Beltan touched his cheek. “Only you’re all right, aren’t you?”
Again, Travis shivered. It felt as if there was a hole in him where something had been excised, something rich and warm and golden. And something else was missing as well–a familiar presence.
Jack?he spoke in his mind. Jack are you there?
There was no answer. And there never would be again. Travis touched his right hand, but for the first time in five years he didn’t feel the familiar itch beneath the skin of his palm, the faint tingle of the hidden rune.
“Travis?” Beltan’s green eyes were worried.
Travis breathed. “Yes. I’m fine.” He smiled, laying his hand over Beltan’s, pressing it against his cheek. “I’m more than fine.”
Already a new warmth was filling the hole inside Travis. And while it was not so golden and fiery as Orъ’s blood, or as shimmering as rune magic, it was every bit as powerful in its own way. And as long as Beltan was at his side, it would never fade.
“Now that he is awake, we must make our decisions,” Vani said, hands on her hips. “Time grows short.”
Travis shook his head. What was she talking about? A note of alarm cut through his confusion.
“Where’s Deirdre?”
“She’s gone,” Farr said simply.
Travis staggered, leaning against Beltan. For a moment he felt disbelief. Then memory returned. Phoebe had chilled him with a glance, as well as Beltan. Travis had watched, unable to move, as the circle of the Seven closed in around Nim and the Imsari.
And Deirdre.
The last thing he remembered was an orb of brilliant silver‑gold light encapsulating both Nim and Deirdre. The final image he could recall was of the light beginning to dim, and of a single, tiny figure standing in its midst, like a chick inside an egg lit from behind. There had been no taller figure standing beside the little one.
“Gone,” Travis repeated the word, as if it was unfamiliar to him.
Grace gripped his hand. “She was happy, Travis.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I felt her, right before . . . right before she was gone. She was so happy. She understood everything. She knew that–”
“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Larad said with an uncomfortable look. “But I don’t think we have time for that now.” He gestured behind them.
Travis turned around, and he tried to understand what he was seeing. “Where are we? On Earth or Eldh?
“Both, for the moment,” Farr said. “But perihelion is drawing to a close. The worlds are beginning to drift apart.”
Travis understood. It had seemed the shadows in the room were shifting. But that wasn’t it at all. It was the room itself that was shifting. The chamber in London and the throne room on Eldh were no longer blurred as one. Instead they were discrete, separate. First one flickered into view, then the other.
However, even as Travis watched, the area affected in this way shrank inward. It was limited to the center of the chamber, to the area around the dais. The rest of the chamber was solidly, unwaveringly the room in London. Again the air flickered, and the area around the dais became part of the throne room in Morindu. Orъ’s mummy still sat shackled to his throne. A few moments later the air seemed to wrinkle, and the throne was gone, replaced by the jumbled heap of stones that had been the gate.
Farr took a step toward the dais, his black serafiswishing. “I don’t think we have much longer. We have to decide which side to remain on before perihelion ends.”
His words stunned Travis. Decide? How could he possibly decide between two worlds? Before, when he had returned to Earth, there had always been the possibility that he would return to Eldh. Only this time there would be no chance of that.
“Perihelion won’t come again, will it?”
Farr shook his head. “It was the pull of the Imsari and the Seven that brought the worlds close together. They will never draw near again. And nor will gates function, now that magic is no more.”
“I suppose these aren’t worth anything anymore,” Travis said, pulling the silver coin from his serafi.
Grace smiled. “It’s still worth something, Travis.”
True. But it couldn’t take them between worlds, could it? Travis’s heart ached. He didn’t want to say good‑bye. Not so suddenly. Not forever.
The air in the center of the room rippled. The nexus between the two worlds shuddered, then shrank until it was no larger than the dais. One moment it was Morindu, the next London.
“I’ve made my choice,” Farr said, moving onto the dais. “I intend to stay in Morindu.”
“But sorcery doesn’t work anymore,” Travis said.
A smile flickered across Farr’s handsome face. “It was never about magic, Travis Wilder. That’s not why I searched for other worlds. It was for knowledge. For wonder. All of Morindu the Dark remains to be explored. Who knows what secrets remain to be discovered? I cannot throw away the chance to learn things no other living person knows. Deirdre would have understood.”
Travis sighed. Yes, she would have. But Deirdre knew more than any of them now.
Master Larad moved to the dais, standing next to Farr. “As interested as I am in learning about another world–this Earth on which you spent so much of your life, Your Majesty–Eldh is my home, and I cannot imagine not spending the rest of my years there.” He gave a sardonic smile. “Though the problem of getting out of the desert and returning to Malachor may require all of those years to solve.”
Farr grinned. “I imagine we’ll be able to solve that one, Master Larad. Camels aren’t the only way through the desert.”
Like the iris of an eye contracting, the circle above the dais shrank inward another fraction. The nexus was already not much larger than a door. They were almost out of time.
“What do you think, Beltan?” Travis said. “Which world do you want to be on?” Travis tried to sound noncommittal, even though he knew, without doubt, that he wanted to stay on Earth. Eldh was a world of beauty and wonder. But it wasn’t his home. It never had been.
“I want to be on planet Travis,” Beltan said solemnly. “My world is wherever you are.”
“Are you sure?” Travis said, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time. Could he really expect Beltan to spend the rest of his life on another world?
“I’m sure,” Beltan said, taking Travis’s hand.
Doubt vanished, and Travis grinned. “I guess we’ve done pretty well here on Earth. I think we’ll stay, if that’s all right.”
Beltan kissed him. It was.
Reluctantly, Travis pulled away. Now came two farewells he didn’t think he could bear. Only, somehow, he had to. He knelt before Nim. The girl had not said anything since he had awakened. Did she understand what was happening?
She did.
“I want to stay with you, Father!” she said, throwing her small arms around Travis’s neck. “And with Father!”
Travis hugged her tight. “I know, sweetheart. I wish you could stay with us, too. But your place is with your mother.”
“I do not believe that is so.”
Travis looked up, too stunned to speak. Nim turned around, tears staining her cheeks, her eyes wide.
“Mother?”
Vani knelt before her. “My brave daughter.” She brushed a dark curl from Nim’s face. “I love you. You must never forget that.”
“I won’t,” Nim said.
Vani bent, kissed Nim’s brow, and stood.
“I took her from you once,” she said, gazing at Travis, then at Beltan. “I cannot do so a second time.”