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

by R. L. King

  “Yes. And likely so.”

  “And…you’re sure you could teach me this?”

  “Quite sure. Your magical skills are exemplary. Theoretically, any scion of sufficient power could learn it, but because you are the only scion aware of both his status and our existence, you would be unique in your ability.”

  Stone took a few deep breaths and hauled himself down. He felt like a kid on Christmas morning—but that kind of reckless enthusiasm was dangerous. And there was still the challenge to consider, since he’d already pledged himself to it. Don’t forget about that for a moment.

  “Why would you do this?” he asked. “Do the others know? If I learn this, will I risk popping in somewhere and getting my head bit off by Thalassa Nera for stepping above my station?”

  “They know. They do not necessarily all approve, but they feel it is a reasonable exchange for considering our requests. They also feel you have little chance to succeed in the challenge without it. As I said, the existing portals are inefficient.”

  “Wait…” Stone glared at him, remembering. “That’s how you sent me to Colorado, isn’t it? And how you got me to the meet last night.”

  “It is, yes.”

  “So…you can take others along with you? Or only other dragons or scions?”

  “Only those who possess the potential themselves.”

  “So…if you can help me before the challenge is given, why not just take me there? Why teach me this?”

  “Even after the challenge is completed, there may come a time when you must travel somewhere quickly.”

  “Ah.” Now he got it, and the realization surprisingly calmed him. More quid pro quo, and that he understood. “If you want to send me off somewhere to investigate something, you can’t have me limited to existing portals.”

  “Yes.”

  So Stefan hadn’t even tried to deny it. That was comforting. At least he knew where he stood—or where he would stand, if he made it through to the other side of the challenge.

  And bloody hell…travel via ley lines! If that was possible, then…

  He considered, still hardly daring to allow himself to hope. “I…don’t know what to say.”

  “Say yes, Alastair. As I said before, there are, in the common vernacular, ‘no strings attached’ to my offer. Even if you should choose not to consider any future requests, the knowledge will remain yours to do with as you will.” He paused. “I give you my word.”

  Stone jerked his gaze up. “Your word.”

  “Yes.”

  His heart beat even faster. He looked at Kolinsky.

  And then he flashed a wicked grin.

  “Right, then. Let’s do it. And tell me the rest of what I need to know about this challenge. If I’m going to do it, I want to get it over with. I’ve got other things to do.”

  36

  Several days later, Stone was still marveling at the turns his life had taken.

  Over the course of those days, he had visited Tokyo, Nairobi, and Copenhagen. He hadn’t stayed long in any of them—there was time for that later, if he wanted to explore someplace in more detail. This week, he had traveled there merely because he could. And each time he’d arrived at a destination, he’d had to stop for a moment and wipe the giddy grin from his face before anyone spotted him.

  This was bloody amazing. There was no other way to describe it.

  He’d taken to the training like he’d been born to it. Once Kolinsky had unlocked the secrets of ley line-based travel to him, it had taken less than a day before he’d been zipping between Kolinsky’s shop and his own home in Encantada. By the next morning he’d completed his first long-distance trip, from the Encantada house to the Surrey house. It took him a bit longer to get the hang of traveling to places he’d never been before, but his enthusiasm and motivation were both high, so there was never any doubt he would master it.

  In every case, the process was far more efficient than traveling through the Overworld, just as Kolinsky had said it would be. Even the short walk through the Overworld’s foggy tunnel was no longer necessary. All he had to do was choose a ley line, identify the point where he wanted to travel, make mental preparations that took less than two minutes, and execute a magical command. An instant later, he appeared in his chosen destination. It literally was an instant, too: there was no sense of travel time at all. The first time he tried it, the speed startled him so much he lost his balance and fell on his ass. He didn’t tell Kolinsky about that bit.

  Kolinsky was a surprisingly patient teacher, if more than a bit abrupt and impersonal. He reminded Stone a bit of Desmond in that regard: both of them highly powerful and old-school, with little room for sentimentality or emotion.

  He wondered…

  “Stefan,” he’d asked at one point after successfully returning from a trip to a spot outside Sydney, Australia. “May I ask you a question?”

  “You may always ask.” Kolinsky had remained at his desk, studying a new tome he’d recently acquired for his collection while waiting for Stone to follow his instructions.

  “Was my old master William Desmond a scion?”

  “He was. One of the more promising ones, in fact. It was a shame that he was lost.”

  The thought saddened him more than he expected—and angered him, too. Desmond had possessed such a brilliant mind, and been so talented magically. It was a tragedy he’d been taken before he’d had the chance to realize his full potential. Especially considering it was a potential he’d never known anything about. Another thing he had his grandmother to blame for.

  “I’m surprised there wasn’t anything you could have done about it.”

  “That is irrelevant. Even if we could have acted, we would not have done so. We have a strict rule against interfering in the course of scions’ lives.”

  “Except for mine.” Stone flashed him a wry grin.

  “You are…an exception. In many ways.”

  “Can you tell me who any of the other scions are?”

  “No. As I mentioned before, you are the only one aware of your status. Best if it remains that way.”

