“You know, when you say it that way, it does rather put things in perspective.”
Chapter Three
Sevana, alerted by Big, stepped outside wrapped in a thick cloak in order to greet her uninvited guests. Seriously, one little group of aliens, and suddenly everyone had to come visit her to gawk. Well, alright, maybe she’d react the same way in their shoes.
Sarsen’s streamlined flier, Windstorm, circled twice as it came in for a landing on the narrow area outside her front door. Normally, he would have parked on top of Big, but with the snowfall last night the landing up there might be too tricky for him. Sevana felt people crowd in behind her as they got a good look at the ship, a long oval vessel with dragonfly shaped wings on either side, enclosed with a sturdy glass top. A sensible choice in this weather, as it would keep warmth in and snow off the passengers.
“That…is not what I expected.”
Glancing to the side, she took in the expression on the short, burly redhead’s face. What was his name…? Beirly, that was it. Sevana hadn’t much interaction with the man, having been cloistered with the two Pathmakers featuring occasional visits from Siobhan. “What did you expect?”
“Wasn’t sure what to expect,” he admitted with a quick, ready smile. “Big just said the prince was flying here.”
“Well that was helpful of him.” Sevana rolled her eyes toward the mountain behind her. “You could have mentioned he was being flown here, not make him sound like a gargoyle.”
Big grumbled a bit, his equivalent of a shrug. Didn’t care, huh.
The side hatch to Windstorm opened and Bel hopped lightly out, then turned and reached back to give someone else a hand down. To her surprise, both Hana and Sarsen disembarked next. Well, she’d expected Sarsen, but not Hana. What was their new princess doing here?
Bellomi, the rat fink, came right up and wrapped both arms around her in a firm hug. Squawking, she tried to fight him off, but he’d unfortunately finally hit his full adult height recently and with that came his full strength. It proved beyond her. “Bel! Stop with the hugging! Seriously, every time you come, you hug me.”
“And I get a rise out of you every time,” he agreed, tone impish against the top of her head. He finally did pull back, but it was only so Hana could sneak a hug in, and Sevana put up with it, growling in resignation. Seriously, these two.
She missed Bel’s initial once-over of the group, but Hana finally released her and she saw it when Bel held out a hand to the nearest person, Fei. “Greetings. I’m Bellomi Dragonmanovich.”
“Man Fei Lei,” Fei answered, taking the grip in a warrior’s clasp, his head canted a little as he took in the prince curiously. He accompanied the grip with a slight bow of his torso. “A pleasure, Prince.”
“Just Bel, please,” Bel requested with a charming smile. (It was a near replica of Kip’s smile, proving where he’d learned it from.) “This is my wife, Hana, and our esteemed friend, Sarsen.”
Introductions went all around, Sevana shifting from foot to foot, waiting for them to be over so they could sensibly get out of the cold. She kept a sharp eye on the group, though, curious what her guests thought of all this. Grae had told her last night that their people no longer had governments at all. Only one was still functioning, the government in Saoleord, wherever that was. Fei’s hometown. This must be as equally strange to them, meeting a prince and princess, as finding themselves on another world. Or perhaps it didn’t even register in comparison. They did seem curious, if stiff in their reactions to Bel and Hana. Not knowing how to act, perhaps?
Well, those two would set them at ease, just give it another hour.
“Alright, everyone in, we have a perfectly warm mountain and there’s no reason to stand out here.” She shooed them inside, and they moved like obedient sheep, Bel leading the way inside and asking someone questions already.
Moving in to lean his head near hers, Sarsen murmured, “How did this happen?”
“We haven’t figured it out yet,” Sevana admitted, unable to keep the delight out of her voice. She adored a good challenge. “But feel free to sit in with us. It won’t take long to catch you up to speed. How did you get wrangled into bringing those two out here, anyway?”
“Ah, well, Morgan actually contacted me and asked if I was in the area. Bel wanted to get here with all speed, so I flew in very early this morning and picked them both up. Of course, I was very curious too, and wanted to meet them.” Sarsen looked up, lips pursing. “I have to say, they’re not what I expected. They’re very obviously culturally diverse from each other.”
