Realmwalker

by Jonathan Franks

  “We’re practically named the same, and we’re both farmers,” she laughed.

  “These things do work out that way sometimes. What kind of questions to do have?”

  “Why are you plowing in a spiral?”

  He looked at her quizzically. “How else would we plow?”

  “Um,” said Ivy, “We plow in straight lines.”

  “Straight lines? Like in rows?”

  “Yeah.”

  Vine laughed. “That’s ridiculous. Then you have the ends of the rows where the crops can’t touch. This allows contact on both sides of the stalks. Our beans definitely benefit from having partners on both sides.”

  “Oh. Interesting,” said Ivy. She and Vine talked farming for a long time and she was just trying to soak it all in. Things were very different here, only the next Realm over. After a while, Ivy bid Vine farewell and flew around the village, taking in the sites. The buildings were so different here. The fairies dressed differently. They spoke differently. The food was different. The music was different. She had completely lost track of time, wandering around Choon and watching its people until it got dark. She flew back to Leev’s hut, preparing to make apologies for taking so long, but a handful of fairies, including Leev and Herron, were all talking and nobody noticed her come in.

  Ivy walked quietly to Herron’s side and listened.

  “I have no idea. But to take the Heart of a Realm… Who could do such a thing?”

  “Think of all of the citizens of The Caverns! Poor folk, stranded in the The Void.”

  “It’s been centuries since a Realm has been taken by The Void.”

  “I wonder if anyone was killed.”

  Ivy drifted away and sat on the long couch in the parlor. She understood everyone was worried, outraged, scared. But this talk drained Ivy’s spirits. She knew why she was out here, so far from home, but she knew she had to keep her spirits up in order to get through it. She vowed not to forget the fairies of The Caverns, and fell asleep on the couch.

  -

  Ivy ate a large breakfast the next morning, since she’d slept through dinner the night before. The food here was so exotic. It had smells and colors and textures very unlike what she was used to from home. It was wonderful. She understood why Herron had chosen a life like this - being able to see all of these different places, make all of these new friends, experience all of these different ways of life. She was very happy to be on this trip.

  After breakfast, they restocked their supplies and a number of the fairies from Choon saw them off.

  Ivy and Herron flew through the forest at a pace that was a bit strenuous for Ivy, but Herron was darting around trees and starting to get ahead of her.

  “Herron, wait, please.”

  He stopped and turned toward her, hovering.

  “I’m sorry,” Ivy said. “I just can’t go as fast as you can. Sorry for slowing you down, and I know we’re in a hurry, but I just need to you to take it easy, just a little.”

  “All right. Do you need to rest?”

  “No!” Ivy was surprised at how adamant she sounded. “No, I don’t need to rest, I’m fine, I just need us to go a tiny bit slower. Not even that much. Just a little?” She asked, tipping her head down and peeking her eyes up at him, trying to get a touch of sympathy.

  Herron laughed. “Okay. Come on.” He turned again and flew off again, this time at a much lower speed. Ivy was still getting tired, but she had no problem keeping up. She wasn’t used to flying this much at once.

  Herron stopped abruptly, Ivy darted past him, then stopped, herself. She turned to look at Herron and started to ask him, “Wha-”

  He put his finger to his lips to indicate that she should be quiet. Then he gestured, palms toward the ground, fanning his hands downward, instructing her to land. Her feet touched the forest floor and she looked around. She didn’t see anything. The noises of the forest were all around her - birds and insects were singing and calling, the leaves in the canopy were constantly rustling. It was warm and humid and that same thin fog she saw at the border surrounded them here, as well.

  Herron returned his finger to his lips and pointed ahead of them with the other hand. Ivy tilted her head, looking where he was pointing. She looked back at Herron and shrugged. He signaled again and pointed back at the same area, pointing up, then down, then in a circle. Ivy tipped her head the other way and then her eyes widened as she saw what he was trying to show her.

  The thin fog had left drops of condensation on a tremendous spiderweb, woven between several of the trees. It was directly in the path they were traveling.

