robert Charrette - Arthur 02 - A King Beneath the Mountain

by Robert N. Charrette

  Bear hadn't shown any concern about his nakedness. "I don't want any gifts from you."

  "Then don't accept them." Bennett opened his hand and the clothes dropped to the floor. "If I were you, Jack, i d convince him to put them on. He'll be very conspicuous without them."

  As if they weren't already conspicuous; Sue, the shortest among them, was head and shoulders taller than any of the dwarves. Still, once they got out—if they got out—Bear would need clothes. It was still fall out there.

  "Bear," John started.

  "I do not wish to owe anything to an elf," Bear said firmly.

  "For this you owe nothing to me," Bennett said. "I am here at Jack's request. He is the one who is buying your freedom."

  Bear turned his stare to John. "Is that true, Jack?"

  "I said we'll talk later. First we get out of here, and that means getting dressed."

  Bear was too wobbly to manage by himself; he let John and Sue help him into the clothes Bennett had provided. The fit was perfect. John turned to Bennett.

  "Where do we go from here?"

  "We go back to green," Bennett said.

  "The forest? Is that the way out?" Sue asked.

  "It will be our way out."

  They retraced their path back to the great chamber and its forest. As before, their journey was miraculously devoid of encounters with dwarves. Were they that lucky, or were the dwarves letting them think so? Or did it have something to do with Bennett's magic? John was more interested in getting out than in getting answers.

  They got into the woods without incident and returned to the spot where they'd left Gorshin. The lizard-ape wasn't there waiting, but it soon appeared, moving nearly silently through the brush. Bear stiffened when he saw the thing, but to John's relief he neither tried to fight it nor relapsed into catatonia.

  "Dwaarves steel serr'chh," Gorshin announced.

  "Any nearby?" Bennett asked.

  "Naht neeer."

  "We've been more fortunate than we deserve, Jack," Bennett said.

  "A trap?" Bear and Sue both asked simultaneously.

  The question had come to John's mind as well.

  "I think not," Bennett said. "But there will be trouble enough if we dally."

  "Then let's not dally," John said.

  "The path is hard to see," Bennett announced. "I will lead."

  Bear shook off John's supporting arm. "I will walk by myself now."

  "You sure?" John asked. Bear looked as if he was about to fall over.

  Bear's answer was a glare.

  Bennett set out, moving more slowly than John had expected. Was he actually showing some concern for Bear's weakness? Bear walked almost at Bennett's shoulder. John and Sue fell in behind him. Gorshin followed.

  "Stay close, everyone," Bennett warned. "For your own safety."

  To John's surprise Bear kept the pace, staying close to Bennett as he had been told. John tried to stay close to Bear, ready to catch him if he stumbled. Sue was right at John's side. Bennett's warning seemed unnecessary; with fanged and clawed Gorshin taking up the rear, there was little likelihood that anyone would want to straggle.

  The character of the forest changed as they walked. John felt his skin begin to tingle. The leaves around them seemed tinged with blue fire, and light reflected from them in rainbow sparks. The shafts of white glare penetrating from the ceiling panels grew grayer, darkening with a suddenness surpassing that of a summer dusk. The air chilled.

  Sue shivered and stepped closer to John. He put his arm around her, and she wrapped her arm around his waist so that they had to walk in step. Her free hand reached up and grasped the hand he'd put on her shoulder, tugging it down to her chest. Restlessly, her head swiveled back and forth as she tried to catch each new sparkle, to seek out the source of each odd sound. This was all very strange to her.

  No surprise there. John remembered what it had been like for him the first time. For that matter, he still found the experience pretty strange. Hell, who was he kidding? The other-world was still wondrous, utterly amazing to him.

  How much stranger must it be for Sue, who didn't know that she was walking into the Faery realm.

  Part 3

  TOO DANGEROUS

  CHAPTER

  20

  On the other side, Bennett provided elven steeds for all of them, except Gorshin. They came out of the fog in a clamor of hooves and stood pawing the ground and snorting. Bear, to John's surprise, mounted one of the beasts without a word. Sue refused to go near her mount despite Bennett's assurances that the beast would not harm her.

