The Immortal Realm Read online

  “Wow,” he said. “This is some head trip!”

  “Thank you for helping us,” said Tania.

  “You think I’d turn down a chance like this?” he said with a breathless laugh. “No way! It’s the coolest thing ever.” He smiled and ran down the stairs.

  “Your friend hides his fear well,” said Rathina. “But it disturbs him, I think, to know he is to be taken between the worlds.”

  Tania nodded. “He’s always been like that,” she said. “You can never tell what he’s really thinking.” She frowned. “I hope he’ll be okay with it.”

  “He is no coward, I deem,” said Rathina. “He will be…okay.”

  The front door clanged.

  “So, sister, we wait,” said Rathina.

  Tania nodded. “Hungry?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Come on, then. Let’s see what there is. You’ll have to do most of the work; the kitchens here are full of metal stuff. Do you fancy pizza?”

  “Is it tasty?”

  “Oh, yes. So long as there aren’t any anchovies. They’re disgusting.”

  “Then lead on, Tania. And let us hope that you are wise to put your faith in this man. All of Faerie hangs in the balance.”

  “No pressure, then,” murmured Tania as she walked into the kitchen. “No pressure at all.”

  The two sisters sat at the rickety kitchen table, helping themselves to slices of pepperoni pizza and drinking milk from tall glasses.

  “I am puzzled, sister,” Rathina said. “I know of the love you bear for Master Clive and Mistress Mary, and I know how it tears at your soul to be apart from them, but I cannot fathom your affection for this world. When you speak of your previous life here, it is with a wistful air, as though this Mortal domain has some hold on you. And yet you have shown me little that lifts the heart, save maybe the laughter of children and the singing of birds in the trees. But how is that enough for you?”

  Tania frowned, her emotions bubbling to the surface as she spoke. “I guess it’s down to what you’re used to,” she said. “London doesn’t seem like a horrible place to me. Okay, most of it is crowded and loud and kind of dirty, too, but none of that really bothers me. I was brought up in London. I’m fine with crowds. I loved it when I used to get together with Jade and the others and we’d go on a crazy shopping spree in Camden Market.” She swallowed, realizing just how much she would lose forever if the ways between the worlds were closed. “And I really like loud music. We used to go to gigs—music concerts—and we’d all crush down into the mosh pit and go mental! It was…exciting. Amazing. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

  Rathina chewed reflectively. “I see,” she said at last. “It is hard to comprehend, but as you say, to the bird the swaying treetops are home, to the fish it is the briny deeps. But if you revel in such things, sister, how is it that you bear any love for Faerie?”

  “Wow, you go for the big questions, don’t you?”

  “I do not mean to confound you, Tania—but I do not understand how a person can love both the Mortal World and Faerie.”

  “I guess I’m just a complicated girl,” Tania said, hoping a joke would deflect the question.

  Rathina looked steadily at her and said nothing.

  “I don’t know the answer,” Tania said at last. “If you’d asked me six months ago whether I could live without my cell phone and the Internet and my iPod and junk food and all that stuff, I’d have probably said no way! But when I’m in Faerie, none of those things seem to matter anymore. It’s like…like…here in London you need all those things to survive, but in Faerie they’re totally irrelevant. And maybe—”

  Rathina’s eyes widened, and a sudden alarm came into her face. “Sister! Beware!” she hissed. “It is close!”

  “What? Oh!” A chill gripped her heart. “The thing from Faerie? The thing that followed us?”

  “Aye, Tania. It has found us.” Rathina touched her forehead with a fingertip. “I feel it here. It burns like cold fire. And I can taste it in my mouth: bitter and sour on my tongue.” She moved to the window and drew back the curtain, peering down into the street.

  Tania got up, the feet of her chair scraping on the linoleum. She came to Rathina’s side. Beyond the window the street was a shadowy gulf. The isolated pools of orange light from the lampposts only emphasized the gloom. She was reminded with a sudden sense of dread of the Gray Knights of Lyonesse, the undead creatures that had pursued her into the Mortal World only a few short weeks ago.

