Homecoming: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 23)

by R. L. King

  “Yes…and no. It is about far more than the rifts.” He folded his hands on the table. “Before I continue, I must tell you this: it was by no means a unanimous decision to reveal this information to you. In fact, we—the four of us—are taking something of a risk by doing so.”

  Stone frowned. “What kind of a risk?”

  “There are others who do not believe what we are doing is wise or prudent, and doing so will inevitably result in certain…disagreements among us.”

  “Then why do it at all?” Stone leaned back in his chair. “Why risk it? You haven’t seemed to mind keeping me in the dark this long—why not keep going?”

  Madame Huan’s smile widened, and her dark eyes twinkled. “Because, dear Alastair, you have proven yourself to be far too stubborn and curious, even when compared to your normal standards.”

  “Is that right? Is that why you’ve been avoiding me all this time?”

  Her smile faded from her face, but not her eyes. “Regrettably, yes. I do apologize for that, and I hope you’ll forgive me in time. But I felt that, after you became aware of the existence of certain phenomena, your curiosity might have led you to seek more from me than I was permitted…or willing…to reveal.”

  “It might have,” Stone admitted. “It probably would have, in fact. But why does that matter? Why not just tell me to mind my own business? Stefan certainly doesn’t seem to have a problem doing that.”

  “Madame Huan is significantly more…soft-hearted than I am,” Kolinsky said.

  “It’s true,” Madame Huan said. “I have known you a long time, Alastair, and have grown quite fond of you over that time. I felt it might be easier for both of us if I merely…removed myself from availability for a while.” She chuckled. “And please don’t think it was all because of you. I had several projects I had planned to pursue and never gotten around to, so the time was right.”

  Stone considered. “Okay. So you’ve been keeping yourself away from me, and Stefan’s dropped bits and pieces of some bigger picture on me to keep me from causing problems. I get that part. But obviously there’s something bigger here. I’m sensing it’s a lot bigger. And you’ve decided to tell me because I’m…curious?” He narrowed his eyes. “This has to do with what happened in Colorado, doesn’t it?”

  “Partially,” Kolinsky said. “But the discussion has been ongoing among us, and others, for quite some time regarding what we might reveal to you.”

  “It is not simply because you are curious,” Thalassa Nera said. She still wore the imperious, chilly gaze of a woman who’d rather be anywhere else. “If that were all it was, none of us would be here tonight. There is something about you—something none of us have been successful in comprehending—that makes you potentially more dangerous than your fellow scions if left with partial and inadequate knowledge of the forces you toy with.”

  Stone glared at her. “Scions. There’s that word again. Do you think you might start by explaining what it’s supposed to mean in this context? Scion of what?”

  All four of them exchanged glances, then focused back on Stone.

  Kolinsky indicated Madame Huan. “We—the two of us—have not been entirely truthful with you regarding many things.”

  “Is that right?” Stone couldn’t avoid the sarcasm this time—it slipped out before he could corral it. He pointed at them. “Wait. Don’t tell me. You two are secretly my long-lost parents, and my whole life up until now has been a lie.” The words were flippant, but a cold sense of dread settled in the pit of his stomach.

  Madame Huan laughed. “Oh, my, no. We’re not your parents, Alastair. You needn’t worry about that.” She glanced at Kolinsky, who remained expressionless. “I wonder, though, if you’ve ever thought about why you might have stumbled so conveniently upon my shop in London shortly after you began your apprenticeship.”

  Stone tensed, his mind returning to his first meeting with Madame Huan. He’d been fifteen years old, only a few weeks into his apprenticeship with William Desmond. Desmond had allowed him to go to London—the old-fashioned way, since he wasn’t permitted to use the portals yet—to procure a few items from Tolliver’s, the largest magical-supply store in the country. While he’d been in town, he’d spent some time riding the Tube and exploring the city, and during that time he’d discovered Madame Huan’s fascinating antiquities shop and its even more fascinating proprietor. She’d known he was a mage (though he hadn’t told her), and had shown him some of the more exotic items in the back room. After that, he’d visited her whenever he got the chance. The two of them had developed a fond friendship.

