Chapter Two: Thunder and That Which Follows

     Jonathan was not nearly as astounded as he should have been, but the word still made him stop. Unmistakably, it had just come from the wolf’s mouth. It hadn’t actually growled, but spoken.

“Hello, Jonathan.” There was a pause.

He looked at the wolf. The wolf looked at him. Its head was tilted expectantly to one side.

After a few seconds, it prompted “this is the part where you say ‘hello’ back.”

There was a sexless, ageless, inhuman quality to its voice that Jonathan couldn’t place.

“Wolves don’t talk,” he said stupidly.

“Of course they don’t. They don’t have the right vocal cords or mouth shape. But you shouldn’t take my word for-oh no you don’t!”

The wolf bounded after him as he darted toward the street. Its paws hit him hard in the middle of the back. He toppled. It stood on top of him, its weight crushing the air from his lungs.

“Now we can have an intelligent conversation without you running off.” The wolf’s voice was close to his ear. It was quiet, calm, and pleasant, but this scared him more than anything else could have. Panic was twisting uncomfortably in the pit of his stomach. His heart pounded. There was icy breathe on his face.

“Now, let’s skip the tiresome business of ‘oh goodness a talking wolf? How can this be? I must be dreaming! I must be hallucinating. La dee da dee da.’ This is real. A talking wolf is standing on your back. And it’s going to eat you once it finishes this increasingly one sided conversation.”

“Wait, why?” he managed. The wolf’s bulk was making it difficult to draw breath. “Why do you want to eat me?”

It seemed amused. “I’m hungry, of course. And you are an interesting edible food creature. An interesting mind. I will be very happy to gobble it right up after I’m done with the rest of you.”

Suddenly, the weight vanished. Jonathan sprang up, fists clenched, prepared to strike and flee. The wolf was crouched a little way away. Its tail was waging playfully.

“Run!” It said happily.

He dropped his backpack and ran.

Soon, he was gasping for breath: short, ragged inhales, and heavy, panting exhales. A howl sounded close behind. It was hopeless. Impossible. Jonathan knew it. Nevertheless, he sprinted on.

He wondered if he could somehow get far enough ahead to ambush the beast. He considered this. He could hide in the trees, and when it came around the corner, he could hit it with a branch; injure it enough to get away. Would it work? Could it work?

Jonathan was still not entirely convinced that he was not drugged, dreaming, or hallucinating.

He cast a glance behind him. There was no sign of the wolf. He sprinted on for another few minutes before checking again. Still nothing. Tentatively, he slowed to a jog, then a walk. He was completely alone. There was a momentary flicker, almost as though the world had blinked.

Turning slowly in a circle, Jonathan stared up at the surrounding trees. There was something odd about them that he could not quite place…

A sudden panic rose within him. He was lost. He was lost in the Woods with a talking, potentially imaginary wolf that wanted to eat him. Desperately, he stared around for some sort of landmark. There was none.  Even the familiar path, with its itchy, shredded red bark was gone.

He started walking in what he guessed was the direction of his house. After what seemed like an hour, he stopped. He could not have run this far. Pausing, Jonathan reflected that he could have accidentally turned himself around during his mad dash through the Woods. Cautiously, he took a few steps in the other direction.

After an impossibly long time, he gave up. He had no idea if his search for a landmark had brought him closer to or farther away from his home. He was hot. He took off his jacket, put it on a tree stump, and sat down. Not knowing what else to do, he waited.

More time trudged by. He found a heavy branch and propped it up against the stump. Still no sign of the wolf. He was beginning to wonder if he should build some sort of shelter, but it seemed like too much effort. He felt slightly stupid for even thinking of it, as though he were some rugged hero in a survival story. It was still mostly light. He sat there in the silence, one hand resting on his make-shift club, and other clenched on nothing. He got up and paced. He sat back down.

“Growl, growl, woof, woof. Have you missed me?”

Heart racing, he sprang up, turned, and swung the branch hard. Jonathan gasped as he overbalanced, stumbled against the trunk, and fell. The wolf sprang on him, taking the back of his shirt in its jaws. Cold breath on his neck.

“Ahm oing oo ea oo ow,” the wolf mumbled around its mouthful of cloth.

The words were unintelligible, but Jonathan thought he understood the jist of the phrase. He struggled harder, even as icy drool dripped down his back.

“Stop!”

The jaws opened. Jonathan fell, grazing his palms. The animal was still close; its bristling tail almost brushing his face. Very slowly and quietly, he got to his feet. The wolf didn’t seem to notice. It was staring at two people standing in the path across from them.

Jonathan glanced at them, looked away, and then did a double take. He had never seen people so…odd. At first, they seemed to be slim, angelic boys. Then, Jonathan thought they were androgynous, prepubescent girls. He could not tell for sure either way.

One had a shock of jet black hair; the other a mop the color of a dandelion clock. The first had truly white eyes without irises or pupil. The second’s were uniformly dark. Both had skin of a medium grey that fell precisely halfway between black and white. Each wore a knee-length grey tunic belted at the waist over grey leggings.

Their clothing seemed too scant for winter. Admittedly, there was a warm lightness to the air that puzzled him, but he did not pay it much attention. Very stealthily, he began creeping backwards, away from the wolf.

“What do you want, master of duality?” it sneered. “I was just playing with my food, so if you don’t mind…?”

“We do.” The dark haired one stepped forward. “He does not belong to you, Wolf. He belongs to us, as all things do.”

He hardly heard their words, so total was his focus on the placement of his feet.

“You have no right to make that claim! He’s mine! I found him, I caught him, and I’m bloody hungry, so back off!”

The wolf glanced back at him. He froze with one foot half raised.

“For what it’s worth, I agree with those guys. You should definitely not eat me.” He said, surprising himself slightly with the words.

“No one asked you, edible human.”

It turned back toward the odd people. Jonathan slunk back another few inches.

“Listen to us, wolf.” the white haired one said. “You have entered our domain. The human is subject to our will. And our will is that you will release him immediately into our care. There will be no argument.”

The wolf tensed as if in preparation to spring. Jonathan almost cried out a warning. However, after a few taught seconds, it flattened its ear to its skull, tucked its tail between its legs and trotted off the path.  He only released his pent up breathe after its bushy tail vanished behind a tree trunk.

“Are you injured, Jonathan?”

“How-?”

“Rest for a moment only, then we must carry on.”

“What-?”

“All will be explained in time.”

“But who are you? What are you? What the hell is going on? What was the wolf? Am I hallucinating? This is all completely effing insane!”

The words came rushing out in a jumbled, tangles stream of questions and accusations. Jonathan was angry, Jonathan was scared, and above all, Jonathan was utterly confused.

