Project Verity. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Olban sat beside Brian Wilks and gave him a shake.

Brian screamed, sat bolt upright, looked around in a panic and collapsed into wracking sobs.

Olban swept him into a hug. “It’s alright, you’re safe. They won’t hurt you again.” He sighed. “Look, you’re practically a second father to me. I grew up with you, just as Gareth grew up with my family and Mr Wilks is just so… so stiff and formal. Is it OK if I just call you Brian?”

It took a while for the sobs to die down. The hug seemed to be helping, he relaxed into it and hugged Olban back, then looked him in the eye. “Thanks. Yeah, Brian’s fine with me.”

“Are you OK to continue, now?”

Brian nodded and Olban helped him to his feet.

As they started to walk, his eyes widened as he looked around, probably taking in the scenery for the first time. The mountains to the west, the plains to the south… “Where are we, anyway?”

“About five miles from Little Dafford.” Olban pointed east. “That way,” he pointed North, “about ten miles beyond that copse of trees, another village, Dunbeck. We trade with them quite a lot. Best trout you’ve ever tasted, from there.”

“But I’ve never heard of those places. It looks like Britain, but…”

“Trust me, this isn’t Britain. We’re in the nation of Eltinom. Those mountains, the Troll nation of… Well… I’ve never been very good with their language, I can’t pronounce it.”

“Trolls? Really?”

“And no, before you start going on about monsters, they’re a pleasant enough people. We’ve traded with them in the past, too. They’re the best stone masons and sculptors in the five kingdoms.”

“Thought that was dwarves.”

“I suggest you put aside all the Tolkien crap. Seriously. He might’ve been trying to keep old folklore alive in your world, but here, some of that stuff could get you killed, if you believed it.”

“What like?!”

“Well, for one, as I said, Trolls, pleasant, if a little brutish in appearance. Elves, faeries… Best avoided if at all possible. That’s why, hundred miles south of here’s further than most of us are willing to go. I only just got back from there yesterday, might not’ve made it were it not for my master.”

They’d been walking for about ten minutes when Olban’s eyes widened and his arm shot out to stop Brian in his tracks.

He turned to the south.

“What did you do that for?”

“Look.” Olban pointed at the ground. At the toadstool.

“What about it? It’s just”

“It’s not alone. Look closer.”

The toadstool was one of many, all forming a line which curved away from them in both directions.

“But we know what makes them do that, the fungus in the ground just grows out in all directions and sends up fruiting bodies at the ends of”

“Yes, that’s how they form, but”

“You’re not seriously saying fairy rings”

“Are incredibly dangerous, yes. It is how they can travel between their realm and ours and if you stumble into one, woe betide you. You might never see home again.”

“Oh, shit! What about Sarah? She’ll think I’m dead! She might’ve even found another bloke by now! My life’s ruined even if I do make it back!”

“Don’t panic. It’s fine.”

“What do you mean, fine, she”

“She only realised you were missing yesterday.”

“But I’ve been gone”

“Two days, maybe three or four at the most.”

“But that’s impossible!”

“It’s not, y’know. Your life’s intact, there, don’t worry. I suppose there might be some things to fix. It depends what your doppelganger did while he was posing as you.”

“Doppelganger? You don’t mean those… Those things were in my home?”

Olban nodded. “I’m afraid so. But he wasn’t there for long and we dealt with him, don’t worry. He’s dead.”

“You… You killed me?”

“No… I suppose it’ll ease your mind so… This is what’s been happening.”

Olban began to explain, starting with their encounter with the wolf.

They’d left the fairy ring behind but only travelled another hundred yards before there was a clap of thunder and gust of wind. It came from the circle. Olban span in shock and stared at the woman lying unconscious in the centre of it.

“Oh, hell!”

Brian turned, took in the scene and bolted towards her.

“Brian! Stop!”

But Brian ignored him. He was just about to cross the threshold, into the circle, when Olban rolled up his sleeve in a panic, closed his eyes, and Brian shot into the air.

He let out a yelp as he slowly drifted back towards Olban.

“I thought I told you those things were dangerous. You can not cross into a fairy ring!”

“Put me down! How are you even doing this!? She needs help!”

Olban sighed, lowered Brian back to the ground before him and gripped his arm before he could make another move. “Look more closely.”

