by Stuart Jaffe
Jarik's words slammed into Malja's head like an avalanche of stone. Everything around her — Cole, Fawbry, Tumus, Tufts, the mirror chamber, Tommy, her fathers, the fortress, the City of Ashes, the entire world — it all disappeared into darkness leaving only Malja and the portal frame. She felt as if she floated in darkness, cut off from her body's senses.
She watched the woman in the frame, searching for any resemblance, any sign to verify Jarik's claim. The woman did look like Malja — thick, dark hair and a strong body. Her face shared some of Malja's structure, and the way she concentrated on her work bore the same determined focus Malja knew well. Like Malja, the woman wore a black assault suit that fit her perfectly.
The woman looked up, her face mirroring Malja's shock. All her actions occurred in slower time. Even as she hurried around her desk and stepped closer to the portal, her motions were slowed. Her hair bouncing in the air, the chair falling backward, the papers on her desk fluttering — all moved gracefully as if underwater. She covered her mouth, but could not hide her tears.
Malja's world slammed back into focus. She looked to Jarik and said, "Can I go there?"
With a joyous laugh, Jarik said, "That's why we did this. Long ago, we wronged you. We made a mistake."
Callib leaned in. "We simply want to make things right. Go home, Malja. You've been gone far too long."
Malja glanced back at the others. Their expressions couldn't have been more different. Cole gazed upon the portal and the machinery that helped make it possible, and her hands rolled the fabric of her shirt. This small action kept her from leaping forward to examine the wondrous technology.
Tumus, however, could not take her eyes off Tommy. Her valiant chin jutted out, and her body stood firm. Malja knew exactly what she was thinking — how to save Tommy.
Fawbry lacked expression. He stood as if holding on through boredom, waiting for Malja's command to act. She knew for sure now — he was lost in his own mind for now.
I'm alone. Malja took a few steps closer to the portal frame. I always have been.
Except if she reached out across worlds she would find a warm hand awaiting her. One like her own. She could leave this destitute, unraveled world of misery and violence, and replace it with a cozy library, green fields, and flying machines. She could have the warm embrace of a parent who never abandoned her.
She took a few steps more.
Jarik looked on with a bittersweet expression. His mouth tightened as if to hold back from blubbering an apology. He hung his tattooed head and laced his fingers. Callib bowed as he gestured toward the frame as if to say accept this gift and please forgive us.
There were no more steps to take.
She gazed into her mother's brown eyes. Tears glistened and dribbled down her mother's cheeks. The woman put out one hand, yearning to touch. Malja raised her left hand and held it just before the frame. She scrutinized her mother's features like inspecting herself after a battle. She saw the old scars and the healed bones — her reflection yet older and more worn.
It was like being inside Barris Mont's magic once more — observing herself from the outside. Except this was no memory brought to life. All she had to do was step forward.
Gregor would tell her to seize the moment. "If I could have my way," she could hear him say, "you would never fight. You would never have to. A little bit of order, and we could all just peacefully live our lives." Yes, Gregor would tell her to jump through the portal, to wrap her arms around her mother, and to never once look back at this blood-soaked world.
But she did look back — just one last time to say goodbye. She saw Cole and Tumus enveloped in their personal euphoria. She saw Fawbry grin — happy for her with unbridled affection. Tufts giggled for no clear reason. She saw Jarik and Callib smiling like the fathers they should have been all along. And she saw Tommy — his submerged body swaying and peaceful, a pleasant look on his face that promised he would be thrilled for her to go through the portal.
For a second, her shoulders slumped. She lifted her head, filled her lungs with air and strength, and said, "Goodbye."
She whirled around, unsheathed Viper, swung it over her head, and using the strength of both arms, destroyed the portal frame in one thundering blow.Sparks of electricity and magic shot up toward the ceiling. As pieces of the frame clattered on the floor, Cole and Tumus snapped out of their blissful daze. Fawbry and Tufts looked confused.
