|
Daniel held the worm tooth in his hand and fingered it as he retold his journey through Ether to Beth, who sat on the couch. She was nodding now and then, but maintained a slight smile of satisfaction as she listened.
"Then, before we could hear what he was going to announce, some guards saw us in the corridor and we had to run. That's when I found a door, used the key, but then got pushed. Or shoved. Or maybe someone ran into me, I don't know exactly." He gripped the tooth, then pulled his uncle's key out of his pocket. "Which is why I have to go back. Ian could have been captured, and I'm the reason he was there in the castle to begin with. I just . . ." He looked at Beth. "By the time I go from the city to the castle again, I--"
"You don't have to," she said with a shake of her head. "That key will take you to any point in Ether that you can picture in your mind."
"What?"
She moved to the edge of the couch and leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "That's how it works. You imagine a place in Ether, then turn the key, and you'll step through at that spot."
Daniel looked at the key. "I didn't exactly imagine stepping into traffic when I used it the first time."
"So it took you to where you needed to be," Beth replied. "Or a random spot, I'm not exactly sure how it works on the first use. I thought it would just take you to a random spot in Ether, but an old man I spoke to a few months ago, while I was hunting down proof, he said that the key would take you where you needed to be, unless you told it where you wanted to go."
"Some old man?" Daniel asked. "How did you find my uncle? You never did mention how you managed to go from learning Ether wasn't real to standing on my uncle's doorstep looking for a key."
Beth waved a hand. "There's time for that later, and I will explain, but first shouldn't we try and rescue Ian?"
"We?"
"Yes, we," Beth replied. She straightened up, squaring her shoulders. "Ether is my home, after all. As is the castle. If Ian's being held there, I know the place inside and out."
Daniel stood and put the worm tooth into his pocket. He started pacing the living room as he spoke. "I think I know where he'll be. Your brother has cells in the dungeon with the names of those he has warrants out on. I saw one with Ian Foster printed on it. Chances are he's there." He looked at the key in his hand. "So, if you're right, all I have to do is picture that cell and use the key, and I'll step into Ether actually right in to that cell?"
Beth held up a hand. "Wait, we need to think this through. I mean, we can't just step into a dungeon cell, can we? The door would be locked behind us, and we couldn't use the key to get back here because there's no key hole on the inside of a cell door."
Daniel blinked. "Oh, right. You have a point there." His face flushed slightly when he realized he'd just been out-strategized by a pretty young woman. "Okay, so we need to step through into the dungeon itself, then find the key to the cell and get him out. Then we can get back here? Why not just go straight back to Murphy?"
Beth shook her head. "The key won't take you to places inside Ether, only there and back. We can go get Ian, then bring him back here. Then from here, go back to Ether and claim my throne from my murderous scum of an older brother." Her face had grown red, punctuating the end of her sentence with a very unladylike balled fist.
"One step at a time," Daniel cautioned. "First, it's too dangerous for you to go back there to mount a rescue. I'll go through, find Ian and bring him back here. Then we can figure out what to do next."
"You're not leaving me here, waiting in this living room, with no idea if you'll make it back or not!" Beth insisted. She raised a finger and pointed at Daniel. "I've waited years to find my way back to Ether. Why, if you knew half of what I've gone through just to prove my home was real, then you wouldn't even ask me to sit here on the couch while you go off to do your manly rescue thing. I'm not a helpless Disneyland princess. I'll have you know I'm a graduate of self defense class"
"It's a dungeon," Daniel insisted. "They're not going to come up from behind and try to mug you."
"I can handle myself." She planted her feet, crossed her arms, and dared him to argue. "If you go through, and something happens to keep you from coming back, I'll have lost my one and only chance to get home."
Daniel held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, let's see if we can work this through." He walked to the kitchen and pulled the magnetic grocery list paper from the fridge, then drew a diagram of the dungeon as he remembered it.
"We could come through the secret room, then down the long staircase," Beth offered.
"Too far away from the keys to the cell," Daniel countered. "Too much of a chance to be spotted from there to the keys, then back to the cell."
"You know where the keys are?"
He pointed to the door he and Ian had entered through. "I'd expect them in here somewhere. There was a guard desk, inside this door. If we could come through into the guard house, disable the guard, we could make him give us the key."
