“Yes, your highness” said the oldest of the guards.
“He got past Maxum?” said the Mother, referring to her personal room guard.
The other guard nodded. “Maxum is hurt badly. His head was crushed.”
The Queen sighed. “Shame. All of you, leave me with my daughter, go fetch a doctor for Maxum, and send someone for this body.”
The two men helped their injured comrade up—the one with the broken arm—and all three departed.
When they were gone and the room was adequately private, The Queen said to Myra, “The young fella did well, don’t you think?”
“You mean the escape?”
“Yes.”
“He was unstoppable,” said Myra.
“And that doesn’t make you happy, I take it.”
“Right now I’m mostly frustrated.”
“Because you wanted to chase him down.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who he is?”
Myra shrugged. “I know a little. His name is Kevin Tanaka. He works as a forest ranger, and-”
“No, I mean, do you know who he really is? Do you know who his master is? Do you know why he got involved in your business, and my business?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Well I do. The Father knows—has known for a while—and now I know too.”
“Who is he?”
“Have you ever heard of The Keys of Heaven?”
Myra shrugged. “I’ve heard the term, I guess... A myth about magical artifacts.”
“Not a myth. Real. And that young man is one of the Key Bearers. He works with The Goddess of the keys, and she is an enemy of our Father. One of his oldest enemies.”
“You’re saying he’s using some artifact to change shape?”
“That’s right. He holds a Key—a heavenly weapon—that gives him the ability to mix his flesh with the flesh of other living creatures.”
“But I’ve seen the thing he uses. I actually had it with me, in that suitcase. Trust me. It’s just a machine. Typical Traveler technology.”
The Queen shook her head. “Not just any machine. Some of the keys are old crusty things like you’d probably expect. Some are shiny and new. Doesn’t matter what they look like, they’re all tapping into celestial energies, and anyone who uses them works with The Goddess of the Keys.”
“So if he’s working for our enemy, then why let him go?”
“Oh, don’t worry darlin’. He’s not getting away scot-free. He’s got a passenger.”
“A passenger?”
“Just before you first ran into him, that young fella made the mistake of putting his hand on the pyramid stone—the one that was made for little-miss new-slut. The Father, of course, worked his way under the man’s skin, started hooking himself deep into the flesh. Normally, that would spell the end for just about anybody, unless they had an awful lot of natural power—and this boy has a strong potential, but not nearly enough to survive The Father’s full invasion. But, even though he’s not strong enough in the normal ways, he has a very strange sort of talent; a mind that is able to speak to his own muscles and bones and blood. It means he can resist things that a normal person couldn’t, and so far he’s been able to keep The Father’s essence from running wild inside him. So there’s a balance there, within the man. The Father is maintaining a presence, but the man still lives, and still his hasn’t been changed. This represents a great opportunity. Because everything the man sees, the Father also sees, and while the man sleeps, the Father has free reign to invade his mind in subtle ways. Already the Father has begun to influence this Key Bearer’s thoughts, and he’s using the softest of touches, so that the young man hasn’t got a clue he’s being led around. That influence will grow over time.”
“So you’ll use him as a spy?”
“Yes. The Goddess of the keys has her hands in this situation personally, and this man is under her command. A great reckoning is coming between that Goddess and our Father. She intends to avenge a debt that goes back more than 1000 years. The Father is eager for this fight, he’s been waiting for a long time, because if things go our way his power will expand considerably beyond what it is right now.”
“So you’re telling me,” said Myra, “that this was all meant to happen?”
“Yes. In fact, I provoked the man on purpose. I wanted to see what he could do.”
Myra felt a surge of disappointment. She had just been embarrassed. Defeated. And she was being ordered to just forget about it.
“I can see you’re upset,” said her mother.
Myra sighed. “I’m sure you know exactly what you’re doing, and have good reasons. I just feel useless, that’s all.”
“But you’re not useless. In fact, that’s the main reason I called you here. I have a very big job for you.”
Myra raised her eyebrows. “What?”
“Well, as I’ve been saying, we are caught up in prophetic times. News of my replacement is already on the wind. And I mean that in an actual and literal sense. Anyone with a news mirror can see the bitch-dog’s picture now. Let me show you.”
The Queen walked over to a metal panel in the wall, covered with dials that controlled the sensors on the big oval news mirror that covered the table in the center of the room. She turned a few dials, and a very detailed and accurate picture of Simone appeared in the colorful flames behind the glass. The young woman was standing atop a hill, at the foot of a modest pyramid, holding her hands out beside her as if caught up in religious ecstasy, staring up at the sky above. She was nude in the image and her body had fully transformed. She looked absolutely stunning up there, as if she were ready to bring the world to its knees. This image held for a moment, and then there were a quick series of smaller, less detailed pictures, showing her from different angles, engaged in all sorts of heroic activities, unleashing all varieties of magic on a wide assortment of enemies. And there were people cheering at the sight of her and weeping with joy.
