiden Voyage. They took off their shirts and wiped their faces and armpits. Outside, the sun was just beginning to rise, the temperature had dropped and imbued the breeze with a pleasant chill. The two men knelt down and filled their cupped hands with water from the dock. They splashed their faces and necks, letting it run down their backs.
“Good work, men,” Gregory Ascar said as he walked down the quay.
Today he wore the traditional white uniform of the Force with gold embroidered vines along the seams. The door of the post master’s office opened and Matthews stepped out.
“Good morning, Lord Ascar,” Matthews said. “Thank you for coming.”
“I got your message,” Gregory said. “If this is about clogging up the dock again-”
“No, no. Your father spoke to me about that. We came to an accord.”
“Then what is it?”
Matthews took the letter out of his pocket.
“Last night I found this under my door,” he said. “Its contents are quite intriguing.”
“Can’t you just tell me what it says?”
“I could, but you might not appreciate these particular words spoken out loud amongst… unfamiliar company.”
Gregory took the letter and began to read. Matthews was rewarded with a satisfying look of surprise on Gregory’s face. He looked up at Matthews.
“Who delivered this?” he said.
“No one saw the deliverer.”
Gregory smiled and waved his hand, as if he wanted to throw the letter away.
“It’s ridiculous, of course,” he said. “Not a word of truth in it.”
“Who do you suppose wrote something so inflammatory?”
“A practical joker. It’s not to be taken seriously.”
Matthews’ expression became serious.
“I take every accusation of transporting illegal merchandise very seriously,” he said.
“As perhaps you should,” Gregory said. “But there are none aboard this vessel, nor any other Wythnos vessel for that matter.”
“Then you wouldn’t mind me taking a quick look,” Matthews said.
“You do realise this is a tribute boat?” Gregory said. “And you have no legal right to search it?”
“I am aware of that, yes. But if you were to let me search it there would be no rumours in the kingdom about what might be inside it.”
“You’re saying the words in this letter might get out?”
“Rumours always find a way to get out.”
Gregory turned his head to one side.
“Then,” he said, “as a concerned citizen I shall permit you on board.”
“Excellent,” Matthews said.
He turned and headed back to his office.
“Where are you going?” Gregory said. “The boat’s this way.”
“I just have to get something from my office.”
“Will it just be you conducting the search? It’ll take forever if none of your subordinates come help.”
“Oh, I won’t be alone,” Matthews’ voice said from the darkness of his office.
Gregory heard a tapping sound like rain on a tin roof, and then a large dog on a leash emerged from the dark confines of the port master’s office. Matthews held the lead, and had a crowbar hanging from a sword scabbard.
“You can never be too careful these days,” Matthews said. “This is Leech. If anything’s here, he’ll find it.”
Matthews stepped into the cargo bay of Maiden Voyage. It was dark, and they had to go by feel alone. There were long corridors between the crates like blue veins in a block of cheese. Leech sniffed the floor, moving from one crate to another, pulling on his leash and dragging Matthews along.
“I wish more of my co-workers were as enthusiastic as Leech about finding illegal products,” Matthews said. “He’s quite insatiable.”
“I hope this won’t take too long,” Gregory said. “I still have a great deal to organize for the wedding.”
“Leech works fast, don’t worry.”
Halfway into the cargo bay, Lee barked, whined, and spun in circles in excitement. Matthews’ smile was wide and victorious.
Leech pushed his nose into a hole between two crates. The crates were too heavy to lift so Matthews walked them aside inch by inch. Leech scratched at a crate with his forepaw and bit at its corner.
Matthews jammed his crowbar into the corner of the crate and pressed down. The wood splintered and the top cracked open. Matthews lifted the lid. His smile faded. Leech whined and stood up on his hind legs, tongue lolling out of his mouth. Matthews reached into the crate and took out a salted joint of lamb.
“You can give Leech one, if you like,” Gregory said.
Matthews lowered the lamb back into the crate. Leech whined. Gregory moved to the stairs.
