Chapter 5
x
The cavern Haru descends into is dank and dimly lit, and bears the distinct stench of guano.
"What I don't get," she says once she drops from the rope and lands alongside the rest of the Bureau, "is why they decided they had to build their underground shopping centre here. Surely there are other, less-dragon-infested caves around."
"It was probable cheaper to buy this cave, and then hire somebody out to deal with the dragons," Other Muta grumbles cynically. "And apparently that somebody is us."
"That, or it'll be a location choice," Other Toto adds.
Haru waits for Muta's inevitable snap-back (and, privately, she agrees more with his hypothesis) but it never comes. "Or that," is the reply instead.
The Other Baron summons a small sphere of light and deposits it into Haru's hand. It bobs gently just above her palm, and is comfortably warm to the touch. "Ready to go?"
"Sure." She leans towards him. "How did you get Muta and Toto to stop arguing?" she whispers.
He stares at her, and Haru gets the distinct impression he would blink, if he could. "They do argue. You've seen them."
"Back at the Bureau, sure, and they've never really got into a full argument," she says, thinking that the most Other Toto and Other Muta got to was light bickering. "I mean out here, on cases."
The Other Baron smiles. "It's a case. They don't argue on cases."
Haru's nose wrinkles, and the Other Baron laughs. He starts down a tunnel, another small ball of light in his hand. "From that expressing, I'm guessing the Toto and Muta of your world don't make that sort of distinction?"
"I don't think I'd ever seen them work together," Haru admits. She decides that one time they locked her and the previous Baron in a haunted house in an attempt to get them to talk didn't count.
(In their meagre defence, no one had known the place was haunted at the time, and it had been Valentine's Day. Sometimes, it was a minor miracle that Baron had not discerned her true feelings earlier; apparently she'd been so obvious to everyone else, she might as well have had a flashing neon sign above her head.)
"A shame," the Other Baron hums. "They really can achieve so much when they put their heads together."
"Oh, they do that plenty often. So long as you count headbutting."
The Other Baron laughs again, and it makes Haru's heart soar and ache all in the same moment. Not for the first time does she grieve that she couldn't still have this easy relationship with the Baron she'd once called hers.
"So tell me about these dragons," she says, pushing aside the sudden mourning. She follows as closely alongside Baron as the narrow passageway will allow. "I mean, we've met dragons before, and usually one is enough of a handful, let alone a whole infestation."
"These ain't yer usual dragons, Chicky," Other Muta calls to her. "These are like the pigeon equivalent of dinosaurs."
"So... small?" Haru asks hopefully.
"And pretty dumb. We could round 'em up with a net, and the rest would just sit and watch."
Haru finds herself waiting again for a "birdbrain" remark, or some other quick dig at Toto, only to be surprised once more. They duck through an arch, and the tunnel abruptly opens into an expansive cavern.
Haru almost whistles – and then thinks better of it when she sees just how many dragons cling to the ceiling. "We're gonna need some big nets then," she says. "And possibly a couple of years."
The cavern's roof above is glimmering with the hoards of tiny greater crested dragons slumbering along it, perched like bats and about the same size. They emit a gentle glow, their throats an embering red from the fire which simmers in their chests.
Other Toto lands on Haru's shoulder – in this world, it seems only the Other Baron has been altered to a human height – and offers her a reassuring smile. "Greater crested dragons are territorial and will defend their home if threatened – but fortunately for us, they only do so with creatures smaller than themselves, and given that generally they don't live long enough to grow any bigger than a rat, we should be fine."
"Depends on the rat," Haru murmurs, but dutifully allows Baron to place what appears to be a camping peg in her spare hand. "Is the plan to capture them all with a really big tent or..."
"These are threshold wards," the Other Baron says.
"They look like camping pegs."
"That's because they are," he says cheerfully, "which I have engraved with wards that establish a one-way barrier. Set three down within an area, and they'll create a barrier that enable someone to exit, but not to enter."
