The Severed Realm

by Michael G. Manning

  My cousin rubbed at his thick beard. “There’s more than one, then. That’s poor news.”

  “I killed that one,” I told him. “But I’m sure there are others.”

  “Well, this one came right down the road, as casual as you please. We still had sheep around the castle at that point, and it picked one right out of the herd and began to eat it like you or I would an apple. Four or five bites and it was gone, feet, wool, head, and all.” Roland shuddered. “It stared at the castle but didn’t attempt to come in. After a while it wandered off, but the sheep began steadily disappearing after that. None of us were willing to chance looking for them. We’ve kept the drawbridge up ever since.”

  “You’ve been lucky then,” said Gram. “There’s much worse out there. I doubt anyone outside your walls is still alive.”

  Roland nodded in agreement. “You mean the spiders? One of them snuck over the wall two weeks ago and tried to take up residence in one of the towers. We lost seven men before we managed to kill it.”

  “I need to get you to Albamarl,” I said suddenly. “Your sister has been worried sick since Lancaster disappeared.”

  My cousin leaned back, stretching his back. “What I wouldn’t give for a nice roast hen and some greens, but if things are as bad as you say out there, I can’t see risking my men on the road.”

  Gram looked at me emphatically, as though he had something to say, but I merely shook my head. “We won’t abandon them, Roland—or Lancaster for that matter. I can take you to see Ari and have you back within a day or two. My son and the others can stay here to keep watch over your people.”

  “What about the ogre?” asked the Duke. “I wouldn’t want to meet him on the road, even with you beside me.”

  The ogre was the least of my worries. I had faced far worse, but it wouldn’t do to make light of my cousin’s fears. Instead I pointed out the obvious. “We won’t take the road,” I said smiling.

  Roland’s eyes grew wide with alarm. “You’re out of your damn mind if you think I’m getting in that flying contraption of yours again. I nearly died the last time!”

  I smirked at the memory. Years past, I had once taken Roland in an enchanted construct designed to make flying safer. He hadn’t come anywhere close to dying, but I hadn’t expected him to have such a severe fear of heights. He had vomited all over the interior, and I had been forced to land and render him unconscious to continue. I nodded at Karen. “See that young lady there? She’s from another world, and she carries the Mordan gift. We won’t have to fly, will we, Karen?”

  “Excuse me?” said Karen.

  “You can teleport back to where we crossed the boundary, can’t you?” I asked.

  She nodded. “I believe so.”

  I turned back to Roland. “See, nothing simpler. She can take us to the border, and we can cross back into Lothion.”

  The Duke stared at me suspiciously. “And then we’ll walk back to Albamarl, right?”

  “No, then I’ll make a circle and take us back to my home. I have a portal there that leads directly to Ariadne’s chambers,” I explained.

  Roland gave me an odd look. “To her chambers? That hardly seems proper. How does the Countess feel about that?” He paused for a moment as he realized his mistake, then lowered his eyes. “Sorry, Mort. I wasn’t thinking.”

  His expression hurt almost as much as hearing him mention my wife, but I kept my expression calm. “It’s alright. I do the same thing. It’s hard to believe. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.”

  My cousin reached for the wine bottle and refilled my glass. “Let’s have another toast before we go.” He raised his glass, and the rest of us followed his example. “To Penny. May we never forget her kindness and love.”

  I drained the glass and used my napkin to wipe my cheeks.

  Chapter 13

  Half an hour later and we stood at the edge of the primeval forest once more, where the faintly shimmering boundary waited. Behind us was the road to Lancaster. Karen, Matthew, and Roland were with me.

  “You’re sure they’ll be fine until we get back?” asked Roland once more. “I dislike leaving my family behind.” His wife and son were still in the keep.

  “Sir Gram will do well in your place,” I reassured him. “And he’ll have my son and your seneschal to advise him. We’ll be back within a day.”