Sprinkled in here and there were images of street signs that said, GILKENMEED.
There was a knock at the door and the Queen left to go deal with the doctor who’d come for Maxum.
Myra continued watching as the images on the mirror looped and replayed, over and over again.
When the Queen came back a few minutes later, Myra asked, “Will Maxum live?”
“No. Doesn’t look like it.”
“Sorry to hear that. I know you were fond of him.”
She shrugged. “Maxum’s just another cow… I might even choose to eat him. He honored me in life with his service; maybe he can honor me in death with his flesh. Anyway,” she gestured towards the news mirror, “what do you think of all that?”
“Looks like a propaganda film, or a TV commercial” said Myra. And of course that’s basically what it was. The news that carried on the wind in The Lands wasn’t so much the truth as it was the rumor mill, created by the collective thoughts of all the people. In this case, there were a lot of very positive rumors out there, obviously, and they had spread with lightning speed. It was doubtful whether any of them were literally true, but they still held significance.
“Yes,” said the Queen. “It seems that the little whore’s getting a warm reception with the folks. People are ready to be done with me, and they’re gathering to her already, to celebrate her coming. Soon The Father expects some of his enemies to find her too, people who work with the Goddess I’ve been telling you about. They’ll be looking to use this new girl against him. And that’s fine. That’s a battle he expects to win, especially here in his own homeland.”
“And how do I fit in?”
“Not just you. Me and you both. It’s all very complicated, and some parts are still bein’ worked on, but the short version is—you and me are gonna do everything in our considerable power to bring down all those fools who would dare come here and oppose our Great Father. We’re gonna make ‘em sorry, and if things play out just right, we’re gonna make ‘em die.”
&n
bsp; 4 - Away
Kevin walked rapidly along the cobblestone streets of the capitol city, keeping his head down, expecting trouble at any moment, and trying his best not to think about the fact that he was now a full-fledged man-killer. Two times over. Probably.
He was wearing the uniform of a guard that he’d knocked out during his mad dash through the palace. The man had been walking through a hallway, and Kevin slugged him on sight. Then he looked down at the guy, realized a disguise might be a good idea, and dragged him off to a corner to steal his stuff.
At that point he’d been expecting to run into some sort of search party inside the palace. But fortunately, the escape had gone much easier than he’d been anticipating. It had taken him about five minutes to find a suitable window, and then he just opened it up and jumped out. Nobody ever gave chase or tried to stop him.
So far, so good.
He was somewhat relieved that, overall, this supposedly strange and exotic place actually seemed pretty ordinary. At some points he actually wondered if he hadn’t really been transported to a different world at all. Maybe this was just some random European city.
One thing was clear, this definitely wasn’t really another planet. Another planet would have much weirder stuff, for sure. Another planet would seem truly exotic. So this was probably some sort of alternate reality. Another dimension basically. Pretty cool for sure, but not nearly as unusual as he’d been expecting.
The streets were packed with pedestrians and bicyclers. There were fewer cars, and the ones he saw were the only thing around that seemed to really prove he was in a different world. They seemed to be using some kind of advanced steam engine technology. There were big tanks sticking out of them, and they made weird sounds. There weren’t any cars like this on earth, at least not in significant numbers.
The people, of all classes, seemed to be very racially diverse, and the styles of dress looked fairly modern for the most part. Most everyone, both male and female, wore a hat—he saw quite a few fedoras, and bowler hats, and lots of different types of womens’ hats that he didn’t know the names for, most with flowers attached to the brims and other elaborate decorations.
But other than the strange obsession with hats, these people would’ve looked pretty normal in any city he’d ever seen.
Overall, if he were judging on surface appearances, this place was fairly run-of-the-mill. There were more familiar-seeming things than unfamiliar things, by a long shot.
But there was more to it than that. Because something about the vibe here totally spooked him. There was a feeling in the air that got way down under his skin.
And also, he kept seeing things out of the corners of his eyes, weird things. Like little particles jumping around. And there was this one building, an old beat up place with boarded up windows, that changed colors, right in front of him, while he was looking at it. One moment, the bricks were red; the next, light brown.
Could it have been a trick of the light? Maybe, but there were too many tricky things like that here. It seemed to him that this place was just chock-full of weird glitches. It felt wrong. Everything was shifty.
So far he’d been able to avoid conversing with anyone, and that was a good thing since most people didn’t speak English at all. He’d heard some German, and something that sounded like Latin. The only English speakers he’d noticed were using a weird broken version of the language where he only understood about 4 out of every 10 words, and the accent was ridiculously hard to decipher.
He didn’t really know where to go, or what to do, but it seemed sensible to try and get away from this city asap. If somebody ever came looking for him, this was where they’d start looking.