  “I suppose so.” But he still wondered how many others like him were running around the world.

  Like him in that respect, anyway. He suspected he was unique in more ways than this one.

  Two days later, he stood on a verdant hillside deep in the Swiss Alps, and he didn’t mind admitting—to himself, at least—that he was scared.

  Maybe even that he wished he hadn’t been so hasty in insisting on this challenge.

  But it was too late for all that now, wasn’t it?

  It was beautiful here: all green hills, riots of colorful wildflowers, and jagged mountain peaks. The sky was a brilliant sapphire blue. The light wind had a cold bite, ruffling his long coat around his legs. The nearest road, according to the map he’d examined before he left, was twenty miles to the west.

  Even though the ley line ran directly through where Kolinsky had told him Cassius’s home was located, he’d chosen to step out more than a mile from his destination. Partially it was because he wasn’t certain how far out the place was warded, but mostly because he wanted to give himself a bit of time to think.

  This was a perfect place to do it. The natural beauty, untouched by anything human-made, lent itself to contemplation. Aside from the breeze’s light rustle among the trees, all he could hear were the calls of birds high above. His footsteps on the grass were silent.

  He’d called Verity late last night, when he discovered he couldn’t sleep.

  “I’m going away for a bit,” he’d told her.

  She’d immediately picked up on the odd edge in his voice. “Away? Where?”

  “I can’t say. It’s…personal business. But there’s a chance I might not come back. That’s why I wanted to call you.”

  She’d been silent for a long time. “This is about that rift stuff, isn’t it?”

  She’d always been almost unnaturally perceptive; this was no exception. “Sort of.
It’s…tangentially related. I’ve got to settle something with someone.”

  “You’ve got to.”

  He realized it was true. He couldn’t let this hang over his head forever. “I do.”

  “Doc—”

  He chuckled. “Come on, apprentice. No trying to stop me. You know it won’t work.”

  Another pause. “Yeah…I do. And I hate that.”

  “Don’t tell anyone else—not yet. Jason will just worry, and there’s nothing he can do either.”

  “What about Ian? Have you told him?”

  “No.”

  “Why are you telling me and not him? He’s your son.”

  “He…” Stone considered his words. “If anything happens, he’ll find out.”

  He heard her sigh through the line. “I’m not even going to ask how. But it’s not guaranteed, right? That you won’t come back, I mean?”

  “Oh, by no means. I think I’ve got a good chance of succeeding, actually.” He remembered what Kolinsky said about the scion choosing the stakes. But success wasn’t the same thing as survival—and without even trying, he could come up with at least a handful of scenarios where the latter might not be the best possible outcome if the former didn’t go his way.

  And in his case, the latter was, apparently, not in question anyway.

  Even if it did turn out he couldn’t be killed, he wasn’t naïve enough to think there weren’t a lot worse things out there than dying.

  No time to worry about any of that now, though. He’d made his decision. “I’ll be back, Verity. I’m not done with you lot yet.”

  “Promise?” The word held a faint hint of what had been between them.

  He took a deep breath. “I…promise. Maybe not right away, but I’ll find a way. One way or another.” He chuckled again. “And there’s always the chance this will all turn out to be nothing—that I’ve got you worried for no good reason. If that happens, you’ve got my permission to tease me about it unmercifully.”

  “I plan to take you up on that, Doc.” Her voice was serious. “Be safe. I’ll take care of Raider for you.”

  “Thank you. Must always observe the highest priorities.”

  He walked now, enjoying the wind and the late-afternoon sunlight filtering through the trees. Though he moved at an unhurried pace, taking in the unsullied beauty of the area, it was far too soon before the trees opened up to reveal a high wall of warm tan stone with a silver gate set into it.

  He stopped, making no attempt to touch the gate. It looked inviting rather than forbidding—the kind of gate that might provide entry to some wealthy aristocrat’s country estate. He couldn’t see any sign of a house from here, and wondered if that was because it was still a distance away, or because illusions hid it from prying eyes.

  He shifted to magical sight, and immediately the ordered lines of a powerful ward sprang into being. No illusions hiding that. Once again, it told him something about the place’s master: he didn’t want to be bothered. You didn’t put your house out in the middle of nowhere and put those kinds of obvious wards around it if you wanted earnest old ladies dropping by to chat with you about Jesus.

  He expected all of this, though. Kolinsky had warned him that he wouldn’t be able to waltz right up to the front door—but he didn’t need to.

  He took a deep breath, pausing a moment to let his heartbeat settle back to normal.

  It didn’t. If anything, it quickened.

  Okay. Here goes.

  “Cassius!” he called, raising his voice to a clear, ringing tone and using the words Kolinsky had given him. “I am Alastair Orion Michael Stone, son of Orion and sixth scion of Aldwyn. You have wronged me by attacking me without provocation, and I bring challenge to you as is my right.” He shivered just a bit when he spoke Aldwyn’s name, hoping by doing so he didn’t summon the real thing.

  The light wind carried the words away, and for a moment Stone thought nothing would happen. The gates remained closed, the view beyond them unchanged.

  Maybe he wasn’t home? Nipped out to pick up something at the market?