  Matthew spoke up, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still don’t know if you can open the boundary. If not, I’ll have to come with you in order to let you back in afterward.”

  “Show me again,” I told my son. “Slowly.”

  He nodded. “Compared to crossing dimensions to Karen’s world, this is simple.” He held his hands out, placing his palms up in the air where the boundary shimmered, almost invisible to my magesight. “Push your aythar outward, like this, and then you have to change it slightly, until you feel it beginning to match the frequency of the boundary.” He demonstrated while I watched carefully. Then he dismissed what he had done and told me, “Your turn.”

  I tried, but while my aythar wiggled around in long streamers, it failed to do anything.

  “Not like that,” my son admonished me. “You don’t move it in that direction. You move it sideways, into a space you can’t see with your eyes. Move it in the direction you can feel but can’t quite see.”

  It took me two more tries, but finally I got the feel for it and my aythar seemed to vanish for a second before taking on a shimmer that was altogether different from what I was used to.

  “That’s it!” said Matthew. “Now, move it outward, tracing the lines hidden there. Once you reach the size you want, you just have to pull and it will come apart, but don’t release it after that. You have to maintain the edge or it will collapse back in on itself.”

  The air opened before me, showing me the road that led back to Cameron, but I lost my hold and it vanished again a second later. It took several more attempts before I had found the knack for keeping it open.

  “Now cross over and do it from the other side,” said Matthew. “Just to make sure you have it. If I don’t see it open again within a couple of minutes, I’ll come across and join you.”

  I held the portal open while Roland crossed, and then I followed him before allowing it to close behind us. We were alone on the road to Cameron, with a volcanic wasteland behind us, the remains of the forest I had destroyed a few weeks before. Turning back, I repeated my new trick and reopened the boundary. Matthew and Karen were there, staring back at us.

  “That’s amazing, Dad,” he told me. “I still don’t understand how you’re doing it. You shouldn’t have the gift. You always told me I had inherited it from Mom.”

  “I thought you had,” I said frankly.

  Matthew gave me a funny look, his eyes going slightly out of focus. “We should talk about that when you get back. There’s something different about you now.”

  “What?” I asked, curious.

  He shook his head. “Not now. Later, when we’re alone.” Karen looked at him as though disappointed to be left out of the secret, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Take care of my wife and son,” Roland reminded him.

  Matthew dipped his head in agreement, and then I released the boundary, letting the opening dissolve back into nothing once more.

  “Ready to see your sister?” I asked. Reaching into my pouch, I pulled out the enchanted stones that, once activated, would become my flying construct.

  Roland backed away, fear in his eyes. “You said you would make a teleport circle!”

  Laughing, I put away the stones. “Relax. I’m just teasing you.” Then I pulled out my stencil and began making a circle to take us to my home.

  “You have a nasty sense of humor, Mordecai. Has anyone ever told you that?”

  I grinned at him wickedly. “All the time. I blame your brother. He
was a bad influence on me.”

  “I’m not so sure,” said Roland. “I’ve always suspected that Marcus got it from you.”

  Finished with the circle, I stepped into it and waited until Roland had joined me. “Who knows?” I told him, and then with an effort of will, I took us back to my quiet home in the mountains.

  Irene and Lynaralla were glad to see us, but after a brief greeting, I took Roland to the portal in my house. It had been months and he needed to see his sister Ariadne, if for no other reason than her peace of mind. Softly whispering the command word that would keep the portal active for someone not attuned to it, I opened the closet door and led him through into the Queen’s chambers.

  Several things leapt into my awareness as we entered stepped through the portal. The most immediately apparent was that there were two very powerful sources of aythar close at hand, wizards. There were also several other men in the room. I instinctively strengthened my shield, but a half second later I had identified the other mages by their aythar. My son, Conall, and Gareth Gaelyn were in the corridor on either side of the doorway. Of the other men, one was Sir Harold, while the other two were some of his guardsmen.

