by J. S. Miller
“I’d say you’ve earned you a few names.”
“You shouldn’t talk about things you don’t understand.”
“Well, I’m waiting on those answers. Please, enlighten me.”
“Asking specific questions might help.”
“OK, let’s start with, why’d you beat the shit out of me and toss me down a hole?”
The crowd shifted uncomfortably but did not intervene. I guessed someone had warned them this might happen.
“A hospital filled with civilians needed help,” she said. “You were there. I once thought that would be enough, but here we are.”
“Hospital.” I snorted. “More like a prison. More like a ticking time bomb. And what’s ‘here we are’ supposed to mean?”
“It means I had orders. I can’t change what I’ve done, and neither can you.”
My face was getting hot. What the hell was her problem?
“You could’ve warned me,” I demanded. “It wasn’t just the one monster in there, you know. Did anyone else make it out?”
“Many didn’t, based on the report I received. While you were fleeing, one of our soldiers managed to blind the creature, which provided a window to mobilize, counterattack, and eventually contain the breach. I hope that’s enough explanation for now because we face more pressing matters. Assuming you’re here to help this time?”
I glared at her for a few seconds. I didn’t want to let this go and had no clue why she was acting so hostile, but she was right: More dire problems were at hand. I stepped up to the table and spread my hands wide.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m all yours. If you’re willing to trust me, of course.”
“You’re back inside the city, so I think we can safely assume your sense of self-interest has realigned with ours.”
“Sure, fine. What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to let them in.”
“You’re gonna do what now?”
“They are coming,” Astor Sylvana said, rising from a chair near the wall. I hadn’t even noticed her. “We cannot stop them. That is an unfortunate fact. But Agent Volkova has established … what did you call them?”
“Chokepoints,” Elena responded. “We let them in at strategic, well-fortified locations, on our terms. Here and here, on the bridges. Their superior numbers will mean nothing.”
“But how are you going to actually fight them?” I asked. “I don’t know how much you saw earlier, but they’re pretty damned durable. Fighting each one will take a dozen normal soldiers.”
“I shall handle that, Westley,” Coppersworth said. “My Bull-Dog has proved effective against these knaves, as you well know, and with a brigade of armored shi dogs at my back, I doubt we shall be so easily overcome.”
“We’ve fought ‘em, too,” Glynda chimed in. “They’re strong, but we’re stronger.”
“Be calm, child,” Stern said with a canine grin. “And when you inevitably run headlong into battle, do not forget to save some for me.”
“I’m glad everyone’s so confident,” I said. “But these guys are belligerent and numerous. They’re also a bit like zombies. Every time our ranks shrink, theirs grow. Things could go south real quick.”
“Zombi?” Coppersworth asked. “Do you refer to the god worshiped on the African continent?”
“What? No. I mean, maybe. I don’t know. I’m talking about movie monsters. When one bites you, you turn into one yourself. Same deal with these guys. It’s tag and you’re it. We need more backup and better hardware.”
“We have it under control,” Elena said. “I re-established radio contact with Arclight a few hours ago. They’ve developed new weaponry and should be sending reinforcements as we speak. Every field agent is equipped with a tracking beacon, so when their forces arrive, they’ll find me.”
“No offense, but I saw how well your pals at Arclight dealt with just one of these guys back in the hospital.”
“That was a civilian facility. They were unprepared for—”
“Enough,” Sylvana said. “We have already deployed personnel, weaponry, and barricades. There is no time left for debate.”
“Fine,” I said. “What’s my role in all this?”
Her eyes flitted around the room, touching every face but mine before responding.
“It is not for us to say, Lord Alchemist,” she said. “Do you not have plans of your own?”
“Well, I do have this,” I said, removing the transformative mixture from my pocket and holding it up to the light. “I’m hoping it’ll turn the tide, so to speak, but I’m not yet sure how best to disperse it. Until I figure that out, I want to help however I can.”
Everyone stared at me. Nobody answered. I sighed.
“Let me get this straight,” I said. “I waded through a metric ton of shit to get back here, and now you don’t even have anything for me to do?”
“We weren’t exactly counting on you coming back, West,” Elena said.
“Yeah, no offense, Boss,” Cagney said from one side of the table. “But sometimes you’re stubborner than a mafia don on this, the day of his daughter’s wedding.”
I glared at the lot of them, but no sarcastic retort came to my lips. They were right. I was not, historically speaking, a reliable horse to bet on. For the first time in … well, ever, I realized I didn’t want to be that guy anymore. I released my clenched fists and let the anger slide away. It wouldn’t do anyone any good right now, and aiming it at them would only make me seem like more of a liability.
“OK, fine,” I said. “I get it. But I’m here now, and I want to help, even if it’s just carrying boxes. What can I do?”
“That’s the spirit, old chum!” Coppersworth said, clapping me on the back and nearly knocking me off my feet. I glanced at Elena and saw her expression soften a little, as if she’d just seen something she hadn’t expected.
