Cale pulled the RCMP Suburban onto the upper logging road behind Mount Coronation and briefly shielded his eyes from the sun— a sun he was beginning to believe was as alien as the planet which still lingered on the southwestern horizon. His whole shift was surreal. Technically, his shift was supposed to be over soon, but he doubted he’d be able to lay his head on his pillow any time soon. He quickly checked his watch. It was approaching six o’clock– or was it? With reports of dragons and people from some other place, it was getting easier to believe they were themselves on another world entirely. Were the days there twenty-four hours? How long was a year? A month? A week? He tried to put the thoughts out of his head, but found them inevitably replaces by other thoughts. If Ladysmith was somewhere else now, what was in the place of Ladysmith back on Earth? He felt a chill run up his spine when he considered the words back on Earth.
As strange as everything was, Cale did feel some comfort, even hope, at the news that the local population was human— not to mention that they reportedly spoke English. He didn’t know what that meant. If this was an alien world, the fact that humans resided there meant it wasn’t entirely alien. Dragons were, after all, a staple of myth. It could mean that somehow, somewhere in the past, humans had seen them and passed down the legends over the ages.
“Shephard, you there?” Sergeant Boone's voice came over the radio.
Cale chuckled at the lack of radio protocol. As his Watch Commander, Boone had generally observed proper radio communications etiquette. When stressed, however, he would often lapse. Now he seemed to have given up on it altogether. “Go for Shepherd.”
“Do you have eyes on them yet?”
“Negative,” he replied.
“Listen,” Boone said. “If you get the slightest impression these people are dangerous, you do what you have to do. Also, try to limit physical contact. For all we know they’re loaded up with viruses we’ve never ever heard of. Doctor Johnson recommends social distance, but Goose is worried masks might make them not trust us, so just be careful. But make sure they’re brought straight to City Hall.”
“Ten-four,” Cale replied. “I think I’m just coming up on them now.” The Suburban crested the hill on the logging road and the red Ford belonging to Ryan Stills came into sight. Ryan Stills was one of the first people Cale had met in the line of duty after being assigned to Ladysmith. He was drunk and belligerent at the Sportsman’s Pub one night, getting into fights and being a nuisance. Cale didn’t take him in that night, but he should have. Instead he took him home and told him to sleep it off.
He’d seen him on occasion in friendlier contexts. Apparently that night represented a catalyst for Ryan, the thing that made him choose to stop drinking and get his life together. Last he heard, he was attending Vancouver Island University.
Or at least, he was.
With him was a girl with dyed red hair he’d seen around town. He was pretty sure she worked down at the Press, but didn’t know her name.
The other four looked as though they stepped right out of a movie.
Cale pulled over nearby and looked at them. An old man kept his eyes trained on him, while the others seemed to be enrapt by the truck itself.
With a deep breath, he stepped out of the truck.
“Constable Shepherd,” Ryan greeted, walking up to him.
Cale nodded. “Ryan,” he said. He looked to the young woman with him. “I’m sorry, Miss…?”
“Murphy,” the red-haired girl said. “Terra.”
He nodded, then looked to the newcomers. “I'm Constable Shephard, “ he said. “With the Ladysmith Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
“Royal?” the older man said. He seemed to smirk. “Ye serve a King?”
“Queen, actually,” he said. “Although that’s more tradition than practice.”
“And this is yer mount, then?” He motioned toward the RCMP Suburban.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. We used to ride horses. Some still do, but it’s faster to get around in cars and trucks than by horseback.”
“So it seems,” he said.
“Hello, Constable,” the blonde-haired woman said. “My name is Nalya Ruus. I am here by the command of Nadus Hillbreaker, King of Halen.” She gestured toward the old man. “My bodyguard, Bayne Dalon, and my First Lieutenant, Keltz Wicket.”
Cale nodded at each of them in turn, then turned to the other girl. She wasn’t dressed like the others. She wore a filthy cloak, and her hands and face seemed to be caked with dirt.
“Arie,” she said in greeting. “My name is Arie.”
“Well,” Cale said. “Under normal circumstances I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you all, but we have a lot of scared people back in town, and we’re hoping you might have some answers for us.”
“I will tell what I know to your committee,” Nalya responded. “But some questions may not have answers. We do not know what force it was that brought you and your people here. Your presence is as much a surprise to us as ours is to you. How far is it to your town?”
“Maybe twenty minutes,” Ryan added.
