“I’m sorry we couldn’t save you, Kai,” Kendra said sadly, leaning in and kissing his forehead.
“To see you again..” his voice was a whisper. “You did, Kendra. But.. make it work. Make my magic work. Then.. I’ll always be there.” He closed his eyes, for the last time.
Those who remained sat in silence. Fervesce looked from the spindly, heavily annotated life’s work that he now held to its creator, to Kendra, and back again, wishing he had something to say. Musk and Kimberlite sat off to the side, taking an odd comfort in each other’s presence, but muted nonetheless by the tragedy that yet reverberated around them. And Kendra remained knelt by the departed Kai, the emblem of all that was lost, feeling her determination evaporate into hopelessness.
“What do we do now?” Fervesce asked, eventually.
“Can you get us to the city?” Kimberlite asked. “With that?” She nodded at Kai’s notes.
“Probably,” the old man said, flipping through them. “But then what?”
“We fight,” Musk said. “It’s not over yet.”
“Isn’t it?” Kendra asked gloomily.
Fervesce and Musk shared a surprised, worried glance. “People are most likely dying, right now,” Fervesce said to her, with a gentle sense of rebuke.
“People are always dying,” Kendra said bitterly. “Maybe this is just meant to be.”
“Well, that’s rubbish,” said another voice, and a scythe swung through their midst, passing over the still form of Lit Kai, where it appeared to meet with the slightest of resistance. The figure who had swung it had snuck over beyond the notice of their collective funk, and, though familiar, he stood now with new eyes. They still saw for a thousand miles, but the rage that had burned behind them had gone, replaced with a new, different light that twinkled blue as they met the gaze of a spirit only they could see, and nodded respectfully in observation of its departure.
“Marcus?” Kendra asked incredulously, and he turned to her. There was still strain around the edge of that blue, a weariness compounded by anger, but it was controlled now.
“Kendra,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
“There wasn’t anything we could do,” she said, looking away.
“Not just for that,” he said, crouching before her. “I’m sorry for everything. For all the things I said, not just now but always. I’m sorry for not having been a good enough person, and I’m sorry for the things that I led you to say. But for what it’s worth, it worked; you were right all along, but I was too stubborn to believe it. My life is my own, and if I live it hung up on the past, then I’ll be no better than Keithus. So I’m going to think of the future, instead. I’ve got one of those, now, for the first time, and it’s a nice feeling, one I think I’d like to keep.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately, somewhere out there, there’s a wizard out to destroy it, so that means fighting some more. Which is what I’m going to do, if you’ll have me.” He sighed. “And if you won’t, I’ll still do it. Not for destiny, and not for the Viaggiatori, but for me. And for you. For all that’s past, and for all that’s yet to come.. because it’s not over yet, and because yes, people are always dying.. but that doesn’t mean they’re not living as well.”
“Oh really,” Kendra said flatly. She couldn’t deny that they were the words she’d wanted to hear, and even in scepticism they refuelled her determination, but after everything, they were hard to swallow. “This is a pretty big about-turn from ‘leave me to my misery’.”
“Yes,” Marcus said simply, reaching out, “and it’s due to you. You always bought me light when things were dark, whether I deserved it or no. The least I can do is return the favour, especially when it’s my own darkness that’s in you now.”
Kendra hesitated, remembering his so recent bitter words.. but there was something in his eyes that suggested nothing more than honest truth to what he was saying now, and maybe, in light of that, there could still be room for a bit of hope in the world. So she smiled, and it seemed to her as if the very action melted away the last of Marcus’s tension. “Forgiven?” he asked, hopefully.
“Tentatively,” she said, shaking his offered hand.
“I’ll work on that,” he said, returning her smile. “Okay,” he added, standing up, pulling together the scattered threads of his narrative and weaving them together. Here stood he himself, a creature trod on by fate, but one still standing. Here, an old man, he of the ridiculous and thoroughly inexplicable psychic powers. Here, a lady who could make anyone go weak at the knees with a wave of her hand and the hum of a tune, and probably most without either of those. Over there, the strongest man in the world, and with him, the small matter of the queen of trolls. Those were his forces, and though they might not have numbered much, not in comparison to Keithus’s army.. they were good.