“Silence.”

Disobeying the quiet command was physically impossible. Try as he might, he could not voice the objection on his lips. Tree branches trembled in the wind. It struck him suddenly that this forest was composed of tall, silver-barked, deciduous trees; leafless, but untouched by snow.  The landscape was arid.

“Come.”

Again, he obeyed, his feet propelling him relentlessly forward even as his mind rebelled. The two strangers led him through the thin underbrush. They walked in silence as the forest darkened. Jonathan realized that he had forgotten his winter jacket on the stump after being saved from the wolf’s jaws. He did not mention it.

He followed the little grey figures through the trees, his uneasiness growing. After a long time, or perhaps very little time at all, he saw a red glow faintly illuminating the trees ahead. They were walking toward it, Jonathan and the two strangers. The light brightened. Jonathan slipped between a pair of slim trees and emerged in a clearing.

The clearing was illuminated by a dull red light, and was much warmer than the rest of the forest. A figure sat at the center of it, warming its hands over a small, luminous cube. Its head jerked up as Jonathan and his companions approached. The man, or rather boy, leapt to his feet, drawing two long knives from his belt. Jonathan yelled, and jumping back about a foot. He stumbled and nearly fell.

“Oh,” the boy said shortly, “it’s you. Again.”

His voice was very sharp, higher than Jonathan expected, and strangely accented. Something Eastern European, Jonathan supposed. He was glaring with intense loathing, at the strangers, completely ignoring Jonathan.

Sheathing the knives, he strode toward them with a loose, feline gait. He was taller than Jonathan, and probably a few year older too; maybe seventeen or eighteen.  Jonathan flinched a little as he approached, not sure what to expect. The strangers had hardly twitched throughout the encounter.

The boy flicked a few strands of coarse auburn hair out of his face. His hair was long, slightly dirty, and drawn back into a ponytail. His bangs were uneven, falling into his eyes in some places, cut close to his scalp in others. It looked as though the boy had cut them himself, without a mirror, using a blunt sword.

He wore trousers, battered knee-high boots, and the same sort of sleeveless, mid-thigh length tunic as the strangers. His arms were sinewy, his skin a deep bronze hue. As he drew closer, Jonathan noticed many abrasions on his arms: faint, whitish scars, older, scabby wounds, and one ugly cut that looks almost fresh.

Ignoring Jonathan, the boy glared at the strangers with obvious hostility. They remained expressionless. Jonathan cleared his throat awkwardly. Tension was palpable in the chilly, evening air.

“Well?” the boy said abruptly. “What are you doing here? I don’t really care how you found me, but I’d like to know what you want so that you can leave.”

“Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t really-”

Jonathan trailed off as the boy drew a dagger and started cleaning his fingernails with the tip. He looked pointedly at the strangers

“Your implied threats mean little to us.” The dark haired one’s voice was even colder than usual. “Put the toy away.”

Defiantly, he tossed the knife in the air and caught it by its blade without looking at it.

“You are going to do a service for us, Ari,” the other commanded, “You will take this boy, here. He is a traveler lost, and in need of protection. You cannot object. We are owed a debt, and you must pay.”

“Does he want to join?”

“It does not matter.”

Although the boy, Ari still looked mutinous, he nodded curtly. He sheathed the dagger with ill grace.

“Hold on a minute. You guys are just leaving me here with this random person who just threatened us with a knife? Excuse me for not having complete confidence in this plan.” Jonathan’s voice cracked slightly as he said this.

“Ari will take good care of you, won’t you Ari?’

Ari shrugged. Jonathan was not convinced. Before he could object, the strangers strode away into the forest, leaving him alone with Ari.

Avoiding Jonathan’s gaze, he sat cross-legged in front of the illuminated cube. At this proximity, Jonathan could tell that it was giving off the light and heat in the clearing. Nervously, he sat a little ways away. As he drew close, he became aware of a sort of humming vibration. It was faint but perpetual and a little annoying. He shook his head. The buzzing did not stop.

“So…what is that cube thing?” he ventured.

“Fire Box.”

“Oh. I see.” he lied. “So, um…Ari. I’m Jonathan. Hi. I mean, hello. Listen, could you please-“

“No, I could not please. This is how this is going to work, Jonthen. Tomorrow morning, we are going our different ways. I will give you some supplies, enough for a few days. There is a town not far to the east. I do not have time to take care of you.”

“What town? The Woods are in the middle of my neighborhood, except all of a sudden, there’s this wolf chasing me around, and talking, and the snow’s gone, and I am hallucinating or dreaming, so why do I even care what you do? You know what, fine. Go ahead and leave me here. And it’s Jonathan. Not ‘Jonthen’.”

“Oh. That kind of traveler.” Ari started chewing the ragged end of a fingernail thoughtfully. “I suppose you’ve jumped.”

“What?”

Jonathan felt as though his brain was running at half its normal speed. He recognized the words, but when Ari strung them together, they were confusing and meaningless.

“Alright, you know what an Edge is, right?”

“Um…”

“How about fey?”

Jonathan shook his head.

Ari sighed, and pulled off a strip of fingernail with his teeth.

“This might be difficult to explain, then. Where should I start…let’s see… you live somewhere. You presumably live on a planet, in a solar system, in a galaxy, in a universe, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But there are a bunch of other universes. Got it?”

“So far.”

“These other universes aren’t exactly outside yours. They’re all sort of stacked, and overlapping. I guess, it’s more like the same universe repeated over and over, but changed a little each time. So one universe might be exactly the same as yours, except…I don’t know…people have eyes in the middle of their foreheads. It could even be something smaller. The most obvious example is of someone flipping a coin. It comes down face up in your world, but face down in another.

“So there are all these universes, an infinite number of universes, just existing. And they usually don’t bother with one another. And that’s where Edges come in. In some places, the separation between universes gets thin, and things can slip between them.

“This usually happens when something alive gets close to an Edge and is drawn through. Most of the time, they die crossing, or end up somewhere inhospitable. They could jump to somewhere with too much gravity, or not enough air, or something.

“So you were probably wandering around, being an idiot, really close to an Edge. And some sort of fey or Edge feeder, senses you, and comes along for a snack. You were lucky, because it looks like This One and That One found you and helped you jump to somewhere safe.”

Jonathan opened his mouth, but found he did not have anything to say.

“There are some things that can move easily between worlds; fey like This One and That One. They’re that dual creature that picked you up. Then there are things that live close to the Edges, and waited for prey there.”

“Like the…the wolf?” Jonathan said numbly.

“Wolf? What wolf?”

“It chased me. It talked.”

“The wolf.” Ari repeated as if there was some profound meaning to the statement.

