by Anne Bishop
“Don’t ask me,” Teaser grumbled. “I’m not the one sighing and moaning every night.”
“Lynnea doesn’t sigh and moan.” Not loudly enough to be heard in the next room, anyway.
“Wasn’t talking about Lynnea.” Teaser gave Sebastian a long look to make his point, then a quick once-over. “You’re dressing hot these days. More than you’ve done in quite a while.”
Sebastian smiled. “I’ve got a reason to—and I don’t want her to forget it.”
Oh, yeah. Despite being a one-woman incubus and the Den’s Justice Maker, he was dressing hot these days. Tight black denim pants and a black denim jacket, a green shirt to enhance the color of his eyes, and a pendant—a flat green stone on a gold chain that Glorianna had given him years ago—that he’d found in the back of a dresser drawer when he went rummaging for something interesting to catch a woman’s eye. He wasn’t sure if there was something about the stone or something about him wearing it, but Lynnea—
“You keep thinking what you’re thinking, you’re going to sproing in public,” Teaser said.
“That’s crude.”
“I’m just saying. And since we all know who you sproing for these days—”
“Why aren’t you out trolling?”
Teaser shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Because the last time I saw an attractive woman who looked safe enough to nibble on, it turned out to be your auntie.”
“I’m trying to forget that.”
“Me too.”
“Really trying to forget that.”
“Me too.” Teaser sighed and started to turn toward the street. “All right, then. I’ll take a stroll and—Daylight! What’s one of them doing here?”
Sebastian looked in the same direction and felt the heat of anger and the chill of fear run through him. “Have a word with the bull demons,” he said quietly as he watched the wizard stagger down the street. “Tell them to watch over Lynnea and keep her safe.”
“You going to get testy if they start goring people or bashing in skulls?”
“No.”
“Right.” Teaser looked at Sebastian. “He can call the lightning, too. Remember that. If it comes down to it, you need to be the one standing when it’s done.”
“Don’t worry,” Sebastian growled. “I will be.”
He strode up the street, knew the wizard recognized him the moment he started moving—which was more than he could say about recognizing the wizard. He’d never seen Koltak so dirty and exhausted. Obviously reaching the Den had been a long, hard journey.
But Koltak shouldn’t have been able to reach the Den. Not anymore. Which was something Sebastian needed to tell Lee at the first opportunity. If Koltak could find his way to the Den, what else might be wandering through Glorianna’s landscapes?
He stopped and waited for the wizard to get within a man’s length of him. “You’re not welcome here.”
“Sebastian,” Koltak gasped. “There’s danger. Great danger. We need your help. You have to listen.”
“The way you listened when I came to you for help? Go back where you came from. You’ll get nothing from us.”
“You have to listen.” Koltak started to raise his hand, perhaps in supplication, perhaps for a different reason.
Sebastian didn’t wait to find out. His hand shot up, the power crackling through him, balling in his fingertips, waiting for release.
Koltak stared at the hand, then slowly lowered his own. “So. The power awoke in you. You’re a wizard.”
“Justice Maker,” Sebastian snapped. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand the difference.”
“But I do,” Koltak cried. “I do! I—” He swayed. “Sebastian, if there’s anything human in you, show a little pity.”
“Don’t throw that in my face, old man. You’ve always said there was nothing human in me, never wanted to see anything human in me. So now—”
“Do you think this is easy for me?” Koltak said, the familiar, angry venom back in his voice. “Do you think I want to grovel for your help? To be here? But I’m willing to put aside our differences to save Ephemera. Are you enough of a Justice Maker to do the same? Or are you going to let everything be destroyed as a way of farting in my face?”
To save Ephemera. Which, for him, meant saving Glorianna’s and Nadia’s landscapes. Which meant saving the Den, the place he’d promised to protect. Which meant keeping Lynnea safe.
“Come on,” Sebastian said. “We’ll get you some food—and I’ll listen.”