  Were they what Rathina was sensing? Had some of them survived the death of their King—and had they come here to wreak revenge? She could almost hear the clatter of their horses’ hooves on the tarmac.

  Her heart pounding, she watched for some movement in the street.

  “I see nothing,” Rathina said. “But the thing is close. Perilously close—at the very door, mayhap.”

  “Trying to get into the house, do you mean?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “We have to get out of here.”

  “Nay, sister, we must face it. We must fight this thing and drive it off.”

  Tania gasped. “Fight it with what? Knives and forks? And I can’t even use them! If it knows how to use the Dark Arts, it’ll be more powerful than us. If it traps us up here…” She didn’t finish the thought. “No! We have to get out. Quickly.”

  “And what of Master Connor and his medicaments?”

  “We’ll go to the hospital. It’s on the main road on the other side of the railway station; it’ll be easy enough to find. We’ll meet him there.” She snatched up her shoulder bag and ran from the kitchen.

  Flight was the only safe option. Tania hit the timer button on the stairway lights, and the two sisters ran quickly down the stairs.

  At the top of the final flight that led to the hallway, Rathina let out a hiss and caught hold of Tania’s arm, bringing her to a halt.

  “So close!” she whispered.

  As they hesitated, the timer switch turned off the lights and they were plunged into sudden gloom. But there was a light on in the porch, and through the frosted glass panels of the door Tania saw a dark shape.

  She caught hold of Rathina’s hand and sidestepped.

  The walls and the sloping ceiling faded and the stairs dissolved away beneath her feet. She fell, still clinging to Rathina’s hand. Tree limbs buffeted her and leafy branches clawed at her as she plunged through the air. The pain tore the breath out of her.

  She had known they would enter Faerie above ground level, but hopefully not so far above it that they would be injured in the fall.

  They had emerged among the leaves of a tall oak tree. The vicious slap of the branches ceased. They came crashing onto earth covered in leaf mold and broken twigs.

  Breathlessly, Tania stumbled to her feet. Wincing, Rathina got up, stooping to run a hand over her ankle.

  “Are you all right?” Tania asked.

  “My ankle turned as I landed,” said Rathina. “But I do not think I have done myself any harm.” She eyed Tania. “Think you we have evaded our pursuer?” she said. “It followed us into the Mortal World. Mayhap it will follow us back into Faerie again.” Tania hadn’t thought of that. But at least they were no longer trapped in that house, vulnerable to its attack.

  She stared anxiously through the trees. “We should get away from here,” she said. “We have to go back into the other place to meet Connor. But I don’t know which way to go.”

  “Do your senses not guide you?” Rathina asked. “Much of your Faerie heritage slumbers in you, Tania.” She looked around as if casting for a scent. “We traveled east to get to Master Connor’s home,” she said. She pointed. “West will retrace our footsteps. Come, follow.”

  Rathina led her through the trees. Tania kept glancing over her shoulder, almost expecting to see something chasing them—like a billowing of gray smoke among the trees.

  “Rathina?” she asked after a while. “Where are we now? I mean, if we went back into the
Mortal World, where would we be?”

  Rathina’s eyes shone in the gloom. “And how would I know that, sister?” she asked. “Think you I carry a map of that place in my head?”

  “Take my hand; let’s find out.”

  Hands clasped, facing west, the sisters sidestepped back into the Mortal World.

  They found themselves in a gritty, concrete development, its grim walls and shadowy alleys sinister now that night was descending. There were a couple of vandalized cars and some overturned rubbish bins. There were no people about.

  Of all the places! thought Tania.

  But at least they were on the way to the railway station. She ran across a bleak open area, heading for a passageway that she was certain would lead to the street. They were swallowed up by darkness. A wall light buzzed and flickered with a pale sheen. There was the stale smell of urine. Several figures stepped out to block the end of the passage.

  A voice cut across the quiet. “It’s them!”

  Tania recognized the pinched nasal tone: the gang!

  “Well, so it is,” came Robbie’s cruel voice. “Outstanding!”

