Out of the Woods (The Coalescence Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  As he got to the jail, Will spotted the man he was supposed to kill coming down the street. He didn’t seem happy, but moved along at a good pace. The shoulders were set, and he walked heavily, stomping along, instead of just flowing through the world. His head was bald on top, with long wispy gray and blond hair on the sides. His beard was full however, if matted in places. Probably from spittle or food.

  The clothing was real, and a light color of tan, but with food and wine stains down the front. From the distance, it looked like the man would smell foul. Without realizing he’d done it, Will started toward the fellow. A plan came to him then, based on where they were going to meet up.

  Near the mouth of a small alleyway. Truly, it was no more than a space between the buildings. There were no paving stones, just well packed dirt. It was, clearly, where the rubbish bins were being kept. At least by the house along the other side.

  “Excuse me!” Will waved, smiling enough to warp the magical mask over his face. “You there, could you help me for a moment? There’s a copper in it for you. It won’t take but a minute either, so coin well made. I have to shift a package, but it will take two people to do so.” Pretending he had coin at all, he hefted the sack filled with magical tiles on his side, which got the man to give him a gap toothed smile.

  “Certain, M’lord. I’m to stand duty here in a moment, but I could be of some help, if’n you like.” The words were coarse enough to sound uneducated. Which probably wasn’t the truth. Everyone in Noram was given a free education. Paid for by the kingdom. So, regional dialect aside, the man would at least have been given the chance to learn to read, write, and memorize more history than had ever seemed helpful. He might have even learned a simple trade, depending on where he was from.

  In Pine Creek they’d been offered lessons in farming, for instance. Will had taken some of them, which meant, in a pinch, he could put seeds in the ground and collect the plants at the end of the season. Part of each year he’d spent in the fields, helping get harvests in, after that.

  What this man might have learned was a thing he couldn’t guess at. Well, it probably wasn’t how to operate either a jail or a laundry. Not with the stench that came off of both the fellow and the building to the left. Instead of having bars on the windows, it just didn’t have that kind of thing. The timbers were squared logs, which made for a sturdy enough frame, no doubt.

  “Thank you.” He put on his best, most noble sounding accent. “The parcel isn’t that heavy, but the workers I hired hid it back here, figuring that no one would steal it next to the jail. Probably correctly, though it’s rather inconvenient for me. We just need to move it to the street. I have a wagon coming along in about twenty minutes. It’s just so long… Well, you’ll see… here…”

  It was hard to see for the first half of things, the reeking waste bins in the way. They had wooden covers on them, but one of them had been left on the ground the last time it had been used, it seemed. The jailer went first, stopping just past that.

  “I… Don’t see no package, M’lord.” He didn't sound wary, just confused.

  Will huffed, exaggerating the thing too much.

  “I was told… Here, I need to make a call to a certain hauler. He has a handheld, thankfully. I probably have the wrong place then. If that’s the case, you still get your coin. You came for the work, I won’t see you stinted. If you could hold here for a few more seconds?” Will actually got his handheld out, holding the small cutter in the same hand. Then he moved a bit closer, turning, so that the man could see what he was doing. New magic was often interesting after all. The man goggled a bit.

  “The bits there move? Words. No, names, I can’t read them, moving so.”

  “Oh? Here, it’s a handy thing to have. If you look at it square on, it’s easier. I can slow it down as well.” The shifting closer was nearly too easy. Then, most people weren’t going to calmly kill a person.

  It happened with a smooth, very fast motion. That did take the head off, as well as part of the neck and a bit of shoulder. The man fell apart, still blinking and with his mouth moving as he died. The word on his lips as he did it was simple enough to read.

  “Why?”

  Willum spoke to him, as the man fell to the ground, hidden by the waste bins.

