GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 18

Well, they at least had a guide in this place...

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Chapter 18.

"All right, listen up," said Mick. He was now dressed in a leather jerkin, his wand in a holster on one side, a basket-hilted rapier on the other. "If we’re lucky, your Seal, or whatever, is just a little ways inside Elphame, right near the path, and so you can just be on your merry way. Sometimes my luck’s like that. But sometimes it really, really ain’t, and you poppin’ up in my bathroom makes me figure your luck, at least in this world, runs a lot like mine. So there’s no guessing just how far it is or what you might run into. We gotta get some ground rules clear – or none of you mugs is gonna make it home."

"It's that dangerous?" Urelle asked. Mick Oberon seemed really worried.

"More, really, but we ain’t got time for the whole rundown. Biggest point to remember is that it don't always look dangerous, but for mortals, it always is. And even not bein’ locals, that’s still you guys, even Quester there. So, first, do not eat or drink anything you see there, no matter how good it looks, no matter how hungry or thirsty you are. You’ll be happier starving to death."

"What happens if we do?"

"Short answer? You ain't ever leaving Elphame. It'll bind you, and doing the un-binding? Near impossible when it ain’t completely impossible."

Urelle shuddered. "Really?"

"You figure I’m pulling your leg to hear myself talk, you go right ahead and try it.

“Meanwhile, second point. You meet anyone, and I mean anyone, do not make any agreements, bargains, or deals with them, no matter how small. Fae got a way of screwing with any mortal that makes a deal with 'em, and while it ain’t something they gotta do, most of ‘em will just because they can. Trust me, I’m one of ‘em, I know what I’m doin’, and I’ve still got a web of debts and favors around me so tangled it’d make a spider vomit. You dig?"

Urelle nodded, seeing the others doing the same.

"Third, watch your feet. Grass and dirt are okay, but don't step on little toadstools, holly bushes, whatever. Never know who's got a claim on 'em, and there’s not a lot worse than an offended pixie. Trust me, it is possible to annoy someone to death.”

At their nod, he went on, "Elphame don't make much sense from a human—uh, mortal—perspective. Just accept what you sense and move on. I get you there, Urelle here uses her mojo to find your Seal, and you’re on your way quicker’n a kelpie with the trots. Everyone clear?"

"Quite clear, Mick," Aunt Victoria said. "We appreciate the assistance."

"I don't need you to appreciate, just to listen." He looked them over with a critical eye. "At least you're dressed for it. More for there’n here, anyway. And I get the impression even the kids know how to handle ‘emselves in a scrap."

"Guild Adventurers all can, yes," Ingram said. "And Urelle's a wizard you don't want to fight, too."

"Good. Might even make a difference, if we wind up behind the eight-ball. C'mon, let's get this over with."

Urelle brought up her best magical viewing spells while Mick prepared to bring them through, staring at the very unprepossessing corner of the nook. He'd explained that it formed a link to Elphame simply by being a place where he let nature pretty much take its course – as much as it could in a city like this. Which implies… what? Mold, fungi as the link? Will we come out in some kind of rotting log?

Mick began to waver under her gaze; he seemed at once much smaller, and vastly greater than he had been, and she got a glimpse through… a shell, a seeming that he must have built throughout years, perhaps centuries, of existence, of something so terrible and bright that she gasped in awe.

But now she could see… something else, somewhere else, becoming visible, almost as though two places were becoming one under the power that Mick Oberon was calling to him. Oh! Oh, that I think I understand! It touched on another part of the Wanderer's teachings, somehow connected both with the various transportation magics and the enchantments that made neverfull packs. Worlds within worlds, exactly!

With a single effort, Mick swept one reality aside and another took its place.

Urelle cried out, and heard the others gasp or curse.

They were in some kind of shallow cave, an earthy, loamy tunnel that was… more like itself than anything else they had ever sensed. The smells were the essence of being within the earth, a part of soil and the gentle decay of humus. The dimness of the light vied with a paradoxical sense that it was more light than any light from the mundane world.

"Follow me," Mick said, breaking her momentary paralysis.

His warning was inadequate, Quester observed. To be fair, I doubt greatly whether any warning couched in words would have sufficed.

Understatement remains one of your strong suits, nest-brother, Ingram said with a mental grin. This is… I don't have words to describe it, and I'm seeing it.

To Urelle, as they moved farther along, approaching the mouth of the tunnel, everything had the strange luminous aura she associated with a fever dream she had had as a child. Mushrooms and toadstools of every size, from tiny buttons to ones taller than Quester lined the pathway, and she saw some simply pop from the ground, rising to full height in a smooth, graceful motion. One of them tilted its cap… and nodded to her with a faint, sourceless giggle.

"What - did that mushroom laugh?" Ingram demanded.

Mick chuckled – and it was then that she really noticed that he had indeed shrunk, by about six inches, and his features were both sharper and more distinct. "Certainly could have, though mushrooms ain’t real known for their sense of humor. Most of what lives here is conscious, more or less—a lot less, if we’re talkin’ about the fungi. Try not to pay anything much mind, though. We don't want attention, and they'll forget us fast enough if we don’t give ‘em reason not to. And remember – watch where you put your feet."

They emerged into a lightly wooded area, into light that seemed like sunshine… except that when she looked up into a sky that was so blue that she realized she'd never seen blue before, there was no trace of a sun, or source for the light. It was just… there. Tiny, humanoid winged figures darted here and there, and the closest were calling things – that sounded like taunts – in high, sweet-yet-sharp voices.

"The… colors," murmured Victoria.