Nalya looked at him with some confusion. “Minutes?” She paused for a moment. “Ah, forgive my ignorance. For us a minute is a measure of time, not distance.”
“Oh, us too,” Terra said. “I think it’s a Canadian thing. We generally measure distance in how long it takes to get there rather than how far it is.”
“I see,” she said. “How strange. Nonetheless, that means your town is quite close. Shall we start walking?”
“Walking?” Cale asked. “No, I can fit three in the back of the Suburban. One other will have to ride in the bed of Ryan’s truck. It’ll be a bit bumpy at times, but we’ll go slow enough it won’t be that bad.”
“I’d rather walk,” the old man said.
“It would take hours to walk back to town,” Cale said. “It’s perfectly safe, and time is of the essence here.”
“I’ll not step one foot into that beast,” he said. “Not for all the gold in the Raszan Reserve.”
“I’ll go,” Keltz commented. “These trucks move quickly. Faster than a horse, yet by its own power. I’m curious as to how it’s operated.”
Nalya turned to her bodyguard. “I am going as well, Bayne,” she said. “You can either ride with us, or ride in the back of the other one, or walk.”
Bayne frowned. “Bah, blast yer father’s oath! Fine, then I’ll climb aboard the red one.”
Nalya looked to Arie. “You can ride with us.”
The trees seemed to whip by outside the window at a speed faster than Nalya had ever travelled. The ships she’d taken between Shavi and Rasza while she attended the Academies were as said to be as quick as lightning at full wind, but she suspected even their speeds were slow compared to the Suburban. It wasn’t just her who was enraptured by the sight. Both Keltz and Arie were just as amazed.
“How fast can it go?” Keltz asked the Constable.
“The Suburban? I’ve had it up to a hundred ninety, two hundred kilometres per hour.”
“I see. And what is a kilometre?”
“Oh,” the Constable said. “A kilometre is a thousand metres. So, a metre is… about the distance between you and me.”
“Roughly two paces?” Arie asked.
“Yeah, about that.”
Arie remained silent for a moment. “That’s almost four hundred thousand paces per hour.”
“Truly?” Keltz asked. “I see why you have glass protecting you. The wind at such speeds would peel the skin from your face.”
“I mean, it might be uncomfortable, and you wouldn’t be able to see very well, but it probably won’t peel the skin from your face.”
“And by what power does it run? We are told there is no magic in this place, and yet for something this size to move so quickly without being pulled seems impossible.”
The Constable pointed to the front of the vehicle. “Under the hood there’s an engine. It’s like a machine that processes fuel into energy.” He turned back to them. “You do have machines, right?”
“Well, yes. We know what machines are,” said Keltz. “But they require humans to use. This engine of yours, you say it uses fuel?”
“Yeah, it’s called gasoline. It’s refined from crude oil.”
“Crude oil? Like the rendered fat we use to make wax?”
“Sort of, but different,” he said. “The gasoline is highly flammable, which makes it dangerous in large amounts. It can explode. What the engine does is convert tiny explosions into energy, which makes it so it goes.”
Keltz nodded as though he understood. It was clear to Nalya he didn’t. Tiny explosions? Even after having it explained, she couldn’t grasp how it worked.
“Do these explosions also create the numbers of light in front of you?” Arie asked.
“Oh, the speedometer?” He tapped the console in front of him. “Not exactly, but it’s the same principle. That’s usually powered by the battery, but the battery is also powered by the engine. I hear the power’s back on in town, so you’re going to see plenty of things powered like this. Lights, ceiling fans, computers. We rely on these things in our day-to-day lives. But since this morning, things are pretty touch-and-go. That light sort of changed a lot. We’ve got a limited supply of gasoline unless we can get more. And electricity? I guess that’ll last only as long as the coal lasts, which won’t be long.”
“You are short on coal?” Nalya asked.
“Yeah, the town hasn’t relied on coal for twenty years. It’s a miracle we got the old coal plant up and running so quickly, but we don’t have much.”
“Stone’s Mouth,” she said.
The Constable looked back at her through his mirror. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s a village nearby, outside of your lands. They mine coal and copper for trade,” she explained. “Perhaps you could trade with them. I’m certain even one of your trucks would be of great value to them.”
The Constable remained silent for a moment. “Well,” he said. “That’s not up to me. That’ll be up to the Emergency Committee I suspect.” He looked out the window. “We’re coming up to the lookout. One of the best views of town outside of the cliff by Heart Lake. Take a look.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The Constable slowed the vehicle as they drove past a clearing in the trees, and Nalya laid her eyes on the town. She gasped.
