[An Epic Fantasy 01.0] Skip

by Perrin Briar

  “I’m just talking about all the evils of the world, dear,” Blessed said.

  “The world has always had evil in it,” Elian said. “To my eyes it’s the same as it always was. Different evils, maybe. But the same number.”

  Tommy came back again, this time with a honeycomb.

  “Here momma,” he said.

  “That’s great, Tommy,” she said. “Tomorrow night I’ll make a honey tart. But be careful, the bees can sting something terrible. You can go into the woods one last time.”

  “Yes, momma,” Tommy said as he rushed back into the woods.

  “Before the approach of the end of the world, you were never really aware of what people were capable of,” Blessed said. “The most honest person could do anything. Look at us on our journey here. We’ve been attacked a dozen times since we left, always by these addicts with that crazy look in their eye. When I was a boy I could cross the kingdom hitching rides, and never have to worry. Now…”

  He shook his head.

  “If that’s the kind of world my children have to grow up in, I’m not sure I want to be a part of it,” he said.

  “So you’re going to go live in the mountains,” Elian said.

  “Until it blows over, until the great wash comes and drives all the evil people away and it’s safe to come live back in the world again.”

  “What happens if the great wash never comes?”

  “It will.”

  “What if it doesn’t come in your lifetime?”

  Blessed shrugged.

  “Then at least I’ll get plenty of fresh mountain air,” he said.

  “There’s always a bright side to everything, I suppose,” Elian said.

  Tommy came running back to the carriage, but this time he ran to his father.

  “Poppa,” he said. “I found this.”

  It was a piece of parchment, flattened and rough around the edges. Blessed took it and read it. Expression unreadable, he handed it to Elian. It was a drawing of Elian, crude, but accurate, beside another of Jera. Across it was written:

  WANTED! FOR THE KIDNAP OF JERA WYTHNOS. REWARD: 1,000 GOLD PIECES.

  “This, uh…” Elian said, his mouth feeling dry. “This isn’t me.”

  “You don’t need to explain,” Blessed said.

  “I don’t want to get your family into trouble. Once we get to a village or a town, I’ll buy a horse and get out of your hair.”

  Blessed smiled.

  “My boy,” he said, “I have no hair, and even if I did, you would not be in it.”

  Blessed laid a hand on Elian’s shoulder.

  “You are a gift, Elian,” he said. “Given to us from the Almighty. We will take care of you. It is not for us to judge a man’s actions. Only He can do that.”

  “Thank you,” Elian said. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I bumped into you.”

  “The end is coming. All past transgressions will be wiped clean.”

  He turned to his son.

  “How many of these posters did you see?” he said.

  “Fifteen,” Tommy said. “I collected them all.”

  He showed the wad of paper he carried.

  “Good lad,” the father said. “If you see any more, make sure to take them down.”

  “Yes, Pa.”

  “We’ll need these for your mother to light the fire with.”

  Blessed leaned over and handed the wanted posters to his wife.

  “I’d appreciate it if we could keep this between ourselves,” Elian said. “Everything they’ve written here about me isn’t true.”

  Blessed smiled.

  “Of course not,” he said. “Heck, you saved our necks, the least we can do is help you to keep yours. Just where is this woman they say you kidnapped, anyway?”

  “I didn’t kidnap her. We went our separate ways.”

  A sudden lethargy overcame Elian, and he felt drowsy.

  “I might catch forty winks,” he said. “Do you mind if I put my head down in your carriage?”

  “Of course not. Help yourself.”

  Blessed looked back at his wife, who held his eyes, and then looked down at the card game she was playing with Jessica.

  Elian climbed down from the seat and into the wagon while it was still moving. It smelled of fusty blankets and used clothes. The wagon cajoled side to side. He could barely stand. The floor space was tiny. He stumbled as he made his way to the back of the wagon. There, he found soft bedding. He kicked off his boots and hat and lay down on it.

  The gentle rocking of the wagon was comforting. The carriage door opened, spilling light across the tiny space. Elian caught sight of the silhouette of Marie before the door closed. Elian moved to sit up.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “If you’d like to lie down-”

  She sat down on the edge of the bed beside him and pressed her finger to his lips.

  “It’s fine,” she said. “We can share.”

  She pushed him back down and lay on the bed beside him. She cuddled up close to him.

  “You can touch me, if you want,” she said.

  “Uh… Your husband is driving the carriage…”

  “And that’s where he’ll stay.”

  “He’ll hear us.”

  “He knows. He is a good man, but he is as virile as a fish out of water. And as he said, I have an adventurous side. Do you?”

  Elian swallowed. Marie leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. The carriage continued to trundle over the rough road.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The wagon came to a stop. Elian sat up. His eyes felt groggy with sleep. He stretched his arms and legs, and then his back. He put his feet on the floor, which felt cold and dusty. He slipped on his boots. He walked toward the door, but before he touched it, it opened by itself.