"Disable the guard? Just like that?"
"I thought you said you graduated self defense?"
Beth opened her mouth, eyes wide, and Daniel chuckled.
"Relax, I'll bring a gun, and some duct tape. I think stepping through a locked door easy as you please should startle any guard long enough to get the drop. I hope." He looked at Beth. "Still, I'd be happier if you stayed here."
"I wouldn't."
"No, I'm serious," Daniel continued. "You're, what, twenty-three? And a hundred and twenty if you stuffed your pockets with lead weights?"
Beth's jaw squared off against Daniel's protests. "Listen, mister. Unless you want to just hand me that key and let me be on my way back home, I'm coming with you. This is the last key to Ether in all of Otherworld."
Daniel's eyebrows went up. "Oh? And how do you know that?"
"Because it took me ten years to find this one, and I'll be damned if I'm going to wait another ten years to see if I can find another one."
Daniel stared at Beth, but she refused to look away or play the delicate female. In fact, he got the distinct impression if he didn’t let her come along, she'd just push her way through from behind and send them both sprawling across the floor of the guard room anyway.
Finally, he relented. "Okay, fine, you can come. But you're going to stay behind me, and do exactly as I say. We'll get Ian, and get right back here. No running off to find your brother--"
"Murderous scum of a brother," she corrected.
"Fine, no running off to find your murderous scum of a brother. We'll deal with that in good time."
"We?"
Daniel made a face. "I've passed a few self defense classes myself. Now, wait here." He ran upstairs to the bedroom where he'd left his duffel, and retrieved his hand gun, then came back down to find Beth tapping her foot impatiently in the kitchen. "Wait a second." He stopped in his tracks, the key in one hand. "If we go back and only a few minutes have passed, Ian might not be in the cell."
"No, the time weirdness only happens in Otherworld. If you've been gone for an hour, it'll be an hour later when you step through." She motioned for him to go to the door. "Unless we stand around here another hour, then it'll be two."
"I'm going to regret this," Daniel muttered as he walked back to the cellar door. "Stay behind me," he ordered.
"Just remember to bring that key along this time, okay?"
Daniel rolled his eyes, then slipped the key into the keyhole. "So, I just picture the door I want to step through?"
"Yes, easy as that," Beth replied. "I think."
"You thi -- never mind." He sighed, then closed his eyes and pictured the door from the stairwell into the guard room. Slowly, he turned the key, then the knob. Just as the door began to swing open, he pulled the key from the hole and raised his gun, opening his eyes as he eased the cellar door wider.
All he saw was the dark staircase leading down, until he stepped through the threshold. Suddenly he was in the guard house, gun at the ready, with Beth so close behind he could feel her breath on the back of his neck.
There was no guard, but he heard footsteps moving away and noticed the door leading out to the cells was swinging.
Daniel turned and pressed a finger against his lips, then motioned toward the desk. Beth glanced around, then carefully pulled a drawer open and glanced inside. Then another one. Then another.
She looked up and shook her head. "The guard must have them," she whispered.
Daniel went to the door and listened, then pushed it open slightly and looked down the first long corridor between rows of cells. As he turned to see if the coast was clear to the left, he noticed a set of keys hanging off a peg against the wall beside the door.
He grabbed the keys, then motioned for Beth to follow. "Stay close," he whispered harshly.
Beth took the keys from his hand. "You find the cell, I'll find the key."
Daniel didn't want to take the time to argue. He started down the row as quickly as he could without making a lot of noise.
More of the previously opened cell doors were closed now, and Daniel heard frustrated poundings and shouts emanating from all around.
"It's just down here a bit," he said as he pointed down the row. Three more doors down, and they were standing in front of a closed cell door sporting the name Ian Foster.
"I've got the key," Beth declared proudly. She held up one metal key with a marking, the number 43, then pointed to the number on the cell door next to the middle hinge. "Well, shouldn't we hurry up?"
"Yes, we should hurry up." Daniel took the key and slipped it into the door, then waved Beth around so she could enter the cell and be hidden should the guard come around the corner. "Ready?"
Beth rolled her eyes.
Daniel opened the door and she hurried inside.
"Ian? I'm Princess Marabeth, I'm here to rescue you!"
