Keon-hee groaned.
Well past breakfast, off the Azure Dragon Road . . .
Another nightmare, but too real to simply be a dream. Just like the one she'd had several times in a row, where she'd been that girl who had fallen from a cliff and been swallowed by shadows. This time, she'd been a girl whose doll had come to life.
"My head," she whimpered. Oh, my stomach. Though empty, it was doing erratic flips, worsening the pain in her head.
Small wet hands patted her cheeks and her forehead, bringing her around and soothing the ache. Her vision cleared, and three water-elementals threw their arms in the air as though cheering. "Thanks, little Undis," she said weakly. They grinned at her, waved bye-bye, and vanished.
Keon-hee waited patiently for her brain to assume its normal shape, uncomfortable with the lingering sense of unwilling, inappropriate arousal that the nightmare had given her. What had happened? Where was she? Where were the others? Asher and Miss Rabbit and those Card Hunters?
She tried to move, but when she almost fell out of a tree, she realized just how high up the explosion must have sent her.
Keon-hee stared down at the ground, fighting off unwelcome dizziness. Miss Rabbit was amazing! That had been her most effective trap yet!
Keon-hee shook her head, slipping a little farther out of her perch. She didn't have time to be impressed! The others might need her. So, her fanny hanging between two branches, she tried to formulate a new plan.
That was when she realized that she was alone. The strap she usually wore across her chest was missing.
"Sang-eo?"
Sang-eo, being a shark, couldn't make a sound. Not with his throat, anyway. A frantic thumping and sudden shower of torn leaves in her face made Keon-hee look up. Sang-eo, wedged much like she was, flapped his tail into the tree's trunk as hard as he could. His visible eye looked as woebegone as those of a small, fluffy creature soaked by rain.
"Sang-eo!" Unthinking, Keon-hee reached for him. One of her support branches broke under her weight. It crashed onto the ground in a hurricane of bark and twigs. Dangling from her knees, she spat out leaves and the hem of her shirt. She was pretty sure some kind of pollen or dust went up her nose. She sneezed mightily. This world was so unfriendly! "Hold on! I'm coming."
Sending a prayer of thanks to Hananim, goddess of tides, that Asher wasn't around to see this, Keon-hee wriggled upright and then began to scale the few branches separating her from her friend. The tree wasn't very nice, all scratchy and rigid, but its branches offered great handholds. She had just about climbed high enough to grab Sang-eo's jaw-ring when a glitter of golden light near her shoulder caught her eye.
She peered through the leaves, pushing them aside, to find a nest big enough for a pelican. And in the nest—
"What is this?" she asked no one in particular, reaching out to touch it. "It looks like an egg."
A large egg, alone in the nest. Its shell gleamed like gold, smooth and flawless. Keon-hee's reverent fingers were an inch away from the shell when someone asked her, "Are you after the egg, too?"
Keon-hee started and almost fell out of the tree again. "Oh! I didn't know you were there."
"You" was a girl close to her age, sitting in a nearby tree on a swing made of a slab of metal and two long coils of barbed wire.
Alice! Keon-hee thought in befuddled amazement – but no. Alice wasn't real. Keon-hee felt strange, almost dizzy. She had seen this girl, somewhere, but she was as sure as the riptide was strong that she never had . . .
The girl's hair, which was a bright white-yellow, framed her face and shoulders in a riot of shiny curls. A violet ribbon was tied in a huge bow on top of her head. Her dress, gray as a storm, set off the amethyst brooch at her throat, clasped on a high, frilly collar. The pleated, cream-colored skirt covered her legs down to the ankle. Her feet were small, her stockings white, her shoes black.
Keon-hee, hair mussed, face scratched, holding herself in place by her armpits and one leg, immediately felt like a sea cucumber broiling in the sun just from looking at this aloof, overdressed girl.
The girl's eyes were silver, reflective like metal, her lashes thick and blonde, her skin pallid and unhealthy-looking. She was not smiling.
Something moved at her side, and then a smaller head appeared. A doll?
Keon-hee's eyes widened. The doll! Wearing her fussy gray dress and the black ribbon in her platinum hair.
Then, this girl must be—!
The doll pointed at Keon-hee. "If you touch that egg without Rose's permission, I will squash you like a bug," it said.
..::~*~::..
Card Hunter Siegfried Ferdinand Suttroheim, the Third lay on the ground, pinned by a felled redwood, faint wisps of smoke rising from his bald, burned head, eyes rolled up and mouth foaming.
"So this guy's tellin' the truth?" the Firelord asked. It had taken three applications of the magnifying glass to get the Card Hunter to tell all that he knew.
She touched her temple, as she had periodically been doing since she'd woken without any memories of who she was or how she'd gotten there, wincing at the tenderness of the lump under her hair. "Yes. I remember now. I am the candidate to be the next Light Card Master."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," he mumbled, scrubbing the back of his head so vigorously she took a discreet step back, thinking vaguely of fleas. "You're the Elementis Achaici's pet alien."
