Out of the Woods (The Coalescence Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  There was a bow to the other woman, then one toward Will, which he returned. Just in case it was needed.

  “There’s no need for a return message at this time. I was told that the payment for each package would be ten thousand gold coins. I don’t have twenty thousand on me at the moment. Would you consider something in trade?”

  He nodded. After all, it would be interesting to see what the man had in mind. Plus, coin wasn’t that important to him. It never had been, but now he really didn’t think that even gold would help him in most places he was going. A few coins, but in a lot of places even having that kind of thing on him might be a detriment. So for the time being he was willing to deal.

  The strange man looked around, then fixed his eyes on the small woman.

  “Do you like her? She has the gift of foretelling, which is useful at times. Also, she’s unmarried, which is odd for her age. Four hundred. No children yet, is that correct, May?”

  The lady looked at the ground, not up at either of them at all. The man thought that it would be a wonderful bargain, especially since the woman wasn’t actually his to trade away. He could, within his current position, but even if the messenger took her away with him, the problem of running her shop would be Xan’s, when he returned. She was however, worth at least that much gold, so it wasn’t even going to make anyone angry at him, in case he needed to use the message service again at some time.

  The feeling from the small woman was a bit scared. Mainly because she didn’t know what might be about to happen to her. Everything, nearly, was a potential problem. Being rejected would mean that her value as a wife would fall. Then, so would being too harshly used by this new man. If she were broken beyond mending, then few would want her in the future.

  Willum nodded. It was a problem; the offer being made already. He was sort of stuck then.

  “That works. You have a job here? A place to stay and everything you need?”

  The woman adjusted nicely to the fact that he’d accepted her.

  “I do, Master. What service would you have of me first?” She figured that it would be moving away. That, or to the lowest task that he could think of to set her for some years, to break her spirit. That was the common way of things for her own people after all.

  “Nothing right now. I don’t live in this world, so will be in and out. May I use the back of your shop for that at times? For now, you should hold here, seeing to your duty. Follow the orders of Prince Xan when he comes, unless that will harm you in some way. In that case, please ask him to come to see me first? I might be by at some point for lessons.” He started to walk away, since it seemed that the conversation was done. Leif wasn’t waiting for them at least, going to his own shop. The name said they Fried Things there.

  That seemed reasonable, given the scent in the air.

  The small lady followed him, walking behind him by several feet. Until they got to the storefront, which had trays of silver, with food inside of them. It was very different than anything he’d ever seen, if the pictures on the wall were any indication of what was served. It had been in the Frozen Treat shop. That had been in a different reality however. One that people spoke of as being similar, but not identical.

  The woman reached up and gently touched his arm.

  “What lessons do you have need of, Master? If I know now, I can begin learning the subject, to have that ready for you.”

  “Will. Willum Baker, actually. Languages, writing. That kind of thing. I might never need it, but if it comes up, I’ll probably have to learn it fairly quickly. Culture as well. Your own, so you won’t have to learn a lot of new things for that. What kind of person are you, if that’s not the incorrect way of asking about that?” He could see that phrasing being a bit rude.

  May just nodded several times.

  “I understand. I’m an Aelfric. Do you think that you may have need of… Becoming part of my society? It will be difficult, in your current form. Hartley the Line Walker has more than one however, so you may eventually learn that skill as well? The rulers in my land tend to be taller. The more common shorter. I’m fairly well sized for a woman of my lands. Xan is my brother.”

  She seemed rather bland about that idea. As if the relationship wasn’t going to be important to him. Not that it was, but if he’d been the Ambassador he wouldn’t have sold a princess to some strange man because it was mildly convenient at the moment.

  “So you’ll be safe here with him, when he comes? He won’t mistreat you or anything?”

  That got a shrug.

  “Xan has always been a sweet boy. Kind to everyone. Too much so, for my people, at times. It has held him back. To answer what you have asked, he will care for me and would to his own detriment. Am I to live here then, instead of going to your lands?”

  He got what she was asking at least, from the concept of the words. He explained almost instantly. After all, it was better to do that than let her think he was something he wasn’t.

  “I don’t even have a home yet. Even in my own world. So I don’t have vast lands or anything. Hence the job taking messages around like I’m doing. This is my first real day. I did collect a princess however, so there’s that. Especially since she seems to be the kind that’s willing to actually do a bit of work. If you need however, I can, and will, take you from here. I can get a home, if I have to, in a few days’ time. It might require me to beg from my Uncle Tor, but I won’t leave you here, if that’s an issue.”

  It was interesting, since he wasn’t that concerned about the woman he was talking to. She wasn’t scared now, in particular. Something inside of her was telling him what to say however, to leave her feeling better about things. That he could provide for her, if need arose. That he would protect her, even from her own family, if she wasn’t safe.

  She was, but to her mind that meant that she hadn’t been enslaved by a wicked and cruel master who would use her until she was without value, but instead had been traded to Will as a potential wife. Given what he’d been saying, his first wife, which meant something. After all, he was thousands of years old and hadn’t married yet.

