by Jamie Hawke
“It’s a city,” he said. “One that very much mimics that of Norok in Avalon. Here, they call it ‘Koron,’ as it’s a bit of a backwards place.”
“And the armies? Where we were before?”
He eyed our surroundings, then gestured to a point where jagged rocks descended on the opposite side so that we couldn’t see beyond. “There, I believe.”
“I don’t get it.” I frowned, taking a step that way as if doing so would give me answers. “Why here, then? In the past, it was always that I would be brought close to a specific person, but if you were with me…?”
“Someone else, then,” he said.
The answer came to me immediately, a moment before the falling pebbles alerted me to someone nearby. Darkness didn’t reveal much on the hillside, but there was a figure there, to be sure.
“She’s not to be trusted,” Riland said taking a step back, dangerously close to the cliff’s edge. As I already suspected, when the faint light caught her face it revealed Megha.
“You…?” I braced myself, ready to hit her with everything I had.
The woman held her hands wide, bowed, and said, “I’m not going to hurt you.” Her voice was somewhat raspy, as if she hadn’t used it in a long time.
“You attacked me, before.”
“Out there, where they control me. Maybe. Not here.”
“I don’t understand.” A glance over to my buddy showed that he was frozen in place. In fact, everything around us was. “What’d you do to him?”
“Don’t worry. I simply wanted us to have a moment. I don’t want to hurt you, but out there, in the other world, I have no choice. Free me, and I’m yours.”
“Mine?”
She nodded. “As much as my sisters already are.”
“You mean… Ebrill? The others?”
“You don’t recognize me.”
I frowned. “From the Embassy, yeah—”
“No, from before that. I was there in the hills with all of you. Charging, attacking—not there with you and the main group, but there. I didn’t get trapped in the stone, but I was there, nonetheless, then expelled to this place when the others realized what was happening and put a binding curse on me. Tell them, see what they say. Tell them you found Megha.”
My mouth went dry at the sound of her name. I nodded. Her name was already familiar to me, but her introducing herself like that, saying her name as if the others would be persuaded by hearing it, all felt rather curious.
I woke with Steph pulling my arm, helping me to groggily exit the car as she thanked our driver. Then he was off, and we walked the last couple of blocks before ducking into my new Batcave entrance.
You there? I mentally asked Riland, to which he popped up next to me in a translucent, ghostly form.
“I seem to be. Oh, you can see me this time?”
Steph turned, mouth half-opened as if to ask a question, then shouted in surprise. “What the fuck?”
“Riland,” the man said, and bowed. “At your service.”
Eyeing me, Steph asked, “This is the one?”
I nodded. “My new… ghost buddy, I guess.”
“Not a ghost,” Riland corrected me. “Not exactly.”
“Well, welcome to the party.” She turned back to me. “The others?”
My mental sonar sensed the gargoyles landing on the roof above, so we made our way up, pausing to greet Shisa along the way.
“No trouble, boy?” I asked, and Shisa merely gave me a reassuring look that said there hadn’t been. Turning to Riland, Shisa sniffed, nodded, and then trotted off.
“What is… that?” Riland asked.
“A protective spirit,” I explained.
“Made of stone and fur.” He shrugged. “I’ve seen weirder.”
We kept moving, but Steph paused on the next floor up. “Glitonea…”
“Is here?” Riland asked.
“We kind of have her trapped. Our prisoner.” I shrugged. “We’re trying to see how best to leverage that little fact.”
He laughed. “That’s huge. I’m surprised the rest of the Nine aren’t already kicking down your door. Or blowing it up with the rest of this house.”
“Not all are on her side,” Steph explained, “or even able to access this plane of existence. But what I was getting at is… do you suppose she needs to eat?”
I grunted, but then nodded. “We can check on her after this. If we must.”
Reaching the roof, we found the others waiting. Ebrill looked worried but stayed put, Aerona clearly taking the lead in this situation.
“What happened?” Aerona asked, none of them noticing Riland, apparently.
Steph gave them the rundown on our meeting with the senator and Galahad, then backed up to go over everything leading up to the fight at the Embassy. Kordelia and Aerona shared a concerned glance at the mention of Fatiha, but Ebrill’s eyes never left mine.
“She was there,” I said. “The one from the dream. And this time, she spoke. The one called,” I racked my brain, still groggy from my nap, “Megha—her name is Megha.”
A stunned silence filled the room. Only Steph looked around in confusion. I turned to Riland to see if he had anything to add, but he was moving around Kordelia, eyeing her in confusion. She still hadn’t said anything to him.
“How…?” Ebrill asked.
“She said she was separated, in a different group. Caught with a binding spell, I think?”
“Not in the stone,” Aerona said, voice full of awe. “All this time…”
“That’s right!” Ebrill leaned forward, excitedly. “She had been part of the rear guard. But that means… How many others might be out there?”
“So, she’s one of you?”
“Was,” Kordelia said. As the others turned to her with surprise, she shrugged. “For all we know, she’s with the enemy now.”
“Bullshit,” Ebrill said.
