Pain Stones (Coalescence Book 2) Page 13

  “Sure? Tell her that she can get in on some magical changes, if she wants? Tim Baker is going to be teaching a class on that here tomorrow. We need volunteers to help the students.”

  That got the man to clap.

  “Hear that Bethie? You’re actually being invited in your own person.”

  Unlike the others, Marco and his friend Bethie, were both more than willing to chat for a while. It was pleasant, but nothing of note was said. Not until they got off the devices.

  Next to him there was a red hut with a slanted slate roof on it. It glowed slightly, and seemed out of place, next to the black stone of the dwelling.

  Willum looked at it, then bowed, belatedly, to the woman who had come to aid him.

  She did it back, smiling at him.

  “Hello! I’m Eva… Um, a cousin of yours? Kind of?”

  He nodded, since that was, more or less, close enough.

  “Welcome! Eva Canton, isn’t it? I’m Willum Baker. Um, Countier Four, Lairdgren. I’m also a line walker… I don’t know if that means anything to you…”

  She made a funny face and put her hands on her hips.

  “It does. I’ll have you know that I’m in several worlds right now, as we speak. Not that I can communicate with them, until they come back. Parts of me have done that though, so I get the general idea. Neat then, I can just come to you when I need to travel or be picked up? You only take packages and messages though, so I’d have to travel as a tile?” She tapped her front, just over her breasts.

  Inside of her, when he bothered to notice, there was indeed a piece of floating stone. The magic that made her up came from that.

  “That sounds about right. Being family, I can do that for you. Do you have plans for the day? Or need to sleep? I don’t do that myself, but I have a lot of rooms now. I should make some more of those up. My friend Cindy is sleeping right now…” They could do the work, as long as they were careful. He just didn't want to crush her or anything like that.

  “Ambassador Mableton? I’ve met her. This me, I mean, not just the Eva collective. I live with Count Thomson and Aunt Terlee. So I’ve been hearing about you, but have been off at school for a bit. Lairdgren? I’ve met Diana Baker there? Only in passing. I wasn’t really aware that she was a relative at the time. We tend to run in different circles so far. I’m with the fun people, and she tends to be rather more serious about her work. Meditation and building, I believe?”

  Willum hadn’t really known that part. That his little sister was off at school and had been learning English, but not the rest of it. He’d really feared she was being trained to be a spy, like he was. Being a wizard sounded far more pleasant though.

  It was also good to know that she wasn’t wasting her days, getting drunk and being, as the girl in front of him had suggested, fun. Given all the nobles around that place, it had to be morally questionable as far as sex went.

  Not that his sister wasn’t a noble and allowed to do whatever she wanted that way. It was simply that Willum didn't want to know about it all, if he could avoid learning of it.

  “Ah? So you have classes in the morning?”

  That got the very attractive, magical, woman in front of him to wrinkle her nose.

  “I do. We’re going to have to work things out pretty carefully to come see the new river later. I hear that Marco Sorvee and his band are playing the event? That’s worth coming for right there. We’ll probably come in at the space port for that. I can use my craft to… Oh!” She tapped her pocket, then held out an amulet.

  “This is a Jump Ship. Dareg made it. It’s a gift for you. I can show you how to use it, but I heard a rumor that Count Thomson was set up for that task? We don’t want to leave him out. He’s a sweet man… I was thinking about taking him as a lover.” She winked at Will then, and waved, walking to the box. “After all, we’re not too closely related or anything. Nice meeting you, Cousin Will. I’ll be back soon with friends, to abuse your good will and hospitality!”

  He bowed toward her, as she moved inside the transport hut.

  “I look forward to seeing you then, Cousin Eva.” That they weren’t related really didn’t matter that much to him. If Eve Benson was too similar to Tiera Baker for him to date, then Eva was even more so.

  Though, honestly, he could get past the thing with Eve. It wasn’t as if they were really related and he hadn’t grown up knowing about her at all.

  Which, after Eva left, got him to nod.

  There were other people to invite after all. The whole thing had turned into an event of sorts, which meant at least putting out a hand in friendship to the others he knew. Not all of them, perhaps, since he didn't have a lot of time to get things ready.

  That meant taking a trip to a shopping mall or two, in different realities.

  First, he went to find his friend Eve. She was, as was often the case, working behind the counter of her frozen yoghurt shop. Embassies in her world were often in such locations. At least for her people. Vampires. Those who had died, but in some strange fashion used magical powers to hold them to the world of the living. It was, he supposed, a thing that he could learn to do as well, given time. Once he discovered more about magic, of course.

  Before walking out into the front of her shop, he changed his magical clothing into jeans and a black t-shirt. On his feet were nifty black running shoes as well. The fancy kind that cost a lot of money. They would have anyway, if they were real.

  “Will!” She didn't seem surprised, but did freeze after half a second.

  It was a thing that her people did to show they were shocked by something.

  In this case it was about the person behind him, being that they’d also come in from the node between worlds.

  They also held a glowing, translucent, cutter. There was an indicator light, which was helpful, since it showed exactly where the blade was going. Will noticed it when he turned, his shield kicking in and destabilizing the field so that it didn't damage anything.

