Mirrorworld (58 page)

No doubt, there was a lot of work to be done, which was the reason why Eira was avoiding looking at her desk. In the wake of Keithus’s attack, the fragile balance of power in Portruss had been disrupted. Most of the high priests were dead, since they’d been in the Bedlam Palace when Keithus had attacked it, and most of the senior politicians had hidden when things had turned bad, and when this had come out the faith that the public had placed in them had waned somewhat. Then there were the wizards and the Viaggiatori, both of whom were shy to make any major moves, since they’d both been in some part responsible for what had happened. Somehow, though, a lot of the important work of the city had ended up on Eira’s desk, and as a result she was getting less sleep than ever. Personally, she suspected Eustace, since that was always a pretty safe bet.

All in all, things had turned out quite well. On that fateful day, she’d stepped out of the Mirrorline at Marcus’s request, and returned to a scene of destruction that had simply.. stopped, only a few minutes later. One minute, unnatural phenomena had been laying waste to two worlds, and the next, nothing at all was happening. The damage was done, of course, but life went on. It had been a simple matter to gather up the last of Keithus’s defeated orcs and shove them back over the now-calm Mirrorline to Earth, but, try as she might, and she had tried, even in her dreams, Eira hadn’t been able to reopen a portal to where she’d been with Marcus when they’d taken on Dream. That had been a fight that Marcus hadn’t come back from. They’d succeeded in defeating their enemy; that much was clear. But what had happened to Marcus, afterwards? He was still out there, somewhere, rewarded for his hard work with the awful gift of being stuck in the Mirrorline for the rest of eternity.

He’d go down in history, of course. Marcus Chiallion, saviour of two worlds. Until the day came when the Earth could be introduced to the concept of their twin world as a whole, only one of the worlds that he had saved would ever know, but Eira had made sure that it was known, and that he got the appreciation he deserved. The Storie
had vanished from its heavily-guarded pedestal in the Viaggiatori archives; even now, someone was writing this tale into it, ensuring that future generations would always know Marcus’s story. Eira just wished that he’d been here to see it. She felt particularly guilty for having left him when he’d asked her to, because if she hadn’t, then maybe she could have bought him back. But, well, somewhere along the line Marcus had grown into the role of a hero, and he’d made it his business to ensure that she was safe before going on to save the day. What a guy.

Eira had expected Kendra to take it pretty badly when she’d found out what had happened, especially given how broken up she’d gotten about Lit Kai, for whom she had cared at least as much as she had for Marcus. When Eira had told her what had happened to Marcus, though, she’d simply nodded as if to say, ‘that’s fine’, and returned to her daily life, feeding the ducks in the gardens. Confused, Eira had quizzed her about it, and she’d simply said that “he’ll find a way back. I believe in him”. There wasn’t much by way of an argument to make about that, and the thought did ease Eira’s guilt somewhat, so she’d let it be, and returned to the ten thousand million things that needed doing.

Foremost in those jobs was the reformation of the Viaggiatori. Recent events had served to spell out to the organisation at large what Eira had thought for a very long time; that they’d been doing it wrong. As it turned out, half of the council had been killed in Keithus’s attack, and so Eira had made it her business to ensure that bright-minded officials were elected to the vacant positions. Fervesce was now an official member of the council and her personal consort between herself and them, and they’d actually had several meetings over the last two weeks that
hadn’t
ended in shouting matches. New safety protocols were needed, she’d argued. We need to innovate. We need to share our technology. Most importantly, we need a better understanding of exactly
what
we’re doing. More funding to the research department was needed. Bring it out of the basement! Give them prominence! Incredibly, the council had agreed to almost everything she’d said, and Tec was already working on his new toy, a mechanised version of Lilac’s ability to identify people who had walked the Mirrorline. If recent events had taught Eira anything, it was that there was no way that she could ever account for everyone who had ever been tossed around by the Viaggiatori’s work, or by the Mirrorline’s own inherent jerkishness when it came to randomly opening portals and dumping people in the wrong worlds. Keithus had been one such soul, and that had come back to bite them. Well, maybe, with this technology, she could find and help these people, before it was too late. And that too would be easier, thanks to the new fast-travel technology that Lit Kai had pioneered, and managed to bring back to them in the end after all. That in itself would change the whole shape of the Mirrorworld.. well, once they got it working consistently, at least. It was truly a foolishly exciting time to be alive.