“Okay,” he said again. “Let’s go get the son of a bitch.”
31
It only took Fervesce a few moments, scanning through Kai’s notes, to get the idea, after which he moved over to the mirror Keithus had exited via and started poking at it. Marcus passed this time giving Kendra a more thorough breakdown of the high-wire act that his brain had just performed, which she listened to with a patience and good humour that he didn’t really deserve. But she bore through it all, wearing that wistful smile that obliterated all but the most subtle hints of sadness.
“The inside of your head is a really weird place, Marcus,” she offered, when he’d finished his tale and stopped for a breath.
“Tell me about it,” he said. “For a constant companion, it’s a real pain at times. Sometimes it needs a good knock just to get it to work properly.”
“I’m not sorry,” she said, crossing her arms. “You were asking for it.”
“I know,” he said. “I know.”
She tilted her head to one side, studying him. “So you’re really okay?”
“Hm,” Marcus said, and stopped to turn the thought in on himself for consideration, running it through a few spins on a rotisserie over the smoking pit of hellfire where his anger was hanging out. “Probably not,” he concluded. He put a finger to his temple, and was surprised when it didn’t start to steam. “There’s still a lot of rage and pain up here that I’m going to have to deal with, and that might take some time, because unfortunately it doesn’t all go away just because I solved an existential crisis. But daring to feel it is part of the choice I made, so I’ll live with it, and try not to think too hard about it. I keep cycling back to what I’ve learned, and it always raised the question of whether the knowledge makes the history better or worse, if maybe the sense of disconnect that wasn’t my fault is an explanation for my failures, or am I just latching on to that because it’s a convenient excuse for me not being willing to try, but then again maybe that lack of willingness was a result of the disconnect in the first place, and so..” he paused, because Kendra’s eyes had glazed over. “See what I mean?” he asked, shaking his head ruefully. “These thoughts will threaten to twist me up for a long time. But, if I can live long enough, and well enough, then maybe I’ll have enough better thoughts to overcome them.”
“Such wisdom,” Kendra said, with sombre sincerity and a dash of sarcasm.
“Pfft. It’s either that or overthink myself into insanity, and go crying for vengeance,” he said, catching the eye of his reflection in the glint of his scythe. “But I think Keithus had covered that part well enough. I’ll go the other way. You’re a way better morality salesperson than he was.”
Kendra made a face. Marcus made one back.
“Ready,” Fervesce said, from over by the mirror, which was now shimmering. The rest of the group looked at him somewhat worriedly, given that he was still flipping through Kai’s notes and muttering to himself under his breath, so he gave them a winning smile. “What? Seriously. It’s good.” He turned and strolled into the mirror, which swallowed him up.
Kendra followed him through, with Musk on her heels, and then Kimberlite, who took a mom
ent to navigate the mirror’s frame, as it was barely large enough to fit her through given that she was also carrying Lit Kai and the Assassin, whom they’d decided it would be an injustice to leave behind. She made it through, and Marcus stepped up to follow. He hesitated briefly, took a deep breath and dived in, ducking so as to fit the length of the scythe through with him.
He landed lightly on Fervesce’s chosen platform for their excursion, a large wooden patio complete with sun loungers, parasols and self-service smoothie bar. A metal railing that ran all the way around was the only thing that separated them from the Mirrorline’s customary broiling sky, which was hard at work tearing itself to shreds all around them.
“Okay,” Fervesce was saying to himself, whilst flipping back to an earlier page in Kai’s notes. “Simple really. Mirrorline is infinite, contains everything that ever was and will, meaning somewhere in here we can theoretically find every possible exit, including Keithus’s. All I have to do is slice..”