  The person wielding it wasn’t anyone that Willum knew at all. After the first swipe didn’t work, the man, who looked old and well wrinkled, as well as rather pale, like Tor Baker, or a lot of the IPB people… laughed.

  Then he jumped backwards. Instantly, after one move didn’t work.

  “Well, that’s a fine thing to do. Wearing armor around like that all the time, just in case I come to visit! Smart. All right then, Will Baker. We’ll meet again, soon enough. If not me, then another. Until then?” Then, never bothering to stop moving back and away, the man moved to the node and stepped inside it. Vanishing.

  Shaking his head a bit, Willum looked over at Eve, who hadn’t even moved yet.

  “Um… Did you see all that?”

  “I did… But… I don’t know who that was. Do you?”

  “Nope. He sounded polite enough, after the attempted murder portion of events. Kind, nearly.” He was feeling a bit worked up, but then shrugged. Sooner or later people were going to have to try and kill him, after all. It was part of the job that he’d taken on. It just felt like an odd way to go about things. Off in a not so subtle fashion.

  “We have a party of sorts shaping up in my world? Would you like to come? I can’t promise that strange old men won’t try to kill us, apparently… But so far I like our chances, if they do.”

  They had to work out her schedule, but it turned out that she could come, which was nice. She worked so much that things didn’t normally get to happen that way.

  Chapter five

  The transfers from the IPB reality to his own took about two hours in his time. The people there were good about taking orders and actually lived with a certain sense of organization and discipline, so it was faster than it might have been. The largest factor was the time difference. Eight to one meant that he’d really taken about fifteen minutes their time to move all fifty-seven that were coming. This was done early enough that those who needed to do it were able to catch a few hours of sleep before the events of the day.

  They
all stayed there at his tower, including his Cousin Clemance. Like Willum, the boy had been changed for his job. In his case he’d been made smarter and so he didn't need to sleep, though he was going to keep aging for several years and would end up being about seven or eight feet tall. That was, Timon had told them, about what he’d have been anyway.

  He was there with all his gear, however. Smiling when almost everyone had gone off to their bedrooms up in the tower. There was a small palace attached to it now as well, off to the left if you were facing out the front door. It made the whole thing seem a lot more like a tower, but the magic of the place allowed for everyone to have their own room and for it to be nicely decorated. That meant he had to get food for them all, but the water was already done, coming from the natural river that flowed about three hundred feet from his back door.

  His cousin, who was blond, if hair that nearly flowed into brown got to be counted in that zone, smiled. Most would have thought of him that way, so Will did it too. That kind of thing always made life easier. The boy didn’t look old, seeming to be a little under fourteen, even though he was nearly that age now. He’d been gone for long enough that whole seasons had passed in their world. It was a danger of that kind of thing for them.

  Clemance took a deep breath.

  “I missed that. I never thought of the air here as being special, but there’s a character to it that the other world lacked. It isn’t cleaner as much as… Mine?” He seemed to think that was foolish or something, but Will got it.

  “I’ve noticed that myself. Several times, actually. So, things went well? They didn’t beat you too much or call you names more than others there?”

  Willum hadn’t been made aware of exactly what Clem would be doing, other than teaching some people how to fly Jump Ships. It was something to keep in mind, in case Count Thomson didn't have that one down yet. His Cousin had actually gone and taken the full Space Fleet course on the topic, before leaving. He wasn’t in their system, but had the training for it, if that ever came up.

  The boy laughed at the words, seeming a little strange.

  “That part… Not at all. Less so than in the Fleet training section and they were tolerably polite the whole time. To me at least. The air force people were actually very kind the whole time. Even the students were. Then, each of them were handpicked. Essentially special forces, from their own space fleet. We aren’t supposed to mention that part of things, since they haven’t told their people about that yet. The fifty I trained are supposed to train the others.” There was a shrug then. “They also wanted me to see if I could line up more ships for them? They don’t really need them right now, having a new fleet like they do, but for the future? I said that I’d bring it up. Now you can too, if it comes up?”

  He didn’t respond for a bit, knowing that them asking for that kind of thing was both a bit too much and horribly rude. Even for the IPB world. They had rules that were different as far as what was considered correct or not, but that kind of thing, asking for more on top of a gift, wasn’t going to fly. Then, it probably hadn’t come from anyone directly in charge. Soldiers, even the flying kind, probably didn’t bother thinking about things like that.

  “I’ll keep that in mind? Things are good there, though? I mean, I never was certain how much the IPB let me know. I was off the base a few times, but always watched when I was. Not that I blame them. I mean, going in as a spy in training had to set off alarms. Did you do any better?”

  There was a look away, then a sigh from the kid.

  “Not really. I don’t think it was even meant to prevent me from learning things. The people there just watched me constantly. I think because they knew I was from a different world. Some of them want to come here for a visit. I didn't promise anything, since that needs to come through Director Turner. I did make sure they knew who to inquire with for that.”