  "It looks hungry," she protested.

  It took a lot of arguing, but finally she agreed to share John's beast. She clung tightly to him as soon as he pulled her aboard behind him. Bennett leading, they galloped away.

  They saw little of the otherworld beyond the grass beneath dieir feet because they rode through a dense mist, which Bennett claimed to have summoned "for your protection."

  Although the fog made it hard to tell how fast they were moving, it seemed to John that the steeds ran faster than any earthly horse ever could. Not that he had much experience with horses, any experience really. He was surprised that he managed to keep his seat. But with Sue clinging to him, he didn't dare to lose it.

  Time, he knew, was strange in the otherworld, so he never knew how long they rode. They moved in silence, the only

  sound the drumming of the steed's hooves against the ground. When Bennett finally reined in, Bear was reeling in his saddle and Sue seemed to have worn a groove around John's waist. They dismounted, Bear almost collapsing; John rushed to steady him, ignoring his protests that he was all right—he clearly was not and his inability to fend off John's aid confirmed it. Gorshin, having flown away into the fog, rejoined them in a tumult of flapping bat wings while Bennett gathered the steeds in a circle around him. He spoke to them in what could only have been Elvish, then sent them away with a word.

  "From here we walk to the sunlit world," Bennett announced.

  Walk they did, the elf leading them into the fog which became iridescent. Bear insisted on walking unaided and managed to summon the strength from somewhere to do so. Sue clung to John, seeking comfort amid the strangeness. He didn't mind. In fact, he liked it. Her closeness and human warmth made him feel better. Hugging each other tightly, they hiked through the fog. The rainbow scintillation increased with each step.

  After only a couple of dozen paces, John noticed that the colors swirling around them were becoming a shades less intense. Though the magical fog still hid all around them, the tinctures began to fade, diminishing in intensity with each stride, and the shifting swirl began to slow. John realized where they were emerging even before his vision had fully adjusted to the brightness of the real world. He recognized the tall windows shedding light into the cavernous enclosure and sending wide shadows across the hardwood floor from the massive metal constructions. The dust and rust and old oil smelled very familiar.

  They had arrived in the factory he had adopted as his slump.

  He looked around. Nothing had changed, as far as he could see; but where before the walls had seemed grim and dull, now, after his stay in the dwarven halls, the place seemed brighter and more alive. Maybe he still had dust from the otherworld in his eyes.

  Or maybe he was home.

  Home or not, being here meant—

  Faye!

  He felt her presence all around him, warm like a summer breeze but caressing him with a concern that no breeze could ever provide. Her attention didn't have the palpability or heat of the arm Spillway Sue had around his waist, but Faye was no less real to him.

  "John! Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

  "I'm fine." Better, now that he knew she was all right.

  "Artos doesn't look well."

  Artos? John had expected that she would be curious about Sue. After all he and Sue were still standing with arms around each other. He and Sue. Embarrassed, he said, "Bear's had a hard time."
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  "Will he be staying with us?"

  Us? Sue stirred, rubbing her hip against John's thigh. Which ms?

  "John? Is Artos staying?"

  "For now at least."

  "Jack?" Sue disentangled herself from him and looked at him as if she thought him crazy. "Who are ya talking to, Jack?"

  "F—" He caught himself. Faye was invisible even to him. Though he heard her voice and felt her presence more clearly now, she was still nonexistent to ordinary people. Spillway Sue was a material girl, in more ways than one. Recently she'd been introduced to a lot of things that weren't part of her world, and she hadn't taken them well. Despite all the strangeness she'd seen of late, how could she believe in John's invisible friend? Faye would understand John's pretending she didn't exist; she was used to it.

  "Just thinking out loud," he said.

  Sue looked at him thoughtfully, but didn't say anything. Her scrutiny made him uncomfortable.

  The mist that had accompanied them from the otherworld had dissipated completely now. Bear stared at the hulking, silent machines. In some ways this place would be stranger to him than Faery. He stumbled, and John lunged to catch him. With Sue's help, he lowered the exhausted Bear to the floor.