She bristled. "What – Who—?" She'd heard the whispers on the way here. Was that what everyone in Ephemeros thought of her? She stamped her foot. "I am not a pet. What a horrible thing to say! I have been entrusted with a sacred duty."
She had been so proud to be chosen, so nervous but also delighted at the chance to see more of the world than just the halls of the Shrinechurch. The trip had been uneventful, a few days of airship travel, disembarking at nearby Pochee Town, and a pleasant morning walk in the woods. Following the glints of gold through the sun-dappled forest, nose twitching at the scent of magic on the breeze, far quicker and more nimble than any human – in her growing excitement, she hadn't realized she'd lost track of her escort. The egg had been just where Djamila's divination had foretold, large as a baby. She had crouched on her heels, reaching out with both hands.
"Boss! Over here!"
The rough voice had made her heart jump into her mouth. She had stood and whirled, trying to hide the telltale golden glow of the egg with the hem of her kimono, but it was too late.
"Hand over the egg." The biggest man she had ever seen had pushed through the undergrowth. He had leered at her, his regard crawling like a slug from her red geta to her trembling ears. "Don't worry. We won't hurt you. As long as you don't call for help."
"Help!" she had immediately called, gaze jumping from space to space between the trees, desperately seeking the Shrinechurch's Guardian Corps' blue steel armor, cambric tabards emblazoned with the golden Seal of Seven. "Hello? I'm here! Please help!"
The dirty-clothed, leather-clad brigands had grinned, coming closer, axes and short swords in their fists, penning her in. Some of them had laughed, sounding as sated as men after a grand feast, anticipating the sport that came after.
"No one can help you now," the leader had said, standing with his muscle-knotted legs wide, hips thrust forward, codpiece screamingly obvious. "We took care of them all."
She had started to cry at the news. Her escort! Those brave men and women, ordered to guard her, just doing their duty to see her through the bonding safely so that she could help stabilize this wondrous world of dreams. They hadn't deserved to lose their lives for her.
Still. She had wiped her face dry with her sleeve. She couldn't relinquish the egg. She couldn't let Djamila down, not after all Djamila had done for her. Found her, nursed her back to health, trained her, and then gave her this most sacred of tasks. But she had never used her Cards against another living creature before. The thought terrified her.
She had known it was a useless gesture, but she had swooped down and scooped up the egg, preparing to run away with the large, unwieldy thing on foot. No matter her size or what she looked like, she was fast. She might have made it.
Like lightning made of silver, a metal chain had ricocheted around the trees, stabbing into bark and leaf litter. Several four-legged animals with metal legs had charged out of the underbrush, yowling. One of them had leaped up and clamped its jaws shut on her arm, teeth prickling but not tearing her sleeve. The egg had flown out of her grasp. Instantly, the chain had zipped back and forth, up and down, wrapping around branches, driving into the earth. It had formed a shining cage around the egg. The feline-like animals had then gone to work on the Hunters, tearing into anyone who approached.
"Woah!" cried the Hunters. The pinging, screeching sounds of blades on metal legs and fangs made her cringe, but did not slow the felines. "Stop! Augh! What are these?"
The chains had grabbed a Hunter, lifted him, struggling, and had then pulled. All of his limbs had twisted in different directions and had broken, including his neck.
She had muffled her scream in the egg's shell. It sickened her to see the Ephemeral Cards used in such a way.
"They're Card spirits! RUN!"
The brigands had gone crashing away. The metal-legged felines had flowed after them.
After a beat of silence, the metal chain had retracted, rattling. It had reformed into a Card held lightly in the dimpled hand of a girl with eyes the same reflective silver as the felines'. She had tucked the Card into a pocket of her dark gray dress. When she had lifted her face, it had no expression at all.
"Who are you?" the doll-like girl had asked in a voice completely lacking inflection. "I was napping. Why did you waken me?"
"Oh!" Her knees had almost given out in relief, and she hugged the precious egg tighter. "I'm Lillipin. Thank you so much for your help."
"How odd this place is. I found the rabbit, but she is not a rabbit," the girl had said, mystifying Lillipin.
"Are you a Card Master, too?" she had tried next.
The girl had blinked silver eyes at her. Slowly. Dreamily. Uncomprehendingly.
"I do not know," she had said at last, indifferent. "It is nice to meet you, Lillipin. My name is Rosemary, and this is my best friend, Elspeth."
Lillipin had cocked her head, politely but thoroughly confused by then. "Who—?"
"Me," had said a totally different voice, small and brash, like a jay's. Then, when she didn't locate the source quickly enough: "Down here, dummy."
"I asked her to protect the egg while I went back and set traps for the Hunters," Lillipin finished. She'd asked the doll, as a matter of fact, bowing so low the tips of her ears had brushed the grass to appease the bellicose little thing. "There was no other way. She wouldn't leave the forest."
At the end of her story, the Firelord tossed away the magnifying glass. It tinkled on the rocks, glass and aluminum. "That chick, she's the Sorceress of Metal?"
"I'm sure of it." Lillipin sighed. "I have to report her existence to the Grandmancers."