“Thank you, Lord Alchemist,” Astor Sylvana said. “I will consider the available tasks and let you—”
Before she could finish, the elevator rattled to life and shrieked back up the shaft. Sylvana looked around, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “It must have been summoned from the crater, but only a trusted few hold a key. And all of them are here.”
Dread hit me like a stone sinking in cold water.
“Are you sure no one else has a copy?” I asked.
“Only city leaders,” she said, counting the people at the table with her eyes. “And, as I said, everyone is accounted …”
She trailed off.
“Let me guess,” I said. “The city treasurer is missing.”
“Yes. Does anyone know the whereabouts of Maximilian Fen?”
The elevator dinged as the doors slid open. A barrel sat inside, its purple planks bound in black iron and etched with runes that told a story of fire.
“Get out! Now!” I shouted, but we only had seconds to react before everything went straight to hell.
Chapter 30
In the instant before the explosion, I came to a decision: The Laughing Man would not take my life here, nor would I let him take the lives of any of my friends. I held up one hand, focused the raw energy running through my veins, and said, “No.”
Well, I didn’t say it out loud. But the word formed a shape in my mind, which then rolled out along my upraised arm and poured like an extension of my body through Arthur Rundale’s ring. I used that construct, that shape forged from “no,” to reach inside the barrel, suffusing the liquid with my will. My goal was not to trigger a reaction, as I had so many times before, but to redirect those already working within.
The ring began to glow, thrumming with power. My heart rate spiked, and sweat trickled down my brow, but it was working. I could feel it. Something within the mixture … a way to defuse it. My hand twisted in front of me, searching for the off switch like a man feeling for an object lost in dark water. My fingers grazed the edges of it, and I pushed farther, trying to grab hold,
but before I could, large hands grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me behind a tall, heavy object. The barrel blew.
People say time slows down in moments like that, and they’re not wrong. I had too much time — all the time in the world. Time to watch my friends take cover behind the enormous war table. Time to look up and see Coppersworth’s face as he shielded me with his body. And time to admire the alchemical fire as it washed over the ceiling, drenching the room in ruinous beauty.
I thrust what remained of my will skyward, and the explosion ramped over us, roaring through the room at an angle and blasting out through the roof and rear wall. Then it was over, and I was stunned by how quickly the adrenaline drained away and all that remained was aftermath.
Dust thickened the air, and rubble lay everywhere. With each passing moment, more of the ceiling fell and joined the piles on the floor. We needed to get out of here, fast.
“Thanks, pal,” I said, glancing up at Coppersworth. “You can let go now.”
“I say, what?” he asked, jolting as if he’d forgotten I was there. “Oh, quite right. Let us, ahem, check on the others.”
We walked over to the war table, helping up stunned city council members as we went. Claire was already checking them for injuries, which appeared to be mostly superficial, but the room was still coming down around us. No one was safe yet.
“How are we alive?” Elena asked, peeking over the war table. She’d been hiding there with Astor Sylvana, Stern, Glynda, and the gargoyles, who were now gazing at what was left of the scorched roof, dumbfounded. “The shockwave alone should have liquified our organs.”
“Charming lass,” Coppersworth muttered behind me as he continued clearing debris.
“I … sort of … redirected it,” I said. “Not sure how, exactly, but … OK, imagine a guy with a gun walks into a room. You’d try to disarm him, right? Or at least point the weapon away from any innocent bystanders.”
“You’re saying you aimed the explosion away from us?”
“Sorta. Can’t think of a better way to describe it.”
She just stared at me, her expression alternating between frightened and impressed.
“What?” I finally asked.
“Nothing,” she said, regaining a bit of her chilly composure. “I’ve seen alchemists in action before … but, to be frank, they were old men playing with toys. The taller tales always sounded like exactly that. And you always struck me as less capable even than them.”
To be fair, I had been less capable back home, though I’d never tested myself against another alchemist. Nonetheless, her attitude was starting to piss me off, so I used my face to redirect a bit more energy. Negative energy. At her.
“But … you saved a lot of people here, West,” she went on. “Including me. I guess I should say thank you.”
“You guess, huh? Listen, can we just—”
“You two bicker like my children,” Astor Sylvana broke in. “We must go. Be quiet and follow me.”
As we descended the spiral staircase that ran through the center of the tower, more explosions thumped in the distance. Was the assault on Astoria already starting? Had Fen’s army breached the gravity moat?
“They are inside the city,” Astor Sylvana said. “Let us pray those blasts were not as strategically placed as the first.”
Another explosion, closer than the rest, made the building shudder and groan.
“Must go faster,” I said.
Elena stopped, causing me to bump into her as she glanced over the edge, peering up into the stairwell.
“I said faster!”
“We’re not getting out that way,” she said, reaching into her cloak. “I’m going to have to time this just right …”
“Time what? What are you talking about?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Not really.”
“That will have to do. Everyone, to me!”
Crashing noises came from above. A wall of shadow and dust was chasing us down the stairwell. The destabilized top floor had finally lost its friendly debate with gravity.
