Broken Quill [2] (15 page)

“Let’s go,” Sophie said.

“Hold on.” I was no detective, but I
got the feeling there was something Old Al McSorley was not telling me.
Something important.

Annie frowned at him. “Mr. McSorley,
I’m Detective Brie with the West Australian Police. Is there anything else
you’d like to tell us?”

Seems as though I wasn’t the only
one whose spidey-sense was tingling.

McSorley laughed. “A cop? Declan,
what are you doing with a cop?”

“Creature that’s tearing apart the
town tried to kill her last night. Taking her to Forget so it doesn’t get a
second chance.”

“Is that so?”

“What are you hiding, Al?”

“Nothing,” he sneered. “And even if
I was, why would I tell the man who burned down my pub?”

“Because,” I said, and clenched my
fists, “the first time was an accident.”

“
First
time?” He cocked an
eye. “Don’t threaten me, lad. I was conjuring and slinging spells before your
father was born.” He sighed and relented, tossed his rag aside, and folded his
arms over his chest. “Man in here the other day, looking for you.”

“A man? Okay. Was he... was he
wearing a fancy suit?”

McSorley shook his head. “Nah. Older
guy. Bald. Had the look of trouble about him.”

“You tell this guy where to find
me?”

McSorley hesitated and then nodded.
“Broken quill, lad, but I did. And I’m sorry. I thought he just wanted to give
you a smack around. Something we’ve all wanted, from time to time. If I’d known
he was a gun thug, I would’ve dealt with him myself.”

“Gun thug?” Annie’s eyes widened.
“The man who tried to kill you at the university! The man I... I shot.”

“That’d be the one, I’m thinking,” I
said.

“Ayuh. Saw it on the news this morning,
alongside all the other murders. Christ, town’s going to hell in a handcart.”
McSorley cursed. “Recognized his ugly mug from the other day. Police wanted
anyone with information to come forward.” He waved at Annie. “Here I am coming
forward, Detective Brie.”

“Did he say anything else?” she
asked.

“Nothing worth mentioning. Didn’t
order so much as tap water, so I showed him the door.” McSorley shrugged.
“Sorry.”

“He knew about Forget and that whole
side of things?” I asked.

“Can’t rightly say, lad. He knew
enough to want you dead, so that should tell you something.”

“Aye, I suppose it does.” I sighed.
“Okay, let’s be off, gang. My best, McSorley.”

“Travel safe, Commander.”

I ignored that jibe although it stung
like a broken rapier to the gut, and walked around the bar, key in hand. Annie,
Sophie, and Ethan followed in my wake. I held the swinging wooden door into the
kitchen open for them, and they stepped through.

“Declan,” McSorley said, before we
parted ways and worlds, “you sort out this mess, come back here alive, and I’ll
save you a seat at the bar.”

I found half a smile. Now
that
was some good fortune and a reason to stay alive.

“Once you’ve settled your tab, of
course,” he grunted and went back to polishing pint glasses.

We moved through McSorley’s kitchen,
down a flight of spiral stairs, and into a well-lit basement stocked with steel
kegs, an insulated wine cellar, and shelves upon shelves of liquor and spirits.
I was tempted to bring a bottle of something aged for the road, but with how
tired I was and the journey to come, even I thought that would be pushing my
luck into stupid territory.

Not to mention my tab at this fine
establishment had long since climbed north of absurd. At the current rate, I’d
have to break into the Dream Worlds and steal Smaug’s treasure just to keep the
old man happy.

“So how’s this work then?” Ethan
asked.

“Follow me, my young apprentice, and
I’ll show you.”

Behind a few barrels of mulled cider,
stacked from floor to ceiling, was an old arch of twisted obsidian stone, as
grey as summer storm clouds. Hidden from sight and altogether not that
impressive, the view through the arch was of nothing more exciting than the
back wall of McSorley’s basement.

“This... is the Atlas Lexicon?”
Annie asked.