Suddenly, the clouds parted, and there were mirrors everywhere. They floated in the otherwise empty abyss for as far as Marcus could see, twinkling and reflecting each other’s light in a strange imitation of a starry night. They were of all shapes and sizes, ornate and plain, representing passages to bedrooms, bathrooms, temples, wardrobes, anywhere in the whole of the Mirrorworld where there might happen to be a mirror. They went on, and on, and on, far past the extent of natural sight, till only faint twinkles in the far distance hinted at the distant galaxies that lay beyond. As Marcus stood staring, trying and failing to count the ways, there was a loud clunk, and their platform detached itself from the mirror by which they had entered, and they floated off freely into the space between places.
“It worked!” Fervesce said delightedly, and with a worrying hint of surprise. “Pathways to the Mirrorworld, all around us. They’ve always been here, it was just a matter of knowing how to assemble them all. We could go anywhere, right now. Kai, you genius. You brilliant, brilliant man.”
“Can we go to Portruss, then?” Marcus asked.
“Of course, of course,” Fervesce said. He closed his eyes, and after a moment their platform began to move purposefully through the abyss, dodging around mirrors. “There’s a trail,” he added. “Just like when portals to Earth are opened, the residue of it is left behind. I’m following it.”
“Can you make it visible?” Kendra asked.
“I could, but you don’t want to see it. It’s big and messy and doesn’t smell very nice.”
Kendra shrugged, and went to get a smoothie.
They floated through the abyss for about ten minutes. Fervesce spent this time stood stock still in the centre of their platform, sweating from the effort of guiding them through. Musk and Kimberlite sat in the corner talking quietly, which for Kimberlite meant booming softly, but Marcus chose to ignore them as he paced back and forth. The knowledge of the path they were treading, and of what was waiting for them at the other end, made it quite difficult to appreciate the peaceful calm of the journey. He tried to talk to Kendra about it, but she’d acquired herself a smoothie and a sun lounger to help soothe her wounds, and had gently shooed him away so that she could, of all things, take a quick nap, so he returned to his worried pacing, smoked a cigarette, and dealt with it himself.
With a sudden jolt, the patio platform came to a halt. They’d pulled up alongside a large, curved mirror that was gently rotating on the spot as they neared it. It attached itself to their platform at Fervesce’s direction, and after a moment, began to shimmer.
“We’re here,” Fervesce said, sagging slightly. “I hope you’re ready chaps, because I can’t hold all of this together for much longer.”
“Hang on,” Marcus said, as the others lined up before the exit. “Do we really want to go through to the exact same place where – aaah!” This thought hadn’t gone in the direction he’d intended, but then neither had he, as Fervesce had used the last of his energy to upend their impromptu skiff and throw them all out of the mirror.
Keithus span on the spot, levelled his staff at an unfortunate Viaggiatori, and blasted them into dust.
“You see,” he said, turning back to the rest of his captives, “that’s how I prove that I’m not messing around. So, I’m going to ask again. Which one of you is going to open me a portal to Earth? Feel free to volunteer at any time. Anyone? No? Very well.” He took aim again.
“No-one is going to do it, Keithus,” Eira said tiredly from where she sat amongst the assembled Viaggiatori. Their ranks included the council, who had picked a bad time to be in session, and anyone else who had been unlucky enough to be swept up in Keithus’s assault on the building. The council chamber had proved just as laughable a line of defence as it had the first time Keithus had come a’knockin’, and now everyone was gathered there. The Viaggiatori were being guarded by a large group of orcs, who were in turn under the terrified control of a quartet of Jabberwocks. A large rockery in the corner was all that remained of the trolls that Keithus had bought with him, after they had foolishly attempted to object to his random disintegrations.
The wizard himself stood before the large mirror that decorated the far wall, angrily striding backwards and forwards as he attempted to acquire the last piece of what he needed in order to achieve his goals: a portal to Earth. As Eira spoke up, he swung his staff around again to point it at her head, but she wasn’t about to be intimidated just because he had the power to splatter her insides across the room. “Why not?” he asked her coolly.