“Shall we head up one level?” he said.
Matthews frowned, clearly disappointed.
“No,” he said. “I don’t think so. There’s clearly nothing here. Leech usually zeroes in on any Gap within ten feet.”
“I’m sorry your time was wasted.”
“Protecting citizens is never a waste of time. The truth is reward enough for me.”
They stepped from Maiden Voyage. The sun had full risen and bathed the world with a warm glow. There was a light smattering of early morning foot traffic on the streets of Time. Matthews led Leech down the quay back to his office. Gregory smiled through gritted teeth and watched after him. After the door to his office had closed, Gregory turned to the workmen.
“Unload the boat and reload it with crates you’ll find in the warehouse,” he said.
The men stared at him like he was mad.
“I’ll pay you double for your effort, of course.”
The men shared a smile.
“Right away, sir,” one of the men said.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Wheel of Fortune fit comfortably in the palm of Jera’s hand. Its surface was cold and smooth against her skin and gave off pulses of energy that sent goose bumps up her arm and across the back of her head. She tucked it into the beaten brown leather bag over Elian’s shoulder along with the Chain of Destiny. Placed together, they seemed to burn even brighter.
Puca walked alongside them in his goat form as they ascended a small rocky outcrop that jutted up from the edge of the Haunted Forest.
From their elevated vantage point they could make out the fringes of a desert, the great dunes like an encroaching army on the Great Plains. The No-Man’s-Land between them was bare dirt, too dry for the grass to survive, but too wet for the sand to take hold. A gentle river weaved between the hills and disappeared around a corner.
“Which way are we going now?” Elian said.
“According to the map,” Jera said, “we should head… In that direction. If we follow this river, it will lead us right to it.”
“Then instead of walking alongside it, how about we ride it?”
“How are we going to ride it? We have no boat!”
Elian grinned with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s where a little ingenuity comes into play, my friend,” he said.
He took out a knife and moved to a large tree with thick lumps of bark hanging off it. He stabbed his knife into the tree up to the hilt, and cut a horizontal line around the top and bottom. Then he cut a vertical line between the two horizontal ones. He pried an edge free, slipped his hands under the bark, and pulled. He peeled the bark off, making his way around the tree. He pried the bark off, and was left with a broad sheet, like a blanket. The tree looked naked. It was a clean yellow-brown and had smooth bumps on it like a beautiful woman’s back. Elian’s cocky smile gave way to a look of concern.
“Jera?” he said. “Are you okay?”
Waves washed against the shore in her mind, and she broke out into a sweat.
“I’m going to skip,” she said. “I can feel it. I’m going to skip.”
The waves crashed within her, she took a breath that echoed in her ears. She opened her eyes.
She was in a forest. She was immediately struck by how different it felt to the Haunted Forest. There were fewer trees and it felt less dominating. A low mist hung about the base of the trees. It must have been sometime in the early morning.
Jera pulled up her sleeve and looked at her watch. She was three days in the future. She peered around at her surroundings. She walked one way, and then turned and walked in another. Finally she stood still and listened to the forest around her.
An owl hooted some distance away, and a pigeon above her cooed. A twig snapped behind her. As she turned, she made out the outline of a man, but he moved too fast, and he drew a bag over her head. The man wrapped his arms around her, clamping her arms tight to her body with his own. She moved to run, but the man picked her up. Her legs kicked out at the air.
“Let me go!” she said, her voice muffled by the bag. “Let me go!”
But the man was strong, and he carried her through the forest. They didn’t go far before Jera’s legs banged against something hard. She guessed it was a door. She spread her legs and put a foot on each side of the doorframe. The man tried to push her through, but Jera’s legs were strong, and she resisted. The man stopped pushing, and Jera sensed victory. Instead, the man turned around and entered the building backwards. Jera attempted to do the same trick in reverse, by hooking her feet on the edge of the doorframe, but she succeeded only in scraping her shins and smacking her feet on the wooden frame.
