Apparition

by Tom Liberman

  The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

  By Tom Liberman

  Copyright 2015

  ISNB: 978-0-9863150-5-3

  Kindle Edition

  Prolog

  Two travelers stopped atop a hill and looked down upon the city before them. A low wall surrounded it and a warm summer breeze rustled the thousands of flags that lined it like wagon spokes around a great wheel.

  The shorter of the two clapped his hand on the shoulder of his companion and looked up at him, “Home at last, Jon?”

  Jon nodded his head and looked down at his shorter friend, “It’s been a long time, Sorus.”

  “Don’t I know it,” said the other man. He had a thick beard, a head full of unruly brown hair, broad shoulders, and a look of seriousness in his eyes. “I’ve heard so much about Tanelorn I feel like I’ve known it all my life. I’ll finally get to meet that sister of yours to see if she’s as fearsome as you describe.”

  Jon laughed, a booming thing that carried far over the plains below, and smiled an irrepressible grin that went from ear to ear.

  Sorus couldn’t stop from laughing along with his friend although, as was often the case, he wasn’t sure why he was laughing. “What’s so funny?”

  “I was thinking it wasn’t too late to turn back,” said Jon with a wink and a shrug. Then he put his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “What say you, back to the Fire Mines? Those poisonous hills outside of Caparal? The ruins of Das’von again? The Tomb of the Minotaur King? Another attempt to scale the Lonely Mountain? I’m game.”

  “It’s too late,” said Sorus with a smile. “Your father awaits. Your mother.”

  “If they’re alive,” said Jon and a frown replaced the smile as he looked at the ground in front of him.

  “We should find out,” said Sorus whistling loudly into the air.

  Two horses immediately appeared some distance away and began trotting toward the men. One was grey and tall while the other had a strange two-tone pattern and seemed shorter but was clearly more powerful in the flanks.

  “Come along, Jon,” said Sorus taking the reins in his hand and walking to the city walls with the horse in tow. “It is unlike you to let me lead. Show me this city of yours.”

  Jon looked down upon the city and its low walls for a few seconds more and then broke into a strange little jog to catch up with his friend. He was so tall that his gait looked awkward but he covered the distance in only a few massive strides. “Wait up now, Sorus. I don’t want you getting yourself in trouble.”

  Sorus shook his head and continued forward at a brisk pace. Jon soon joined him and they covered the last mile to the city in short order. They arrived at the wall where so many flags fluttered in the breeze. Some were tattered and old while others looked fresh and new. The wall itself was only four feet high or so, and was obviously useless as a defensive emplacement. No armed soldiers stood at the gate although an older man looked up from some whittling he was doing and nodded his head.

  “Hail, friend,” said Jon walking up to him with his ever present smile. “Where is everyone today?”

  “The circus is leaving town, heading west,” said the man looking at Jon with narrowed eyes. “You’re a big one, eh?”

  Jon smiled, “The circus? Archaos?”

  “The same,” said the man.

  “Why aren’t you with everyone watching them go?”

  “I’m one of the few that remembers the last time they were here. Someone had to watch the gate although no one would dare attack when the circus is in town.”

  Jon nodded his head, “True enough.” He turned to Sorus and shrugged his shoulders. “It looks like we’ve missed it yet again. I begin to despair that we will ever get to see the spectacle.” He turned to the old man and smiled, “Did you see a show?”

  “I did,” said the man with a smile. “It was everything I remembered and more. They say a man is lucky if he sees the Archaos once in his life and I’ve now been twice blessed.”

  Jon nodded his head again and smiled, “One of these days, right, Sorus?”

  “One of these days, Jon,” echoed Sorus.

  The man at the gates renewed his narrow gaze at Jon and nodded his head, “I thought so,” he muttered to himself.

  “Say now,” said Jon to the man. “Is the Gray Lord’s house still in the Mistletoe District up on that hill?”

  “That it is,” said the man with a smile and another nod. “That it is.”