After a few moments, he ran his fingers through his long, rust colored hair.

“This complicates things. But who knows? You might be useful. If you want, you can come with me to True Home. It will most likely take a few days to get there, and I have an old friend I need to meet along the way.”

“Is there a way I could go…back instead?”

Ari looked directly at him for the first time. His eyes were a funny, silvery shade of grey. They were sharp, but a little pitying.

“No.”

“I guess I don’t have much choice then, do I?”

“You could strike out on your own, I suppose.”

“I guess I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind too much. I’m tired, now.”

“I’ve got blankets. Here.”

From a large, canvas pack, Ari produced two squares of material, each about the size of an envelope. He began unfolding them. When he was finished, he handed Jonathan two full-sized blankets. He took them without thanks, and did not ask about the strange fabric that was simultaneously thin, light, warm, and sturdy. He wrapped himself snugly in the blankets and closed his eyes.

Facing away from Ari, hugging his knees, Jonathan bit his lip to stop himself from crying. Despite his best efforts, he felt a few rebellious tears trickle across his face. He bit his lip harder. He tried to breathe deeply through his nose.

Jonathan did not dream that night. He lay awake listening to the forest until he sank into a dark state of oblivion.

“Up! Jonth- Jon-a-than, get up! We need to get moving!”

“Go away, Ben. I’m sick.”

“What?”

“I said…oh.”

Jonathan stared blearily into Ari’s sharp face. Ari was shaking him roughly. His eyebrows were drawn into a harsh “v”. It was still dark. Up close, Ari looked younger than he had the night before. Jonathan could tell he hadn’t started shaving yet.

“Are you coming or not?”

“What? Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

Weakly, Jonathan dragged himself out of the warm cocoon of blankets. Ari brushed the sparkling layer of frost off of them, and folded them methodically until they were once again crisply envelope-sized. He put them back in his pack, and rummaged for a second before passing Jonathan a small cloth bag.

Jonathan opened the bag. There were several things that resembled energy bars inside, wrapped in brown paper. He took a bite of one. It tasted distinctly nutty. He could not decide whether he liked it or not. He ate two of them.

By the time they left, Ari had erased every trace of the campsite.

“Why are you doing that?” Jonathan asked as Ari meticulously arranged leaves and branches on the ground to hide the imprint where Jonathan had been sleeping.

“To make sure nobody knows we were here.”

“Is that important?”

“Yes. If they find us, they’ll kill us.”

Jonathan was about to ask who they were, and why they were going to kill Ari if they found him, but decided not to. He was not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Ari must have noticed Jonathan’s discomfort, because he added, “I’ll explain later. We need to go now.”

The forest was illuminated with a misty, grey light. Jonathan supposed that the sun was rising. He wished he could have slept a few more hours. More than that, he wished he were home, and not trekking through a strange forest with Ari, but he could not allow himself dwell on that. He listened to crows cawing in the naked branches of the trees.

They were walking west, with their backs to the rising sun. Their shadows stretched before them, pale, and thin, and elongated. Frost on the ground glittered, making the day morning seem brighter. Jonathan was cold. Ari was wearing a light, high collared jacket, but he looked perfectly comfortable. Jonathan did not say anything.

Although they walked swiftly and without many pauses, the going was fairly easy. The forest they traversed was open and largely free of underbrush. The land was flat. Jonathan tried to imitate Ari’s loose, effortless stride. He found that he could propel himself mostly by momentum if he let his feet do most of the work. It was a curious sensation. He felt almost out of control of his limbs.

They stopped twice that day. To eat a midday meal, they sat on a fallen tree. Jonathan twisted to scratch his back where the crumbly bark was making his skin itch. He jumped as a centipede scurried over his hand. Quickly, he stood up and had another bar, and a crisp, green fruit that tasted a little like a melon, and a little like a pear. Ari remained seated and had half of a bar, which he ate with very little enthusiasm.

Later, they paused for no apparent reason when Ari raised a hand. The forest was very quiet. Jonathan wondered if the mysterious ‘they’ had caught up and were going to kill them. After a few minutes of looking and listening, Ari motioned them onward.

When they stopped, Jonathan was very cold, and very tired indeed. His back hurt. His legs hurt. His feet were numb, but he was certain he would soon be feeling blisters. He wished he had his hiking boots.

They camped in a tiny clearing surrounded by brambles. Ari set up a small, canvas tent. He glanced at the sky.

“It’s going to rain tonight.”

Jonathan looked upward too. There were heavy clouds pressing against the tree tops. The light streaming down was weak and grey.

“Okay.”

“Are you alright? You look dazed.”

“I’m fine.”

“Good.”

Ari sat down beside the tent. Jonathan sat down too.

“So,” Ari said, “what’s home like, for you?”

“Um…”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” he said hastily, “it’s just that travelers are rare. They had one at court, but it didn’t speak Varrim. I don’t think it even had a mouth.”

“I don’t speak ‘Varrim’. I speak English.”

“Whatever. English for you, Varrim for me. Our worlds must be similar. Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. I don’t know. I guess it was just home. I have…had a family. You know, parents, two sisters, a brother, three cats. My mom and dad work-worked for some boring company. They worked a lot, doing something that didn’t really matter to the world. They were depressing. They had no idea what was going on in my life, or in the larger world around them. My older sister Becky knew that too. She tried to tell them, but nobody listened to her except for me. Then there was my other sister, Celia. She was just a kid. Kind of stupid, and petty, but sometimes kind of sweet. My brother Ben was a year and a half older than me. We didn’t get on. I was jealous of him.”

“That sounds…unpleasant.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. It was just life. It was mundane. It was lonely a lot of the time. I guess it was just a lot of ordinary middle class problems. They add up and make it all seem so big and insurmountable.”

“You are the next to youngest in your family?”

“Yes.”

“I’m the eldest. I have two sisters.”

Jonathan was interested. This was the first time his companion had volunteered any sort of personal information.

“Oh. Are you close?”

“No. We do not see each other often.”

“Why not?”

“I ran off. I haven’t seen them for over a year now.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. Tell me more about yourself.”

Reluctantly, he accepted the change of subject.

“Okay.”

Jonathan gathered his thoughts for a moment. It was kind of nice to tell his story to someone who was entirely removed from his life.

“I go to a public high school. I’m in tenth grade. I don’t have a lot of friends. It’s usually just me and Alex and Lucy. Alex is a year ahead of me and Lucy. We were in orchestra together. He plays the viola, and I play violin. We always argue, sorry, argued about which instrument is better.”

“What are they? A ‘violin’ and a ‘viola’, I mean.”

