by J. F. Penn
Perry gazed out at the tent city. “How many people do you think there are down there?”
Finn’s expression hardened. “I’ve heard this camp has over one hundred thousand, and the same again by the western gate, with rumors of more camps.” He spun to face Perry. “These people are only here because they were rejected from Earthside. They fled their own cities for fear of being slaughtered and you turned them away at your borders. It’s the fault of your kind that they are here.”
Perry nodded. “You’re right, but our people were just protecting their homes, their way of life.”
Finn looked out again, his face wistful. “All these people want is to go home. They don’t want your way of life. They want their own.”
“And they’ll do anything to get it back,” Mila whispered, sudden realization dawning as she looked out at the tent city crammed full of refugees who only had one goal.
She spun around and grabbed Finn’s arm. “You mentioned more camps by the other gates back into Earthside, right?”
Finn nodded. “Yes, there could be as many as fifteen more, all stationed at portal crossing points. But the gates are closed.”
“For now,” Perry stated. “But if all the gates are opened at the same time, these people will swarm through, desperate to get to their homes again.”
“It’s more than that,” Mila said. “Disease doesn’t respect borders. You can’t reason with it, you can’t pen it up in a refugee camp and banish it from your land.” She swept her arm out over the camp, taking in the expanse of people below. “This is why the Shadow Cartographers want the Map of Plagues. These people are the invasion. When the gates open, they will stream back over, infected with the plague. The numbers will overwhelm Earthside cities, especially if they’re all released at the same time.”
Perry looked aghast. “It will devastate Earthside and there will be few left who could stop the borders shifting further after that.”
Mila nodded. “The Shadow Cartographers will get their land back, but at what cost?”
Finn sighed. “You don’t get it. They don’t care for you. They will wipe you out as your people used disease to wipe out those conquered before you. Aboriginal Australians, Native Americans, African nations. The remnant of those people are here with a cultural memory of genocide bestowed on their ancestors. Do you think they care if Earthside is devastated by plague now?”
Mila reached for his hand. “Do you care, Finn? You’ve seen where we come from, you stood in The Circus and we fought your father together for the ordinary people in the streets of Earthside. Will you fight with us now?”
Finn pointed to the tents below. “I’ll fight for them.”
“We still have time,” Perry said. “The Shadow Cartographers won’t send people through the portals until they’re infected. And they won’t risk releasing bubonic plague through the gates. It won’t spread fast enough. It has to go pneumonic and it takes time to infect the lungs and go airborne.”
Finn shook his head. “You’re in the Borderlands now and everything changes when it crosses over from your world. Don’t think you know this plague anymore. It may have mutated into something new. We have to find Sienna before it’s too late.”
20
Xander stepped through the doorway, his dark mop of loose curls longer now, a short beard outlining his jaw. His hazel-green eyes gazed at her with a touch of his old languid self but Sienna could see lines at the corners of his full mouth and he had an air of exhaustion, as if he had been draining his magic too fast. He had given up everything on Earthside to be here, but it didn’t look like Xander was thriving in the Borderlands.
“It’s about time we traveled together again,” he said, his wry smile reminding her of old times.
Sienna pointedly turned her back on him and looked at Sir Douglas. “Why him?”
“His magic is useful and his lion will protect you both.” He looked at his watch. “Besides, you know each other well enough to deal with whatever you find and he will bring us back the samples we need. Now, it’s time to go.”
Sienna took a deep breath as her mind whirled with possibilities. There was nowhere to run and if she refused, her friends would die. She knew what the Warlord was capable of and it seemed Sir Douglas was more shadow than man now. There would be no mercy.
Then there was the map itself. It pulled her in, she felt its tug deep inside like an undertow that threatened to drag her down to the depths. It whispered of mystery and secrets revealed after hundreds of years, secrets the knights had died to protect. She wanted to know where it led to.
“I’ll go but I need your word that my friends won’t be harmed.”
The Warlord nodded. Sir Douglas waved his hand as if swatting a fly. “Of course. They mean nothing. Now, go.”
Sienna stepped closer to the map, placing her hand over the center where the four pieces joined. She held out her other hand for Xander. His palm was warm, his fingers strong as they wrapped around hers.
She closed her eyes and dived into the map. At first the sensation of flying made her heart soar with joy. This was where she felt free, in this place between the pages of the world — but then the air grew chill and a dense mist swirled around her. Strange sounds came from the eddies of cloud, the crackling of burnt skin, the low moans of an animal in pain. Sienna hoped that the mist stayed around them. She didn’t want to see what lay beyond.
She tried to travel faster but Xander’s weight lay heavy on her. Even though his betrayal still stung, she would not let him go. She would not abandon him in this in-between world.
The plague island must be below them now and in her mind, Sienna imagined the hourglass tipping, the sand running out. She surfed down upon the grains, descending through the clouds.
They parted and there it was. The island, dense with jungle, the city at its heart hemmed in by jagged mountains. And it was a city, at least the size of one, albeit without the grand structures of Earthside or even the ramshackle growth of a long-term settlement. But as Sienna descended, she realized it was silent. There were no people in the streets, no animals wandering around. Even the surrounding jungle was quiet.