  “I don’t know. I just need your head here.” That part was going to be tricky. It was tempting to stuff the thing in the sack and run off at full speed, but no one had seen him do it. Or heard them, most likely. He was even free of sticky red blood, which had painted the side of the jail. Low to the ground, which would be invisible from the street. For a moment he considered dumping the body in the open waste bin, but that would have meant getting bloody in the process. If he avoided that, he could just walk away.

  Carrying a red and tan sack with a head in it.

  The trick there would be getting most of the blood out before leaving, and doing that before the man should have been on his duty for the day. It nearly didn’t work, because the head took too long to stop releasing blood. Finally, he turned it upside down, twisted the top of the canvas sack shut firmly enough to carry and walked away, as if he had a melon from the market with him. No one set up an alarm or anything as he left, just wandering slowly to the Transport hut. Inside of that he dropped his disguise, then removed himself to Soam.

  In all the whole thing had taken less than an hour when he returned to the pod house.

  Taman didn’t smile at him, though she did look into the sack. After that the woman, the Ancient of Soam, had to fight off being ill for a while. She didn’t get sick, but after she sat, sucking in large gulps of air, she waved at the thing.

  “Good work. Did you have any problems eluding capture?”

  “No. No one even seemed to know anything had happened yet. I didn’t let the disguise go until I was in the hut, so no one saw me.”

  “Right. Take that to the magic shop on Harmony. Give it to Patricia Baker. She’ll tell you what she wants done with it.”

  Then she just sat there, looking miserable, as if she hadn’t been the one to order him to murder the fellow. Then, she wasn’t the person being trained to do whatever it took to make it on different worlds. He was. Holding her to that standard was unkind. So instead of defensively scolding her for looking at him like she was, he moved away. Quickly, since red was soaking through the top of the sack now. Just a bit, but it could make a mess if he wasn’t careful. Before hitting the sigil to take him to Harmony, Will stopped and reset his disguise. The hair and eyes were still blue and light blond, but his face would be much different. He did use lifts again, but made them shorter, by about four inches.

  The girl from before was behind the counter, with Patricia working the floor, putting out amulets. She kept working while he stood there, finishing before standing up from her knees. Smiling in a way that seemed inviting. Even if she didn’t know him.

  “Hello. May I help you?”

  He nodded, then hefted the bag.

  “Delivery for you. Can we get somewhere private for that?”

  She didn’t balk at the idea, though she did eye the sack closely.

  “This way? I don’t think that we’ve met before…”

  He nodded, not even bothering to speak until they were in a sealed back room. She turned and waved at him, hitting something at her neck.

  “Privacy shield. No one can hear us now. What’s the situation?”

  Will shrugged.

  “Taman Baker sent me to collect this, then instructed me to bring it here. It’s a human head.”

  That got blinking, then a peek into the bag. At first she seemed baffled, but holding the head up in both hands, which meant he had to hold the bag again, the woman nodded.

  “I see. Am I allowed to know who you are?”

  He didn’t know, but hadn’t been told to even disguise himself before going. He simply had. Aunt Patricia was, clearly, part of the team doing his training, if at a distance.

  “Willum Baker. We’ve met.”

&
nbsp; She nodded, staring at him.

  “You killed him yourself?”

  “Yes.” He wasn’t proud of it, but she settled the head back into the sack, with a bit of help from him. If touching the dead bothered her, he couldn’t see it on her face. Finally, she smiled. It was nearly a sneer. Aimed at the bag, not him.

  “Years ago, about thirteen now, Gerent Lairdgren and I were tossed into the low jail in Galasia. We were on a mission. I can’t tell you about that. We had to break some laws. While we were there we were both beaten. Raped several times a day as well. The others that had done it were all parted out. Limbs taken off, unmanned, then healed. Four of those survived. They serve in a whore house there now. The two who have lived. Used against their will by anyone with a copper. That, and a strong stomach. There had been a sixth man, but at the time I couldn’t mention it. I was afraid that thousands would die, if the issue wasn’t put to rest. I wasn’t aware that anyone else had known about that. The head in the bag was that last man.”