  “And the Gray Lord is alive and well? The Gray Lady? His children?”

  The man nodded yet again, “He is alive. His lady is well. His daughter leads the armies of Tanelorn. His son is the Gray Druid and perhaps the most powerful wizard in the world. There was another boy but not much is known of him. It has been a dozen years or more since he left Tanelorn to seek his own way in the world. Now, I’ve told you what I know, in exchange perhaps you can tell me what you know of him?”

  Jon put his hand to his chin and smiled, “One favor deserves another, is it not the way of Tanelorn?”

  The man grinned and pulled a pipe from his pocket along with a small pouch of tobacco. “We have some time yet but I will not hold you to that favor, at least not at this moment. I see that you have places to be and people to meet. I do not wish to risk the wrath of someone who desperately wishes to see you. Find me in the city; my home is in the Garden District. I live with my daughter and her husband and children. The house has a green door and is west of a fountain with grazing goat statues.”

  Jon gave a slight bob with his head, “I’ll find you, and when I do, I feel certain that I can tell you a story or two.”

  “Perhaps,” said the man and turned to face the road leading to the little gateway. “Now hurry along, you’re distracting me from my important duties.”

  “One more thing, old fellow,” said Jon. “We’ll need to stable our horses. Are the Gray Stables still nearby?”

  The man looked over his shoulder and pointed into the city, “That way,” he said while tamping tobacco into his pipe.

  “Come along, Sorus, we’ll stable our faithful friends here and then maybe you’ll get to meet those people I talk about all the time.”

  A few minutes later they stood outside a large building that seemed largely deserted, “Hail, Gray Stables!” shouted Jon to the air. “We’ve horses that need tending.”

  A few seconds later a tall woman with long, dark hair that cascaded down her back like water over a falls appeared. She wore a wide-brimmed hat and her tanned face bore the look of someone who knew what she was doing. “Hello, dolly!” said Jon with a smile but saw the girl had stopped and was staring at his companion. “What’s this?” he said with an amused grin and turned to Sorus who stood with his mouth gaping open. “Well, well, well.” He waved his hand in front of his companion’s face and this seemed to bring the man out of his stupor.

  “What, oh yes, we’re looking to stable our horses,” said Sorus to the woman who seemed to emerge from her own daze and smiled at him.

  “Best stable in all of Tanelorn. You’ve come to the right place …,” she paused.

  “Sorus, Sorus Br … Sorus Nightwalk.”

  “Sir Sorus,” corrected Jon with a smile, pushing his friend forward, and cocking his ear toward the sound of shouting that seemed to come from around the corner. “You work out the details with dolly. I think I hear something over there.”

  It took Sorus a few minutes to make arrangements with the woman and by the time he caught up with his friend he found him watching a group of young teen boys playing some sort of a game that involved a large and heavy ball, two goals, and a small hoop suspended high above the center of the playing surface. It did not look large enough to accommodate the ball with which they played.

  One of the team
s tossed the ball into a goal and there was a break as the team that apparently scored celebrated while their opponents gathered to plot strategy.

  Sorus came up to Jon and tapped his friend on the back, “How do you play?”

  Jon smiled and strode onto the playing surface with a huge grin, “Hello there, lads. I’m new to town and thought you might let me have a try at your game. It looks easy enough!”

  The boys all looked up at the behemoth and then turned to each other. There was a conference of a sort and eventually Jon joined the team that apparently lost the previous round. One of Jon’s new teammates picked up the heavy ball with both hands and threw it to a large boy on the other team. Everyone immediately sprang into action darting around the playing surface as the team with the ball tried to maneuver toward Jon’s team’s goal.

  The boy Jon was covering sprinted toward the goal and seemed to get ahead of him for a moment, “I’m open,” he screamed and a teammate heaved the ball with a double-handed toss.

  Jon moved with astonishing quickness for such a large man and reached forward with impossibly long arms to knock the ball away and toward a teammate. That boy scooped up the ball and dashed back in the other direction as Jon spun and moved with him.

