“Stand in the center of the raft,” the Ferryman instructed, gesturing to each of us.
He took up the long pole and began to circle it over his head as if the sky was a pot of soup. Slowly, mist began to form over us. It thickened and descended around the raft until we could barely see beyond the edges. Then, the Ferryman lowed his staff about halfway and drew the outline of a large rectangle with the end of his pole. A doorway opened in the fog, and the raft moved toward it as if sucked by a great wind. Several moments later, we popped through the door.
Blackness fell for several moments, the kind of blackness where you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Blackness like the strange lake we’d just left. And then the dark began to lighten and around us shapes of things came into view, sharpening slowly until I could see that we’d landed on a river in a forest of gargantuan trees. The Ferryman steered us deftly to the bank of the river, where he rode the raft up onto the sandy shore.
The trees overhead were as massive as the ones at the capital but green, not gold. They reminded me of sequoias from back on Earth. The forest floor was loamy and covered in moss and ferns. Overhead, a couple of ravens sat on a branch and cackled down at us. It was the kind of forest that belonged in a fairytale.
“You did it,” I said in wonder, looking over to the Ferryman. He looked slightly affronted, so I hastily added, “Not that I ever doubted you.”
“We’re not far from the city of Ellsmer, if I’m not mistaken,” Xavyr said. “From there we can inquire after the mage I spoke of, see where he’s living these days.”
“I have a few contacts in the city as well,” Rorie added.
Xavyr hooked Rorie in his intense golden gaze. “We’ve saved Kellan, as we set out to do. There is no need for you to accompany us further. It would be best if the Ferryman escorted you elsewhere.”
Rorie crossed his massive arms over his chest. “We rescued Kellan from the Timekeeper, but he’s not saved. He’s far from it. I will stay with him until he returns to himself.”
“Does he know you’ve been working for the Ravens? And that you tried to kill Evr?” Sabin asked. “Because once he finds out he’s going to hate you.”
I wondered what had transpired between her and Jaffe and Rorie those days they’d been captive of the Ravens and Dragons. She was clearly mad as hell with him, not that I blamed her in the least.
Rorie’s face went very still. “He knows.” His gaze flickered over to me for a moment. “And I know he’ll never forgive me, and that things will never be the same between us again. It’s not about that. He’s my family, and I won’t abandon him, not like this.”
“So, once Kellan wakes up, you’ll leave? Or are you going to go back to trying to kill me?” I asked.
“I did what I believed was right,” Rorie said. “It wasn’t personal—”
“It kind of couldn’t help but feel very personal when those demon dogs were ripping into my leg,” I said, my tone acid and electricity.
“It wasn’t personal,” he repeated. “And it caused me great anguish. I see now that it was all in vain. You got the Artifex anyhow and somehow got the damned thing inside of you. Perhaps a different man would find all the more reason to kill you now.”
Xavyr stiffened and stepped closer to me.
Rorie raised his hands in placation. “But that train of thought didn’t work out the first time, so maybe this whole thing needs to be sorted out another way.”
“Well, I’m with Xavyr,” I said. “Why don’t you go do your soul gazing and figure it all out on another realm. I can appreciate your desire to help Kellan, but I just don’t trust you.”
“You do realize you’re about to have every Hunter in existence on your trail, don’t you?” Rorie asked.
“Of course,” I snarled. “Thanks for the reminder.”
“Having another Hunter could come in handy about now. I know how they think.”
Sabin frowned. “She has me, jerk.”
“Alright, consider this then,” Rorie said, his jaw taking on a stubborn jut. “Would you rather have me close by where you can keep an eye on me, or would you rather have me run off and help the Council hunt you down?”
Next to me, Xavyr shifted his weight slightly. “I suppose you have a point there.”
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but then realized I agreed. Hounds and hellfire—it looked like I was going to be roomies with the guy who’d tried to kill me.
Chapter Eighteen
“Fine,” I snapped. “But once Kellan wakes up, I don’t ever want to see you again. Do you hear me?”
