by Gow, Kailin
It was a surprisingly large bedroom, and it was warm thanks to the rows of tapestries covering the walls. There was a bookshelf with a few volumes, set above a small desk that stood next to a chest of drawers. The bed was a curtained four-poster affair that looked like it knew the same swallowing people up trick as the chairs in the recreation room.
The only thing that didn’t fit lay on one side of the room, and it really didn’t fit. It was as though the same people who had been so meticulous in finding genuine medieval objects to decorate the rest of the castle had suddenly thrown up their collective hands in defeat and shoved in something from a science fiction show. It was a pod, just a little larger than a person, made of a clear plastic substance with holes in it for air. There was a screen built into the open lid, along with a big red button that looked like the sort of thing they had on machinery to stop it in emergencies.
“Those are our gaming pods,” Henry Word explained. “We think they will give you a… fuller gaming experience. Well, I’ll let you all get to sleep. Goodnight.”
As he left them, Gem knew that the others’ eyes would be firmly on the pod in their room. She knew hers were.
Jack spent a couple of minutes looking at the pod before he climbed into it. It was even more interesting than the castle, and a lot easier to deal with than talking to beautiful girls. He lay down, checked briefly to make sure that his glasses were in place, and closed the lid…
Sparks took a little longer, mostly because he wanted to get a better look at how the thing worked. He was impressed. Whoever had designed this was a genius. With the sort of speed he normally reserved for dodging high-school linebackers, he leapt into the thing and let the top swing down…
Kat unpacked before she got round to the pod, though since her method of unpacking was simply to shove things into any drawer that looked about the right size, it didn’t take long. When she did look at it, it occurred to her that it looked a bit like a coffin, so as she lay down she folded her arms and did her best to affect a Transylvanian accent, not entirely successfully. “Off to Anachronia ve go…”
Rio watched the pod for almost half an hour before he tried it. He was trying to think of all the angles this Word guy could be playing. Eventually though, he realized that the others had probably already begun using the pods. At the thought that the quarterback would probably already be there, showing off to the pretty blonde, he scrambled in and brought the lid down quickly. After all, the last thing he wanted was to look scared…
For her part, Gem had a couple of books open. One was a history of medieval Europe. Another was a dictionary. That was open to A, where she had penciled a ring around the word anachronism. Well, she thought, if there was ever a thing in the wrong historical period, it was the pod in the corner of the room. She took a deep breath, walked over, and lay down inside…
Chapter 3
Gem found herself on a great four-poster bed, large enough that even stretching out fully, she couldn’t reach the edges. She felt utterly relaxed, like she had just fallen asleep, and Gem couldn’t tell whether that was down to the bed or what the sleep pod had done. She rolled off the bed, landing softly on her feet and running her eyes over herself. She was still in her own clothes. The only addition seemed to be a ring on the little finger of her left hand, glowing red. It reminded Gem a lot of the big red button on the inside of the sleep pod.
The room she found herself in looked more or less the same as the one she had lain down in, except for the addition of the bed where her room’s sleep pod had been. Gem opened the door to the room cautiously, to find herself in the hallway that led to the rooms. She wasn’t the only one. The other four were already there, surrounding a man of around twenty who wore opulent, expensive robes containing enough gold thread that they almost matched his hair. He smiled as Gem approached.
“Good, good! You are all here. At last!”
“Yeah,” Rio echoed. “You get lost, Gem?”
He smiled as he said it, which seemed like a change from the surly self he had been earlier.
“I just didn’t want to rush into something I didn’t understand,” Gem replied. Hearing that, the man in the expensive robes nodded.
“Quite right. Quite right. It is often those who are impetuous who find themselves failing, and you must succeed.”
“I’m sorry,” Gem said. “Who are you? We are in Anachronia, aren’t we? In the game?”
The well-dressed man offered a bow in her direction.
“Yes, forgive me. I wanted to wait until you were all here before I began. I am Goolrick the Third, wizard to his majesty King Larsson of Anachronia, retained by his majesty for my sagacity and general wisdom. Or I was, at least.”
“What happened?” Sparks asked it.
“Alas, the king is dead. Worse, there is no heir.”
“So you’re out of a job,” Rio said. Not, Gem thought, entirely kindly. Goolrick shook his head.
“Oh, if only that were all of it. Such a situation would be a transient, temporary thing for a wizard of my talents. No, young friends. The trouble is not my lack of employment. The trouble is the war.”
Gem got the feeling that Goolrick liked to speak a little too much. Still, it went with the ostentatious way he dressed, flaunting language the way his clothes flaunted wealth.
“What war?” she asked, hoping to get him back on track.
“What war?” Goolrick repeated. ‘Why, the war you are here to help with. The war between the noble Perfidious Tribe that gave us King Larsson, and the vile Spurious Tribe, who even now threaten to overthrow all order in the kingdom. Thanks to their actions, the dragon roams free, while the land is beset with strife. Also Ogres, Trolls, evil-Wizards and Minotaurs. But mostly strife.”
Gem looked to the other players.
