“Um, slow down, Janus. You’re not making sense,” Stavius replied as he squinted at the city across the river. “I’m not seeing it.”
“Look,” Janus said, pointing at the hills in the distance. “There’s Fairview Heights. There’s Clifton. There’s Mount Auburn and Walnut Hills. And there’s Mount Adams. That big river is the Ohio River and the little one over there,” he added, pointing eastward, “is the Licking River.”
“Whoa, dude, there’s one big problem with your geography,” warned Stavius. “The hills might look right, but your Ohio River is in the wrong place. In fact, by your description, the Ohio River is pretty much flowing right over where downtown Cincinnati would be located. We’d be on the river bank if we were in Covington, but instead, we have a mile of cotton fields between us and the river.”
“I know. I know. The river is messed up, sort of like Orion’s bow, but the hills are perfect!” said Janus in a rush. “You see, Mom and Dad, make us come down to eat at this restaurant on a barge in Covington every Friday night. And every Friday night I have to listen to Dad point out each of the seven hills of Cincinnati and tell the same stupid stories from his childhood. We can’t see Fairmount or Price Hill because this hill is blocking them, but I bet we’ll see them on our hike to the bridge tomorrow. Dude! Mearth really is another Earth!”
Stavius wasn’t sure how he felt about Janus’ revelation. In some ways it made Mark feel closer to home, but in other ways, he preferred the thought that Mearth was an entirely different world instead of just another version of Earth. It made him wonder which version was real. Besides, Mark was having a hard time accepting that the river was in the wrong place. He tried to think about where this meant Staven had lived. His house was slightly northeast of Septumcolis, but he wasn’t sure where to put it on a map. That part of Mearth was mostly forested with a few dirt or cobblestone roads. The terrain might be the same as Earth, but there were no Mearth maps and few high places with a clear view to orient yourself.
Stavius finally admitted, “Well, that’s an interesting theory, Janus, but let’s focus on getting across the river. I’ll try to map Mearth to Earth the next time I wake up. If you’re right, then this might be valuable information, even if the river’s in the wrong place.”
They headed back to Larsa’s house, told her their plan to cross the bridge separately, and helped load her paintings onto a cart. Both boys were tired and turned in early, but neither slept well. Their eyes flew open at every sound, fearing that guards were coming to arrest them. By morning they were more tired than when they went to bed.
Chapter 18
Septumcolis
Stavius was ready to leave shortly after breakfast and waited outside while Larsa double-checked her cartful of paintings and locked up the house. Janus, however, was taking forever to get ready. Stavius and Larsa felt as if they had been standing by the cart for an eternity when the front door finally opened, and a beautiful teenage girl stepped out. She was wearing a floral skirt with a white blouse and appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. Larsa smiled as she approached and said, “Stavius, I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Jena.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you had a daughter,” said Stavius in surprise. She was beautiful, and he stood up a little straighter and brushed the dust off his shirt.
Jena said, “Why Stavius, you aren’t going to flirt with me are you?” in a sweet, high-pitched voice with a familiar sarcastic overtone.
“Janus!” exclaimed Stavius. “I can’t believe that’s you!”
Jena laughed and said, “Yeah, I clean up pretty good, don’t I?” She performed a little twirl, causing her skirt to fly up slightly.
“Yes, but you know that your illusions won’t work on the guards,” said Stavius. He was still amazed that this was Janus. It was one thing to illude yourself to look and sound like a girl, but Janus was managing to move and act like one. Stavius knew he would just look like a guy in drag if he tried it.
“Yeah, I know,” replied Janus and, with a sweep of his hand the illusion of this beautiful sixteen-year-old girl disappeared. In her place was a rather average-looking thirteen-year-old girl in a plain cotton blouse and skirt. Her features were similar to Janus, but she still looked like a girl.
“What the…” stuttered Stavius.
Jena laughed and said, “It’s amazing how you can use a little bit of magic to transform art supplies into makeup. You just have to know how to use it to achieve the desired effect.”
“But, but, but, you still look like a girl!” exclaimed Stavius. “How did you know how to do that?”
“Kids, we really don’t have time for this,” interrupted Larsa. “Janus, you should illude yourself, and you both should get into character. We need to get going to beat the crowd. It will be far easier to get past the guards when they are fresh than when they are grumpy after processing hordes of impatient tourists trying to get home.”
With that, they left Clothton and followed the road through the cotton fields. It was late September, and most of the cotton had been picked. The fields looked as though they were filled with nothing but scrubby plants and occasional cotton balls scattered about. The three of them walked together for most of the short journey, but Stavius dropped back as they approached the guard station and let a family riding on a wagon pulled by a centaur get in front of him.
He saw Larsa and Jena approach the gate and, as they did, Jena’s illusion faded and disappeared. The guards had a quick chat with Larsa, and they were on their way moments later. The family in the wagon, however, were having some sort of issues. The guards were arguing with them about something they had purchased in Clothton and were trying to bring into the city. Stavius wasn’t sure what was causing the problem, but it appeared that this was going to take some time. The guards must have realized the same thing, so they pulled the family off to the side and waved at Stavius to approach.