Malja turned Viper toward Jarik and Callib. Jarik had a stunned expression, but Callib seethed with rage. Cole rushed over to the portal frame, caressing it like an injured baby. Tumus watched Malja like a bodyguard unsure of what her employer required.
"You liars! I almost went," Malja said, her grip solid and unwavering. "So tell me this much — was that woman even my mother?"
Callib shrugged. "How should we know? All the women from that world look the same."
Malja sidestepped to the right. "This was your plan? Open the portal frame and cast a spell that drugged us all into bliss. Trick me into going in and then what? I'm gone and the world is yours?"
"The world has always been ours."
Jarik finally looked away from the destroyed portal frame. His expression cleared, replaced with cold stoicism. "Well, once again, you disappoint us."
Malja flinched, and the involuntary response disgusted her.
"We made it easy for you," Jarik continued. "That may not have been your mother, but it was your world. We all could have gotten what we wanted. You would have gone home and escaped from here. We would have learned how you can travel through the portal frame and saved decades more of research."
"You made it too easy," Malja said, inching toward Tommy.
Callib turned to Jarik. "You should have listened. I've always been right about her. But you promised me she would make it so we could travel to other worlds. We should have killed her from the start."
Malja said, "Now we're getting to some truth. You did want to kill me from the very first, when my mother dropped onto your floor clutching me in her arms. I've been thinking about this. Why, I've wondered, over all these years, why didn't you just blast me away with some magic?
"I guess when I was little, Jarik kept you from harming me. You need each other's tattoos, each other's magic and power, so you had to compromise. As I grew up, you saw the warrior in me, and that meant I didn't have the magic you wanted — the magic that Barris Mont had. That extra bit of power you needed to accomplish a stable portal. So you planned to kill me. Jarik promised to take care of the unpleasant details and then told you he had killed me because if you knew that he had left me in the woods and that I had survived ... well, Jarik knows your anger quite well. For some time after you didn't know I was alive. Then one day you learned about Gregor. You couldn't kill me because of Jarik, and you couldn't kill Gregor yourself because of Jarik. So you hired Old McKinley to do the dirty work. You had Gregor slaughtered and hoped I'd fall apart without him.
"But the question remains: why am I still alive now? Surely in the last few years you heard I was looking for vengeance against you both. Jarik no longer needed prodding. He wanted me dead, too." Another few steps brought Malja into range. "The only answer I can come up with — you fear me."
"If you believe that, then you're as stupid as you are insolent. When we learned you were alive, we couldn't have cared. It was only when we learned that Cole and the Bluesmen were looking for you, that she thought you might hold the secret to traveling through the portal that we decided to use you if the opportunity arose. But we never sought you out. We didn't have to. You were searching for us. It was just a matter of time."
"No, you saw something in my mother's eyes that first day. Something that terrified you. That's why you wanted me dead. That's why you went through this nonsense about sending me home. Get rid of me without facing your fears. And you've been afraid for years of this very moment. Because whatever you saw in her, you see in me. The only thing I can think of that would scare you so greatly is power. You do
n't try to harm me with your magic because you know I can defeat you."
"Never!" Callib lunged toward Jarik and grabbed his hand. "You think you're so strong," he said, pulling Jarik's arm close enough to stare at the tattoos. "You think you're special. But you're not. You're nothing. And like a spoiled child, you destroy the gifts we give because they're not perfect."
"Malja," Cole said, "he's stalling for his spell."
Malja stepped forward, but Callib said, "You don't want our stable portal. Fine. Now you can feel what an unstable portal is like."
With a flick of his wrist and a deranged howl, Callib let loose a massive blast of magic. Hot, white light burned from his eyes and fingers. It shot out of him like a volcano, breaking through other parts of him until it flowed from his entire body.
Tumus raised her arms to absorb the magic. A small tendril from the blast knocked her to the floor. The magic pouring from Callib and Jarik did not seek out Malja. Instead, it struck the open air behind her.