“They’re stringed instruments. The viola is lower, and doesn’t sound as good. Anyways, we met a couple years ago. But Lucy and I were in elementary school together. We’ve been best friends since we were like eleven. We went to different middle schools, but now we go to the same school. We have lots of classes together.”

“Are you…romantically involved?”

“No. Everyone asks that. I had a major crush on her when I was in seventh grade, but then she came out.”

“Came out?”

“You know, of the closet.”

“What closet?”

“That means she’s a lesbian. She likes girls. She dated this girl called Sonja for almost two years, but they split up the day I, um, left.”

“So that is allowed in your world?”

“What, being gay? Uh some people think it’s immoral, but to hell with them. Why? Isn’t it okay here?”

“There are laws against…homosexual conduct. The fines can be quite high. Under the royals, if people were covert, it was generally ignored. The Auttans, however, are not so lenient.”

“I’m sorry. Are you gay?”

Ari inhaled sharply.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Jonathan added.

Just as he had decided that Ari was not going to respond, he said, very carefully, “I am not attracted to men.”

“Are you a homophobe?”

“No. I knew a number of…’lesbians’ during my military training. My shieldsister Germa was homosexual.”

“Yeah. I never told my parents about Lucy and Sonja. Dad always assumed she was dating a guy, and I never bothered to correct him. My parents are pretty Christian. Um, that’s a religion. I guess I’m Christian too. I don’t know though. I guess it doesn’t matter now. This whole interdimensional thing kind of changes one’s perspective on morality and theology and so on.”

“I am sorry. The experience must be beyond shocking. I would like to…apologize for my behavior earlier. I don’t much like This One and That One, you see. I don’t like fey much at all.”

“Oh. Is it that whole ‘owing them a favor’ thing?”

“It is a contributing factor. They convinced they fey Ramorrim to help lead our army as the Tactical.”

“Army?”

“Yes. I’m part of the rebellion against the Auttans. They took over our country, Rimvolf about three years ago. We’re part of their empire now. Kor province.”

A heavy water droplet splashed against Jonathan’s head. It started to drizzle. Ari extracted a bag made of heavy, light brown cloth. He set it out on the ground, and he and Jonathan crawled inside the tent. Ari took out the Fire Box and set it down in between them. It glowed dimly, illuminating the fabric walls, and giving everything a bloody tinge. Ari brought out some more bland, but filling food.

Jonathan took a small bite of a round, crumbly piece of flatbread.  He realized that the same odd buzzing that he had noticed the night before had started up again.

Ari reached over and drew the tent’s flap shut.

“We are fighting the Auttans as best we can with a bit of help from some of the surrounding countries. They’re afraid that they’ll be conquered next. Rimvolf used to be a convenient barrier against the Auttan Empire. I suppose we were just an annoyance, a small label on a map that was hindering their expansion. Our neighbors don’t want to openly oppose such a powerful empire, of course.  It’s been bloody difficult, especially since we split. Some of the rebels wanted to restore the monarchy, and go back to how things were, but the way I see it, there isn’t much difference between the royals and the Auttans. Either way, they’re in charge whether we like it or not. But a bunch of people, mostly the nobles want the crown back on the Hellick’s head, so to speak.”

Jonathan turned the piece of flatbread over in his hands.

“So I’m walking into a war zone with a rebel fighter?”

“I’m not taking you into a war zone. We’re going back to True Home. That’s where our main base is located. Then, the Trinity will figure out what to do with you.”

“Who are they? What will they do to me?”

“Don’t worry. You aren’t an Auttan, a Royalist, or a traitor. They won’t punish you.”

“But I don’t want to be a rebel. I don’t fight. I’m a pacifist.”

“A what?”

“A pacifist. I believe everything can be solved peacefully. You know, through civil disobedience and stuff.”

Ari looked puzzled.

“’Pacifist’ or not, I assume that you would prefer to accompany me back to camp than end up wandering the countryside by yourself. If you were lucky, you might end up as some sort of novelty in the Auttan court.”

“Well, what’s going to happen to me once you take me back to your base?”

“Like I said, the Trinity will decide. I do not know what will ultimately happen to you. Presumably, it will be in the best interest of rebellion.”

“But not in my best interest,” Jonathan muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

They ate. Ari started cleaning his knives with a cloth. The blades looked red in the bloody light.

“Does everyone here fight with knives and swords and stuff?”

Ari shrugged, still focused on his work.

“Only if they’re spelled. Regular ones are easy enough to protect against. We’ve also got some projectile things, but I like blades better. They soak up the spellwork more easily.”

“Spellwork? Like magic?”

“Yeah.”

“We don’t have that at home.”

“Then how do you protect yourself?”

“Um…there are laws, and policemen, and things. Some people have guns, but I think that just contributes to the problem, so I guess it’s mostly the government’s job. And we can fight physically if we need to.”

Ari snorted, but did not say anything.

“What, have you got a better solution?”

“Yes. Magic.”

“Well, unfortunately for us, we haven’t got magic. So we just make do with what we have.”

“You’re world doesn’t sound very well designed.”

“It’s not designed! It’s scientific.  It just sort of happened. And it works just fine. We can get by without magic.”

“Fair enough.”

“It’s just different.”

“Yes. It sounds as though it is. And that reminds me, you should probably change clothes before we get to Wall. You’re dressed incorrectly. We’re going to have to go into a city to meet my friend, and people will be excessively curious. I’ll lend you some clothes.”

Jonathan shrugged.

“They might be a bit big.”

Jonathan shrugged again.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Fine.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

Conversation petered out. Jonathan noticed that the sound rain drumming against the sides of the tent had stopped too. He scooted a bit closer to the Fire Box. Ari put away his knives, and the cloth.

“C’mon.” he said quietly. “I won’t let anything happen to you. It’s not your fault that you’re here. I’ll try to make sure you don’t get swept up in our cause. Fighting isn’t for everyone. If it was, we’d have overthrown the bastards already.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Seriously, though, is everything-”

“Everything is fine, thanks, Ari.”

It was beginning to get stuffy inside the tent. Ari put the Fire Box away. Closing his eyes against the intense darkness, Jonathan curled up and pretended to sleep. He breathed deeply to fool Ari, and he ended up fooling himself as well, because before he knew it, it was morning.

“Where are we going anyways?” he yawned as Ari packed up the tent. He did a slight double take when he noticed that Ari had braided his chaotic ponytail, and tucked the braid down the back of his jacket. He had also tied a rough sort of bandana over his head, effectively hiding his hair.

“Aeolik. Or as it’s now called, Mayin. We should reach it this evening, but we’re camping a few miles away. Now take these, and change.”

