B5 Ch4: The Rower (Patreon)

“Are you sure about this, Brixaby?” Cressida asked a few days later. “I’ve never heard of anyone directing a portal spell who wasn’t the caster.”

“Of course I’m certain,” Brixaby puffed up as if he had been insulted. “It is my card.”

They were all gathered out behind the barn. Only Arthur, Cressida and their dragons were going to go on this expedition, and Arthur would have liked to think that the rest were there to see them off. He suspected most, especially Horatio, were just morbidly curious about how Brixaby’s strange portal card worked.

“There doesn’t seem to be any firm rule in the description of who can direct the card,” Arthur said. He gave his dragon a hard look. “Just who the wielder thinks is worthy. I don’t think anybody has seen something like your card before.”

“It is exceptionally unique,” Brixaby said.

“It is exceptionally disturbing,” Horatio muttered.

“Let me take a look at that card again,” Soledad said.

Brixaby, who was always more than happy to show off, projected his card out for all to see.

Void Portal

Portal

Rare

The wielder of this card will contact an otherworldly vision of death to open a temporary tear in the world. From there, a rowboat will conduct those who the wielder finds worthy to the destination of the passenger’s choosing. Beware of the visions of death in the stars. Those who are strong of mind and convictions have little to fear. The transit uses a minimum amount of mana. The true cost is the journey.

“Yep, that’s really weird,” Soledad said. “No wonder it was locked up in the Dark Heart’s library. Maybe you should have left it there.”

He flared his wings in annoyance. “Perhaps it was kept there because it was a truly powerful card!”

Cressida’s worries had taken another direction. “Truly, none of you have ever been to the Central Cities?”

“Don’t look at me,” Soledad said. “I’ve never been to your crazy kingdom before.”

“I was talking to Marion,” she said pointedly.

“I have,” Sams said, “but I do not see a reason for me to go there when the littler hatchlings need to be looked over.”

“I haven’t been to the central cities since I was a small child,” Marion admitted. “Offspring of the king all live in separate cities, and not encouraged to move around a lot. And the city that I was born in was just outside the ring.”

Cressida got an odd look on her face. It must have struck her as strange that a minor noble like her could have been more widly traveled than a prince.

But judging by Marion’s stories, being a prince wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

For his part, Marion looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Arthur could guess why. He probably could be a help in the Central Cities, but he was hesitant to go.

Arthur couldn’t blame him. No one wanted to be within striking distance of the king, or most importantly, his Mythic dragon.

Arthur was taking enough of a risk by going there himself. That part couldn’t be avoided, though. He refused to send someone anywhere he would not go himself.

Besides, this was only a brief trip. The real gamble would be when he and his entire retinue went to Blood Moon.

Arthur looked at Soledad. “Your job while I’m gone is to get a translation tattoo from Dannill. Make sure he gives you one for all the languages he has, but especially double check for the Fabergé kingdom. Don’t let him charge you. He can take payment out of what he owes me.”

What supplies Arthur had rung from Dannill had to be nowhere near the profit the man was making selling their likenesses. Apparently, dragons were a big hit in the city of New Houston, and Arthur had already fielded several questions about how people of wealth could get one of their own, as if they were pets. He had shut that down hard enough that Dannill had not asked again.

She gave him a sloppy solute. “I’ll be speaking your weird language in no time. Equinox, too.”

With a nod, Arthur turned to Horatio. “You and Sams are in charge while I’m gone, though I don’t expect for this to take more than half a day.”

“You may be gone longer,” Marion said pedantically. “After all, the sun hits the planet at different points.”

Soledad scrunched up her nose. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’ll learn that as a dragon rider,” Cressida told her. “Our kingdom is vast. When you go through a portal in one place, the sun might be in a completely different position somewhere else.”

“It’s full day here, but it could be midnight there,” Marion said.

“Well, that can’t be helped,” Arthur said. “I won’t be gone for more than twenty-four hours regardless.”

“Why would the sun do that?” Soledad asked.

Marion turned to her, stunned. “I was under the impression that you were a sort of noble in your old home. Did they not give you an education?”

“Of course they did, but we didn’t talk about the sun...”

Arthur left them to their bickering. “All right, Brixaby, let’s get this over with. Go ahead and cast the portal.”

Most portal powers were fairly standard -- they usually involved ripping or blasting a hole in the fabric of reality that would create a tunnel which would punch out somewhere else. Some, like the Sun Ring portal he’d once seen when dealing with the king was a much smoother transition. 

But almost all of them required a massive amount of mana to make it work. Some portal card wielders even had additional support units just to channel them mana to keep the portal open. 

In contrast, Brixaby’s portal needed very little mana... but with weirder side effects. Arthur hoped it was worth it.

Brixaby took a breath, and with a gesture, cast the portal out in front of them. 

For a moment, Arthur thought that Horatio had taken the opportunity to play a prank and cast his darkness card again. All around them, the world seemed to dim without dimming.

It was as if the shadows behind the barn structure had crept longer across the ground. A chill wind blew in out of nowhere and yet went right down his collar, traveling the length of his spine.

Arthur shuddered and glanced over to Cressida to find her eyes wide, her skin gone pale with her freckles standing out. 

Then, a dark rift opened like curtains that were swept away from a window.

Beyond sat a world washed in black and white. It was a dark, gloomy forest bordered by a river of silvery water. In front of them stood a dock with a simple rowboat made of bone-white wood.