She was beautiful, that much was certain. She wore the finest silks, a gold circlet on her brow but on her back, large filigree wings, similar to those of a dragonfly.

“She’s a bit big for a fairy, isn’t she?”

“They’re not like Tinkerbell, y’know. What they are is flighty, chaotic, quick to anger, quick to… well, anything. They could be incredibly generous one moment or sadistic to the point of insanity the next. You’ve got to be careful around them. Very careful.”

“But surely, if we don’t help, won’t… Won’t they…”

“Take their revenge? Probably, yes. Brian, take off your outer tunic. I’ll take off my hose.”

“But”

“I have no intention of going into the circle, but… Just watch.”

“Why do you want me to undress?”

“Everything has a touch of magic to it in this world, including our clothing.”

“Clothes? That’s how you levitated me?”

Olban rolled up his sleeve and pointed at the armband. “It’s come in useful a couple of times both here and in your world. Now, tunic, off. It has health and healing woven into it. Watch.”

Olban took out his dagger, sliced the palm of his hand and held it up. Immediately, the wound closed, not even leaving a scar. “We don’t suffer from diseases, here. Most injuries are healed just as quickly as that. A broken bone’s fixed in less than a day, normally.”

He sat, kicked off his boots and untied the straps that held his hose up, before slipping them off and putting his boots back on. “Tunic off, Brian. She does need help. Just hope she’s grateful.”

“But how do you get to her if you can’t go into the circle?”

“What’s that saying? If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, or something?”

Brian nodded.

“Well, this mountain will.” He pointed and the woman rose gently into the air and drifted towards them.

As she drifted closer, a trail appeared behind her. Flowers sprang up in her wake, and as she got closer still, it became apparent why. Blood soaked the underside of her garments and as it dripped to the ground, wherever it landed, a new flower emerged.

“Oh, bloody hell!” Brian undid his belt and pulled his tunic off. He staggered and sat in shock, looking around in confusion, then sprang to his feet again. “I… I thought you said that thing healed, I feel better without it I feel like a new man it’s amazing I’ve not felt so energetic since I was a kid I feel like”

“Brian, please! Magic can take it’s toll if it’s doing a lot, it was draining you to heal you. I’ve got no idea what injuries they inflicted on you, but you said yourself, disembowled, broken bones, what else? Just help me put these on.”

Brian nodded and rushed over with the tunic.

They were on in less than a minute and even before they’d lain her down again and knelt by her side, the wound on her forehead was gone, and a lot of the others were closing.

A minute later, her eyelids fluttered and she sat up, propped on her elbows. She looked around and sighed. “Mortals! Why did it have to be mortals?”

Olban bowed his head. “Your eminence. We were just passing the ring when you appeared, and lucky we did. Very few pass this way.”

“But mortals, in the fields of Erdoin? Who granted you passage?”

“We’re not in Erdoin, your eminence. We’re about five miles from the human village of Little Dafford.”

“I…” Her eyes narrowed. “How dare you conceal yourself in my presence? Show yourselves!”

“I’m sorry, your eminence, I… I don’t… I’m right here.”

Oh, shit. You don’t think she was talking to me, do you?

“Of course I was talking to you. Reveal yourselves! Now!”

It’s my turn to say I don’t understand, your eminence.

She rolled her eyes, said “Out! Now!” and clicked her fingers.

Several things happened at once. Olban gripped his head and collapsed to the grass, but as he did so, Gareth and Eloise appeared by his side.

At the sight of them, Brian let out a yelp of “Gareth!” and sprang forward to give him a hug, but passed through him, tripped over Olban and collapsed to the ground.

“Ow! What’s happening?” Gareth looked down at himself. He held his hand up. “Why can I see through my hand? Why did he”

“You have no physical presence, child. Now, explain. Where is it?”

“My body? Back home, your eminence.”

“And where is this home?”

“Another world, your eminence. The same world he’s from.” Gareth pointed at his dad.

“World travellers? Mortal world travellers? Would you care to explain how?”

Gareth sank to his knees before her. “We didn’t understand until a few days ago ourselves. We met someone in the between after crossing the dreaming. A wolf. He explained.”

“One of the guides? And he spoke to you?”

“A couple of times, now, your eminence. It seems we were both born at the exact same instant in time at exactly the same physical location, but in different worlds.”

“A nexus! Do you have any idea how rare, how special that is? And her?”

“Nexus? That’s what you call us?”