“She would never turn on us,” Aerona added.
“Actually…” I turned to Steph. “We saw her. At the Embassy.”
“What?”
“Steph and I… saw her at the French Embassy. She was with Fatiha, and attacked us.”
Ebrill shook her head. “Impossible…”
“In the dream, she told me that she has no control out here, but in that dream place she does. I think… I think we can save her.”
“As in, she’s being controlled.” Ebrill punched the wall, creating a dent with her knuckles. “This is bad.”
“But, at least she’s made contact, so we know she isn’t too far gone,” Kordelia pointed out.
“So, what now?” I asked.
“We get you back into the dream,” Aerona said. “See what we can learn.”
“Hold on,” I said, and gestured toward Riland. The others turned, frowned, then looked around and back at me. My mind hurt for a moment, but then it made sense. “You don’t see him, do you?”
“They don’t, for some reason,” Riland interjected.
“Who are we supposed to be seeing?” Kordelia asked.
Aerona, however, was waving her hand through the air, and gasped. “Riland!”
“You see me?” he replied.
You see him?”
Aerona shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. But my magic shows his presence, at least confirming you’re not insane.”
“What’s going on?” Ebrill asked.
“I’m, apparently, bringing Riland with me from this backwards, dark land,” I explained. “And he’s here, but transparent. I’m thinking maybe similar to Steph’s wraiths, but somehow different as well.”
Kordelia looked at the point where I had gestured. “I wish I could see him. He’s there? Sees me?” When I nodded, she addressed him. “Riland, it will be an honor and a pleasure to serve with you again.”
“And I, with each of you,” he replied, and I conveyed it.
“Maybe…” Steph’s eyes lit up. “The runes!”
“Might be the key to fully bringing him to us.” I tur
ned to Riland. “You, I mean. Yes, brilliant, Steph.”
“Wait, what about the senator and what happened at the Embassy?” Ebrill asked.
“And the Order,” Aerona added.
I glanced over at Riland, considering this. “A lot of it is likely tied together. Finding out how to summon Riland might relate to how they will summon Thiten, along with how we can find Megha.”
“Going back in and talking with Megha might also help, in that regard,” Aerona pointed out.
“True,” I agreed with a yawn.
We took another moment to let our thoughts wash over us.
Steph cleared her throat. “We need to bring food to Glitonea, right? Might as well get that done, then to the runes, followed by going back in to learn what we can from Megha.”
“Understood,” Aerona said, and we all headed downstairs to go about it.
17
I stopped by to pass on Glitonea’s food and water by myself, figuring it would be best in case there was trouble. Moving the wall but forging some of the stone into thick glass, I saw her there, suspended in the air with the purple that sometimes acted as clothing now tied around her like a straight jacket. Her eyes seemed to glow blue, but when I looked closer I saw that it was runes flashing across her eyes in a way that reminded me of code from The Matrix.
Had what I’d done to her with the runes below the house resulted in this?
“Are you still in there?” I asked her.
I am, her voice came back. But… trapped. You’ve done well for yourself. Maybe… maybe you’ll have a chance of winning this war after all.
“One can dream.” Hesitating with the leftover chicken and glass of water, I asked. “Do you need food?”
Her thoughts seemed to laugh, but it was more like I could sense it than hear the laughter. Me? I’ve survived long without humanly needs, boy. Thank you, but be on your way and leave me to my prison. Unless you have other intentions of coming?
“I do not.”
With that, I went to meet the others below. Steph was showing Aerona what I had accomplished so far, but when I asked if they knew anything that could be of value, they all gave me blank looks.
“Sorry,” Aerona said. “Rune magic is something even Rianne wouldn’t be much help with. It’s an ancient form, one that makes sense for the likes of Glitonea to comprehend but long lost to the rest of us.”
“I see.” Considering that, I walked among the runes, noting the shapes and wondering if this would have been anything like trying to understand the Chinese language if there had been no people to help translate. Early explorers might have dealt with a similar feeling. Of course, their curiosities would have come from places of expansion, imperialism, and other reasons for wanting to understand, not to stop an evil army from breaking through into our world.
At times I found patterns, thanks to my sort-of codex that Glitonea’s body had provided. With one combination I felt a surge in my magical abilities, another that told me the house was temporarily invisible. That would raise too many questions, so I cancelled it. Without my powers of transmutation and the way I had used them to make my faux digital screens, I never would have gotten that far. With some adjustments, I wasn’t sure what happened, but was certain there had been a change. I was positive this was all here for a much larger purpose.
After a bit, though, I needed a break, so I made my way up and out to one of many balconies. Footsteps sounded and I turned to see Riland there.
“Did I make that happen?” I asked, eyeing him and seeing that he was no longer translucent. “It’s actually working?”
“Apparently,” he replied, and leaned against the railing, armor clanging on the metal.
“We’ll have to do something about your outfit.”
He chuckled. “This world… it’s different.”
“That, it is.”
“And… Ebrill, the others, they’ve changed as well.”
I looked at him, trying to work out what he was getting at. “Yeah?”