Stavius knew he fit the profile of the suspects, so he wasn’t surprised that he was interrogated more extensively than Larsa and Jena. He explained that his name was Staven, that he was living in Clothton, and that he had moved there a few months back. Staven somewhat surprised the guards when he answered that he wasn’t going to the execution but that he was, instead, heading to a town in the east to visit his previous home.
Another guard had joined the two who were interviewing Stavius. It was apparent that they were not entirely buying his story, but Stavius felt as though he was winning them over when the unthinkable happened. A low, angry voice bellowed, “Do not let that man pass!”
Instantly the three guards surrounded Stavius and pointed their swords towards him. A moment later two of them were pushed to the side by the giant, angry centaur who had been pulling the wagon. “Staven, you smelly knoot,” he shouted, “I can’t believe I finally found you. Prepare to learn the consequences of bailing on a deal.”
“Randy,” said Stavius with a nervous chuckle. “How’ve you been, old buddy?”
“Wait,” said one of the guards to the centaur. “You know this man?”
“Know him?” growled Randy. “This man owes me money. I’ve been trying to hunt him down ever since he lopped the head off that chigon.”
The guards then turned toward Stavius and leader asked, “Are you really the idiot who chopped off the head of a chigon and let it run around destroying half of the eastern fields?”
“Hey, it wasn’t half of the fields, and it was an accident,” said Stavius. “And for that matter, you try to catch a headless chigon running randomly at top speed. I tell you that it just isn’t possible!”
By now the guards were elbowing each other and laughing, the other travelers in line were staring, and Stavius was feeling more anger and embarrassment than fear.
The lead guard who was most in control managed to say, “So you ran away to Clothton. What have you been doing over there?”
“Picking cotton,” mumbled Stavius.
At this point, all the guards, even the capt
ain, roared with laughter. Stavius knew at that moment that he had been moved from their most wanted list to their biggest loser list. He was glad that neither Larsa nor Janus were seeing this.
“But you’re missing the point,” roared Randy. “He owes me money!”
“I’m sorry,” said a guard between guffaws. “You can’t pass until you’ve settled your debt to this gentleman.”
“Randy is no gentleman,” said Stavius, “and, besides, I don’t have that much money.”
“Then you’ll pay in blood,” swore Randy.
“But I’ll give you everything I have if you’ll call us even,” finished Stavius. He removed a worn pouch from his belt and tossed the entire bag to Randy. It contained a little more than half of what he owed the centaur, but Randy considered the offer and decided that it was better than nothing.
“Deal,” grumbled Randy. “You’ll never be able to pay off the rest working as a cotton picker anyway. Just don’t ever let me see your ugly face again.” Then he turned back to the family in the wagon who were finally cleared and had been shouting at him to hitch up and take them home.
Stavius turned back to the guards, but they had already forgotten about him and were checking the next travelers. He began walking across the bridge feeling thankful for making it past security and for Randy being too stupid to search him for another money pouch. Satish had given him a sizeable amount of cash to cover their stay in Septumcolis and Stavius did not want to share any of it with that centaur bully.
The Septumcolis River was broad, and the bridge was long and impressive. Stavius couldn’t begin to fathom the amount of magic required to build or maintain it. He paused at the mid-point, as most people did, to look up and down the river and at the city he was approaching. There were five massive castles situated atop five mighty hills arcing from the north to the east. Two more castles were located across a smaller river known as the Western Fork with one at the northwestern tip of the arc formed by the first five. The other was far to the southwest and appeared to be much less pretentious and more fortified than the rest.
He shook his head as if to clear it from Janus’ conversation from last night and looked at the city again. The bridge ended in a small marketplace formed by crossroads at the base of the ridge. The intersection was established by the road over the bridge which continued northward between the two steep hills and another which curved along the bottom of the ridge. Each castle seemed to have its own road winding north off of this riverbank highway up the valleys between their hills. The riverbank highway continued over a small bridge crossing the Western Fork to connect with the remaining two castles. Both Mark and Staven had grown up on the east side of the city, and neither were sure where Price Hill and Fairmount were, but Stavius fully expected Janus to insist that his hypothesis was correct. He sighed and continued his walk.
Larsa and Jena were waiting for him at the far side of the bridge and, as Stavius had predicted, Janus’s first words were, “Did you see them?” He was thinking, “Did you see Price Hill and Fairmount,” but only Stavius could hear those thoughts. The two boys had picked up the ability to share their thoughts while staying in Equous and had been practicing ever since. They still couldn’t communicate with anyone else telepathically, but it worked pretty well between themselves.
“Who did you see?” asked Larsa.
“Um, the family in the cart,” Stavius quickly answered. “We had been talking about what you could and couldn’t bring into Septumcolis at dinner last night and saw them being harassed. It isn’t important.”
Larsa nodded and said, “Well, you should be thinking more about where you’re going to stay than what you can sneak into the city. Do you have lodging reservations anywhere?”
Of course, neither of the boys had any sort of reservations, and their perplexed expressions confirmed Larsa’s hunch.
“Well, you’ll have a difficult time finding any rooms now so close to Luna Fest. I think the entire region has descended upon the city to participate this year. You should come with me. I’m staying at the Travelers’ Den and have some pull there. Perhaps they can find you a room.”
