* * * William * * *

  “So, you can phase through solid matter?” William asked Kody

  “It’s called planewalking” Kody explained, “at least according to the century-old textbook on planar magic at my family’s mansion.”

  “Can Orthus also do it?” Zeenie chimed in

  “I guess so.” Kody said, “I’ve never seen him do it, and it never really came up in conversation.”

  “So how’s it gonna help us?” William interrupted

  “The older something is, and the longer it’s been there in its current place, the harder it is to pass through.” Kody said, “Newer structures take little or no effort to push through, but that camp wall was a bit harder. I can use this to pass through walls, to arrest momentum after a fall, or to walk on recently removed things’ imprints in lower layers.”

  “You seem… well-educated on this topic.”

  “Orthus taught me most of it, but I also read a bunch of my sister’s books as we were growing up. The actual experience came from building The House.”

  “That’s where we’re going?”

  “Right.” Kody nodded, “I need rest, you need sleep, we need a plan, and Orthus may arrive at any minute… or in a few days anyway. I don’t exactly know how far he is.”

  The rest of the way back to the house was mostly spent in silence, Zeenie occasionally breaking it with a question about Orthus. As they arrived, they were privy to a sight not many have ever seen.

  At first, everything seemed normal. They were trudging through a thick forest, which was getting thicker with each step. Then, without any previous sense of it, or without a real feeling of transition, they found themselves in a circular meadow with a ruined, two-story house in the middle. A faint aura of magic was visible emanating from it like an aurora. On the side of the house was a single, heavy-looking wooden door engraved with intricate patterns interlaid with precious-looking gems embedded into the wood.

  Kody grabbed the doorknob with one hand, the frame with the other, and twisted on it slightly at the same time as he flipped a hidden switch, and the door groaned ajar. He pushed up against it, and opened it wide.

  Inside was not the tiny room that should’ve been possible by the ruins’ external dimensions, but a large, triangular room with a wall and a door under a set of stairs to the left, and a tall, hollow column that also served as hearth and chimney. Where that chimney actually led was a mystery, as it certainly did not lead outside. In the middle was a rectangular pit, lined with sofas on all four sides, a matching table in the middle.

  Stepping in, the initial triangle was revealed to be merely a slice of an even larger, overall circular room, with the chimney serving as the central load-bearing piece. To the right, another set of stairs led up to an internal balcony, the same as the left side stairs. A bit further in was a hallway running tangent to the room, a table with space for eight chairs (only two were actually present, across the table from each-other), and a kitchen with a window looking out into what seemed to be a blank, white void.

  Zeenie ran inside, overjoyed, marveling at the spectacle, but William felt suddenly very aware of just how powerful this “space magic” of Kody’s was.

  “I know, it’s a lot to take in at first.” Kody tapped him on the shoulder, and passed him by.

  “How… How long have you been with this Orthus exactly?” William asked

  “About six years.” Kody said “I’ve had some minimal training before, but it was him that let me reach this level.” he gestured around the room. “Each segment more or less exists in its own pocket, so we could overlay rooms and hallways.”

  “The floorplan must be a nightmare” William chuckled. Kody seemed glad to see him lighten up a bit.

  “It really is.” He smiled back. “This exact uh… setup of rooms is only about a year old. It’s hard building an interplanar house when all you have is an assassin and a reluctant shapeshifter.”

  “Shapeshifter? You mean-”

  “He’s not exactly like Zeenie.” Kody explained, “Correct me if I'm wrong, but based on what I’ve seen, Zeenie can only switch between her dragon and vern forms. Orthus is older, much older. He can take almost any form he wishes, and he usually appears human when he’s around me. Although, he struggles a bit when trying to take on a woman’s form.”

  William looked for Zeenie. She was staring at something in the underside of the right-hand stairway, her head tilted to the side, with an expression of concern on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” William asked

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Do we know her?” she pointed at a small altar with two candles, a lock of hair, and a palm-sized painting of a red-haired girl looking into the viewer’s eyes.

  “That’s… No, that can’t be.”

  “I think it’s her.” Zeenie said, “I think that’s Lexie.”

  “Oh, you’ve found it.” Kody’s expression was mournful. “Her name was-”

  “Alexandra Nyma” William said

  “How… Did you know her?”

  “She used to live in the ranger camp where we grew up.” William said

  “She was weird.” Zeenie added “And, believe me when I say that. I'm a dragon, and she was the weird one.” she gestured at herself.

  “She never really felt at home there.” William continued, “Got into fights, stole stuff, then one day she just walked out of camp.”

  “She walked out through the wall !” Zeenie said

  “I thought that was just a rumor… Up until now.” William said

  “Hmm…” Kody said, “When was this?”

  “About ten- no, eight years ago.”

  “I met her eight years ago.” Kody said, “Up north, a few weeks’ walk from here.”

  “The camp is a bit further north.”

  “She must’ve left only a few weeks before we met. She was so kind to me. I… Sorry, can’t talk about it. Maybe later.”