  He looked at her in astonishment. “That…wasn’t just random chance, was it?”

  She shook her head, smiling. “No.”

  “And…” He swallowed as another thought struck him. “It wasn’t random chance that you turned up in Palo Alto when I decided to move there, was it?”

  “Not…precisely. I have shops in many places. When you chose to relocate there, I merely added another.”

  Stone didn’t know what to say. He remembered thinking it a bit odd at the time, that of all the places he could have chosen to move, his old friend happened to have a shop in the one he picked. But even back then, odder things than that occurred around him with great frequency, so he hadn’t let it bother him overmuch.

  But wait… “What about Stefan? You’re not telling me he—”

  “No, Alastair,” Kolinsky said. “I was already well established in my current location by the time you arrived. Madame Huan merely thought both of us could benefit by association.”

  “Well…that’s comforting at least. You lot were starting to give me a big head.”

  Thalassa Nera gave him a cold, disapproving stare, and even Morathi Ababio seemed displeased by his words.

  Stone spread his hands. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone here, but you’ve got to admit this is a lot to swallow. I find out Madame Huan’s been—what—keeping an eye on me all these years? If I recall correctly, Madame Huan, you cautioned me about trusting Stefan too much when you put the two of us in contact.”

  “I did.” She glanced at Kolinsky with a smile that was almost fond. “And I still maintain that it’s a good idea to keep one’s wits about them around him.”

  Kolinsky didn’t reply.

  “Okay,” Stone said, growing exasperated. “So you two have been watching me. Why? I’ve got a feeling we’re back to this ‘scion’ thing again, so I’ll ask one more time: scion of what?”

  Kolinsky indicated the others at the table. “Us.”

  The chill in Stone’s core returned. “But you said you weren’t—”

  “In a general way,” Madame Huan clarified. “We weren’t lying—we’re not your parents. None of us are. The relationship is more complex than that.”

  “More complex? What’s that mean?”

  Kolinsky looked at the others again before returning his attention to Stone. “You have suspected for some time that I am older than I appear.”

  “Well—yes. Of course. I’d be an idiot not to believe it. I’m guessing all of you are.”

  None of them denied his words.

  “When you told me about the rifts and how they worked, you spoke about them like you were there. Like you understood all this not because someone told you about it, but because you’d experienced it firsthand.”

  “Yes,” Kolinsky said. “This is correct.”

  Stone swallowed, trying to keep up with his racing thoughts. “And…back when I was dealing with that business with the game pieces—” Here, he shot a quick glance at Thalassa Nera, whose jaw had tightened. “—you acted like that was something you knew firsthand, too. You mentioned powerful mages who played the game hundreds—maybe thousands—of years ago. Back when magic was more powerful than it is now.”

  “Yes,” Kolinsky said again. He seemed content to let Stone continue, and showed no sign of contradicting his words. In fact, he seemed almost pleased.

  “So…what does that mean? Yo
u’re extremely long-lived—far longer than your garden-variety mage. Are you immortal? Not human at all? Space aliens? Beings from another dimension?”

  “Slow down,” Madame Huan said gently. “I know this is a lot to take in.”

  “Bloody right it is.” He glared at Kolinsky. “So, am I right about any of my guesses?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you going to tell me which ones, or will you make me keep guessing until I get it right?”

  Kolinsky didn’t seem annoyed by his words. “Let me test your memory. You spoke of the time when you sought my help regarding the magical game pieces.”

  “I’d certainly have a hard time forgetting that.” He flashed a sharp look at Thalassa Nera again, not sure he was ready to forgive her yet for having him and Zack Beeler tossed off the top of a skyscraper.

  “I told you that they were part of a game played many years ago by powerful beings.”

