That was another idea that he would not have entertained in the normal course, but it felt completely true. Could it have leaked out of that membrane, across Radeachar’s consciousness, its path opened by his own sense that these graves might not all be empty symbols?
For a moment he thought he felt the amusement of a distant something that had been tasting his thoughts. He shuddered—then blanched as he sensed another something, screaming mad and starving to get at the world, this one a terror at least as powerful as the Great One had been.
He headed for the gate immediately, summoning Radeachar as he went. They dared not tarry. He might be one of the most powerful men alive but he was too weak to resist what wanted to control him here. He beckoned the Unborn again, impatiently. “Let’s go! Now! We’ve done all that we can do here.” Which was not nearly as much destruction as he had hoped, but might already be more than could possibly be good for the world.
Pressure that he had not fully recognized stopped once he passed through the gate.
The boundary definitely kept in as well as kept out.
With Radeachar’s help he resealed the gates, then rested with hands on knees, panting. He had not been worn down like this for ages. “That was harsh.” A few breaths. “The man might not be entirely wicked after all.” Assuming Old Meddler did restrain things like whatever it was that had reached out…
Radeachar did not comment. It was not feeling chatty. Not that it ever did.
“We’ve done what we can. Back to Fangdred. The hour is coming.”
...
Ragnarson asked, “When the hell will all this go down? I’ve been here a week. I’ve got stuff to do back home.”
Mist gave him a look of exasperation. She had grown impatient herself, especially with those who could not understand how important her mission was. Old Meddler’s attack was overdue. The villain must have something up his sleeve.
It seemed an age since Lord Yuan had reported one of his booby traps tripped. He did not think the Star Rider had been hurt but did believe that the event had led to the delay.
“We can’t make the man hurry, Bragi. We’re the ones sitting on a static defense.”
Though Mist looked at him she was talking to herself. She surveyed the gathering. Her sister-in-law looked particularly haggard. Bragi just looked bored, like everyone else. There was no sense of urgency here.
So. Nepanthe had taken everything on her shoulders. Bragi had done nothing. The effort to collect him and Michael had been a waste.
Speaking of… The pudgy sorcerer and his child-whore-spouse. What had become of them?
She asked.
Eka responded, “Probably out on the wall. They spend a lot of time there, looking at the mountains and holding hands. And talking lover stuff, Scalza says.”
Did she sound wistful? She did glance Ethrian’s way.
The boy was much recovered, though still not what he had been before his stint as Deliverer. He had become less dependent than his cousin liked.
“Careful what you wish for, eh?”
“Mother?”
“Nothing. Find them, please. I want to send them home.”
Eka loosed the long sigh of the teen who was expected to do everything around here. She did as she was told, though.
Mist headed for Scalza, to find out what he was watching. The Winterstorm caught her eye. There was something odd about it. Something not quite right. She turned away from her son, toward the shogi table, pushing Matayangan kibitzers aside. “Lord Kuo…”
“You spotted it quickly.” He did not look up. His opponent was destroying him. There could be no doubt that the Old Man’s mind was back, though his ability to remember still left much to be desired.
“Something is wrong with Varthlokkur’s artifact.”
“Ekaterina was tinkering with it. She tripped a security routine she didn’t anticipate. It was there to protect the baby. She did the damage trying to undo and cover up. Don’t get too upset. Kids do that kind of stuff. And he can put it right.”
“I will get upset but maybe not the way you expect. What does it tell us that she had the daring and confidence to mess with that thing? And to think she could get away with it, in front of all these people?”
In as portentous a tone as Mist ever heard from him, Wen-chin replied, “To me it says we’d better hope that her Aunt Nepanthe did a good job shaping her values.”
What could she say to that? Whatever Wen-chin was thinking, that was a bold statement. Letting ego drive a response would be of no value whatsoever.
“You’re right.”
“Is it frightening? I have no children myself.”
Many Tervola did not, on the right side of the blanket. Family created complications. They became hostages to fortune, Mist knew too well.
“She didn’t do any permanent damage. She stepped away as soon as she saw that she could only make things worse.”
“Good to hear that.”
“She’s sensible and responsible, given her age and situation.”
Mist suppressed a surge of irritation.
Wen-chin said, “I expect he’ll be understanding.”
“Varthlokkur? Let’s hope.” He was unpredictable, emotionally. Where was he, anyway? “Shouldn’t he be back by now?”
Wen-chin shrugged. “Check with Scalza. He’s trying to keep track.” The Tervola added softly, “Be pleased that it wasn’t the boy.”
She did not acknowledge but she understood.
Kuo Wen-chin found Scalza worrisome.
Mist did, too, but less so than Ekaterina. Scalza only thought he was clever and secretive. He was talented but he was like every other talented boy produced by Shinsan. If he became trouble he would be predictable trouble. Eka, though, could be a menace less fathomable than her mother had been. She would be as unpredictable.
Could it be a sex-linked thing?
Female Tervola were rare. So rare that Mist knew of only two. Ekaterina was the other one.
Her toenails felt likely to curl in dread.