Truthfully, they would want her to bring all three of them in, the Firelord, the Sorceress of Water, and the Sorceress of Metal. For their own safety, just like hers, but, out here in the wilderness, seeing these people (were they people, like she was?) fighting on their own, doing good, taking care of the Card Spirits entrusted to them, just because they could . . . Lillipin sighed again.
"Right, then. I'm out," the Firelord said, turning away. "You go ahead and pretend you're an equal with those high and mighty elemancers. Pretend they don't own you. Good luck to you on that. I'm not interested. I've got my own problems."
"Mr. Asher!"
"What now?"
She squared her shoulders and looked up at him, speaking with all the authority of the Elementis Achaici behind her. "Please, I beg of you, lend me your aid. Miss Rosemary is out there alone, and so is Miss Keon-hee. We must help them, and I must get the egg back before it hatches."
He closed one eye, squinting down at her without a trace of a smile. "And what makes you think I'm in the habit of finishing someone else's quest? Especially for free!"
"I know you're a good man, Mr. Asher," Lillipin said firmly, standing her ground, though she couldn't quite keep her ears straight under his blatant look of disbelief in her authority. If he would just smile he would be a very different person. Besides, "Djamila told me all about you."
..::~*~::..
"I'm so sorry, is this egg yours?" Keon-hee asked, withdrawing her hand. "I didn't mean to intrude. I don't even know what it is, and I didn't know it was there. See, I got separated from my friends—"
Large-link chains sprang out of nowhere, clanking. They looped around her like a fast-moving whirlpool. Then the loops snapped tight to her body, immobilizing her arms. She cried out in surprise and pain as they yanked her out of the tree and held her suspended over the forest floor. Sang-eo, still wedged, looked ready to turn himself inside-out, frantic at being left behind.
The girl Keon-hee knew as Miss Rosemary Rossbach clasped Elspeth's tiny porcelain hand in her own as her barbed-wire swing lowered her gracefully to the ground. She stood, her shiny shoes pointed slightly in toward each other, Elspeth held so that the doll's little arms stuck out straight. Rattling, the chains lowered Keon-hee, too, but did not release her. She squirmed, gasping tearfully at the bite of the links on her bare skin, and Elspeth slanted a sly look at her with its blue glass eyes.
Keon-hee shuddered at the inhuman regard. This must be how the victims of a spider-crab felt.
"Ow," she whimpered. She struggled, tangling herself up tighter. "Please stop. Why are you doing this? I don't mean you any harm, I promise!"
"It is my duty," said the other girl in her quiet, emotionless voice. "I must protect the egg."
"And Rose always keeps her promises." The doll, in contrast, was boisterous, pink porcelain lips curved in a predatory grin. "Only grownups lie."
I'm not a grownup, Keon-hee thought sullenly. She did not like that doll. Calling her a liar! So rude! She couldn't be more than a couple of seatides older than the girl, anyway. This poor girl who had lived the nightmare of lace and scissors and arousal and fear, and not ready for any of it. Keon-hee couldn't imagine the pain of actually being born in a world like that.
Her heart hurt just thinking about it. Then, memories of Eun-Jun flooded in and washed all the awfulness away. The music of Eun-Jun's reading voice; the whiteness of her arms and legs in the darkling sea, and the softness of her long hair, billowing in the violet currents; the tentative press and give of her lips, the pressure of Eun-Jun's hands on her hips; the love, as yet unspoken between them, glowing in her eyes. Guilty warmth tinged Keon-hee's cheeks. I guess I almost am.
Miss Rosemary raised her hand, and Keon-hee's already unhappy stomach lurched at the upwelling of elemental power. More chains appeared from the human girl's dagged sleeves, the first coils breaking off, forming jagged spikes. "I must stop those who want the egg."
"I'm telling the truth! I don't know anything about the egg!" Keon-hee watched in open-mouthed horror as the chain, winking in the sun like the point of a harpoon, turned toward her face.
"For Hananim's sake!" she yelled. "I'm an alien!"
The spikes shot forward, sudden as a diving osprey. She flinched.
Nothing.
Birds chirped. The sun beat down. Limp, sweaty hair sticking to her temples, Keon-hee cracked open her eyes.
The broken chain was poised an inch from her face, unmoving. She tried to remember how to breathe.
The attacking chain melted into nothing, and Keon-hee released the air from her lungs explosively. She hung in her chains, panting.
"Is it true?" Miss Rosemary asked, at last showing a spark of life. Her metallic eyes shone interestedly in her pretty, expressionless face, perfectly balanced between childhood and maturity. The doll hanging on her arm looked alarmed, but didn't interrupt. "You, too, are from a different world?"
A/N: So I lost the original A/N I had posted, but since this chapter is mostly new material I figure it doesn't really apply anymore, anyway. If you left a review last chapter, I thank you again . . . if the site says you left a review on this one, please don't let that deter you! Leave a guest review or send me a PM, I'm kinda proud of how this is going and would LOVE to hear from you! Pretty please? Especially since I'm totally ignoring "Among Us" right at the finish line to work on this, haha, my brain is a sadistic and contrary bitch.
I truly hope you're enjoying the story! Humbly yours,
~ Anne