  “Up high,” he commanded and darted toward the center of the circle. Two other boys converged on Jon but the pass was far above their grasping hands.

  Jon caught it in one massive palm, took an enormous stride toward the center circle, and leapt high in the air. At the apex of his leap he released the ball which hung in the air for a moment and then dropped perfectly through the circle and landed with a thud on the ground.

  Everyone around them stopped and stared.

  Jon turned to Sorus and winked, “That’s how you play.”

  Sorus rolled his eyes, “Show off.”

  “Who is that guy?” asked one of the boys as Jon began to walk off and the others turned to Sorus.

  “Jon Gray,” said Sorus, shook his head with a wry grin, and followed his friend.

  They continued down a wide street and eventually made their way up a large and long hill into a region where trees grew in elaborate archways that stretched over narrower lanes. It was clear that much landscaping and probably magic was involved for they seemed to almost welcome visitors with open arms. Then they were in front of a simple two story home guarded by a gray door with a little window in it, but which was otherwise indistinguishable from the many others they passed.

  Jon took a deep breath, wiped his feet several times on the mat, reached forward with his hand, and pushed the door open. There was a large boot rack by the door and Jon stopped to take off his boots and put them on it, as did Sorus. To their right was a dining room with settings for three all laid out and the smell of baking bread in the air.

  Jon walked quietly through the dining room to a small swinging door which he pushed open with one hand while Sorus followed behind. A woman stood with her back to them chopping vegetables on a wooden cutting board.

  “Is something wrong, Janey?” she said and continued to chop the vegetables, her long silver hair flowing down her back and tied in a ponytail. “You’re much too quiet, it’s not like you.”

  “Hello, mom,” said Jon.

  The woman spun around with the knife still in her hand. Her jaw dropped and her knees buckled for a moment.

  Jon started to move forward to grab her but she recovered and put out a hand to stop him. She laid the knife gently on the table although her eyes were immediately overflowing with tears. Then they hugged.

  After a while the woman looked up at Jon and shook her head, “You’re so tall!” Then she seemed to notice Sorus for the first time and pulled away. “I’m so sorry, where are my manners? Hello, you must be Sorus. Valary has told us a little about you but you must know nothing of us. I’m Claire Gray, as you probably guessed, Jon’s mother.”

  “Oh, I know quite a lot about you,” said Sorus with a smile. “Jon talks and talks about everyone in his family … except his sister.”

  There was a loud clunk from behind them at just that moment and a woman’s voice called out, “What’s for dinner?”

  Sorus looked to Jon who had a steely expression on his face as they turned back to face the living room. The woman who came through wore a heavy tunic stained with mud and carried a thick sword in one hand and a heavy helmet under her arm. She stopped for a moment, took in Jon and Sorus, and then walked boldly up to Jon and stared up at him. She was tall, taller than Sorus, but not nearly as big as Jon who towered over her by half a foot or more.

  “Baby brother,” she said with a smile and opened her arms. “No hug for big sis?”

  John’s expression relaxed slightly and he warily opened his arms.

  The girl wasted no time punching him hard in the stomach, looping her arm around his head, dropping her helmet and sword with a clank, and bulldogging him to the floor in one swift motion.

  “Get off,” screeched Jon in a high-pitched voice that Sorus had never before heard.

  A moment later Claire Gray began whacking at Jane with a broom that she apparently had handy. “Stop it, stop it, Jane, leave your brother alone!”

  The two rolled on the floor for a moment and knocked against a cabinet sending a vase of flowers tilting. Sorus grabbed it at the last moment and turned as Jane pushed Jon’s head into the floor with a violent shove and then focused her green eyes on Sorus.

  Sorus made sort of a gulping sound as she stood and approached him. “You’re a big one,” she said looking him up and down. “If your pecker’s proportional I’d consider giving you a tumble,” with this she made as if to reach between his legs.

  Sorus stumbled backwards over a chair sending the vase and flowers flying as he landed on his back with a crash.

