Paul’s second rapid transfer through one of Hazel’s windows left him just as nauseous and disorientated as the first one had. Worse, actually, because it didn’t have the distraction of jumping into the unknown in order to escape a mob of attacking demons.
The instant temperature rise of three or four degrees was quite a change, too, but it was the overwhelmingly delicious scent of flowering orange groves on both sides of the broad river that brought home the fact that with a single step they had crossed hundreds of miles into the continent’s interior.
An intense buzz filled the air, and wooden beehives stood in every clearing between the fierily blossoming trees.
Karen was beaming at him, almost laughing out loud, and Paul knew why. These oranges were famous throughout Tamass’s world. He and Nandi loved them, as well as many of their by-products such as marmalade and honey and Nandi’s favourite perfume.
They loved them so much, in fact, that in The Siege of Ys she’d used them as her final argument while persuading him to accept the wish of the people of Atland, who wanted them to take the thrones and make their permanent home in the city.
The riverbank track rounded a small hill, and through a gap in the trees Ys came into view, towering high and slender above the plain in the distance like some impossible fairy tale wedding cake, glowing with summer sky blues and pale coral pinks in the morning sunlight.
It was every bit as beautiful as the city in Paul’s books, and all the more awesome because it was real.
He stopped and stared with his mouth hanging open.
Karen stopped too, and smiled at his expression. “Is that what you saw when you were writing it?”
He swallowed. “Yes. It’s amazing. Can you believe this? It’s really here.”
“It’s fantastic. Just how you’ve always written it.” Karen grinned and whispered, “Atland Ys.”
“Atlantis,” he whispered back, his eyes shining with tears of joy and awe.
Tamass was watching him curiously. “I’ll be interested to explore this link between us that’s enabled you to describe things in my world.”
“Yes, we’ll talk. I’m interested too.”
Jack cleared his throat. “Can someone take this thing off now, please?”
Hazel had insisted that he be blindfolded before they went anywhere near her thin place. She untied the crimson silk neckerchief she’d knotted behind his head.
He knuckle-rubbed his eyes and blinked in the light. “Thank you.”
“What’s that?” Karen was watching a commotion in the middle of the broad river.
Something was churning a narrow line of white water out there. The surface disturbance settled into a fast moving V-shape, as if a flight of geese were swimming underwater. Whatever it was, it was heading directly for them on the riverbank.
Paul took a step back with the others, except for Karen. She stood rooted on the bank and stared at the rapidly approaching V.
“Merrow,” Hazel said. “They’re often attracted when people move through thin places. Not dangerous, normally, but they’re unpredictable and can be reckless about the safety of others.” She plucked at Karen’s sleeve to draw her away from the water.
Karen gave an absentminded nod, and stepped forward on to a flat-topped rock that was half buried in the edge of the bank. Three feet below her, the strong river current washed constantly around the rock.
Paul caught Borhb’s eye and mouthed, “Merrow?”
“Mermaids,” Borhb mouthed back.
A splendidly fat bare-breasted woman of stunning beauty rose from the surface ten feet from the bank, long hair shining deep midnight blue in the sunlight and glistening beads of water running down her black skin.
Paul’s heart thudded fit to burst, and the rest of the universe faded away. He wanted to join her in the river. He wanted to spend eternity with her.
A second and then a third mermaid appeared beside the first, rising from the surface as if they were standing on some smooth, silent machine.
Several more rose into the air, subcutaneous fat giving their upper bodies a powerful, almost dolphin-like roundness, all of them with luxurious blue hair flowing like water to below their hips, where their flawless black skin blended into pearlescent scales.
Each was as amazingly beautiful as the others, and at every new appearance Paul fell in love all over again.
Someone took his hand. He barely noticed, until whoever it was bit one of his fingers hard. A feverish shiver ran from his head to his feet and he jerked his forefinger from between Hazel’s teeth.
“Ow!” Her teeth marks showed red either side of his second knuckle.
“You’re welcome.” She peered into his eyes as if to measure his consciousness.
Apparently satisfied with his response, she pushed her hood back and raised her arms to draw everyone’s attention. “Look at me. All of you, look at me.”
Tamass, Borhb and Morhi made a visible effort to shake off the enchantment and focus on her.
Jack wasn’t interested in the mermaids, or in Hazel. He sat cross-legged on the ground and chewed a blade of grass.
Paul gasped. Hazel twisted around to follow his horrified stare and call a wordless warning, but neither of them moved quickly enough to stop Karen from diving into the river.
She’d left her boots on the rock and dived in fully clothed. She broke surface among the mermaids, who greeted her with delighted smiles and murmured snatches of a low-pitched song as they led her away to the middle of the river.
Tamass dropped his heavy cloak to the ground and started unstrapping his chainmail tunic.
Hazel stopped him. “It’s too late for intervention. She’ll either come back to us, or she won’t.”
Paul stared at the featureless patch of water where Karen and the mermaids had just disappeared below the surface.
They didn’t reappear.
The river continued flowing. The world seemed intent on returning to normal, but without Karen in it.
A pulse hammered in his ears. His throat closed up, and tears burned his eyes.
Only five minutes ago they’d been happy. Excited at seeing Ys and looking forward to exploring the city. Relieved at having made it this far, despite all the difficulties and dangers the past two days had thrown at them. Happy, and together.
Now, in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
He’d done nothing to try and save her.
Tamass had been prepared to dive in after her until Hazel stopped him.
But Paul, her best friend in the world, in their old world and this new one, he’d just stood there. Frightened of the water.
His tears fell. He didn’t try to stop them or hide them. He didn’t care who saw them or what they thought. His heart was breaking all over again. Splitting wide open along the scars of seven years earlier.
Hazel pulled him into a hug and he sobbed aloud across the top of her head.
“She’ll be way downriver by now,” Tamass said. “I’ll send people out to look for her when we get back to the city.”
They were terrible words to hear.
But then Tamass grunted in wordless surprise, and shook Paul’s shoulder, turning him to look at the river.
The V-shape was approaching the bank again. Not from downriver, but from the same place it had come from the first time. Karen was sitting astride the lead mermaid’s back, riding her as if she were a dolphin in an aquatic display show. She was sitting tall, hands on hips, soaking wet and beaming happily.
Paul took her hands as the mermaid lifted her clear of the water and she stepped lightly back on to the flat rock.
She was glowing with joy. Her eyes shone like amber in the sun, and for a moment her freckled skin actually looked as if it was giving off its own light. She waved to the mermaids as they slipped beneath the water, and gave a happy sigh that was almost a sung note.
“Let’s go.” Tamass sounded even more gruff than normal. He set off, and the others followed him.
Paul waited while Karen put her boots back on, without even removing her dripping wet socks and still smiling blissfully.
He wanted to ask what had happened down there under the water, but it didn’t feel like the right time.
She looked not quite there, like someone who’d just had an amazing religious experience or something.
Or an alien encounter.
Well, she had, actually. That’s exactly what she’d just had.
Although in this world the mermaids weren’t alien. He and Karen might be, but the mermaids weren’t.
Karen graced him with a dazzling smile, and strode off for Ys.
Maybe she wasn’t so much of an alien here anymore.