After a moment, Urelle was able to understand the difference. It wasn't just that the colors were tremendously more pure and intense; it was that they were absolutely demarcated. There was no blending between one color and another; a brilliant red flower with a yellow center had not the slightest transition between red and yellow, or the green that made up the stem and leaves; the colors actively maintained a total separation, refusing to blend or even dim their shades.

This is the most magical place I have ever visited, Quester thought quietly.

It is. A different magic, but tremendously intense. Urelle decided she would need to be very cautious with her spells here.

As though he'd heard the thought, Mick turned to her. "Okay, we're through," he said, and she noticed at that moment that the tunnel they had walked through was gone. "Crank up your spell, doll, so we can suss out what kind of trouble we're gonna have getting to your Seal."

Urelle paused and focused herself for a few moments, and then tried a few very simple preliminary spells – a minor light spell, summoning a small gust of wind, things of that nature. It took several tries before she could determine exactly how to limit their effects, during which she temporarily blinded everyone with a flare of sun-bright light, annoyed a number of the little flying taunters with a momentary gale, and soaked herself from head to toe with what should have been a tiny stream of water suitable for filling a small cup.

But after a few more tries she understood what was happening. "Yes, magic is stronger here, and I had to figure out how it responds to control as well," she said finally. "I think I've got it now, though."

Mick smiled wryly. "Hope so. I like my peepers usable. But I haveta say, the way you're goin' about it, that's way different from how magic works here."

"One more piece of evidence that I'm carrying at least some of my rules with me. Now, everyone hold still and be quiet for a minute."

This time the spell went off without difficulty, and she saw a quick glow of more mundanely golden light. "There!"

Mick gave a sour grimace. "How far in that direction?"

"About… half a mile, I think."

His face relaxed slightly. "Shouldn't be too bad, but let's not dawdle."

Looking in that direction, Urelle saw that the blue sky gave way to a dark, dangerous storm-filled appearance – one that didn't seem to change in size or location as they began walking. "What is that?"

"Unseelie territory," he answered. "The Seelie Court’s bad enough – tricksters, manipulators, all that hooey's second-nature to us. But the Unseelie, well... It ain’t entirely accurate if you just figure everything about ‘em is evil, but with the time we’ve got, it’s probably best you think that way. Not at all the kinda company you have over for a drink and a chin-wag. Some of 'em would think you were the drink. Lucky us, we ain't goin' that far."

As they entered a real forest, this one with immense trees that rivaled some of those in the Forest Sea, she began to understand the importance of Mick's warnings. Some of the bushes and trees were laden with fruit whose pure colors and piercingly sweet smells cried out to her to stop, smell, taste, eat. She saw Ingram start to reach out a hand, almost unconsciously, as he passed a tree with beautiful scarlet spheres, then snatch his hand back as though he'd been burned.

"By the Lady," he said, hand shaking. "Without your warning…"

"Yeah. That’s why most who stumble their way here don’t ever get back," Mick said. "Even with a warning, it ain't easy for mortals to grasp just how hard it'll be to follow the rules until they’re here."

"I presume it does not affect you the same way?" Victoria asked.

"Nah. The human world? It hurts. Too much technology, too much cold iron. Here I can relax, I'm more myself. This is home, be it ever so horrible. It’d be easy to stay forever, except I walked away from that a long time ago. I don't much like the mortal world, especially lately, but it beats Elphame."

Urelle nodded, hearing more behind his words. She wondered what kind of terrible thing could drive someone to not only abandon the place they called home, but to prefer to live in a place that literally hurt them.

Then she caught sight of a golden glow. "There! Up ahead!"

"I can sense it," Mick said after a minute. "Holy mackerel, that's impressive."

They pushed through into a clearing, where Urelle could see the cycling golden structure of the Seal.

"Okay, swell. Get your doorway open and scram," Mick said. "Kinda power this thing’s putting out, no way somebody hasn’t felt it already. Pretty near a miracle they ain’t already here, tryin’ to steal it or gum it up." He stared into the otherwise-empty air. "Is this thing gonna stay this obvious?"

"I… don't know? I don't think so. I hope not. See, what we're doing is shoving our way through each link, and I think each time I do that I'm disturbing the one in our arrival location, and it should settle down when we leave."

He shook his head. "If not, you’ll be leavin’ me in some serious dutch. Ain’t a soul I know who I’d want playin’ with this little toy."

"I don't have any idea what would happen if someone tried to make use of the Seal, though," Urelle said, trying to imagine what a cross-reality barrier like that might do if someone tried to do anything other than what she was doing – passing through on a specific course. "Anyway, let's see…"

It was a matter of a few minutes to prepare. "Mick, step back. Once I finish the spell, it'll take everyone touching me – or touching someone who's touching me." She caught his eye. "Unless you want to come with us."

"I... Sorry, I musta been listening with my bad nostril. Say that again?"

"Well… you say the mortal world hurts you here, and you can't stay in your home any more, so I just thought maybe you could find a better place where we're going. Not safe… but not one that hurts you."

Mick stared at her, and suddenly a bright grin flashed across his face – one without a trace, for once, of his constant cynicism. "Kid, that's the sweetest offer I've heard in a long while. But… No, thank you. I've got a few friends here still, and a job that sometimes actually needs doing, and a buncha bastards in Elphame who’d get way too much satisfaction outa me leavin’. But I sure appreciate the thought." He waved his hands. "Now dust already. You got things to do."

She nodded and flashed him one more smile. "Grab on, everyone!"

And once more, the bottom fell out of the world and they fell through light…