  “Janey,” said Claire shaking her head although noticeably stifling a laugh. “My sweet angel, my little princess.”

  “Yes, mother?” said Jane looking back with a wry grin on her face, one that Sorus realized was an exact duplicate of her twin brother’s.

  “Your brother has only just arrived after,” she choked for a moment, “twelve years away. And his friend Sorus is a guest in our house.”

  “Your point?” said Jane looking down at the two men.

  “I thought you might wait until after supper before completely emasculating them,” said Claire putting her hand on the girl’s shoulder.

  “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing now,” said Jane with arched eyebrows. “Isn’t that what you always tell me?”

  “How is it that you only remember what I say when it’s convenient for you?” said Claire.

  Jane shrugged and gave Jon a little kick, “Get up, it’s not that bad.”

  Chapter 1

  Rhia closely watched the revelry with darting eyes as she took mental notes of the various party-goers and how they might be useful to her.

  Thousands of people gathered at the wall of Tanelorn where a large podium stood especially erected for the ceremony. Nearby three recently emplaced sconces in the wall awaited the banners that newly enshrined Gray Knights would place there in honor of their pledge. Hundreds of tents and booths circled the podium and people drank, ate, and made merry in the darkness before the dawn.

  “You’re Rhia Buffalorider, aren’t you?” said a voice at her side and she jumped and her eyes opened wide before she managed to gain control of herself.

  Rhia looked down and spotted a young boy, perhaps eleven or twelve, with hair cropped so short that it was impossible to determine what color it was. He had a long blade at one side, a dagger at the other, wore a loose fitting, thick leather jerkin, long pants, and a pair of light moccasin style shoes. His face was smooth and almost beautiful, his complexion perfect.

  “Who wants to know?” asked Rhia eyeing him carefully.

  “I’m Mike,” said the boy looking boldly back at her with a narrow stare. His eyes were a brilliant shade of green with little golden speckles. “You want to be a Gray Knight,
right?”

  “What’s it to you?” said Rhia shrugging and turning her attention back to the crowd. It would be dawn soon and the ceremony would begin. A burst of girlish laughter came from behind a tent and seconds later the impossibly tall Jon Gray emerged with a young woman on each arm, a tumbler of beer in one hand, and a grin as big as the sun. It was but a twinkling of the eye before a dozen young men and women gathered around the little group while everyone else nearby looked on enviously.

  Rhia turned, which put her back to the group, and also put the young boy behind her.

  “You came with the circus, six months ago, right,” persisted the young boy walking around to face her once again.

  “Ok, fine, right,” said Rhia looking at the little boy for a moment and shaking her head. “What about it?”

  “I can help,” said the boy smiling. It was a dazzling smile. All the teeth perfectly sized and lined up neatly.

  “Help?” asked Rhia as she sized him up again. He had the look of an elf with all that beauty. Sort of girlish.

  “Help being a Gray Knight. I work for Lofo Trul. He’s a captain. I know that’s what you want.”

  “You work for Lofo?” said Rhia, her eyes narrowing and looking at the young boy more closely. She knew of Lofo and understood he wielded a great deal of influence in Tanelorn. All her attempts to garner his attention over the last few months had so far utterly failed.

  The boy nodded his head and smiled that dazzling smile.

  “No really, do you know Lofo?” asked Rhia. “How old are you?”

  “I’m fifteen,” said the boy and put his hands on his hips. “I work for Lofo. We don’t have time to mess about. Come with me if you want to be a Gray Knight.” With that he walked off and eventually disappeared behind a large tent with red and white stripes that had the aroma of cooking meat.

  Rhia watched him go, his frame was trim and lithe and he moved with grace. She shook her head and shrugged, “Why not?” It took her only a minute to chase after the boy and take up stride next to him.

  They meandered through the crowd for about ten minutes before arriving at a large yellow tent where a large number of pies were on display although business seemed sparse. A pale girl with hollow eyes and scraggly red hair stood behind the counter not making any effort to attract customers.