Tyen replied. “With gratitude and pleasure.”
CHAPTER 5
“Sorry,” Tyen said as Rielle began to breathe deeply. “That was a long stretch without air. I should have stopped sooner.”
She shrugged. “I remember how hard it was… to judge how long I was… between worlds. Especially when I was… intent on something.” She paused to take a few deep breaths. “Do you want to meet your father alone?”
Tyen looked up and down the street. Few people were about, but all were staring at him and Rielle. As a carriage passed, he glimpsed a woman passenger glaring at Rielle suspiciously.
“No, you had better come inside.”
He led the way across the road and to the gate of the third narrow house in the row. Pushing through, he approached the door, remembering how he liked to sit on the steps as a child. His mother used to keep the small garden tidy, but after her death it had become weedy and a constant subject of complaint from the neighbours. Now it was so neat it was almost barren.
A polished bronze plaque was affixed to the wall beside the door. The name on it was not his father’s.
He hesitated, then rang the bell anyway. If his father had died, or moved, the current occupants might know.
A long silence followed. Tyen waited, reading the minds of the servants watching them through the curtains of the room beside the hall. The middle-aged housekeeper wanted to answer the door, but the elderly butler did not. Both eyed Rielle with a kind of dismayed curiosity. What was this woman wearing? She was practically naked in that simple sleeveless shift. And browner than a farmer.
Finally, the woman grew tired of waiting for them to give up and go away, and, ignoring the hiss of the butler, approached the door.
“The master is out,” she snapped as she opened it.
“Would that be Deid Ironsmelter?” Tyen asked.
The woman’s eyebrows rose. “No. He went to live with his sister. In Brokebridge.”
“Thank you.” Tyen nodded politely and stepped back.
“She can’t go about wearing that,” the woman blurted.
Tyen looked back. The woman was staring down her nose at Rielle.
“Can you recommend a dressmaker who would supply us with acceptable clothing? And a tailor,” he added, glancing down at his own clothing.
The woman bit her lip and began to shake her head, then paused and frowned. “Hahten Beve might have something. Behind the hatter on the main street. Enter from the back alley.”
Tyen nodded again. “I know the thoroughfare. My thanks.”
The woman’s eyes widened as he took Rielle’s hand and pushed out of the worlds a little, then skimmed in the direction of the row of shops he’d visited countless times as a child. It was busier there, so he brought them back into the world in the alley the servant had described and started towards where he estimated the back of the hatter’s was.
Sure enough, a tiny sign in a narrow door read: “Hahten Beve: Tailor”. He and Rielle entered, setting a bell on the door ringing, and found themselves in a cramped shop barely larger than a closet. The proprietor’s name wasn’t typically Leratian, so Tyen was not surprised when a swarthy figure swaggered through a door to greet them. He was surprised, however, to learn from her mind that she was female. Most Beltonians assumed from her stature and male clothing that she was just an odd-looking foreign man, which was fine with her.
“How can I help such a handsome couple?” Hahten asked, beaming at them. As her gaze moved from Tyen to Rielle, she did not flinch or stare. Tyen silently thanked the housekeeper again, though she had sent the foreigners to a foreign clothier out of prejudice, not kindness. At least Hahten was not so quick to judge.
“A set of clothing for each of us,” Tyen replied. He turned to Rielle. “Do you mind?” he asked in the Traveller tongue. “I’m afraid the local forms of dress are very restrictive.”
She shook her head. “Not at all. I do try to adapt to the expectations of different worlds, when necessary. It can be fun to try new styles of dress, too.”
“I’m not sure you’ll find this fun for long,” he warned, then turned back to Hahten and resumed speaking in Leratian. “Do you have anything already made up in our sizes?”
Hahten’s gaze flitted over the both of them, and she nodded. “To what purpose?”
“Something suited to visiting family in Beltonia, but not inappropriate if we happened to encounter the Emperor. What do you recommend?”
