by R. L. King
Stone shivered, the mere thought of such an affliction filling him with a deep, gut-wrenching fear. What would he have done in Richter’s situation? How far would he have been willing to go to avoid what he considered to be a fate far, far worse than death?
“No…” he murmured aloud, striding faster. “I wouldn’t.”
Would he?
The thing that terrified him the most was that he didn’t know the answer to that question.
38
Stone found Aubrey once again in the back garden. He had a series of plastic pots lined up in the back of his little electric cart, each one containing a small shrub, and was currently patting the soil around one of them he’d just planted. From the look of things, he was creating a row of them along one of the pathways. Classic-rock music came from the speaker of a small radio perched on the dashboard of the cart.
Stone watched him for a moment, silently, surprised the caretaker hadn’t noticed him yet. He was humming to himself, his hands busy and, as far as Stone could tell, tremor-free.
For a brief moment, a thought flashed into Stone’s mind. Becoming a ghoul had saved Frank Grider, who’d only had a few months to live at the time he was turned. Grider had lived a happy, fulfilled life for the last ten years, with only one small inconvenience to differentiate himself from “normal” humans.
What if…
Stone shook his head violently, ashamed of himself for even thinking it. What if Aubrey allowed himself to become a cannibal to save himself from a degenerative disease?
Stop trying to play God, Stone. Just…let things be. He’s happy. He’s made his peace with it. And mundane medical science is learning new things every day. They don’t always need mages to swoop in and save the day.
“Sir?”
Stone jerked his head up in surprise to find Aubrey staring at him, the expression on his craggy face warring between pleasure and confusion. “Ah. Hello, Aubrey. I hope I didn’t startle you.”
“Er…no, not really.” Aubrey brushed the dust from his hands and rose slowly, gripping the cart’s edge for balance. “Just putting in a few shrubs. I didn’t know you were coming, but of course I’m happy to see you. If you give me a few moments to tidy up, I’ll—”
Stone shook his head, waving him off. “No, Aubrey. No. You don’t need to do anything. Go back to your shrubs, if you like. I don’t want to disturb you.”
“You never disturb me, sir. You should know that by now.”
And Stone did know it. Aubrey didn’t have an ounce of guile or subterfuge in him. Perhaps a bit of gentle passive aggressiveness now and then, he thought with faint amusement. But everybody had something. Nobody was perfect.
“What…can I do for you?” Aubrey was still looking at Stone with a tilted head.
“Nothing. I was just realizing I don’t come home often enough.” He perched on the edge of the cart’s patched vinyl seat. “How’s Susan?”
“Very well, sir. We’ve been going to the pub together or out to dinner a couple times a week, and we’ve got plans to go to Nottingham after the first of the year to meet her older daughter.”
“Introducing you to the family, is she?” Stone flashed a sly smile. “Sounds like things are going very well indeed.”
“We shall see,” Aubrey said mildly. Then his brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed. “Sir…”
“Yes?”
He tossed his trowel next to the potted shrub. “Please don’t take this wrong, but…is everything all right?”
Stone blinked. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You’re acting…odd.”
“Odd.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You mean because I’m taking an interest in what you’re up to?”
Aubrey ducked his gaze. “I wouldn’t put it that way, sir. But you’ve never seemed terribly invested in the minutiae of my day-to-day life.” He smiled. “Remember, I’ve known you a long time. If I had to guess, I’d say you’re avoiding something.”
Good old Aubrey. He didn’t miss a trick. “I’m not…avoiding anything. Not exactly. Maybe I just realized I was being a bit of an arse.”
“How so, sir?” Now, he seemed genuinely confused.
Stone pushed off the cart and began pacing around the area, but didn’t answer.
“This is because of what I told you before, isn’t it?” Aubrey’s tone as gentle, but firm.
“So what if it is?”
“Alastair. Look at me.”
Stone stopped, hesitated, then turned back to face him.
“You don’t have to change anything because of what’s happened. You and I are similar—we’ve got our own ways, and we don’t like having them disrupted. We’re both stubborn. We both prefer not to burden others with our problems.”
“But you want me to burden you with my problems. You’ve said so. You practically beg me to do it.”
Aubrey chuckled. “True. And I’m honored when you do. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for me to do the same.”
“No…I suppose it isn’t. What are you saying, then? You want me to leave you alone?”
“Oh, no, sir.” He shook his head. “Not at all. I enjoy it when you come home. I always look forward to your visits. You know that.”
He did know that. “I enjoy them too.” He paused, resuming his pacing, and when he spoke, he faced away from his friend. “Aubrey…”
“Yes, sir?”
“I’m going to tell you something. I’m not strictly supposed to, but I trust you more than anyone else on Earth. So if I ask you not to reveal it to anyone, I can count on that, right?”
“Sir…are you ill? Is something wrong?”
The genuine worry in the old man’s tone made Stone turn back around. “Oh, no. No. Nothing like that. I’m—possibly better than I’ve been in years, to be honest. But…I’m going to start coming home more often now.”
“Sir?” Aubrey’s eyebrows rose. “I’m delighted to hear it, of course, but…that hardly sounds like a secret you’d be concerned if I revealed.”