He thought about stealing a car, but then dismissed the idea. If he got caught he’d attract attention, and right now the last thing he needed was attention. Plus he didn’t know the traffic laws here or anything.
Another option was to look for a bus station or some other form of mass transportation. The guard he’d ripped off had been carrying a wallet with money in it—several paper bills, and a few coins, probably enough for bus or subway fare—but if he tried to get on a bus or a train, would they ask him questions? He was worried his inability to communicate adequately in any of the common tongues might attract attention. The guard uniform really worked against him here, because presumably a guard would be someone local, and well versed in all the normal local cultural junk.
Still, he could probably fudge his way through it if he had to. Pretend to be mute and deaf or something. If the people here were like earth people—and at first glance they seemed to be very similar—then they’d probably be happy to take your money without worrying about asking too many questions.
Really, mass transportation was probably his safest bet, if he could find a train or bus, he should give it a shot.
It definitely beat the idea of stealing a car, and he needed to put some distance between himself and the palace.
But what if he couldn’t find a fast way out of town? What if they didn’t have mass transit, or what if they did, but it only ran like once a day.
No point thinking about that. You can only control what you can control. Might as well stay positive.
- - -
Turned out his worries were totally unfounded. He failed to find any trains or buses, but after walking for about an hour, he reached the summit of a hill, and a view of the city spread out in front of him. His eyes were drawn to a huge crowd of people gathered around a raised wooden platform near the banks of a large lake.
And on top of the platform, there was something a whole lot better than a train or a bus.
Actually, there were six of them, and they looked like zeppelins—big football shaped blimps full of some lighter than air gas, with massive passenger cabins underneath.
All six had people lined up to get on them. One in particular was getting the majority of the traffic.
He looked up at the sky and saw five more hovering nearby.
Waiting to land maybe?
Without even making a conscious decision to do so, he started walking that way. He wanted to get closer, to get a better look at the amazing ships.
The zeppelin with the longest line took off while he was approaching. It moved with surprising speed—much faster than he would’ve dreamed was possible with one of these things—and disappeared from sight within a couple of minutes.
Then another ship immediately landed in its place, and started taking on passengers.
It took him about 15 minutes to walk there. Up close, he could see that the ships were even bigger than he’d been thinking. They were truly monstrous things with cabins that were half the size of ocean cruise liners.
How could they possibly float?
He went up onto the platform itself, and started walking the length of it, looking at the ships, and studying the people waiting to board them, many of whom had large quantities of luggage with them.
I should definitely do this, he thought. Fly right out of this place...
Did he have enough money?
He found a good angle where he could watch people at the front of one of the lines, paying for a ticket. With his enhanced vision he could see the bills being handed over. Most people were using a red bill with a big snake on it, and a white bill with a spiral pattern at the center.
He took the wallet out of his back pocket and checked. He had two of the red bills, four of the white ones, and a few other bills too.
More than enough, looks like.
“That settles it,” he muttered. “Going on an airship ride. Gonna be freakin’ awesome.”
His first impulse was to board the ship with the shortest line, but then as he was heading that way, he passed a man holding a strange sign about three feet wide, and there were people gathered around, looking at the sign.
Only it wasn’t really a sign. It was a mirror… Or maybe some kind of a screen. And there were flames inside of it, all different colors, just like what he’d seen inside the t
able in the old woman’s sitting room. And these flames were also full of images, but they were different sorts of images. All focused on one particular thing.
One particular person...
It’s her, thought Kevin. It’s the woman I was supposed to save in Virginia.
Her first name had been Simone. He couldn’t remember the last name anymore.
In the pictures, she was looking very different. She had changed, a heck of a lot.
Looks an awful lot like Myra’s mother, he thought.
Her skin was definitely not human skin anymore, and her eyes were definitely not human eyes. In one of the images she stood nude atop a hill with a pyramid in the background, and people all around were worshiping her.
Clearly, this Simone chick had been through a lot, if these images meant anything.
But, for Kevin, all that was pretty much beside the point.
All he could think was: Holy crap, it’s really her!
With everything else that’d happened, he’d totally forgotten about her; forgotten the whole reason he got caught up in this mess.
I was supposed to save you, and I was too late.
And now she had a very different life, apparently. In just a few short days, everything had changed for her.
And for me too, he thought.
The images in the mirror were repeating, again and again, with Simone kicking ass against giant monsters, and killing dodgy looking dudes, and giving food to the poor, and generally being an awesome heroic lady. Like a scary female Jesus that also liked to kick butt.
The people watching were oohing and aahing. Every once in a while someone would peel off from the group, and every single one headed for the airship line with the largest number of people, which made Kevin wonder…
He went over to the man holding the mirror, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, then pointed at the mirror, and gestured towards the ship with the huge line.
The man didn’t seem to get it, so Kevin said, “The woman in the pictures—does that ship with all the people go to her?”
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