by P. S. Power
When he tapped it on, an unfamiliar face came. It was a Ysidril, and one who was dressed to be incredibly distinctive. Her face had blue and white on it in a stark pattern, and when she spoke, it was in Fleet. Which he didn't know yet.
So Willum shook his head, and spoke in Ysidril. After all, while not an expert in that tongue, he could probably get by. He needed to practice, anyway.
“Sorry, I don’t have that other language yet. May I help you?”
“Green and Brown Shrubbery? I am Yelsa, who is the one doing this part of things for my people at this time. Would it be all right to speak to you on image capture, about long term plans for your worlds and our Fleet? We can put it up on the system, for all to see. I think it will allow for smoother integration of work, between our peoples, if that is known.”
The odd thing was that he understood what she meant, more or less. The problem was that he wasn’t the spokesperson for their system. No one really was.
“Ah…” He bounced in place, to show that he was thinking. It was the correct body language for that. “Would it be all right if I spoke to some others here first. I may not be the best person for that kind of work at this time. I could call back in…” He’d need at least a day to get in touch with the right people. Even if he hurried them it would take at least another for them to figure out what they wanted to be said and pick who to do that.
Finally he shook his head a bit, to clear it.
“Would twenty-two sections be all right? It might take longer to have everything ready, but that way I can at least speak with the correct people.” Which would be most of the world’s leaders, he thought.
Yelsa agreed with that, thankfully.
That meant he only had to get with most of the world leaders and Ancients, for three different planets, work out a long-term work plan, or get them to, find a way to fold space, and protect his mind from the strongest telepaths ever known. Before his party, which he still needed to get together.
It wasn’t too much to ask for, he supposed. The trick would be in picking what he didn’t want to get done. Except that, if he chose wrong, it might be the last thing he ever did.
Then he remembered the new shield idea. That was going to have to be in the mix as well.
He would have started pulling his hair out, but he didn’t have any, at the moment.
Chapter eleven
It felt like Willum was going to fail at every turn. That there was simply no time to get anything done at all. That wasn’t how things were shaking out, Will noticed.
During the day he readied his little party, which was more of an ambush than anything else. Only highly effective and well-armed fighters were being invited. Even their spouses had to either prove out that way or not come. Past that, he was taking pains to make certain he had good food and music. That was going to be provided by Tobin Peterson, one of his friends from the IPB world. Lauren and Peggy were coming in as well, to provide background for the songs performed. Sure, it would all be in a different language and style, but each of them was, in their own way, an incredibly powerful being.
At night Willum worked on the new shield project. It wasn’t hard to copy a shield, even a good one. The difficulty wasn’t even making a magical switch for the things. A device that would, if one of the fields was turned off, the other would turn on first. No, as he’d feared, the real problem was in turning them both off at one time. In the end he cheated a bit, making the shields on different amulets. Ones designed to be passed through another shield from the inside.
If the things turned on, then, when you were safe again, you had to take one of the talisman off, toss it away from you physically and then turn off the other one. It was, naturally, a huge hassle. Worse, you had to do it if the shield was turned on for any reason. So you had a ten second or longer event every time you nearly stubbed your toe too hard.
Before the day of the party, Willum had to run, a lot. Not physically, but every moment was crammed to overfull with visiting, working and planning. Even while he sat and crammed food into his face. If that part was working at all to put weight back on, it wasn’t showing much yet.
The truth was that the whole thing was more than a bit mind numbing. Even the few good and easy things to happen were a stress on him. For instance, Yelsa the Ysidril, while a very intelligent being of good will and hard work, didn’t sleep at all. At least once every eight hours the female got in touch with him, to ask questions or make suggestions. It was annoying. Especially since most of what she said were brilliant ideas that actually needed to be suggested to everyone else. Increasing his work load.
The guests there weren’t a lot of help, either.
Willum got the basic idea, that they’d come in to help him. In theory. Even to protect him if he needed it. Smythe for instance made a point of staying with him constantly. When Willum used the restroom, the man stood outside the door, with a weapon in his hand. Ready to fight to the death in order to guard him. It was both odd and kind of comforting.
The man slept, which meant that others did the task at those times, without ever mentioning what was going on. As if Will needed people to help keep him alive or something.
Which hadn’t been the case so far. Not that he whined about that part. If nothing else, several of the people, like Aunt Alyssa and Countess Ward, kept forcing food on him. He needed that, even if his hurry to get everything done wouldn’t have allowed him to think of it.
On the day before the party, Willum waved at Smythe, and sighed.
“I need to go and look in on Elsa. So she knows when things are happening, in case she hasn’t called this in to her friends. If that’s what’s happening at all, I mean. I hope it’s not. That sounds a bit too bitter, doesn’t it?”
The young looking elder smiled at him then.
“It is always difficult when one must suspect friends of such things. It darkens the soul. Would you like me to attend with you? I… Can’t recommend it. There is danger in doing this kind of thing at all but it would give away too much if you have guards there with you. If, as you suggested, there is a problem. If not, then it shows distrust of the young lady, which is less than perfect, given the situation at hand. We can’t afford to alienate a line walker that might be with us in this.”