Proving to have sharp hearing, Rune half-turned in the hallway, pausing in the living room doorway to explain, “We’re all from different continents. Wolf, Denny, and I are from one, Sylvie and Fei from another, Tran’s from a third, and the rest are from the fourth.”
Interesting. Sevana absently pulled the door firmly closed behind her, shutting out the winter cold, as she asked, “Your continents, is this a large geographical distance?”
“Huge. Without paths, it would take weeks to cross from one side of a continent to another.” Rune’s mouth quirked up in a smile. “You wonder why and how we all came together as a group, don’t you? In truth, it’s mostly Siobhan’s doing. She collects people. Almost everyone in the group, aside from Beirly and Grae, she met while traveling.”
Sevana blinked at him. “It can’t have possibly been that easy.”
Shaking his head, Rune corrected her dryly, “Siobhan’s charm is legendary. I’d almost say lethal. I was a dark guild assassin when she met me, and look how I turned out.”
Letting out a low whistle, Sarsen made a show of looking him up and down. “You look less inclined to murder now, I admit. I’d dearly love the full story of that.”
“Oh, we’re grand story tellers, us Wynngaardians,” Rune assured him with an impish glint in his eyes. “You just have to ask. I’m sure your prince and princess will want the full tales, so you might as well listen in.”
“Good. We’re all curious to learn more about you.”
“Sev!” Hana called from inside the living room.
Huffing, Sevana pushed through and inside, discovering people had already piled onto their preferred couches and chairs, although Denny for some reason sat on the floor with both dogs, Baby, and Grydon all piled up around her. No one else seemed to find that odd, although seeing Baby sprawled across the woman’s lap with his feet in the air and his tail twitching in happiness was an odd sight to Sevana. Since when was her mountain lion so...so…well, whatever.
The princess sat on a stool near Bellomi, her back to the fire, likely warming up after that chilly flight here. She had an expectant look on her face that always boded more work for Sevana. “Sev, how close are you to solving the problem?”
Snorting, Sevana drawled, “I barely understand ‘the problem’ as you put it. We’ve no idea why their magic connected with this world.”
“So you’ll need considerable time to sort this out?” Hana looked pleased by this, and she turned to Siobhan with a triumphant air. “See? No harm to it. We’ll borrow one of Sev’s larger flying devices, and you can tour this side of the country at least and see a great deal of it without needing to tramp through all of the snow. Sarsen will take us about, won’t you, Sarsen?”
“I don’t mind,” Sarsen admitted. “Although I would like to at least help Sevana too.”
“You don’t necessarily need to be in the room with us to participate,” Sevana pointed out, dropping into her favorite armchair. Ahh, the bliss of the crackling heat of the fireplace felt good against her chilled skin. “You can talk to us via Caller while flying them about.”
“Hmm.” Sarsen maneuvered around to sit near the hearth, his back to it as he thought. “Yes, alright. It’ll be a shame for them to be stuck indoors, all things considered. I’ll play tour guide.”
Bellomi clapped his hands together. “Good, that’s settled. Thank you, Sarsen. Siobhan, I assure you, flying is perfectly s
afe. Sevana invented the flying devices, and I’ve never seen her crash one. Sevana’s been using them for three years or so now, and it’s a very reliable and quick method of travel.”
“I would dearly like the opportunity,” Siobhan admitted frankly, expression lighting up in anticipation. “We’ve no magic like this on our world, after all.”
“Truly?” Bellomi turned in his chair to converse easier with her. “What’s your world’s magic like?”
As those two fell to discussing (well, four, as both Rune and Hana got into it too), Sevana turned back to Sarsen and spoke in a lower tone. “Kip’s gone into town to buy more groceries, but he’ll be with you as well, as he’s the money exchanger for them.”
“Ah. Understood.” Sarsen glanced around the group before asking in a murmur, his lips barely moving, “There’s members of this lot that look formidable. And one of them’s already admitted he was an assassin. You sure you’re safe in here with them?”