“Can we have a moment to talk?” she asked Goolrick.
“Anything, if you will aid us.”
He stepped back to the far end of the hall, and Gem spoke in a whisper.
“What do you all think?”
“It’s what we’re here to do,” Sparks pointed out. Beside him, Jack nodded.
“It s-said so in the rules.” He blushed, as though even saying that much in front of Gem was embarrassing.
“I don’t know,” Rio said, “you don’t get in the middle of two gangs, even if they call themselves tribes.”
“You scared?” Sparks taunted. Gem noticed that he looked at her when he said it, even though it was directed at Rio. Rio’s eyes narrowed, but he shook his head.
“I don’t know what the fuss is about,” Kat said to Gem. “It’s just a game. Or had you forgotten that?”
Gem decided that was probably as close to a unanimous decision as they were going to get, so she called over Goolrick, who strode over with surprising confidence. Maybe he had used some spell to listen in. Maybe he was just that certain of himself.
“So, have you decided to help our fair kingdom?”
Gem nodded.
“We have.”
Goolrick looked like he might have clapped his hands in glee and jubilation if it weren’t for the fact that important wizards didn’t do that sort of thing.
“That is wonderful! Of course, I shall do everything I can to aid you in your quest. Starting with finding you some proper clothes.”
“What sort of clothes?” Gem asked carefully. Kat was less cautious about it.
“What’s wrong with what we’re wearing?”
“Forgive me, but the way you are dressed, you will simply stand out too much in the kingdom of Anachronia. You must fit in, if you are to achieve success. Please, if you will return to your rooms, I am sure that you will find clothing that will suit you better in them.”
That turned out to be true. Gem headed back to the room she had just come from and rooted through the drawers, finding a dress of bright blue cotton, embroidered with silver threads. She put it on, finding a broad belt with a silver buckle to tie around her waist. There were shoes too, slipper like things that sh
e wasn’t sure were that tough, but which nonetheless fitted the Anachronian style better than her own. If she wanted to win this game, she would have to start by fitting in, and that meant dressing the part.
Surprisingly, she managed to be the first one back to the hallway, which meant that she was alone with the wizard, Goolrick.
“It must be pretty interesting, being a wizard,” she said, deciding that anything else she could find out might help. “Being able to cast spells must let you do a lot.”
“Certainly,” Goolrick agreed. “But you will find that here, you have your own power. For people such as yourselves, words will have power in Anachronia.”
Gem remembered Henry Word saying much the same.
“Yes, but how?”
Goolrick smiled.
“Perhaps if we wait for the others, so that I can explain it to all of you?”
Gem nodded. That was only right.
They didn’t have to wait long. The others came out of their rooms one by one, either admiring their new clothes or picking at them like they scratched. They looked very different. Sparks had on a white cotton tunic and hose, set with green and gold threads, while Rio’s costume came in shades of gray, from the soft boots to the flowing shirt. Jack was dressed in reds that matched his hair, making him look a bit like a fallen leaf, though the glasses he still wore didn’t exactly fit the image.
Compared to Kat though, he fit in perfectly. Given the medieval setting, Gem had expected her to end up in a dress like the one she wore, but instead, Kat was dressed much like the boys, only her outfit was a jet black that matched her lipstick. There were flashes of silver from her belt buckle and a few patches of embroidery on the edges, but otherwise she looked like a hole in space.
“This is supposed to be medieval, isn’t it?” Gem asked. “Did women wear trousers in medieval times?”
“Joan of Arc did,” Kat said, scowling. “I read about her once.”
“They burnt her at the s-stake though,” Jack pointed out.
“Well it’s not like I’m planning on driving the English out of France. Anyway, this is more practical.”
Gem nodded. She had to admit that it was the more practical, pragmatic choice. She half-wished that she had thought of it herself. Kat smirked.
“I suppose you’re planning on asking the boys to help every time you get mud on your dress.”
“I wouldn’t mind helping,” Sparks said, giving Gem a long look.
“Me either,” Rio put in. Jack just blushed.
“I’m sure what you’re wearing will be fine,” Goolrick interrupted, though Gem wasn’t too sure about taking fashion tips from a man who seemed to be wearing half the castle’s treasury. “For now though, I was about to show dear Gem how to use ruler words.”
He paused, looking at each of them.
‘Being outlanders, you each have the talent to use words as power here. Now that is nothing unusual. All words have power. They can persuade, or describe, make a heart ache or a mind soar. For you though, they can do more. Or some of them can. Now, if I were to say the word surreptitious, I would merely have used a word meaning secret or stealthy. But if you do it…” he pointed at Gem.
“Surreptitious,” she repeated dutifully. Nothing happened, as far as she could see. The others, on the other hand, seemed impressed.
“Wow, it’s like you’re all…shadowy,” Kat said.
“I go with your outfit, then.”
That got a smile from the other girl. Rio seemed impressed too.
“I can think of a few times when that might have come in useful.”
After that, Goolrick showed them another word: deleterious. He put a vase out in the middle of the floor.
“Now,” he said, “can any of you tell me what the word deleterious means?”