“No, this is an authorized portal to
the Lexicon,” I explained. “One of these costs your weight in gold and gems,
I’m sure, but it’s well worth the trade he gets.”

“Could you make one?” Ethan asked, a
little excitedly. “Eh, I mean, I’m not planning to, it’s just you haven’t
taught me how to dive using books yet, and if this is safer...”

“Put that bullshit out of your head,
kid.” I tossed the old key from hand to hand and back again. “You mess up one
rune, and the whole thing could explode in your face.”

“Voice of experience,” Sophie
quipped.

“Hush up, sweet thing. Let’s
activate the arch, shall we?”

“Yes, please,” Annie said, eyes
alight and excited.

I held the key by the bow and slid
the blade into the empty air within the tall arch, moving my arm around as
though I were casting a spell.

“Eh... what are you doing?” Ethan
asked.

“Searching for the lock. Varies from
portal to portal.”

“Sure, okay.”

I ignored his skepticism and kept
running the key up and down through the air. Tearing a hole between worlds
wasn’t easy. Well, with the Atlas Lexicon it kind of
was,
but there was
a lot going on behind the curtain to make it so easy. Take modern
technology—for example, my fancy smart phone. I didn’t know how it worked, but
damned if I couldn’t play chess with anyone in the world with the push of a few
buttons.

The key jarred in the air and
slipped forward a few inches. I let go, and the blade disappeared, as if stuck
in an invisible lock, which was precisely what was happening. The key turned,
and a sheet of white light filled the space within the arch.

“Just warming up...” I said since
Annie had taken a large step back. I slipped the key out of the lock and into
my pocket, alongside my wallets and that photo of Annie and I together at the
tavern. “Has to find an open connection to the international terminal. We’re on
hold.”

Color bled into the white sheet,
hazy at first, like a camera out of focus, but then the image sharpened into something
clearer. A vast, marble-floored temple of mighty pillars and stained glass
claimed the arch. The inter-dimensional arrival hall of the Atlas Lexicon.
Throngs of people, wearing strange and outlandish clothing, milled about the
terminal, and the dull roar of footsteps and conversation drifted through the
gateway.

I stepped out of McSorley’s basement
and into another world. Two points of infinite distance brought together so I
could cross as easily as stepping from one room to the next.

The air was warmer in the terminal,
and I turned back to see both the reverse of the obsidian arch I’d just walked
through and my companions on the other side. Ethan and Annie stared at me,
mouths agape. For Sophie this was nothing new.

“Come on through,” I said, and one
at a time they did. Annie came last, hesitantly, with her eyes squeezed shut
tight, as if expecting the trip to hurt.

“That’s it?” she asked. “It felt
like... a soap bubble.”

“That’s it. You just made your first
journey across worlds. Exciting, eh?”

Rows of similar portals stretched
off into the distance to the left and right. Several levels of arches
disappeared to impossible heights overhead. People of all colors, shapes, and
sizes emerged or disappeared through the thousands of arches, off to worlds and
universes far from here. Our gate shimmered and faded away, only to flare to
life again a moment later and show a group of folk dressed in purple robes,
standing in some sort of monastery. They nodded to us politely.

“Okay, best we get out of the way. Follow
me down and stick together.”

Earlier, Sophie had described this
place as something akin to Grand Central Station in New York City, and that was
a fair comparison. The Atlas Lexicon was a station, a terminal with ten
thousand connecting trains all chugging throughout creation. High, stained
glass windows, thirty feet long, allowed beams of pure sunlight to bathe the
floor in intricate and colorful patterns, refracting through every color of the
rainbow. Green marble pillars, ten feet thick, held the ceiling in place. A
whole load of little shops, selling everything from ice cream to booze to
exotic, everyday treats from a plethora of worlds took up the majority of the
space.

I watched Annie as we walked past
the shops, through the crowds, and also kept an eye out for any Knights or
signs of trouble. Even the infamous could get lost in a crowd this size, which
was somewhat comforting, as without Will I’d have to rely on my sordid
reputation to see me though.