There were buildings everywhere, filling the landscape from the foot of the mountains down to an enclosed harbour. There were telltale signs of ships in the harbour, although she spied very few sails. Did they move beyond the need for wind to sail? The streets were wide, wider than she’d ever seen. There were hundreds, of not thousands of buildings.
“That’s not like any town I’ve ever seen,” Keltz said. “How many people live in your Ladysmith?”
“Just over eight thousand,” the Constable replied. “Although that number might be different as of this morning. It’s hard to tell how many made the trip here, not to mention how many people were just passing through when it happened.”
Nalya looked to Keltz. There was no village anywhere in the Disputed Lands that could count their population any higher than a few hundred. Even large towns in Rasza and Halen had, at most, five thousand souls.
Ladysmith was not a town.
It was a city. A city filled with wonders.
As they emerged from the forest road, Nalya was struck by how the road changed from packed dirt to what appeared to be solid stone.
“Your roads,” Arie said suddenly. “How did you construct them without Earth magic?” The wonder in her voice was apparent. “Even I would be hard-pressed to reshape stone at such a scale.”
“It’s asphalt,” the Constable said. “We make it out of the same sort of oil we make gasoline from, then mix it with gravel to keep it in place.”
Nalya watched as they drove down the hill, looking out the window at the buildings. It was clear to her they were homes. All were at least two stories tall, and most had a field of grass in front of them. She witnessed other vehicles like the truck they now rode in lying still in front of many. How many vehicles did they have? As many as there were people? Suddenly, the width of the roads made sense to her. They needed that much space to travel.
She soon realised the buildings were homes, and saw many people walking about, congregating as they watched the Constable’s Suburban roll past them. Once down the hill, they passed over a small bridge with iron rails on either side, and then climbed another until they came to a brief stop alongside a large grassy field with stone monuments. She recognized it as a cemetery, and as the vehicle continued on its way, they passed two grand, ornate buildings.
“That’s the Bethel Church,” he said pointing to the first. “And the Catholic Church.”
“Churches? Like temples?” Nalya asked.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Two denominations of Christianity. There’s a few more in town, but these two are probably the biggest.” He drove a little further down. “That’s the elderly care home, and then the hospital.”
Nalya watched in silent wonder as he turned the vehicle and began going down a steep hill. Past the hospital there were a number of houses built along the sides of the street, and a large building at the bottom.
“That’s the Forty-Ninth Parallel. It’s like our food market, and where you can buy liquor.”
“Liquor?” Keltz asked.
“You know like… wine and beer?”
He turned onto a street at the bottom of the hill. “We’re just about there, only a few more blocks. He picked up a device on the console in front of him. “Ten-Tango— Sergeant Boone, I am twenty-three in two minutes.”
Nalya realised the device was also a radio, although different in appearance from the one Ryan was using.
“Ten-four,” came the reply.
“You’ll be meeting Sergeant Boone pretty quick here. He’s the Watch Commander. He’s the guy in charge of the police forces here in town.”
“Bayne used to be a lawkeeper,” Nalya mentioned. “He will no doubt wish to speak with him.”
“Well,” the Constable said. “I’d suggest he take it easy. Sergeant Boone’s fair, but he doesn’t have much in the way of patience.”
Nalya laughed. “Much like Bayne.”
They eventually turned down another hill and the vehicle slowed to a stop alongside a small building on the corner of a large street even wider than the one she’d already been on. Behind them, Ryan’s red truck slowed to a stop, and she watched as Bayne clumsily jumped out of the back.
The Constable got out of the vehicle and opened Nalya’s door just as an older man wearing a uniform walked toward them.
“We all good?” the man asked the Constable as he approached. He looked to Nalya and the others curiously.
The Constable nodded. “This is Nalya,” he said. “She’s in charge. Nalya, this is Sergeant Boone.”
“Yes,” Nalya said. “The Watch Commander? The Constable told us of you.”
“Good to meet you,” he said. “The Emergency Committee’s already inside, they’ve got a lot of questions.”
“Before we go in, Sergeant,” Nalya began. “Know that I must give word to my men no later than sunrise tomorrow. They are currently camped just outside of your land in the mountains. I hope that won’t be a problem.”