While Janus appreciated all of Larsa’s help thus far, he was starting to feel uncomfortable relying on her. “I don’t know if we can trust her,” he thought to Stavius. “We barely know anything about her.”
“Yeah, but she’s right that we do need a place to stay,” thought Stavius. Out loud he said, “Thank you, Larsa. I’m not sure we’ll take you up on it, but we’ll certainly help you get your cart there.”
“Thank you,” answered Larsa. “I could use the assistance. The Den is near the top of the hill, and this cart is getting heavy. By the way, you’ll really like it there. It is often used by the Sodality of Travelers.”
“What’s the Sodality of Travelers?” asked Janus.
“Oh, come on, guys,” groaned Larsa. “It’s the fellowship of travelers between the two Earths. You didn’t think that you five are the only travelers, did you?”
“Um, two Earths?” Janus innocently asked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re travelers, but only from a farm in the southeastern edge.”
“Whatever,” sighed Larsa. “I applaud you for sticking with your story, but you have to figure out who to trust. Let’s go.”
Larsa grabbed one handle of the cart while Stavius grabbed the other and the three of them began the long climb up the valley road. There were hills on either side of them, but the one on their left was nearly a cliff. Houses and shops which didn’t make it into the crossroads market lined the right-hand side of the road. The Travelers’ Den was located in a little notch in the cliff on the left-hand side of the road near the top of the hill. It was an unusual establishment, to say the least. The path was blocked by a high, wrought-iron gate and there was no sign. Larsa pushed the gate open and motioned them to follow.
A large, stone, gothic building appeared as they passed the gate. It had clearly been carefully illuded, and Stavius immediately dialed down his illusion vision to avoid future surprises.
“Welcome to the Travelers’ Den,” laughed Larsa with a bow. “As you can see, they don’t cater to the general public.”
Janus was cheering up as they approached. “You know, this could be perfect,” he thought to Stavius. “It’s right in town, yet it’s well hidden. This looks ideal!”
“Yeah,” thought Stavius, but something was bothering him. He had to agree that it seemed perfect and, with every step, it seemed better and better. He wanted to stay here and was already envisioning having a nice hot bath and rest before beginning their search for the girls, but something was gnawing at the back of his mind, so he set down Larsa’s cart and said, “Here you go, Larsa. We appreciate your offer, but I think we’ll go look around for a while first.”
Both of them were immediately overwhelmed with a desire to stay. It was more than a wish. It felt like a need, and both Stavius and Janus immediately recognized the sensation. This emotion wasn’t coming from them, it was emanating from inside the Travelers’ Den, in much the same way as the feelings of awe and love radiated from the unicorn palace.
Once they realized that these weren’t their own feelings they also sensed something else underneath. Somewhere, deep below the feelings of desire were echoes of hunger. This realization was terrifying, but neither Janus nor Stavius would have been able to resist if a young boy hadn’t burst through the gate at that moment shouting, “Did you hear? They caught them! They caught the other terrorists!”
All their desire dissipated in an instant and Janus actually stumbled from the sudden loss. Neither boy was able to speak, but Larsa wasn’t at a loss for words.
“What do you mean, they caught them?” she cried.
“They caught the fourth terrorist and his companion just a few minutes ago,” repeated the messenger.
Stavius had recovered his senses and asked, “Wait, were these the guys they were looking for at the bridge?”
Larsa started to repl
y, but the excited messenger interrupted, saying, “Yeah, but they didn’t come over the bridge. They crossed in a boat downstream and circled around to try to enter the city from the north! Those two almost made it too. The constabulary caught them lurking around down by the festival grounds just over an hour ago.”
Larsa glared at all three of them. The warm, sweet artist lady who had graciously escorted the pair from Clothton was gone. For a fleeting moment, the woman standing in front of them revealed her true, ruthless nature.
Larsa’s cold and angry persona dissipated a second later, and she thanked the messenger before turning to Janus and Stavius to apologize that perhaps she had mistaken their identities. She handed Stavius a calling card and insisted that her offer to stay at the Travelers’ Den was still valid although neither boy believed her. Relief washed over her face when the boys remarked that they preferred to look elsewhere and she wished them luck in finding rooms.
Stavius and Janus rushed out of the gate and almost ran up the road. They didn’t stop until the crossroads at the top of the hill, which was a busy intersection filled with a continuous stream of people and centaurs. The boys felt safe enough to sit on rock and rest.
“What was that?” asked Stavius. “Even though I knew I was being drawn in, I couldn’t resist the temptation.”
“That was the home of a vampire,” answered Janus. “In fact, I think his name is Bohrach. It’s one of those places so well illuded that most people think it’s just a myth to explain inexplicable disappearances.”
“Wait. You mean Bohrach was going to drink our blood?” exclaimed Stavius.
“No, man. You are such a dork. You really don’t know anything about magic, do you?” said Janus in disbelief. “Vampires drain you of your magical power and your soul. They feed off your magical energy, and you become their slave once they’ve tasted you. After that, you mindlessly serve them both physically and magically.”
Stavius Page 19