“Because we all know what’ll happen,” she said with a shrug, aware that everyone who sat around her was trying to carefully lean out of the blast radius. “You’re a paragon, Keithus. A source of incredible magic. If we open a portal for you and let you wander over to Earth, which has no magic, then the balance of both worlds will go out of whack, and everything will fall apart. The whole point of us is to stop that from happening, so we’re hardly going to help you pull it off.” She took a sip from her coffee, which was cold and half-spilled, but she was damned if she was going to let go of it.
“Oh,” Keithus said. His face took on a sombre cast, and he crouched down to look her in the eye, pointing his staff randomly at the crowd to show that he still meant business. “I forgot about that. The Viaggiatori viewpoint. This is where I have.. difficulties. See, from my experience, you people have been nothing but trouble. You’re giants in the field of not knowing what you’re doing, and your one great success was the ruination of my life. You think the world will end? Because someone dares to go against your quaint little rules about what can and can’t happen? I don’t believe it. I reject your ideology, because I have seen the truth in my dreams. I will go to Earth, and I will use my magic to bring about a new age. I will be elevated to Godhood. World peace. Financial security. Equality. All of these things will come about because of me. And that will make a better world for you, as well.”
Eira didn’t know what to say, so she settled for “did you ever think that you might be a bit mad?”
“Oh yes,” Keithus said emphatically. “I argued with myself about that several times over. But I convinced myself that actually, the rest of the world is mad. It explains a lot.”
He stood up again, and addressed the assembled crowd. “Will all of you fall victim to the baseless brainwashing that your organisation has inflicted upon you? Will you languish in ignorance indefinitely? Or will you join me, and aid me in fixing the wrongs that you have committed, restoring both worlds to the glory that you have so foolishly denied them? Atone for your sins, Viaggiatori.”
There was silence, other than the groans of the Jabberwock as they forcibly restrained themselves from disembowelling everyone in the room. After a moment, someone at the back of the crowd of Viaggiatori stood up. Keithus beamed.
“Helm,” Eira said, aghast. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Sorry, Master,” the psychologist said, “but he makes a good point. I think it’s worth seeing through
to the end. Also, if we don’t, he’ll just kill us all anyway.” Keithus nodded in agreement.
“You’re going to destroy us all.. to see how it ends?” Eira asked.
“I’m going to risk the possibility,” Helm said proudly, “to see what happens. I’ve lived my life with the utmost respect for the Viaggiatori chain of command, and it never got me anywhere fun.” His expression darkened. “All this time as your willing sycophant, and you never let me near a mirror? In light of that, his arguments are rather compelling, so I think I’ll try his way. For a change.” Eira groaned, as a little note unfolded in her head and reminded her to give the man a good talking to, far too late.
“Good man, good man,” Keithus said, dragging Helm out of the crowd and shoving him towards the mirror. “See what happens when you let go of your prejudices?”
“I see what happens when you listen to a madman,” Eira said blankly.
“You repeat yourself,” Keithus said with a sigh. “We already had this conversation. But I must say, I’m very admiring of how good you are at alienating people. Really, great work. Makes my life much easier. Open the portal to here,” he added to Helm, handing him a photograph. Helm studied it and raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Before turning to the mirror, he caught Eira’s eye, and she thought she detected the faintest hint of a conspiratorial smile quirking up at the corner of his mouth. Forcing her eyes not to widen in surprise, she contented herself with a quiet moment of hope as Helm went about his work, and the mirror shortly began to shimmer with a notable violence.
“Oh, that was quick,” Keithus said jovially, when he noticed. “Right then. After you.”
“What?” Helm asked.
“You go first,” Keithus told him, more darkly, spinning his staff to point it at Helm. “Do you really think I’m so foolish as to not expect a trap? No, no, no. I know you can go through without closing it, so you step in, and when you step back out intact, then I’ll be joining you. And don’t even think about tweaking that mirror, now. I’m watching. Go on. Off you pop.”
Mirrorworld Page 40
