“I’ll keep watch,” Twitch volunteered. “The grinaldi have sharp night vision.”
“What can’t you guys do?” Cole asked.
Twitch shrugged. “My people aren’t good swimmers. We avoid deep water.”
“You exhausted?” Cole asked Mira.
“My head aches,” she replied. “Could be worse. At least no evil shapers have caught up to us.”
“You two did well back there,” Twitch said. “Those Jumping Swords are effective weapons.”
“They’re useful,” Cole said. “It stresses me out to attack with them, though. It’s kind of like having a bow with only one arrow. And you’re the arrow.”
Twitch and Mira both laughed at the description.
“Thanks, by the way,” Mira said. “You probably saved my life again. I was exposed to that monster cat.”
“Only because you helped Jace,” Cole said, trying not to show how pleased her gratitude made him. “He protected us too. No need to keep score.”
“Sorry I didn’t get more involved,” Twitch said. “I hovered through the fight. I was watching for my moment. I’m more a rescuer than an attacker.”
“I’m glad,” Cole said. “You’ve rescued me before. Jace too.”
Twitch gave a small smile. “Like you said, no need to keep score.”
Something white and gray swooped down and landed beside Mira with a flurry of feathers. Cole recoiled and raised his sword, then recognized the cockatiel Liam had given them to serve as a scout.
“Mango!” Mira exclaimed. Extending her arm, she let the semblance perch on her wrist.
“Where is the autocoach?” the cockatiel inquired.
“Didn’t you see?” Mira asked. “It crashed down into a ravine.”
“I don’t belong to the coach,” the cockatiel said. “I return to you. How far back did it crash?”
“A good ways,” Mira said. “We were ambushed.”
The cockatiel whistled. “Sorry I missed warning you.”
“It was a small force,” Mira said. “Have you seen Jace?”
“No,” Mango replied. “I spent most of my time up ahead. The road from here to Carthage looks clear. We’re not using the main route. This road is less direct and less traveled.”
“Is the city much farther?” Cole asked.
“If you hurry, you could get close by morning,” Mango said.
“Go find Jace,” Mira said. “He’s catching up to us on the road. Then report back. Watch for anybody who might be following us. They could be in dark armor with strange mounts.”
“Will do,” Mango replied, taking flight.
They watched the bird disappear into the night in the direction they had come. Cole felt relieved to have avoided the responsibility of going back for Jace.
“I’ve never been to Carthage,” Twitch said.
“Me neither,” Mira said. “I’ve only heard stories. It’s an old city. A big one. It straddles two kingdoms—the west side is in Sambria, the east in Elloweer.”
“Joe wants to meet us on the Elloweer side,” Cole reminded them.
“Which worries me,” Mira said. “On that side our renderings won’t work anymore. No Jumping Swords. No golden rope.”
“Will they stop working right on the border?” Cole asked. “Won’t they work a little while we’re still close to Sambria?”
“They would work a little in Junction, between the kingdoms,” Mira said. “Once you cross into another kingdom, everything is different. The boundaries have existed since anyone can remember. In populated areas the border is usually marked. But marked or not, the effect is the same—the way shaping works changes. I guess there’s a small chance some of our renderings might work a little in the other kingdom, but they’ll work just as well a hundred miles into Elloweer as they will right after stepping out of Sambria.”
“My ring, for example,” Twitch said. “It reverts me to my Ellowine form even when I’m in another kingdom.”
“But items like Twitch’s ring are rare,” Mira said.
“Here comes Jace,” Twitch said. “He made pretty good time. We never stopped until just now.”
Cole saw Jace propelling himself down the road, his golden rope coiling and uncoiling like a spring, first thrusting him forward, then cushioning his landing. The result had him moving almost as fast as they could with their Jumping Swords.
Twitch gave a whistle, and Jace came to a halt the next time his rope absorbed his landing. “Where are you?” Jace called in a hushed voice.
Twitch sprang over the bush toward the road. Cole helped Mira to her feet. They tromped to the road instead of jumping.
“How’d it go?” Cole asked.
“Mira’s sidekick is well off the road,” Jace said. “Didn’t take too long. No sign of pursuit yet. Should we keep going?”
“Yes,” Mira said.
“Are you sure you don’t need a longer break?” Cole asked.
“I could use one,” Mira admitted. “But we can’t afford it. If word is out about our location, we can’t let our enemies catch up to us. We need to get to Carthage and find a place to hide out.”
Mango fluttered down. “Found Jace. Didn’t take long.”
“Scout ahead and behind,” Mira said. “Let us know if danger approaches. After we get to Carthage, we’ll cross into Elloweer. As a semblance, you can’t go there, so find Joe and tell him where we went. Once Joe catches up to us, go back to Liam and let him know what we’re doing. Then serve him until I return to Sambria.”
The cockatiel dipped her head. “As you desire.” She took flight, climbing swiftly.
Cole shook his head, realizing he barely even reacted now to a magically created talking bird helping out the group. It was amazing how quickly the totally bizarre could become normal when it was part of your everyday life.
“I’ve never been to Carthage,” Jace said. “I hear it’s quite a city.”
