The Crossover (10 page)

Chelinn grimaced and rifled Hunter’s pockets. He found what he wanted—Hunter’s keys—and walked to the car. Laying a hand on it, he dispelled the illusion that made the tires look flat. “Lodrán, Freddy,” he called, “help me put him in the trunk.”

“How long do you think it’ll be before the authorities inspect this car?” asked Lodrán.

“Could be a few days, maybe a week or more,” said Freddy, taking one of Hunter’s arms. “See that ‘For Lease’ sign up there? That means nobody’s using this office space. He could sit here until the landscapers notice the smell and call the cops.”
 

“By then, we’ll be gone,” said Chelinn, as they hefted Hunter into the trunk. “And—” he looked at fat drops of rain beginning to splatter on the pavement— “the rain should wash away any blood. Perhaps it will take care of noted Robinson’s car as well.” He dropped the keys on top of Hunter then closed the trunk. “The fate of his friends will have to be decided without our help, I think.”

“We ID’ed Sam as one of them. That should be enough. They might not get picked up right away, but they’ll be on the run.” Freddy sighed and shook his head. “I know those guys. They talked big, but I just can’t believe they’d do something like that.”

“Perhaps they were coerced,” Chelinn suggested. “Hunter may well have used magical means, nudging them down a path they feared to tread.”

“Hey,” said Chuck, spitting into the pine straw one last time, “you think you’ll get a rainbow out of this?” His voice shook, but he seemed otherwise under control.

“Very possible. Is your car fit to drive?”

Chuck knelt in front of the car, peering through the dented grill. “Yeah. I don’t think he punctured the radiator.”

“We’re vendors!” Chuck yelled, waving his pass at the cops behind the barricade. “Are they gonna open the auditorium back up any time soon?” He had left the car behind, where the cops would not see the damage, carrying an umbrella.

“Maybe by tomorrow afternoon, is what I’ve heard,” said one cop, rain drizzling off his bright yellow jacket. “Sorry. They’re takin’ a bomb out now, but they gotta process the crime scene and that’ll take a while. I heard there was an arson, too.” The cop shook his head. “Man. Someone really had it in for you guys. Anyway, you can call the hotline number tomorrow, they’ll know more by then.”

Chuck returned to his car, and they drove away. Chelinn could see little, as the windshield on his side was cracked and crazed where Hunter had hit it. His knees were jammed against the dashboard, making room behind him for Freddy.
At least Chuck can see out
, he thought. “Where to? Not far, I hope.”

“Back to the store, I guess,” said Chuck. “That’s the only place I can think of.” He said nothing for a while, until the rain began to let up. “Hey, I just had an idea,” he said. “I could get online, and invite the attendees to a party at the shop. Charge admission, call in catering for food… if I come anywhere close to breaking even on that, I’d do pretty good with merchandise sales. And it would give people something to do. Lodrán, call your girlfriend and invite her too. Each employee gets to bring a guest.”

Lodrán nodded, phone to his ear, from his cramped backseat domain. “I’m talking to her now,” he said.

“Hey, check out the rainbow,” said Freddy, looking out his side window.

“Rainbow?” Chelinn looked where Freddy pointed. “Chuck! That way!” Behind Chuck, Lodrán looked up for a moment, nodded, and spoke some more.

“Aren’t rainbows just an optical illusion?” asked Chuck, turning and speeding up.

“Yes, but they are also symbols, and symbols have power,” said Chelinn. He concentrated for a moment. “We’re close enough now. I’ve anchored it. I hope it’s where we won’t attract attention. Speaking of which, how will you explain the damage to your car?”

“Easy. I’ll say I hydroplaned. Happens all the time.”

A few more minutes of driving took them to a city park. Chelinn threw his door open, stumbled out. “Lodrán!” he yelled, opening the trunk and pushing merchandise aside to retrieve his nails. “Quickly!”

“Um… Lodrán pocketed his phone, and looked past Chelinn, to where the rainbow touched down behind some trees. “You go on. I’m staying here.”

“What?”

“I was talking with Annie, and she said I could stay with her for a while.” He grinned. “Freddy says I can get papers that will make me a citizen, too.”