A knock at the door distracted Eira away from her thoughts, announcing the imminent entrance of Eustace into her personal space. She’d tried to offload the old scholar to the council as well, but he kept coming back like a particularly annoying boomerang, and in the end she’d just decided to let him be. “What’s up?” she asked him, pouring herself a coffee.

“I thought you might want to know this as soon as possible,” the old man said, beaming. “Lucin has turned up!”

“Really? Where?”

“Apparently Keithus swapped him with a seagull that was in mid-flight over the southern seas. According to this message he’s sent, he floated there for a while, before being picked up by pirates, then went on all sorts of adventures, eventually making it back to the Viaggiatori outpost in Cape Town, at which point he was finally able to get in contact with us.”

“Wow,” Eira said, impressed. “He’s doing alright, then?”

“Indeed he is. The overall message to his message was quite accurately summarised in his postscript. If you will, I’ll read it aloud now. Ahem. ‘When the hell am I getting paid?’”

Eira chuckled. In a world of change, there would always be some things that stayed the same.

It was quiet in the troll graveyard. Nestled in-between two mountains some distance from the caves that they generally called home, the graveyard was a spiritual place that the stone creatures rarely visited, and always kept hidden from other races. Trolls weren’t really big on grave keeping, which was understandable for a race made of rocks, but Kimberlite had felt like she owed it to Dia to return to his grave one last time. Today, she’d even broken taboo by bringing a human with her. Musk stood by her side as she knelt by her husband’s grave, which was covered in blossoms. Spring had come at last as they’d journeyed back to the north, bouncing the world back to a life with a suddenness that spoke volumes of how impatiently it had waited for a chance to bloom again.

“I was talking to some of your honour guard earlier,” Musk said, squeezing her stone shoulder as she tended to the colours that grew over the last resting place of the diamond line. “They hold him in high regard. They say he was an excellent king.”

“Oh, he was,” Kimberlite said sadly. “Wise and strong and understanding. He dreamt of uniting the Northlands, you know. That was his goal; that all creatures could eventually live together in peace. Even the Jabberwocks! He was an idealistic one, but that idea stayed with me long after he had left.”

“Well, now you can do it,” Musk said brightly. “They all follow you, now. Well, okay, the whole Jabberwocks thing hasn’t worked out that well yet, but still, it’s a pretty good result, right?”

“It is.” Kimberlite said, standing. “I’m thankful to have met you, Musk. You reminded me of him.. broke me out of my terrible thirst for vengeance. Who knows what might have happened to me were it not for you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have knocked you out, so you’d probably have gone with Keithus, and helped him destroy human civilisation, and then the worlds would have ended.”

Kimberlite chuckled. “Okay, fair enough.” She paused, looking out at nothing for a moment, and an idea came to her. “You know what.. we have hidden our dead away for too long. This will be the place. At the foot of these mountains, we will build a city for all creatures.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” Musk asked.

“It is. But more importantly, it’s what Dia would want.”

Musk smiled, and took her arm in his. “Alright then. You know, it’s nice to have some alone time, for once. You’ve been so busy lately, it’s like we’ve not had any time for ourselves.”

“Alone time?” Kimberlite asked, stone eyebrows rising to the heavens. “With these guys?”

She pointed a thumb over her shoulder, to the foot of the mountain, where over a hundred thousand creatures of the Northlands impatiently waited for their leader to return.

..Passed in the wake of the unexplained phenomena that rocked the planet and then departed so suddenly two weeks ago. Religious figures who decreed that the apocalypse had come have seemingly reversed their stance, proclaiming these events to instead have been a test of God. Whatever their cause or purpose, it cannot be denied that these events have led the people of Earth to come together in an unprecedented manner. Outpourings of support and good faith for the countries hit hardest by the acts have ushered in a period in history where for the first time in some time, nowhere is currently at war. Whilst detractors maintain that this is too good to last, it seems that the prevailing attitude is one of hope for the future, that we might build a better world. Now, back to you in the studio..