“Safe as houses.” Sevana didn’t blame him for the question, she’d asked herself the same at first. It’d become steadily clearer to her during the night, and again this morning, that they might look like a motley crew, but there was nothing to fear from this bunch. Baby, Big, and Grydon all adored them, which told her most of what she needed to know. No one could get past those three’s instincts. But it was something more. The careful, gentle way the men looked out for the women. The devoted manner in which the women saw to the men’s comfort. Big had made an unexpected noise last night, while she was speaking with Grae and Rune, and before she could blink, the blond had swiftly moved and put himself between her and the door. Of course, he’d felt foolish later, when he realized it was just Big, but it said volumes to Sevana that he would automatically protect her in that manner.
Sarsen gave her a dubious look.
Opening her mouth, she intended to reassure him, but it was the stunning brunette that spoke instead. Leaning sideways in her chair, she confided to them both, “On our world, traveling outside of a city is dangerous. Sometimes even being inside a city, as well. Anyone weaker is abused by those stronger. Half of our guild are enforcers for this reason, as they’re our defenders. They look rough, I do admit, and they scare most people by just standing there and breathing, but I swear to you they’ll do no harm unless threatened first.”
“Just walking around in a city is that dangerous?” Sevana couldn’t even fathom such a world.
“Especially for her.” Markl leaned around his wife’s shoulders, giving her a fond but forlorn look. “My Sylvie’s the type to turn heads, and it often invites trouble. Denny gets picked on as well, because of her mixed heritage, but no one dares mess with either of them much now at home. Rune’s taken more than a few heads off where Denny’s concerned. And Tran established that he has no sense of humor concerning Sylvie years before I even came into the picture. It’s only when we’re outside of Goldschmidt that we really have any trouble.”
Sylvie laced her fingers with the hand resting on her shoulder, giving him a fond smile. “I’ve seen you knock a few heads together too. Scholar.”
Grinning back at her, Markl shrugged agreement. “Husband’s prerogative.”
Proving that she could listen to two conversations at once, Hana leaned their direction and asked with an upwards, questioning lilt in her voice, “But why would Denny’s heritage cause trouble?”
“It’s a taboo where she’s from to have mixed blood,” Markl explained with a grimace. “And she’s the daughter of a prostitute, to boot. It invites trouble on her head. We’re all very careful with her in certain cities. Especially in Quigg—that’s her hometown, and a hotbed of crime—Rune refuses to leave her side.”
Seeing that their audience only followed part of this, Sylvie further explained, “Rune and Denny are engaged. They’re set to wed in about three months.”
“Oh!” Hana clapped her hands together, delight spreading over her in a flash. “What exciting news. I’m newly married myself. It’s a blessing, but mercy, the preparations for a wedding are not to be taken lightly. Bel,” poking her husband’s shoulder, Hana insisted, “we need to get these two an engagement present while we’re out tomorrow. Or we can go into the village today, really, there’s most of the day left and we shouldn’t depend on poor Morgan somehow getting enough food to feed everyone.”
Denny, still on the floor with all of the animals, lifted both hands in protest. “You’re very kind, but we don’t need—”
“Don’t argue with her,” Bel suggested, eyes crinkling up. “Trust me on this. You will not win the argument with Hana. I speak from much experience. And I’d like to get all of you a souvenir, really. Milby’s within walking distance from here, or we can take Bouncing Clouds for a short jaunt, if you want to go down to the market and take a look around?”
In the end it was the idea of flying even that short distance that sold people. Sevana let them sort themselves out, only demanding that she had at least one Pathmaker stay behind. Grae, looking very nervous at the idea of boarding the flying craft, chose to remain which was for the best, anyway. He was the one who had operated the path that dumped them here and was the more experienced of the two. The rest of them trooped out, dragging on winter gear as they did so and making a general ruckus near the front door as they filed out.
Sevana chose to work in the living room—it had a going fire, after all—only snagging two Callers and her journal from the other room before setting up with the Callers on a round table nearby. Grae settled into a chair opposite of hers, looking at the Callers curiously. “These are…?”