  All of them looked nervous. Well, except for Gareth, of course. Two thousand years as a dragon had made him difficult to impress with any emotion, other than arrogance.

  “He’s here,” called Harold, notifying the Queen, who sat in the next room.

  “I appreciate the welcome,” I said wryly. “How did you know I’d be here?”

  Harold looked away uncomfortably. “Just a hunch. We’ve been waiting.” Then his eyes fell on the man with me and grew wide.

  I smiled. “Well, wait no longer! I’m sure you remember His Grace, Duke Lancaster.” I gave a theatrical bow and presented Roland to them.

  “Roland?” said Ariadne, still in the other room.

  Rather than make her wait any longer, I took the lead and went in, bringing Roland along in my wake. Why were they guarding the portal? I wondered. Did they think I’d bring a threat through it? But I didn’t dwell on it. I was more interested in seeing Ari’s face when she was reunited with her brother.

  Seconds later, Ariadne and Roland were locked in a strong embrace. The others filed into the room behind, Conall standing on my left while Gareth took my right. The guards spread out around the room and then Harold passed in front of me, stopping to stand between me and the Queen. It almost seemed natural, but their positioning was too calculated to be casual.

  The Queen finished her hug and then stared at me, but before she could say anything, Harold began to speak, “Lord Cameron, it is my duty…”

  Ariadne put a hand on his shoulder. “Wait, Sir Harold. Let me speak first.”

  I stared around the room, reading the faces and seeing the tense expressions. “Your Majesty, what exactly is going on?”

  Ariadne’s face was stern. “Where exactly did you go yesterday, Mort?”

  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, privately. I saw something unfortunate,” I answered.

  “Did you see my husband, Prince Leomund?” she asked.

  I nodded. “I went to his hunting lodge. I’ll admit I shouldn’t have, but I was curious as to who he was meeting there. I know I shouldn’t have spied on him, but what I saw was so horrifying I couldn’t help but confront him.”

  The Queen visibly flinched at my words and she took a moment to compose herself before she continued, “Then it was really you, not an illusion or seeming. Did you see Lord Airedale there?”

  “I did, though I don’t remember if I spoke to him. I went straight up to the room Leomund was in. He was about to whip one of his servants, a young girl,” I explained.

  “And then?” she asked the question almost as if she didn’t want to hear the answer.

  I shrugged. “Well, I admit, I lost my temper, but—”

  “Father, don’t!” exclaimed Conall beside me.

  “Sir Conall!” barked Harold. “Remain silent until the Queen is finished with him.”

  His tone angered me. “Harold, don’t speak to my son like that. He didn’t mean any harm.”

  Harold didn’t answer, but Ariadne motioned toward me to continue. “Please finish, Lord Cameron.” There was resignation in her voice.

  Why is she so upset? It made no sense. Obviously Leomund or Airedale had informed them of my assault, but that alone didn’t warrant this behavior. Striking the Prince was a crime certainly, but I had had just cause. “As I said, I lost my temper. The girl he was whipping couldn’t have been more than twelve years of age. I snapped and struck him so hard it knocked him unconscious.”

  Ariadne looked shocked. “He was unconscious?”

  I nodded. “I know she was his property, but the law doesn’t allow even princes to treat a child that way. She had marks all over her body. Who knows how long he’s been abusing her, or what things he has done to her? I apologize for saying this, but your husband is a monster.”

  Angry, the Queen raised her voice, “Then you should have brought him to me! You had evidence of his crime. You had witnesses. You should have left him to the law! I had little love for the man, but this! How can I excuse what you’ve done?”

  All I did was hit him—once. Was that really that bad? “I still have the evidence. I took the girl home with me. Her body is proof enough, and the witnesses are still there. Ask them. Some of them may lie for him, but surely one or two of them can be convinced to tell the truth.”

  “We have questioned them,” said Ariadne. “Their stories match your own, as does Lord Airedale’s account.”