Jonathan took the stack of neatly folded clothes, and stripped down behind a tree. The ground was damp from the light rain of the previous evening. However, the clouds hung as low as before. Now there was a charged feeling to the air. Goosebumps erupted all over his skin. He felt defenseless, clothed only in his underwear, out of sight of Ari, in the middle of the forest.

He dressed himself in Ari’s clothes.  They did not fit well. They were loose at the hips and shoulders, tight across the chest and waist, and slightly too long everywhere. He felt funny in the high necked tunic, and trousers still worn over his running shoes. He came out from behind the tree, and Ari gave him a strange, grey coat. It came down almost to his knees, and buttoned all the way up to his chin. He assumed it was waterproof. It had a funny, shiny surface.

Ari had only a light jacket over his tunic, trousers, and boots. He seemed irritatingly at his ease; hardly inconvenienced by the chill.

The new clothes made Jonathan’s skin feel oddly electrified. It was not a pleasant sensation, somewhat like being exposed to low-grade static shocks all over his body. He tried to ignore it.

“That’s better.” Ari said. “If we could only do something about those ridiculous shoes, you’d look almost ordinary.”

Jonathan shrugged, ignoring the remark about his sneakers.

“Thanks for lending me the clothes.”

“It is not an inconvenience. But don’t lose them. They belong to the Circle.”

“The what?”

“The Circle. The rebellion. Just be careful with them, understood?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

He watched his breath puff out into the cold air like a cloud. He looked for trees with leaves still trembling at the ends of their spindly branches. He counted birds, and mushrooms, and shrubs with white berries. He made up a song in his head. He got bored. He wondered if he was allergic to the material of Ari’s clothes. The tingling, prickling sensation persisted.

“Ari?” he called.

Ari, who was a few paces ahead, glanced back. He paused until Jonathan caught up with him.

“What are these clothes made of?”

“They’re a little bit hemp and a little bit magic.”

“Oh.”

Jonathan was pretty sure that he was not allergic to hemp. Becky had bought him a hemp shirt once, and it had not bothered him a bit.

Since the silence had been broken, Jonathan tried to think of something else to talk about.

“Ari, who are we meeting in…Allik?”

“Aeolik. But you’re to call it Mayin. That’s the Auttan name for the city. It means ‘the flower’ in their language. That’s the name you’re to use. And we’re meeting my friend, Tob. Tob’s from outside the country. She helps out the Circle by bringing us supplies, and weapons, and money.”

“Okay. I was just wondering. So where’s Tob from?’

“Grek. It’s North of here. They’ve been sending us lots of weapons, but no soldiers. We used to be allies. Not exact-ly allies, but trade partners. Anyways, we weren’t enemies. They’re supporting us over the Royalists, thank deity.”

“Thank deity?”

“I wasn’t thanking a specific god or goddess.”

“O-kay. Um.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing. Only, I believe in only one god. Or at least sort of believe in it. Him.”

“That’s very strange.”

“Not where I come from.”

They arrived at a road. It was paved in something that looked like neglected cement. Its surface was cracked and uneven. Spindly, spiny plants seemed to be in the process of destroying it from the inside. Together, the two boys glanced up and down the road. There was no one else in sight.

“We’re very close, now. We ought to set up camp.”

“Why can’t we just go into the city?”

“I don’t want to rent a room. We haven’t got much money, and I don’t want to get stuck inside the walls after curfew. It’s not safe.”

He couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so he suppressed his twinge of annoyed impatience. He followed Ari away from the road, and helped him set up the tent in a small clearing shielded from view by heavy underbrush. It was wet, and cold, and miserable that evening. Ari was especially laconic, staring almost angrily out into the now pounding rain.

Jonathan started to wonder what his family was doing at this very moment. Maybe his mother and father were making dinner. Chicken? No, they had had chicken only two nights ago. It would be steak, or maybe pasta. But perhaps the times were different, and they were not making dinner at all. Maybe hundreds of years had passed, and they were all dead. Maybe they had not yet been born.

Suddenly, Jonathan wondered if his world had ever existed at all.

He felt a creeping sense of loneliness so intense that it made him want curl up in a ball on the ground. It was isolation beyond words that no amount of companionship could assuage. He looked over at Ari who was crouched in the opening of the tent, and realized that he did not know this person, not really. Jonathan felt cold deep inside, as though his heart had frosted over.

He picked up a leaf that had blown into the tent and started carefully tearing it apart. He scattered the pieces of leaf on the ground. When he had nothing left but a stem, he broke it into tiny pieces and started fidgeting.

“Will you stop that?” Ari snarled after a few minutes.

“Stop what?”

“Just stop moving around. Stay still.”

“Fine.”

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“Seriously, stop fidgeting. It’s making me nervous.”

“Well, it makes me nervous when you play with your knives.”

“I’m not playing with my knives, in case you haven’t noticed. Just stop, alright?”

“Okay. Whatever.”

Jonathan tried hard to refrain from tapping his fingers and shifting his weight. Accidentally, he itched his chest where the unpleasant feeling of the clothes was the strongest. Ari did not seem to notice. Jonathan concentrated on counting the time between thunder claps. He had read somewhere that one could calculate the distance of a storm based on the time span between the rolls of thunder. He was not sure exactly how to do this, but counting gave him a distraction. He listened and counted silently. The storm seemed to be getting closer.

In the entrance of the tent, Ari was humming quietly. Jonathan doubted that he even realized he was doing it. He looked very cold, even wrapped in a heavy blanket.  Rain plastered his reddish hair to his wet face. His arms were crossed tightly, but Jonathan got the sense that he would like to be fiddling with his daggers.

Rumble. CRACK!

Jonathan and Ari both jumped.  They looked sheepishly at each other. Jonathan smiled a little uneasily.

“Just lightening.” Ari breathed. “It was just some godsdamn lightening. We should be fine. There are lots of tall trees, but the rain should put out any fires. Maybe. We’ll be just fine.”

“Yeah.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Rumble. Rumble. CRACK!

“Just lightening. Everything’s perfectly fine. Everything’s fine, fine, bloody fine. Godsdamn.”

Ari’s face was white. He yanked the tent flap closed, and scooted away from the entrance.

“Are you okay?”

Jonathan hesitantly laid a hand on Ari’s shoulder. He was trembling. He flinched a little at Jonathan’s touch, but did not pull away entirely.

“Yes. Of course. It’s just some godsdamn lightening. Nothing to be afraid of. Just loud noise and godsdamn light. I’ll be fine in a moment. I’m alright, really. It’s just lightening. I don’t like lightening. But I’ll be fine.”

CRACK! Rumble. CRACK!

Ari flinched again.

“Try breathing deeply. Or something. Er.”

This time, Ari did pull away. He sat up a little straighter. His face had gone blank.

