Durch Ferne Welten und Zeiten - 5. Chapter 5: Rudy Returns to World

Chapter 5: Rudy Returns to World

Alexis smelled pine and cedar and the damp loam of a forest floor. The upper limb of the sun was still a few degrees below the eastern horizon; three bright planets and the larger moon shone in the west. The Clydesdale grazed nearby. Alexis looked at the pool of water in the middle of the glade, and nodded. This was the right place. He rode into a copse that would screen him from view, loosened the horse’s girth, and prepared to wait.

The gate delivered Rudy into a shallow pond. He glanced up, and saw the two Bright Travelers low in the western sky, and the moon, a hand-span above them. I’m in the right World, at least, he thought. He sloshed to the shore, took off his pants and moccasins, and swished them in the water to remove the mud. He gathered and then applied magic to the task, careful to suppress any sound. Everyone in a hundred miles probably heard the gate; no need to let them know anyone came through. I need to move quickly, though. Wonder where I am; wonder when I am. The spell book promised only that I would be in harmony—

He was so intent on his task and his thoughts that he did not hear the horse approach until its rider spoke. “Hi, Rudy.”

Rudy’s heart stopped for a second. He jerked his head around. The rider added, “My name is Alexis. I’ve been expecting you. I swear I will do you no harm.”

Rudy scarcely registered what the rider had said. It was the horse that drew his attention—nearly 18 hands at the withers, it was taller than any horse he’d ever seen, and the colors: mahogany with a white face and white hair stockings on his ankles? Rudy finally looked at the rider: a tween wearing a tunic and tights, and with a two-handed broadsword hung over his back.

“How do you know my name?” Rudy asked.

“You’re the story-teller, but you’re also in your own stories,” Alexis replied. “If you want to put on your pants, Orion easily can carry us both, and we have a way to go. Even if you don’t want to put on your pants, we should leave here, quickly.”

Rudy giggled, used the remnants of his boy magic to remove water from his pants and moccasins, and then put them on.

“Do you want to ride in front or behind me?” Alexis asked. He’d gotten off the horse, and was watching it drink from the pond. “The view is maybe better from the front.”

Alexis was a head taller than Rudy, and his shoulders were broad. “In front, please,” Rudy said.

Alexis boosted Rudy into the saddle, mounted behind him, and put his left arm around the boy. “You can hold the front of the saddle,” he said. “However, Orion’s gait is a little different from most horses so, if you don’t mind, I’ll hold you until you get accustomed to it.”

“Where are we going?”

“To take you home,” Alexis said. “To Barrone. That’s where you want to go, isn’t it?”

Rudy nodded. “How do you know? And why would you do that?”

“Well,” Alexis said. “I have a sturdy horse. It’s a fine day for a ride and I have a beautiful boy to travel with.” Alexis saw Rudy’s blush reach his ears. “Oh, and I have questions that can be answered only in Barrone. Will you come with me?”

Without quite knowing why, Rudy felt safe. It was more than Alexis’s promise not to harm him. Rudy had felt the truth in that. Whatever else Rudy thought and felt was ineffable, but it was real. Rudy answered Alexis’s question by leaning into the tween’s grasp . . . just like George did, he thought . . . and nodding. Alexis felt what Rudy thought, and tightened his grip briefly into a hug.

For the first hour, Orion picked his way westward through the forest until they reached a farm road. Many of the road’s paving blocks were missing or broken. Alexis pointed to a mile marker, fallen on its side. The numbers still were visible. “We’re two days ride north of Castle MacLachlan,” Alexis said. “That’s in western Arcadia. There’s an inn halfway between here and there. I hope to reach that, tonight, and the castle tomorrow. There are some people there we should meet before we go to Barrone.”

Rudy nodded. “Now I know where we are, but, when are we?”

“Oh,” Alexis said. Rudy felt his embarrassment. “Sorry, should have told you right away. It’s the 4^th day of Harbinger, Year 4 of Auric.”

Rudy let out the breath he’d been holding. “That’s a month before I left! How long from here to Barrone?”

“Probably three months, or a little more,” Alexis said.

“Oh,” Rudy said. “My friends will think I’m missing for two months or more. They’ll worry; but, I suppose it can’t be helped.

“Who are the people at the castle you want to talk to?” he added.

“You know them, or did. At least, you wrote about them. Umm. Maybe you don’t know them. That’s something we have to talk about. They are Ivan, Duke MacLachlan and Baron of the Western Marches; his regent, Alan Viscount Silvanus and his father, Aaron Lord Silvanus; Ivan’s Chancellor, who is an elven tween named Greyeyes; and a cleric, James. Do these names mean anything?”

“I once met a cleric named James,” Rudy said. “It could be the same one, or another. He had an acolyte named Kenneth. I heard stories about the new duke, and the boys who took the castle from a false duke. I know the names Ivan, Alan, and Greyeyes, but I’ve not met them.”

“Well then, we’ll just have to get them to tell you their story so you can write it,” Alexis said. He met James and Kenneth at an inn. Wonder if they told him enough to write their story. He’s only heard of the restoration. There’s a lot for him to hear and learn!