  She didn’t do anything for a while, then she shook her head.

  “Now, go over everything you did on the mission. As detailed as possible.”

  She stopped him after half a minute. Laughing.

  “Okay, not that detailed. I don’t need to know what every person on the street was wearing. You passed fifteen people that made eye contact?”

  “Well, more might have looked at me, I wasn’t staring, since I didn’t want to call that much attention to myself.”

  “Go on.”

  She didn’t stop him until he got to the offer of a copper.

  “No! If you didn’t have it, you shouldn’t have offered it to him. What if he’d wanted to see it first? That could have made complications you didn’t need. Also, using an alley without scoping it out first was a poor plan. It worked, but half the time you’ll be killing someone just as the trash needs to be emptied. I’m not kidding, either. I’ve had that happen myself, several times.”

  When he got to the end, she smiled at him, shaking her head.

  “You made a dozen mistakes. The first was not asking for as much information as possible. Never just go off and kill anyone, if you can help it. Even if you aren’t allowed to know why they need to die, you should have looked at the area, and made your escape routes first. That was fine work, for doing it off the cuff, I’ll give you that. This wasn’t something you had to do in that kind of time frame however. You could have taken a week, or even six months, and no one would think less of you, as long as it was done. Keep that in mind. In general, it’s best to not have to kill, since there will be alarms up now. Especially since the head is missing. The use of disguise sounds good though. Most people couldn’t pull that off. Can you show me what Tam had you use?”

  That took a few minutes and the loan of a mirror, a magical one from the shop, which he decided to keep if he could. It wasn’t hard to do again after that. When it was done, his aunt nodded at him.

  “Rico Gala. He’s dead, so no one will actually be blamed for being him. I used to be engaged to him. He was totally insane, unfortunately. So, good work over all. Correct what we just discussed. I heard that you’re the go to man for getting packages to other realities and worlds now?”

  He nodded, then simply asked what he wanted to know.

  “Right. Whom did you hear that from, if it’s all right to know?”

  “From Timon, who heard it from Queen Constance. I think she’s trying to butter him up for immortality, or at least returned youth. She just needs to ask. Tim isn’t stingy that way. Surprisingly few people have come to him about that kind of thing however. He’s been away, on Brian’s world. That… Basically, all the main worlds we’ve been going to have some kind of version of Tor. Brian, Gwen, Zack, Zack again and so on. Those are safe worlds and the main ones we’re in contact with. There aren’t a lot of them yet. There are places closer to us here, but no one has been going there yet. Really, that will probably be your job. It’s dangerous. Anyway, I need something delivered to Eve Benson. Technically you can find her on Mars here, but she only comes in about once a week and she’ll need it faster, since it’s a gift for a friend of hers.” She stopped then, and winked. “Not even a human head, this time. I make perfumes, so she commissioned a very gentle woodsy scent for her friend. We run faster than they do, so it needs to go in today, if possible.”

  She traded him for the sack with the head in it, which he had to like. The floating case was lighter, if nothing else. Too small for major body parts either. She opened it in front of him, to let him smell it. To him it was nice and like the forest, but not overpowering.

  “Not bad. Pine and cedar? With… Clove?”

  She smiled at him, then patted him on the shoulder.

  “A few other things as well, but yes. You have a good nose for this kind of thing. So, if you could take that along?”

  He held out his hand then, for payment.

  She looked at him funny, then shrugged.

  “Right, it’s a business. How much?”

  “Two of the mirror amulets? I know that they’re free here, but that will be useful. I’ve needed one almost every day since leaving home and have had to get Taman to make one for me. I’d say she was showing off, just making them appear in the air, but I’m afraid she’d get mad and turn me into a dog for mocking her.”

  That wasn’t true, but Trice winked at him.

