Wordscapist: The Myth (The Way of the Word Book 1) (41 page)

     As I turned to leave, summoning the words that would take me to the head office in the bureau nearest to the California City centre, I heard De Vorto speak.

     “Amra, one piece of advice. Give up on the thought of arresting the boy. He won’t surrender. And neither will you be able to catch him if he is unwilling. He is simply too powerful.”

      I turned around to reply with a ‘we’ll see’ as a parting shot. But I did not get the chance. The window opened up and swallowed me, leaving a half-uttered ‘we’ll’ hanging in the air. It just wasn't my day, I guess.

Slick

    Devil and Deep Sea if you’re orthodox; frying pan and fire if you’re feeling culinary; Scylla and Charybdis if you are mythologically inclined. Call it what you will, but it was the worst situation I had ever been in. I had heard that the Guild and the Free Word were both hunting me. And here I was, stuck between two of history’s most powerful wordsmiths. Some days, life tended to be just peachy. 

     I saw Silvus raise his staff, summoning whatever nightmare he had woven up for me. Simultaneously, Zauberin arced a glowing blue warp between her hands. They both wanted me dead. Very dead. I desperately thought up my time warp again, slowing everything to a tenth of its speed. It still was not enough. I remained a split second away from death. I had just managed to stretch that split second a bit.

      They say your entire life passes in front of your eyes in moments like these. I could only think of one person, and she was lying unconscious a couple of feet away from me. In that one moment, all that Dew was and the best moments I had spent with her did come to my mind, though they did not really pass in front of my eyes quite the way I had imagined. I knew it was supposed to mean something that I could think only of her. But I was too much of a survivalist to dwell on sentimentality when there was still some hope left. Did I say hope? Yes, I was also quite an optimist.

      At the same time, I saw two powerful arcs shoot towards me; one from Silvus’s staff and the other from Zauberin’s spell warp. In that instant, I knew what I had to do. I thought up a piece of pure vacuum right over my head.

“Nothing

That holds its own

Small enough to hold

But too powerful to control

Absolute vacuum

Now!”

    I dove down even as I felt the air surge in response to the scape. I hit the ground hard, sliding into Dew’s form. I could feel immense power building over me.

     It was an abstract thought given form, but it worked. I felt space twist and turn as a sphere of absolute nothing came into existence, displacing the air that had been there. And as absolute nothing usually does, it pulled violently at everything around it, including the two powerful spell bolts arcing roughly in the same direction. I grabbed Dew and tried a thought teleport, desperately trying to get the hell out of there. It did not work. I should have asked De Vorto to teach me how to do that too. Just as I was about to give up, I felt a sliver of reality open up, almost beckoning to me. It was a small tear in space-time that I could weave myself and Dew into, away from the mayhem that was going to break loose in less than a second. I could see it glowing a midnight blue, a tantalising possibility, as words kicked up a veritable storm in my head, trying to find a way into it. I did not spend any more time thinking. I held Dew tightly and willed myself into that space. The words that came to me were powerful and fantastic; words I had never used before. I felt everything twist and turn as the tear opened to swallow us up. The last thing I saw was the spell bolts converge in the sphere of vacuum even as a huge cat leapt right into that space. Before I could figure that one out, I felt myself, and Dew along with me, being pulled violently into another reality.

      We emerged in another world altogether. Everything around me felt really weird. But right then, I needed to check if Dew was okay. Everything else could come later. Dew was still unconscious, limp in my arms. I checked her breathing and pulse. She was breathing evenly and her pulse was firm and steady. I heaved a sigh of relief. Now, I could figure out where we were and see what turn events had taken. I looked around. The terrain was completely desolate, rocky and bleak. It was like a desert; only it was like no desert I had seen. Come to think of it, I had not really seen any deserts, I just knew that no desert was supposed to look this!

     A furious wind whipped up sand in harsh and gritty flurries. There was no sun to be seen, but the place was hot enough to get me sweaty and sticky in the few seconds we had been there. But the most alien part of the landscape was that everything was a shade of dark, disgusting purple, quite like the lifeblood of one of those slimy aliens in a B-movie. Where the hell had I got us!

