Sebastian e-1 Read online

  She felt as if he’d thrown cold water in her face, waking her out of some foggy dream. She sat down on the bench. “Shadows in the garden,” she said softly, the echo of the feeling she’d had as a student when that phrase began to have meaning welling up inside her. “Yes, that’s what we call them.”

  “And now, when things are turning bad and the whole world depends on the choices she makes, you’re wondering what’s inside Glorianna that makes her Belladonna.”

  Shame stained Nadia’s cheeks. “Yes.”

  Lee shifted on the bench to get more comfortable. “Do you know where the koffea beans come from?”

  Nadia frowned at him, puzzled by the change in subject. “They come from a land far south of here. A—”

  “Demon landscape.”

  She stared at him—and wondered why his smile was a blend of amusement and sadness.

  “Not all of them,” Lee said. “The ships that come in to trading ports from those southern lands carry koffea beans grown on farms—no, that’s not the word for them, but that doesn’t matter. Those other places are human. But the koffea beans that find their way to some of your landscapes as well as Glorianna’s come from the piece of that land inhabited by a race of demons.”

  “You never told me.”

  “You love her and you’d fight to your last breath to protect her from the wizards, but you’ve never been comfortable with the fact that Glorianna resonates with the dark landscapes inhabited by demons. So I’d like to tell you about this one.”

  She looked into his eyes and knew that if she refused to listen, couldn’t find it in herself to try to understand, she would lose her children. Both of them.

  Her throat felt so tight she couldn’t speak, so she just nodded.

  “I was with Glorianna the day that demon landscape resonated so strongly she had to answer. She’d been working in her garden, turning the soil in one of her ‘waiting’ spaces, and I was there to keep her company and rest, since I’d done a lot of traveling over the previous few weeks. I saw her pale, saw the shock in her eyes as her hands pressed flat against that newly turned earth. She had to go, right then, with dirt on her hands and wearing the old clothes she keeps for the times when she’s going to be grubbing around in the garden. I held on to her, and we took that step between here and there.

  “I’m not sure who was more shocked when we appeared in that landscape—Glorianna and me…or the spirit men from the various clans who had gathered to ask the Sacred Mother for help. They were asking for protection against their enemies, and two of the enemy suddenly appeared inside their circle of power.

  “But they recognized what she was. They had old stories, passed down through the spirit men, of women like her. Heart-walkers, they called them.” Lee paused for a moment. “Do you know what they wanted, Mother? Peace. There are veins of gold and silver in parts of their land. And there’s the land itself. The humans, who already control all the land around them, wanted to drive them out. But that place is all they have in the world. It’s their roots, their life. They just want to live there and tend the land. They’ve had enough contact with humans to know there are ‘pretties’ they’d like to have and are willing to trade for. But the human traders who had found a way into their land weren’t honest and brought in other men who were willing to burn out villages and kill everyone they could before they, in turn, were killed.”

  “She took them out of the world,” Nadia said softly.

  “Yes. She altered the landscape so that its boundaries no longer touched the human land in that part of Ephemera.”

  “But…you said the koffea beans come from there.”

  Lee nodded. “For a few months, the only access to that landscape was through Glorianna’s garden, and she was the only one who could reach that place. Then, one day, she came with me when I went to check on the bridges in one of her landscapes, and she headed off down this road that led to a little village. When we got there, we ended up in a merchant store. The two brothers who ran the store were grumbling about a promised shipment that had been sold to someone else in another town who could pay a thieves’ ransom for a bag of koffea beans. They had a grinder and two perk-pots and had dreams of adding a room to their store, making it into the village koffee shop, but the traders who brought bags of koffee inland from the seaports and had to cross over bridges to reach various landscapes tended to sell what they had to whoever would pay the price. Less time traveling meant more profit—and less chance of crossing a bridge and ending up somewhere the trader didn’t want to be.”

  Guessing where the story was going, Nadia smiled, even though tears welled in her eyes.

  “Well, the sum of it is, Glorianna said this was a place for opportunities and choices, so I made a bridge between those two landscapes. Now the merchants, who were willing to trade with demons in order to have a steady supply of koffea beans, have their koffee shop and have expanded their store as well, since they can sell bags of koffea beans to merchants in the bigger towns near them. More trade means providing the people in their village with more variety of goods—as well as establishing sources for the goods the demons want in exchange for the koffea beans. And there’s a man, a teacher by training and an adventurer at heart, who now lives in the demon landscape, teaching the demons human language and acting as a translator when they cross over the bridge to barter with the merchant brothers.”

  Lee paused. Nadia watched his throat working, as if he needed to swallow some strong emotion.

  “Do you know what those demons say when someone asks them where they come from? ‘I come from a piece of Belladonna’s heart.’ So tell me, Mother. How do we judge a dark landscape? Is it dark because the ones who already live there won’t let humans have their piece of the world? Do we judge who is good and who is bad by the color and shape of their skin—or by what resonates in their hearts?”

  The tears fell, washing away the stain on her heart. I should have asked about those landscapes a long time ago.

  She wiped the tears from her face. “I went to see the Den the other day.”