  Tania stopped and looked over her shoulder, already knowing what she would see. More figures black against the dim light, walling off the other end of the passageway. Her heart pounded and she fought the urge to run. Run where? They had walked into a trap and already the gang was moving in on them.

  “I should have kept the knife, sister,” Rathina murmured. “Casting it aside was a mistake, I think.” There was no fear in her voice. “Stand we back to back, Tania—the better to defend ourselves against these goblins.”

  Gray steel glinted in the darkness. Knives. And eyes glinted, too, cruel as broken glass.

  Tania struggled with her mounting terror. A simple side step would take her and Rathina into Faerie and out of danger. But Rathina was not scared of the boys, and Tania knew that she, too, had to find the strength to face down her fear. “You’ll probably beat us in the end,” she called. “But some of you are going to get hurt. We know how to fight!”

  “Indeed we do!” howled Rathina. “Come, do not play cat-a-mouse with us, my little goblin army. Who will be the first to feel the bite of my fingernails in their eye sockets?”

  Tania could see them clearly now: hooded and feral, at least seven or eight young men, and five of them had knives in their fists. But they held back, forming a ring around the two sisters—as if Rathina’s threat had made them wary.

  Tania prepared herself to fight for her life. She’d never been in a street fight before, but she’d led an entire army to victory. The gang would not find her an easy target!

  She focused on the boy closest to her. He had a pale, nice-looking face, hair cropped to a grayish stubble. Nasty eyes, though. The knife blade that poked from his fist was about five inches long, she guessed. It could do a lot of damage if he was prepared to use it on her.

  She needed to gain the advantage somehow, to make them more frightened of her than she was of them. She lowered her head and stared intently and unblinkingly up into his eyes. Then she spread her lips in a cold grin.

  “I am Tania, Princess of Faerie,” she hissed. “I killed the Sorcerer King of Lyonesse! Do you think I’m afraid of you?” She gave a menacing laugh. “Come on, this is what you wanted, isn’t it? Don’t be shy, now.”

  The young thug narrowed his eyes and his knuckles whitened on his knife hand. Whatever he had expected from a cornered girl, this was not it. The others were holding back, waiting silently for him to make the first move. He hesitated.

  She sprang toward him with a howl, her lips drawn back, her teeth bared.

  He fell back, slashing wildly at her, his face tightening in alarm. She came up under his swinging arm and used all her weight to send him staggering backward. She was aware of someone coming at her from the side. She shifted her balance and aimed a high sidekick at her assailant. She felt her foot make contact with something soft. There was a grunt as the boy doubled up and dropped to his knees.

  The first boy came up hard against the wall, her shoulder in his stomach, the breath beaten out of him. She caught hold of his knife hand and twisted savagely. He gave a yell and the knife clattered to the ground.

  She spun around, still keeping low. But the other two boys—the ones still standing—backed off with sneers that Tania knew were intended to hide their panic.

  “That’s it!” she shrieked. “Run away, you cowards! You’re worse than the Gray Knights! At least they couldn’t help themselves!”

  She leaped forward, hissing. The boys turned and ran.

  Then she remembered Rathina. She swiveled on her heel, ready to defend her sister.

  But Rathina needed no such help. Of the four boys who had attacked her, three were already running. The fourth was sprawled on his back with Rathina on top of him, her knee jammed in his chest. It was Robbie. She had his knife and he was clutching her wrist with both hands as she fought to bring the blade to his throat.

  Tania ran over to them. Robbie was weakening. All pretense of swagger and arrogance were gone now; he looked like a terrified little boy fighting for his life.

  “Let him go, Rathina,” said Tania.

  Rathina didn’t reply. All her energy was focused on forcing the knife closer to Robbie’s neck. He was weakening. The blade made contact with his skin. Tania saw a trickle of blood.

  “Rathina! No!” Tania caught hold of her sister’s arm.

  Rathina snarled, turning her head. “Let me loose!” Her eyes were ferocious.