“Callers,” Sevana supplied. “We use them for long distance communication. I snagged two, as it occurred to me that we might want to pull my Master in on the conversation. I’m not sure if he’ll have any amazing insights to share, but he’ll certainly pout if we don’t at least invite him to the discussion.”
Apparently Grae liked this idea, as he gave her a shy nod and smile. “I think the more minds we bring to bear on the problem, the better.”
“I quite agree. Besides, it’s more fun.” Sevana tapped the nearest Caller and called Master, as Sarsen likely needed a little more time to get into the air and settled. “Master.”
The Caller stirred, reforming its blank humanoid shape into Tashjian’s form, complete with furry slippers and his favorite robe. “Well, hello, sweetling,” he greeted in his creaky, aged voice. “I see you have a guest.”
“A client as well as a guest,” she clarified for him. “This is Grae Masson. He’s from Goldschmidt.”
Master’s miniature face screwed up in a thoughtful frown. “Ah? I can’t quite place that name.”
“As you shouldn’t. He’s from another world.” Sevana said that last part with relish, as it wasn’t often she blew Master’s mind, and she enjoyed it thoroughly whenever she had the chance.
Tashjian’s jaw dropped hard enough that he choked on his sip of his tea, beating at his chest with a palm and gasping for air. “Wh-wha?!”
“Not pranking you,” Sevana swore, lifting a hand in the air in solemn vow, although she cackled evilly. She did love that reaction. “He and his friends accidentally dropped into Big last night. We’ve been trying to sort out the how of it since.”
“Wait.” Master slammed his mug down somewhere, the clink of it dangerously loud, and he jabbed a finger at her. “You’ve had visitors from another world since last night and you’re only now calling me?!”
As an aside to the amused Grae, Sevana admitted, “I might have done that on purpose. He’s very easy to rile.”
“Sevana!” Master scolded, voice booming even from the Caller. “You ungrateful child, I swear I don’t know why I took you on as an apprentice.”
“You were bored.” Sevana leaned back, crossing one leg over another, still vastly amused. “I got Sarsen drunk and he admitted it once. Now, do you want to hear the problem?”
“Of course I want to hear the problem,” Master snapped, beyond exasperated.
> “Sarsen’s here as well, but he’s ferrying people about so they can go sightseeing. Let me call him up before we dig in.” Sevana poked the other Caller, watched it come alive with Sarsen’s features, which seemed to be sitting leisurely. “Sarsen, are you at the point where you can talk?”
“I am, they’re all off and in Milby.”
“Good. First off, Grae is something they call a Pathmaker. His world doesn’t have magic, not in the way we understand it, but he has a modified magical ability strictly limited to creating magical paths. Grae, if you would?” Sevana barely had her head wrapped around the concept and it would be infinitely better if Grae explained it himself.
In his soft voice, Grae succinctly explained all that pathmaking entailed, and Master quickly snagged a journal from nearby and scrawled out notes. Sevana updated her own notes, for that matter, as Grae mentioned a few details he hadn’t the night before. Not that she blamed him for that; the man had been understandably rattled last night.
“You were attempting to cross a large lake when the path failed and sent you here,” Master summed up, mostly rhetorically, as he didn’t seem to expect a response to that. “Interesting. There’s a great deal of natural water swirling around in Big. And of course a lot of stone. I wonder if that’s coincidental, having those two elements in common?”
A very good question, and something Sevana had been asking herself since last night. “There’s no such thing as coincidence in magic, you know that.”
“Not according to our rules of magic, no,” Master agreed, still tapping a finger against his journal and watching Grae carefully. “But I’m not sure if our rules apply in this case. Sarsen, what do you think?”
“I think there’s no reason to discount it as a coincidence. Rune explained a bit to me on the flight here—he’s the other Pathmaker in the group—and he’s theorized that it was the connection between water and stone that led them here. Also why the path failed, as there’s no direct sunlight inside of Big.”
Crossroads: An Artifactor x Deepwoods Short Story Page 3