  “Wow!” She mouthed at him, but he had already turned around. He crept on foot a little to the left, then shook his head and crept back to the right, then nodded, and turned back to Ivy. “Ivy! Look out!”

  As Herron called out, Ivy heard a heavy thud behind her. She whirled around and saw that a giant, furry spider, easily twice as tall as her had come up behind her and was now rearing up, pointing its front two legs skyward and gnashing his mandibles at her. It had long, hairy black legs and head, lots of eyes, with a thick, red colored back side. Its long, shiny black fangs twitched and clear droplets of thick liquid started to seep from the points of both of them. Ivy gasped and started to back away.

  The spider made a hissing noise and started to lunge at her. Ivy darted backward and ducked reflexively when something went spinning over her head toward the spider. One of Herron’s bolas wrapped itself around one of the spider’s front legs. The spider reared back again to try to shake it loose.

  “Stop backing up!” Herron yelled. “Get underneath it and stab upward. Stay underneath it, back from its head!”

  Ivy shot forward. The spider missed her by less than a finger’s width. She ran under its abdomen and freed the dagger. The spider was spinning around to the left, trying to follow where it thought she went, and she struggled to stay under its body. It stopped turning suddenly and she bumped into one of its legs. The spider hissed again and whirled around the other way, spinning right.

  Ivy ran along with it and with her blade now free, she leaped upward as hard as she could, using her wings to get some extra lift, and sunk the dagger into the spider’s underside. The exoskeleton made a crunch as it gave way under the blade. It hissed again and changed direction once more, wrenching the dagger from Ivy’s grip, stuck in the spider’s abdomen.

  “Oh, no!” She gasped, and she jumped upward again to try to reach the handle. It took a couple of tries but she finally got it. She stopped beating her wings so she would fall with her whole weight back to the ground. She dropped to the ground as the dagger popped free, and she repeated her jumping thrust into the spider’s abdomen once again. She felt more than heard that same crunch as she punctured his thick, hard body, and this time she continued to apply upward pressure as she kicked herself into a flying flip, pulling the blade backward through its thick backside.

  It whirled around again, too fast for her this time, and she found herself staring into its twelve shiny black eyes and facing those sharp, venomous fangs once again. She rolled forward as it dove at her, slashing at its leg with the dagger. She sliced through it and the spider toppled slightly to its right.

  “Good!” She heard Herron calling to her. “A couple more legs and it’ll fall right over!”

  Ivy dashed over to another leg and tried to slash through it, but the long knife practically bounced off. The spider finished its forward lunge, planting its front legs back on the ground and it lifted its rear legs and started quickly rubbing its wounded abdomen, flinging its thick, sharp hairs toward her. Ivy felt the bristles stick in her arms and face, and then her eyes exploded into stinging pain. She cried out and fell backwards, landing on her back. She couldn’t open her eyes, they hurt so much.

  “Up! Fly up again now!”

  She got her feet under her and blindly leaped back into the air, holding the point of the dagger in front of her. It pierced the spider and she kept flying, hard, burying her arm
in the spider’s insides up past her elbow, then she was yanked to her right, and back down toward the ground and she felt the spider’s legs closing in around her.

  She screamed and pulled the knife out and stabbed it over and over again, screaming, feeling the legs over her.

  “Ivy!” Herron said. “Ivy calm down, you got it. It’s dead. You killed it.”

  She stopped screaming and panted but every breath she took made her throat raw from the hairs, still thick in the air.

  “Okay, okay,” Herron said, trying to calm her down. He shoved the dead spider’s legs off of her and picked her up, carrying her clear. “No, no, don’t try to open your eyes. Don’t move.”

  She was shaking and crying, the tears initially made her eyes feel better and then instantly, she felt the horrible sting once again. She felt the sting through her entire skull. She cried out in pain.

  She felt his fingers on her face. “Okay, this is going to hurt for a minute, bad.” Herron said. He was right. Her head exploded into pain as he opened her eye and she screamed. Then a cool, wet sensation came over her face and suddenly she saw a blinding blur of light. She cried out in pain again, trying to shut her eyes, but Herron was holding them open with his fingers. She felt more of the cold, liquid relief over her face. When the pain returned, it was nowhere near as bad as before. Her vision began to clear.