  But the instant she looked into Tania’s face, the rage faded and she let out a gasp.

  She pulled herself to her feet, dropping the knife. Robbie curled up on the ground, his knees to his chest, arms over his head.

  “Sister, thanks.” Rathina panted. “I almost did murder!” She looked down at the cowering thug. “Let’s away from this place.”

  Tania smiled grimly and nodded.

  They turned and headed to the mouth of the passageway. Tania’s muscles were aching, and her heart was still fluttering in her chest.

  A small sound behind them made the hairs on the back of Tania’s neck stand up. She looked over her shoulder to see Robbie rushing at them, his knife raised, his face twisted into a snarl.

  He’s come back for more!

  Tania was taken off balance. She tripped and fell heavily, jarring her shoulder and hip. Rathina was knocked backward by the force of the young thug’s attack, staggering till she was pinned to the wall, his knife now against her throat.

  “Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?” he hissed.

  A voice rang out, brave and strong. Singing aloud a snatch of a song that Tania almost knew.

  Where are now the Warring Princesses?

  Where is the heart of Faerie?

  They awake and hunt amain

  Through the depths of the moonless night!

  “Edric…” she gasped as the ancient battle-song of Faerie resounded off the high concrete walls of the passageway. “Edric!”

  Edric strode forward, dressed all in black, a bright crystal sword whirring in the air.

  “Get you gone, carrion!” he shouted. “My blade is thirsty for blood.”

  Robbie swore and flung his knife, but Edric swung his sword in a shining arc, striking the knife clean and hard so that it glanced off to one side and clattered to the ground.

  “I am Edric Chanticleer,” announced Edric. “I hold the rank of captain at arms in the court of Lord Aldritch, great and puissant earl of Weir! Get you gone from here or I will leave of you only such scraps as worms and spiders may carry off!”

  Robbie stood his ground until the shining whirl of Edric’s sword was only inches from his chest. Then he turned and fled.

  Tania scrambled to her feet. Edric stood in front of the two sisters, his sword resting now on his shoulder, a look of grim satisfaction on his face. “I found you in the nick of time, it would seem,” he said. “And a merry chase you have led me on since I followed you
into this world!”

  XV

  “It was you?” said Tania. “You all the time?”

  Edric nodded. “I had to know that you would be all right,” he said, looking deep into Tania’s eyes. “You still have my heart, Tania, despite the things that have come between us. Don’t you know that?”

  Tania stepped close to him and rested her hand on his chest, too choked with emotion to speak.

  Rathina’s words rang in her head. Love never dies in Faerie, Tania. Never.

  He laid a hand softly in her hair. The gesture was so familiar, so gentle, that she had to hide her face against his chest and fight back the tears.

  “How did you know where I was?” she asked.

  “I had something to guide me,” Edric said. “The necklace I gave you—the black onyx stone—led me to you. It whispered in my ear when you came into this world. So I followed, thinking you were on your own, thinking you had made this decision alone. I wanted to help. Have you got the medicine yet?”

  She looked up at him, eyes brimming. “How did you know about that?”

  “I know you, Tania,” he said. “As soon as I knew you had come here, I guessed the reason. You were going to try and find Mortal medicine to fight the plague.” He smiled. “Why else would you come here when the King had forbidden it? I know you wouldn’t have abandoned us.”

  “Oh, Edric…” He had crossed worlds to be with her. He had—

  She stepped away from him. “How?” she asked, her voice cracking. “How did you follow me?”

  “A pertinent question, indeed,” said Rathina, speaking for the first time since Edric had appeared. “For few are they of Faerie who can thus penetrate the veil between the Realms. Tania has the gift, and our Father Oberon is mighty in the Mystic Arts, as is Eden and her husband, the Earl of Mynwy Clun. But I know of none other, Master Chanticleer.”

  Edric didn’t answer. Tania saw a muscle in his jaw twitch.

  “And…and why did Rathina sense a dark force?” Tania whispered, dreading the answer.

  “I had to be with you,” Edric said guardedly. “I had to use whatever power was available to me.”