That was pretty close to what Willum had been thinking.
“I’ve got this part. Thank you. Really, thank everyone for me? I’ve been so busy… Not that it’s a good excuse. It’s a bit strange, isn’t it? I mean, everyone works, but it’s… I don’t even have a real job. Just a neglected hobby that I need to see to. Probably today. You know, my message business? The one that I do for fun…” The words came with a smile, which probably didn’t feel right to Smythe at all.
Shaking his head, not feeling tired, even if he secretly wanted to go and sit in a dark room for a while, or the void between worlds, just to get away from the constant stimulation.
“You know… I think that, after this, I need to take a break for a while. Is that foolish. Or… Too lazy?” That last one was just the case, of course.
No matter how hard he felt things were, or what he had to do, it wasn’t going to be enough. Not unless it worked. Instead of letting Smythe answer, Will winked at him.
“Never mind. I know the answer to that one. We have to keep fighting until the battle is done. I’m going to feel really silly though, when this turns out to be a regular party, aren’t I?”
The young looking old man gave him a look that could only be seen as friendly. Possibly wise at the same time.
“Ideally. It would be far better to weather a poor party than an attack of note. I can pull out my juggling skills to entertain us all? I’ll wait here. Are you going to that other world directly?”
“Yes. I have Lancaster, Peterson and the others coming in early tomorrow, but for now I only have this bit left. Getting with Elsa. I can only hope…” Looking away, he sighed. “I’m not capable of love. It was part of what Timon did for me. To make all of this easier, I think.
Still, she’s a good person. Worth being loved. At least I think so. It’s going to hurt if she proves out to be an enemy.”
There was no answer to that one. Willum was becoming convinced that there was one thing in the world that would always be true. There would be pain. Emotional, physical or otherwise.
Instead of dwelling on what would be, he marched out to the pretty red box, and moved directly to where his new friend was supposed to be. Living by the ocean, alone. Only, when he stepped out into the world, the place was empty. The little hut, rough and cobbled together was still there, but when he looked inside, no one was there. The things were all still in place. Even the box of baked goods was there. That was, interestingly enough, not molding or degrading yet.
It smelled fresh, in fact.
If Elsa had been back there at all, he couldn’t tell. What that meant baffled him. Part of Will wanted to think it meant she was guilty of being a bad person. That she’d run at her first chance, in order to set him and the others up for attack. Except that her not being there could mean anything. Including the girl just having moved to a different world, for safety. It was a great plan after all. He could, most likely, find her, if he wanted.
Really, just writing her a letter, and delivering it, would get him into place. The truth was, he didn’t need even that. He could just go into the void and find her, using his own intent. He was tempted to do it right then, except that there was an actual chance that the woman was being smart and clever about things. Making it so their enemies wouldn’t be able to get at her.
If that was the case, he just needed to let her go. Possibly forever. Which, while it ached a tiny bit, wasn’t a huge thing to him. Luckily, Will felt a sense of relief at the idea.
Heading back to his own home, his Black Tower, Willum nodded as he moved from the box. He had a day left to get things done, after all. There were things to learn still, even if the world wasn’t what he’d figured it was all along.
Things had been a lot simpler before he’d left Pine Creek. Willum Baker had worked with wood, making furnishings and cabinets. True, in a situation where it was largely unneeded, leading him to clean the streets several days a week instead, but even that was easy. You took a shovel and the small cart, then moved around scooping. At the end of the day you dumped it in the compost pile.
Living as a commoner had been relaxing, in a way. Things were never that certain, of course. The weather could make the difference between a good and bad year, for instance. Too much rain, or not enough might cause his neighbors to fall on hard times, for instance. That, or more likely, a disruption to the food being brought in might. Things were coming back, but for almost fifteen years farming had been hard to make happen. Everyone had lived mainly off of what the food devices Timon Baker made could provide.
Even given all of that, it was better than what he was doing now.
Not as interesting, so there was that.
Smiling, he went inside, and got back to work. Humming to himself a bit. It was a little bit toneless and slightly despondent but no one commented on it. Or asked what was going on inside his head. That was good, because Willum was afraid that, if anyone bothered to ask, he might just tell them. That wouldn’t leave him looking good at all.
The place looked good, he thought, which was useful. They didn’t really have staff coming in for things, not wanting them to die, so Willum needed to do all of the work himself.
That was his thought at least.
Except that, when the party was about to start, just before most of the people showed up, half a dozen bodies came in. All at once, clearly together and there to work. Eve, Avery, both Zack’s, Brian Yi and Phillip Hart. All of them line walkers, as well as incredibly powerful beings in their own right. It took him by surprise, but instead of demanding refreshments first thing, Eve Benson smiled at him. Looking nearly seductive about it. She was dressed up in deep green, wearing magical clothing at the moment. In velvet. Really, they all were. The only big difference was that Avery Rome was in real clothing.
It was very finely made, even compared to the magical versions the others had on. Then, Avery did great work that way.
Eve winked at him.