Hahten’s mouth spread into an incredulous smile. “The Emperor, eh? Well, I don’t have much that would impress someone so lofty—”
“They don’t need to impress, just not offend.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “I’ll see what I can find.” Turning with the ease of someone familiar with every part of the cramped space, she disappeared back through the door to the back of the shop.
A few hours later, Tyen drew himself and Rielle out of the place between worlds just outside the hamlet known as Brokebridge. It was two hours’ carriage ride from Belton, set at the bottom of a modest valley fringed by young plantation forests. His aunt’s husband had inherited part of that forest and a comfortable house around the time Tyen had joined the Academy. Fifteen cycles ago the couple had been raising four small children, who would be adults now, possibly married and beginning their own families.
The house had once impressed him, being a double-storey building with two small wings either side of the central section. What had seemed grand before he now admired for its simple, sturdy construction. He’d seen palaces the size of cities and mansions as large as villages, filled with countless treasure and luxuries, yet this place still stirred a little jealousy in him. He realised he still saw it as the ideal home, far from the city’s noise and pollution, large enough for a family and a servant or two, but not so big that anyone would get lost inside it or the upkeep be too much for a successful middle-class man.
Taking a deep breath, Tyen walked up to the door and knocked.
It opened straight away to reveal a butler, who bowed stiffly. “Yes?”
“Tyen Ironsmelter, here to see my father, Deid Ironsmelter.”
The man stilled, his eyebrows rising as he regarded Tyen with startled intensity. His mouth opened, closed, then he straightened. “I will enquire as to whether he is receiving visitors.”
The man closed the door and retreated. Soon after, footsteps could be heard hurrying to the door, which was snatched open this time by a mature, robust woman. She stared at Tyen for a moment, her eyes widening with recognition.
“Tyen!” she exclaimed. “It really is you!”
“Hello, Aunt Moirie,” he replied, smiling. As her gaze flickered to a point over Tyen’s shoulder, he added: “This is Rielle Lazuli. A friend.”
“I…” Moirie began as she considered how to respond to someone so obviously foreign, then she concluded that good manners were always the best beginning. “A pleasure to meet you, Rielle Lazuli.” Her gaze snapped back to Tyen and she stepped aside. “Well, you two had better come through. Your father is in the garden, with my grandchildren.”
“Grandchildren already!” Tyen exclaimed as he entered.
“Yes. Sovie married three years ago, to a local lad.” Moirie chatted about her four offspring, two of which had joined the navy, as she led Tyen down the hall to the door leading out into the garden. As she opened it, the kitchen garden came into view, where two children so similar they must be twins raced around an old man sitting in a chair, a blanket wrapped about his shoulders.
All three looked up as Tyen followed his aunt out. The old man frowned as he saw Tyen, then his eyes went wide.
“Father,” Tyen said, descending the stairs. At the bottom he paused. Deid was frozen, gazing at Tyen with what appeared to be incomprehension, then he blinked and life returned to his face. He pushed himself up out of the chair and walked unsteadily towards Tyen.
He seemed shorter. Smaller. So very much older. He did not stop a stride away but came up and threw hi
s arms around Tyen.
“Son.”
Tyen paused. His father had never been a physically affectionate man. Public expressions of fondness were discouraged in Beltonian society. But Tyen’s arms knew what to do, and without him really thinking about it, he returned the embrace, thankful that the man could not see that he was blinking away unexpected tears.
“I’m sorry,” Tyen said. “I should have come home sooner.”
“You would have if you could,” Deid replied. He stepped back, and the glistening of moisture around the man’s eyes made Tyen blink rapidly and look away.
“I’m afraid I could have,” Tyen admitted. “I didn’t have the courage.”
His father nodded. “That’s no surprise. The Academy would arrest you if they knew you were here. They think you’re a thief, and possibly a murderer. A mass murderer.”
