Irene looked disappointed. “Oh.”
“But,” I went on, “if you created a second enchantment to mimic the form of the metal, something solid, like a shield enchantment, it could support the rune channel and enable you to hold it in your hands. You’d have to make both before you removed the metal.”
“So, it could be done,” said Irene, pleased.
“We’d need to add elements to control the size, allowing it to expand and contract according to need,” I said, warming to the problem. Clearing the armor off my work table, I waved at her to bring her wand over. “Let’s try something…”
The rest of the day blurred away as we worked. Lunch was forgotten, and it wasn’t until well after dark that our stomachs were finally able to force us to stop.
Chapter 5
The next day I spent several hours teaching Lynaralla the basics of breakfast, paying special attention to how I worded the information I gave her. It paid to be careful—otherwise there might be another raw rat incident, or something even more horrifying that I hadn’t yet imagined.
Alyssa returned from her break looking in even better health than usual. Knowing her father, I imagined that their idea of quality time had probably involved a lot of sweating and probably weapons for added excitement. I had recently granted her and Cyhan both dragons, but while he was used to the benefits and perils of enhanced strength, she wasn’t, so their training had likely had a lot to do with adjusting to being so strong you could break your own bones if you mishandled the opening of a door.
I turned Lynaralla’s cooking lesson over to Alyssa, since Matthew and Karen showed up shortly after Alyssa did.
“Where have you been?” I asked my son, fully aware that with Karen’s ability to teleport at will, he could have traveled the world several times over without me even knowing he had left his room.
“We went to Lancaster,” he answered promptly. “Well, where Lancaster used to be anyway.”
That response might have worried me a few weeks earlier, when the region was covered in primeval forest and inhabited by a dozen varieties of deadly animals, but I had taken care of that problem already. The area was a volcanic nightmare now. Not an active volcano mind you, a temporary one. I had used my metamagic to draw magma from the depths of the earth, and now the place was a wasteland of rapidly cooling igneous rock.
“I’m assuming you learned something,” I prompted. Matthew wasn’t the sort to mention his doings unless he had something to tell about them.
He nodded. “Zephyr flew Karen and me around the entire perimeter. There’s a dimensional boundary that surrounds it, sort of an interface between our world and whatever world that place came from. The site near Cantley had the same boundary, and both were hexagons of identical size as best I can tell. The one in the northern wastes was the same as well.”
I whistled—or tried to; my whistling skills were rudimentary at best. “At least they fit some sort of pattern. If we could just figure out what it means.”
“That’s not the worst of it,” said Matthew, glancing at Karen and then back at me. “At the points of the hexagons, I noticed more boundary interface lines pointing outward from each hexagon. It was so faint I didn’t notice it at first, but once I followed one, I realized they form a honeycomb pattern.”
My conscious mind seized up while my subconscious processed what he had said, but Karen broke the silence, “He wanted to cross over one of the boundaries, to see what was on the other side, but I convinced him we needed to talk to you first.” The tone of her words made it plain what she thought of that idea.
I was grateful that she had talked him out of it, while simultaneously amused by her irritation. My son might just survive in this crazy world if he could keep from driving Karen away. That thought made me remember Penny. She had always struggled to knock some sense into me. What will I do without her?
Matthew ignored the remark and went on, “Karen took us all over Lothion, and knowing what to look for, I spotted similar faint dimensional boundaries everywhere we went.”
Frowning, I stared at him. “So, you’re implying that…”
“I think the entire world is covered with a honeycomb pattern of dimensional boundaries,” said Matthew, finishing my thought for me.
I blinked. My son and I locked gazes for a long minute, as we both considered the implications. The hexagonal shapes were key, for they indicated a tie to She’Har spellweaving. Finally, I said, “We knew they created a pocket dimension to protect themselves from ANSIS, but this—this is unbelievable.”
“It beggars the imagination,” agreed Matthew. “But now that I’ve seen it, it makes some sense.”
“Hey!” broke in Karen. “I appreciate that you two are having a moment, but it would help if you explained some things for those of us who don’t have the benefit of a headful of ancient alien knowledge.”
I turned to her. “When the She’Har first came to this world, it was to escape from ANSIS, but they knew that they would eventually be found, since their enemy had acquired the ability to bridge the divide between different dimensions,” I began.
Karen nodded; she had already heard this part.
I went on, “We thought that they had created a separate dimension, to prevent this one from being directly reachable, putting powerful guardians there to keep ANSIS from progressing farther if they did enter that extra dimension. They named those guardians the ‘kionthara,’ which means ‘gatekeepers’ in our language, though the people of our world called them the Dark Gods.”
“But now we know that isn’t what they did at all,” said Matthew, breaking in.
I nodded. “Now that I think about it, that story just wasn’t possible. The amount of power it would take to create a pocket dimension large enough to encapsulate our world—it just isn’t practical. No, that isn’t the right word. Practical doesn’t cover it—it’s orders of magnitude from being practical. It was impossible. They could never get enough power to do something that big.”
“So, what did they do?” asked Karen.
