by John Goode
The sound of the strike was overwhelmed by the whooshing of air dragging itself into a vacuum. Seconds later the energies that made up the amber’s life force were abruptly and totally released in a blinding flash of light. The other gems were blown out of the air, ricocheting against the stone walls as their fallen brother’s death throes faded.
“What was that?” Adamas asked querulously as he regained his bearings. “Who pushed me down?”
Before anyone could answer, another attack came from the shadows. This time the diamond king was ready for it and dodged out of the way.
“What kind of a coward strikes from a hiding place?” Adamas called out, illuminating the area around him.
The figure was humanoid and stood almost six feet tall. That was the start and end of any resemblance to a human the creature possessed. It seemed to be made of dull gray metal with rivets along every seam to hold it together. There were stains at every joint, as if some kind of fluid had been leaking out where the limbs met the torso. The stains were worse on the thing’s head where there was a funnel for the top of its skull. More stains dripped down the thing’s face, making it look as though it was sweating oil.
Except Adamas knew that wasn’t oil. That was blood—blood that belonged to whomever had been encased in the metal. As it lumbered out of the dark, he could see fresh blood gush from its seams. More blood came dripping down its face, now making it look like it was crying blood.
“Make it stop,” it moaned as it brought the ax it was carrying to bear. “Please kill me.”
Adamas wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew he was going to destroy it.
“IT LOOKS like Inmediares left some surprises behind,” Demain said, watching the tin man charge the squad of gems.
“I don’t think that thing is in control of itself,” Olim pointed out.
“The ax,” Demain said, agreeing. “It’s enchanted.”
Olim had raised a hand to break the enchantment when a bloodcurdling roar came from behind them. The two women were petrified as they slowly turned around to see what had come up on them. A full-grown lion crouched behind them, its eyes locked on their forms.
Normally such a sight wouldn’t have worried either woman. They were both Beings possessing immense magical power. On Demain’s hip lay the fabled sword of Jabberwocky, capable of destroying whole cities, much less a lone lion. Olim commanded the winter itself and could have called down the very force of the cold to protect her if need be.
Yet the cat’s roar left them completely terrified.
The lion remained crouched, its ears flat as it tensed its hindquarters, ready to attack.
ALL I knew was that one second there was a freaky-looking scarecrow coming at me and the next there was nothing. Now I know I say that, and you think the Scarecrow was gone and that was that, but that is not the case. When I say there was nothing, I mean there was No Thing there.
Yeah, that kind of Nothing.
There was this… void hovering where the Scarecrow used to be. I could look into it and see a Nothing so black it hurt to stare at it directly. I squinted, transfixed by whatever it was. I squinted harder, trying to see deeper into it. Something was in there. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there. Lurking. Watching.
Curious.
I had seen this thing before, I think. Back when Ruber had tried to follow Hawk’s portal from home, we had been stuck there, in the Nothing. I had blanked the memory out, but looking at it now, I remembered everything. Something… a something that lived there….
A something that remembered me as well.
My hand reached out toward the gash in the world, an involuntary compulsion moving me toward the hole. A noise, a music came from it that drew me in.
“Kane! We are dying!”
Hawk’s thoughts snapped me back in an instant. I realized I had not been paying all that much attention to what was going on around us.
The gash wasn’t as pretty as it had been a few seconds earlier. Hawk’s words had broken the pull of the thing on me. Now all I saw was a nasty little tear in reality that was sucking everything into it like a black hole. Ater had dug his daggers into the ground and was using them to anchor himself in place, but the pull of the Nothing was winning. Hawk had done the same with Truheart, which surprised me because I was pretty sure I had just been using the Soul Blade.
The thing didn’t affect me. I wasn’t being sucked forward. The air just moved around me like it didn’t want to bother me with tiny things like vacuums and gravity.
My first impulse was to ask where this thing came from, but the second I wondered it, Hawk had an answer. I had brought the Nothing and whatever lived in it. My power had brought it here to kill the Scarecrow, and now it didn’t want to leave. Slowly, with as much effort as I could muster, I looked away from it, and something howled in anger on the other side.
“Shut it down!” Hawk yelled.
Nodding, I shut my eyes and concentrated on the portal.
Nothing happened.
Clenching my eyes, I tried even harder, really focused on closing the gap.
More nothing.
Peeking out with one eye, I could see that it hadn’t changed.
My power may have opened the strange portal, but something else was keeping me from closing it. Panic crept into my thoughts, which brought from me a frantic “I can’t!”
“Relax,” Hawk’s voice said in my head. “Fear is the first step to defeat. You can do this.”
I so could not do this.
“Does it look like I can do this?” I mentally screamed as the portal widened. The suction, increased: Ater and Hawk were now only holding on by the hilts of their weapons.
“You can do anything you want to,” Hawk continued in that irritatingly calm voice he used when explaining something to me in our mindlink. “You possess the World Seed. There are no limits.”
“That looks like a pretty big limit,” I said, pointing to the Nothing.