“Yes. It happens to all races on occasion. For us, it’s much more profound, much more… venerated. She doesn’t fit, she’s different, why?”

“The wolf. Olban…” Gareth turned to look at his… brother… “Oh, shit, is he OK?”

“It seems I not only owe you my gratitude, but an apology. He’ll be fine. The shock of your sudden… exit from his mind. Now…” She pointed at Eloise again.

Gareth nodded. “The wolf was guarding her. She was… Well… Vacant is the best way I can put it when we first saw her. He asked us to take her. Allow her to be a passenger, because he knew what we had planned.”

“And your plans?”

“Separate ourselves. We’re always apart when we cross the dream, so Olban had just completed the manufacture of a couple of magical trinkets that would allow both of us to manifest physically in my world, but she was a nexus, too. She was even more special, a nexus of six, not just two, like us.”

“Six!?”

Gareth nodded. “Please put us back. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as a ghost.”

“In that form, you’d remain that way for the rest of eternity. Doesn’t that appeal? Immortality?”

“Never to eat? To touch anything? Helpless? Powerless?”

“A lot of fun can be had by a disembodied spirit, but very well. You will be restored.”

“Can I ask you, your eminence? What happened? You suffered terrible injuries.” Gareth nodded at the trail of flowers from the centre of the circle.

“It appeared out of nowhere, attacked us. No matter what we hit it with, it changed its form to counter it. It began as a human, but when we attacked it with arrows, it turned to stone. We threw boulders at it in an attempt to crush it, but it turned to mist and they passed right through. We threw cold at it and it turned to ice, but continued to attack us. Nothing we had worked. I barely escaped with my life!”

Olban grunted, forced himself to his feet and knelt before her, this time gripping his head. “Please. I’ll tell you our tale. We’ve encountered them before, these shapeshifters. We may be able to aid you, too, because we’ve defeated more than one, but… It hurts!”

“Oh, very well.” Another click of the fingers and Gareth and Eloise vanished.

Olban sank to the grass in relief and the pain vanished with them.

Home sweet home. Echoed in Olban’s mind.

“Tell me.”

Olban nodded, returning to his kneeling position beside her. “It all started about a week ago in his world.” He pointed at Brian.

* * *

“And that’s why we were passing your circle when you appeared, your eminence.”

She nodded. “And you believe the enchantments within your armband are the key to defeating these… things?”

“It’s worked against them so far, but they have been growing, learning. Each one we encountered was better, more cunning, more convincing.”

“Show it to me.”

Olban rolled up his sleeve and held it before her.

A brush of her hand was enough to cause the designs to glow. She studied the intricacies, traced them with her finger. “This part. This barrier?”

“We realised after we’d encountered the first one that they could read our minds, so I incorporated that to prevent it. That might be why it could anticipate all your attacks. It knew what you were going to do before you did it.”

“Ingenious. And this?”

“Bands of light. They bind the creature. Prevent it from transforming.”

“Yes. I see how it works. I must go. With this information, we may even defeat it, but before I do.” She touched Olban on the forehead. “A gift to each of you. To Gareth and Eloise, the spirit form you experienced, you may use.” She noted the alarm cross Olban’s face and giggled. “Worry not, a part of them will remain when they take spirit form. An anchor, if you will. It won’t hurt. But I warn you, now. The gift of the fae may be a double-edged sword. Remain out for too long and the anchor will wither and die. If that happens, you’ll remain insubstantial, a ghost, forever.”

Gareth would’ve gulped if he’d had a throat to gulp with, right then. How long is too long?

“Within the cycle of night and day, a quarter of that. As you approach the limit, you will begin to feel it, you’ll know to return.”

Olban stared at her in shock. “What about when we choose to separate completely, your eminence?”

“It’s only when in spirit form. You, too, will benefit from that when Gareth awakens in his world. I also grant you knowledge. It’ll come to you in flashes over the coming days.” She turned to Brian. “Father of Gareth. Kneel before me.”

Brian glanced from side to side as if trapped.

“Do as she says, Brian. Please.”

He nodded and knelt.

She placed her palm on his head but snatched it away as if it burned. “Such pain. Such torment. I almost admire them, the creativity of it. Even we don’t make transgressors suffer that much. To you, I grant forgetfulness.”

“But I don’t want to forget everything!”

