by M. Gregg Roe
“Valadek’s sword?”
Audrey couldn’t remember the name. “I don’t know.”
“That was always our suspicion, even though that sword hadn’t been seen since it was used to slay Rymac, who was Andoran’s rival. Audrey, how do you know this?”
“I know people who were there with him in Vox. They saw it happen.”
“This is extraordinary. The last woman who showed up here with an emblem was actually feebleminded. Getting her safely back home was difficult.”
It was comforting to hear that visitors were able to return home.
Renata raised one leg and waved it. “May I see the emblem that brought you here?”
Audrey reached inside the top of her shirt and pulled out the brooch. After detaching it from its cloth necklace, she carefully placed it near the edge of the table in front of her. Renata moved toward the brooch, not walking like an insect, but rotating clockwise as she advanced.
Renata lowered a leg pad until it touched the brooch. “Karin and Marilee. Everything seems to be in order. They will soon be up and around in their new bodies.”
“Do they get a choice?” How would her mother react to such a thing?
“No, but they can opt to end their new life. Then they will simply go wherever they’re supposed to. We don’t know any more about the afterlife than anyone else.”
Audrey sat back and thought about it, chewing on her lower lip. Renata pulled her leg back from the brooch, spun backwards slightly, then settled down onto the table with her legs splayed into a spiral.
“What about my mother’s sister?” asked Audrey. “She died at about the same time my mother did.”
The tone was apologetic. “An emblem can only house a maximum of two spirits. She must have died after. I’m sorry.”
That was disappointing, but she had another question. “I had a sister who died young. What about her?”
“Only those who have reached childbearing age are eligible.”
Her hopes dashed, Audrey stuffed the now-useless necklace back inside her shirt. She glanced around the room. “This isn’t where Andoran lived, is it?”
“No, only where he stayed when welcoming visitors such as yourself. I am sorry to say that he had a habit of seducing his own offspring.”
“Then I’m glad he’s dead,” Audrey joked. “You’re his servants?”
“We were his assistants. Each of us is one of Andoran’s descendants. And we are all female. As far as we know, he never fathered a son.”
Audrey suddenly thought about her own family. Karin had two younger sisters that had died young, but no brothers. Marilee and Berna had no brothers, and they had each only produced female children. It had seemed a coincidence before, but not now.
“Will my children all be female?” The question came out with an unintended note of worry.
“Not necessarily. The tendency fades with each generation. You are more likely to bear daughters, but sons are a possibility.”
Audrey still wasn’t sure whether she wanted children, but that was good to know.
Renata gestured at her with a leg. “Do you have any other questions?”
“Yes. How am I hearing you?”
“I am speaking directly to your mind.”
That explained the directionless nature of the sound. “Will I be able to come here and visit my mother and grandmother?”
“Under normal circumstances, you would have no memory of having been here. But we have been waiting for someone like you. If you accept our offer, then you will be able to visit them.”
That sounded like extortion. Audrey crossed her arms in front of her. “Tell me about this offer.”
There was a long pause before the reply came, and then only after Renata had again risen up on her seven legs. “We can observe and monitor the Realm, but we cannot leave this place. We are in need of someone to gather information and maybe even act on our behalf.”
Audrey chewed on her lower lip as she thought about what to ask next. Finally, she pointed at the brooch. “Will I get that back? Can I end up in there?”
“Yes to both questions. And before you ask, that does not preclude a cleric raising you from the dead.”
That meant that she could someday join her mother and grandmother. The thought of it was comforting.
Renata reached out a leg and picked up the brooch, the metal somehow adhering to the disk at the end of the leg. “I need to take this so that we may begin the process. You are probably tired. Everything you are likely to need is behind those doors. Well, except for food.”
“That’s okay. I have some with me.”
With surprising dexterity, Renata spun off the table to Audrey’s right, landing with only a slight flexing of her legs. She made directly for the brass mirror and simply passed into the apparently solid surface as Audrey watched in surprise. It was obviously a magic door of some kind.
Behind the left-hand door, Audrey found a kitchen with a pantry and a small dining area. The other door opened into a bedroom with a large and ornate bed. Adjacent to it was a bathroom with a large brass tub. There were even old towels and what looked like soap. Except for being covered by dust, it all looked surprisingly normal.
After washing her face, Audrey found an additional set of bed linens in the wardrobe which was otherwise empty. She replaced the ones on the bed and then laid down, finding the mattress harder than she had expected. And even the new linens had a musty odor. Despite that, sleep soon claimed her.
The kitchen was fully outfitted, including a variety of cookware, cutlery, and crockery. There was a faucet that provided cold water, but not one for hot. The pantry was indeed bare, but its interior was surprisingly cold. Magic was presumably responsible, and she made a mental note to ask Daragrim about it when she got back. The mansion had an underground cold room beneath its pantry, but her cottage didn’t.
The adjacent dining room was elegant but cozy, with seating for only two. The walls and floor were paneled with that same dark wood, but there was otherwise no decoration. The simple table and chairs looked like cherry but somewhat darkened with age. Sitting alone under the softly glowing, textured ceiling, she ate two of the hard biscuits from her travel supplies, washing them down with cold water. They were filling, but not exactly tasty.
