Karen spoke as well. “He’s my father.”
The Countess relaxed slightly, lowering her blade and glancing at her son. “Well?”
“It’s complicated, Mom. I swear he’s not a threat. It’s a long story.”
Lady Thornbear arrived then, somehow having managed to have dressed in a modest yet elegant gown of dark blue. As always, her hair was perfectly coiffed. Matthew secretly wondered if she slept standing up, already dressed in case there were a need to meet guests. Beside her was Gram, wearing trousers and a loose shirt.
Penny noted their arrival and gave a quick order. “Sir Gram. Remain here with our strange visitor. Keep him under close guard while I get the tale from our visitors.”
With a whispered word, Gram’s body was encased in shining metal and his sword, Thorn, appeared in his hand. In the span of only a second he had gone from being an unkempt and suddenly awakened sleeper to armed and deadly. “Yes, Your Excellency,” he answered.
“He isn’t dangerous. Please don’t hurt him,” protested Karen.
Penny turned her eyes to the young woman and her gaze softened slightly, “I hope you’ll forgive my excess of caution, but recent events in Dunbar have led us to be very wary of constructs such as your companion. No harm will come to him so long as he waits peacefully here. In the meantime, you look as though you might need some food.” She addressed the rest of the group, “If you’ll all come to the main hall. I’ll have the cook rousted out of bed to warm a late supper, and you can explain everything while we eat.”
As they started in that direction Mordecai appeared, bleary-eyed and wearing a nightshirt that he had somehow managed to put on inside-out. “What’s all this? Someone having a party without me?” Then he spotted his son. “This should be good.”
Chapter 38
Matthew slept hard and woke late the next morning. When he arose, he dressed quickly so he could go and check on Karen and Gary. They had been given a room in the castle after all the explanations had been completed and Penny had been satisfied that the android wasn’t part of the threat that Moira had recently faced in Dunbar.
His parents had been rather annoyed that his supposedly quick retrieval of Karen had turned into a half a week’s disappearance. They had been even more alarmed when they heard what he had had to do to get her out of the military base, but what really made them angry was learning that he hadn’t been honest about his first attempt when Gareth Gaelyn had gone with him.
What their punishment would be was still to be decided. He thought his father might be willing to let the matter drop, since he had returned unharmed, and he had been acting to save a friend, but his mother had other opinions. Her last remark to him before retiring for the night was to inform him he wasn’t to leave the house again until he had her permission.
He tried to remember what his father had told him about his own adventures in years past; “No good deed goes unpunished.” It made more sense to him now.
Karen was still in her room when he arrived, though Gary was gone, having requested a tour of the castle from Gram. Matthew knocked on the door and waited, knowing she would know it was him once her magesight focused on him.
Seconds later, the door opened. “You survived,” said Karen. “I thought your mother would skin you alive after everyone else went to bed.”
He grinned. “She’s been under a lot of stress lately, but I think she’ll let me live if I don’t cause her any more trouble for a while.”
“Come in,” she said with a smile, opening the door wider.
“It might be best if you joined me for breakfast,” he suggested instead, noting that the room was empty of anyone else. “Tongues will wag if I’m seen entering your chamber alone.”
She frowned. She had forgotten the stricter customs of his world. It was another reminder that she was a stranger. I’m alone here, she thought.
***
By the time they reached the hall, breakfast was over, but Matthew was able to finagle a quick repast of leftover bread and a few sausages for them. Most of the castle staff, as well as his family, were already about their business for the day, so they had the high table to themselves.
Karen was surprised by the quality of the sausages. The food at Castle Cameron was far better than her first experience with the cuisine of Matthew’s world. They ate in silence for several minutes, and it wasn’t until they had both quieted their hunger that Matthew spoke. “I want to apologize for last night.”
She smiled graciously. “Seeing Gary’s new body would be a shock for anyone of this world I think.”
He nodded. “Well, they’ll get used to it. Personally, I’m rather relieved. He’s a lot easier to talk to when I don’t have to carry him around.”
“Don’t get used to it,” she warned.
“What do you mean?”
“Unlike the PM, that little solar camp charger can’t keep a full-size android running,” she explained. “It will eventually run out of power.”
“Well, to hear him tell it, he’s the smartest mind in existence,” observed Matthew. “Surely he and I can come up with some way to recharge it.”
Karen had just stuffed the last piece of sausage in her mouth, so her voice was slightly garbled. “If it was a civilian android, maybe; they use batteries. That’s a military model. They build them with RTG power so they can last almost a year without charging, but there’s no way for you to replace the power unit here.”
“RTG?”
“Radioisotope thermoelectric generator,” she supplied. “It uses radioactive decay to produce heat, and that’s converted into electricity to power his body.”
“Our worlds are practically twins, except for the differences in history,” began Matt, “so whatever they put in them is surely present here as well. We’ll just have to find this…”
Karen swallowed. “Do you even know what a radioisotope is?”
He gave her a quiet stare.