The Sergeant shook his head. “Shouldn’t be,” he said. “You’re not prisoners, but I do ask that you observe our laws.”
“I shall endeavour to,” Nalya said. “That being said, I confess we are ignorant to your laws.”
“It’s easy. Don’t steal, don’t harm anyone, and don’t kill. The rest we’ll figure out as we go.”
Nalya nodded.
Goose wasn’t certain what to expect when the four strangers were escorted into the room, but he was certainly relieved that they looked like totally normal people, except for the fact that two of them were wearing armour, and he suspected all four of them were armed. The doors shut behind them, and Boone escorted the blonde woman to the podium in front of the table.
“This is Nalya,” Boone said. “She’s willing to answer any questions we might have.”
“Welcome, Nalya,” Goose said. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with us. My name is Goose Payne, I’m the chair for the Emergency Committee. Of course you’ve met Gerry Boone.” He motioned to the people around him. “This is Carla Meriweather, Jack Johson and Shannon Driscoll. Absent is Brad Renfrew who is currently managing our power situation.”
“It is a pleasure,” Nalya said. “These are strange times for all of us. It is better to make friends than enemies.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” Goose replied. He looked down to the list of questions they’d prepared for her. “There’s a lot to go through, so please be patient, and forgive our ignorance. We’re not familiar with… well, your customs, so please keep in mind that if we overstep, it is not our intention to offend, but we do find ourselves in a precarious position. I’m told you’re a representative of a nation that lies to the north of us. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Nalya said. “The Kingdom of Halen lies seven days travel to the north.”
“And you are an official of this Kingdom?”
“In a fashion,” she said. “I was recently given a Halish title that was once claimed by my ancestors before the emigrated to Rasza. It is there that I was born.”
“So you’re not from… Halen?” He jotted down some notes.
“No. The death of my father facilitated an arrangement with the King of Halen, whereupon I was given my title and appointed to lead a reconnaissance force into the Disputed Lands, which is where your… town finds itself.”
“Disputed Lands?” Goose asked. He didn’t like the sound of that. “May I ask why it’s under dispute?”
Nalya paused for a moment. “In our history, five tribes of man joined together in brotherhood to face against an ancient threat known as the Eventine,” she explained. “That was over a thousand years ago. The five tribes formed the Pact, and through it, each of the tribes was granted its autonomy in the Pactlands. The Disputed Lands were then, as now, uncivilised, and not subject to the Pact. At one point or another, every nation in the Pact save for Shavi has attempted to enact claims upon the land, but the High Magus Council that oversees the Pact has denied every claim until recently. The lands have always been lawless, but under Dispute. Those that live here call them the Free Lands because the Pact does not sway them.”
“You said until recently. What changed?”
The Council recently backed a claim by Emperor Cuerian of Vector,” she explained. “His forces muster somewhere south of us now. I was asked to lead a force into these lands to report back on their activities, but last night I saw a light. The light which appears to have brought you.”
“And you have no knowledge of how we came to be here?”
She shook her head. “No,” she admitted.
“And this Empire… Vector? Are they dangerous?”
Nalya paused for a moment. “I believe they are,” she said.
Goose looked over to the others.
“How dangerous?” Boone asked.
“Last night we came across a village in the mountains. We believe it to be a location of strategic importance for them, as it is one of the only clear passages in these lands that lead to Halen. They destroyed their crops, murdered many of their people, and took others to serve as conscripts or worse.”
Boone wore a look of consternation. “Did these people provoke them in any way?”
Nalya shook her head. “Not that I can say for certain,” she said. “But even if that were the case, and even if they are but Free Men, there is no justification for the horror they brought upon those people.”
“Do you have reason to believe they’re a threat to us?”
Nalya paused. “I… could not say for certain. I can only speak as to what I know of Emperor Cuerian and the general of his armies. Cuerian believes the Disputed Lands to be Vector’s by right. And General Ryde, who leads his forces, is known to be uncompromising. If you reside in the Disputed Lands, I suspect he would regard you as an obstacle to his goals. And Ryde is known for eliminating obstacles.”
“What kind of numbers do they hand?” Boone asked. “Weapons?”
“That is what we have come to ascertain. Surely a sword or pike for every man, as for their numbers, there could be up to fifty thousand or more.”
Boone shot Goose a grave look. “Even if they have mediaeval weapons, we’d be hard-pressed to fight off that many trained soldiers. Plus, we don’t even know what to expect when it comes to magic.”