Rorie jerked his chin in a sharp nod.
“Alright, let’s go.” I stepped off the raft into the sandy soil along the river bank. I noticed that the Ferryman hung back. “Are you not coming with us?”
He shook his head. “It is time I return to my duty.”
“Thank you for accompanying us this far,” I said. And then, because I’d wanted to earlier and hadn’t, I stepped forward and hugged him. He let out a harrumph of surprise, but relaxed a moment later and awkwardly patted me on the back with a huge paw.
“May we meet again under golden boughs,” he said.
“Farewell, Ferryman,” I called as we headed into the trees.
Sabin led the way. “How far are we from the city?” she asked, turning back to look at Xavyr.
“Less than a mile, if I’ve got the proper bearings,” he said.
His instincts were correct, and a twenty-minute hike through the woods later, we came upon it rather abruptly. It was the sort of thing that only magic could build. And I realized why we hadn’t seen it as we approached, because it was nearly invisible.
Ellsmer was a city of glass and mirrors and prisms which reflected the forest around it. I could see people…well, a variety of beings, moving about on the streets, which were paved in strange green bricks that mimicked natural moss. Once we passed beneath the city gates, a massive archway wrought in delicate glass depicting a dragon on one side and a unicorn on the other, the city shimmered into view even more. I could see that some of the buildings were made of pale green glass, or blue, and one was even constructed entirely of a rose-gold metal. Not only that, but they were constructed in ways that defied gravity and any known form of engineering. Towers stacked upon towers stacked upon towers, buildings with additions jutting off at crazy angles floating seemingly in the air, and some dwellings that did actually float in the air, unanchored from the ground entirely. Huge shards of translucent crystal floated among the trees as well, amethyst and quartz and citrine. They cast colored light down on the city, and the prisms cut into the surfaces of the buildings cast rainbow hues as well.
We stopped for a moment to gaze up at the splendor of it.
“You know how Ifraine has a reputation for seedy characters and underworld dealings?” Sabin asked, pinning me with her brown eyes.
I nodded.
“Well, Ellsmer is like that, but with magic.”
“Ah,” I said. “Fantastic.”
Xavyr strode past us. “We’ll be fine. Just stick with me. I know an inn we can stay at that is safe.”
The streets were crowded with foot traffic, as well as people on horseback, unicornback, dragonback, and public transportation in the form of a trolley-type thing that looked for all the world like a metallic centipede. Xavyr led the way with confidence, and hardly anyone cast a second glance at Rorie and the unconscious man he carried. That’s how I knew that Sabin’s words were true: this was a place we’d need to watch our step.
A cluster of tiny elf children ran out into the street as we passed. They had golden hair and rosy cheeks and little pointed ears adorned with dozens of earrings. “Would you like to buy a dream, madam?” asked one of them in a voice like a tiny bird.
“I sell the best dreams,” said another.
“Customized to your preferences… no residual effects,” said a third.
“No thank you, I haven’t got any money,” I said.
> And with that, the beautiful little children snarled, flashing for a moment into creatures with green skin and red eyes. One of them lunged for my silver bow. I spun out of reach and pulled a dagger from my boot.
“Get lost, you little shits!”
They scampered off, screeching like monkeys.
Xavyr turned and smiled at me. “I hardly have a job to do, with you always being so self- sufficient.”
After several minutes of travel, Xavyr turned down a side road and headed for one of the trees at the edge of the city. A door sat within the base of its trunk, or an opening, rather. Warm yellow light poured from within. Past the threshold, a staircase of wide glass steps lead down into the earth. It descended a short ways, opening onto a long, wide hall with rooms opening off of it, each with a glowing orb over the top to light the way.
A bronze reception desk sat at the base of the stairs, and a beautiful blue-skinned girl with purple hair and antennae smiled brightly at us. “Welcome to Tyshar. Will you be needing a room?”
Xavyr nodded. “Two, please.”