“Not many cities span two kingdoms,” Mira said. “Add that it’s on a river, and you have a major trade center.”
“And we have a few ringers to spare,” Jace said with a grin. “I brought our money from the coach.”
“We’re not on holiday,” Mira scolded.
“Plenty of people in cities have money,” Jace said. “We’ll draw less attention if we don’t look like we’re hiding.”
“Kids spending a lot of money always draws attention,” Mira said, “as curiosities and as targets.”
“She has a point,” Cole said. That was as true back home in Arizona as it was here.
“So do I,” Jace replied harshly. “I’ve spent my life as a slave. I don’t want to keep living like one longer than necessary. I’m free, and I have money. I don’t think we should start tossing around gold ringers, but plenty of free kids our age have some money on them. Enough to buy some food and have a little fun.”
“No fun,” Mira said sternly. “We need to stay as miserable as possible.”
Jace chuckled. “You know what I mean.”
“I do,” Mira said. “We’ll have to spend a little money on food and lodging. But we need to be smart about it. Kids our age don’t normally book rooms for themselves.”
“Some kids have wealthy families,” Jace said. “Some have jobs. Leave it to me. I’ve worked in cities. I can imitate a free kid better than any of us.”
“You don’t have to imitate one,” Cole said. “You are one. Your mark says so.”
Jace rubbed the freemark on the back of his hand. “Declan gave us the right marks, but free kids and slave kids act differently.”
“Me, Twitch, and Mira used to be free,” Cole reminded him.
“Sort of,” Jace allowed with a snort. “Mira was royalty on the run, you were free in another world, and Twitch was free among the grasshopper people. I actually know what normal life
is like here. How people act.”
“You’re very streetwise,” Mira said, rolling her eyes. “Just try not to spend too big. And don’t lose your temper.”
Jace grinned. “Lose it? Don’t worry. I always keep it handy. Last one to Carthage has bug parts.”
“Hey!” Twitch protested.
“Oh, yeah,” Jace fake apologized. “Rat parts?”
“How about last one there was born a slave?” Cole said.
Jace flashed him an angry look. “Last one there hangs back in fights and sometimes helps a little at the end.”
“Cut it out,” Mira said. “How about we actually start? First one there is the fastest.” She raised her sword and called, “Away.”
The boys followed.
As he sprang along the road, one huge leap after another, Cole tried not to stew about Jace’s accusation. Cole supposed he had hung back a little in their last fight. But Jace’s golden rope was easily their best weapon. Cole had charged into danger many times. He was no coward—he just wanted to make his attacks count.
Jace was just blowing off steam because of the crack about his slavery. It had been harsh to tease him about something he couldn’t control, but Jace had been doing the thing to Twitch. If he could dish it out, he needed to learn to take it, too.
By jumping each time he landed, Cole didn’t find the travel too tiring. The Jumping Sword did most of the work. He just needed to correctly time each command and aim the blade in the right direction.
Even without heavy exertion, Cole wished he had caught some sleep in the coach. By the time the approaching dawn began to color the horizon, his eyelids were feeling heavy. Cole wondered if it was possible to fall asleep while sailing through the air at terrific speeds. If he got tired enough, and the jumps were repetitive enough, he suspected the answer was yes.
As the sky grew lighter, Mira paused and sheathed her sword. Cole came to a stop near her. “Anything wrong?” he asked.
“I noticed cottages up ahead during my last jump,” Mira explained. “It’s getting too bright.”
Twitch removed his ring, and his translucent wings disappeared. He looked like a normal human boy.
“We have to be close,” Jace said. “We went fast all night.”
“I probably need to lose the flail,” Mira said. “I can’t use it in Elloweer, and it’ll attract too much attention on the road.”
“Aw, crud,” Cole said. “That thing has saved us more than once.”
Mira pointed off to the side of the road. “Flail, hide.” The flail plunged into a bush beyond some trees in the direction she had indicated. “I’d send it back to Asia and Declan, but it can’t interpret commands like that. Maybe we’ll come back this way someday.”
They started walking. Cole’s eyes felt dry and itchy. He kept blinking and rubbing them, but the irritation persisted. He needed to sleep.
Under the light of dawn, they began to pass farms. A wagon went by in the opposite direction. The driver hardly looked at them.
“Don’t tense up when you see people,” Jace told Cole. “You were glancing at that guy too much. Nobody knows us. We’re free kids on a stroll. Act like you own the road. Don’t pay attention to other people, and they probably won’t pay attention to you. If they want to be friendly, let them make the first move.”
Cole resisted the urge to get defensive. He had felt tense when he saw the driver, and it might have shown. “Good advice.”
After the road briefly became the main street of a little hamlet, they began to pass many more homesteads, large and small. People went up and down the road on horseback, in wagons or carriages, and on foot. The presence of so many other people helped Cole relax and feel less conspicuous. The crowds dispelled his sleepiness. He watched for legionnaire uniforms and tried to casually notice whether any of the passersby showed unusual interest in Mira.