“So, what happens now?” Marcus asked, after Keithus and Dream had faded away. He sat on the edge of the battered stage as it floated through the endless Mirrorline, legs dangling freely over infinity. Death came and joined him.

WELL, YOU LET YOUR ESCAPE ROUTE LEAVE AHEAD OF YOU. VERY HONORABLE, BUT IT MEANS YOU’RE STUCK HERE. UNLESS YOU CAN THINK OF ANOTHER WAY OUT.

“This Mirrorline.. if the Viaggiatori can manipulate it, I’m sure I can too. It might take a while, but hey, I guess I have all the time in the world now, right?”

INDEED,
Death said, humoured.
ON THAT SUBJECT..
He reached inside his robes, and his hand came out holding a small golden hourglass. He extended it out towards Marcus, who peered at it. There was a small plaque on the bottom bulb – the bulb where all of the sand was – that bore his name. “Mine?” he asked.

YES. EVERYONE HAS ONE, AND THIS IS YOURS. BUT THERE HASN’T BEEN ANY SAND IN THE TOP BULB FOR SOME TIME, NOW. MOST ANNOYING.

“I hope you’re not thinking of going back on our deal,” Marcus said sharply.

OF COURSE NOT. I AM A PERSONIFICATION OF MY WORD. THIS IS TO PROVE IT.
Death turned the life timer upside down, and sand began to flow through once more.
THE LIFE THAT YOU SO CRAVED. I AM DEATH, MASTER OVER LIFE. I TAKE IT, BUT I CAN ALSO GIVE IT AWAY. HERE.

Marcus took his life timer from Death, and turned it over and over in his hands. No matter which way he held it, the sand continued to pour softly through into the bottom bulb. “You’re giving this to me?”

AS PROOF OF OUR DEAL,
Death said.
I THINK YOU WILL TAKE BETTER CARE OF IT THAN I. IT IS LIFE, AND KNOWLEDGE. KEEP THIS, MARCUS. I CANNOT GUARANTEE HOW LONG YOU HAVE, BUT WITH THAT IN YOUR POSSESSION, YOU WILL ALWAYS KNOW.

“You think I can handle that sort of knowledge?” Marcus asked.

NOT MY BUSINESS,
Death said.
NOW, IF YOU DON’T MIND, I WILL TAKE MY LEAVE. NOW THAT THIS IS OVER, LIFE AND DEATH WILL BE RESUMING THEIR NATURAL PATTERNS SOON. BUSY BUSY.
The air began to twirl around him as he prepared to depart.

“Hey, wait!” Marcus said, and Death paused. “Did you ever think about, well, mixing it up a little? You know, you don’t
have
to do the booming-voice walking skeleton thing, do you? Surely you could look like whatever you want to look like? You should try it. It might make things more fun.”

I HAVE PLENTY OF FUN, MARCUS,
Death said sheepishly.
BUT YES.. MAYBE I’LL TRY THAT. FOR NOW.. BE SEEING YOU.

“Oh, I’m sure you will be,” Marcus said good-naturedly as Death vanished, leaving him alone. “Right,” he added to himself, tucking his life timer away into the pockets of his battered jacket. “Let’s see if I can’t figure out this Linewalking business.”

Kendra sat at her bench, in her garden. With one hand she idly tossed bread to the ducks, and with the other she doodled in her book. The ducks had seemed happy to see her, insofar as ducks were capable of expressing emotion, and she’d been happy to see them. It was relaxing to return to this place, after everything that had happened, and take it easy for a while. Ducks didn’t judge, nor did they attempt to destroy worlds. All they needed was a bit of bread and their life was complete.

She heaved the heavy book back into a good position to write in. The Storie
was ridiculously big, especially considered that she herself was rather tiny, but it was her job to get it all written down. Since inheriting the title of Storiteller from the previous occupant of the post, she’d been itching to have a serious adventure that she could add to the legend, and boom, here it was! Afterwards, there would just be the issue of getting it back onto its stand without anyone noticing, but there were ways and means, and Kendra enjoyed a challenge.

She scribbled away as the afternoon wore on. The ducks wandered off to do whatever it is ducks do when they’re not hanging out angling for free food, and the sun beat down on her, reflected perfectly in the calm, still waters of the pond. After a while, the pond’s surface began to shimmer.

What a beautiful day.

The End