A sound like ripping cloth magnified a thousand times cut into the air. Hurricane winds churned up from nothing, all of them blowing against Malja. But the wind wasn't really pushing her as much as pulling her. Something was yanking all the air away and trying to bring Malja with it. She planted her feet firmly, but still the forces made her step back.
Callib's harsh, satisfied look chilled her. Cole and Tumus and Fawbry had anchored themselves on parts of the portal machinery, but their wide, shocked eyes told her something ugly awaited her. With a terrified squeal, Tufts lost his grip. His body soared across the room and disintegrated upon the portal.
"No," Fawbry screamed, but the howling winds drowned him out.
Malja peered over her shoulder and discovered what an unstable portal looked like. Then Callib's storm knocked her off-balance and tossed her through the portal.
Chapter 25
Freefalling through a bitter, cold sky, Malja's stomach rose up in her chest. The wind stung her face. For the first time in her life, terror reached down her throat and ripped out a piercing scream.
She fell. Mindless to all around her. Knowing only that she screamed.
When her throat finally balked, she managed to regain some self-control. She started to think.
I'm in another world. Clouds blanketed below her obscuring the ground. Nausea swirled inside her as she dropped.
She closed her eyes, but that didn't help. She rolled onto her back feeling the cold against her like an icy chair. When she opened her eyes, she saw the jagged portal hole receding into the sky. With only the racing wind in her ears, she watched as the hole snapped shut.
Before she had time to consider the implications of that, she passed into the clouds. Moisture beaded on her assault suit and dampened her hair. Thunder rumbled close by.
She broke through the cloud cover to discover a world of raging storms. Rain and lightning thrust toward the ground, and she dropped with it like some banished god. She kept waiting to see a mountain or a forest or a city — some large object which would kill. Instead, she saw water.
In all directions spread a vast ocean. The tear that escaped her eye drowned on her rain-soaked cheek. She would die in the water, every bone shattered upon impact but still aware as she sunk beneath its murky waves. She might even feel the nibbles of fish as her chest burned for air.
She hoped some important event from her life might flash in her mind or just some pleasant memories of Gregor. She would have been happy to consider a lost opportunity or a regretful moment. But her mind blanked at the endless expanse of water below her.
She tried to makes sense of how this could be — how her life could be so abruptly ended — but it only made her feel pointless and small. Like staring at the stars after reading her astronomy book. She became so absorbed with her lack of final moments that her mind didn't register the ripping sound overtaking the storm. She didn't notice the dark maw open below her. And as she slid through, she only thought how nice it felt to be out of that storm.
Chapter 26
The rain stopped. The wind ceased. But still Malja fell. No longer day. No longer outside. She fell from the top of a high, vaulted ceiling.
The floor zoomed up and with it came the knowledge that she had returned to Jarik and Callib's fortress. Before she could smash to her death, before she could even think about it, the air around her thickened like a stew left overnight. Her body slowed until she landed with a gentle touch, the cool floor a gift against her outstretched body.
Though her life had been saved, her stomach still rebelled. She managed to get on all fours before throwing up. When nothing else could leave her system except long strands of spittle, she gasped and coughed. Wiping her mouth, she looked upon a sight that made her question if she had indeed returned to her world.
The cylinder that had imprisoned Tommy lay in shambles, its brackish liquid drenching a portion of the floor. The mirror chamber had been shattered, littering the area with reflective shards. Tumus and Cole watched Malja with gaping mouths while Jarik nursed his bleeding jaw. Fawbry stood by the cylinder brandishing a metal pipe dripping wet. He had used the pipe to smash open the cylinder. But it was seeing Tommy that confused Malja the most.
His lanky twelve-year-old body faced Callib with a warrior's strength. With one arm raised and eyes narrowed, he pushed back against Callib's magic. Fire, electricity, black smoke, noxious gases — all balled up between the two magicians.
There. She finally had admitted it. Tommy was a magician.