A being gowned in long robes sat on the bow of the rowboat and gestured to them to come forward with a skeletal hand.

“You know, I was a little jealous about not coming with you, but you guys have at it,” Horatio said. 

Arthur shot him a look and muttered, “You’re going to have to take this portal sooner or later if you want to get back to our kingdom.”

“I think I’ll go the long way.” 

Brixaby growled, “The longer this portal is open, the more mana it spends.”

Then, as if to prove that he was not afraid of the eerie sight, he walked through. 

“Cressida, are you sure?” Joy asked in a stage whisper. “That looks really spooky.”

“Come on, dear,” Cressida said, and stepped forward. So did Arthur.

With a sigh, Joy followed.

The moment that Joy’s tail was through the other side, the portal snapped shut. They stood on the dock, and strangely, without Arthur even noticing how or when, the rowboat had expanded large enough to fit a dragon the size of Joy.

The robed being turned to look at them, but if there was a face underneath the hood, it was completely lost in shadow.

“Where?” it asked in a rattling hiss.

Without hesitation, Cressida stepped forward, and Arthur couldn’t help but admire her for her bravery. “Just outside the ring of Central Cities.”

“Picture it,” the thing in the robes rattled.

She must have because a golden beam of light sparked to life down the river.

It was the only color in the world. The robed being gestured for them to get into the rowboat.

They did, and it was odd to feel how sturdy it was. It didn’t even rock or sink in the water when Joy scrambled aboard.

The moment they sat, the rower picked up two normal-sized oars and started rowing. Such small paddles shouldn’t have moved them at all, but within moments, they were skimming across the silvery water.

It would have been an interesting ride, except for the horrifying shapes made from the stars.

The stars shifted and danced around them, creating visions of dead bodies, of dragons falling from the sky, their mouths agape in silent screams, of scourgling hordes that were on the verge of overtaking a city. Cressida squeezed her eyes shut, and Arthur focused intensely on the boat.

“So... do you transport a lot of people like this?” Joy asked the rower, clearly trying to start a friendly conversation. Her voice shook. “You’re quite good at it.”

The rower ignored her.

They moved so swiftly that the golden light at the end of the river resolved itself to a scene of a brilliant sunset overlooking farm fields.

Or... perhaps it was sunrise, Arthur couldn’t tell. All he knew was he desperately wanted to be there, and not here in the strange in-between world.

Finally, they pulled up to the dock. They piled out in a hurry, each anxious to get out of there.

The moment Arthur’s foot landed on the dock, he found himself standing out in that golden field.

The cool air, the chitter of birds, the fresh breeze told him that this was dawn.

That terrible black and white world and the rower were gone, and everybody was here with them

He turned to Brixaby, “What kind of card is that?”

“It uses very little mana,” Brixaby said defensively, “We moved all the way across the world, and yet I am still nearly full.”

“I am finding another portal card,” Cressida said.

Brixaby looked to Joy, who always had something positive to say even the most horrible situations.

She shook her head, her eyes wide. “I didn’t like that very much,” which was a denouncement from the bubbly dragon.

Arthur turned away to have a look around.

From maps he’d seen, his kingdom was more or less a blobby circle, with the hives and their cities about two-thirds of the way in. Larger settlements and cities dotted closer and closer until the center, which was a tight ring of connecting cities.

This one stood on the horizon, several miles away. Its tall buildings looked like a thorn bush from afar. They must have been made of glass or crystal because they glittered in the morning sun.

Off in the very far distance was another thorny set of buildings. The next in the tight central ring.

“I put us just outside the ring,” Cressida said. “It should be closer than it looks, there is a little bit of fog in the air, and that doesn’t help.”

“You did perfect,” he said and took a moment to inhale. The air smelled like home.

He turned to Brixaby and Joy. “All right, it’s time to split up.”

Brixaby reached into his Personal Space and handed Arthur a small stack of excess cards including a few pairs Arthur had experimented on.

“Do try to not lose these,” Brixaby said, “they represent all of our wealth.”

“If we can find what we’re looking for,” Arthur said, “they’ll be worth it.”

He glanced between Brixaby and Joy. Truth to tell, he would have liked to leave Joy back in New Houston just to make sure that another eye was kept on the hatchling dragons. However, Joy wouldn’t have wanted Cressida to go anywhere without her, and more importantly the pink dragon had a modulating influence on Brixaby.

“I want you two to fly as a pair as if you’re on a hive patrol, but don’t interact with any other dragons.”

“What is the phrase Soledad is so fond of?” Brixaby asked, “Don’t teach my mother how to suck eggs?”

Arthur grinned at him. “With any luck, we’ll find what we’re looking for –- a card to help us either break into or blend in with Blood moon hive.”

Brixaby wasn’t the biggest fan of this plan, but as a Legendary pair, any move they made on another hive was automatically political with far reaching effects.

But finding a card that would hide or obscure an identity, would be expensive, and more than likely on a black market. There had been nothing of the like in New Houston.  

The dragons took off into the sky, and Arthur turned to Cressida. “Do you think we’ll find what we’re looking for?”

“I’m half tempted to toss the plan away and get a different portal card instead,” she muttered, but then she shook her head. “But... yes, there are more card shops here than anywhere else. If it’s not here, then it’s nowhere.”

He held out his arm to her. “I’ve always wanted to go properly card shopping.”

Grinning, she took it. Arm in arm, they walked to the city.