“Would they be open to diplomatic negotiation?” Carla asked.
“Directly? It’s doubtful. But…”
“But what?”
“The appearance of your lands here is no inconsequential thing. I suspect that even the High Magus Council would take pause and withdraw their support from Vector, but it would take weeks to send word to the Council of your arrival here. Even longer for a reply. By that time Vector will have acted. However, there may be another option.”
“What kind of option are we talking about?”
“Halen has distrusted Vector since Cuerian rose to power. Relations between the two powers have been strained at best. It’s possible that your arrival could serve as the catalyst the House of Hillbreaker needs to challenge Vector and petition the council for reconsideration.”
“Possible… are you suggesting we send a delegation to meet with your King?”
“I cannot say it would be successful,” Nalya explained. “Halen is bound by the laws of the Pact as any of us are. But I know from experience that the King is a just man. He will listen. And if he sees some of the wonders I have seen just this day, I believe he may support your cause as his own.”
“Well that’s all well and good,” Jack said. “But we don’t even know what our cause entails.”
“I’d say survival is a pretty good cause,” Shannon added. “Preserving our way of life. Our traditions. Staying safe until we can find a way back home?”
“We don’t even know where to start on that. Nobody seems to know anything about how we got here.”
“That may not necessarily be true,” Nalya said.
All five of the Committee members looked to her. “You said you didn’t know anything,” Goose said.
“I have said I have no knowledge of how you came to be here, and that is true,” she began. “But I do not believe that is true for all of us. There is a man in Halen who encouraged me to be here. I suspect he had prior knowledge of your arrival and knew I would witness the sight I saw early this morning. He is known as the Blue Sight. A seer known to commune with time.”
“What, like a prophet?”
“Something like that,” she said. “I must warn you he is quite mad. His senses are not what you would expect. But if anyone might know what brought you here, it would be him.”
“Well,” Goose said. “It’s starting to sound like our best long-term solution is in Halen.”
“I’m not certain we should be sending anyone out of town,” Jack said. “For all we know whatever happened will happen again tonight, and we’ll all be back where we were.”
“I agree,” Carla said. “If we start sending people out of town, we might be condemning them to never see home again.”
“So what’s the alternative?” Boone asked. “We erect a fence around town, live entirely inside it and shoot everyone that comes over the rise? That isn’t going to keep flying dragons out, and it sure as shit isn’t going to help against fifty thousand trained soldiers. How much of a gas reserve do we have? A week or two? A couple of months if we ration it out and keep it for approved use only? What about food? We have what, three grocery stores and that cold freight facility by the airport? How long will that last? Won’t last very long at all if we can’t keep the place powered. How much coal do we have?” He threw a pen at the ground. “How about medication, Doc?” He looked to Jack. “How we doing for medication? How long till we run out of insulin for diabetics? Heart medication? Painkillers? Isolating ourselves isn’t the answer. That’s a surefire way to die. I hate that I have to be the first to say this, but we can’t rely on hope, and that means we’re going to have to take some risks. Until we know how we got here, we can’t just sit and twiddle our fuckin’ thumbs waiting for a second unprecedented event in a row to bring us safely back home. We need to accept the fact that home is on another world, and if it’s even possible to get back, it won’t happen by letting ourselves die.”
The rest of the Committee was silent.
“May I speak?” Nalya asked.
“Yes, sure. Go ahead, Nalya,” Goose said.
“There are people in these lands,” she said. “People in villages with farms and livestock. Animals all through these areas to be hunted. Stone’s Mouth has an active coal mine. Other villages up the coast ply trade in timber and fish. I would remind you that these people, too, have reason to fear Vector. You all have a common cause. I agree with Sergeant Boone that you would be foolish to close yourselves off from allies based on hope alone. I believe you would have much to gain from allying yourselves to these people. And I will also offer my own assistance in escorting a delegation from Ladysmith to meet with the King.”
“What about this seer of yours?”
Nalya paused. “He will be harder to arrange, but I will do what I can.”
“You ask me, I think that’s all we can hope for,” Boone said.
“I’m not ordering anyone to leave town,” Jack said.
“Then we ask for volunteers,” Boone replied.
Jack remained silent for a moment. “Fine, let’s put it to a vote.”
“All in favour say aye,” Goose said.
Every member of the Committee spoke the word. Even Jack, despite his reluctance.
“All right,” Goose said. “I guess the only question now is who to send.”