  “I have to take a hand away for a second. Don’t close your eyes.” For an instant, she felt his fingers leave her and it took all of her willpower to keep her eye open. The tears felt sticky and ran thick down the sides of her face. Herron’s fingers returned and she felt the cooling liquid wash over her eyes again.

  “Okay, you can close them now.”

  Ivy closed her eyes. The unbearable pain and stinging was replaced with the feeling of having dirt in her eyes, but she could tolerate that. She reached up toward her face, but Herron grabbed her wrists. “No, don’t rub your eyes. You still have hairs in your skin.” He rubbed her arms with something soft, fur, maybe, and then her face, then her hair. Then he ran it down her calves and shins, which were the only parts of her legs that were exposed.

  She groaned and rolled over onto her side and curled her legs up to her chest. She felt Herron rub the soft thing over both sides of each of her wings.

  “That ought to do it. That was a big bitch, and you got her. Wow, did you get her.”

  She sat up slowly, and gradually opened her eyes. “Where the hell were you? You just stood back there and shouted directions at me while that… that monster tried to eat me?” She turned to Herron, but she noticed dozens of heavy metal sling bullets littering the ground all around her. “Oh.”

  “Sorry I couldn’t do more. You had the dagger. We’re definitely going to need another one of those.” He kneeled down next to her. “You okay?”

  She threw herself against him and cried. He hesitated for a moment, then put his arms around her. “It’s okay. You did good.” He petted her hair. She sniffed, then gathered herself back up and pulled back from him. She still felt grit in her eyes and every bit of exposed skin felt like it was on fire. She slowly pushed herself back until she was sitting on her backside.

  “You’ll feel it for a few days, but no permanent damage.”

  “What was that stuff you put in my eyes?”

  “It was some healing solution that Nai gave me. We have a little more if you need it.”

  “No,” said Ivy. “I just feel like I have sand in my eyes now. It’s better than feeling like my eyes are being torn apart from the inside.”

  “Yeah, that’s some nasty stuff, that hair. I hoped I could keep it distracted enough in the front so that it would keep its front legs up. I’m sorry.”

  She took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly. Her throat and mouth still stung. She spat out a dark glob of mucus, laced with fresh red blood.

  “Keep hacking it up. Try not to swallow it. Like I said, no permanent damage, but you’ll feel it for a while. Don’t worry about the blood. It’s from your mouth, not inside your chest.”

  “Ugh,” she said and shuddered again. “That was really unpleasant.”

  Herron laughed, and Ivy glared at him through her red, puffy eyes.

  They were underway a little while later, and within a few hours, they reached the next border. The landscape was so bright that, combined with her already sensitive eyes, it nearly blinded her. The sky was such a pale shade of blue, she thought it almost looked white. The heat shimmered off of the sand. She squinted, then turned away.

  “We’ll rest here until nightfall, and then we’ll cross, if you’re up to it,” Herron said.

  “I can do it. And besides,” she hacked up another bloody glob, “I want to get the hell out of this place.”

  chapter 21

  “Only a few more signatures, Emmet,” Andi smiled. “I know. There’s so many papers, it’s like buying a house.”

  “Not buying a house,” said Emmet. “Just buying the farm.”

  Andi looked at him, bemused but politely silent.

  “Sorry, just trying to make a joke,” Emmet said.

  Andi shrugged but kept smiling. She slid another piece of paper in front of Emmet. “At the X.”

  Emmet scratched his signature on the paper and Andi took it back. They repeated this a dozen more times, then Andi said, “That’s it.” She tapped the stack of papers to straighten them and opened her black leather portfolio. She removed a check and put it on the table, spun it with her fingers so it faced Emmet, and pushed it toward him.

  Emmet didn’t reach for the check right away. He was nervous, still having a hard time believing this was all happening. He hoped he could pass off his shaking hands as just nerves. He looked carefully at the check. It seemed legit. “Pay to the order of: Emmet Mitchell,” it said. Amount: “$85,000.00.”