      “Welcome to my world,” came a voice that was sexy and deadly at the same time. It sounded like what every femme fatale in the history of mankind had aspired to, but could not quite achieve. A couple of days ago, it would have frozen me on the spot in anticipation and terror. But life has a way of preparing a man for everything that comes his way. I turned around and looked at the owner of the voice. I had spoken too soon. I did freeze. I had heard about this lady from Dew to know on sight that I was in the presence of the formidable and deadly Sign.

CHAPTER 20

Word and Sign

I am a myth

A story

A ghost

Slick

   So this is how it ends - the thought came to me, settled down and made itself comfortable. From norm to cipher to Wordscapist to incredibly powerful wordsmith doomed to die...to this? I had gotten into and out of more hairy situations in the last couple of weeks than a mouse at a cattery. And after all these feats, I was to be executed like a common wordsmith by Sign; hoodless and scytheless, but still every bit as omnipotent and inevitable as Death. I slowly got up, leaving Dew lying on the hard terrain. What was to happen now?

     She was some sight, decked like a goddess of chaos, and accompanied by her three beasts. Three? There was a fourth, and before I started turning around to look for it, I remembered the leaping kitty that had disappeared into the vacuum I'd summoned. Oh well!

     Sign stepped closer, every move and gesture threatening, and spoke, “You are finally mine, Alain de Vorto. You have taunted me for centuries, evading me time and again with your little tricks. You disappeared into your hole when I attacked you. You come back after so many centuries and start your old tricks all over again. And now, to make matters worse, you have also destroyed one of my pets; a companion I have had for centuries. I will make you pay, Alain de Vorto, for each of these crimes.”

     I stood there and calmly took all this in. That voice was definitely hypnotic. Then again I always had a lamentably short attention span. The effect was beginning to fade.

     “Let’s take this one at a time,” I said, looking her right in her glowing purple eyes, “To begin with, I am not Alain de Vorto. I have no idea where that useless bum is. I have had to fight the CCC, the Free Word and half the Guild all on my own today. Dew was right alongside me through all this, but then got knocked down a minute ago. Now I have to deal with you. And the Alain de Vorto you hunt is off being miffed in some corner.”

     I could see her eyebrows going up at this. This was not what she had expected. I was going to continue keeping her off balance. This might just turn out to be fun.

     “Two; I have never seen you, so you can’t blame me for all those centuries of irritating behaviour. I’ve hardly been around for a quarter of a century myself, and had no clue that there was a psychopathic elemental called Sign until a couple of days ago.”

     I could see a range of emotions flitting across that coldly beautiful face. I wondered what I would do when I ran out of points. Until then, I was going to lay it on, thick and powerful. I was done with being pushed around, even if it was the almighty Sign doing it.

     “And yes, I have no clue what you mean when you say that I destroyed your pet. I personally like cats. Yours are a bit too overgrown for my taste, but I still would not go so far as destroying one.” I was pushing it. And I could feel my adrenaline pumping as I realised I was having fun doing this. I was egging Sign on. But I hadn’t lied. Except for the cat part. But that was collateral damage.

     Sign glared at me, and then took a few moments to regain her calm. She pulled off a convincing smile and spoke, making her voice a bit more hypnotic and arresting, “Your insouciance is irreverent and misplaced. But I shall pardon that as a consequence of your youth and ignorance. You say you are not Alain de Vorto. Who are you then, child? You are apparently unaware of me and all that I am.”

     I put on my deepest, classiest voice and spoke, “I am Slick. My real name does not matter. And I heard very recently about your power and your exploits, how you have terrorised the wordsmith community ever since it came into being. But if you don’t mind me saying you seem a little clichéd in form and presentation. I mean, come on! Four cats made up to a night-in-hell theme? And you look like Trinity’s replacement in a Matrix revival series. Does it get any more obvious than that?”

