Brynn started to walk again, closing her eyes and reaching out to either side. She stopped counting, instead trying to keep her breathing steady and slow her hammering heart.
Until then, the thump in her chest had been the only thing she had heard in that weird, otherworldly hotel hallway. But as she breathed and slowly walked, she heard something else, something coming from her right.
She stopped and bowed her head, listening intently. Yes, there it was. A soft, rhythmic sound, one she almost didn’t recognize. She’d lived for years in the desert, after all.
The sound coming from behind the door was the lap of the surf rolling gently onto a beach. She waited, relaxing, expecting to hear the caw of a gull. But all she heard was the frothing swish of waves against sand.
Brynn opened her eyes. The door was a pale white, just like the hundreds or millions of others in this place. But unlike all the others, this one was calling to her.
She reached out and turned the silver knob. As the door swung inward, she could smell it, the salty scent of the breeze coming in off the ocean. Then it washed over her face and body, cool and misty.
There, impossibly, was an empty beach. The sun must have been behind her, and it must have been low in the sky, because the horizon she looked out upon over the blue water was a deep, dark purple. The first stars were starting to peek through the dusky sky.
This is it, she thought. This is his world.
It was a strange thing to do, but this had been one very strange week. Brynn stepped out of her sneakers, kicking them behind her in the hallway. Then she reached down and pulled off her socks. She felt the lush maroon carpet pushing up between her toes. But what she really wanted to feel as she stepped into Xandakar for the first time was the warm white sand on the soles of her feet.
She took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway.
15
VANDER
They chained him to a rock near the coral gates to the city.
He wasn’t sure why they needed the chains. That song still drifted through his head, sweet and irresistible, compelling him to do anything they told him to do. Whether it was one singer or many, the song never stopped, always drifting from somewhere inside the coral city. But perhaps they would grow tired of singing. Perhaps eventually he would become immune to its charms.
In the end, it did not matter why. He was chained all the same. They stripped him of his armor, leaving him naked and splayed for all to see, and to do with what they pleased.
Kalypsa had her daughters do the chaining, thick brass manacles encrusted with barnacles. They clasped them around his wrists and ankles, the metal growing snug to fit him as if it were alive.
The merfolk queen floated before him as they stripped away his armor, admiring his body.
“Most we lure here to their deaths,” she said. “In fact, that was the deal we struck with your new wife. Well, I suppose she wasn’t your wife when the deal was made. She was merely the Nightshadow princess.”
Vander felt an anger bubble up inside him, then just as quickly subside. As he looked into her crystal blue eyes, he could not maintain any emotion but love for more than a few seconds. Yet the knowledge was there in his mind that Nevra had betrayed him. And she had laid the plans long before they had even wed.
Kalypsa drifted closer to him, raking one of her sharp black fingernails down his chest. A tiny cloud of blood puffed out from the wound as he winced.
“But killing a specimen such as yourself would be such a waste,” she said. “We get so few males out this far. Most can’t handle us, though we still enjoy the pleasures of flesh.”
He looked down below her waist, wondering if she actually meant to mount him. All he saw were shiny scales. She saw the direction of his gaze and laughed.
“You are not the only creature whose body can transform,” she said. “I can only birth daughters, and only once every hundred years or so. But I still need seed, and yours will do nicely. Besides, my daughters have never experienced what a man has to offer. We’ll bring you food and do with you as we please, at least until you are no longer of use to us. How does that sound, Lord Tanglevine?”
He felt himself stiffening despite himself. He looked down to confirm that his body was betraying him.
Kalypsa smiled, her teeth long and sharp. “I’ll take that as a sign of approval.”
He could not help but find everything about the merfolk women beautiful and irresistible, even as he tried to cling to the thought of Brynn. She was far away though, a woman in another world.
And he was going to die here, chained to this rock, though how long that would take he had no idea. He heard the gathered chorus of laughter from the merfolk women as Kalypsa’s lower half began to shift, her tail forking, the scales dissolving into green skin.
Soon she floated there before him, a pair of human legs kicking slowly at the water where a tail had once been. She wore no clothing, her skin smooth and bare.
He grew even harder, hating himself for it. Kalypsa drifted close, curling herself around him, pressing her breasts against his chest. She put her lips to his ear, and he thought he heard her say something.
But no, it was not the siren queen who whispered in his ear, but her.
He not only heard her but felt her in his mind, close now, or at least closer. She could no longer be worlds away, not the way he was sensing her. She had to be here, in his world.
Vander?
“Brynn,” he said out loud. Kalypsa pulled back from him with a hiss.
“What did you say?” she asked, her bony fingers clasped at the base of his neck.
Hold tight, Brynn said. I’m coming for you.
“No,” he said, not sure if she could hear him or not. “The danger is too great.”
He tried to focus on Brynn, on that voice. Even if he were only dreaming it, and he didn’t think he was, it was still a comfortable delusion. But all he could see was Kalypsa’s wary face, her eyes narrowed on his.
“To whom do you speak?” she hissed, her flesh still pressed against his.