“I didn’t think so, because if you did, you’d know that there are lots of different ones, and the science and art of refining and purifying them is so complicated that I am very nearly as ignorant as you are on the topic, with the exception of some fancy terminology.”
Matthew thought over her words for a moment. “You’re right. But I have to go back one more time, to get Desacus. With some planning, we may be able to bring back whatever things we will need to keep him running—indefinitely.”
“You’re awfully worried about Gary, aren’t you?” she pointed out. “Mind telling me why?”
He frowned. “He’s your only family, of a sort. I thought you’d want some reassurance…”
“Ahh,” she murmured. “It comes back to that again. You want to help so you won’t feel bad about me being marooned here. Afraid I’ll be a burden?” The words came out with more bitterness than she had expected, but the feelings were real.
“Look, that’s not what…,” he began, but Karen coughed and glanced over his shoulder. He realized then that his father and Gram had entered the hall and were making their way toward him. Glancing around he addressed the Count, “Dad.”
“Good morning, milady,” said Mordecai, dipping his head politely at Karen. “I wonder if I might steal my son from you for a while? There are some things I need to discuss with him.”
“Not at all,” she replied, wondering whether there was some protocol she needed to follow, but since the Count seemed content with her simple words thus far, she decided not to worry about it until someone told her otherwise.
“Sir Gram has offered to give you a tour of the castle,” said Mordecai with a smile. “And I want you to know that you are most welcome here, despite the confusion last night.”
After a few more exchanges, Matthew found himself being led away by his father, while Gram stayed to keep Karen company. He gave her an apologetic glance, but he wasn’t sure if she got the message, or cared, since she had seemed rather annoyed with him.
“About Karen’s home…,” began Mordecai.
“She knows she can’t go back, Dad,” Matthew said, cutting him off. “I told her you and Mom would welcome her here.”
Mort nodded. “Of course, that would be the case no matter what. She’s your friend. I’m glad to hear that she’s already resigned herself to staying. It can’t be easy for her, giving up everything she’s ever known.” He stopped, and then his face took on a more serious expression. “What I really wanted to talk to you about is what you plan on doing next.”
Matthew felt his face flush, “We’re just friends, Dad.”
His father laughed, “No, that’s not what I meant. I know you intend to go back again, for your dragon.”
“Well, yeah…”
Mort put his hands on his son’s shoulders. “I don’t want you to go.”
Matthew was surprised. “But we can’t leave him in their hands!”
“He’s dead,” pronounced his father. “The egg will have a new personality, if it ever bonds and hatches again. It won’t be Desacus.”
“But…”
“No, listen to me. I know you feel responsible for it, but it’s far too dangerous. I thought your mother would die of stress when she heard what you went through to rescue Karen; for that matter, it didn’t do me any good either. You are far more important to us than an unborn dragon. There are others, waiting to be bonded.”
He pushed his father’s hands away. “We don’t know what they’ll do to it. It isn’t fair to leave it unprotected. Desacus died trying to protect us. We can’t leave his egg behind!”
Mort’s face grew firm. “I’m not going to budge on this one. Give it up. I know your intentions are good, and I can’t fault you for your loyalty, but it’s a fool’s game. You aren’t to return there. Am I understood?”
Matthew was too stubborn for that. He tried a different angle. “What about the aythar? You know how much power is stored in each of the dragons. Is it safe to just let it go, to leave it in the hands of an enemy?”
His father shook his head. “From everything you’ve told us about these people, they can’t use aythar. The egg might as well be a stone as far as they’re concerned, and even if one of them managed to bond with it, they couldn’t use the aythar stored within it.”
“They’d gain the gifts of the dragon-bond,” Matt reminded him.
“And what of it?” said his father dismissively. “One man, or woman, with superior strength and senses—what good does that do them? Only a mage can harness the power to do anything that might be truly dangerous to us. From what Gary told us, they can’t even travel to our world. Even you admitted that it was merely a world similar to the one that sent the strange enemies we found in Dunbar here.”
“They have ANSIS too,” said Matthew. “They may well discover a way to travel, just like the others did.”
“Then we’ll face them here. My word is final, Matthew.” His father’s tone indicated he wouldn’t be swayed.
Matthew was used to arguing with his father, and generally Mordecai’s opinions were flexible, if a sound argument could be found to convince him; but once in a while he would not be moved. This was clearly one of those times. Matt’s lips formed a hard line. If I keep arguing, he’ll start keeping a watch on me, he realized. “Fine,” he agreed reluctantly. “I won’t go back, but only under protest.”
Mort nodded, “Good. I’m sure Karen will need a friend around here to help her until she gets used to things.”
“Anything else?” asked Matt, irritation still showing in his voice. “I’ve had a lot of inspiration lately, and I’d like to start working on some new ideas in my workshop.”
His father studied his face, then decided to let it go. “No, that was all.”
Chapter 39
“Being somewhat aware of the principles that underlie your magic, I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Gary, “but having perused countless volumes of fiction, I have to admit that your arcane laboratory is less fantastical in reality than I might have hoped.”