“Thank you, but I am really perfectly alright. I am just a little…on edge.” Although steely, his voice was a emotionless as his face.

Lightening cracked again, but Ari hardly batted an eye. There was a frigid determination in his manner. Jonathan could tell he was fighting the impulse to react, but the only sign of his struggle was a faint tightness in the set of his jaw, and a quickness to his breathe. He regarded Jonathan coldly, but without anger. It was like looking at an unoccupied mask, or a house with blinds drawn over its windows; the windows themselves were visible, but everything within was obscured.

Jonathan shrank back a little bit. For some reason, he was keenly aware of the knives in Ari’s belt. Rumble. Rumble. Rumble. Crack.

The storm was receding. Each roll of thunder came farther apart. Nevertheless, rain pounded down with the same ferocity. There was a loud crack and a thump; a branch fell to the ground mere feet away from the tent. Jonathan looked up at the fabric ceiling uneasily.

The next morning, Jonathan and Ari surveyed the destruction around them. Fortunately, no tree limbs had fallen on the tent, which Ari claimed was due to the excellent spot he picked, but Jonathan suspect was more thanks to luck. It had stopped raining sometime in the night. There were thin branches and fallen leaves scattered everywhere. They did not wait for breakfast, but started toward Aeolik- Mayin, Jonathan reminded himself- immediately.

Although Ari led them on a winding route that never came quite in sight of the main road, Jonathan glimpsed a vehicle hurtling past every one and a while. He could not tell exactly what they looked like, but they did not seem to touch the ground as they zipped by.

They left the trees behind, and crossed an extremely marshy field. Muddy water soaked straight through Jonathan’s shoes in a matter of minutes. It seemed that the dry soil had absorbed every drop of water it could hold, but had been unable to drink up all of the rain that had flooded from the now distant clouds.

They crossed a somewhat less marshy field. They came to a foot path. As they walked, Jonathan spotted a few houses scattered far apart amongst the expanses of brown, broken stalks. The buildings had small windows, flat roofs, and thick, whitewashed walls. He supposed that they would keep a lot of heat in, or out, depending on the season.

Jonathan noticed it before they spotted the city. It started as a faint hum that was felt more than heard. As the city loomed on the horizon, the sensation grew more obvious.

“What is it?” he asked.

“What is what?”

“That buzzing!”

“What buzzing?”

“It’s getting stronger, and it…it hurts.”

It was true. As they continued to walk, the vibration reached a painful level. Jonathan gritted his teeth, not only against the pain, but to stop them humming in his mouth. Ari looked at him curiously.

Eventually, they reached a wider road.  There were other people walking ahead of them, but Jonathan hardly noticed them. He held his hands tightly over his ears. Ari led him to the end of a short line of people that had lined up before a wooden gate in the enormous, crenellated wall. There was a pair of men in official-looking grey uniforms flanking the entrance, questioning each person passing through.

“City Watch.” Ari murmured in Jonathan’s ear. “Shouldn’t be too much trouble.”

Jonathan nervously glanced at his running shoes. They did look very out of place. He looked again at the watchmen. They were both very tall and broad chested. He darted a glance at Ari, and was surprised to see that he seemed perfectly at his ease. He even smiled at Jonathan as if to say, not to worry, naïve traveler.

Jonathan was worried. He was worried about the guards, but he was more worried by the fact that the closer he got to the city walls, the more intense the buzzing became. He felt sure that his bones would shake themselves to dust before they got through the gates.

They reached the entrance in less than twenty minutes.

The first guard, a man with a rich brown beard and moustache said, “Names?”

“Burn Nick, and this is my cousin Lok Coil.”

“Business in A- in Mayin?”

“Visiting  my cousin Bret.”

“Duration of stay?”

“Just for the day. We’re leaving before nightfall.”

“What’s in the bag?”

“Camping gear.”

The first guard opened Ari’s pack and unenthusiastically rummaged. He pulled out the Fire Box. It was dull at the moment, not glowing or burning.

“Is this regulation?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We’ve been having lots people selling illegal Fire Boxes lately.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, sir.”

The guard turned it over in his large hands, rubbed the surface, and sniffed it before handing it back to Ari.

“Pay the toll. It’s a half crown.” said the second guard.

He was even taller than the first, and looked to Jonathan like he was from India, or maybe the Middle East. Of course, Jonathan thought, there is not India here. No Middle East either. If only that buzzing would stop…I think I’m going to throw up…no, I can’t. Stop thinking about it. Lalalala everything’s totally fine…

Ari rummaged in his jacket pocket and removed a shiny, yellow coin. Jonathan made out the sharp profile of a person before the second guard took the coin and tucked it into a bag tied around his waist. He handed Jonathan and Ari each a piece of paper typed with the words ‘Visitor Pass. One day only.’ The first guard yawned.

The vibration started to lessen as they drew away from the wall. Jonathan felt a bit better. He glanced around at the buildings. They were flat roofed, narrow, and closely packed. He thought of skyscrapers, but these buildings were nowhere near as tall as many of the towering office buildings back home. Pipes led from the eaves troughs to enormous rain barrels at ground level.

He doubled over and vomited.

“What’s going on?”

Jonathan spat. His mouth tasted disgusting.

“I don’t know. I just…I don’t know. I was starting to feel okay after we got away from the wall, but then…”

“Can you walk?’

“Yeah. I’m  okay. I just need a drink of water or something.”

“Wait here.”

Ari lead him to a mostly empty square. There was a fountain at the centre. He sat Jonathan down on its edge. Jonathan fidgeted uncomfortably. The stone he was sitting on was very cold. There were only a few inches of water in the fountain. He glanced at his pale reflection and winced. He looked awful.

A few minutes passed. Jonathan lay down and pressed his hot face against the cool marble. He closed his eyes. Suddenly, he jerked upright. There it was again! So faintly that he had barely noticed it before, the fountain was humming! He stood shakily and sank to the ground a few feet away.

“Jon-a-than?”

He sat up. Ari was back with a full water skin. He drank thirstily. Then, he took a small mouthful, rinsed, and spat into the fountain.

“Thanks. Ari, what is going on?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’re just sick or something. Anyways, the sooner we get to our destination, the better. Tob should be staying at an inn a little ways from here. I’m showing up a little earlier than expected, and Tob can be a bit edgy, so it would be helpful if you stayed quiet and stuck close to me.”

“Okay. Sure.”

Jonathan trailed Ari through the narrow streets. It seemed to him that the surroundings were getting increasingly grubby and run down. They finally stopped before a squat wooden building with ‘Whit’s Inn’ painted on it in dirty white letters. They slipped inside.