  “Yes, I remember that too.”

  “You asked me what sort of beings I was referring to.”

  “Right—and you told me it was mages, back when magic was stronger than it is now. But I don’t—”

  “That was not my first answer.” Kolinsky’s tone was mild, but his gaze was knife-sharp.

  “I don’t know what you’re—”

  But then, suddenly, he did. The memory came back to him all at once, slamming him between the eyes. He could hear the conversation in his mind, as clearly as if it were taking place in front of him.

  “They were used for a game,” Kolinsky had said.

  “A game? What kind of game? Played by whom?”

  “Dragons.”

  33

  “Hold on…”

  Stone stared hard at Kolinsky. “You’re telling me you’re…dragons?”

  Kolinsky inclined his head.

  “Wait…” Something welled up inside Stone—a feeling like his whole universe was spiraling out of control. He almost leaped to his feet, flinging his chair away, but barely managed to stop himself. Instead, his stare became an astonished glare as he swept it across all four of them.

  “That’s…Come on, Stefan! That’s absurd! Dragons? You’re not only trying to convince me there are giant magic lizards running about on Earth, but you’re all part of their little club?”

  None of the four reacted. It was almost as if they expected his response.

  “It’s true, Alastair,” Madame Huan said gently. “Some of it is, in any case.”

  “What are you talking about, some of it? We are talking about the same sort of dragons, right? Breathing fire? Flying around terrorizing the countryside? Ravaging princesses and eating raw cows by the six-pack?”

  Thalassa Nera narrowed her eyes. “Stefan, are we to allow—”

  Kolinsky raised a hand. “Calm yourself, Thalassa. I have known Dr. Stone far longer than you have. This is merely his way of dealing with…unsettling information.”

  “Unsettling?” Stone demanded. “No. I’m sorry, Stefan. ‘Unsettling’ would be if you told me you were all part of some secret Illuminati cabal running the world. That I could believe. But this is…” He cast about for the right word, finally falling back on the tried and true: “—absurd.”

  “Is it really?” Madame Huan still spoke calmly, kindly—grandmotherly, almost. “You seem not to have trouble believing we are all much older than we look. Why is it so absurd that we might not be human?”

  Stone took a few deep breaths and swallowed hard. “Not human I could buy. I already had myself mostly convinced you and Stefan had to be…I don’t know…vampires or something. Immortals. But…dragons?” He jerked his gaze up. “All right, then—if you want me to believe it, prove it. Somebody turn into a giant lizard for me. And no illusions. I’m sure you could fool me if you tried, but I thought we were being honest with each other.” He leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. “Go on, then. Let’s see it.”

  Thalassa Nera’s eyes smoldered, and once again her jaw tightened.

  Before she could speak, though, Kolinsky raised a hand again. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Stone. “We cannot.”

  “You can’t? Why not? Room not big enough? Let’s go outside, then.”

  “No,” Madame Huan said. “It’s not the room. We literally can’t.”

  “You can’t.” He looked between the two of them. “Well, that’s bloody convenient, isn’t it? By that logic, I could tell you I’m really a twenty-foot-tall rabbit made of marshmallow fluff.”

  Madame Huan bowed her head, and Stone couldn’t tell if she was amused or dismayed. She looked at the other three on her side of the table, then said gently, “Let me tell you a story, Alastair, if I may.”

  “I thought you were already doing that.” Stone made a ‘go on’ gesture. “Don’t let me stop you. By all means, continue. Let’s hear the rest of it.” Part of him felt bad about leveling his usual sarcasm at one of his oldest and most loyal friends, but at this point he wasn’t feeling terribly accommodating about any of this.

  She didn’t seem affected, but chose to take his words at face value. “Many, many years ago—thousands of years, by human reckoning—there was a war.”

  “A war where?” Stone thought about Calanar, and wondered briefly if there was some connection between that dimension and the people—the dragons, if they were to be believed—sitting across from him. Is Harrison a dragon too?