  Stunned silence. Then Lee burst out laughing. “Oh, Sebastian must have sweated bricks when you showed up.”

  Annoyed humor filled her. “He took it better than that other boy, Teaser. Acting all flirty until he found out I was Sebastian’s auntie, and then—”

  Lee howled.

  Nadia gave her son a hard smack on the shoulder. “It’s not funny. For pity’s sake, Lee, he’s an incubus, and he blushed.”

  He laughed so hard he fell off the bench.

  Nadia huffed and waited for him to regain some semblance of composure. When he finally sat upright, albeit on the ground, red-faced and gasping for breath, she leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. “You shouldn’t laugh at him. You can’t say ‘mother’ and ‘sex’ in the same sentence.”

  Sputtering, he raised his hands in surrender. “No, I can’t, but we aren’t talking about me.”

  “You’re grown men. You’ve had sex. I don’t see why you get so huffy about someone else having some.”

  “Can we go back to talking about Sebastian and Teaser? Please?”

  Looking at his face, she laughed—and felt something shift inside her, felt her heart regain its balance.

  When her laughter faded, she sighed. “She really is a Guide of the Heart, isn’t she?”

  Lee sobered. “Heart-walker. Yes, she is. It’s what she’s always been.”

  “I know. I keep hoping there are others like her, somewhere in the world beyond the landscapes we know. But even if there are others, Glorianna is the one who is here—and the Eater of the World is going to do everything It can to destroy her.”

  Lee held out his hand. She took it, welcoming the warmth and connection, while she thought about the daughter who held Ephemera’s fate in her hands.

  They sat that way, silent, for a long time.

  Koltak stumbled, although there was nothing to trip his feet. Then he realized the endless grass had changed to
a dirt lane. The air felt different—warmer, drier—and he could hear the sound of waves rolling in to shore.

  He hadn’t felt the resonance of a bridge, but he was so tired, he might not have sensed it. More likely he’d crossed a border between similar landscapes rather than a boundary that required a bridge. Still, a lane would have a destination, so he followed it until he came to a cottage.

  The place looked human-made. He could knock on the door and ask for food and shelter.

  Of course, just because the cottage was human-made didn’t mean the occupants were human.

  He hesitated, then continued following the lane. If there was one cottage, there would be others. Maybe even a village.

  He had no sense of how long or far he walked before he saw the colored lights. His heart lifted. Had he finally reached the end of the journey?

  Hope battled exhaustion, winning long enough to get him to the edge of a cobblestone street he’d seen once before, years ago.

  Determined to finish the journey, Koltak walked down the main street of the Den of Iniquity.

  The Eater of the World has been sealed away and can no longer touch anything in Ephemera except the landscapes It shaped. And they, too, have been taken out of the world. But the Dark Guides, who brought the Eater into being, who rejoiced in Its destruction of the world, are still out there in the landscapes. Somewhere.

  They are clever. And they are cruel.

  They nurture the dark desires of the heart. It is said they can slip into a mind to whisper things that can turn a heart away from the Light.

  Yes, they’ll tell someone, it isn’t fair that you are poor and can’t afford that pretty trinket. You deserve to have the pretty trinket. If you take it…The merchant is wealthy. What’s the loss of a few coins?

  Yes, they’ll whisper, you’re right to be angry. She was cruel to break your heart. She deserves to feel your fist…that knife…that ax.

  They nurture the dark feelings in the heart and help them grow.

  But the worst thing they can do is use truth to destroy something good, to use truth as a lie in order to dim the Light inside someone—or even within a landscape.

  No one is immune to the Dark Guides. Not even Landscapers. So beware. If someone tries to persuade you to turn away from something you know is right in order to do a greater good…sometimes it really will be the truth and is the right thing to do.

  And sometimes it will be a lie.

  —The First Teachings

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Sebastian and Teaser stood at the edge of Philo’s courtyard, looking over the customers. Or, in Sebastian’s case, watching Lynnea take orders and clear tables.

  “Is it love,” Sebastian wondered, “when a particular woman complaining that you hog the bed makes you feel happier than a dozen other women undressing you with their eyes?”

  “Don’t ask me,” Teaser grumbled. “I’m not the one sighing and moaning every night.”

  “Lynnea doesn’t sigh and moan.” Not loudly enough to be heard in the next room, anyway.

  “Wasn’t talking about Lynnea.” Teaser gave Sebastian a long look to make his point, then a quick once-over. “You’re dressing hot these days. More than you’ve done in quite a while.”

  Sebastian smiled. “I’ve got a reason to—and I don’t want her to forget it.”

  Oh, yeah. Despite being a one-woman incubus and the Den’s Justice Maker, he was dressing hot these days. Tight black denim pants and a black denim jacket, a green shirt to enhance the color of his eyes, and a pendant—a flat green stone on a gold chain that Glorianna had given him years ago—that he’d found in the back of a dresser drawer when he went rummaging for something interesting to catch a woman’s eye. He wasn’t sure if there was something about the stone or something about him wearing it, but Lynnea—

  “You keep thinking what you’re thinking, you’re going to sproing in public,” Teaser said.