Chelinn shouldered his hundredweight of iron nails with a grunt. “You wouldn’t stay for the sake of a woman. I know you better.”

“Maybe. But this world… it calls to me. It needs people like me. Like us. People who can undo the damage Hunter and his kind have done.”

“And Lightning Silver will turn up sometime,” Chelinn mused. “Such a weapon will not be content until it is in the hands of someone who will use it. Someone who knows what it is should watch for it.” He turned, but looked over his shoulder. “Once I return to Termag, I won’t need a rainbow to find my way back. I’ll be back to visit, and teach Chuck more magic.” He grinned. “Perhaps I will send my sister here some time.”

Lodrán’s eyes grew wide. “I don’t think this world is ready for her.”

“Nor she for it. It would be amusing.” He jogged away, into the trees. He turned and waved a final time, then was gone.

THE END

Common Terms and Phrases

All Points of the Compass
—commonly used to refer to a multi-ethnic group. Some folk use it to describe a person whose ancestry is indeterminate.

The All-Seeing Eye of Bula-Bula
—a humorous reference to the Eyes of Byula, six scrying-stones said to be the eyes of an ancient idol (perhaps predating Camac That Was). Protectors in the farther reaches of Camac’s domain used them to communicate with the capital. The Eyes were lost in The Madness; if any have been recovered, their owners say not. The name became corrupted over time and is now a humorous way of saying someone is watching carefully.

Bowgnoash
—from the goblin-tongue. Its original meaning was “unfit to eat,” but was also used to describe one they wished to disown. Given what is known about dietary and social habits of goblins, anything or anyone considered
bowgnoash
would be extremely repulsive. Over time, it became a rude insult, with “rotten meat” the polite substitute.

Commander
—an officer in command of a battalion, 800–1000 soldiers.

Folk
—(Sorcerers) People not of a magical bent. (Folk) People seen and dealt with regularly.

The Godforsaken
—a vast desert, taking up most of the eastern interior of the continent. It is ringed by mountains, and much of it is below sea level.

In the time of Camac that Was
—the traditional beginning of a child’s story or tale.

Lucky man’s supper
—fish, leeks, potatoes. May refer to a “lucky man” bringing home both fish and leeks from the river, thus saving money that would have been spent at the market for food.

Making the wind
—idle chatter, equivalent to Earth’s “shooting the breeze.”

Peace and harmony
—a formal greeting. Through the early Age of Heroes, rivals or enemies used this greeting to offer a temporary truce. Later, it took on more common usage. The expected response is,
And all peace unto you
.

Spread
—the length between outstretched arms, typically 6 feet or 1.8 meters (or three to four cubits).

Striker
—the leader of a “strike,” 10–15 soldiers. Not always a formal rank.

The tide comes in, the tide goes out
—acknowledging that events are beyond one’s control. Similar to Earth’s “roll with the changes.”

Wine fortifies the spine
—a humorous description of drunken bravery.

Wolds
—a nomadic people, living on the plains east of the Gulf of Camac.

Excerpt: Accidental Sorcerers

Eight hundred years after the events depicted in
The Crossover…

Invaders just across the river. A powerful spell hidden in a child’s rhyme. When an untrained boy awakens an ice dragon to protect his village, and lives to tell the tale, not even the Conclave of Sorcerers can predict what happens next.

Accidental Sorcerers
 brings to life an unforgettable tale of love and loyalty in the world of Termag. Feel the magic!

Read on for a brief excerpt…

• • •

The wind carried loose snow and the thud of cannon fire. Two ghost-like figures followed the creek bank, stopping, moving on, stopping again.

“Where’d it go?”

“It’s around here somewhere. I saw it yesterday. It couldn’t have thawed already.”

“Why are we doing this?” The first speaker pulled back a white sheet, revealing a girl’s face. She looked over her shoulder.

“Keep covered!” her companion rasped. “My uncle said the soldiers are close. Some of them might even be around here.”

“Stay cool, Mik. We’d see them first.”

“I’m more than cool enough.”

“So why are we out here?”

“Duh, Robi. The grownups won’t try this. You have to be pure to make an ice dragon and not have it turn on you. Why do you think they let us come out here, instead of making us help pack up to evacuate?”