She leaned over Scalza’s right shoulder, so close her hair brushed his and her breath heated his cheek. She saw what might be the Unborn, in his scrying bowl. The view there was obscure but the color was right.
He jumped. “You startled me, Mother.”
“Sorry.”
“When did you get back? Did it go well?”
“I’ve been back for some time. I’m wondering if my feelings should be hurt because you didn’t notice.”
Scalza made a visible effort to process her meaning before he responded. He reached the right conclusion. “I was preoccupied. Sometimes I get too focused.”
“Yes. You do. But don’t we all? It went well enough. The target tripped some of the traps.”
“But you didn’t get him?”
“Naturally not. It couldn’t be that easy. What’s the wizard’s story?”
“I don’t know. He’s back in range, barely, but he isn’t in any hurry to get here.”
She harrumphed.
“I think he’s going as fast as he can. It must not have gone right. The Unborn acts like it’s hurt. It has to rest a lot.”
That was new. She considered the monster infinitely indefatigable.
Eka brought the Itaskian sorcerer. She and he were blushing. The girlfriend wore a smirk. Had Eka interrupted something?
Mist found the girlfriend’s composure as disturbing as she did Eka’s potential for chaos.
She glanced from Eka to the Winterstorm and back. Her daughter went on defense immediately.
Mist told the sorcerer, “We’re sending you home while we have time to do that.”
Babeltausque’s relief was almost pathetic.
His companion brightened considerably, too.
“Excellent!” the sorcerer said, then said no more, as though he did not trust himself not to jinx it.
The girl asked, “What will we need to do?”
“What you’ve done all along. Stay out of the way whi
le they ready the portals.” She beckoned Lord Yuan, who was conferring with some specialists. That was good. He should have everyone he needed on hand.
Tin Yuan responded with what was, for him, alacrity. He pushed through the press. “I understand what you want, Illustrious. But there are problems.”
“How so?”
“The portal we used before is no longer operational. We haven’t been able to reach any of the others. They aren’t out of action, we just don’t have the codes or capacity to access them from here. You should shift these two to the Karkha Tower and send them on from there. Tang Shan has constant access.”
“I don’t like that idea. They don’t need to see things they don’t need to see. Have Tang Shan bring the codes here.”
The old man disapproved. He thought her choice was wrong but said only, “As you command, Illustrious.”
She did not ask why he thought she should do it differently. She faced the odd couple. “It’s going to take longer than I hoped.”
The sorcerer shrugged. “It’s all right. Waiting is better than walking.”
That was a jest. Even his girlfriend was surprised.
...
Babeltausque was lightheaded with joy. The Empress really meant to let them go!
The excitement faded when Mist explained, “We tried again. Even with the right codes we can’t connect from here.”
Cynicism set in.
“I’m as frustrated as you are,” she said. “I want you out of here before the storm breaks. Lord Yuan says there’s only one way. We send you to a place where we have permanent connections with our Kavelin portals. You’ll move on from there as fast as Tang Shan can manage.” She waved at the portal bank. The man she meant had just disappeared. Someone she called Candidate entered the cabinet next door.
Babeltausque said, “We’re ready,” as Carrie slipped her hand into his. That was hot and shaky. She squeezed.
Mist said, “One of you follow Tang Shan. The other one, go after Lein She.”
Babeltausque did not like the separation but knew that these portals would pass only two people in succession before they had to be reset.
Mist continued, “Good fortune attend.”
She sounded disinterested now she was about to be shot of them. He was tempted to ask to stay.
But doom was coming. The end of the world was coming, for some. Old Meddler would arrive in a mood for destruction. Soon everyone here would be dead. The best plan of all time would be to get the hell gone before the shitstorm descended.
He and Carrie followed the easterners, Carrie first murmuring, “You thought about staying, didn’t you?”
“For the two seconds it took me to realize how much I’d miss you if I was dead.”
“You say such sweet things, Bee. I’d miss you, too. I wouldn’t stay. I’d follow my skinny guy anywhere he wants to take me.”
“Carrie!”
“You know what I mean. I don’t plan on getting downwind of Death for about nine hundred more years. Longer if I can work it.”
“Then I’ll stick tight and help you get what you want.” Though Carrie could have stated it with more clarity Babeltausque understood that she wanted him to remain evasive in the matter of deliberate self-risk.
She gave him a big grin, a peck on the lips, and popped into her portal, a master traveler after only one previous experience. The portal hummed. She vanished.
Babeltausque stepped into his own destiny.
Darkness. Then terror like none he had known before.
He was not alone in there.
Something had been lurking at the boundary. Something that had a yearning beggaring his own sad need for Carrie.
He stumbled into a place where half a dozen easterners gabbled at Lein She like frightened geese. Something was happening that should not be. Lein She rushed Carrie on toward a portal making feeble teakettle whistling noises. Someone plunged in ahead of her, a boy with a rusty short sword.
Tang Shan bums-rushed Babeltausque toward another portal, this one quiet. Another armed boy preceded him. Lein She pranced like he had a bad need to pee. The instant that portal reset, he followed Carrie. Behind him, babbling technicians settled into combat poses behind long swords, facing another portal producing especially hideous noises. Babeltausque experienced a weird sensation suggesting labor pain.