Leading Koltak back to Philo’s, Sebastian hurried along the edge of the courtyard until he reached the door to the interior dining room. Koltak smelled ripe enough to put anyone but the bull demons off their food, so getting the man away from Philo’s customers as quickly as possible was a kindness. He held the door for Koltak, took a deep breath of fresh air, and went into the dining room.
Koltak staggered to the nearest chair and collapsed into it.
Thinking there were benefits to having a head cold and wishing he could have one for the next hour, Sebastian reluctantly pulled out the chair on the other side of the table and sat down.
“Long journey?” Sebastian asked too politely, making it plain that no matter how long the journey had been, it hadn’t been long enough. Which, judging by the flash of anger in Koltak’s eyes, the wizard understood.
“Yes,” Koltak replied in a restrained voice, “it was a long journey.”
What does he want from me that he’s making an effort to be civil? And why did the words “a long journey” make him uneasy, as if something important was just out of memory’s reach?
The inner door swung open. Teaser walked in with a tray, set out two steaming bowls of water, two towels, and a plate with two pieces of soap that had been cut off a bar, then walked out again.
Sebastian eyed the pieces of soap and hoped someone made Brandon wash the knife before the boy went back to cutting up meat or vegetables.
“Is this…customary?” Koltak asked, embarrassment coloring his face.
“No,” Sebastian replied, reaching for a piece of soap. “But it’s appreciated when it’s offered.” He washed his hands, dried them, set everything to one side, and smiled at his father—a dare to turn down an amenity just because everyone knew it was needed.
By the time Koltak finished scrubbing the grime off his hands, Teaser was back with a pitcher of water, a bottle of red wine, and various glasses that looked like they’d been grabbed because they were clean and handy, since they weren’t the ones Philo usually used for water and wine.
“Not very well trained, is he?” Koltak grumbled as he poured a glass of water and drank it greedily.
“He’s just helping out.” And Teaser had remembered to take the bowls of dirty water and the towels away. Sebastian wasn’t sure if leaving the soap on the table was an oversight or a comment.
“The wench doesn’t serve the tables in here?”
The wench is going to be my wife. But the less Koltak—and every other wizard—knew about Lynnea, the better. Still, he wondered what it said about Koltak as a man that a woman on the other side of the courtyard had caught his eye when it was supposedly so vital that he talk to his son—and what it said about the man that he’d seriously use the word “wench,” which, in the Den, was said only as a good-natured tease.
“No, she doesn’t serve tables in here.”
Teaser swung into the room for the third time. After dropping two spoons in the middle of the table, he emptied the tray, which held two bowls of beef stew, a plate of cubed cheese instead of the usual bowl of melted cheese, and a basket of Phallic Delights. No butter.
Sebastian looked at Teaser. Teaser shrugged and walked away. Obviously Philo didn’t think their visitor deserved a delicacy like butter. Or olives.
Probably just as well, Sebastian decided as he took a Delight out of the basket. This wasn’t a meal he wanted to linger over.
“That’s disgusting,” Koltak said, staring at the Delight in
Sebastian’s hand.
“It’s bread,” Sebastian snapped. “If you don’t want to eat it because of how it’s shaped, then don’t eat it.” Dropping the bread into the bowl of stew, he poured a glass of wine and sat back. It scraped something inside him to know he still wanted his father’s acceptance. Pointless, useless way to feel, since he’d done without that acceptance all his life. Especially when the “wench” comment pricked something that was less than a memory, more like a faded impression of the times Koltak had come to Nadia’s home to drag him back to Wizard City and the journey had required staying overnight at an inn.
If Koltak hadn’t been a wizard, if he hadn’t had that authority to hide behind, he would have been nothing more than a crude, unlikable man. Maybe, by refusing to accept an incubus for a son, he’s done me more of a favor than I’d realized. Instead of learning from him, I’d had Aunt Nadia showing me what it meant to be a good person.