Matthew had brought Gary in to his workshop to seek his advice regarding certain mathematical ideas. He hadn’t expected to have his workspace critiqued. “What did you expect?”
“Well, some glasswork, like flasks and condensers, would be a good start, or perhaps a pentagram inscribed on the floor,” answered the android. “This looks more like a primitive smithy.”
Matthew bristled. “I take exception to the term ‘primitive’, but yes, this was originally a smithy. My grandfather’s, to be exact. Dad used it for a while after grandad died, but once he built his newer shop he let me take this one.”
“It certainly has a certain rustic charm, I suppose,” said the machine.
The young wizard sighed, “If you’re done casting aspersions, I wanted to discuss some thoughts with you.”
“What sort of thoughts?”
The AGI’s ability to do complex mathematics in a fraction of the time it would take a human with paper was his main reason for inviting Gary to help. Matt was no slouch at doing sums and multiplication in his head, but some of what he was considering was difficult to even conceptualize, much less formulate. “Our discussion of teleport circle keys the other day got me to thinking you might be handy…,” he began.
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Gary. “I forgot to inform you. While we were in my world, I took advantage of my larger, more intelligent self to finish a proof. You were correct, that function can’t produce a duplicate output for different inputs.”
“I really wasn’t worried about that,” said Matt. “I just wanted to shut you up for a while.”
The android grew still. “I think I may be offended.”
“It was your question about duplicate keys in circles, that got me to thinking,” continued the wizard, ignoring Gary’s statement. “I told you that that’s the basic foundation for creating a gateway, or portal, like the ones my father created for his ‘World-road’.”
“I would still like to see that, by the way,” interjected Gary.
“Later,” said Matthew dismissively. “Listen. In the old days, people didn’t worry about the Dark Gods, because they lived on another plane of existence. They couldn’t travel to our world without help from a wizard on this side.”
“One such as you,” agreed the machine.
Matthew shook his head, “No. Not like me; any wizard would do. It’s similar to the portals my father created—the magic has to be done from both sides. His portals work because there are two matching teleportation enchantments that match up two separate points in space, from either end. The interdimensional gateway that the gods needed to come here was similar, they had to have a helper, a wizard, on this side to create the doorway.”
“But you couldn’t do that?” questioned Gary, growing somewhat puzzled.
“No, no, I could,” said Matthew impatiently. “My point was that any wizard could do it. What’s different about me is that my gift allows me to do something similar without having an assistant on the other side. That’s how I travel back and forth to your dimension.”
“I’m not sure where you’re going…”
Matthew waved a hand at him. “Get comfortable, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Let me talk it out, and then you can tell me what you think.” He took a deep breath, “It’s also occurred to me that many of the special gifts of the She’Har do something similar; well, at least the Prathions, the Mordan, and the Illeniels. They allow someone with their gift to do something that would take most ordinary mages a helper to accomplish. The Mordan can teleport between two points in the same dimension without having to bother with matching circles; the Illeniel can travel between two different dimensions in a similar fashion.”
“And the Prathions?” asked Gary. “How does invisibility match up with that observation?”
Matt smiled. “An enchanter can create a similar effect, but it takes a lot of preparation. The Prathions cause light to skip over the space they are occupying to create the effect of invisibility. In a sense, it’s like a limite
d type of teleportation that applies mainly to just light, or aythar. Any wizard can create an illusion, but only they have the inherent ability to do that without creating a static enchantment.”
“So, your analogy does not include the Centyr or the Gaelyn gifts then…”
He pursed his lips. “Maybe, I don’t know. If it does I don’t see it, but that might just be because I don’t understand how their gifts operate. Back to the point—my dimensional talent, or translational magic, as I like to call it, is only possible for me because I can reach into other places without a helper on the other side.
“Take this pouch for example,” said Matthew, holding up one of his specially enchanted bags. “When I create the enchantment for these, I have to reach through and create a duplicate enchantment from the other side, from this dimension and from the pocket dimension I’m connecting it to.”
Gary couldn’t show expressions, but his tone was easy to read, “You’re losing me now.”
“My father makes bags that are similar, but he does it by creating an enchantment in two places: the bag, and the place or object, such as a chest, that he’s connecting it to. He can do that because both places are in the same dimension. He can reach both. The bags I make connect between this dimension and some other dimension. Only I can do that because I can reach the other side to complete the magic without having someone on the other side to help,” explained Matthew.
“Okay,” agreed Gary.
“Stay with me,” said Matthew. “I’m still covering the background information. Something else I’ve done is create a spell that creates a contemporaneous planar connection, to be used as a weapon. I did that when Gram and I fought one of the Dark Gods.”
“Huh?”
“It was a triangular gateway between dimensions. I was able to hurl it at the enemy and use it to bisect him.”
“That sounds particularly deadly. A dimensional—I don’t know what to call it—something like that could slice through literally anything couldn’t it?” observed the machine.
Matthew smiled. “It could, and it did. During one of my experiments I accidentally cut my own arm off.”