Of course, Elaine said immediately. Let me finish taking care of my arm first, then I’ll show you how.
While the two of them talked, Matthew concentrated on controling the wind currents that carried them along. It would have been easiest if
Karen could teleport them, but this was only her second time in his world, and the first time had been before she had learned to use her special gift.
He wasn’t sure if she could teleport somewhere she had been before she had awakened her gift, and he didn’t want to bother her so soon. She had a lot to think about.
The sun dipped below the horizon behind them, and they flew on into a dark night over an ocean that seemed to stretch on forever.
***
Time stretched out over the dark sea, but when the moon rose and cast its light over the waves, it filed al of them with a sense of peace and
wonder. It was impossible to watch the moonlight reflecting off the waves and feel anything else. Beneath a vast sky filed with stars, the ocean was a sparkling bed of silver and black, rippling al the way to the horizon.
Matthew was tired, but unlike in Karen’s world, where he would have exhausted himself by now, here he was merely fatigued. He hoped they
would find land soon, though; if not, Elaine would soon have to handle the flying so he could rest. She was asleep currently, curled up like a child on the transparent floor of the flying construct. Karen had been napping beside her, but now she stretched and sat up, staring at Matthew’s back.
“You’re awake,” he said, practicing his English again.
She nodded. “Yes.” Slowly, she slid forward until she was directly behind him. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck. The ilusion of the dress was gone, having vanished when Elaine fel asleep; not that it would have mattered when their skin made contact anyway.
Matt wondered what Gary thought, sitting at the back. He hadn’t spoken in over an hour, but Matt felt self-conscious having a naked woman
embrace him in front of the machine. The android said nothing, however.
“What wil happen next?” she asked softly.
“When we find land, I’l make a circle and take you to my home,” he replied simply.
“And then?”
“You can’t go back,” he told her firmly. “This is your world now.”
“What wil your parents think, when you bring home a naked blue woman from another world?”
“They’l probably be angry with me for taking so many risks,” he explained. “I told them it wouldn’t be that dangerous. I never explained the part about you having been taken, but you wil find them very kind. I’m guessing they wil put you in one of the guest rooms in Castle Cameron. My mother, the Countess, wil probably shower you with attention, and I hate to think what sort of questions Moira wil bombard you with.”
“I’m a stranger,” said Karen, “with no money or occupation. How long wil they let me live there?”
He laughed. “Don’t worry. You’re a wizard, one of only handful in this world. You wil be welcome wherever you go, and I’m sure they’l want you to stay. Since you have no family here, you’re completely free. You can go anywhere you want, and every noble in Lothion wil be fighting to retain your services. The Queen might even want you to take service with her.”
Karen sighed, “I don’t know anyone.”
“You wil,” he said cheerfuly. “Everyone wil want to know you . You’l have more freedom than anyone in the world.”
His words filed her with a cold emptiness. She knew he meant wel, but he clearly had no idea how frightening it was to be alone, unconnected, unknown, and unwanted, in a strange and foreign land. Her only connection was with the man sitting in front of her, and it was readily apparent from his talk of ‘freedom’ that he hadn’t changed his thinking about his own position.
She was on her own.
Karen clenched her jaw, fighting back unbidden tears. For some reason, this thought affected her more than her mother’s betrayal. She had
expected that . Glancing at Gary, she tried to stay positive. He wouldn’t desert her. A girl and her robot dad travel the world and face the unknown! The idea was amusing, but humorous as it was, it couldn’t touch the cold knot of fear in her heart.
“Look,” said Matthew loudly, startling her from her reverie. “See that black strip ahead? I think it’s a coastline.”
Gary turned his head, focusing in the direction the young wizard had indicated. His visual sensors were more acute than anything possessed by the humans, “It is land. Wel done!”
An hour and a half later, they landed on a rocky shoreline. There was no beach to speak of, just massive stony cliffs rising from the beating waves. They were perched now at the edge of one of the cliffs, standing on a grassy, rock-strewn plain that led away to the west. Matthew began making a circle as soon as he had put away the enchanted stones of his flying construct.
Fifteen minutes later, they were standing in the transfer-house in Castle Cameron.
It was dark, but there were guards stationed around the clock at the building that housed the teleportation circles. As soon as they emerged, a runner was sent to notify the castle of their arrival.
Matthew looked with resignation at the guard who had stayed behind. “I suppose I should have expected they would be waiting for us.”
The guard chuckled, “You’ve been gone for days, milord. Your lady mother left very strict instructions as to what we was to do if you showed up.”
There was no help for it, so he led his motley band to the keep. A doorman there was expecting them, and he opened the heavy oak door for
them. They marched inside and were greeted by the Countess herself.
Penny stood in the entry hal wearing a severe dress of black-dyed linen. Despite the late hour, she had managed to dress and somehow pin up her hair into a tight bun. She had also worn her sword, which seemed odd, given the hour and her dress. The expression on her face was hard and unyielding, and it was reserved entirely for Matthew. “I see my son has returned,” she stated.
“I’m sorry for worrying you—again, Mother,” Matthew began, as Karen and Elaine entered behind him and stepped into view. Gary stayed at
the back.
Penny’s face transformed, passing through several phases, the first being a smile for his companions, folowed by a look of alarm as she
registered the android behind them. Faster than the eye could folow, her sword was out and she began to advance. “What is that?!”
Matthew managed to interpose himself between her and Gary, holding up his hands. “Peace, Mother, peace! He’s a friend!”
Her eyes never left the machine. “Explain.” The doorman outside and two guards from within the keep took positions around Gary’s metal form.
“I come in peace,” said the android.
Karen spoke as wel. “He’s my father.”
The Countess relaxed slightly, lowering her blade and glancing at her son. “Wel?”
“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 Excelency,” 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’l f
orgive my excess of caution, but recent events in
Dunbar have led us to be very wary of constructs such as your companion. No harm wil come to him so long as he waits peacefuly here. In the meantime, you look as though you might need some food.” She addressed the rest of the group, “If you’l al come to the main hal. I’l 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 al 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 al 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 realy 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 stil to be decided. He thought his father might be wiling 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 stil 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’l 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 wil 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 hal, 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 wel 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. “Wel, they’l get used to it. Personaly, 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 ful-size android running,” she explained. “It wil eventualy run out of power.”
“Wel, to hear him tel 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 practicaly twins, except for the differences in history,” began Matt, “so whatever they put in them is surely present here as wel. We’l just have to find this…”
Karen swalowed. “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 wil need to keep him running—indefinitely.”
“You’re awfuly worried about Gary, aren’t you?” she pointed out. “Mind teling 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’l 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 hal 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 al,” she replied, wondering whether there was some protocol she needed to folow, 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 realy 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.”
“Wel, 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 wil have a new personality, if it ever bonds and hatches again. It won’t be Desacus.”
“B
ut…”
“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’l 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 wel 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 wel discover a way to travel, just like the others did.”