Koltak hesitated. Then hunger overcame disgust and he grabbed a Delight from the basket and took a big bite. He dug into the stew with the same mixture of disapproval and hunger on his face.
His own appetite gone, Sebastian drank wine and watched his father devour the meal. While Koltak mopped up the last of the stew with a piece of bread, he drained his glass, pushed his own untouched meal aside, and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Koltak belched. Then he sighed. “Your report of violent deaths was just the first of many. If the council had listened—”
“If you had listened!”
Anger flashed in Koltak’s eyes before he fixed his gaze on the table. “Yes, all right. If I had listened. It’s worse than you realize, Sebastian. The Landscapers’ School was attacked.”
“I know.” Remembering what he’d seen soured the wine in his belly. “I had…business…at the school, but it was too late. I didn’t see anyone alive. Barely got out of there myself.”
“Then you saw. You know.”
“That the Eater of the World has escaped and is loose in the landscapes? Yes, I know.”
The shock he saw in Koltak’s face couldn’t have been an act.
“No,” Koltak said. “Not the Eater of the World. Even—” He stopped, made an effort to regain control. “The Wizards’ Council is aware that some of the dark landscapes that were taken out of the world have been…appearing…in other landscapes, that a Dark force is manipulating the landscapes to allow these places access to the rest of the world again. It has to be stopped, has to be destroyed. You can see that, can’t you?”
“I can see that,” Sebastian said.
“Then you must come with me to Wizard City and talk to the council.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’ll tell you everything I can about the deaths here in the Den. I’ll tell you everything I saw at the Landscapers’ School. But I won’t go to Wizard City. I won’t.” His voice sharpened when Koltak began to protest. “There’s no reason for me to go and every reason to stay. I gave my word I’d protect the Den.”
“Then protect it!” Koltak pressed the heels of his hands against his temples, as if trying to squeeze out the right words. “Don’t you realize what’s going to happen to Ephemera without the Landscapers?”
“The landscapes will be vulnerable. The Eater will be able to alter—”
“You fool! It’s worse than that.” Koltak clenched his hands and banged them on the table. “Without the Landscapers, there is nothing that stands between Ephemera and the human heart. The dark landscapes will only add to the madness. Picture it, Sebastian. A baby cries and the family’s well changes to salt water—undrinkable. Two girls, who consider themselves rivals, run into each other in front of a sweetshop and argue—and boulders suddenly push up through the street, stranding wagons and carriages that can’t get through, possibly even hurting people. Ephemera manifests feelings. It always has. The Landscapers are the only ones able to restrain the manifestations.”
Sebastian sat back, stunned. Was that what Glorianna had meant when she’d said he was an anchor? That his feelings for the Den, his affection for the place, kept it in balance? But not just his feelings. Her feelings, too. Glorianna Belladonna resonated through the Den.
But something wasn’t quite right about what Koltak was saying. If the Den had a person as its anchor, wouldn’t other places have anchors as well? After all, the Landscapers’ signature resonances might set the “flavor” of their particular landscapes, but they couldn’t be everywhere all the time.
And why did his head suddenly feel stuffy, as if something were pushing at him from inside his skull? Could wishing for a head cold actually produce one? If that was the case, he was going to think healthy thoughts from now on.
“You think you’re safe here,” Koltak said. “And maybe you are for a while. But if the rest of Ephemera becomes unstable, how long will this place last? The turmoil will break through—and will pull everyone down with it.”
“How…” Sebastian poured more wine and gulped it down, trying to clear his throat, hoping to clear his head. “How am I supposed to help you stop that?”
“We’re trying to find any of the Landscapers who are still out there, trying to get word to them to avoid going back to the school. We knew something had happened at the school, something bad, but we couldn’t find out what it was. Every wizard who had gone to investigate didn’t come back. We’re fighting blind, Sebastian. Some of the bridges have been broken, leaving us with no access to a number of landscapes. Leaving us with no way to reach or help the people who may be struggling to survive. The council wanted to talk to you because you could tell us about the deaths that had taken place here, give us some idea of what was coming out of those hidden, dark landscapes. But you’ve also seen the school. You’re the only one who has. You’re the only one who can tell us what we’re facing. You must come with me!”