“They took this dimension and split it into two parts,” I answered.
Matthew shook his head. “Not the entire dimension, just this world. The entire thing would be equally impossible.”
That made sense. “Alright, so probably just this world,” I agreed. “They didn’t create a new dimension at all. They divided up this world into hexagonal pieces, and then used them to create the appearance of a separate dimension within the original. Sort of.”
Karen looked very confused. “But Matthew found the borders. If it’s all part of the same dimension, how could he cross into the other one? There have to be two. Right?”
“Not two—thousands, maybe tens of thousands,” corrected Matt. “They divided the world, using a massive spellweave. Half of the hexagonal shaped cells were hidden inside small pocket dimensions that would fit them. The other half were left in the original dimension. The interfaces are designed such that the thousands of small pocket dimensions are connected, so they seem like one world. Those same interfaces stitched the pieces left behind together into another world, but the two are actually the same. It’s just been divided into pieces and put back together differently.”
“That’s insane,” declared Karen, and I was inclined to agree with her. “Do you really know this? Or are you just making up wild theories?”
“Well,” I admitted, “at this point it’s really just a theory.”
“But it makes sense,” put in Matthew. “We need more information.” Looking at me, he asked, “Have you started reading the Erollith sculptures they brought back yet?”
The question embarrassed me a little. It had been weeks, but I hadn’t spent more than a few minutes looking at them. Penny’s death had derailed my plans in that regard. It’s hard to study anything when you’re grieving. “I’ve barely begun,” I told them. “There’s so much that it could
take me years to read through it all.”
Irene wandered in. She had been in the kitchen watching Alyssa and Lynaralla but had finally gotten bored. When her eyes landed on Matthew, her face brightened. “Look who has returned. I was starting to wonder if you still lived here.”
Matthew rolled his eyes. “I was only gone for a couple of days.”
“I haven’t seen you in a week,” groused Irene. “You never leave your room.” Then she gave Karen a pointed look until the young woman began to blush.
“That’s not—” stammered Karen. “It isn’t what you…”
I wanted to laugh, but I kept my tone serious. “Don’t bully her, Rennie. She may be your only hope of becoming an aunt.” Karen’s blush went from delicate to purple as the blood rushed to her blue-tinted cheeks.
“Dad!” warned Matthew, uncharacteristically protective. Secretly, I approved of his reaction.
“Alright, alright, I won’t tease her,” I said, submitting quickly.
Irene broke the awkward silence by changing the subject. “Dad started teaching me enchanting today,” she said proudly.
Her brother frowned slightly. “You almost sound as if you enjoyed it. Moira used to say she thought she might die from boredom.”
Irene smiled in that special way she had, the one that seemed to light up a room. In some ways she reminded me more of Penny than any of my other children. “It was a little boring at first, but after we got started, I realized it’s actually quite interesting.”
Matthew was surprised. “If this is your first day, you must’ve been working on rune channels, and you found them interesting?” He had been the only one of my kids who had really taken to enchanting, but now I could see his interest piqued by the fact that he might not be alone.
“You should see what she came up with,” I put in. “She thought of something that never occurred to either of us.”
“Oh really?” said Matthew. “I need to see this.”
We went to the workshop then, and Karen and I stood off to one side while Irene proudly showed her brother what she had been working on, explaining her idea and how we were trying to implement it. I watched my son’s initial skepticism turn to enthusiasm as he quickly realized she really was on to something new. Karen glanced at me helplessly; she still hadn’t learned much on the topic of enchanting, so all of it was over her head currently.
For myself, I found my heart swelling with pride as I watched the two of them conversing. Ordinarily, Matthew had little use for his younger sister, but she had impressed him, bringing a new perspective to his favorite subject. I wish you could see this, Penny, I reflected, but even the sadness of that thought couldn’t dim my joy at the moment.
Eventually, Karen remarked on the fact that she still hadn’t begun learning enchanting, and Matthew was forced to begin explaining the subject. That led to an extended discussion between the four of us, and while I thought my son’s teaching style was rough, I was surprised by his patience with their questions. After a while, I went back to working on Alyssa’s armor and left the three of them to what had essentially become a small class on enchanting.
The afternoon passed pleasantly, and for the first time in weeks I didn’t feel as though I was drowning in grief. When Alyssa came out later to inform us that it was time for the evening meal, I forced her to wait while I double checked some of my previous measurements. Then we called a break and went to eat.
Moira showed up in the middle of supper, and the conversation turned to exactly where she had been and what she had been doing over the past week. She seemed mildly embarrassed about her weeklong retreat from the family, but no one was tactless enough to confront her about it. Once the food was finished, Alyssa started to clear the table, and the rest of us retreated to the living room.
“Did you learn anything of interest in Dunbar?” I asked.
My oldest daughter shook her head. “Not really. The World Road is operating as expected, and Halam is probably on the verge of a boom in business now that they can trade freely with Lothion and Gododdin, but you expected that. Gerold is settling into his role as king, and while there were a few hiccups, I think the government will remain stable.”