  Sue looked. "Are we where I think we are?"

  John nodded. Sue kept looking, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. Faye giggled. John shushed her; when he drew Sue's attention, he pretended that he was fussing over Bear. Faye's amusement increased, only to vanish as Bennett stepped to John's side. John felt her back away.

  "Mortal flesh is so feeble," the elf said, looking down at Bear.

  "He's had a hard time," John said defensively.

  Bear seemed to become aware that there were people around him. He opened his eyes and looked at John.

  "Where have we come?" he asked.

  "Home," John said without thinking.

  Bear nodded. "I feared that the elf would deceive us. They are deceitful creatures."

  Sue looked up at Bennett nervously, then caught John's eye. Her expression was worried. She didn't even know the history between the two. John looked at Bennett; the elf had the slightest of smirks on his face. John turned back to Bear.

  "Do you remember when you are?" What he really wanted to ask was whether Bear remembered that John was also an elf.

  Bear looked puzzled. "What kind of question is that?"

  The twenty-first-century Bear would have known it was a valid question.

  "I'm so tired," Bear announced. His eyes slid closed.

  "Feeble," Bennett said. "See to him. There is still a little time. I will wait."

  John roused Bear enough to get him on his feet. Sue helped without being asked. Together they managed to get Bear to the stairwell and up to the first landing. Bear was too weary to climb all the way to the top and too much of a burden to carry; John abandoned his intention to put Bear on his own mattress. They got him into the nearest room. It had been an office and had been furnished with a long couch. The couch's frame was broken now and the cushions moldy. Sue dragged the battered cushions into a line on the floor while John helped Bear over to them. Bear was conscious enough to stretch himself out.

  "Where's Caliburn?" he asked. "Do you have it?"

  John had last seen the sword in Bear's hand. He'd put it there himself. "Don't you remember recovering it?"

  "Recover?"

  "At the Lady's palace."

  "The Lady." He smiled weakly. "You were there."

  "So you do remember?" How much ? Do you remember calling me a traitor?

  "Perhaps I do. Everything's so confusing. Some of my memories seem different from others. I see myself in places and sometimes I do one thing, sometimes another. The people with me change. It is strange. Some of my memories must be real and some just dreams, but I cannot tell one from another. Cei would know. I must ask him."

  "You can't ask Cei."

  "Has he left for Camulodunum?"

  Camulodunum was an old name for Camelot. Bear didn't have it together at all. Had John jumbled something in his brain?

  "Cei's gone."

  Bear nodded knowingly. "Not to Camulodunum. Not anymore."

  "That's right."

  "This is a different time."

  "That's right, too. Do you remember the museum? Do you remember Nym?"

  "Is she with the Dons? Hector's girl?"

  Carla had been Hector's girl, and the Dons were a part of Bear's reawakened life. Bear was all screwed up. What was John going to do? What could he do?

  "You need to get some sleep," he told Bear. "We'll sort things out after you've rested."

  Bear nodded slowly and lay down. He seemed to drop instantly into sleep. John started to rise, but Bear's hand shot out and grabbed his arm. Bear stared earnestly into his eyes.

  "Then you don't have Caliburn?"

  "No. The last time I saw, I had just given it to you."

  "The Lady," Bear mumbled.

  "Did you give it back to her?"

  "I don't know. I think I did, but I don't know if it was a dream."

  Bear released John's arm. This time John waited until he was sure Bear was asleep. Sue was waiting at the doorway.

  "Them dwarves unzip him, or is he always like this?"

  John looked back at the sleeping Bear. He didn't want to think that it might not have been the dwarves that had unzipped Bear. It was going to work out. It had to. "He'll be okay. He'll be better after he's gotten some sleep."

  "He's not the only one." She took his hand. "Come on. You sack upstairs, right?"

  Had he told her that? Whether he had or not, she knew the way. Not that there was much opportunity to get lost; the only thing at the top of the stairs was the uppermost floor, the chamber that he had made his own.