  May even understood that it was because he’d worked harder than almost any being ever had, to gain a great prize. That of line walking. A skill so grand that no Aelfric had mastered it in all of history. Rather happily, she bustled to the back room.

  “Very well then. I will stay here, waiting for your return. Should I have supper for you later? Or do you need anything now? I can cook several styles of human food. It’s been my position here for several years now. I can also provide other services? Sewing, home care or wifely tasks?” That last one was different, since to her that meant sex. “I’m owned by you, so I have to do what you say. If it isn’t a problem, could I be allowed some small freedom? I promise I will not abuse the privilege, straying too far to find, or damaging myself so that you do not get full value from me. I… Enjoy going to shops, on occasion. Also, this world has wonderful libraries. They allow even people from other lands to read things freely. The one in this city is a good walk away, but worth the trip, in my estimation.”

  He nodded, since that sounded reasonable to him. Besides, he was nearly certain he could find her anywhere now, having met her once.

  “You may go to any location that pleases you. If you need line travel, please go to Zack directly? I’ll set something up, so you can go where you wish. I need to get back to him now, or else he’ll think I got lost.” It was odd, but he leaned over and hugged the woman closely. She needed him to do something like that, since it was a sign that he wasn’t rejecting her. Most of the time she would have probably been used in the first hours, for sex. That, or be beaten to prove he was in charge of her.

  This wasn’t the same thing, but he’d just announced that he had a time schedule.

  “In a few days I have to go home. Time runs differently there, so if you can afford a few days off, you should come with me? We don’t have slavery there, so I’ll have to host you as a friend.” That meant
he was making plans to keep her, he hoped.

  She smiled at him, if a bit shyly.

  “That would be pleasant. I’ll be prepared for it.”

  Then she went back to work, meaning he could leave. Away to the strange foreign land of Australia. Clearly that was Austra, only in English. The location was probably close at least. Not that he’d seen a map there. When he stepped into the room, Zack smiled.

  “Hey! You didn’t even get skewered. How did it go?”

  “I made two deliveries. Letters both times. First to the king of the Aelfric. Then a return message to Ambassador Leif. He mentioned owing for two messages, which was twenty thousand gold coins. He didn’t have that, so traded me May, the Aelfric. She’s a princess, so that part was probably about right. As for the value?” He stopped then, as Zack nodded a few times and Judith looked horrified for some reason. Not that he really cared. “Anyway, I told her that she could go anywhere she wanted to, as far as travel, and that you’d take her there for free. Instead of finding a reality where everyone worships her, she’s planning to go home with me for a visit there in a few days. We don’t have legal slavery, so I tried to explain that meant we were friends. Even taking her was more to keep her safe. Her last Master was a jerk that traded her away for almost no real reason.”

  The words got Zack to relax a lot, suddenly. He actually wilted a bit, but seemed glad to hear the words.

  “That works. So good, you didn’t have a problem finding a node in the Aelfric lands?”

  He shrugged then.

  “I realized the hole in space was going to collapse behind me, so just held it open the whole time. It isn’t that hard. Then I enlarged it when I needed back into the void.”

  “Ah! I’ve never even thought to try that! Great, we should probably make a run past my place, if that’s all right? I need to introduce you to the family, or they’ll disown me. Thanks Judith! Nice seeing you again.”

  She raised her right hand, waving, her face a tiny bit bleak at the edges.

  “Come again soon. Nice meeting you, Will.”

  He nodded, then shrugged, looking at her.

  “Is it all right…” He glanced at Zack, then back at the plain looking dirty-blonde woman. “I was thinking that we could have Lisa do the full price messages, but pass the rest through here, with Judith? The going rate is ten thousand gold, but not everyone will be able to afford that, even if they have need of the service. So we pretend this is some kind of…” He didn’t know the words for it at all.

  Even in Standard or Home Tongue.

  Judith did, however. That made sense, given that it was a description of her entire plan in regards to him.

  “A black market? A kind of criminal thing, done in secret?”

  “Exactly. So, we charge, I don’t know, ten gold? Twenty? You set the rate for it. Anything you bring in, we split, down the middle. Try to keep the number of trips down, but Zack will line things up from other worlds as well for you.” That way, everyone would be able to use their service. They might get weird things in trade, but that wasn’t a big issue. If he was going from place to place regularly, having things wasn’t a great plan.

  Though, he could stock things away in different locations. Magical devices and other things that might be useful as matters went on in life. That kind of made sense, after he thought about it for a while. After all, if he had a stash of things in the world he was in at the moment, then shifting one over would mean that he could come there and get things that might blend in well enough to pass.

  Not that he was moving one world over at a time at all. Though, now that he considered that, he should be able to. Which would mean, if he were careful, that he could shift far enough away from his target world that learning things about it would be exactingly similar. Safe however.

  Judith blinked at him, then nodded.

  “So, you read my mind?” She was joking, not taking that seriously, even though she understood it was a real thing in life.