That caught my interest, and I watched her face carefully, wondering if she had broken the rules again and ‘adjusted’ anyone who might have been chafing under the rule of their new king. Gerold had been a minor noble before her intervention in the neighboring kingdom. Then Moira had killed their king and used her abilities to place her friend in power.
She caught my eye, and understanding my question, gave a subtle shake of her head to indicate that she had behaved herself. I was glad for that, since I couldn’t really ask the question in front of the entire family.
“Where is Conall?” asked Moira, having noticed his absence at dinner.
I sighed, but Irene leapt to answer the question, “He’s still in Albamarl, playing champion for the Queen.”
“He isn’t playing,” corrected Matthew. “As much as I hate to admit it, he acted very bravely protecting the Queen during the attack.”
“That still doesn’t excuse him for abandoning his family after…” Irene’s voice tapered off. No one wanted to say it. After Mom died.
Moira stepped in diplomatically, “We’re all dealing with it in our own way. I can’t say much. I’ve been hiding in Dunbar for a week.”
Matthew’s face grew smug. “Thank goodness I stayed home to keep an eye on Dad.”
While technically true—he had been here for most of the week—the statement was an outrageous boast, since he had kept himself locked up in his own world the entire time. Irene immediately protested, “You! You and Karen were in your room most of the time, doing whatever you pleased!”
Karen blushed yet again. “It wasn’t like that! He was as upset as everyone else.”
“I was not,” argued Matt. “I was reminiscing quietly. Mourning, if you want to call it that.”
Karen’s eyes flashed momentarily, and she started to open her mouth, but she shut it quickly again and pursed her lips.
She almost said he was crying, Moira sent to me mentally, but she stopped herself to avoid embarrassing him.
The conversation moved on to more pleasant topics after that. Matthew and I played a few rounds of chess while the others played cards. In short, it was nice. It was the best evening at home any of us had had since losing Penny. We played and talked, and finally, when it grew late, everyone went to bed.
My happiness died there, as soon as the door closed behind me and I was confronted with the empty room. It was still and quiet, like a tomb.
I undressed and sank into bed, extinguishing the magical lights with a soft word and letting the darkness enfold me. Our marriage bed had become a place of cold loneliness. After an unknown period, I fell asleep.
Chapter 6
The next morning I woke with more than my usual energy, at least more than I’d had recently. After washing my face, I dressed and went to the kitchen, where I found Alyssa already making a start at breakfast. “Morning,” she greeted me.
“Morning,” I returned, and then I stepped up and made myself useful.
“You don’t have to do that,” she reminded me as I put a pot of water over the fire for the porridge. “It’s my job, after all.”
Looking at her from the side of my eye, I answered, “The nice thing about being the master of the house is that I can do whatever I want. Today I want to help.”
Alyssa dipped her head respectfully. “Thank you.”
Before breakfast was ready, I felt a new presence enter the house through the portal that led to the Queen’s chambers in Albamarl. A second later, I recognized the aythar of the newcomer. It was Rose.
Is she here for breakfast? I wondered. It didn’t seem likely. We hadn’t seen each other since the funeral, and considering how I had spoken to her the las
t time we talked, I wasn’t sure I was looking forward to seeing her. I should apologize.
“You look industrious,” said Rose as she entered the kitchen. My back was turned, as I had long ago learned to pretend not to notice people until they spoke or came into my line of sight. It made people uncomfortable if I was always waiting for them when they entered a room.
“Rose,” I said, turning around. “Uh—are you here for breakfast?”
“If you have enough,” she replied politely. “I mainly came to say hello to everyone. I’ve been gone awhile, after all.” She was clad in a powder-blue gown that shimmered with silver embroidery and a modest lace trim. It matched her hair and eyes perfectly, but then everything she wore always seemed to suit her. It never ceased to amaze me that anyone could be so well dressed at such an early hour. I did well to have clothes on.
“I’m sure there’s enough,” I said immediately, while Alyssa discreetly added an extra handful of oats to the porridge.
“Good morning,” said Irene, yawning as she entered. Then her eyes lit on our visitor. “Rose!” She hugged Rose tightly. “You came!”
“What?” I asked.
Irene flushed slightly, but Rose answered quickly, “Rennie reminded me I should visit, when she came to the capital yesterday.”
I should have suspected that my daughter had arranged the visit, but it surprised me anyway. Probably because I had been so self-absorbed lately.
“Well, of course, you’re always welcome,” I told her, trying to keep my voice natural, but I could tell I sounded slightly stiff.
Breakfast was quick, and the chatter fairly subdued, in contrast to the previous evening’s warmth. It was partly because it was morning, and none of us were really morning people, but I thought it was also Rose’s presence. She had been my wife’s closest friend, and seeing her now after her absence made us all feel as though Penny might show up at any moment to chat with her.
After it was over Matthew, Lynaralla, Irene, and Karen went to my workshop to continue the lessons on enchanting and begin sorting through the Erollith sculptures. Alyssa started her routine cleaning duties, and Rose and I were left alone.
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