Renata was back on the table when Audrey returned to the sitting room. “Have you rested?” came the ringing voice.
“Yes. Do you sleep?” That was just the first of many questions she had thought of.
“We do. Just like you, we sleep for roughly one-third of each day, although not necessarily all at once. We sleep when we feel the need.”
Audrey glanced up at the ceiling. “Is it dimmer in here?”
“The lighting in here mimics the normal cycle of night and day. It’s early morning outside.”
“I need to know more about your offer.” Audrey pointed at the brass mirror. “And I want to see what’s through there.”
Renata spun as she hopped down off the table. “I’ll show you everything. Expect to be asked many questions.”
After watching the crystalloid disappear through the mysterious portal, Audrey hesitated a moment before slowly following with her right arm held out in front of her. Other than a slight sensation of cold, she felt nothing, as if the mirror had simply been an illusion. Looking backward after she passed through, it looked exactly the same, seemingly a solid piece of brass, even down to showing her reflection.
Renata wheeled dexterously down the human-sized corridor beyond with Audrey following. All of the surfaces were light gray stone with fine striations. The ceiling provided soft illumination. After perhaps ten yards they entered a seven-sided room with six more corridors leading off from it. It was a nexus, and only one of many she would soon see.
Audrey didn’t understand much of what she saw over the next several hours. And she certainly couldn’t remember all the names. Other than color, all the crystalloids looked identical. They told her that, counting the two they h
ad just gained, they currently totaled ninety-seven.
There were laboratories devoted to various types of research, each filled with incomprehensible mechanisms. A maze-like library housed more books and scrolls than Audrey even knew existed. Crystals of every conceivable size, shape, and color filled a vast warehouse. There was even a recreation room where crystalloids played board games and tossed metal rings in the air as they moved in complicated patterns.
As alien as it all seemed, the crystalloids were reassuringly human in their behavior. Audrey overheard them gossiping, joking, complaining, prattling on about their children and grandchildren. In each room the creatures would gather around her, introduce themselves, speak confusingly about their work, and then pelt her with questions. She met more than one who was also from Farmerton. In fact, most of them were from villages and towns near Fog Lake. Renata was from Maratana, the same village as Alessandra and Isadora.
The most amazing thing was what Renata referred to as an observation room. Five yards across, it was circular with a high, domed ceiling. Most of the floor was recessed by ten inches, leaving a strip less than a yard wide around the perimeter. When she first entered, Audrey clasped her hands to her chest and smiled, because the floor depicted what was clearly an aerial view of the Witch’s City. There was no mistaking the perfect circle of its wall, the river to the south, the two causeways leading out into the Witchmarsh. But it wasn’t just an incredibly detailed painting. Audrey gasped as the view changed, slowly zooming in until only the Witch’s Castle and surrounding plaza was visible. Then she gasped again because she could see people moving!
“You are seeing a live image,” explained Renata before Audrey could ask. “We can look down from above anywhere within the Realm, including the Gray Forest. Is there anything that you would like to see?”
“Yes,” said Audrey, still mesmerized by the image. “Where I live.”
Following Audrey’s instructions, Renata shifted the image until they were looking down on her cottage and the surrounding area. It wasn’t at all apparent just how Renata was moving the viewpoint or changing the magnification.
“This is where you live?” asked the crystalloid with envy in her voice.
“Yes, it is.” A familiar figure sauntered into view. “That’s Benson, my cat.”
“Next I will show you our individual living quarters. You may—”
“Renata! Look!” Another familiar figure had appeared, and she was peering upward suspiciously, using a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
Renata moved to get a closer look. “That shouldn’t be possible. We’re employing magic, but it’s well above the ground.”
“It’s the mansion,” said Audrey. She explained what she knew about its magical systems, which wasn’t much. “That woman’s father is the one that created it. He’s a powerful spell-caster.”
“Remarkable.” The view began to shift west, and after a brief hesitation, Almera headed that way, continuing to glance upward from time to time. The view began to pull back, and Almera suddenly stopped and looked around in confusion. “I want you to speak to the man that created that. We will give you a list of questions to ask.”
“Okay.” Daragrim would certainly be surprised.
“As I was saying, our last stop will be our living quarters. We each have a small room of our own, and they were not designed for human visitors. You will have to crawl part of the way.”
Each crystalloid had a seven-sided room three yards across and just over a yard in height. They were accessed from long corridors that radiated from another nexus, this one with a decidedly lower ceiling. Audrey was able to walk in the corridors by ducking her head down, but the short passage to each room was barely large enough for her.
“I will wait for you here,” said Renata, using a leg to indicate the side-passage ahead. “That is your mother’s room.”
Audrey crawled the five yards to the room, finding that the floor felt rubbery even though it looked like stone. Inside, lit by the ceiling’s gentle glow, was a lavender-tinted crystalloid with its legs splayed straight out from the body. The last joint of one leg was slowly raising up and down.
“Audrey!” The leg dropped back to the floor. “Come in. Watch your head.”