Tang Shan shoved him so hard he feared his shoulder had been dislocated. He spun, staggered into the portal backwards, glimpsed several unsettling things before the darkness embraced him.
Carrie’s portal tore itself apart—in total silence.
Black smoke emerged from the portal making the ugly birthing noise. The technicians harried it with their blades, which began to droop like overheated candles but caused much worse noises each time they slashed the smoke. Something was in extreme agony. Then a disembodied face pushed out of another portal. Babeltausque knew it without ever having seen it before. Old Meddler. And he was furiously unhappy.
Babeltausque suspected that devil found himself in the slow, painful process of arriving at a destination other than the one that he wanted.
Darkness.
The yearning engulfed him. It felt more familiar, now. It had become a friend after one brief connection. He thought at it, Crush that wicked old devil. Or something of the sort, never really articulated but enough to distract it briefly.
Then he felt Tang Shan coming, frightened by the inexplicable presence.
The passage dragged. Tang Shan remained close. Too close? Almost… They could not merge, could they? The receiving portal would not spit out some eight-limbed vertebrate spider-monster, would it?
He tumbled. Momentum brought him up against someone.
Carrie. She was seated on a dusty stone floor, laughing wildly while making no sound he could hear. Behind her, on hands and knees, the youth who had preceded her was puking his guts up while crawling toward his sword. Lein She lay curled on his left side, clutching his abdomen. The easterner who had preceded Babeltausque also lay in the fetal position, his blade eight feet away. He did not appear to be breathing. The sorcerer headed his way, to help, only belatedly realizing that he was suffering less than anyone else.
Tang Shan began ridding himself of his last several meals.
One thump and Babeltausque had the boy gasping. The pudgy man dizzily struggled to keep his feet under him. It was all on him, now. Whatever it was. He was the only one able to do anything.
The portals. There were three. Two still hummed. He had to make sure nothing followed…
Would Old Meddler bother? Who here was of any value?
How could the devil know that?
Someone stirred in the portal that Babeltausque had used. He hesitated, caught between the urge to snatch up a sword and the desire to fling an attack spell. Then he recognized a portal technician, another boy, maybe fifteen, armed but terrified and desperate to escape.
Something pulled him back.
He disappeared with a pathetic puppy yelp.
The calm nurtured during his association with Dane of Greyfells came over the sorcerer.
He had to silence those portals. They looked delicate. They should break easily. What to use?
Obviously, the sword that had gotten away from the youth who had come through ahead of him.
While stooping to recover the sword he became aware that every muscle and joint he owned now ached. He might not be puking up his soul but he had acquired a world of hurt all his own.
Carrie tried to say something.
He promised, “Nothing will get you. I won’t let it.” And he meant it.
He shuffled toward the portals.
Someone began to emerge from that same portal where the panicked boy had been pulled back. This one wore shreds of clothing similar to that boy’s but was more nearly naked than dressed. Babeltausque did not recognize that pale face. That was not anyone from Karkha Tower.
He raised the sword like a club. He had no idea how to employ the Eastern weapon. br />
The newcomer desperately dragged two-thirds of her body length out into the cold. Her? Oh, definitely, yes! Though she wore tatters of boy’s clothing, there could be no doubt. She had been well-blessed by Nature.
She could not get any more of herself free of the transfer’s grip.
Her desperation touched Babeltausque. Blade held high in one hand, he extended his other, let her grab hold, pulled. Out she popped. Well, most of her did. Part of a fine right leg, from just above the ankle down, did not emerge. There was no bleeding. Babeltausque noted that she wore scraps of a boy’s clothing.
Carrie gasped, “Bee Boss, you got to wreck them damned gates!”
Well, yes, he did have to get on with that, even if he and Carrie were way down on Old Meddler’s list, if just to deny that villain a possible escape route from the Karkha Tower.
Carrie was up now, hunched, in pain, muttering about hoping being pregnant was all in her head because no fetus ought to go through what they just had. Babeltausque did not quite grasp that right away. He dragged his attention away from eternity’s most marvelous set and attacked the portal whence their owner had come.
The one called Lein She said, “Strike lower, to the right. Your other right. The right side of it. Hit the orange and yellow hashes.” Babeltausque understood every word. At the moment he did not wonder how that could be.
Carrie stumbled to the stranger, helped her remain upright. The girl stared down at herself, plainly thrilled. She cupped her breasts, then commenced a slow blush. Carrie said, “One of these perverts will give you his jacket.”
Babeltausque was not alone in being thoroughly impressed.
His sword stroke fell where Lein She said it should.
A whine went out of the world, a sound the sorcerer had not recognized was there till it went away.
Tang Shan gasped, “Silence the others, too!” He was on his knees, now, eying the footless girl, baffled.
As a boy Babeltausque often fantasized himself an unstoppable swordsman, even then knowing it would only ever be a fantasy. He was not an athlete in any sense. But here he was, swinging a long eastern blade like he knew what he was doing. Clang! Clack! Ring! It was a magic blade, a singing sword!