The girl nodded, keeping her eyes averted from the prone figure slung over Rorie’s shoulder as if nothing was there. She reached into a drawer in her desk and pulled out two ornate golden keys, which she handed to Xavyr. “Enjoy your stay.”
As Xavyr took the keys, they flashed a white light. The girl glanced down at a translucent display that hovered over her desk, and a picture of Xavyr flashed across it.
Xavyr turned and I saw the keys tug him forward down the hall. We followed it quite a ways, down a forked path, and down one more level into the earth before it finally brought us to our rooms.
Outside the door of the first room, Xavyr handed Rorie one of the keys and a look passed between them. Xavyr’s look told a story of what would happen should Rorie go back on his word, and Rorie’s look accepted the gravity of it unflinchingly.
We all filed into one of the rooms. It was simple, as hotel rooms go. There were two bedrooms with two beds in each, and other than the fact that the mattresses floated above the ground and were draped in some sort of gossamer bedding, it was pretty standard. Rorie deposited Kellan on one of the beds. I comforted myself by watching the rise and fall of his chest a couple of times before I looked away. Sabin did the same.
“First things first, we need to get your Rai off,” Xavyr said.
Rorie nodded. “The Hunters will be here soon, if they aren’t already.”
“Well, since the Ferryman was helping us,” Sabin said, “That gives us a bit of a head start. We have maybe two hours before he’d be able to get anyone back here to Xayl.”
“Unless they can jump through realms themselves,” I said.
“You’re spoiled because of your abilities,” Rorie said. “There aren’t that many Hunters that can actually do that. Or that are willing to risk it.”
“We should be able to get some kind of blocking spell here,” Xavyr said. “You can find spells for just about anything.”
“So, get my Rai off, find some sort of spell to block the other Hunters, find the wizard who can help Kellan… does that sound like a plan?” I asked, looking back and forth at the others.
“I’ll stay with Kellan,” Sabin said. “We shouldn’t just leave him here alone.”
“You should stay with her, Rorie,” Xavyr said.
This time Rorie didn’t try arguing. “Fine. I’ll stay as a show of good faith. But once you’re back, I’m helping find a cure for Kellan’s condition.”
“I don’t want to say with him,” Sabin snarled.
Rorie didn’t react to her snark, but simply looked resigned to it. “Would you rather him be out in the city by himself?” I asked.
She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted at me, which had absolutely no effect.
“Didn’t think so.” I nodded to Xavyr. “Alright, let’s go then.”
Within a few minutes we were above ground and walking through the city again. Near the center of the city, where the buildings were closest together and traffic was thickest, there was a large plaza with several holographic displays. They seemed to act as public billboards, displaying the top news stories of Xayl, as well as other realms. As we walked beneath one of them, I saw my face flicker across it, followed swiftly by Xavyr’s face. The word ‘FUGITIVE’ was scrolled across the bottom, as well as ‘REWARD’.
“Shit!” I said, ducking my head and pulling Xavyr into the shadows beneath the purple awning of a gnome cafe.
He yanked me back out into the traffic. “Acting like that is the opposite of what we want to do. Keep moving and act normal.”
It was the closest thing to a reprimand he’d ever given me, and it stung. I knew he was right, though, and I also knew that I didn’t like the thought of Xavyr thinking I was an idiot. After a minute or so to collect myself, I asked in a low tone, “Do you think the other Hunters are here yet?”
He shook his head. “I doubt it. As Sabin said, most of them would use the Ferryman, and he just got back to duty. We have another hour perhaps.”
“But what about regular police? They have those here, right?”
He looked puzzled. “Police?”
“Lawmen?”
He looked even more puzzled. “Women enforce the law just as much as men.”
I sighed. “Right. Glad the other realms have more diversity than Earth. But do they have such law enforcers in Xayl?”
“Yes. Those we need to look out for.”
“Disguises maybe? Do they have spells for that?”
Xavyr shook his head. “Any law enforcer scans for disguise spells. It would be a dead giveaway.”