A string of cannon fire rumbled across the distance, and Robi flipped the sheet back over her hood. “
Pure
is a pretty big word,” she said. “Is anyone pure? I bet the priest would say no.”

Mik stopped again, searching the bank. “I think it means virgin in this case. So we’re safe. At least I am.” He turned to Robi, grinning a question, then blushed and looked away. “Don’t answer that. I’m doing this anyway.”

“Mik, that’s…” Robi was both annoyed and relieved. She hadn’t done
that
, of course. But did Piet’s clumsy groping count? Just that once? It didn’t matter. She and Mik had been friends all of their thirteen years, and if he admitted to virginity, she believed him. He’d just started noticing girls anyway.

“There! I think.” Mik’s excited cry startled her out of her thoughts. She followed his finger to the stream’s edge and saw it etched in the ice: skull, part of a spine and tail, a leg, some of it covered by snow. More snow swirled around them, hiding the skeleton for a moment.

“Careful, Mik. Don’t step on it,” as Mik eased down the bank.

“Give me your hand in case I slip.” Hands in heavy gloves clasped, then Mik reached a flat spot and helped Robi down.

“You brought the spider, right?”

Mik gave her a horrified stare for a moment, then laughed. “Of course!” He took a stoppered bottle out of his coat pocket, the bottle he’d shown her yesterday. The frost spider webbed his window for a week of nights, until Mik managed to catch it in the first light of dawn—the only time it could be seen. A piece of paper blundered out at his feet, and Robi stooped to catch it before the wind did.

“Thanks. That’s the needle.” Mik hoped his mother wouldn’t miss it; she’d kill him ice dragon or no.

“We’re here. Now what?”

“What, you don’t remember the rhyme?” He recited:

When winter winds moan,

The ice dragon’s bones

Can be found alongside the river.

The blood of the pure

Shed without fear:

The ice dragon comes to deliver.

The frost spider spins

A white snowy skin

And blood brings the dragon awake.

But impure blood burns,

The dragon shall turn,

The bones of the wicked to break.

Robi joined him as he spoke. “Just from other kids. I guess my parents thought it was too scary.”

Mik nodded, then knelt next to the skeleton. He held his bottle over it, then opened the stopper and shook the bottle. They couldn’t see the spider, but it began to knit: slowly at first, then gaining speed.

“It’s not going to be a very big dragon,” said Robi. “It’s what, four feet nose to tail tip?”

“Better than nothing.” He slipped off his gloves and jabbed with the needle. “Missed.” He tried again, then again. “I keep missing!”

“You keep closing your eyes! Here, let me.” She rubbed a little snow on his fingertip and squeezed his finger, turning it red before poking it with the needle.

“Huh. I barely felt that.” He watched his blood drip onto the dragon. “Seven drops should be enough. It’s lucky, anyway.” He thrust his finger into the snow to make the bleeding stop, then donned his gloves. “Look!”

With a crackling noise, the ice dragon pulled itself free of the river ice and clambered onto the bank, facing the children. Its gaze fixed on Mik as he pushed Robi behind him.

Why have you awakened me?
The ice dragon’s voice was chattering teeth, cutting wind, crunching of crusty snow. Robi thought it looked a lot bigger than it really was… or was it growing?

“An enemy has invaded our lands,” said Mik. “Will you make them leave?”

The dragon looked down at them now—it was growing, alright.
Make them leave? Why not kill them all?

Mik thought a moment. “No. We just want to be left in peace. You don’t have to kill them if they go away.”

Yet some will die.

“Well…” Mik tried to find the right words. “Our own soldiers would have killed more of them. It’s not right to want them dead, but soldiers die in wars.”

The huge head cocked over. Its eye was a ball of ice, fixing them in its glare.
I judge you pure of heart. It shall be as you desire.
The dragon leaped over them, making them duck, then glided away, gathering more snow to itself. It seemed to grow as huge as winter itself as it departed, playing tricks with perspective.

“You did it,” Robi whispered. “You’re a hero.”

“I hope it’s enough. Huh. I guess
pure
didn’t mean virgin after all.”