Even expecting it, the reality was a shock. The voice was unquestionably her mother’s, although with ringing overtones. Audrey seated herself cross-legged just inside the entrance. But then she couldn’t think of what to say.
“How do I look?” asked Marilee, amusement showing in her voice.
“Like a big glass spider.” Audrey exhaled and relaxed. “It’s just so good to talk to you, Mother.”
“And it’s nice to be alive again. It’s not the afterlife I expected, but it’ll do.”
“How does it feel?”
“Strange, but it’s not painful or anything. I just have to learn how to walk and use my legs to pick up things. They say it usually takes about a month, not that I have anything better to do.”
Audrey appreciated her mother’s attempt at humor. “I missed you, Mother.”
“I missed you too, Audrey. And I miss your father. It’s sad that it took a disaster to bring us back together.”
“I miss him too,” she said truthfully. “It must have been awful.”
“We got sick and then real weak. Then I guess we both passed out. I don’t remember dying.”
That confirmed what Siljan had told Audrey when she delivered the bad news. “I’m going to be working for the crystalloids. I’ll be able to visit.”
“They said that they had just offered, but I knew that you’d accept. You always were one to help people when you could.”
Audrey reached out and gently patted the crystal globe, finding it surprisingly warm. “That’s how you raised me. I’m going to go say hello to your mother and then go talk to Renata. I’ll visit again at least once before I leave.”
“I’ll see you later, Audrey. I need to get back to my exercises.”
Karin was a pale orange, and she wasn’t dealing well with her new situation. “Who has seven legs?” she complained. “I don’t understand any of this. I didn’t really even believe in magic while I was alive.”
“I’m sure you’ll get used to it,” said Audrey. “I’d stay and talk longer, but I really need to use the privy.” It was really a toilet, but she used the term that Karin would understand.
Karin’s laughter was like bells. “And I’ll never need to use a privy again. I don’t mind that part. Take care, Granddaughter. Come back and see me.”
“I will, Grandmother.”
After a late lunch—more biscuits—Audrey sat down with Renata and asked all kinds of questions. Not everything was to her liking, but overall it sounded good to her. The crystalloids had learned from Andoran’s mistakes. The Eyes had treated the crystalloids like servants, but Audrey’s situation was different. It would be cooperative, and hopefully mutually beneficial.
“Okay,” Audrey said, smiling at the odd creature. “I’ll do it. What comes next?”
“Training. We can’t make you into an Eye, but we have found something that will aid you in your work for us. With it, you will easily be able to travel throughout the Realm, including this place.” Renata spun gracefully off the table. “Have you heard of teleportation?”
Audrey hesitated. She had been told not to tell anyone about Fern. “I was teleported by someone when I traveled to Kaldir. It’s outside of Andoran’s Realm, so teleportation works there.”
“If I were human,” said Renata, lowering herself to the floor, “I would be pounding my head against the wall right now. It is unbelievable that you have been outside of Andoran’s Realm. The two of us are going to have a long talk this evening.”
Audrey couldn’t help but smile. The crystalloids had secrets, but so did she.
35
‡ Coercion ‡
Siljan was rapidly running out of energy. Wading the remaining fifty or so yards to shore after the boat finally sank had loo
ked easy, but she hadn’t reckoned with the muddy bottom. It felt like her weight in mud was clinging to her boots. That, of course, had barely slowed Gabriel. And Hankin and Saxloc had simply cast Levitation and flown the rest of the way. That was just rude.
The muddy conditions continued for yards after she reached what she thought was the shore. She pushed through the tall reeds, trying to follow the path that Gabriel had made. When she finally reached the grassy area where Gabriel was standing, she shrugged off her backpack and unceremoniously dropped it. Her sword belt soon followed.
“Saxloc and Hankin have gone to scout in each direction,” said Gabriel. He had shed his shield and backpack but was still holding his helmet.
“Good,” said Siljan. “I was too busy bailing water to navigate.”
“I believe that we are several miles south of Fisherton,” stated Gabriel. “We will need to discuss what to do next.”
“Well, Saxloc is going to insist on going back to …” Siljan’s eyes widened as she found herself unable to complete the sentence. Crap! she thought. Our memories weren’t erased, but we can’t talk about it.
“Saxloc will wish to look for Audrey,” said Gabriel, speaking even more slowly than usual. He obviously had the same problem.
Siljan thought carefully before answering. “There’s no point in that. Audrey … will find her way back.”
“I agree.” He pointed to the back of his helmet, which had a deep, triangular dent. Then he reached toward his belt pouch but didn’t open it.
Realizing what he was asking, Siljan quickly examined the contents of her own pouch, finding that the cubical rocks she had stowed there were missing. It was a larger but similar rock that had dented Gabriel’s helmet. She looked at Gabriel and simply shook her head.
They wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about what had happened on the island, but maybe that was for the best. Being forced to flee by animated pine trees hurling rock cubes hadn’t exactly been their finest moment as adventurers. She still had bruises from the pelting, and the big stone that had put a hole in the bottom of the boat had barely missed her. In conjunction with a blanket, Gabriel’s shield had worked fairly well as a make-shift patch, allowing them to make it most of the way to shore. But then they had struck a large rock just below the surface, creating another huge leak.