Could Sir Douglas have been wrong about the meaning of the hourglass? Were they six hundred years too late to find any evidence of the plague?
She chose a landing place in the middle of what looked like a public square, a clearing surrounded by stone buildings. One was larger than the rest, marked with a cross.
Xander rolled to his hands and knees, coughing and retching as his body adapted to the strange journey.
“That was awful,” he groaned. “Now I remember why I never wanted to do that again.”
“Happy to leave you here when I go back.” Sienna scanned the hushed buildings with a sense that something was out there watching. “Get up quickly. We need to get out of the open.”
She looked up at the church. Something about it drew her in. It was a simple structure but the stones of its walls had been selected and placed with care. It was testament to human faith that even at the end of the world, some could still look for God. Sienna hoped they had found him even here.
She walked toward the door, carved from what looked like dark oily wood from the surrounding jungle. As she approached, the smell of decay rose up around her. She stumbled back, hand to her face.
“What is it?” Xander stood to his feet, a little unsteady at first but soon gaining strength.
“In there.” She pointed at the church. “I think we’re too late.”
Xander followed Sienna’s gaze to the church, the cross on its wall a reminder of the simple country chapels in the Cotswolds near his home. No, he couldn’t think of it as home anymore. That was Earthside, a land stolen from those he now served. He sighed. Perhaps Sienna should leave him here. Life might be simpler.
He walked toward the door, the stench rising as he drew closer. He pinched his nose and tried to breathe in a shallow manner, his heart pounding as he pushed at the entranceway. The door was
jammed, something pressing against it from inside.
“Hello, is anyone there?” But even as Xander called out, he knew there was nothing alive inside the church.
He thrust his shoulder against the door. A crack rang out and he fell inward. A broken plank lay on the floor as if someone had forced it against the door, a barrier against what lay beyond.
Xander stepped inside, Sienna close behind. He heard her gasp as he tried to process the scene.
A huge pile of bodies stacked against the walls, as high as the church itself and several rows deep. In front of them, two men and a woman lay curled together. They must have been the last to die as the plague ravaged the place. It couldn’t have been that long ago because decomposition was still in process. Time must have shifted here as Sir Douglas promised but Xander doubted if there would be anything he could take back as evidence of the plague. He grimaced as he looked at the bodies. He really didn’t want to lug one of those back.
He turned around slowly to examine the church itself. Why had they holed up in here? They should have buried those bodies in the jungle, away from the rest of the population. Some of them might have made it if they hadn’t kept the disease so close.
“Xander!”
He spun around to see Sienna desperately trying to shut the door, leaning her weight against it. He ran back to help her push — and caught a glimpse through a crack to the outside.
A sea of rats, overgrown and mutated, snarling with teeth bared, their silent surge a perversion of natural behavior. Somehow this island had turned the rats into the dominant predator, destroying the population with plague and presumably devouring any bodies left outside until there was nothing left to eat.
Until fresh blood arrived just minutes ago.
Xander shuddered and thrust the door closed. He and Sienna sank to the ground, their backs against the door as the rodents scratched and banged their heads against the wood. The pile of rotting corpses loomed ahead and Xander wondered whether taking a body would be a better idea than trying to wrestle one of those rats back to the camp.
“What now?” Sienna asked, her face pale as she looked up at him. “I can get us back out of here as soon as you’re ready to go.”
Xander shook his head, imagining his fate — and Sienna’s — if he returned with empty hands. “I can’t go back without a sample.” He pulled two waterproof sacks out of his jacket pocket. “Sir Douglas gave me these. If we can get a rat and — something — from that pile, then we can go.”
He edged away from the door, keeping pressure on it with one hand while reaching for the broken plank with the other. “We just need to block this shut while we figure everything out.”
Xander hooked the plank and used it to pull one of the old pews closer, blocking the entranceway with its weight. “That will hold them at bay for a little while.”
Sienna touched his hand, her eyes soft. “What happened, Xander? Why betray us back in the castle that day? Why work for the Shadow side?”
Her words echoed deep inside him and for a moment, he wondered whether she might help him return to his old life. He shook his head and gave a wry smile. “You haven’t been working with the Ministry long. You don’t know how little we’re allowed to use our magic. They’re more concerned with protecting those on Earthside from the knowledge of what lies beyond the border. Hell, most don’t even know the Borderlands exist.”
He stood up and pulled the ragged leather scrap from his pocket, his creatures etched around the edges. “I felt like half of me was trapped inside, and over here, despite the difficulties, I can be myself. I can do what I was born to do. I am an Illustrator.”
Xander threw the leather on the floor and Asada, his lion, stepped out, shaking his magnificent mane. The beast nuzzled into Xander and then turned to look at Sienna, golden eyes acknowledging her presence.
“He’s part of me,” Xander said. “I understand that now. Asada is not some separate being that I conjure from the edges of the map, but an extension of my magic. Back on Earthside, it was like I functioned underwater, hardly able to move at all. But here, I’m free.” He sighed. “Do you understand what I mean?”