  She only looked around long enough to spot the mattress that was his bed. It was in the same disarray that he'd left it in. She towed him across to the foot of the mattress and stopped, turning to face him. Her shove took him by surprise and, thanks to the ankle she hooked behind his knee, he collapsed sideways, flopping down. The mattress jounced as she plopped next to him.

  He started to get up, but she grabbed him and pulled him down on top of her. He felt her lips on his chin, then they slid up to his lips. She kissed him hard. Surprised, but pleased, he responded.

  After several breathless moments, he broke the kiss and levered himself up on one arm to look down at her. Her hair wasn't long, like Faye's had been in the otherworld, nor was it as fine; and it was dark, night to Faye's starshine. Still, it suited her, framing a face that held a softer expression than he had ever seen upon it. She wasn't a perfect beauty like Faye, for her skin was marked with her humanity and the strains of making a living in a hostile world.

  Faye wasn't here, and—for the moment—he was just as glad.

  What good was beauty you couldn't see?

  "Well?" she asked.

  She was here in his bed, such as it was. She was solid, real.

  He bent down and kissed her. Her lips were warm and alive. She was warm and alive. Real. Solid. Warm. Her arms reached up and encircled his head. She pulled him down to her.

  "Thank you," she said when they'd finished their lovemaking. He wasn't sure what to say, so he just hugged her hard. She hugged back. They lay quietly in each other's arms. For all his tiredness, John couldn't sleep. Sue was not so burdened; it wasn't long before she was drawing the deep breaths of a restful slumber. In frustration, John opened his eyes.

  Gorshin crouched at the foot of the mattress.

  For a moment he locked eyes with the batwinged creature. How long had it been there? What did it want? Granite-hued lips wrinkled up, revealing sharp teeth. Was that a snarl, or a smile?

  "Hee waants taaw'k you," Gorshin grated.

  John didn't need to ask who the "he" was.

  Talking with Bennett wasn't the first thing in his queue, but he wasn't sleeping anyway.

  Slipping his arm from under Sue's head without waking her, John rose from t
he bed. Gorshin's eyes glittered in the gathering dusk. The lizard-ape's stare was unremitting; John grabbed one of the ratty blankets and covered Sue. Gorshin didn't bat an eyelid; it continued to watch patiently as he scavenged up his clothes. At least, John guessed that the lizard-ape was patient: its expression remained still and it didn't fidget.

  Bennett was sitting on a low rail that ran along the side of one of the machines. He no longer wore his elf-prince garb; instead he was dressed much as he had been when John had first met him: a trench coat over a standard business suit. He even wore his human guise.

  Bennett rose as John approached; his nostrils flared once as if taking in a scent. A half smile curled on his lips. "Enjoy yourself?"

  What business was it of his? "You wanted to talk to me. I'd assumed it wasn't about my personal business."

  "If your business wasn't personal, what would make it your business?"

  "I'm not in the mood for your riddles." John didn't like having Bennett here, and wanted him gone. "Didn't you say that you needed me for some sort of pressing problem?"

  "There is a danger to someone you know."

  "My mother?"

  "Marianne Reddy, you mean."

  "You know who I mean."

  "If she is in danger, I know nothing of it."

  "I'm getting tired of this. Why don't you just tell me what you want?"

  "First tell me how you came to be in the dwarves' domain."

  What did that have to do with anything? "They came here and got me."

  "Did they demonstrate that they knew who you were?"

  "Wilson knew my name, if that's what you mean."

  "This Wilson knew your name, and came here, and just asked, and you went? Voluntarily?"

  "He did have a message from Bear, asking me to go with him."

  Bennett shook his head. "And you naturally assumed that Artos had really sent him."

  "It seemed reasonable."

  "After what happened when last you saw him? I think not."

  John was surprised at how much Bennett's scorn hurt. What did he care what the damned elf thought? "All right, so I thought it was odd. What difference does it make?"

  "Much. And none." Bennett shrugged. "I know that you are woefully undereducated in matters of your heritage, but I had thought you more intelligent."