Daniel darted through the cell door and pulled it close without shutting it completely. "Ian?"
"What the hell? I thought you made it out?" Ian stood, eyes wide with surprise. He had the makings of a black eye developing, and there was dried blood on his left arm, but he seemed otherwise unhurt.
"I did, it's a long story and one I'd rather tell back home," Daniel replied. "So if you don't mind, can we go before the guard comes around that corner?"
Beth was beaming as she went back through the cell door, with Ian following behind.
"This better work," Daniel muttered has he pulled the cell key out and slipped his uncle's key into the cell's door. "Don't lag, just come through the door and let's get out of here."
"Back into the cell?" Ian asked.
"To Otherworld, silly," Beth replied.
Daniel turned the key, pushed the cell door open, pulled the key out and stepped through, back onto the dark cellar staircase. "Oh, damn!"
Beth and Ian were directly behind him, precariously perched on the same rickety wooden step. Daniel's sudden realization sent him stumbling down the stairs to the dusty floor in time to catch Beth as she tripped and landed on top of him.
Only Ian remained standing on the stairs, blinking in the dim light and holding the rail.
"I'd suggest, next time, you think about walking into your kitchen," Beth said as she pushed herself off Daniel.
"What just happened?" Ian asked.
Daniel stood, brushing dust from his shirt and pants, and followed Beth up the stairs. "I'm not exactly sure, but Beth, here, is going to explain everything."
Back in the kitchen, Ian stared at Beth. "Princess Marabeth?" He looked to Daniel. "Is this--"
"Otherworld," Beth announced with a smile. "It's a long story."
"One that she's about to go into," Daniel added. "Let me have a look at your arm while she does."
Ian glanced at his arm and shrugged. "It's just a graze."
"It probably is," Daniel replied. "But I'm gonna have a look anyway."
Ian complied by removing his shirt, but he couldn't take his eyes off Beth. "Have you been here all this time? Here in Otherworld?"
"I have," she nodded. "Since my murderous scum of a brother killed our father and pushed me through a door he'd opened using a key. A key to here."
"This needs stitches," Daniel declared. It was a deep cut, but nothing more than that. "Beth, if you could hand me that black case over there by the refrigerator, please." Daniel brought a stool over and had Ian take a seat while he pulled what he needed from his medical kit.
"So, this is really Otherworld?" Ian glanced around the kitchen.
"It is," Beth replied. "You can doubt it all you want, but it won't change the facts. And believe me, I did a lot of that over the past ten years."
"Which you will now explain in great detail while I stitch up Ian's arm," Daniel demanded.
Beth sighed heavily, then pulled up another stool and took a seat. "Okay, well the first part you know. My brother--"
"Your murderous scum of a brother," Daniel corrected.
Beth made a face. "My murderous scum of a brother, killed our dad. I didn't see it happen any more than you did, Ian, but we both know it's true."
Ian nodded. "And neither of us can prove it."
"Well, to ensure his own throne, which he would have had anyway once our father died of natural causes, he said he wasn't going to have his little sister running around the castle insisting he'd murdered to get it." She huffed and crossed her arms. "So he pulled me into this room, showed me a strange key and said he was going to send me away. Well, I'd heard of Otherworld, of course. Our dad occasionally entertained visitors who said they were from there. Or, here, I guess."
"So he sent you here?" Daniel asked. "Knowing you couldn't go back?"
Beth nodded. "He pushed me through the door, and I found myself in this park in a town in the Midwest. Well, you can imagine what people thought about a thirteen year old girl with no parents, no family, who kept insisting she was really a princess from a place called Ether."
"I've got a pretty good idea how they'd react," Ian said.
Daniel pulled out a syringe and bottle of Novocain. "Go on."
"Hang on." Ian held up a hand, looking at the needle. "Are you sure you're really a healer?"
"I am, yes," Daniel replied. "Don't interrupt the Princess."
Beth raised an eyebrow at his choice of emphasis, but continued without comment. "Well, I was too young to be allowed to control my own life here in Otherworld, so the governing people here put me with a foster family. When they didn't believe me either, I was put with another, then ordered to see a therapist who could help cure my delusions."
"Delusions?" Ian asked. "Does no one here know of Ether?"