“Harmful,” Jack said at once. “Damaging. Does that mean that the word will be?”
“Try it for yourself.”
Jack hesitated, looking at Gem. While he did, Sparks stepped forward, pointed at the vase, and said the word.
“Deleterious.”
It shattered, fragmenting into pieces that covered the floor in a sharp mess. Goolrick seemed both pleased with it and, to Gem, slightly irritated. Since he had put the vase there, she doubted it was with the cleaning up.
“These are the only two words I can give you with certainty,” Goolrick said. “I find myself having to my magic through more normal means. Charms, potions, lengthy spells that might backfire if I get them wrong. It isn’t much, but I fancy that I have built up more than a little power over the years.”
So that was it, Gem thought. It probably wasn’t very nice to see people come in, able to do things in seconds that you’d had to work years for.
“Still,” Goolrick said, ‘we mustn’t dwell on these things. If you are to help, we will need to find you more than words. We’ll need to find you weapons, not to mention equipment and food.’
He led the way down from the hallway, via a spiral staircase that occupied the space where Henry Word’s elevator would have been in their world. From there, he took them to the lobby, where two tables awaited. One held five satchels, and Goolrick passed one to each of them in turn. Gem found that hers held an empty, leather bound notebook, a flashlight, a small first aid kit, some tablets labeled “water sanitization only”, and a cheap plastic lighter. It occurred to her that almost nothing in there counted as genuinely medieval. Maybe that was why they called the country Anachronia.
The contents of the others’ satchels held equally anachronistic elements. The flask of water and dried foods in Sparks’ were fine, the modern compass and silvery emergency thermal blanket less so. Rio got another flashlight to go with his food and water. Jack had binoculars, a compass, lighter, first aid kit and water. Kat got a lighter, chocolate bar, water, a silver comb and a stick of lipstick that looked suspiciously like her own.
The other table held weapons, along with three shirts of silvery chain mail. Those went to Sparks, Rio and Kat. Gem was almost glad not to get one, because she suspected that the weight would slow her down too much, though some extra protection might have been nice. For weapons, Sparks chose a long sword, adding to it a kite shaped shield. Kat chose a lighter short sword and buckler, stabbing the air a couple of times to get the hang of them. Rio took a round shield, but slung it across his back, letting him heft a broadsword two handed. Jack ignored all the swords and took a yew long bow, along with a selection of arrows with different heads.
Gem considered what to take. She had never swung a sword, and she hadn’t been in many fights. On the other hand, she had done a little bit of archery at her school, even if the bows here looked nothing like modern ones with their sights and stabilizers. She settled on a short, curving bow with horn tips, taking a quiver of arrows to go with it. She also picked out a silver dagger, attaching it to her belt in its sheath.
Goolrick looked them all over, and smiled an expansive smile. He produced a map from somewhere in the folds of his robe.
‘Good, good. This map will show you the way through the Wickedly Woods to where the Spurious tribe is camped. I will fetch the loyal folk of Perfidious to aid you. My friends, we march to war.
Walking at the front of the group, Sparks had his hand on his sword hilt, ready. Occasionally, he glanced back to where Gem walked, reading the map. If she caught him doing it, she would smile. Of course, she also smiled at Rio when he caught her eye. How she could see the two of them as the same was beyond Sparks. Rio was just a brusque, rude kid who would probably steal from them as soon as look at them. Sparks would just have to show them, when the fighting came, whom Gem should really be looking at…
Bringing up the rear, Rio found himself staring at Gem too, though more in puzzlement than anything. Rio knew he was handsome. Any other girl would have reacted when they first met, probably given in right then. So what was it about the rich girl? Maybe that was it. Maybe she didn’t think he was good enough for her. Well, he’d be diligent about it, work
hard, and pretty soon she’d come around…
For her part, Kat was thinking that going out to fight just because someone said so was such a… a conformist thing to do, following the majority, going along with things. She also found herself thinking about Rio. He wasn’t a conformist. There was something dangerous about him, something different. Kat tried smiling at him. He smiled back, politely, then went back to staring at Gem. Well, who cared? Even if Rio was very good-looking…
Jack was mostly thinking about all the anachronisms around him. The kingdom was certainly living up to its name. The maze had still been there when they had walked outside, and he’d thought mazes where mostly later entertainments, sixteenth and seventeenth century or something. Then there had been all the different weapons, when they had been used in different centuries, or on different continents. The bow he had could have been something from the English forces of the Hundred Years War, while the one Gem had looked more like the sort of thing that had been used in Hungary. Since he had just been sent by a wizard to deal with ogres and trolls, Jack doubted that he could really complain, but still, it was odd…
Gem spent her time trying to find their way. She was a bit worried about the map, not least because the route it showed took them straight through the Wickedly Woods. She could remember Henry Word’s warning about that place clearly. She was also aware as she walked of the boys’ eyes on her. Two of the boys, at least. Jack seemed preoccupied. The trouble was, both Sparks and Rio seemed nice. Well no. Nice probably wasn’t the right word for Rio. But there was definitely something there…