The forest’s background noise thinned and quietened. She caught the whiff of newly made bread, and despite her fear, her mouth salivated. She was dumped onto a hard chair. She immediately stood up, but a pair of hands pushed her back down and held her there.
“What are you doing here?” a harsh voice said. “Did the Ascars send you? Why are you here?”
“I don’t know,” Jera said, almost bursting into tears. “I don’t know! I just skipped here! I don’t even know where here is!”
“You’re outside the town of Time,” the harsh voice said. “In the western forest.”
“Time?” Jera said, unable to contain the desperate happiness in her voice. “I’m home?”
“Take off her hood,” the woman’s voice said.
“But if she sees our faces…” a soft male voice said.
“Take it off.”
The bag on her head was whipped off. The light inside the house was dark and dingy and her eyes didn’t need time to adjust. A figure sat before her. Jera’s eyes analysed the woman quickly, darting from her worn clothes to her short hair, the odd-shaped buttons on her cardigan, and then finally her face. Her skin was smooth, her chin pointy with a slight cleft in it. It was a beautiful face, with hazel green eyes. A face to break hearts. Jera gasped, recognising the woman. But before she could open her mouth, the woman sat opposite her said: “Jera?”
“Kali?”
They rushed forward and embraced one another. Jera let the tears of joy and relief well-up in her eyes and overflow. When they parted, Jera saw Kali was crying too. They hugged one another a second time. It felt so good to squeeze her twin sister, to breathe in her sweet scent, though Jera noticed it wasn’t her usual favoured elderberry spice.
“You must have got my note!” Kali said. “I’m thrilled it worked! I wasn’t sure if you’d see it.”
“What note?”
“The one I left in the treehouse. I had a feeling no one else would go up there but you.”
“I just skipped here, but I guess I must have found it.”
Jera felt Kali’s hair between her fingers.
“What have you done with your hair?” she said.
Kali stroked her short black hair.
“Do you like it?” she said. “Craig did it. Said I should look different so people won’t recognise me. I’m surprised you haven’t done something similar.”
“I haven’t exactly been hanging out in places where people might see me. I remember a time when you wouldn’t let anyone touch your hair.”
Kali smiled.
“I’ve changed,” she said.
Jera peered out the corner of her eye at the man who’d manhandled her. He was a short, stout thick bodied man with caring eyes.
“It’s okay,” Kali said. “You can trust Craig.”
“I can leave, if you’d feel better,” Craig said.
“No,” Jera said. “No, it’s fine.
“Nice to meet you,” Craig said. “Sorry about the whole bag on the head thing.”
“It’s no problem,” Jera said. “I’m just thankful it wasn’t a club. We met once before, in the marketplace. It feels like it was such a long time ago now, but it’s only been a few days!”
“I remember,” Craig said.
His tone was dour and serious. Jera sensed he was not an exciting person to be around.
“I bought some fresh bread from the bakery,” Craig said. “Would you like some?”
Jera nodded.
“Yes, please,” she said. “I’m starving. I-”
She put a hand to her stomach and frowned.
“I’m not hungry at all,” she said. “Strange. Before I skipped I was famished. But now I’m not. I guess in this time I must have just eaten.”
Jera let herself taste the meal she couldn’t recall eating. She tasted boiled vegetables and salted beef. Jera looked down and saw she was now wearing a pastel blue dress.
“I must be back home with our parents,” she said. “This is one of my dresses from my wardrobe.”
Jera frowned.
“Do you know how I got back home?” she said. “I’m a bit lost.”
“They said Richard chased you and a guy called Stump for days and days,” Kali said, “and then he finally caught Stump and rescued you. And, well, there’s something else.”
“What?” Jera said. “What is it?”
“There’s something I could tell you… But I’m not sure if it will help you.”
“What?”
“It’s about you and Elian. You get captured. And… it doesn’t end well for Elian.”
The blood in Jera’s veins froze.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve only heard rumours,’” Craig said, “but people say he’s dead.”
Jera shook her head.
“No,” she said. “He can’t be.”