“Makes me wonder… well, first, if the woman of my eye is even still alive. Second, if she’s different.”
“She wasn’t made into a gargoyle, if that’s what you mean.”
He shook his head. “‘Different’ can take on many forms in this world, I’m learning.”
“And if she is?” I turned to face him. “If she’s… I don’t know… changed. What then?”
“Wouldn’t matter, other than me trying to figure out how best to help her.”
“The princess.” I laughed. “On one note, she wouldn’t exactly be a princess anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if her being royalty kept you apart in any way, you won’t have to worry about that. Those times are long gone.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” He smiled, nodded, and looked up at the moon. “We need to find her, but I believe Megha and the others will be the key. I need you to make this work.”
“Trust me, I’m doing my best,” I replied, stifling a yawn.
“The world where you found me.” He went to the door, opening it to reveal Ebrill waiting within. Her large form took up almost the entire hallway.
Ebrill stood straight, head nearly touching the ceiling, and eyed me to see if I was ready. I nodded, clapped Riland on the shoulder, and said, “We’ll find her soon enough.”
“Thank you,” he replied.
I followed Ebrill, who took my hand to lead me along. When we entered the bedroom, she led me to the bed and said, “I’ll help you fall asleep,” while eyeing me with excitement.
My response was a yawn, and I should have taken that as my first sign. She soon had me on the bed, hands cupping my balls, but before I could respond, sleep took me again.
Damn.
There was Megha, grabbing me by the lapels of the suit jacket I was apparently still wearing. She pulled me down on top of her and then to the side, finger to my mouth, and I was immediately reminded that she was nude.
Her eyes were close to mine, narrowed, weighing me up. “Do you have what it takes to take me from this place?”
“I think I might.”
“Because… the timing couldn’t be more important.” With that, she nodded toward the rocks to our right.
I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but when she sighed, pulled me up halfway and let me see, I got it. The army I had seen before had formed around us and was looking our way from below. Another glance around showed that we no longer in a ravine or anything like I had first thought, but were now on the city walls that I had seen before when I was with Riland.
More than that, there was blood nearby. Shifting, I made out bodies… or body parts.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Since I saw you, I’ve been pushing back, trying to resist out there. But that brought their attention on me here. The worlds are certainly linked, or at least the magic of them is.” She was still on me, I realized, and now her breathing was heavy, her hand moving along the buttons of my dress shirt. “The others out there, those with you—they’ve claimed you?”
“Nobody has ‘claimed me,’” I replied.
She leaned in, sniffed my neck, and then licked my cheek. “Fuck that, you’ve been claimed.”
“I don’t—”
“By more than one?” She laughed. “You dirty slut.”
“Hey.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I should be offended, but frowned and felt the need to defend myself. “We’re more than that—it’s a relationship.”
“Hey, we have an army of dark magic users and beasts out there about to try and kill us. Spend all the time justifying your sluttiness you want.”
“You’re the one lying on me naked, licking me.”
She grinned, wide. “I never said there was anything wrong with being a slut. But a relationship? Fuck that.”
With a chuckle, she pushed up, standing over me—I got the full view as the dim light from the sky hit her. Petite but with full breasts, a thick bush with stra
ight hair that still allowed for a view of her pussy. Damn, what was happening?
“Come and get me, you motherfuckers!” she screamed over the wall, winking at me as she added, “now the clock is ticking, isn’t it? And your cock…” She nodded at where a bulge had formed in my pants. Not unexpectedly.
“Shit,” I muttered, pushing myself up and taking her by the hand. I closed my eyes, focusing on getting us out of there.
“Not going to work,” she said.
I opened my eyes to see her kneeling at my side. She took my hand, placed it on one of her breasts, and blew me a kiss. “We need to find a portal point.”
“But, before—”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m out there and in here. Different situations.”
“Why are you…?” I gestured to her body.
She frowned, glanced down at herself, and said, “Maybe the better question is why are you…?” and gestured at my clothes.
“Clothed?”
“Yeah.” She held up a finger, then ducked. At first, I was confused, until I heard what sounded like whistling. Her hand grabbed me and pulled me over so that I fell face-first into her breasts, and she laughed while the barrage of arrows landed all around us. Some burst with magic, a few even exploded into snakes of flames that flew at us. I turned in time to cast ice walls that did the trick of protecting us, while Megha ran her hand over my chest, apparently having managed to undo at least one of my buttons at some point.
“You have an escape plan?” I asked.
“Aren’t you the one here to rescue me?” She undid another button.
“Stop that. Yes, I guess.”
“You didn’t come with an exit strategy?” She clucked her tongue, running a hand along the curve of her breast. “Always come with an exit strategy.”
“Shit, you’re batshit crazy, aren’t you?”
Her wink said she wasn’t going to argue with that, but then she stood, turning away from me and bent over to retrieve an arrow—giving me a view I hadn’t asked for but certainly wasn’t complaining about. When she turned back, saw me staring, and held up the arrow, I was kind of distracted and lost.
“Wait,” I said, catching on. “I’ve… I mean, an arrow like that before…”