“I only take the memory of your pain, you’ll still remember what happened to you. Without the pain, you can begin your healing.”

Another touch on the forehead and Brian fell back into the grass with a sigh.

“Thank you!”

She undid the belt, pulled off the hose, shrugged off the tunic and shot into the air, her wings making a low hum. “Do not attempt to call on me.” She shot off to the south, but her voice carried on the wind. “But I may call on you!”

Olban watched her depart as he sat and started pulling on his hose. “Tunic back on, Brian. We’ve got to go.”

Brian sighed, put it on, fastened the belt and sank to the ground in shock as a wave of exhaustion struck. “I… But I felt fine! I was healed. There was…”

Olban regarded his second father with concern. “Still feeling drained with it on?”

“Yes! It’s even worse, now that I’ve felt what it’s like not wearing it!”

“I want you to be honest with me. Gareth’s mature enough to handle it, if you had any bad news you’ve been holding back.”

What are you saying, Olban?

“I don’t understand, what do you mean?”

“Was there anything wrong with you before you were taken? I told you, we don’t suffer any diseases here, the magic takes care of it before anything bad can happen. In your world, things can get pretty bad, pretty quick, and if something’s advanced enough to be life-threatening…”

Brian sighed. “Alright. Can Gareth pop out, like he did earlier. I’d prefer to say this in person.”

Oh, shit, it is isn’t it. What is it? Cancer? I’m not sure how. Maybe if I just…

Gareth concentrated and the next thing he knew, he was staring his father in the face. He looked down at himself, at his semitransparent form. “Well, that was easier than I was expecting. What is it, Dad?”

Brian nodded. “It’s… Don’t tell your mother! Understood? I don’t want her worrying, you know how she’ll react.”

“Dad! What the hell is it?!”

“It’s cancer. One of the bad ones, but they said it’s also a slow one. They can’t do anything, now, it’s gone too far. Your mother doesn’t even know I’ve been on insulin for the past few months.”

“Oh, God! Dad? How long?”

“6 Months, maybe a year if I’m unlucky.”

“Unlucky!?”

“They said the end wouldn’t be pleasant, Gareth!”

Olban chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry, Gareth. Brian, just put up with the exhaustion for a day, you’ll be fine. The magic’s doing its thing. You’ll be cancer free in no time.”

“But it metastasised! That’s why they said they couldn’t help me!”

“That’s probably why the enchantments are taking so long. They’ve got a lot of work to do! Trust me, you’ll be fine. They’ll see you as a medical miracle when you do get back. You’re in this world for a while, you might as well take advantage of it while you are.”

Gareth grinned at Olban. “You don’t think…”

“Think what?”

“Our little heart-to-heart? He was hurting Dad to get at me, remember? But when you gave him those little home truths he needed, along with how to lose the pain… Maybe he knew, he must have, they can read minds, after all. Maybe that’s why he sent Dad here rather than home? So he could be cured!”

“I hadn’t even considered that, but that’s a bloody good point.” Olban crouched and helped Brian to his feet. “I’ll help, but we’ve got to go! It’s more urgent now than ever!”

“What is?”

“If those things can attack faerie, they could be coming out anywhere, any world. We need to speak to the Thane as well as Master Stell. We need to mobilise! Get word to the eorls, to the king himself. This could get nasty!”

“Thane?”

“The leader of our village.”

“Not chieftain, then?”

“We are a part of a kingdom, Brian. Before you ask, I suppose the Earth equivalent of eorl would be earl. They hold the real power in the shires. Only the king and the gods themselves have more.”

* * *

“How… How much… further?”

Olban turned to see sweat pouring down Brian’s face. His knees wobbled, he gasped for breath and he was white as a sheet.

“Do you think you can make it to the top of this hill?”

“Why… not… not rest here?”

“Trust me…” Olban sighed as Brian’s legs gave out and he sank to his arse, tears streaming down his face. “I… I can’t.”

“OK, OK. Here.” Olban pulled Brian up by the armpits, lifted him back to his feet, grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. “I’ll carry you the last few yards. We can rest at the top, there’s something I want you to see.”

Olban marched up the hill, placed Brian back on the grass and stared him in the eye.

“Now, you just walked nearly five miles with the drain of the tunic slowing you down. Do you think you could’ve done that before you were taken without stopping to rest?”