Haru turns the peg over in her hand, revealling what looks like a rune etched along the side. "So when the dragons leave to hunt..."
"Which they do regularly, upon nightfall, they won't be able to return and will have to find an alternative home." He passes a set to Other Toto, who flies off – presumably to stopper any higher exits.
"Have you tried this before?" Haru asks.
The Other Baron attaches one peg to the top of the arch they'd entered through. "Not with dragons, admittedly, but I've heard this method is very effective with clearing bats."
"Bats, dragons, what's the difference?" Other Muta remarks. "It's not like one can breathe fire or anything."
Haru wedges the tent peg into the right hand corner of their entrance just as Other Muta does the same with the left. An iridescent sheen shimmers across the tunnel opening just as the ground shudders.
Haru freezes. "Tell me that's a side effect of the barrier going up."
"That's a side effect of the barrier going up," both her friends chorus dutifully.
"Thanks. Is it true?"
As an answer, Other Toto plummets from above and slams onto the Other Baron's shoulder. "Big dragon," he wheezes. "We're talking R.O.U.S. kind of big."
"Did you get the thresholds in place?" the Other Baron asks.
"Yeah. They won't be returning by any natural skylights."
"Then I think it's time we made our exit."
The dragon in question lops around a corner and all Haru can think is she'd expected bigger. It's no taller than her hip, and runs with the ungainly lollop that puts her in mind of someone wearing a dragon costume. Its wings are the final straw to the ridiculous picture, seemingly being the only part which do not grow past a certain size, and flap uselessly atop its back.
"That?" she says, before she can stop herself. "We're worried about that?"
A fireball streaks past, nearly singeing her coat.
"Yer forget about the fire part?"
"Maybe." She fumbles to her feet and starts down the corridor, running as best she can without tripping over Muta. "I thought you said they only attack things smaller than them!" she cries accusingly.
"They do!" Other Toto calls back. "Or have you forgotten we're not all human-sized?!"
Haru glances back just in time to see the dragon bounce off the wall and knock against one of the threshold wards. The barrier shimmers, and then vanishes.
"Ah, shoot. Hey, Baron?"
"Yes?"
"Have we got time to wait for this guy to calm down so we can reset the barriers, or is this a one-chance sort of time frame we've been given?"
"The building work starts tomorrow, so–"
"I was afraid you'd say that." Haru digs her heels in, slamming to a stop which leaves her companions yelling, and starts sprinting back.
The dragon falters, perhaps finally realising that not all of the intruders are the size of a crow, and its snap at her as she passes only tears at her coat's hem. Haru skids back to the cavern entrance, dips into a crouch to right the upset camping peg – and freezes.
No, not freezes – locks up. Every muscle in her body feels caught, pins and needles running along her skin, and she can't so much as twitch against the immobility which has sunk into her body.
She can't even look up as she hears the dragon snort. She realises with terrible clarity that, crouched as she is, she's now smaller than the dragon – and perched right at the opening of its territory. She can hear it approach, slowly at first, but gaining speed with every step.
If she can only reset the barrier...
There is a barely perceptible tremour in her hands, but she cannot break the hold of whatever has paralysed her.
The dragon's nearly upon her now. She can hear the clack of its claws upon the stone floor.
This isn't right. She doesn't... She's never frozen up on a case, not like this, not under these sorts of conditions.
It's not going to matter soon though, not after the dragon gets its jaws on her.
Something slams into the dragon; she hears it wheeling off balance, and then hands are hooking under her arms and dragging her back. The world sways about her – enough for her to glimpse Other Muta and Toto resetting the wards, just in time for the dragon to slam into it.
Whatever paralysed her loses its hold, and she slumps back into the Other Baron's arms.
His face is grim, his brow furrowed and his mouth thin, and even with the unyielding button eyes, he looks heartbroken.
"I thought we had more time," he says.
x
Despite the disorganisation of its palace, the Cat Kingdom's library is a well-maintained place, tidy and with something approaching a system for its contents. This is probably because it is run by librarians, not kings.