"Not a one," Beth shook her head sharply. "Well, that's not exactly true. But very, very, very few of them do. So I had to talk to these therapists several times a week for months and months, and after a few years, I started to doubt it myself. I was sent to school, eventually started making friends, and gradually learned to stop mentioning Ether or my lineage." She sighed and shook her head sadly. "By the time I was twenty, I believed they were right."
"So what changed?" Daniel asked as he carefully stitched up Ian's wound. "You were twenty, I assume going to college?"
"Yes, I was in college, as a matter of fact. I was studying physics, which was really bringing home the reality to me, that Ether couldn't possibly exist." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the kitchen counter. "But then one day I was in this pawn shop, looking for an inexpensive present for my foster father's birthday, and I found a carved wooden ship." She sat up. "It was an airship, only bigger than the ones I was used to seeing in the village."
"Like that one?" Daniel nodded toward the bookcase in the living room.
Beth cocked her head to the side.
"Second shelf, on the far right."
She walked to the living room, then reached out to the bookcase and gave a victorious exclamation. "Exactly like this!" She hurried back to the kitchen and showed Ian the toy version of the Myst. "It was one of these."
Ian looked at the toy with disbelief on his face. "A child's toy?" He looked at Daniel. "My ship really was a child's toy to you?"
Daniel shrugged his apology.
"I asked the pawn shop owner where he'd acquired it, and he gave me the name of this old man in town. Well, I ran straight there, and it took me some time to convince him I wasn't crazy, though I suppose in my exuberance it did seem a bit like I was. His daughter was the caregiver, because this man must have been in his nineties. She tried to convince me her father was senile and had no idea what he was talking about. She said he'd always told these wild stories, but he'd also been a raging alcoholic and the family didn't speak with him for a long while."
Daniel felt a twinge of guilt for his uncle's credibility. "I wonder if that's part of having a key? No one believes you."
"Well, I believed him. And for weeks I stopped by his place every afternoon so he could tell me stories." She sat back down. "That's where I learned how you should visualize where you want to end up when you step through a door, or risk coming out at a random location. And where the time is so different, but only for Otherworld." She shook her head and bit a corner of her lower lip. "But I still couldn't figure out where, exactly, Otherworld is." She looked at Ian. "For instance, this place has only one moon. And Otherworld as a whole is massive, with a population that would blow your mind. But when I look up at the stars at night, I don't know if they're the same stars we have in Ether's night sky. I was never very good at that."
"Don't look at me," Ian replied with a shrug. "I just look at them, I don't pay all that much attention to any particular one."
"Well, unfortunately for me, this old guy didn't have his key any more. I learned from his daughter that all of his personal things had been tossed out, when she moved him in with her. In order for her to collect his social security money as payment for taking care of him."
"She was paid to care for her own father?" Ian asked.
"The morals are a little different here in Otherworld," Beth explained.
Daniel huffed. "This from a girl who's brother killed her father so he wouldn't have to wait to inherit the throne?"
Beth lowered her eyelids and gave Daniel a look. "Murderous scum of a brother."
"All right, so what about his key? They tossed it out? Out where?" Ian asked. "Won't someone just find it and use it like Daniel did?"
"He said his daughter threw it out in the trash, and that was two years ago," Beth replied with a shrug. "I expect it's been melted down for scrap by now. But he mentioned having sold a few things to the pawn shop, and his grandson was running around wearing a worm tooth at his neck. The kid thought it was from a dinosaur."
"So this old man knew Daniel's uncle?"
"No, but since he didn't have a key, and didn't know anyone who might, I got the idea to start searching other pawn shops," Beth explained. "I started out using the internet to search for other toy air ships, then widened my search to unusual collectors items and one-of-a-kind things. It took three years, and a lot of traveling and false leads, but eventually I found a guy who knew a guy who remembered a guy who showed that guy's little kid one of these carved ships, and that led me here." She looked at Daniel. "To look for your uncle."
Daniel had just finished bandaging Ian's arm and laughed shortly. "Looks like we were both just a tad bit late." He put his supplies back into the medical kit with a sigh. "I got here too late to say goodbye to Uncle Frank."
"Well, at least you have his key," Beth offered. "I was on the verge of giving up all hope. As it is, my searching drove my foster parents crazy. They're sure I've reverted back to my psychotic ways or something." She gave a shrug. "They're nice people, but they just don't get it."