  “Good. We need to start being a bit more careful about who we bring in. For instance, some idiot just went and got fifty-some people from not one, but several different worlds. Sure, they’re probably safe enough, but I could be fooled. We have more coming as well. Eve Benson and a few of her friends. That… You know Avery, right?”

  That part was actually certain, but it was important to leave the boy a way out if he had a reason or desire not to be associated with the line walker. Not that he should. The girl was both attractive physically and very sweet. A bit older than his cousin, making her almost the right age for Willum. Except that she already had a perfectly good boyfriend and came from a world where that kind of thing was done differently than in Noram.

  Which didn't mean that they should neglect her at all, given that Phillip Hart probably wouldn’t be marrying her himself. It felt evil to line up things that way, but given what he’d been thinking just a few hours before, a nice girl who actually wanted to be married at some point was probably worth keeping in mind for the job.

  Technically Clemance was betrothed to Princess Allison, but everyone had assured them both that such things often fell through at those levels. The girl was incredibly sweet, as well as brilliant. They, both he and Clemance, had been made far more intelligent than they’d been born, and the girl still wasn’t totally out of their zone that way. Possibly not as high level as he was, but it was actually very close. It seemed that way, at least.

  It could be that she was female and pretty though, causing him to think of her more highly than he should. That was an effect Willum had noted on several occasions since his own alterations. A cute girl seeming more intelligent than she actually was, due to him being interested in her. Except that now when he left her presence, that kind of thing faded fast and he could tell when it was happening. Regardless, the Princess was still sharp.

  Looking at him carefully, Clemance smiled.

  “I do know her. I think that Dumas has an eye out for her? He’s a trifle young, but… Well, if you think that you can out plan him, then you’ve been tricked. I wouldn’t move in on her without checking with him first. Not for anything serious. Then, that could be his whole idea, for all I know.”

  The kid really was good that way.

  It probably meant he was going to end up being evil, though. Not that it showed at all, but then, it wouldn’t. Not if he were as clever as he seemed.

  “Eve Benson is her adopted mother. Also, a line walker. She looks like Aunt Tiera?”

  That got a slightly aggrieved look from the boy.

  “Of course she does.” Then he chuckled, a bit grimly. “I wasn’t allowed a lot of contact with women there. None, really. They don’t allow such things until you turn eighteen? That seems old for it. I had a birthday when I was gone, but being fourteen doesn’t really mean anything at all there. You can’t even drink in a pub until you turn twenty-one. Can you believe that?”

  That was news. Not that part about the age of consent, but the drinking portion had never really come up for him there. The people didn’t do that very much, but the IPB didn’t have a bar at all. Willum had figured that to be more about being prepared for duty than anything as simple as the law of the land they were in.

  “That’s odd. Well… I was just given a Jump Ship. The Count, your father, offered to teach me how to use any craft I got hold of. I don’t suppose he can do that one?”

  Clemance snorted a little bit.

  “Ha! You’d think, but no, he got Sara Debri to show him how to do that years ago. So he could teach Dumas and myself. He doesn’t have his own, because that’s been held back a bit. Noram has been gifted with four of them. That kind of makes giving twenty-two of them away to a different world mean more, doesn’t it? That’s by treaty though. Queen Tiera only got us the last two with the condition that family of hers fly them. So Dumas and I get a chance at it.”

  That story had never really come up. Pulling his own ship out, he looked at it, thinking for a bit.

  “Dareg gave me mine. Hopefully that won’t create friction? If Queen Tiera doesn’t want Noram to have more than four…”


  There was a bit of a nod then, instead of the boy disclaiming the idea.

  “A real point. Well, get with her and work that out? If you have to give it back to keep the peace, then you should. Then again, having one of those, even if you don’t use it often, can really help. I mean, just getting us into the Capital tomorrow will be something I can do, because I have mine. Really, we should probably get Tam-cars for that. People won’t be as impressed, but then, we probably don’t want to show up everywhere in space craft all the time. No matter what we try to make it look like.”

  That was just true. Sighing, he pulled out his hand held and looked up at the sky.

  “Gah. Aunt Taman won’t be up yet. We have hours before that happens. Um… Right. If Tam isn’t available for the Tam-cars, then we find someone else who can do that kind of thing.”

  There were a lot of wizards who probably could get the work done. A few might even pull it off in time. If he had one to copy, Will thought he could do enough up. That got him to look over at Clemance.

  “You know, I could make some? I mean, I’d need to at least see one first, but if I could do that… We have hours, after all.”

  The other kid moved a hand under his shirt. That was made to look like a black military outfit. Like what the IPB wore, not the Noram Army. When his hand came out, it held a simple tile with a glowing sigil on the front. That looked like a toy horse that had little lines under it, showing it was in the air.

  “Here. I hardly use it anyway. This one seats six decently sized people. So, we’ll need ten… No, call it twenty of the things? You just get to making those for us?” There was a bit of teasing to the words, as if that seemed unlikely to the kid.

  “I… Will need some tiles. Let me…” That meant going to Soam, and waking up his Aunt at her palace. It wasn’t on purpose, but the place was so silent inside that just digging through her things for a compression unit was too loud to ignore, he suspected. That or it was a magical thing.