Muta whistles as he enters the building. "Sheesh, it hasn't changed a lick since I was last here."
"You've visited here before?" Baron asks, and tries not to sound too incredulous.
"Visited? Try worked."
Baron decides not to say anything, but this time the incredulity spills out onto his face.
Muta wrinkles his nose. "Okay, maybe worked is a strong word for the Cat Kingdom. I made sure the place didn't burn down, and made sure no doors accidentally opened up onto the Human World when we weren't looking." He makes a confident beeline for a corridor, and Baron doesn't have much choice but to hope the library really hasn't changed its layout since Muta's previous stay.
"I don't remember reading anything about the doors changing," Baron remarks, recalling what he could from his armchair research.
Muta snorts. "Yeah, that's 'cause they don't like to advertise that sometimes we get waylaid humans wandering through. They get back fine," he adds defensively. "Eventually."
"How eventually are we talking?"
Muta hums. "Within the same... year?" He hesitates. "Decade, at most. Look, yer know time works differently in the Cat Kingdom – and here, surrounded by stories? It's only compounded further. Oh yeah, on that subject," and he comes to a halt, picking through the scrolls on the shelf, "we should probably try to be outta here as soon as possible. There's no telling how much time we're gonna lose while here." He passes one of the scrolls to Baron. "Collection of fairytales. As good a place as any to start."
x
"More time?" Haru echoes. "What do you mean more time?" She flexes her hand, reassured by the way it seamlessly obeys her commands once more. "Did you expect this to happen?"
The Other Baron takes her wrist and runs a gentle, searching thumb across her palm. She feels the questioning tendril of magic seek out the cause. "I had theorised," he admits, "but given that your case is unique..."
"My case?"
"Yer from another world, Chicky. Or did yer forget?"
Haru colours, and doesn't make eye contact with any of the buttons. "Life with the Bureau has always been bizarre," she mutters. "You kinda just learn to roll with it. But so what if I'm from another world? I'm surely not the only one to have come visiting."
"Visiting, no," Other Toto says. "Coming back with such regularity..."
"You don't fit in this world."
"Rude."
"What I mean is," the Other Baron amends, "each world has its own... frequency, which its inhabitants inherently resonate with. Your world has one frequency, and this one..."
"Has another," Haru finishes.
"Indeed." His face is filled with grief, and Haru already knows where this conversation is going. She's had it before. "You're overstaying your tine here, Haru; today was only a taster of what's coming. If you continue to return—"
"You're not kicking me out," Haru retorts. "Not again. There must be a... a solution, a spell, some sort of immunity ward! You're not pushing me away. Please."
The Other Baron looks at her, and she knows he's recalling the exact circumstances which pushed her to him in the first place. His mouth twists unhappily. "I'll see what I can do. But until then, we take it easy." He cups her cheek in a hand and brushes a thumb across her skin. "I'm not giving up on you, Haru. I promise."
x
The Bedlam lets his web fall slack once the mortal leaves his realm, and the world reverts to its imitation of the Bureau. It's a cosy default. He might even keep it as his world's design between prey.
"A risky ploy, isn't it?" a voice rings clear from the mantelpiece. Inside a frosted snow globe, the Bedlam's captive hops to the edge of his woven prison. "Letting her go after that. What if she decides she doesn't want to endanger herself?"
The Bedlam smiles, and it near splits his face. "Oh, I don't think it's too much of a risk. After all, she did keep coming back to your Bureau, even after all the near death experiences. This is just a... push in the right direction."
His captive bristles. "The right direction for what?"
The Bedlam gathers up the web which, unseen to his prey, had been the real reason for her sudden immobility. Flies never do see the web's strands until it's too late. "The right direction for her to stay for good," he replies. He morphs his face back into the near-flawless replica of the Baron. "After all, why would she want to go back to her world, when I've created such a perfect one here?"