Callib roared under the strain as he attempted to heap more and more magic upon the boy. Though Tommy's arm vibrated and sweat dribbled down his back, Malja saw a fighter with greater stores of power yet to be tapped. No. Not a fighter — a magician. He's a magician using powerful magic which will rot his mind until only insanity prevails. Perhaps he had heard her thoughts for he turned his head in her direction and raised his other hand. The door leading out burst open.
Tommy lifted the corner of his mouth and pointed to the door. Malja thought she saw a tear run down his cheek, but she couldn't be sure — trenches of sweat cut down the dirt on his determined face.
"Malja, come," Cole said from the doorway. Tumus tried to pull Malja away.
With Viper in hand, Malja said, "No. I won't let a boy sacrifice himself for me. I'm not leaving until this is over."
Drawing on all her speed, strength, and accuracy, Malja raced forward. She held Viper's grip at her stomach so the crescent-shaped blade pointed out from her side. Run straight past him and let the blade do the work. She came in fast and silent, hoping Callib's attention would be focused exclusively on Tommy.
But Callib saw her.
"You," he said, saturating the word with all his disappointment, fear, and hatred. Malja didn't see the motion, but she felt the pain as Callib sent a red bolt in her chest, blasting her onto her back. Tommy thrust magic from both hands, and though the ball of magic shimmered, it held.
Malja stared at the ceiling, stars dancing around her vision. Stars. Stars, magic, madness — it all connected for her. After a few moments to catch her breath, she rose to her feet with a satisfied smile. She had a plan.
She pointed Viper at Jarik. "I've always known you were the weaker brother. Right to the end, you make Callib do all the hard work."
"Watch your tongue," Jarik said, blood on his chin. "Standing up to my brother has kept you alive."
Malja turned to Callib. "Then you must be the weak one, hiding your shame behind all this bluster. Makes sense — you made Jarik get rid of me, hired Old McKinley to get rid of Gregor, never doing the jobs yourself."
"Be quiet," Callib said, keeping his focus on the growing mass of magic.
"You did all these things that Jarik never knew about. Haven't you ever wondered what he's done behind your back? Or do you just think he's too worthless to bother worrying about?"
Callib straightened, his eyes opening in paranoia. "What is she talking about?"
"Liar," Jarik said. "I've always be
en a loyal brother."
Malja looked unconvinced. "Except when you went against Callib's orders and let me live. And now look where we are? Seems to me the both of you are trying to get the better of the other."
"It's not true," Jarik said, blood sputtering from his lips. "Don't listen to her. She's just trying to turn us against each other."
"You're right, Jarik. Callib is the weaker. Wielder of powerful magic but, like you, insignificant in the end."
Callib's face twisted as he struggled against Tommy's magic. "Lies!" he said. "We are special. We are the most powerful, most unique beings in the universe. We are far more than mere magicians. Could a silly magician hold battle with another while talking with you? I think not." To prove his point, Callib sent a strong surge of energy into the ball, and Tommy slid back a few feet. "We are gods. This world belongs to us. We will dethrone Korstra and Kryssta, and all of Corlin, all of Geth, will bow down before us. We are the new brother gods."
Malja walked straight at Callib. "Brother gods? You can't even defeat a little boy."
"We are gods!"
Before Malja could change her course, before Tommy could conjure some help, Callib swept both his arms in her direction, throwing the concoction of magics at her. Though most of it dissipated from the sudden change in focus, enough made its way to hit Malja.
A stone wall of sound slammed into her — deep rumbles and high-pitched squeals. Her feet went out from under her, sending her reeling to the ground. Viper careened into the air. Her head hit the floor sparking a dazzling array of colors before her eyes.
Her disorientation lasted only a moment, but by the time she had recovered, the room had grown quiet. Callib stared off, his face frozen in disbelief. Malja's eyes darted to the left. There lay Jarik, wheezing as blood pooled beneath him, Viper lodged in his chest.
With cold, patient steps, Malja approached Jarik. They locked eyes. Jarik's paling skin flushed with life for just a few seconds. "Callib was right about you," he said. "Worthless. Disappointment."