As the sun climbed, the lane continued to get busier until it joined up with a larger road. Coming around a bend, Cole looked out at a massive wall that was the dark green of a forest at twilight. Beyond the imposing barrier, rooftops, domes, towers, and spires suggested a city of greater scale than Cole had expected. It didn’t look anything like the scattered tall buildings and sprawling suburbs of Phoenix. This city was more compact, with architecture that brought to mind ancient capitals from history books.
“That really is a city,” Cole muttered.
“You didn’t think the five kingdoms were all farms and woods, did you?” Jace asked.
“And magical floating castles,” Cole added.
“He hasn’t been here long,” Mira said. “We’ve avoided the more populated areas.”
“Which isn’t always the best strategy,” Jace said. “It can be easier to get lost in a crowd.”
“There are pros and cons,” Twitch said. “Crowds have lots of eyes.”
“Among the pros are food and beds,” Jace said. “I’ll take my chances.”
“What’s Elloweer like?” Cole asked. “I still don’t know much about it.”
“It’s hard to explain,” Mira said. “The shaping in Sambria seems straightforward to me. Elloweer is more mystical. The shapers there spice things up with showmanship. They call their art enchanting.”
“They make seemings,” Twitch said.
“Seemings are illusions,” Mira explained. “The best seemings look totally authentic, but they’re not tangible, no matter how solid they appear.”
“And then there are the changelings,” Jace said.
“Changelings are living things that have been altered,” Mira said. “In Sambria, we can imitate life with semblances, but our kind of shaping doesn’t work well on living things. Some of the Ellowine enchanters can make astonishing alterations to living beings.”
Cole glanced at Twitch.
“What? Are you wondering if I’m a changeling? If so, it happened a long time ago, to my great-great-great-grandparents. And eventually I inherited it. But our traditions hold that our ancestors came to Elloweer from elsewhere.”
“It’s believed that Elloweer connects to many worlds,” Mira said. “Or at least it may have in the past. Like Twitch, some of the unusual Ellowine people look human if they leave their kingdom. Others physically can’t leave at all.”
“Standard advice in the five kingdoms is to steer clear of Elloweer,” Jace said.
“I didn’t get taken as a slave until I left Elloweer,” Twitch complained.
“Well, in Sambria, people think twice before heading too far east,” Jace said. “Weird stuff happens there.”
“Nobody knows all aspects of Ellowine enchanting,” Mira said. “It’s almost as murky as the shaping in Necronum.”
Cole stared ahead at the city. “What’s the wall made of? It looks a little translucent. Is it jade?” His grandpa had a carved jade sphere from China of similar color and texture.
“Who knows?” Mira said. “It was shaped long ago. You can bet it’s tougher than jade. The old-timers who used shaping for construction knew their craft.”
“If it was made by shapers, the wall must be different on the east side of the city,” Cole reasoned.
“We’ll see soon enough,” Mira said.
The nearer they drew to the wall, the more details Cole could distinguish. The smoky green surface was ornately carved, especially near the top, with figures in relief and twisting vines bearing fruit. Because of the size and artistry, Cole suspected that on Earth, the wall would be one of the wonders of the world.
The road led to a massive gate, wide enough for a pair of wagons to pass each other going through. A raised portcullis hung above the opening like a row of giant spears. Pairs of armed guards stood at either side of the gate, vigilantly watching all who came and went. At least the guardsmen weren’t dressed as legionnaires.
“We should split up on the way in,” Twitch suggested.
“In case they have descriptions of our group.”
“Not a bad idea,” Jace said. “I’ll stick with Mira. You two go first. Just head straight, then wait for us down the road. Remember, you come here all the time. You’re bored of this place. You belong here.”
Cole and Twitch picked up their pace while the others hung back. A busy stream of people were entering and exiting. The guards were paying attention, but nobody was getting stopped or questioned. Cole pressed forward, watching the guy in front of him, keeping his eyes off the guards. He tried to look and feel bored, but his heart was racing.
The gateway’s tunnel was about fifteen paces long. As Cole entered, he noticed one of the guards watching him. Beneath the shadow of the wall, the sweat on his back felt slimy. He became painfully aware of the sword belted to his side. How suspicious did it look? Did kids carry swords here? He grew hyperconscious of the ringers he had tied around each leg—a serious amount of money. What if he was caught hiding so much cash?
Forcing a yawn, Cole stretched as he walked. Trying to dwell on dull thoughts, he kept putting one foot in front of the other. He felt relief as he passed through to the other side of the wall, and saw the city spread out before him. The smallest buildings in view were three or four stories high, with some structures rising much higher. Merchants peddled their wares from stalls along the street. Others set their merchandise on blankets. Products included fruit, meat, clothing, jewelry, live birds, and painted statuettes. The herds of people forced the wagons to make their way slowly, though the throng tended to part when horses got near. A couple of autocarts fought the crowd as well, pulled by walking bricks.
Cole and Twitch moved down the street a few blocks, then paused at a corner. The cross street was busy but not as crowded as the avenue that came through the wall. After a couple of minutes, a hand clapped down on Cole’s shoulder from behind.
“We want you for questioning,” a gruff voice said.
Cole went tense for a moment, then shrugged away from Jace. “You’re hilarious.”
“I told you we’d sail through if we just acted natural,” Jace said.
“Where to now?” Twitch asked.