  “Just so you know, that really is impressive. Almost no one can really do that kind of thing. I didn't know she could to be honest. Tor can. Tim as well, but he almost never does. So, that’s a fair trade. Or probably not, but if we set the bar too high no one will be able to use your service. How are you doing it?”

  That got him to shrug.

  “By bothering Dareg. Naturally. We have a deal in place. I ask him to take me places and he does it. The whole arrangement sounds very balanced. Really, I should give him half of the things that I get for it.” That would mean losing one of his new mirrors, which a wizard probably didn’t need, but that wasn’t the point. It was about getting him to see Will as a potential friend, even if they’d had a rocky start.

  His aunt wrinkled her nose at him then, but also nodded.

  “You need to work out how to do that for yourself. I think most of the best builders can work it out. There’s special training for it as well. I hear that’s pretty intensive however. Hundreds of years in isolation, meditating and that kind of thing. On the good side, Dareg told me that while he was gone for much longer than that, the whole thing only took a couple of hours here. So far no one else has volunteered to try it. You need to. Soon, if possible.”

  That didn’t sound like much fun.

  “I’ll see if I can set that up. First though, the delivery, if I can find a way there. I should hurry.”

  He started into the store, only to be stopped so that two mirror amulets could be pressed into his right hand. Then he was kissed on the cheek.

  “Thanks. That was fun. You should come back again, soon.” The way she looked at him, it was kind of clear she wasn’t suggesting he come back for a delivery. Or that he’d really been making one.

  “Of course. See you soon, Patricia.” He kind of failed at seeming sexy at all, not knowing how, but she pretended along with him, making eyes until he got to the door of the place. Then, taking a deep breath, he pulled his handheld, looked up Dareg Canton’s name and tapped the thing, assuming nothing would happen.

  It picked up after about ten seconds.

  “Hey!” The other man, who was younger than he was by a few years, seemed to understand who was there instantly. That was a great trick, considering he could be anyone with a disguise on. Something had given him away then.

  “Hello, Dareg. I have a delivery to Eve Benson? It’s a present for a friend of hers, so needs to be taken there, I think?”

  “Sure. I know that one. You’re on Harmony? I can be there in about two minutes. Leaving from there will work as well as anything.”

  The handheld w
ent dead, but by the time that was back in his pocket, and he’d traveled the ten steps to the transport hut, the thing was opening, showing Dare Canton inside.

  “That was quick. The package is the little floating case here. Oh…” He pulled one of the mirror amulets and passed it over then. “Half the payment for it. We might not get rich, but we will be well groomed.” Then, before they could do anything, he dropped the disguise amulet, using his own face for the trip. His hair was colored black, with his eyes being brown. He used his mirror to make that happen.

  Dareg didn’t even laugh about his vanity.

  “Eve is nice, but not human. She’s a vampire, which is a dead person who drinks blood. Also a line walker. A good person to make friends with, if you can. I’ll take you into the line from here. We’ll just walk out into space on the other side, so start out taking a step forward. On three… One, two…Three!”

  He matched Dare on that and the world blinked, first to black for a long time, which felt like a few years, only wasn’t like that at all, then they were in a different place, stepping forward.

  “That worked then. I wasn’t certain.” Dare looked at him, then slapped at his arm. “I left you there, with me, for a long time. Most people freak out, but you did well. After this I need to take you to meet Zack. The human one. Him or Troy Lopez.”

  “I’ve met him.”

  Dareg laughed once then, nodding.

  “Here I thought I was guiding you unaware into something no one sane would try. You should learn to travel on your own. Most can’t do it. I don’t know if you can, but some of the things we’ve seen about the other versions of you indicates that it’s not impossible.” Without pause he switched to slightly accented English. “So, Eve are you here or do we have to search the whole world to find you?”

  There was a voice from the front then, which sounded far less than dead to him. Chipper nearly.

  “Dare? Come on up! I wasn’t expecting anyone. Not that it isn’t welcome, I’m totally bored up here. If I clean the counter any more I’m going to wear the marble away.”