  “What? It just seems like a good plan. Anyway, what’s next? A shower you said? One with something approaching warm water?” If they did that cold, he was going to have to school himself not to call out in shock when the first flow hit him.

  Zack just nodded.

  “Yeah. I need to eat as well. I have to every six hours or so. Not in the void, but you know that one. I think Merri is going to be at home. Incredible cook. One of my wives.” That wasn’t said with any particular weight. As if having more than one of those was normal in his world.

  “Make sure you introduce them all to me, so I don’t accidently do something with one of them that gets me into trouble.” The easiest way of doing that was just doing nothing.

  In this world.

  Kaitlyn had instructed him in that one. Her people needed to do that kind of thing and not doing that was probably a good way to be ignored in the world of the Alede. If he was in need of food and someone waved a plate of it in front of him, then refused to share, he probably wouldn’t have a lot to do with that person, after a while.

  Instead of warning him away from his women, the thin man smiled at him, walking toward the node. He didn’t speak, just letting Will follow him back to his place. There was a weak spot that Zack used, which wasn’t a proper node. A dimple in the world, only.

  It was simple enough to pass into. Easier than the trip to the Aelfric lands. On the good side, it went back toward the mall, he thought. Zack saw that he was there and nodded.

  “I figured you could do that. Most of the other line walkers can’t. You can see the shortcut? Can you use it alone? Just walk through it and back.”

  That took two tries, since it was a little picky as to how you did it. He didn’t know where he was in the mall, but it was definitely there. In the world that the house had been in. When he went back, just stepping through, he saw that it was a decently large palace, not just a house. The door, interestingly, took them into the kitchen, where a very tiny girl was busily putting well filled pans into an oven. She spun rapidly, showing that she was older than he’d thought from the back. At first he’d thought seven, on second glance he realized she was older than that. A real adult. Just perfect and incredibly small.

  Without thinking, he bowed, going decently low. This was her home, and her domain, clearly. She curtsied back, smiling at him.

  “Hello. That’s polite, Kyle…” She curtsied again then, stopping in shock. “Forgive me, ancient one. I was mistaken.” She looked at the ground, the top of her metallic red hair showing. She had a single long braid that was held up in a complicated design. She was also the second woman there that was wearing a dress. It was a simple thing, but very clean, with a white apron over the top.

  “I’m Willum Baker. Zack was kind enough to invite me here. For dinner, I think? If not, then I’m being horribly rude mentioning it.”

  The woman looked up, then ran to her husband. She kissed him soundly, with enough energy he was forced to look away, in case they started doing more than that right there.

  Zack stood back after a bit, his face a bit off, for some reason.

  “This is Merri. My wife. Will is the new messenger, between different realities. Earlier he went to your homeland to take a letter to King Ulthian. Leif traded him May for the service. I don’t know how that worked.”

  Willum shrugged as Merri gave him a concerned look. She was very pretty, even without makeup on.

  “It seems that Ambassador Leif is being given some lands. So Prince Xan is taking his place here in a few days. He figured that if I took May away, it would be the new man’s problem to deal with. I just left her there to do her job for the time being. She seems safe enough. Apparently Xan won’t try to sell her like that? It was pretty… Well, I’d say rude, but I don’t know the rules about that.” He meant for the world they were in, but Merri simply nodded, seeming a little tense still.

  “The one in charge may, at any time, sell, or even kill those in his command. If angered it is not unheard of for a commander to des
troy all of his old people, if replaced. It is one reason that we all serve to the very best of our ability. So that if such a thing happens, we might be spared that fate. May… that was a risk. There’s no great love lost between her and her mother, but King Ulthian regards her highly, for a daughter. I don’t think that he’d go to war with us, if she were abused or killed, but I do not know he wouldn’t.”

  It wasn’t hard to understand that it was meant as a warning, to him. It wasn’t that good as a threat, but the woman wasn’t trying to suggest it that way. To her it was clear that May was owned by him now, not King Ulthian. Her father had trusted in his Ambassador to guard his children, and if Will wanted to harm her, it wasn’t honestly between the King and him. It would be between Ulthian and Leif. Which was interesting, since the other man hadn’t been worried that way at all.

  For his part he just nodded.

  “Well, she’s with me now. No one will harm her, if I can stop it.”

  That, it seemed, while unexpected, was a very nice answer. The woman beamed at him at least.

  “That’s good to hear. Are you planning to marry her? Or keep her as a concubine? She’s not much to look at, but she’s an excellent cook, and tall, which some like.”

  The sad thing was that Merri was actually trying to sell him on the idea. May was fine looking, as far as he could tell. Prettier than most women in the world that he’d seen so far. Not as much as the woman in front of him, but May did have that tall thing going on, as had been pointed out.

  “I don’t know. I’m planning to take her back to my world in a few days? Zack has training for me first. The time runs differently there, so she’ll be gone longer for her than it will seem here. I don’t know if I’m allowed to marry however. I have a duty to perform.” A thing that he wasn’t supposed to talk about. That part from the demons had been correct. The less people knew about him and what his real goal was, the more likely it was that he’d live a bit longer.