He strained, trying to hear her again, trying to speak to her once more. He cried out inside his mind. Stay away. Do not come. The merfolk were strong, vicious, and heavily armed. What could one woman from Earth do against them but die in vain? And he could at least perish with the small consolation that the woman he cared for was safe, back in her own plane of existence. If only she had heard his words and would heed them.
But he knew she was headstrong. That was one reason he care so much for her. And whatever he had thought he had heard or felt was gone. Now there was only the feel of the merfolk’s skin on his, the sound of her song ringing in his mind.
“No one,” he said. “I was babbling, enraptured by your beauty.”
She laughed at that and the chorus laughed with her. “Let us hope you can please a woman better than you lie.”
Kalypsa seemed unconcerned as she lowered herself upon him and wrapped herself doubly tight around him.
16
BRYNN
The sand was warm on the soles of her feet, gritty as it pushed up between her toes. She heard the click of a door closing and turned, expecting to see the hallway behind her. Instead, she gasped at the sight that lay before her.
The door and hallway were gone. She was looking up the beach at the most incredible building she’d ever seen, a twisting, towering palace made of green and gold bamboo. A lush green jungle surrounded it, and it wasn’t clear where the building ended and the jungle began, as if the walls and spires had been grown there instead of built.
That’s when she felt him, stronger now that she was here in his world.
Vander? she thought to him, hoping he could hear. Something was definitely wrong. She could feel his mind clouded. He wasn’t himself. But there was enough of him still there to call back to her.
Brynn, he said inside her mind, and tears welled up in her eyes as she heard his voice.
Hold tight, she thought to him as hard as
she could. I’m coming for you.
That’s when she saw them, two people walking down the beach towards her, and the link she had with Vander faded away, but not before she thought she heard one more word. No.
He didn’t want her to come. He didn’t think she could help him. But she’d gotten this far, hadn’t she? And she was damned if she was going to stop trying to help him now. Besides, she wouldn’t necessarily need to find him herself, right? He had his people, his clan. A whole horde of green dragons should be willing to rescue him from whatever danger he was in. But then, why weren’t they? Maybe they just didn’t know where he was. She didn’t either, but she might be able to find out.
Meanwhile, two of what had to be members of his clan were getting close. One was a woman, the other a man, both beautiful and both blonde. They were clad in the same skin-tight green armor that Vander wore, and Brynn found herself jealous of the way it formed around the woman’s breasts, pushing them up nicely like a scaly corset. She hoped all the women here didn’t look like this. How the hell was she supposed to hold Vander’s attention? And how had she gotten it in the first place?
They stopped twenty feet from her, a respectful distance for a smallish woman standing barefoot on the beach in shorts and a T-shirt. They each held wicked-looking silver spears, though they hadn’t leveled them at her. Not yet.
The woman took one step closer and planted the butt of her spear in the sand.
“Identify yourself,” she said. “And state your business.”
The effects of the super-weed had all but worn off now, and she was feeling a lot more like herself. Still, she was staring down a pair of armed dragonfolk who didn’t seem particularly happy she was here.
“My name is Brynn,” she said. “Brynn Mulbrook.”
The man and woman looked at each other. The man gave a small shrug before the woman turned back to her.
“I do not know this clan name,” she said. Her fingers tightened around the spear.
That’s not a good sign, Brynn thought. But she stood her ground. There was nowhere to run, and what good would that do anyone? She needed them. She just needed to convince them she was a friend.
“Are you a sorceress?” the woman asked.
“What?” Brynn asked, laughing despite herself. Then in occurred to her. “Oh,” she said, looking around at the sand at her feet. “Because I just kind of appeared out of nowhere.” Right on their beach, in front of their royal palace. No wonder they saw her as a potential threat.
“Does something amuse you?” the woman asked, lifting the spear out of the sand.
Oh shit, Brynn thought. “No,” she said, wiping the smile off her face. Be careful, girl. You’re going to get yourself killed. “I’m not a sorceress. I was brought here.”
They looked at each other again, their faces hardening.
“To help Vander,” Brynn said.
That got to them. Now they just looked confused. It was the man’s turn to speak.
“What do you know of our king?”
“I met him,” she said, leaving out the part about falling head over heels for him. “He came to my world.”
“Which is?” the woman asked.
“Earth.” They still looked confused. Guess it’s not common knowledge around here, she thought.
“And why was he there?” the woman asked.
Brynn opened her mouth and almost mentioned the spear. But then she remembered her vision of Vander hiding it in the underwater cave. Why would he do that, unless he didn’t want anyone to know that he’d found it?
“I don’t know,” Brynn said. “He didn’t tell me. But when he left he said he was getting married.”
“True enough,” the man said. “He was wed to the new queen just yesterday.” The woman gave him a sharp look. Brynn had seen enough cop shows to know that when you interrogated someone you wanted to keep them in the dark.
“But now he’s missing,” Brynn said. “Isn’t he?”
“You know where he is?” the woman asked.
“No,” Brynn said. “But I think I might be able to find him.”