  Sunlight flooded into the tiny space, quickly followed by the sounds and smells of a town: the beating of metal at a smithy, the smell of a stew bubbling over a roaring fire. Elian put up a hand to block the bright light. And as the light receded, Elian saw Blessed standing to one side with a big bag of coins in one hand. Marie stood beside him with Tommy at her feet and Jessie in her arms.

  Splayed out before Elian was a field of hats, black pistols and white uniforms.

  “Elian Stump?” the man at the front with the flat cap said.

  He studied Elian’s face and a copy of the wanted poster he had in his hands. He wore a smile that showed his pearly whites.

  “Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said. “I’m Sergeant Lamarr. Welcome to Crossroads. You’re under arrest.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  A single lamp, low on oil, sputtered with light above his head. Elian sat in a room without windows on a plain wooden chair, hands behind his back and feet chained to the floor. An ugly constable with the wide lips of a frog stood beside the door, glaring at Elian. The door opened. The constable straightened his back, and an older constable with two stripes on his arm stepped into the small room.

  “At ease,” he said.

  The constable beside the door exited and closed the door. The older constable turned to Elian, removed his hat, sighed, and pulled up a wooden chair from the corner of the room.

  He sat before Elian, hung his hat on one of the protruding corners of the chair and arranged his trousers so the crease remained sharp. His hair had a centre parting and shone with grease. His watery blue eyes took Elian in.

  “I was under the impression we weren’t going to lay eyes on one another again, Elian,” he said.

  “Believe me, Uncle Aled. I wouldn’t be here if those people hadn’t brought me in.”

  “Still shifting blame on someone else, I see. When will you learn that it’s us who make our own decisions, that we’re culpable for our own actions?”

  “I totally agree. So, if you’ll set me loose I promise you will never see me again.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Word from on high has decreed that should you escape or be set free there will be seve
re repercussions. I’ve already given you your last chance. That’s more than a man should ever need, unless he’s intent on always getting into trouble. There’s no helping a man who’s determined to stay in trouble.”

  Chief Constable Aled Lamarr ran a hand through his thinning hair. He looked ten years older than Elian remembered, and they’d only seen two winters in the interim.

  “We’ve contacted your friends in Time,” he said. “They know we have you. Do yourself a favour and tell me what you did with that young lass you kidnapped.”

  “I didn’t do anything with her. I didn’t even kidnap her.”

  “Of course you didn’t. You’re an innocent little lamb with the softest wool in the field. I’ve been dealing with people like you my whole life, Elian. Lying comes as easy as breathing. Tell me where she is and I might be able to negotiate a lighter sentence.”

  “I don’t know where she is. We separated.”

  “That’s bad news. If you were together you would have had something to bargain with.”

  Lamarr’s eyes caught on something on a side table.

  “What have we here?” he said.

  He picked up Elian’s watch and appraised it.

  “This is a very nice piece of kit you have here, Elian,” he said. “Must have been a very rich man you stole it from.”

  “I didn’t steal it. Someone gave it to me.”

  “Of course they did.”

  “All right,” Elian said. “You caught me. I was going to donate it to this police department.”

  “That’s very kind of you. A thief with a heart.”

  The Chief Constable put the clock down and picked up the three packets of pink powder.

  “Want to explain this?” he said.

  “I’m not a user.”

  “Then you’ve got one hell of a Gap collection. Planning on opening a museum?”

  “Check my arms. You’ll see no holes.”

  “What am I going to do with you, Elian?” Lamarr said. “You were meant to follow in your father’s footsteps. Instead you turned to a life of petty crime. But I suppose kidnapping and dealing Gap is a step up into the big leagues. Why did you have to kidnap the Wythnos girl betrothed to an Ascar? Have you got a death wish?”

  “I didn’t kidnap her. We were together when time skipped, that’s all.”

  “Then why are there posters everywhere with your ugly mug on saying you did kidnap her?”

  “Because the Ascars have got it in for me.”

  “And why would the Ascars be interested in little Elian Stump?”

  “Because I know something about their business practices they don’t want known.”

  “You’re going to have to tell me if you want to use it as leverage.”

  Elian shook his head.

  “I can’t,” he said.

  “You must.”

  “It’s toxic. Anyone who knows won’t be safe. I can’t tell you what it is.”

  “That’s it? I’m supposed to take your word it’s something important?”

  “It’s in your best interest not to know.”

  Lamarr put his hand to his chest.

  “You have my best interests at heart? Why, Elian, I’m touched!”

  “Do you have any idea how difficult a position you’ve put me in, Elian? On the one hand there’s my role here as Crossroads’ chief of police, on the other, you’re my nephew.”

  “We’ve been in this situation before,” Elian said. “Do what you did then. Let me go.”

  Lamarr shook his head.

  “The Ascars weren’t involved last time,” he said. “This is a whole new kettle of fish. I’ve got no choice, Elian. I have to hand you over to them. What else can I do? You have no one to blame but yourself. This is all your doing, and I won’t get dragged into being blamed for it. If you had come straight to me I might have been able to sort this whole thing out.”

  Lamarr shook his head.

  “There’s no way you’re going to be able to squirm your way out of this one,” he said.

  There was a pause.

  “How’s father?” Elian said.

  “He’s fine.”