“Ah. Of course,” I said, only a tad sarcastically. “Well, you already blend in extremely well. It’s me with this flame-colored hair that sticks out.” I frowned.
“I don’t have time to teach you my methods,” he said. “We’ll just get a cloak.”
Naturally, in a place full of wizards, there were a plethora of choices. We stopped at the next clothing store and got one. I picked a simple black one with velvet on the inside and almost a leathery texture on the outside. Xavyr got a new tunic, as he was still shirtless, and then we continued on our way.
We soon reached a large marketplace on the far side of the city which stretched along the bank of the river. It was certainly like no market I’d ever seen, considering that many of the merchant stalls were constructed beneath the umbrella of giant spotted mushrooms. The rest were mostly tattered tents that looked tiny on the outside, but upon passing them and looking within the open entrance, I could see that they were huge on the inside. A regular Mary Poppins bag of magical wares. They sold things like cauldrons and unicorn shampoo and wizard’s armor and oodles of things that went into spells and incantations. And cloaks. Lots more cloaks.
We walked all the way to the end of the main row of merchants. A small black tent sat there, square in the middle of the pathway, which I didn’t even notice until we were nearly upon it. The fabric of the tent seemed to rustle in a slight breeze, though none of the other tents or surrounding trees did the same. When I looked closer, I realized that it was not actually fabric at all, but something that shifted and moved and stirred, as if shadows had been draped over a square frame.
I stopped and stared. “Are we going in there?” I asked Xavyr hesitantly.
“Well, the fact that you can see it means we are,” he answered, which was not helpful at all. The look on my face apparently indicated this to him, so he elaborated. “The shadow merchants only appear to those who are looking for something… ah, on the less legal side of matters. That way, law enforcers can’t find them and shut them down.”
“Hmm. I see.” I stepped forward, pausing one last moment in the entrance to the tent. Tendrils of shadow curled down toward me in a beckoning manner. I shivered and stepped inside.
The tent was empty.
“Um…”
Xavyr said patiently, as one might to a small child, “There is a spell cast inside this room.
In a moment it will—”
The empty room dissolved and I found myself standing in another room, this one not in the least bit empty. It was filled from floor to ceiling with keys and locks and cages (wrought iron, gold, bamboo) and boxes. Antique looking things and sleek modern objects. Things that glowed and things that looked quite heavy. The air was scented with coals and melting metal and something like tea leaves.
“Welcome!” boomed a voice.
I jumped. A tiny man came out from behind a large filigreed trunk. He was no more than three feet tall, covered in lavender scales, and had huge pointy ears from which sprouted tufts of coarse orange hair.
“Are you here to lock something or unlock something?” he asked. His voice was big as a mountain, which I simply could not reconcile with his petite frame.
“How did you know?”
The scaled man looked over to Xavyr as if perhaps I were dim-witted.
“She’s new,” Xavyr said, then turned to me. “As I was starting to explain, the outer tent has a spell to sense what the person desires, and then it transports them to the appropriate merchant, who may be located in an entirely different geographical space. Again, to protect the merchants from raids.”
“Makes sense,” I said. Then, “Ah, I need my Rai removed.” I proffered my wrist to the locksmith so he could see my red-glowing Rai.
“A Hunter, eh?” The little guy say down on a wooden stool and patted an empty one next to him.
I sat down. The locksmith rummaged about in several baskets next to him and finally sat back up with a pair of long scissors in his hands that looked to be made out of glass. When I looked at them dubiously, he said, “Diamond,” with an impish smile on his face.
I blinked. “Oh.”
He gestured for me to raise my wrist, and once I had done so, he slipped a finger under my Rai and leaned forward with the diamond scissors. As he was about to cut them, he stopped.
“You do know that as soon as I remove this, the spell binding it will send an alert to the Hunter’s Council, and you’ll be placed on an interdimensional watch list?”
“Already am,” I said with a sigh.
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