  “And you’ll be happy to know that we got you the medical policy rate on your hospital stay. They’ll be in touch with the discounted rate for you,” Andi said.

  “Wow, thank you, Miss Leeds.”

  “Please, call me Andrea.”

  “And that’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  “Wow,” Emmet said. He concentrated on steadying his hands as he took the check.

  Andi stood up and extended her hand. Emmet wiped his palm on his pant leg as he stood and shook her hand quickly.

  “I hope it helps,” said Andi, her voice was friendly and soothing.

  “It definitely helps,” said Emmet. He was really glad to have someone like Andi in his corner. Emmet had a shiver all of a sudden. Then he saw that Andi’s eyes looked strained and slightly raw.

  “Is something wrong, Miss -- Andrea?”

  Andi blinked at him. “I’m sorry?”

  “Is something the matter? You look upset.”

  “I…”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. I just thought you… You just seemed like something was bothering you. You’ve done so much for me, I just thought maybe… Never mind. I’m sorry,” Emmet said.

  Andi smiled at him again. “It’s okay. Roger will walk you to the car now, and the driver will see you safely home. Thank you for taking the time to come and meet me at my office.”

  “Of course.”

  “Please, feel free to call if you need anything. And I’ll be in touch. I’ll give you a call next week,” Andi said, “just to make sure everything’s going okay.” She put her hand on Emmet’s shoulder and walked him to the door.

  Andi’s assistant, Roger, immediately stood up. “Mr. Mitchell, I’ll see you to the car.”

  “Uh, thanks.”

  They didn’t speak while Roger walked Emmet through the halls to the door. The same black Town Car he’d arrived in was still there. The driver opened the rear passenger door for Emmet, who got into the car. The air conditioning had been running and it was cold in the car.

  “Back to the same address, sir?”

  “Yeah,” said Emmet. “Wait, can we make a stop first?”
<
br />   “Of course, sir.”

  “Good, thank you.”

  -

  Andi spun her chair to face the window behind her desk and looked out over the grounds. The GLC complex also included a world-renowned private golf course. She didn’t care at all about golf, but the grounds were vibrantly green whenever they weren’t covered in snow. She found it soothing to see the green grass and the sparkling ponds, but she was happiest when it was covered by a sheet of virgin white snow. In the winter, she always found the golf course to be full of possibility. The clean, white snow hid the imperfection of the grassy ground.

  Her first deal was officially done. The check had been delivered. The policy was safely in hand. Done. Nothing else to go wrong now - it was over. That was a relief. She had five more terminals in talks right now, and was close to signing with at least two of them. She was still feeling stressed and anxious, though.

  You must not be hiding it very well, she told herself, if a strung-out junkie can see it. Written, clear as day, right on your face, you stupid bitch. She saw a hawk swoop quickly down to the grass and land there. It lowered its head to its feet, or the ground, or something. It was far enough away that Andi couldn’t be sure what it was doing. I hope you killed whatever you caught and now you’re eating it, she thought, spiteful, angry.

  Saturday morning, immediately after she’d gotten home, she had run out to the drug store and bought some home pregnancy tests. All three had come back positive. She was pregnant with Larry Clark’s child. Over the weekend, she’d made up her mind. She wasn’t going to tell him. There was no way she was going to have a baby. And if she kept it to term and put it up for adoption, there was no way he wouldn’t find out.

  She’d made the earliest appointment she could at an abortion clinic, and that happened to be today, Tuesday afternoon. Monday had been long and stressful and she knew she had gotten snappy with some of the clerks, but she didn’t care. Fuck them. Their boss didn’t knock them up.

  Andi told Roger she was going to make some sales calls this afternoon, maybe hit a couple of hospitals or clinics, and to keep all her messages, then she left. She got in her car and drove. She wasn’t paying much attention to where she was going - she just drove, trying to clear her head. She was starving. They’d told her she couldn’t eat for at least two hours before her appointment, but her stomach was in knots that morning, so she didn’t eat much of a breakfast.