  “Then you know he’s a monster,” I declared.

  “Do you have any remorse at all, Mort?” said Ariadne. “A monster he was, but you killed him in cold blood, while he was lying unconscious.”

  Had I hit him that hard? No, that was impossible. I had checked his heart and breathing before I had left. He had still been alive. My mouth fell open as I looked at the other faces in the room. The coldness in their eyes left no doubt that Leomund was dead. “I didn’t kill him!” I blurted out. “He was alive. I knocked him out and tended to the girl. He was still alive when I took her and left.”

  The Queen looked faintly hopeful. “And she will testify to this?”

  “Of course,” I began, but then a shadow fell across my heart. “Well, actually I put her to sleep before leaving.”

  Gareth shook his head in disappointment. “So, you had the kindness to make sure the girl’s eyes were closed before you put the dagger through his heart. My heart weeps at your nobility.” He didn’t try to hide the mockery in his words.

  “Dagger? What dagger?” I asked.

  Harold glanced respectfully at the Queen before speaking this time. “The Prince-Consort was killed by a single thrust of his own dagger. It was found still standing in his chest.”

  “Well, I didn’t put it there!”

  “You dare deny it?” said Gareth in disbelief. “By your own account, and the account of the servants and Lord Airedale, you broke into the lodge, stormed up the stairs, sent everyone away, and assaulted the Prince. You even admit you assaulted him. You expect us to believe he stabbed himself out of guilt after you left? What gall!”

  “Damn it, yes!” I shouted. “I’ve told you nothing but the truth. I struck him and left.”

  “Enough,” said the Queen. “This a matter for a court of justice. Mordecai Illeniel, Count di’ Cameron and holder of the Cameron Estate in my stead, you are hereby under arrest, to be held in prison until your case can be decided in a court of law.”

  I had been down this road once before, and I still had the scars across my back to remember it. I had sacrificed my dignity once, for the sake of the kingdom, but I had no willingness to do so again. Defiant, I looked at the others in the room. “What makes you think you can lock me up?”

  Harold put a hand b
ehind him, pushing the Queen, who began to back out of the room.

  I glared at him. “You, Harold? You know better. It would take more than you and the entire Royal Guard to take me. Conall alone could handle you and your men.”

  “Dad,” said Conall, drawing my attention, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  Gareth sneered, “Why do you think your son is here?”

  My heart was on fire now. I snarled at Gareth, “Don’t even think about getting between me and my son!”

  The archmage who had been a dragon laughed cruelly. “He’s here to arrest you, fool! I’m just a witness, and extra insurance in case you are stupid enough to do battle with your own son.”

  I looked at Conall again, and my answer was written in the shame in his eyes. My arrogance, my anger, even my pride died in that moment. Godsbedamned! I silently cursed. How did it come to this? Slowly, I bowed my head in defeat.

  “You finally begin to show some sense,” stated Gareth.

  Conall stepped forward to stand in front of me. “Father, hold out your hands.” In his hands were a pair of milky white manacles made of a material I didn’t recognize. They were connected by a three-foot chain and looked suspiciously like the manacles my daughter had described from her time imprisoned in Halam.

  “Where did those come from?” I asked. The ones that had been used on Moira had been old, very old.

  Gareth snorted. “Do you think you’re the only one that can enchant? I was born in the Age of Magic, Mordecai. I’ve seen things you can only dream of.”

  “Father, your hands,” repeated Conall with more insistence.

  “Conall, you don’t believe I did this, do you?” I asked him. “You know I wouldn’t do this.”

  At last, he raised his eyes to meet mine. “I know you wouldn’t kill someone that didn’t deserve it. And I also know that what Leomund was doing was evil. I’m not sure I wouldn’t have done the same.”

  I held out my wrists, and even as Conall snapped the manacles in place I repeated myself, “I didn’t kill him, son. Remember that. I should have. I wanted to, but I didn’t. I wouldn’t lie to you.”