Part 18 (1/2)
Marduk
The orange glow on the horizon hinted at the pending dawn.
Soft knocking sounded at the cabin's front door.
Gwynn stood from the table where he'd sat the better part of the night, and opened the door.
Adrastia had abandoned her typical black dress and white Victorian blouse, and traded it for simple robes and a scarf covering her hair.
”Good morning,” she said. ”I brought a change of clothes for you. That is...if you've decided to come.”
Gwynn nodded and extended his arm to take the bundle. They were robes similar to Adrastia's, with the addition of some loose cotton pants and a head scarf.
”Where exactly are we going?” he asked.
”Back to your home world-Midgard I believe those in the know call it. Specifically, we'll be going to the nation of Iraq. With my powers, I could easily have us go unnoticed, but it's less taxing to conceal two people who mostly blend in. Hence the clothes.”
Gwynn stepped inside the house behind the door and changed.
”It's actually pretty comfortable,” he said.
Adrastia smiled.
”I'm glad. Did you need to say any goodbyes before we go?”
Gwynn shook his head.
”No. We said what needed to be said last night. I think Sophia knows it would be harder for me to go if I had to say goodbye.”
Her smile widened.
”I'm glad. Even if things have changed, at least that's still the same-you never could be far from her.”
”And yet I still let Cain-”
She rushed forward and pressed her finger against his lips.
”Don't...Don't ever blame yourself for a reality that doesn't exist anymore. Even then, my father didn't fail her. Some things happen, no matter how hard we try to stop them or stay safe from their influence.”
She reached out and took his left hand, pulling him forward.
”Leave your dark mood behind for a little while,” she said. ”I've waited ten millennia to walk hand and hand with my father again. Even if you're not exactly him, you're as close as anything I have.”
Gwynn squeezed her hand.
”You sound almost like Pridament.”
She stepped up on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek.
”We've both adopted you to fill our loss.” She gave him a playful wink. ”I hope that's not too much pressure.”
Gwynn laughed.
”No, none at all. What would make you think something like that would put pressure on me?”
They descended the slope toward the open fields The long gra.s.s shone gold in the rising sun's rays and swayed lazily in the breeze.
Twenty feet from the foot of the hill, they pa.s.sed through the ward barriers.
”Does folding still make you vomit?” Adrastia asked.
”If I recall,” Gwynn said, ”there was only the one time. And it was my first-can you blame me?”
Adrastia shrugged.
”I suppose not. It's just, I went to some trouble getting these clothes to make things easier for me. It'll be for nothing if I have to mask a big stain of sick on my thawb.”
”It's fine. I can keep it together.”
Adrastia reached out her left hand.
It was like the world was an unbroken surface of water her touch caused to ripple.
She stepped into the center of the ripple, the world wrapping itself around her. Her right hand, intertwined with Gwynn's left, pulled him forward. His hand pressing into the ripple felt like being submerged in warm water. But as it drew him further in, everything was inverted-instead of pressure building as he went deeper, the pressure was greatest at the surface. Reality pressed against him, squeezing and pulling him into the smallest s.p.a.ces between time and the physical world. He pushed forward, not just allowing himself to be dragged by Adrastia's grip. He envisioned their journey as Pridament explained it to him-pa.s.sing through a single sheet of paper folded over itself many times. Instead of traveling a long line, two distant points could touch each other. Pressing through the ”paper” added pressure and resistance, only to be followed by a momentary relief as they pa.s.sed through the ”s.p.a.ce” between the folds.
Free from the fold, Gwynn gulped air into his lungs. The single breath made him feel rejuvenated-like it was re-inflating his squeezed-flat-body. His stomach lurched, but he swallowed it back.
They stood on a sandy sh.o.r.e, a vast expanse of water stretched to the horizon. The light of day had yet to disappear, but the moon a.s.sumed a dominant position in the sky.
”I thought Folding was instantaneous,” Gwynn said. ”It looks like it took hours.”
Adrastia giggled.
”Different time zone, silly. When we arrive in Iraq, it'll be even a few hours earlier than this. Come on.”
She motioned toward a patch of beach different from the rest.
The ground was still sand, but the breeze blowing from it warmed his cheeks and lacked the salty tang of the ocean.
They stepped through the Bifrost fragment. Sea water was replaced by a sea of sand. The air was thick and heavy, clinging to Gwynn's skin.
It didn't feel much like a homecoming.
”Where are we?” he asked Adrastia shrugged.
”Somewhere on the western part of Africa.” She held out her hand. ”One more Fold and we'll be there.”
He took her hand and again felt reality press against him.