  “That’s crude.”

  “I’m just saying. And since we all know who you sproing for these days—”

  “Why aren’t you out trolling?”

  Teaser shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Because the last time I saw an attractive woman who looked safe enough to nibble on, it turned out to be your auntie.”

  “I’m trying to forget that.”

  “Me too.”

  “Really trying to forget that.”

  “Me too.” Teaser sighed and started to turn toward the street. “All right, then. I’ll take a stroll and—Daylight! What’s one of them doing here?”

  Sebastian looked in the same direction and felt the heat of anger and the chill of fear run through him. “Have a word with the bull demons,” he said quietly as he watched the wizard stagger down the street. “Tell them to watch over Lynnea and keep her safe.”

  “You going to get testy if they start goring people or bashing in skulls?”

  “No.”

  “Right.” Teaser looked at Sebastian. “He can call the lightning, too. Remember that. If it comes down to it, you need to be the one standing when it’s done.”

  “Don’t worry,” Sebastian growled. “I will be.”

  He strode up the street, knew the wizard recognized him the moment he started moving—which was more than he could say about recognizing the wizard. He’d never seen Koltak so dirty and exhausted. Obviously reaching the Den had been a long, hard journey.

  But Koltak shouldn’t have been able to reach the Den. Not anymore. Which was something Sebastian needed to tell Lee at the first opportunity. If Koltak could find his way to the Den, what else might be wandering through Glorianna’s landscapes?

  He stopped and waited for the wizard to get within a man’s length of him. “You’re not welcome here.”

  “Sebastian,” Koltak gasped. “There’s danger. Great danger. We need your help. You have to listen.”

  “The way you listened when I came to you for help? Go back where you came from. You’ll get nothing from us.”

  “You have to listen.” Koltak started to raise his hand, perhaps in supplication, perhaps for a different reason.

  Sebastian didn’t wait to find out. His hand shot up, the power crackling through him, balling in his fingertips, waiting for release.

  Koltak stared at the hand, then slowly lowered his own. “So. The power awoke in you. You’re a wizard.”

  “Justice Maker,” Sebastian snapped. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand the difference.”

  “But I do,” Koltak cried. “I do! I—” He swayed. “Sebastian, if there’s anything human in you, show a little pity.”

  “Don’t throw that in my face, old man. You’ve always said there was nothing human in me, never wanted to see anything human in me. So now—”

  “Do you think this is easy for me?” Koltak said, the familiar, angry venom back in his voice. “Do you think I want to grovel for your help? To be here? But I’m willing to put aside our differences to save Ephemera. Are you enough of a Justice Maker to do the same? Or are you going to let everything be destroyed as a way of farting in my face?”

  To save Ephemera. Which, for him, meant saving Glorianna’s and Nadia’s landscapes. Which meant saving the Den, the place he’d promised to protect. Which meant keeping Lynnea safe.

  “Come on,” Sebastian said. “We’ll get you some food—and I’ll listen.”

  Leading Koltak back to Philo’s, Sebastian hurried along the edge of the courtyard until he reached the door to the interior dining room. Koltak smelled ripe enough to put anyone but the bull demons off their food, so getting the man away from Philo’s customers as quickly as possible was a kindness. He held the door for Koltak, took a deep breath of fresh air, and went into the dining room.

  Koltak staggered to the nearest chair and collapsed into it.

  Thinking there were benefits to having a head cold and wishing he could have one for the next hour, Sebastian reluctantly pulled out the chair on the other side of the table and sat down.

 
“Long journey?” Sebastian asked too politely, making it plain that no matter how long the journey had been, it hadn’t been long enough. Which, judging by the flash of anger in Koltak’s eyes, the wizard understood.

  “Yes,” Koltak replied in a restrained voice, “it was a long journey.”

  What does he want from me that he’s making an effort to be civil? And why did the words “a long journey” make him uneasy, as if something important was just out of memory’s reach?

  The inner door swung open. Teaser walked in with a tray, set out two steaming bowls of water, two towels, and a plate with two pieces of soap that had been cut off a bar, then walked out again.

  Sebastian eyed the pieces of soap and hoped someone made Brandon wash the knife before the boy went back to cutting up meat or vegetables.

  “Is this…customary?” Koltak asked, embarrassment coloring his face.

  “No,” Sebastian replied, reaching for a piece of soap. “But it’s appreciated when it’s offered.” He washed his hands, dried them, set everything to one side, and smiled at his father—a dare to turn down an amenity just because everyone knew it was needed.

  By the time Koltak finished scrubbing the grime off his hands, Teaser was back with a pitcher of water, a bottle of red wine, and various glasses that looked like they’d been grabbed because they were clean and handy, since they weren’t the ones Philo usually used for water and wine.

  “Not very well trained, is he?” Koltak grumbled as he poured a glass of water and drank it greedily.

  “He’s just helping out.” And Teaser had remembered to take the bowls of dirty water and the towels away. Sebastian wasn’t sure if leaving the soap on the table was an oversight or a comment.

  “The wench doesn’t serve the tables in here?”