Tyen frowned. “It was Kilraker who destroyed the tower.” Then he grimaced. “Though I can’t deny the rest. I did steal something from the Academy, and I’m afraid I have taken lives – though nobody in this world and not out of murderous intent.”
Deid nodded. “You have some stories to tell, I see.” He looked around, his gaze moving to Moirie, then noticed Rielle for the first time. His eyes widened, and a faint smile tweaked the corner of his mouth. “And who is this?”
“A friend. Rielle Lazuli.”
His father stepped around him and bowed to Rielle. “Welcome to my sister’s home. I don’t think she will mind if I invite you two inside for warmth and refreshments.”
“I would be honoured to accept,” Rielle replied.
He looked at Moirie, who smiled and nodded. “I’ll have Settie boil the kettle and bring it to the sitting room.”
Soon after, Rielle, Tyen and his father settled into large, comfortable chairs arrayed around a freshly lit fire. Tyen began his tale, starting from his discovery of Vella in Mailand. His father listened intently, interrupting occasionally to ask only questions that clarified part of the story. Finally, Tyen finished by explaining how Liftre’s sorcerers were trying to stop his efforts to start a school of sorcery, so he had come back to his home world to set one up in secret. Deid leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.
“Amazing,” he said. Then he bent forward a little and looked at Rielle. “Is it true that he is immortal now?”
Rielle hesitated. “I’m not sure the word you’re using is the right one.”
“We are called ‘the ageless’ by some,” Tyen said. “We are not invulnerable. We can die.”
“Are you ageless too?” Deid asked her.
She shook her head. “I am a Maker. We cannot be ageless.”
“What is a Maker, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“When people create, they generate magic,” she told him. “Some more than others. I am able to create a great deal very quickly.”
Deid stared at her, then turned to Tyen. “I did hear that right?”
“Yes.”
“That is… controversial. Can you prove it?”
Tyen smiled. “Oh, very much. It is quite amazing to sense Rielle generating magic.”
His father let out another long breath and closed his eyes. “Oh, the Academy is not going to like this.”
“No,” Tyen agreed.
Deid opened one eye. “You are planning a demonstration, then.”
Tyen nodded.
Both of the old man’s eyes widened. “Is that wise? Even if you convince them, they still consider you a criminal.”
“We will be fine. They are no threat to us.”
“No threat? Not even the strongest and best sorcerers in the empire? You may have travelled the worlds, my son, but you can’t defend yourself with confidence and stories alone. There is so little magic in the centre of Belton now that you will be as vulnerable as any ordinary man.”
“I carry several times more power than this whole world contains,” Tyen told him.
“And he is one of the three most powerful sorcerers in all the worlds,” Rielle added.
Deid looked from her to Tyen and back again. “Really?”
She nodded. The man’s eyes glowed, then he grinned as he looked at Tyen again. “One of the three most powerful! My son! Now that’s something I can tell that judgemental bag of morni dung the locals elected as Brokebridge’s Head next time he reminds me of my apparently criminal offspring.”
Tyen winced. “I am sorry about that, Father.”
Deid leaned forward and patted Tyen’s arm. “I always knew you had a good reason for doing whatever you did. Imagine if the Academy had destroyed that book. You would never have left this world and become ‘ageless’.” He smiled, then it slowly slipped away. “But why are you bothering to prove the old myth is true? Why not set up your school elsewhere?”
“The Academy is a resource I’d like to have access to,” Tyen replied.
“That old place?” His father shook his head. “They don’t even know for certain that other worlds exist. Surely they are far behind the rest of the worlds?”
“You might be surprised. This world wasn’t always isolated.”
Deid wasn’t convinced. “You should find yourself somewhere wonderful to spend eternity. You will be wasted here.”