  “On another plane. One with a much higher saturation of magical energy than this one.”

  Stone stiffened. Bloody hell, could it be? He remained silent, though, letting her continue. He was here to get information, not give it.

  “Many beings lived on this plane, but at the top of the power structure were the dragons. And yes, they were as you described them, though not exactly as the images on Earth depicted them. For our purposes, though, it was close enough. There were a few different subspecies, but the most powerful of these fell into two main types, similar to what people here might recognize as European- and Asian-style dragons. Both of these types were highly intelligent, immensely powerful magically, and, for the most part, extremely contentious.”

  “You mean they couldn’t stand to be in the same room with each other,” Stone said, interested in spite of himself. The idea of dragon-like creatures on some other dimension seemed less farfetched to him than those same creatures on Earth. “Seems like an occupational hazard among magical types.”

  She chuckled. “It does indeed—but these dragons took it to extremes. The animosity grew when certain sub-groups, perhaps more aggressive and some might argue less intelligent and insightful, came to believe their ideas of how things should be run were the best. They attempted to subjugate the weaker and more level-headed among them when they could not compel them to agree.”

  “That’s not surprising either. Apparently extradimensional dragons and humans have something in common.”

  Kolinsky inclined his head.

  “Needless to say,” Madame Huan continued, “the subjugated group did not take kindly to this treatment. Several of them banded together and used their greater intelligence to devise a plan to overthrow the others.”

  “I take it that didn’t go well,” Stone said.

  “It might have,” Kolinsky said. “If they were not betrayed.”

  “Betrayed by whom?”

  “By some of their own,” Madame Huan said. “A small group who did not believe they had a chance to succeed. In an attempt to curry favor with those in power, they betrayed their own allies.”

  Stone leaned forward. He glanced at Thalassa Nera and Morathi Ababio, but they seemed willing to allow Madame Huan and Kolinsky to do the talking. “So what happened to them? The group who were betrayed, I mean?”

  “You are looking at some of them,” Kolinsky said.

  Stone opened his mouth to reply, but could not manage anything past his shock. That had not been what he was expecting, but in retrospect he supposed it should have been. It was the only logical answer.


  “We were exiled,” Madame Huan said. “We are not strictly immortal—it is possible to kill us, but it is very difficult. Also, some of us had familial ties among those in power, and while they were not compassionate, they had little desire to destroy us. So, they devised a different and simpler punishment for us: exile.”

  A chill ran down Stone’s back. “You mean…they sent you here.”

  “Yes,” Kolinsky said. “I do not believe they chose this plane with any care—they merely searched until they discovered one with a significantly lower level of magic. Our choice was to allow this—to flee and make our way in this new home—or to endure lingering deaths.”

  “Some chose death,” Thalassa Nera said. “But most accepted exile.”

  “When we arrived here, all those many years ago,” Madame Huan continued, “we discovered more magic than we’d anticipated. At that time, it was still possible for us to assume our true forms, if only in certain particularly magic-rich areas. But it soon became apparent that, as the human race grew more populous and belief in the supernatural began to wane, the time would come when we could no longer change.”

  “Wait,” Stone said. “Did you ever try to find your home dimension? Did you intend to return someday?”

  “We did.” Madame Huan looked rueful. “We do. Theoretically, we could return any time we wished. There are those among us who have already determined where our home plane is, and how to reach it.”

  “Then…what’s the problem? Why don’t you?”

  “Power,” Kolinsky said. “Our subjugators were careful. Even at its highest, the magic level here was not high enough for us to overcome the safeguards put in place to prevent our return. Our magical power is still formidable relative to even the strongest human mage, but only a fraction of what we enjoyed in our native environment. We remain hopeful that, someday, the situation will change—or we will discover a way to change it. But until then, we were forced to resign ourselves to residence on this plane. We chose human forms and carved out our own spheres of influence around the world.”