  “You are brave, scion,” came a soft voice from behind him. “Or foolish. I suspect the latter will prove ultimately to be the case.”

  Stone didn’t spin around, though it wasn’t easy. Instead, he turned as if he’d expected the words.

  Cassius stood a few yards away, watching him with the calm gaze of a predator who knew his prey couldn’t escape him. He looked much the same as before: short blond hair, pleasantly bland expression, simple black shirt and trousers. His posture was relaxed, his arms hanging loosely at his sides. “You have learned the truth, then.”

  “I’ve learned a lot of things.” Despite his tension, Stone deliberately forced himself to mirror Cassius’s unconcerned stance. “One of them is that you were a naughty boy for attacking me, and your mates don’t take kindly to that.”

  “Indeed.” Cassius inclined his head. “But this is not a matter for you. It is for the others to decide. Perhaps they might consider things differently when they are informed of the nature of the portal I sought to study.”

  “Sorry,” Stone said. “It’s not going to work like that. Maybe I’m an idiot for doing it, but I don’t have time to wait for dragon justice to grind its wheels for the next several hundred years.”

  “Ah. So you’ve learned more of the truth than I thought they would permit. Times are indeed changing.” He tilted his head, appearing contemplative, and then a slow, sly smile spread across his bland features. “And so you bring me challenge, young one, with all that entails.”

  “It doesn’t have to be so.” Stone took a step toward him, pausing to recall the ritualistic formula of the words Kolinsky had taught him. “I formally offer you the opportunity to apologize for your actions, to offer atonement as is my right, and to pledge never again to interfere with me or my activities.”

  That was something new Kolinsky had told him when they’d discussed the process. “I can give him a way out?” he’d asked, surprised.

  “You can, if you wish. But if he accepts it, he will owe you restitution for the transgression he’s committed against you. I do not think he will take the offer, but you are free to make it.”

  Still, it didn’t hurt to try. Maybe Cassius had realized he’d overstepped himself. Maybe they could settle this like civilized men. Or…whatever.

  Cassius laughed. “Oh, scion, you amuse me.”

  Okay, maybe not.

  “You are a fool,” the dragon continued, still smiling. “If you know what I am, you know you have no hope of besting me when I am prepared.”

  “You might be right. Looks like we’re going to find out, doesn’t it?”

  He’d asked Kolinsky what would happen if Cassius did not accept the challenge.

  “He does not have a choice. The scion risks much by bringing challenge, so in order to put the two on more even footing, refusal to accept a lawful challenge is considered to be forfeiture, with the scion defining the terms of victory.”

  “Bloody hell,” he’d murmured. “Nobody in their right mind would accept that.”

  Still, he could always hope. It would definitely be the simplest way out of this mess. He’d even go easy on Cassius if he swallowed his pride and admitted he was wrong.

  “So,” he said now, meeting Cassius’s gaze with his own firm, steady one. “Do you accept my challenge under your laws? Shall we end this, once and for all?”

  Cassius looked him over as if evaluating him. Then his smile widened. “I accept your challenge, scion. I applaud your courage—but I hope you have your affairs in order. Provide me with the time and place, and I will be there.”

  Stone slipped his hand into his coat pocket and withdrew a round, multifaceted black gem, holding it up so it caught the late-afternoon sun and sent off shimmering sparkles. “No time like the present, is there?” He tossed the gem to Cassius. “Here’s the location. See you there.”

  He had the gem’s twin in his other pocket. Something e
lse Kolinsky had given him—location crystals, designed to guide their holder to a specific destination along the ley-line pathways. Dragons had some truly fascinating toys. He looked forward to learning more about them—assuming he made it through the challenge without having his brain turned to porridge.

  He flashed his own smile at Cassius. “I wouldn’t get overconfident if I were you. I’ve never been a religious sort, but I do appreciate the classics. You might want to check out the story of David and Goliath before you leave.”

  Without giving the dragon a chance to respond, he closed his hand around his gem and the scene around him faded.

  When you were trying to project more confidence than you felt, there was something to be said for making a good exit.

  37

  He reappeared in a room he’d never seen before.

  Kolinsky hadn’t told him where the gems would take them, only that it would be the staging area for the challenge. It required him to cede a certain amount of trust, but that no longer troubled him. That ship had not only sailed, but already docked at its destination and was offloading passengers by now.

  He looked around, taking in the space. It didn’t look anything like the room where he’d met with Kolinsky and the others. This one had stone walls with ornate carvings, a stone floor covered with a thick red rug, and no windows or doors. He wondered if it would have been safe for him to try traveling here without the location gem, and doubted it.

  At the far end of the room was a table, and behind it sat Stefan Kolinsky, Madame Huan, and another man Stone had never seen. They were all watching him. In front of them was a closed, black container the size of a shoe box. So far, Cassius hadn’t arrived.

  “So…” Stone said, turning in place to take in the room, “what happens now? I delivered the challenge and he accepted it. Do we stand around and wait for him to grace us with his presence?”

  “He will be here,” Madame Huan said. She looked more somber than Stone had almost ever seen her. No sign of the twinkle in her dark eyes now.