“Twenty years ago, maybe.” Brian smiled. “But… I would’ve been stopping every fifty yards. Why couldn’t we rest down at the bottom of the hill, though?”

“I wanted you to see,” Olban placed his hands on Brian’s shoulders and turned him, “that. Welcome home, for the time being, at least.”

Nestled at the bottom of the valley, a ribbon of silver snaked its way down the middle of it, where it passed under a tall wooden wall and ran between the twenty large roundhouses of the village. There were a lot of smaller ones and at the village’s centre, one about four times the size of the others. At the far end of the valley, spanning the river was a large stone structure which, when viewed from above, had the appearance of a tree. A thin trunk, longer than the branches led to a gate in the village wall and at its end, seven branches radiated out.

“That’s where you live?”

“Third roundhouse from the left, The smaller ones next to it are my workshop and that of my Brother, Mavon. I know, I know, no mod cons, no home comforts, no TV, radio, internet.”

Brian chuckled. “I don’t care about them! I get to live in a genuine Iron Age village! I get to experience what life was like in Britain three thousand years ago! I mean, good God, man, I… Take your time, Olban. As much time as you like. No preferential treatment for me. You have seven rings to make, make mine last.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I want to live as you live. I want to experience it! I used to obsess about ancient Britain when I was a boy. My bedroom was covered in posters about things like… Well… That!”

“You’ll be our guest, Brian! We won’t put you to work! Besides, what could you do down there? All the skills we rely on, your people lost millennia ago! OK, a few, like smithing, you may have refined, but, you’re no smith, are you? Do you have anything to offer?”

Brian shrugged. “Tell me what some of your trades are, maybe I could have one of you teach me a thing or two?”

“You’re a bit old to take on an apprenticeship, y’know.”

“How about warrior? You mentioned mobilisation. How about teaching me to fight? Once I’ve got my energy back I know I can handle it, now.”

Fight? Gareth yelped. What the… hang on. He concentrated and appeared again. “What the hell do you mean, teach you to fight? You”

“I need to rip those things from bollocks to chin, Gareth. I need to cave in their fucking skulls and take an egg whisk to their brains! I ne”

“Dad! Please!”

“Gareth! Shut it! I know what I’m doing! Besides, here, I’m protected. You saw what he did to his… Well, you felt what he did to his hand. You saw what this tunic did to that fairy. If I tried fighting them back home, I’d be killed in no time, but here? I need this, Gareth. I need this more than… Just stay out of it! Olban, I want you to take me to your warriors, have them train me. I don’t care if it takes weeks! Months even!”

“Dad, what about Mum?”

“You’ll just have to make up an excuse, won’t you? Tell her it’ll take time to gather the materials. Tell her the magic’s too complicated to rush, that I’ll be back when I get back. It’s not like I’ve got a job to go to, there and I’m bored shitless in that house! I hate retirement! Now I get one final adventure before I peg it!”

“Dad, you can’t!”

“I’m rustling the newspaper, Gareth.”

“Dad, listen to me!”

“Rustle, rustle!” Brian turned his back on Gareth and regarded the village again.

“Gah!” Gareth vanished. He’s impossible! I hate that fucking newspaper.

Why’s a newspaper so important?

It was always his signal, Eloise. End of conversation.

Brian pointed at the stone structure. “Why does that one look so different?”

“That’s our Llan.” Olban glanced at Brian with amusement. “I suppose the closest you’d get in English would be temple. Stone is eternal, the gods are eternal. Each of those arms represents one of them. Seven in total.”

“More than one… Of course there’s more than one… Even ours had more than one until Christianity came along… So nothing like that happened here?”

“No point. We know the gods exist. Just as we know magic exists.”

“You… you don’t think… They’re not… well… the gods everywhere, are they? Please, tell me Christianity got it all wrong. I’d love to see the look on their faces.”

“No, Brian. There’s no evidence our gods ever touched your world. Seems that’s one thing you should be grateful for. Some of those competing religions would’ve been fucked if the gods really existed. They don’t take kindly to fakery, they see it as disrespectful. Probably end up cursed or…” Olban shuddered. “I’d rather not talk about it. Have you recovered enough to walk, now?”

Brian nodded.

“I’ll hand you over to Coban. He can tell you anything you need to know. I’ve got a lot to do today.”

“Coban?”

“Little brother, he’s likely to have less to do than Mavon. Mavon’s got kids and pottery to turn.”