“How?”
She thought about spinning another lie, but didn’t see a way around this one. “I can hear him,” she said. “Inside my head.”
The dragonfolk looked at each other one last time.
“But you are no sorceress,” the man said.
“Right,” she said, and she could see by the looks on their faces that they weren’t entirely sure what to do with her.
“Come,” the woman finally said. “We will take you before the queen. She will hear your words and decide what to do.”
They brought Brynn up into the bamboo palace, through winding hallways and up spiraling stairs to what had to be the throne room.
The throne, like the palace itself, seemed to be grown up from the floor, a giant, twisting chair of green and gold bamboo with sprigs of leaves jutting randomly here and there.
In the seat sat a pale, slender woman dressed in skin-tight black armor. She sat sideways in the throne, one leg draped over an armrest, her head tilted back. She didn’t bother leaning forward when Brynn was brought to the steps of the dais upon which the throne sat.
Nevra Nightshadow, Brynn thought. Vander had told her the name. It was a hard one to forget. Though she was officially a Tanglevine now, she guessed. The soldiers had said she was the queen, which meant the marriage must have already happened.
She was beautiful, in an angry goth sort of way, with her black bangs, dark lips, and eyes that said she didn’t give a fuck about anything. Including her missing husband, apparently.
And that’s when Brynn realized something was off. Best to hear her out, though. Give her the benefit of the doubt.
“And you are?” Nevra asked, her voice showing about as much interest as her heavy-lidded eyes.
“My name is Brynn Mulbrook,” she said, trying to stand up as straight and confident as she could. “I come from Earth.” Geez, she thought, I sound like a 50’s sci-fi movie. But how else was she supposed to say it?
Nevra sighed. “And why are you not still there?”
“I came to help,” she said, the words sounding feeble even as she said them. Here she was, surrounded by dragons. She suddenly felt very small and self-conscious.
“With what?” Nevra asked, a grin slipping across her black lips.
Then the realization struck her. Nevra had something to do with Vander’s disappearance. She felt it with every bone in her body. She looked behind her. The guards that had escorted her in stood by either side of the only door. The only way back is forward, she told herself. Right?
“Vander,” she said. “He’s in trouble.”
Nevra let out a little titter. “What do you know of it?”
“He called to me,” she said. “From wherever he is.”
Nevra’s eyes were shiny with curiosity now. She leaned forward a little for the first time. “Perhaps you know where he is because you had something to do with his disappearance.”
“No,” Brynn said, shaking her head. She could tell which way this was going, and it wasn’t good. “I came here to help. I don’t even know exactly where he is.”
Nevra sat up straight in the throne. “It does seem peculiar that the day after my husband’s disappearance, a witch appears on our shores, claiming to hear his voice in her head. By your own admission, you are either mad or a conspirator. Either way, you belong in a cage rather than standing before me, wasting my time.”
Well this just went south quickly, Brynn thought. She opened her mouth to speak, but realized there was nothing she could say to improve the situation. So she closed it just as quickly.
Nevra seemed to be waiting for her to dig her hole even deeper. When Brynn didn’t, Nevra looked up at the guards. “Take her away.”
The prison they led her to was nicer than she expected. For one, they led her up, rather than down. Brynn had read plenty of fantasy and seen plenty of TV and movies. She’d expected a dark,
dank place of moss-covered stone deep beneath the palace where they would shackle her to a wall until rats chewed away her toes.
But as they moved up a series of walkways, high into the jungle canopy, she realized the place was mostly built on sand. An underground dungeon probably wouldn’t even work here.
She saw the collection of large bamboo cages suspended from thick, twisted rope, over a dozen spaced out in the trees above. Only one of them was occupied, by a woman wearing what looked like a burlap sack. She was curled in the corner of the cage, hugging her legs. She looked up at Brynn with wide blue eyes. At first Brynn thought she might have been male. Her black hair was cut short. But then Brynn saw her large soft breasts pushed up by her knees.
Wonder what she did, Brynn thought.
The guards led her further up the walkway, three cages past the only other prisoner.
They stopped in front of a slowly swinging cell made of twisted bamboo. She didn’t see a door or opening of any kind.
The female guard reached out with the tip of her spear, touching it to the front of the cage. The shiny poles slid to either side, forming a sizeable gap.
The woman pushed her in, and Brynn fell, knocking her elbow hard on the slats that formed the floor of the cell.
“Hey!” she cried out, sitting up holding her throbbing arm.
The female guard reached out again with the spear and the bamboo bars settled back into place. “A servant will bring you food at sunrise and sunset,” she said.
And where am I supposed to…? she thought. Brynn looked down through the slats and her stomach lurched from vertigo, her head getting dizzy. She was high up. Very high up. I guess I just go wherever, she thought.
The guards turned to go, but Brynn jumped to her feet, grabbing onto the bamboo bars and putting her mouth between them. “Hey,” she said.
The female guard turned to look at her.
“Your king is missing,” she said. “And I can help find him. I think your new queen might have had something to do with it.”
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