"I'm right in the middle of all this, and I don't get it," Daniel replied. "But what I do get is that it's late, and we're all tired, and need time to think things out."
"Like how I'm going to get even with my murderous scum of a brother, and take the throne?" Beth asked, eyebrows raised.
"I need to get back to Murphy and let him know what Stefan is planning." Ian stood and pulled his shirt back on. "That murderous scum of a brother of yours is sending troops on a sweep of all Ether, and arresting anyone and everyone who opposes his rule. Even those who've simply debated his record over the past ten years or suggested the royal court be given more authority."
Beth stood. "He can't do that! It was our father's plan to wean the power off the monarchy and spread it around the royal court, for a more democratic nation."
"Yeah, well tell Stefan that."
"Hang on, just a minute." Daniel raised his hands. "There's time for that. It can wait at least one night, can't it? We can't charge back to Ether without some kind of plan, or idea, anyway. Let's just get a nice night's sleep and decide what to do in the morning."
Beth and Ian looked at him.
"We?" Ian asked. "And speaking of plans, aren't you the one who just endangered the Princess by leading her into a dungeon?"
Beth's chin jutted out in defiance.
"That was not my fault," Daniel countered. "The last time you saw this woman, she was a thirteen year old girl. I had to deal with a twenty three year old woman. And a graduate of self defense class, to boot."
Ian huffed.
"Now, there's no harm in taking one night, is there?"
Ian turned to Beth, who shrugged. "Well, it'll take Stefan days to get his forces from the village to the city. But it'll take us days, too."
"Not exactly," Beth said. "We can step into Ether wherever we want."
Now Ian's eyebrows raised. "Really?"
Beth nodded and Daniel shrugged.
"In that case, we can go back there onto my ship, at the edge of the forest, and fly back to the city a good three days ahead of Stefan's guard."
"Good, then let's get some rest." Daniel pointed toward the stairs leading up to the second floor.
Ian and Beth sighed, but didn't argue and dutifully marched up the stairs.
"Ian, take the last door on the right," Daniel directed. "I'm across the hall. And Beth, since you're the only lady in the house, you should have my uncle's bedroom. It has a private bath and the door locks."
She laughed lightly and smiled, which effectively set off a twinkle in her eyes. "I doubt I have anything to fear from either of you."
"You'll lock the door," Ian commanded. "I may not have seen you since you were thirteen, but I remember what you were like then. And until you do take that throne, as a former King's Guard, I get to order you around when it comes to your safety."
"You've been in this world long enough to know this is an inappropriate situation," Daniel said. "So do both of us men a favor and lock the door."
Beth sighed, then gave a half shrug and relented. "Good night."
"Good night."
Daniel tried hard not to think of her as he washed up for the night. She may have been a teenager when Ian last saw her, but now she was a woman, and only ten years their junior. Funny how age mattered less and less when one grew older.
He shook those thoughts away and went to his room. No telling what a former King's Guard would do if some jerk from Otherworld made a pass at his princess.
"She's twenty three," Daniel chastised himself. "Ten years is ten years."
A soft rap on the door startled him out of his frustration. He opened it to find Beth standing there, dressed only in a hugely oversized men's shirt she'd obviously found in Frank's room. He was too surprised at his lack of decorum having not offered her something to sleep in to worry about her long, bare legs.
"I found this on the nightstand, in the bedroom you put me in," Beth said as she held out a large white envelope. "It's addressed to you."
Daniel blinked. "What?" He accepted the envelope and looked at his name in black ink, shaped by his uncle's handwriting. "Oh, thank you."
"Well, good night." With that, Beth turned and walked back to the room, the sound of the door's lock falling into place punctuated the odd silence.
Daniel stared at the envelope. He hadn't wanted to take his uncle's bedroom, not yet, and so far had managed to completely avoid stepping in there.
He closed the door and dropped the envelope on the bed, then changed out of his clothes, shooting the white paper the occasional glance.
Not until he had the lights out, the nightstand lamp on, and had propped a pillow up against the headboard did he pick it up and open it. Inside, he found several handwritten pages in the same black ink and handwriting.
Daniel swallowed back a sudden surge of emotion, and began reading.
|
