Sebastian e-1

by Anne Bishop

  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. That 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.

  That was pretty much how his head felt, but he didn’t tell Teaser that. “I’m doing what’s right.”

  “For them, maybe.”

  “Teaser.”

  “I’m just saying.”

  “I have to go.”

  “Why? We don’t deal with those landscapes anyway.”

  Frustration filled Sebastian. He hadn’t expected Teaser to get scrappy about this. “Are you sure we don’t deal with them? Are you sure we can survive if those other landscapes are destroyed? I’m not sure.”

  Teaser looked away.

  “I’m going to leave a message for Lee, telling him about the bridge and the places Koltak was able to reach through the waterhorses’ landscape. I’ll leave it in your room. If he shows up before I get back, you make sure he gets the message. And look after Lynnea.”

  “We’ll look after each other, I guess. Kind of like family.”

  Looking at Teaser’s wistful smile, Sebastian felt a shimmer of rightness go through him. “We are family.”

  Pleased and embarrassed, Teaser tipped his head toward the dining room door. “That one is impatient.”

  How long had Koltak been standing at the door, watching him?

  “Sebastian?” Teaser said. “Travel lightly.”

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” As he walked away from Teaser and passed the doorway, he said to Koltak, “Let’s go.”

  Watching Sebastian was like seeing his brother, Peter, again. The same indefinable quality that drew people to him, made them listen. The same combination of charm and steel. Peter Justice Maker. Never Peter, Wizard Third Level, or Wizard Peter. It had never been about being Somebody—not for Peter. It had always been about justice.

  But believing in justice hadn’t prevented Peter from disappearing into the landscapes, never to return.

  Of course, no one in Wizard City had known darling Peter had sired two children with a Landscaper. So maybe his disappearance had been a kind of justice—the punishment for having done the forbidden.

  Koltak pushed the thoughts away as Sebastian finished a discussion with some kind of demons that were a combination of flesh and a thick bicycle without wheels.

  “The demon cycles will take us as far as the bridge that crosses over to Wizard City,” Sebastian said when he returned to the corner where Koltak waited. “After that, Guardians and Guides willing, we’ll find someone to give us a ride.”

  We. Sebastian had said we. The mind control was working.

  To save Ephemera, Koltak chanted silently. For the good of Ephemera.

  They went down a side street and entered a building halfway down the block.

  Plush. Well-kept. He’d seen places like this in the cities of many landscapes—he had needs like any other man—but the only times he’d been in a place that looked this expensive was when a well-to-do family paid for the room and the woman in return for a favor. All very discreetly, of course.

  Sebastian paused at the foot of the stairs, as if something was troubling him. Koltak resumed his silent chant. To save Ephemera. For the good of Ephemera.

  The room on the third floor was large enough to have a separate sitting area and didn’t shout “whore.” It would seem Sebastian had done well for himself.

  The room felt masculine, but there were touches of femininity.

  “You live with a woman?” Koltak asked, wondering how an incubus did business with a female in residence.

  “None of your business,” Sebastian snapped, pulling a pack out of the bottom of the wardrobe.

  “No, it’s not.” He saw the hesitation again. The boy had always had a will of steel. For the good of Ephemera. To save Ephemera.

  Two changes of underwear went into the pack. Two shirts.

  Then Sebastian went through a door, closing it behind him. A moment later Koltak heard the bang and grumble of old water pipes.

  Not sure how long Sebastian would be occupied, Koltak scanned the room as he reached into the inner pocket of his robe and withdrew the folded, sealed paper that contained Ephemera’s salvation. He’d worried that he wouldn’t find a good place to leave the document—a place where he could be certain it would be found, but not too quickly. Sebastian had conveniently solved the problem for him by having a female living with him.

  The water pipes stopped grumbling.

  Koltak tucked the paper between the seat cushion and the arm of one of the sitting room chairs, leaving enough of it visible to catch the eye.

  “Ready?” Koltak asked when Sebastian walked back into the room, shifting slightly to hide the chair and keep Sebastian from noticing the paper.

  “Let’s go.”

  When they reached the street and Koltak saw the two demons waiting for them, he balked. “No.”

  Sebastian adjusted the pack on his back, then swung a leg over the creature’s leather seat. “You’re the one insis
ting that we get there as soon as possible. The demon cycles are the fastest way to travel.”

  Reluctant but unable to think of how to refuse when he had been insisting they needed to reach Wizard City as quickly as possible, Koltak mounted the other demon cycle, setting his feet on the footrests the way Sebastian had done.

  “Hold on,” Sebastian said.

  Koltak’s hands ached from gripping the handlebars so hard. As the cycles moved sedately up the main street, he relaxed a little. They weren’t going any faster than a horse could walk. Why couldn’t they have used a natural beast instead of these creatures?

  “How many days do you think it will take to reach the bridge?” he asked.

  Sebastian looked at him, his expression hesitant and puzzled.

  Had to stop asking about time. The boy wasn’t stupid. Given enough time to consider the nature of Ephemera, Sebastian would come to the correct conclusion, which would be disastrous. Need to move quickly to save Ephemera. Need to find the bridge to protect Ephemera.

  Sebastian grinned wickedly. “It won’t take that long.”

  They moved sedately up the main street until they reached the dirt lane. Then…

  Koltak screamed as the demon cycles surged forward, whipping above the dirt lane at speeds a galloping horse couldn’t match or sustain. The cottage flashed by. Sebastian shouted, “Border ahead.”

  The cycles lifted like a horse jumping a fence. Koltak had no idea if it was necessary to cross the border from this side or if it was the demon’s perverse attempt to scare him into pissing himself.

  The ground he’d toiled to cross flowed under him, and the moon, almost full now, illuminated the land, giving it a strange beauty and peace he hadn’t noticed or felt in all the days he’d been trapped in this landscape.

  The demons rumbled and slowed down as they approached what looked like pale, barren earth that had a ring of boulders at the center of the fan-shaped area.

  “It’s sand,” Sebastian said. Leaning forward, he tapped the demon on the shoulder. “Get us a little closer, but go slow. Be careful.”

  The cycles edged up to within an arm’s length of the place.

  “We’ve gone the wrong way,” Koltak said. “I don’t remember seeing a place like this.”