To his surprise, Sienna nodded. “I can’t say anything to the others but when I’m between the lines of the map, when I travel, I hear a whisper that I want to follow. The Shadow calls to me, Xander, and part of me wants to give in.”
Xander couldn’t believe what he heard and all at once, possibilities tumbled through his mind. “If you want to stay here, then there’s hope, can you see that? You’re powerful, Sienna. We could join the Resistance together, we could change things here in the Borderlands. Really change them, not just use all our energy trying to get back land on Earthside. We could make a new start.”
Sienna gave a shy smile. “I could be with Finn. Be part of building a new way of life here, just as I promised.”
Xander laughed. “Whatever you want. It’s all possible now.” A screech of wood on stone came from the door as the scratching and squeaking of rats grew louder. “Well, it’s all possible once we get out of here.”
“What about the plague?” Sienna said. “We have to take back samples and I can’t leave Mila, Perry and Finn at the Warlord’s mercy.”
Xander took her hand. “We’ll figure that out once we get back there. We have each other now.”
She smiled. “Okay, let’s do it.” She grabbed one of the waterproof bags and looked at the pile of corpses, her face a mask of revulsion. “Which one of these do we take?”
Xander steeled himself and walked over to the pile of corpses — old men, young women, children, even babies, all lying together, equal in death.
One of the babies caught his eye, black lumps under its arms with grey veins spreading out like a sunburst of ash.
Sienna followed his gaze. “Oh no. You can’t be serious?”
Xander raised the bag. “It fits.” He pulled the bloated corpse from the pile, turning his face away as the stench rose up, making him gag. His stomach twitched and he almost hurled but he managed to hold it in. Sienna helped him close the bag, her face twisted in revulsion. Then together, they turned back toward the door.
“Maybe we can open it a little, let one in, then bag it quickly?”
Xander shrugged. “I don’t have any other ideas.”
They positioned themselves behind the door with Asada standing in the center of the room. He growled and pawed at the floor, ready to fight.
“Just pin it, boy, don’t kill it,” Xander called back, sensing the lion’s understanding. He looked at Sienna. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Xander pulled the pew back a little and inched the door open. A thick grey muzzle pushed against the gap, nose sniffing the air, whiskers twitching. He let out the door a little more.
As the smell of the dead wafted out, the rats went wild, screeching and clambering over one another to try and reach the door. The swarm pushed forward, beady eyes fixed on the pile of corpses as they forced their way into the chapel.
Sienna fell backward as the mass of grey bodies surged in and Xander couldn’t hold it alone. The door gaped open and a flurry of rodents raced inside.
“Quick, stop them!” Xander pushed hard against the door, Sienna rolled back to join him and they managed to get it closed again.
But it was too late.
Six of the giant mutated rats had made it inside. The creatures dashed toward the dead, thrusting their heads into the pile of bodies, the crack of bones filling the air as the stench intensified.
Sienna and Xander sat with their backs against the door, frozen still. Xander held a palm out to Asada to try and keep him calm — but the lion couldn’t help his animal nature.
He swiped at one of the rats, batting it sideways then lunging to rip at its neck, shaking the beast in his jaws until its squeaking stopped.
The others turned from the pile of the dead, black beady eyes assessing the scene. Xander could almost sense their excitement as they spie
d fresh meat.
21
As the rats began to advance on their prey, Sienna picked up one of the huge Bibles from the back of the pew, handing another to Xander. They moved slowly, eyes fixed on the rodents. Xander could see the individual hairs on one of the rats as it drew closer, each as thick and spiny as a porcupine quill. It bared its teeth ready to charge.
Asada pounced from behind, his huge legs crushing the beast’s back with a crunch.
The other rats attacked.
One rodent dashed toward Sienna, its yellow teeth in a grimace, its thick pink tail lashing behind. She stood, brandishing the Bible like a baseball bat. It was almost upon her when she swung the heavy book, thwacking the beast on the side of its head, knocking it into the wall. She followed it down, beating it with the Lord’s book, while she screamed her anger.
Xander turned as three giant rats lunged at Asada.
He swiped at one, knocking it into the wall, but another jumped on the lion’s back, worrying at his neck. The last latched its teeth onto his forelegs, biting down and shaking its head to dig deeper.
Blood welled and Asada roared, ripping the rat from his leg, crunching it between his jaws before spitting it to the ground, a broken husk.
Xander swung the great Bible at the rat on the lion’s back, connecting with a dull thud and knocking the creature to the floor. It writhed, spine broken, mewling with pain.
Asada suddenly dropped to his haunches, licking his foreleg as a black stain spread across the limb from the bite mark. Xander rushed to his side, his arms around the great mane. “Hold on. You’re going to be alright, boy. I promise.”
But even as he spoke, Xander saw a mark appear on his own arm. A sudden pain lanced through him as the black spread over Asada’s skin and his own flesh.
Xander looked at Sienna. “I can feel it in my veins.” His voice broke as he tried to hold back tears. “The plague has mutated. It’s fast moving now.”
He leaned against Asada, sensing the lion’s strength falter even as his own began to fade.
