It certainly wasn’t the word Lexi wanted to see. Al came to her door the following Sunday afternoon, while she was downloading some new music. She knew from the look on his face that the time had come again.
‘What is it?’ She was putting a new playlist together, but she dropped the song. ‘What’s the word?’
‘It’s “gun”.’ He held his hand up. ‘Don’t go assuming anything. It might be okay. “Water” was a nightmare, remember, so you can never tell.’
They sent a text to Will and Mursili.
Will’s reply came through within a minute. ‘Good one. Done it before. Not as bad as some. Don’t be alarmed by it being “gun”.’
As she waited with Al in the park, Lexi could instantly come up with 50 ways it could become a disaster.
‘“Not as bad as some”?’ She scrolled through Will’s text message, for at least the tenth time. ‘How bad is that? He once fought a million Aztecs while he had gastro and they wanted to sacrifice him alive. It’s “gun”. It’s not a word that got invented at a flower show.’
‘Yeah. Just so you know, I didn’t pick it.’ In his own head, Al was workshopping at least another 50 ways it could turn ugly. ‘It’s the history of the word, not the weapon, so—’
‘Yeah, and one time, long ago and far away from any wars, this peaceful shepherd was in a meadow, putting together his entry for the competition to name a brand new weapon that goes bang and shoots people. So we turn up, pat a few sheep, watch him write “G-U-N” on the entry form, poke in the peg and come home.’ She glared in the direction of the bus stop. ‘Does that sound likely?’
‘Well, soon we’ll know. Will can actually tell us with this one. That’s got to be good. He’ll know what the risks are. And where we have to be and when.’ It made sense when he said it, even if he didn’t feel it. ‘He got through it last time without knowing all that.’
‘And that means it’s okay he’s the boss, right? I know you know history, but he’s, like, practically 20 and smart and he’s done at least 50 words, including this one. So we have to—’
‘It’s probably hard to think straight when you’ve got such a massive crush on him.’ Al was already irritated that Will kept behaving like he was the boss. He didn’t need Lexi making it official.
‘I don’t have a—’ She put her hands up to cover her face. She could feel it burning. ‘Just supposing I did, which I don’t, do you think he’d know?’
‘I think his mind’s on the job. And I don’t think there’s a boss, but it would be smart for us to take his lead on this one, because he’s done it before.’
A bus turned the corner and pulled up. Mursili was the second person off. He could see them waiting under the trees and headed in their direction.
‘So, interesting one,’ he said when he got closer. He sounded enthusiastic about it. Which was easy, since he wasn’t going. ‘If only we’d had a few guns when the Kaskians attacked Hattusa. We would have handed them back their bottoms in large ceramic vessels for the storage of beverages.’ He stopped and sighed. ‘That is so disappointing in translation. Much punchier in Hittite. It’s a famous phrase of ours when you want to be a little bold about your intended treatment of an adversary. The vessel is “palhi” and don’t even ask how I would’ve translated “arraz”.’ Lexi and Al didn’t seem as interested as he’d hoped. ‘But now’s not the time for a lesson in Hittite. “Gun.” I’ve looked it up.’ He scrolled through notes on his phone. ‘It’s an odd one. Old Norse, so, Vikings. I can’t see any sign of steps to get there and if Vikings had guns Wikipedia’s got a lot of rewriting to do. And they’re not alone.’
Al showed him the page in the dictionary. The wording fitted with what Mursili had said, but it told them nothing more.
‘“Gunna”, “Gunnhildr”. I’ll be interested to hear how it started with them.’ Mursili almost put his finger on the portal before Al pulled the book back. ‘Sorry. I – It’d be awful to send you there without Will. Though my archery skills might be handy.’
‘Do you want to—’
‘Oh, no, I don’t think so. You need someone, um – I’m the guy in the control room with the screens, remember? I’m all about the information. I’m a googler, not a fighter.’ He looked uncomfortable. ‘But I’m tempted, of course.’
Behind Mursili, Lexi could see another bus pulling up. Will waved as he stepped off with his backpack over one shoulder.
‘I have good news and bad news,’ he said as he stopped next to Mursili to hook his other arm into his backpack. It sounded as if he was telling an old joke. ‘The good news is there’s only three steps to go through. The bad news is I’m pretty sure we’ll meet our friends in grey at the first one. But I got past them last time and I can do it again. And this time we’ve got the three of us and—’ He stopped there. ‘One of the stages is a party. A celebration. A couple are a bit rough, but let’s just go. I’ll brief you when we get to each one.’
He gave his injured shoulder a stretch. It was feeling much better. The bruising had tracked down to his elbow, but it was starting to fade.
Mursili stepped back from the dictionary.
‘What are you not telling us?’ Lexi said to Will.
But Al had touched the button and a bank of mist was already rolling up from the creek.