“Not at all,” Tyen told him. “Once Rielle restores this world there will be plenty of magic to go around, and since this world is believed to be a dead one, my students and I will be able to work in peace and safety.” He paused. “However, establishing myself here will have consequences for you, Father. What I plan to do will gain me enemies. Some may seek to retaliate or blackmail me by harming those I love. It would be safer if you moved to a secret location, temporarily.”
“No!” Deid objected. “I don’t want to be sent away to wait, alone, for news of you. I want to see what happens when you show them what fools they are!”
“But if they—”
“No!” Deid’s expression was fierce and stubborn. “I am not leaving here unless I come with you.”
“Can you hide him in the city?” Rielle asked. “They won’t expect that.”
Tyen looked from her to his father. “I’d rather not.”
“If you take me far away, I’ll immediately head home,” Deid declared, “even if you put me on the other side of the world.”
Tyen let out a long breath as he considered, then mused that it was the same mannerism he’d observed in his father.
“I’ll watch over him,” Rielle said. “You won’t need me there most of the time.”
Deid patted her hand. “I could not think of better company to have while my son shakes up that fusty old institution.”
She smiled at him, then turned to Tyen. “I don’t think you’ll convince him otherwise, and you do have to make up for disappearing for fifteen cycles.”
Tyen made a wordless sound of protest, to which both his father and former lover merely smirked. Rolling his eyes, he let his shoulders slump.
“Very well. But you had better do everything Rielle says, Father. We have a lot of catching up to do and that won’t happen if you’re kidnapped or murdered.”
“That’s enough of that talk, now the youngsters are here,” Moirie said as she arrived, carrying a heavily laden tray, the children following. She set the tray down, then looked up at Tyen. “Have you still got that mechanical beetle you made? I’ve been telling the children about it, and they want to see it.”
“Yes, I do!” Tyen replied and reached inside his jacket. “It’s changed quite a bit, but it is still essentially a beetle shape, and it still does tricks to entertain the young.” As he drew Beetle out and sent it flying around the room, he saw it through the eyes of his extended family – a slightly battered lump of metal that, as its wing covers flipped open and its legs extended, transformed into an intricate, beautiful object. He’d modified it constantly over the cycles, though mostly to give it abilities not needed here and now, where all it needed to do was fly in circles and crawl along children’s arms to sit on thei
r shoulder.
Beetle is a bit like me, he thought. Older, with new abilities, but essentially still the same shape and form. While I can do so much more, I hope I’ll never be above humble tasks like entertaining children and looking after my family.
CHAPTER 6
Deid Ironsmelter rubbed his hands together eagerly as they left the hotel and set off in the direction of the Academy.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.”
“We will be doing nothing more than talking to them,” Tyen reminded his father.
“I know. I know.” Deid’s grin did not fade. He looked ten years younger than he had when Tyen first saw him, which made Tyen feel bad about seeing an old man when he’d first laid eyes on him. “But I can’t wait to see their faces when you tell them what you want to do.”
Tyen suppressed a sigh. Since he needed Rielle with him, and someone had to protect his father, he had no choice but to bring the man with him to his meeting with the Academy. It felt inadvisable to involve his father in his plans, but when he weighed up the risks they were no worse whether he had Deid with him or not. If Kilraker could track Tyen all the way to Spirecastle, then the Academy would find Deid eventually, no matter how carefully Tyen hid him. At least keeping Deid close meant that he was protected by two powerful sorcerers.
The streets of Belton were as busy as they had ever been. He and Rielle attracted curious glances, and not only because one of them looked so different to the locals. They had bought a second set of clothing, grander than the first ones. Even his father looked dignified and refined in his new suit. It had all been paid for with money Tyen had earned over several days by supplying magic to some of the local factories at the edge of the city. Many of Beltonia’s industries had moved out of the centre of the metropolis, where magic was now completely depleted by mid-afternoon. Sorcerers once employed to drive the railsleds in the city had been laid off, as the lack of magic meant fewer engines could be run. Some had gained new jobs as watchmen, making sure nobody used more than their quota of magic.
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