     The entire world around us went dark and stormy. She was silhouetted in lightning, her glare piercing enough to bore holes in me. The pop cultural reference might have escaped her (her world looked like it was short on HDTVs and multiplexes), but I think she grasped the general tone I had adopted. I gulped and braced myself for some more ‘insouciant irreverence’. I put on a show of checking out the thunder and lightning, and then brought my hands out in a flashy see-what-I-mean gesture. Unfortunately, that just got her more pissed. The world went all the more stormy. I wondered if it would start raining next. Given the purple all around, it would probably rain blueberry juice here. I decided not to say this though. I had pushed her enough.

     “Stop!” she thundered at me. I did not bring to her notice that I had stopped quite some time back. “You dare! You disrespect me?” She came closer. I tried very hard not to flinch or back away. I succeeded, barely. I knew conceptually that one touch of that black skin and I would be dead. “You have gone too far, child. I might have let you live, even after your foolishness led to my pet’s destruction, but you must be punished for your insolence. And with me, there are no warnings, and all punishments are terminal.” She leaned closer. “Do you understand?” She smirked a radiantly cruel smile at that.

     It was time to quit fooling around and do what I did best. Only, I could not speak aloud. I quickly thought up the words to summon my ice-balls. Nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing continued to happen. I saw Sign’s smirk growing. I chucked the silence and said the words aloud. No ice-balls. Not even a snowflake. 

     “You are in my world, boy. Your tricks do not work here. I can feel the gift in you and it is strong, stronger than it ever was in Alain de Vorto. I can see now that you are not him, but his gift lies in you. And for that, you will die. I will not tolerate such power in such a malicious boy.”

     Oh shit! I was in deep trouble! I wondered how a right hook would fare against her. I do not hit women on principle, but this was one of those moments when you had to lay aside these things. I found myself wishing I had picked up the demon’s baseball bat.

   “What happens to Dew?” I asked, gesturing to the unconscious form on the ground. I knew what she would say, but I was stalling, trying to buy time.

      “No one who comes here leaves alive, boy. She is a wordsmith too, and she has been consorting with Alain de Vorto and you. She will pay the price for living dangerously. I will let her get back to your world as a shade. You on the other hand, I will leave no trace of, corporeal or ethereal.”

     Great! This woman’s pinnacle of mercy lay in making someone a ghost. What was I to do!

     “If you are done asking your questions, can we end this now?” she asked rather sarcastically, coming closer. I was possessive of my physical space and resented such forward behaviour. She was not really my type. 

     At times like these, you may remember there are three things you can do - freeze, fight or run. I was not the freezing type. I was out of fighting options. I did not have a choice. I turned and ran. I would come back for Dew the moment I had figured out a way to neutralise Sign and her cats. Yeah right! Some hope I had!

    The last couple of days had involved a lot of physical activity and gruelling schedules. I had discovered that I was a lot tougher than I had given myself credit for, that I had much more stamina that I imagined. Nevertheless, I was gasping in the first minute of running. Cigarettes! They would be my ruination! 

     I could sense no motion behind me. I wondered what was up, but did not dare turn around to check. I continued running. I patted my pockets even as I jumped over a huge scar in the land, hoping that a machete or a sub-machine gun had wondrously appeared there. I found a crumpled pack of cigarettes, a disposable lighter and a few pieces of candy (the metal camouflage ones). Not really the kind of stuff you’d like to have when three cats out of hell and their angry owner were after you. I put everything back and put a piece of the candy in my mouth as I ran. I really liked the way they tasted.

      I saw a line of cliffs coming up. I took a detour to run around them, wondering why no one was pursuing me. While I was running pretty fast, I had to admit that even a little house cat could have easily outpaced me a while ago. I wondered how much of a handicap Sign was offering me. I told myself to stop thinking and continued running, my breath coming in ragged gasps in the hot, stifling air. I turned quickly to sneak a glance. There was no one behind me. Allowing myself a little smile, I turned around and made my way to the other side of the cliffs, slowing down to a jog. Right in front of me was Sign. Behind her, her three cats sat in various poses. One of them was washing itself while another stretched and yawned. Dew lay right there, exactly in the same position she had been in when I had taken off.