“No.” Sebastian rubbed his forehead. Koltak was making sense. Why was he being so stubborn? Going with Koltak to report what he’d seen was the right thing to do. Wasn’t it?
Koltak sighed. “I volunteered to try to find you. To make up for not having listened when you came to me for help. If another wizard had come here instead, telling you all the things I’ve just told you, would you have been willing to do what is right? You call yourself a Justice Maker. Does your justice—and mercy—begin and end with the streets of this place? I wasn’t a good father. I know that. But what I did or didn’t do in the past doesn’t matter now. Can’t matter now. Saving Ephemera is all that matters, and in that, I think, we’re brothers on the same side of a war.”
Truth rang through Koltak’s words, resonated inside Sebastian. But something in him still resisted. If he’d been playing cards with Koltak, he would have walked away from the table long before now, following gut instinct that the man was somehow a cheat. He just couldn’t figure out why he kept feeling the truth was somehow a lie.
But there was something Koltak hadn’t considered: Anything he learned from the wizards he would pass on to Nadia, Glorianna, and Lee.
“Where did you cross over?” he asked.
“A plank bridge within sight of Wizard City. Crossed over to a dark landscape. Demons in the guise of horses.”
“I know the place.” He’d crossed that same bridge when he’d gotten out of Wizard City. Obviously Lee hadn’t found every bridge that could provide access between Wizard City and any of Belladonna’s landscapes.
“All right,” Sebastian said. “I’ll go with you. At least as far as the bridge. I’ll decide if I’m going on to Wizard City at that point.” He frowned. There was something about Ephemera, something he should remember. But the thought kept dancing just out of reach. “I’ll find you a place to sleep for a few hours, then—”
“There’s no time!” Desperation rang in Koltak’s voice. “It took days to find you. Who knows what’s happened in the other landscapes while I’ve been searching for you.”
There it was again. Tha
t feeling that something wasn’t right. “You spent days wandering through the waterhorses’ landscape?”
“I crossed over bridges, hoping one of them would lead to you. Ended up in places called Dunberry and Foggy Downs and the like in some other part of the world.”
He’d never heard of those places. “And you left Wizard City on foot? With no supplies?”
“There was an…attack,” Koltak replied. “The horse was killed. I escaped. Finally found my way here after that.”
If he had a little more time, maybe he could figure out what was bothering him about all this. “You need to rest.”
“I’ll rest when the task is done. When I’ve done what I can to make Ephemera safe again.”
The quiet dignity in Koltak’s voice lanced Sebastian’s heart, turning aside all doubts.
“I need to go back to the bordello to pack a few things. Leave some instructions,” Sebastian said.
Koltak pushed back his chair and rose to his feet. “I’ll go with you, if you have no objections.”
Sebastian just nodded. “Wait here a minute.”
He caught Lynnea just as she entered the courtyard with another order.
“Sebastian, who is that man? Teaser said he’s a wizard, that he’s not a good man.”
He’s my father. And I don’t think he is a good man. “I have to leave for a couple of days. Three at the most. Bad things are happening in the other landscapes. The wizards—the other Justice Makers—have asked for my help. I have to go, Lynnea.”
Worry filled her eyes.
Sebastian brushed a finger down her cheek. “You stay safe, all right? Ask one of the bull demons to escort you back to the bordello if Teaser isn’t around.”
“I will.”
“Miss me a little?”
“I already do.”
He stepped aside to let her deliver the food on her tray. Then he found Teaser.
“Did that wizard whore scoop out half your brains and fill your head with sand?” Teaser said before Sebastian finished telling him why he was leaving.