It was cramped and dim within. Jonathan squinted into the gloom. He supposed that it was some sort of pub. There was nobody inside except for a skinny, tired-looking woman behind the bar. She glanced up half-heartedly, when they entered.

“We’re here to see Brettin Nick. I believe that she’s renting one of the upstairs rooms.”

“Nick? She said she didn’t want any visitors.” the woman said tersely.

“Well, let her know that Burn called. Thank you, milady.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her next time I see her. Good bye, sir.”

The woman turned away and started putting glasses away in a drawer. A scrawny, tousle haired girl entered from a back room carrying a tray. She stopped when she saw Ari and Jonathan and smiled shyly at them. Ari smiled back, nodded again to the barwoman, and led Jonathan back out the front door.

“What now?”

“Quiet. This way.”

Purposefully, Ari walked back up the street. Jonathan followed. They turned a corner, and slipped into an empty alley.

“Back entrance.”

Ari pointed to a door painted with chipped blue paint. He tried the handle. It was locked. He extracted a few oddly shaped pieces of metal from an inside pocket of his jacket, knelt, and began deftly picking the lock of the door.

“Are you crazy? What if someone sees us?”

“Sh!”

There was a muted click. Ari put on his pack, and turned the doorknob. The door opened a fraction.

“Hurry!”

He darted into the inn, Jonathan on his heels. They were in a dirty room full of wooden crates and barrels. There was a rickety set of stairs leading up. Just as Jonathan reached them, a door creaked open. It was the girl, now without her tray. He froze, heart pounding. She had not yet glanced up, but it was only a matter of moments…

“Mere! Come back here and finish the dishes!” a voice called from the front room.

The girl turned away from Jonathan. Stealthily, he put a foot lightly on the first step. It creaked a little, but the girl did not seem to hear it.

“But Mama, you told me to get you more barley crackers from the storeroom!”

Ari was beckoning to him. Jonathan held up a finger. Slowly, he put his full weight on the first step and placed his other foot gently on the second.

“Do as I say! Dishes first, then crackers!”

“Yes Mama.”

She left, closing the door behind her. Swiftly, but gingerly, Jonathan climbed the stairs. He and Ari emerged into a landing above. It was dim, the only lighting coming from a dirty window at the end of the hall. There were five doors. They tried each in succession. The first four opened to reveal dingy bedrooms. The third and final door was locked.

Ari sat down in the hall and brought out his lock picks.

“You can’t just break into-”

“Quiet! This is a delicate procedure.”

After a minute or so, the lock clicked. Ari tried the door. It did not budge.

“Spelled. Of course.” he said, seemingly to himself.

Ari laid a palm against the wooden surface. His eyes had a faraway, unfocussed look.  After a few motionless moments, the buzzing surged so strongly that Jonathan almost cried out. It vanished just as suddenly as it had come, and the door swung inward with a faint pop.

Silently, they crept into the shabby rooms. Ari silently checked the hall closet, a bedroom containing a mattress, an empty bookshelf, and a small wardrobe, and a room that was completely empty except for a bare table. As Ari examined the scant contents of the closet Jonathan wandered back into the bedroom.

He crossed to the window. It overlooked the alley that they so recently occupied. It was not a particularly scenic view. He turned and started walking back across the room.

“Don’t move!” a voice whispered fiercely.

Something cold, sharp, and metallic was tickling the back of his neck. Jonathan froze. The point where the metal was touching his skin burned.

“Take four steps backward. Slowly now. Hands up.” The voice hissed.

Jonathan obeyed, mind racing.

“What are you doing here? Who sent you?”

“No one!” he whispered.

“Then what do you want?”

“We’re looking for Tob. Or Ari is anyways.”

“Ari? What do you-”

At that moment, Ari entered the room. He stopped, and stared at something behind Jonathan. A look of incredulous delight crossed his face.

“Tob?”

“Ari!”

Someone darted out from behind Jonathan. There was a blur of motion, and suddenly, a slim, raven haired young woman was hugging a rather uncomfortable looking Ari.

“What are you doing here, Ari? I wasn’t expecting you for at least a week! I thought you were out scouting.”

“I was. But I’m going back to True Home earlier, so I thought we could both go. The fey gave me a Traveler to look after.”

“Who? Him?” the woman turned slightly, and Ari carefully slipped out of her embrace.

Tob was more than a head shorter than Ari, but looked to be about nineteen or twenty. Her skin was so pale that she almost glowed, and her hair and slanted eyes were black. She wore a red bandana over her head, a leather vest, tunic, and trousers decorated with horizontal stripes in black and grey. She looked somewhat piratical. Jonathan decided that she was extremely pretty in an elfish sort of way. He wondered if she was actually an elf. Perhaps there were elves in this world…

He rubbed the back of his neck. There was a small raised bump that itched horribly.

“Yes. That’s Jon-a-than. Jonathan, Tobbit Nix.”

“Um…” said Jonathan.

“Nice to meet you Jonthan. Sorry about all that. One can never be too careful.”

Tob grasped his hand and wrung it enthusiastically.

“Where were you hiding, by the way?” Ari asked.

“Wardrobe. It was a tight fit, even for me, but I managed it. I heard my door open, and realized that there were at least two of you, so I thought that it would be best if I was a tad on the cautious side if you know what I mean. Then, I slipped out to ask a few questions of Mister Jonathan Traveler, here.”

Both Jonathan and Ari looked toward the wardrobe. It was open. Jonathan could not imagine how anyone, even the small, delicate Tob, could fit inside it.

“I’m impressed.” said Ari.

“Are we heading out, then? I’m already packed.”

Tob retrieved a pack much smaller than Ari’s from behind the wardrobe and slung it on.

“Yes. What about the shipments.”

“I stashed them in the woods.”

“Let’s get moving, then.”

Jonathan trailed the pair out of Tob’s room. Ari and Tob weren’t actually speaking, but they kept exchanging subtle glances of the sort that made Jonathan feel like an intruder. Old friend indeed, he thought, giving a mental snort.

When they reached the stairs, Ari halted.

“We aren’t exactly…supposed to be here, Tob. The barwoman told us you didn’t want visitors, so we broke in through the alley.”

“Lock picks still in good condition, I take it?”

Ari wrinkled his nose. Jonathan could tell he was suppressing a grin. He cleared his throat, and Ari and Tob started slightly.

“How are we going to get out?” he asked, a little petulantly.

“Window.” Tob said. “I’ve paid for the entire month, so old Mitz can’t complain if I leave early.”

They went back into Tob’s vacant room. Tob shoved at the window.  Its hinges creaked stiffly, but it opened smoothly enough.