“You are the strongest person I have ever met. You can do this, Kane. You can save us. I believe in you.”
They weren’t just words; I could feel the unwavering faith Hawk had, his certainty that I could do anything. It was as complimentary as it was sobering. I was the only one who could stop the gash from growing; I was the only one who could save both of them. I just needed to believe that. This time I didn’t clench my eyes shut or force myself to focus my mind. Instead I just took a deep breath and relaxed.
I saw everything.
The Nothing, a nasty undulating black scar in front of me, talons as tall as I am hooked on the edges of the portal, forcing it open, ever widening. I could see some maniac with a magic ax plowing through Adamas and his men. I could see Olim and Demain cowering away from what appeared to be a rather normal-looking lion. I could see the vacant halls and rooms of the castle, and I could see Oberon had deserted Faerth. Inmediares had left us distractions, giving the fairy king more time to run.
None of that sounded good to me.
I turned the portal in on itself slightly. What I was doing is hard to explain verbally although pictures would have helped. I am talking about a hole that exists in six different dimensions, and three of them you can’t see with the naked eye. Trust me when I say I took one edge of the portal and turned it slightly toward another axis. This made the normally benign event horizon, which was the very edge of the tear, intersect between two different physical dimensions.
In other words the new edge was now a line of force that was about fourteen atoms wide and sharp as a razor’s edge.
The talons were sliced in half instantly, and the angry roar from the other side turned to a screech filled with pain. I had a feeling that thing had never felt pain before and did not like the experience even a little. With no one keeping the darkness open, I was able to shut the portal in nanoseconds. Hawk and Ater fell flat to the ground. Hawk opened his mouth, and I knew what he was going to say. He was going to tell me to turn the power off now. Turn it off and go back
to being useless Kane.
But I’d seen too much, and I was needed in too many places. Turning off the power wasn’t going to happen right now. I shot a thought to Hawk, hoping he understood. “I’ll be right back. I can’t leave people in danger.”
I knew Hawk was troubled, but his faith in me remained unshaken. He nodded and thought, “Go. Come back.”
I smiled and went.
One second I was in the tunnels, and the next I stood on the surface behind the lion. From my viewpoint, I could see the enchantment it was using. Raw, elemental terror poured from the thing, making the sensible, human part of my brain want to curl up into a ball and shut down.
The human part of my brain wasn’t in charge right now.
Turning the lion into a kitten wasn’t hard. I simply moved it back to a point in its time line when it was small and the enchantment hadn’t been cast on it yet. The sisters looked at me with shock on their faces as the fear enchantment faded.
I didn’t wait around to explain.
When I arrived in the castle, it looked like a full-blown war had gone down. Scorch marks Jackson Pollocked the walls where shattered ambers had expelled their life forces like bombs. The metal thing’s ax was enchanted to cut anything and was controlling his actions. I knew I could look through the metal and see this guy’s entire past and what he had done to piss off Inmediares enough to make her do this, but I decided against it.
With a wave of my hands, the ax was changed into air, dissipating the enchantment instantly.
Metal Man collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from his joints like he had sprung several leaks. Without the ax to keep him alive, he was going to die pretty fast if I didn’t do something.
I’m not going to lie. I didn’t want to do anything. That may sound cold and unfeeling, and that’s because it is. The numbness I had felt before when I’d been using my power had returned tenfold, and my desire to care about the little things was dwindling fast. My previous decision to turn my powers off now seemed like the choice of an infant who had done something so incredibly stupid that his parents just had to shake their heads and hope baby had learned from it.
Well, trust me, I learned from it.
The guy looked up at me and gurgled something. I could see the eyes behind the metal mask, and they were wide with panic. I mean, the guy was realizing he was about to die. I suppose that would cause a little distress. I could feel Hawk through the mind link screaming at me to do something, but it sounded like a buzzing….
And suddenly I was standing across from me.
It wasn’t me. I mean not the real me. This was a younger me, a me before I jumped through that portal, a me….
This was a memory. Hawk was throwing a memory at me.
“He’s a living being!” I screamed at myself.
I knew this memory; this was when I stopped Hawk from killing Spike. I had thrown myself between him and the changeling and told Hawk he didn’t have to kill him. The memory came at me from both sides, through my own mind and through Hawk’s at the same time, effectively double-teaming me. Suddenly my apathy wasn’t as strong, my choices about what caring was and what it wasn’t didn’t seem so sure. I used to care about life, about people… about what happened.
I reached out and touched the memory. It glared at me the same way I’d glared at Hawk that night. I should hate myself. I should loathe this thing the power had made me, but instead I had allowed myself to go with it…. Why?
“Because you mistake being afraid for weakness,” Hawk answered across our bond. “You think just because you are afraid of these new worlds, your fear makes you weak. I disagree. Knowing you are afraid and that the fear is real, yet still continuing to do what you have done makes you incredibly strong. The person you are when you’re using your power? You would have advocated attacking Oberon’s forces head-on. You would have tried to meet power with power, and the results would have been disastrous. The fact you were willing to ask for help changed the tide of battle; and that is the man I am bonded with. You don’t need the power inside the seed, Kane. You can put it away and never take it out again… I know you can.”