“There’s our boy. We’re the crew for this. You know, taking around trays of drinks, little hot dogs in blankets and all that? A little bird told me that you were setting up a trap without us. Can you believe that? Someone trying to cut out the awesomeness which is us? Zack, Human Zack, you said that you’d go and bring in everyone?”
The man, who didn’t exactly focus on anything in the room, his eyes holding a faraway look constantly, which was his way, nodded.
“I’ll do that now?” There was very little emphasis on the words, but the man did attempt to smile.
That led to nearly a hundred people showing up inside fifteen minutes. It was far more than Will would have managed on his own. Honestly, he wasn’t certain that the rest of them working together would have been able to do it. Not without tossing people around like bales of hay.
Then… They had a party. It was tense and more than a little awkward, since the attack was late. Really, it wasn’t until Yelsa came in that anything happened at all. Then the world blew up, in a way.
The blue and white Ysidril moved over to him, then yelled, loudly.
In English.
“Incoming! I can feel them on the lines! Ready for battle!”
Knives appeared in two of her four hands, being pulled out of a fold in space. It was cleverly done. Then, before his mind could really catch up, six people walked from nothing, just stepping through tears and bends in space. As soon as they got there, each of them moved.
Directly at him. Even in a room filled with softer and arguably better, targets.
The first thing that happened was a small woman, who had wings and an adorable face, ran at him, waving a small white wand. That bit of magic tried to turn his shield off. It did take off his clothing, which didn’t come back. Everything else he had on as well.
Except the shields. Those kept overlapping and alternating, perfectly. Coming on just before the other could be forced off. Thankfully everyone else there had those on as well. It had been passed out first thing, as a party gift. It changed the dynamic in the room. His friends attacked from behind, going after the would-be assassins. They, those strangers, none of whom seemed normal at all, tried for him alone, however.
That part was kind of nice to see. For enemies, they were being very nice about not trying to kill his friends. Instead they hit him so hard that his magical shields simply failed to protect him totally. That showed physical and mental powers on a level that was far from normal.
He realized that part when he flew back, against the far wall of his tower. That actually warped around him a bit when he hit it. That wasn’t a normal thing at all. The woman who’d struck him just before that had used a length of rope. One that glowed when it hit him, but it hadn’t seemed like a big deal before that. Sure, it had a knot in one end, but it simply wasn’t an obvious death weapon.
As his vision was obscured, he noticed a few things.
First, the line walkers were all doing remarkably well, as far as holding their own in the fight. Even the powerful warriors from the IPB didn’t do better than they did, as far as battle went. Lancaster was effective, using tightly controlled blasts of blue flame, but that mainly seemed to distract the attackers, instead of killing them outright. Human Zack was waving lines of energy and force at people that made the attackers move well away from him as he did it.
The second thing was that Yelsa was moving around trying to stab people. It didn’t stop anyone, but several of the beings on the other side jumped back in confusion. He could see that, since Ysidril didn’t even have an understanding of fighting at all. They fled, if things got rough. Mainly to protect others from harm. It was just an alien way of being.
What it didn’t involve was stabbing.
Yet here the female Ysidril was, moving fast, hard and violently.
/> The people coming for him were strong, and hard to hurt, but over the course of a minute, they had to run. That didn’t work totally, since all of the line walkers followed them as they left. The others stepped, ran or folded away into space. His friends went after them, either doing the same thing, or simply jumping into the space directly behind the attackers before the bends and rips faded.
Oddly enough, Yelsa did that as well.
Leaving him standing there, with nearly a hundred other people, all of whom had been fighting hard enough that they needed to be healed. Marcia Turner was fine, thanks to her incredible toughness. So was Bridget Chambers. That meant they came over first, speaking in their own language.
Director Turner looked over at Taman, as she walked up.
“That was different. Friends of yours from here?”
“Not at all. I don’t… Clearly they weren’t trying to really harm us. Except Willum. Tor was left alone totally. Did you notice that? Even when he went for them, they just ran from him. Not far, just enough to not engage him in a battle. The magical weapons didn’t work at all. They didn't seem totally ready for your powers. The Infected people. That worked, thankfully. It was…” His tiny Aunt shook her head then.
So did several other people.
It didn’t take long for the others to come back. Interestingly, most of them used the box out front. Avery came inside directly, as did both Zacks however. Yelsa trundled in, her mouth open just a bit, which would have been a huge smile for one of her people. It was a tiny bit out of place.
Willum just looked at the others, Eve looking annoyed when she ran in.
“Darn it! Mine got away. That was… All of them, they were Greater Demons. Only, not the ones from my world. I mean, they could be, but I didn’t recognize any of them. It felt right, anyway.”
Demon Zack actually shook his head at the words.
“No… They were something else. Powerful, but different than that. For instance, they didn’t kill people for getting in their way. They had a clear goal, but other than what was needed to move people out of the way, they held back. No Greater Demon would have done that. I certainly wasn’t, and I’m nice for one of my people. The range of powers was similar… I think. We saw a limited cross section of things here today. That might lead to confusion.” He looked a bit baffled for a moment.