“Do we jump, or something?” Jonathan eyed the ground below nervously. Two stories was not really so high up, but the pavement looked extraordinarily hard.

Tob shook her head.

“We climb up onto the roof.”

Before Jonathan could ask for clarification, all that was visible of Tob were her feet on the window sill. After a moment, those too vanished up and out of sight. Ari followed.

Jonathan crossed to the window. There was a narrow ledge outside it. He glanced up. Ari and Tob were peering down at him from atop the roof.

“I don’t know about this.” he called.

“Get moving! It will be fine.” Ari sounded impatient.

Reluctantly, Jonathan got onto the window sill. He stuck his head out the window.  Very slowly, he shifted so that his back was to the sheer drop behind him. He grasped the edge of the roof with both his hands, and stood. He wobbled for a moment as he edged out of the window, but steadied himself against the building. He pulled himself onto the roof with a grunt.

“Okay. What now?” he was pleased that his voice hardly trembled at all.

“We climb down the rain pipe.”

Tob led the way across the flat expanse. Jonathan felt vulnerable even though the roof was as even as the ground below.

The street was deserted except for an old woman rummaging in a garbage bin. Tob gave a significant nod. She dropped her pack off the edge of the roof, then lowered herself after it. Jonathan craned his neck to watch her shimmy down the pipe. It looked disconcertingly frail.

“Go ahead, Jonathan. I’m going back to close the window.”

“Oh. Right. Okay.”

Descending the pipe was not quite as nerve-wracking as climbing out of the window, but Jonathan’s stomach still lurched uncomfortably every time he glanced down. The pipe held, but it was wet, and slippery, and hard to grip.

Ari came a short while later, first tossing down his pack, then expertly lowering himself. The old woman was still digging in the bin. She did not seem to have noticed anything.

As they started walking, the city seemed a little more alive, but just barely.  It was not so early that people would not be at work, Jonathan decided. He wondered if it was a weekend or holiday. However, he quickly discounted this idea. The few people in the streets looked subdued. They hurried along, not making eye contact with anyone.

Jonathan tapped Ari on the shoulder.

“What’s going on?”

It was Tob who had answered.

“Mayin is a royalist town. Imperial soldiers caught and executed a group of crown rebels two days ago. During the investigation, they found out that some members of the City Council were aiding them. They’ve been imprisoned, and are awaiting trial. The entire city is being punished with trade restrictions and curfews.”

“Oh.”

“Fortunately,” she continued, “they aren’t stopping visitors from coming and going. At least, not yet.”

Their route was more circuitous than the one that had lead from the gate to the inn, leading them deeper into the city. At one point, they came to a wall. It was taller than the first, and grey uniformed guards circled it like very orderly sharks. When no one was looking their way, both Tob and Ari spat on the ground.

“That’s where the government buildings are,” Tob said out of the corner of her mouth. “You need papers and a pass to get in at the very least.”

“Oh,” said Jonathan.

They came to the outer wall after a while, and exited. Jonathan was once again almost sick from the awful buzzing, but he managed to refrain from actually vomiting. There were two new watchmen. Technically, a watchman and a watchwoman, Jonathan supposed. Neither paid them much heed as Jonathan and Ari returned their visitor passes.  Tob pulled a much older, crumpled Month Pass out of a vest pocket, and the three of them set off toward the forest.

Jonathan plodded back across the field and into the forest with ill grace. He felt somehow betrayed. He knew it was stupid, that Ari of course had friends, and ‘friends’, and a life beyond Jonathan and the forest and the tent, but it still made him feel resentful. It was like being abandoned by a new buddy in elementary school in favor of one of their older companions who had suddenly returned. He kicked angrily at a pale brown mushroom. It collapsed satisfyingly.

“This way, now.” Tob motioned them deeper into the trees.

And after twenty minutes or so: “Here.”

She was pointing to a mass of brambles about ten feet away. Gingerly, Tob lifted a long, thorny vine, and vanished into a small hole in the foliage. There was a scuffling noise, then a bang, and a quiet, steady purr. Slowly, something emerged from the thicket.

Tob was sitting astride something dull green, and built like a small tank. It floated about a foot and a half above the ground, purring faintly. It had a depression where one could sit, gripping with one’s knees, a steering panel, and a windshield. There was room for at least four people to mount the vehicle. Ari clambered up.

“God.” Jonathan groaned. “Oh God. I think I’m going to-”

He wretched, but nothing came up. Ari leapt off the machine, and knelt by Jonathan.

“What? What is it?” his voice was low and urgent.

“That buzzing! It’s here again! It’s coming from that thing. It’s so strong. I can’t- I just can’t-”

“What’s wrong with him?” Tob murmured.

“I don’t know. He was like this earlier after we crossed the wall, but he seemed to get better. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“The wall, the speeder… is there anything else that makes you feel like this?”

Jonathan tried to think. It was difficult because he felt like he was on some sort of murderous vibrating massage mattress.

“Um…the Fire Box, but it’s not as bad. It’s just this faint hum.  Ari’s clothes too. And your knife burned me and left a welt on the back of my neck.”

Ari and Tob looked at each other.

“Do you think it might be-”

“That hardly makes sense, but-”

“It’s just possible-”

“What?” Jonathan growled.

He sat up and glared at the other two.

“Spellwork.” Tob said simply.

“What?”

“You might be reacting to spellwork. You sense it as a vibration. The city walls of Aeolik are very ancient, and spellcasters have been reinforcing them for centuries against attacks. The speeder is powered by spells, as is the Fire Box. My knives are spelled to burn in battle, but they’re under concealment spells to avoid detection.”

Jonathan looked at Ari for confirmation. Ari shrugged.

“Some people are better at sensing spells than others. I’ve never heard of anyone having such an extreme reaction to it, but I wouldn’t rule it out as a possibility.”

Nevertheless, he sounded a little skeptical.

“So I’m like allergic to magic or something?”

“Yes.” said Tob.

“Perhaps.” said Ari.

“Then how am I supposed to ride that thing to wherever we’re going? I’ll fall off, or throw up, or pass out, or something.”

“Well, we can’t walk. The supplies…” Ari broke off midsentence.

He and Tob exchanged a look that Jonathan did not like one bit. He squinted at them suspiciously. After a moment, Ari turned to face him.

“Jonathan,” he said very gravely, “do you trust me?”

“Why?”

“Do you trust me?’

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“No.” Tob said.

She crossed to Jonathan and put a hand to his forehead. He tried to jerk away, but she forced his head forward with her other hand.

“What are you doing?”

Jonathan began to struggle in earnest. With an impatient noise, Ari pinned his arms.

“Ari! Stop!”

Tob closed her eyes, and her hand burned against his forehead. Jonathan cried out, and then-