I knew I could too; the question was whether I wanted to or not.
Younger me kept judging me with his eyes, and a part of me shied away from his accusation—no, from my accusation. I couldn’t handle seeing such naked rage on my own face understanding at last that my own actions disgusted me. My decision was made before I registered it. I found a chance to breathe, a chance to act.
A chance to care.
Reaching out with my power, I grabbed the kitten and the metal man and sent them back to their own worlds, reversing what Glinda had done to them in the process. I also rewound time a little and brought back the ambers that had been destroyed in the battle of the Castle Keep before sending myself back to the tunnels. I appeared and Hawk looked at me, worried since he still couldn’t read my mind.
Shutting my eyes, I put the power back into the seed and closed the door one more time. As before, I felt my entire mind and body collapse in exhaustion, and I was asleep before I hit the tunnel floor.
TITANIA’S FIRST encounter with Oberon was a case of Adequacy at First Sight.
As the heir to the Throne of Arcadia, Titania was accustomed to being courted by noblemen, and this one was no different than the others. She was young, beautiful, and the next in line to be the ruler of Faerth. There was little she could not have if she desired it. He loathed her from the start, another pampered royal who never worked a day in her life. Though she hid it behind impeccable manners, he knew she was not impressed by him, a fact that made him hate her even more. She was the key, though, the key to real power and no matter what, he would have her.
He tried to impress her with stories of his countless battles on the front and his unwavering bravery, but she would have none of it. She cared not for martial prowess, soon grew bored with his attempts and dismissed him for the night. Undaunted, Oberon continued to court the princess to no avail. It was starting to look as if his plan would fail.
That was when they met the Being.
MY EYES flew open in shock as I struggled to keep the dream images fresh in my mind.
For the first time, I had seen what my mom looked like.
“To divide ones forces is to ask to be overwhelmed.”
Peter the Magnificent
Chapter Five
“SO WE answer three questions and you open the door?” Ferra asked Aino.
“That is the protocol,” the machine answered neutrally.
“And you will uphold the protocol?” Molly added.
“I will.”
Molly and Ferra looked at each other and silently agreed they had to risk it.
“Then ask,” Ferra ordered, forcing all concern out of her voice.
Aino composed herself and asked, “Who was the captain?”
Ferra’s heart began to race as she realized this was not one of the answers they had.
“Walton,” Molly replied without hesitation.
Ferra looked at the clockwork girl in shock.
“Correct,” the avatar said, cocking its faceless head slightly.
“What’s the second?” Molly nearly demanded.
“Who helped Father recover?”
Again Ferra had no idea what the creature was asking.
“Henry,” Molly fired back again.
“Correct.”
“How do you know this?” Ferra asked in a whisper.
Molly looked over at her, and the barbarian could see the yellow lenses. Her voice was a stranger’s again. “Silence.”
Ferra gripped her spear, knowing now this had been a huge mistake.
“Are you ready for the last question?” Aino asked.
“Yes,” Molly answered, her head swiveling back toward the avatar.
“Don’t ask her anything,” Ferra yelled, trying to stop this while it could be stopped.
“Where did Father work on the she?”
Ferra look
ed at Molly, knowing she was going to have the answer.
“Orkney Islands.”
Aino nodded and moved to the side. “You have answered three questions. The door to the command pod can be opened.”
The entire fabrication floor began to slide apart, revealing a tunnel that descended into total darkness. A small carriage rose from the tunnel and locked itself into place on two bars that had risen from below. A door opened, revealing two plush seats waiting for them.
“Molly, are you okay?” Ferra asked, not believing gaining access could be so easy.
“Yes,” Molly said, walking toward the car. She turned her head toward Aino. “She is not allowed access. Reclassify her as a hostile and deal with her accordingly.”
Ferra caught the last of that as Aino’s eyes glowed red. “Hostile detected on the fabrication floor.”
“Let her go!” Ferra called to the companion as she got into the car and closed the door.
“You were right,” Molly with the yellow eyes said in the strange male voice. “I’m not the one to deal with you.”
Aino’s arm twisted into an impossibly sharp blade and lashed out at Ferra.
She barely dodged the blow and watched hopelessly as the car dropped into the tunnel.
“You will be repurposed,” Aino promised.
Ferra turned and formed an ice spear. “May Logos have mercy on your soul.”
The avatar paused. “I have no soul to have mercy on.”
A sheen of ice quickly formed around Ferra, forming an intricately adorned set of armor. “Good. Then there’s no reason to hold back.”
And the battle began.
IT TOOK me a few seconds to realize there was yelling.
“…tly lost your mind? What possessed you?”
Was that Ruber?
Adamas said, “I am Lord of the Crystal Court and will not—”
“You are injured!” I had never heard Ruber so pissed off before, nor so loud. For a magical ruby he had a set of lungs on him.