  William didn’t want to push it. She obviously meant a lot to Kody, and he wasn’t going to risk getting the second half of that key on an assassin’s mental state with a dragon for a companion.

  * * * Kody * * *

  Kody retrieved a large region map from a drawer. He laid it out on the dining table, and pointed at the key locations:

  “Alright, this is where we are, this is the camp where we got the first half, and this is what I assume based on what the soldier said is the local base of operations.”

  “Almost a day’s walk from here.”

  “Not exactly.” Kody said, “See this town right next to the base? I have a shortcut there.”

  “A shortcut?”

  “The same as the front door, it’s got its own pocket-plane, and that door," Kody said, pointing to a second door next to the main entrance, "leads to a tavern basement in that town. I get contracts through them a lot of the time.”

  “Ah, right, assassin.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, how’s this gonna work? I mean, you can just planewalk in, but we still need a physical route.”

  “I need you to cover me from outside.” Kody said. “I can go in and take care of things, but I need you to distract or take out any soldiers who could gang up on me. I can handle myself in a fight, but I’d like to avoid one.”

  “What will I get to do?” Zeenie asked

  “You can be our runaway.” William suggested, “Wait for Kody at the wall, and fly away with the key once he’s got it there.”

  “Could work.” Kody said, “This gate hub is the closest to the base. Is it okay for you two to use?”

  “Yes. It gets us very close to the Aquilans.”

  “You’re visiting the king?”

  “Ha, I could only hope. No, I’m meeting one of their elders, I need some information from them.”

  * * * Zeenie * * *

  Zeenie couldn’t pay attention to the two men. They were so deep in planning every moment of their heist they didn’t really think about involving her in it. She was only supposed to wait about, then fly to a location she already knew about.

  Then there was the elephant (or rather, dragon) in the room; Orthus. Kody had only told her a few details about him so far, and she really wanted to meet him. He would be the first other dragon she’d seen except for herself. He was old, so he could surely teach her some things. As time went on, she grew more and more anxious about missing this opportunity, in the case Orthus arrived too late. Even Kody couldn’t tell how far he was. Zeenie could usually tell where William was, a gut sense telling her both the direction and distance. Maybe it only worked for short distances. She’d only ever gone a few minutes’ walk away from Will. Maybe she could stay this time, let him do his thing, while she did hers. She really liked the idea.

  As she was wondering, she was also wandering. She walked into the hallway, only to have it turn around after a few steps. A long section of hallway led to a number of identical rooms on either side, turning at the end further, as if to form a circle around (or inside?) the main room. Were these two hosting a small army, or were they just megalomaniacs? What were they even planning with that key? It was bad enough that the gate hubs barely ever functioned, now an increasing number of them had been robbed of their keys, for whatever reason. It was probably more of the same type of megalomaniacs taking them for their own use, or self-appointed gate guardians sitting on them for entry fees and literal gatekeeping. Gods, that gate guardian was a hassle to get anything out of. She was glad they found Kody. He knew where a hub was, where it went, and how they could use it.

  In the other direction was an exact mirror copy of the other hallway. Zeenie opened one of the doors and peeked inside. It opened into a rectangular room, empty for the moment, but if some rangers were to move in, it could have easily hosted about ten of them. Ten rangers per room, twelve rooms that she counted, half a camp could move in here and not even get noticed. She wondered where Kody slept. Where Orthus slept. Did they sleep together? Kody did say Orthus was his partner. But then again, William also sometimes referred to her as a partner, and their relationship was that of siblings.

  ‘ More like ranger and accessory ’ she thought. How easy it was for Will to rely on her for everything. She wanted out. She’d been wanting out for a while now. She just didn’t want to be left alone. Not again.

  She went to the end of the hallway, and found herself back at the start of the other. The place was looping, but there were only two, rectangular turns in it. Her head ached, trying to process it all.

  She opened another door. Empty. Another. Also empty. Empty, empty, empty. She almost didn't open the last one. Almost.

  As she placed her hand on the doorknob, she felt the familiar warmth of a room that was being lived in. She paused, then opened it wide. Inside was a king size bed, almost wider than long, with a canopy over it, the curtains open. A lone disturbance in the sheets… so he sleeps alone. In the corner of the room was an armor rack, currently also empty. Two bedside drawers, a desk, and a lot of empty space. Zeenie felt lonely just looking at it. Then she spotted it. In the corner, obscured by the door, was a pretty comfortable-looking sofa, worn quite a bit, by someone much heavier than Kody looked. Is Orthus keeping watch over him?

  Zeenie stopped. She had realized she intruded on someone's personal life without really meaning to. She quickly left the room and closed the door as silently as she could. Walking back out into the main area she looked the assassin in the face. He was in the midst of explaining something to William. He looked young, younger than Will by at least two years, but his expression, his gestures felt more like a very particular middle-aged ranger master she'd known.

  She walked past the men and sat down on a sofa facing the hearth.