Stone chuckled. “It’s not that I’m doing it that’s the secret. It’s how I’m doing it.”
“I don’t understand. You’ll use the portal, right?” His expression brightened. “Oh. Of course. You’ve finally finished the one you were building in your house in California.”
“No.”
“No?”
“In fact, we blew that one up during a ritual recently. It’s gone. It will take me months to rebuild it—if I even decide to do it at all.”
Now Aubrey looked thoroughly confused. He gave up any pretense of messing with the shrubs. “I don’t understand. You’re planning to come home more often, even though you still have to drive for at least half an hour to get to the public portal?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Aubrey: I don’t need the portal anymore.”
“What?” His eyes widened. “I’m afraid I’m not following you, sir.”
“I can’t explain it all. There are parts of it I can’t even tell you. But the short version is, I don’t need portals to travel anymore. I’ve learned a new technique. All I need is ley lines. And since there’s one passing through my house in Encantada, and three here, I can pop over whenever I like.” He grinned. “I can annoy the hell out of you by always being around, poking my nose in your business like the bothersome little brother getting in the way of your dates with Susan.”
Aubrey said nothing. His expression of wide-eyed confusion was almost funny.
Stone chuckled. “Don’t worry, though—I wouldn’t do that. You know I wouldn’t. But what I can do is come ’round more often for dinner, or just to chat, or to help out with some of the household projects if you trust me enough to let me near them.”
He strode forward and gripped Aubrey’s shoulder. “I can be there for you, Aubrey, is what I’m saying. And it’s about bloody time, considering how often you’ve been there for me.”
“Sir…”
“No argument.” He gri
pped again, then backed off. “I promise, I won’t pry. I won’t ask questions about your private affairs. I’ll stay out of the way when you and Susan want the place for a quiet night alone. But…” He took a deep breath. “You know I’m rubbish at this sort of emotional stuff, so don’t laugh at me because I’m bollixing it up, but…what I’m trying to say is that I’m afraid you’re stuck with me, you old goat. And I’m not going to wait for you to ask for my help, because you’re just like me and you’d rather gargle ground glass than do it. I’m going to be around more often, so you don’t need to ask. And that’s my last word on the subject. Any objections?” He met Aubrey’s gaze with a solid, challenging one of his own.
Aubrey studied him, and his eyes crinkled. “I’m not going to die, sir, if that’s what you’re worried about. Not any time soon, anyway. I already told you that.”
A tight little ball formed in Stone’s stomach, and for a moment he pictured Elias Richter. Did some faint, tiny part of him feel sorry for the diabolical old mage, even if he was working with a vile man like Brathwaite? Could he blame someone for trying everything in his power to avoid a horrific fate?
Yes, he decided. He could blame Richter. You couldn’t destroy other people to get what you needed, no matter how narrow your options were.
And there was, he realized, more than one way to do that.
He smiled at Aubrey. “Hell, don’t you think I know that? You’re going to outlive all of us, Aubrey. You just wait and see.”
Alastair Stone will return in
Book 25 of the Alastair Stone Chronicles
Look for it in Spring 2021!
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Books by R. L. King
ALASTAIR STONE CHRONICLES SERIES
Stone and a Hard Place (Book 1)
The Forgotten (Book 2)
The Threshold (Book 3)
The Source (Book 4)
Alastair Stone Chronicles Box Set (includes books 1-4)
Core of Stone (Book 5)
Blood and Stone (Book 6)
Heart of Stone (Book 7)
Alastair Stone Chronicles Box Set 2 (includes book 5-7)
Flesh and Stone (Book 8)
The Infernal Heart (Book 9)
The Other Side (Book 10)
Path of Stone (Book 11)
Necessary Sacrifices (Book 12)
Game of Stone (Book 13)
Steel and Stone (Book 14)
Stone and Claw (Book 15)
The Seventh Stone (Book 16)
Gathering Storm (Book 17)
House of Stone (Book 18)
Circle of Stone (Book 19)
The Madness Below (Book 20)
Boys’ Night (Way) Out (novella)
An Unexpected Truth (novella)
Death’s Door (Book 21)
Blood Brothers (Book 22)
Homecoming (Book 23)
ALASTAIR STONE CHRONICLES STANDALONE WORKS
Shadows and Stone
Turn to Stone
Stone for the Holidays
Devil’s Bargain
HAPPENSTANCE AND BRON (A SERIES IN THE WORLD OF THE ALASTAIR STONE CHRONICLES)
The Soul Engine (Book 1)
Chariots of Wrath (Book 2)
By Demons Driven (Book 3)
SHADOWRUN (Published by Catalyst Game Labs)
Borrowed Time
Wolf and Buffalo
Big Dreams
Veiled Extraction
About the Author
R. L. King lives the kind of exotic, jet-set life most authors only dream of. Splitting her time between rescuing orphaned ocelots, tracking down the world’s most baffling cheese-related paranormal mysteries, and playing high-stakes pinochle with albino squirrels, it’s a wonder she finds any time to write at all.
Or, you know, she lives in San Jose with her inordinately patient spouse, four demanding cats, and a crested gecko. Which, as far as she’s concerned, is way better.
Except for the ocelots. That part would have been cool.
www.alastairstonechronicles.com
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