“Not what you were expecting?” I
asked my young detective.

“I didn’t expect it to be so...
commercialized,” she said, and brushed a strand of dark hair back behind her
ear with a careful smile.

“What were you expecting?” Sophie
asked.

“I honestly don’t know. This is
amazing. I mean that, this is simply incredible, and I feel so small. I just
didn’t think there’d be a Starbucks.”

Ethan craned his neck. “Where? I
don’t see one.”

Annie chucked. “I was being a touch
facetious, Mr. Reilly. There’s no Starbucks.”

“Oh.” He looked a touch crestfallen.

“Here,” I said, and dug the pouch of
Forgetful gems out of my pocket. “Official currency of Forget. Small blue ones
are pocket change. Go buy yourself an ice cream.”

Ethan perked up and took Sophie’s
hand. “Come along, sweetheart.”

Annie and I sat on a row of seating
familiar in airports and train stations the world over while we waited for the
kids. Plastic chairs with plastic cushions. I rubbed at my eyelids and could’ve
curled up right there and slept for a day. No one paid us the slightest lick of
attention, which suited me just fine. I daydreamed of soft feather pillows.

“This feels so normal,” Annie said.

“Heh. Wait until we get outside.
It’s a bit more majestic and otherworldly out there.”

“How so?”

“You’ll see. Crystal everywhere.
Forget has a bit of a thing for crystal and marble. Are you sure you’re doing
okay?”

Annie chuckled nervously. “I’m sure
when I stop and let this and all you’ve told me sink in, I’ll need a stiff
drink, but until then, I’m keeping it together.” She smiled, and I was dazzled.
“For Sam.”

“Well, when we’re done, you, me, and
that fiancé of yours will drink McSorley’s dry.”
If you’re still alive,
I thought but didn’t say. “For Sam.”

“You’re on, Mr. Hale.”

She watched the crowds, which, I
have to admit, were fascinating. Easy to forget how diverse the multiverse was,
and what better place to see diversity than an arrivals hall. People dressed in
robes and gowns mingled with folk in business suits and old, steel armor.
People wearing masks, with strange and colorful haircuts, laughed and strolled
along the large hall hand in hand. Small children, some with skin as blue as
the sky and eyes as purple as lavender, ran in circles around their parents,
giggling, squealing and having an altogether good time.

“I thought everyone would be staring,”
Annie said. “Especially at you with that sword. But here I’m the one staring.
Goodness, does that child have a tail?”

I gripped the hilt of the weapon and
smirked. “You shoulda seen my last sword. Pure light with white rose petals set
into the blade. If I’d had that sword when Emissary attacked, we wouldn’t be
here right now, and Sam Grey would still be alive.”

“Are there weapons laws here?” Annie
asked. “I guess this is a question I should’ve asked sooner, but will I get in
trouble for carrying my firearm to Ascension City?”

“No, you won’t get in trouble for
that.” I chuckled. “For traveling with me, on the other hand... Well, let’s
just see what we see when we get there.”

Sophie and Ethan returned, having
fought their way through the crowds, and stood above Annie and me, forming a
loose circle around our seats. Ethan had gotten himself some marvelous
concoction of sugar and cream resting in a wafer cone.

“Thought you’d want to see this,”
Sophie said, tossing me a newspaper.

“What’s this now?”

“Read the headline,” she said
grimly.

KING FARADAY MOVES CASCADE FLEET TO WAR FOOTING

“Shit,” I said and read an excerpt
from the front page article aloud. “It’s been five good years since the
Renegade Dynasty sued for peace following the Degradation of Atlantis by the
exiled Knight, Declan Hale, yet today Ascension City awoke to measures not
implemented since the darkest days of the Tome Wars... Blah, blah, blah...
abuse of power... blah, blah... The Knights have failed to disclose just why
these measures have been taken, leaving the United Worlds of Forget to question
just what the increased military presence in our streets... Huh, now that’s
encouraging.”