  “And Ralph?”

  “He’s all right. Training to be a lumberjack.”

  Elian nodded.

  “Following in the family’s footsteps,” he said.

  “That was meant to be you.”

  “Father’s footsteps were too small.”

  “Whereas being a thief. Huge footsteps.”

  “I never intended on becoming a thief,” Elian said. “It just sort of happened.”

  “There’s you shifting responsibility again.”

  “I couldn’t be a lumberjack. It’s not right for me. Lumberjacking is all about taking big sweeps with an axe. There’s no finesse, no skill. Thieving requires cunning.”

  Lamarr snorted through his nose.

  “That’ll be why you’re always in trouble, then,” he said.

  “That’s what you get for trusting people.”

  “That’s what you get for trusting in the wrong people.”

  “Does Father know I’m here?”

  “No. I can at least spare him that.”

  “Thank you,” Elian said.

  “Don’t thank me yet.”

  Lamarr got to his feet and turned his back on Elian.

  “I saw you grow up,” he said. “I saw you excel past all your classmates, saw you get the top grades in every subject. And then I saw you fail, degenerate into a lowly thief. You had the world before you. Now, you have nothing. I always thought you were destined for great things. Just goes to show you how good my instincts are.

  “You always run away from your responsibilities,” he said. “That’s the problem with people like you. You’ve got things you should do, but you don’t want to do them. Mark my words, one of these days you’re going to have no choice but to face up to your responsibilities.”

  He smiled.

  “Boy, do I wish I could be there to see your face when you do,” he said.

  There was the sound of water, like it was rushing all around them. Uncle Aled didn’t seem to hear it. Elian smiled.

  “I think I’m about to skip,” he said. “I’ll just have to face my responsibilities at a later date.”

  “I don’t hear anything,” Lamarr said. “I don’t think you’re about to-”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Elian was running. His clothes were sodden and his hair was slick against his forehead. The foliage of vines and giant leaves slapped him as he ran through it. Every step he took sent a squirt of water out the top of his drenched boots. He slowed to a stop, his breath coming in rags. His legs ached and his lungs burned.

  He took in his surroundings. Walls of green faced him on every side. The rain made loud jarring noises on the upturned leaves. There were puddles of water everywhere of indeterminate depth. Rain fell in thick sheets. The land inclined down at a sharp angle, the water running in hundreds of narrow streams.

  Elian had something in the palm of his hand, his fingers wrapped around it. He raised it to his face. Even with as little light as there was the object shone like a lucky penny in the basin of a fountain. It was a circle with blocky protuberances around the edge.

  Something burst out from the foliage behind him. He turned, caught a hint of a face and bare hands, and reached for his gun, but the assailant crashed into him before he could get it unholstered. They landed in a muddy puddle. Elian raised his hands to defend himself, but the blow never came.

  “Jera?” Elian said. “What’re you doing here?”

  She got up off him and helped him to his feet.

  “I could ask you the same question,” she said. “When did you get here?”

  “I just arrived.”

  “Me too. What time is it?”

  Elian pulled up his sleeve to look at his watch.

  “It’s 2:15pm,” he said.

  “Not that time, the time,” Jera said, looking at her own watch. “It’s one
day after Crossroads. Where are we?”

  “Looks like the desert to me,” Elian said.

  “It’s nice to see you haven’t lost your wit.”

  “Or you your charm.”

  “Where were you when you skipped?”

  “Talking to an old friend in Crossroads police station,” Elian said. “Where were you?”

  “Crossroads?”

  Jera laughed.

  “So was I!” she said. “I was having a drink at a dirty bar.”

  “If we ever skip back there, do me a favour, will you? Break me out of the station.”

  Jera was covered head to foot in mud and grime. She checked her body and found a soft warm lump in her front pocket.

  “What’s that?” Elian said.

  “I’ll introduce you later,” Jera said. “He doesn’t like the rain.”

  “‘He’?”

  “We need to figure out what we’re doing here,” Jera said.

  “I’ve never been here before,” Elian said.

  “That doesn’t matter,” Jera said. “We’ll be here one day. In precisely one day, in fact.”

  “But how are we supposed to know which way we’re supposed to go?”

  “Don’t ask me. I only exist here.”

  “We might be drenched,” Elian said, “we might be dirty, but boy is it good not to be where I was.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Jera said. “I was warm and dry and about to go on an adventure. Here, we don’t know where we are, or what we’re doing. It couldn’t be any worse.”

  “Believe me, it could.”

  Jera gestured to the shiny object in Elian’s hand.

  “Is that what I think it is?” she said.

  “A cog.”

  “Not just any cog,” Jera said. “The Cog of Fate.”

  “That’s the one.”

  “We must have just got it,” she said. Then she frowned. “That’s strange.”

  “What is?”

  “I would have assumed someone would be chasing us for it.”

  Something whizzed through the air and struck the ground at their feet. It stood upright. The end had been sharpened to a point and had driven itself two inches into the rocky earth. At the opposite end was a handle wrapped with the skin of some kind of animal. They turned to look back from the direction it had come from.