“Listen to me,” Elena said, pulling out a device that looked a bit like a hand-held hair dryer. “I’m going to clear a path. You must remain calm and do everything I—”
Another explosion, this time directly below us. The stairwell screeched and twisted sideways as the building contorted itself into a live-action Escher painting. Astor Sylvana and a few others tumbled over the guardrail as the structure tilted madly.
Elena swore under her breath, aimed the hair dryer at a section of wall beneath us, and pressed a button where a trigger should’ve been. Blue lights lit up along the sides of the gun, and shimmering waves poured from the barrel. They passed over those falling and cut into the stone, creating a hole so dark and deep it looked surgically removed from the universe. Our comrades fell into it, screaming.
“Well now I super don’t trust you,” I said.
“A side effect of doing my job, it seems. Jump!”
She vaulted over the railing, and after a moment’s hesitation, I followed. It wasn’t as though I had many appealing alternatives.
We dropped toward the tunnel as the tower fell, and everything slowed down again. I saw Elena falling ahead of me, red hair rippling like fire. I turned my head and saw Coppersworth, the Gargoyles, and several others leaping off after us. Above them, the tower was crumbling, and debris was falling, and everything was ending as we plummeted into the place between worlds.
Blackness enveloped us, and I hung there, suspended in the Stygian dark for what might have been years or milliseconds. For an instant, I thought I smelled something strange, like soap. Then, one by one, we tumbled out onto a white stone floor, and the doorway snapped shut behind us.
Chapter 31
I rolled onto my back and had to shield my eyes despite a lack of any visible light sources. Walls of clean, white rock ran up and up until they disappeared into mist. Yet the space was as bright as a desert at high noon.
Again, Claire found her feet first, checking the others for injuries before I’d even figured out which way was up. Man, she never stopped. It was as if someone from the future had reprogrammed a killer robot to provide relentless compassionate health care instead of painful death.
Coppersworth, Glynda, and Stern, on the other hand, had somehow tangled themselves in knots. I tried not to think about the mess they might have made if they’d landed on one of us squishy humans. Everyone appeared to be OK, though — everyone except Astor Sylvana, who was moving through the group frantically.
“Where is Alyana?” she asked. “Has anyone seen her?”
Our small band of dimension-hoppers did appear to be one member short: The astor’s blue-skinned assistant was gone.
“Elena, can you re-open the door?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“It doesn’t work that way. Each wormhole cuts a unique path through spacetime. If one end becomes unstable, it collapses. Trying to re-open it might send us back into a pile of rubble or spit us out 100 feet in the air. Anyone who was inside when it closed … I’m sorry, they’re gone.”
Silence hung in the air like cobwebs on gravestones. Most of the others looked at their feet, and Coppersworth’s eye-lights dimmed.
Alyana. I made myself remember the name. Whether she’d been trapped in the collapsing building or caught in the purgatory between worlds, she didn’t deserve this. No one did. Well, that wasn’t completely true. I might put Maximilian Fen there if I got the chance.
The silence was starting to take on solid form, creating a barrier between us like a pane of thick glass. I didn’t know what to say or do, but I realized with sudden clarity that someone needed to say or do something.
“Well, that’s unspeakably awful,” I said. “But there’ll be time for mourning later. Right now we need to figure out where we are and how to get back.”
My friends nodded silently and started searching their surroundings. The hallway could only be described
as “otherworldly,” although that word was starting to lose all meaning for me. No seams or imperfections marked the cold, clean stone — except on the wall opposite the one we’d entered through. There it was chipped and crumbling in a strange, circular pattern. I stepped closer and saw it was scored with runes. Just like those on the sewer floor, when I’d fallen into that first hole all those eons ago.
“Elena, that portal gun … how many are there like it?”
“More than one. They are assigned on an as-needed basis. Only to trusted personnel.”
“Uh huh. Like Max Fen?”
I could feel her glare on my back as I ran my hand over the alchemical symbols.
“Do you know what do they mean?” I asked.
“How would I?”
“Your thingamabob made them.”
“I cannot translate them. Can’t you?”
“Of course,” I said, a bit too hastily. “Just testing you.”
She rolled her eyes.
“The device tunnels from our Earth to its root dimension and back,” she said. “I wasn’t involved in designing it. But, as far as I know, they never encountered a place like this during testing.”
“Root dimension? As in, the world our world’s magic comes from?”
“To put it stupidly. You figured that much out, I see.”
“You know me. Sharp as a butter knife. So, how’d we end up here?”
“I may have something approaching an answer,” Coppersworth chimed in. “A theoretical one, of course.”
“Naturally,” I said. “Go on.”
“Arthur hypothesized that if the traveler enters a portal quickly enough, before a connection to the other side has been fully established, they may emerge someplace else entirely.”
“So we’re in some kind of celestial waiting room?” I asked. “Any idea how to get back?”
“I haven’t the foggiest. Arthur had barely begun to theorize on ‘Advanced Ether Splitting,’ a new field of study he himself discovered—”
“Sorry to interrupt all this resplendent hypothesizing,” Cagney broke in, waving his pistol down the hall. “But who the fuck is that?”