They stopped only to let Orion drink. At one of the stops, Alexis dug flatbread and dried fruit from his saddlebags; Rudy took a can of Vienna sausages from his backpack and showed it to Alexis. The lettering seemed to have melted, and was illegible; however, the picture was clear. Alexis chuckled. “If you put enough mustard on those things, like a cup or two apiece, they’re okay,” he said. “They’ll keep for a long time; let’s save them until absolutely necessary, okay?” Bologna! That’s what Argon would call them; bologna!

“You recognize them?” Rudy asked.

“Yes, they exist on another world,” Alexis said.

“Oh. You’re not from here,” Rudy said. “I guess I should have known that. Where are you from? How did you know where to find me?”

“I’m from this world,” Alexis said. “But I’ve traveled a bit. It would be easier to show you than to tell you how I knew to find you. Will you trust me for a bit longer?”

Rudy looked hard at the tween. He swore, and I feel really good about him. He nodded. “Yes, when you are ready.”

Alexis lifted Rudy into the saddle, mounted behind him, and then put his arm around the boy.

“Orion’s gait is as smooth as any horse I’ve ever ridden,” Rudy said. “There’s really no need for you to hold me.”

“True. But, why didn’t you object until now?” Rudy took Alexis’s arm and pressed it into his tummy. Alexis felt his smile.

It was still daylight when they reached a crossroads at which were an inn, a wind-powered gristmill, and a few houses. In the stables of the inn, Rudy stood on tiptoe to help Alexis groom Orion. “He’s really beautiful,” Rudy said. “His coat is almost the same color as my hair—when it’s wet, that is.”

“Orion is a bit more brown, I think,” Alexis said. He cocked his head as if he were listening, and then added, “Orion thanks you for saying he is beautiful, and says you are, too.”

Rudy looked startled until he saw the smile in Alexis’s eyes. “And he likes the color of your hair,” Alexis added.

“Come on,” Alexis said. “Orion’s set for the night, and we need a bath.

“Orion? If you have to poop, poop in the corner of the stall, and please don’t step in it, okay?”

Rudy looked for another smile, but Alexis seemed serious. It didn’t help any that Orion bobbed his head as if he acknowledged Alexis’s request.

Alexis did not give Rudy a chance to ask, but hurried the boy through the mudroom and into the inn.

The bath was busy, but not overly crowded. I have gained today but a little boy magic, Rudy thought. Mark had none to share. Oh! I do hope he and Kevin are all right. Rudy felt a pang of guilt that he’d not thought of those boys, sooner. I wonder if they’ll be able to create their own magic where those lines of power intersect. I think that’s what Kevin had planned. He was a little too . . . a little too . . . Something was going on, and I’m not sure what it was, but he seemed to understand the magic. Oops, Alexis is naked, and I’m not.

Rudy tossed his clothes into the wash bucket, and stood by Alexis who pulled the chain to deluge them with warm water. Before Rudy could gather the great magic, Alexis was washing Rudy’s hair.

He’s using the great magic, Rudy thought. Does he have no boy magic? How long had he been waiting for me? How did he know where I would arrive? Whatever else Rudy might have wondered was pushed aside by the tingle of Alexis’s magic removing the mud from the pond. Alexis knelt, and ran his hands and the soap across Rudy’s legs, and then his feet, careful to wash between each toe.

“I don’t usually like washing feet,” Alexis said. “They’re the most unattractive part of the body—and the dirtiest. Yours, however, are like the rest of you—perfectly formed and quite beautiful.”

Rudy blushed, and then took a handful of soap and lifted it toward Alexis’s head. Alexis ducked so that Rudy could reach his hair, and waited patiently as the boy washed him.

He can’t help but notice that I’m attracted to him: I’ve been hard since I first saw him, but here, in the bath, no . . . Neither boy realized that the other was thinking the same thing.

Alexis pulled the chain, again. This time, it was the one with the blue knob. Cold water deluged the boys, and shriveled their erections. “Oh!” Rudy exclaimed. Then he grinned. “It was getting a little hot, wasn’t it?”

Alexis nodded. “Yes. But now is not the time or the place. Rudy, will you share with me tonight?”

The boy smiled and nodded, and then tossed Alexis a towel.

* * * * *

The common room was busy. Alexis and Rudy sat at a trestle table with four men, members of a caravan that had arrived from the south just before dark. They said that the caravan was en route to the castle. “Trade’s opened up since the new duke?” Alexis asked.

“Yes, and it’s a lot safer, too. Don’t know the whole story, but from what I heard—” The man told of a band of adventurers storming the castle, killing all the trolls—

“Yes, trolls,” the man said when Rudy gasped. “Killed all the trolls and most of the men, too. Turned some of the men loose. A few of the brigands tried to band together, but they were under some sort of spell. They couldn’t attack anyone!” The man laughed, and then added, “Most of them got honest jobs, or moved far away.”

“Thank you for your story,” Alexis said, and gestured to the potboy for a round of ale. “Do you have more?”

It was just past compline when Alexis and Rudy got back to their room. Rudy’s mind was full of stories about the castle, both before and after what the man called the restoration. The man said that dwarves, who lived in the mountains, had been involved in the restoration and after years of isolation were starting to trade with humans. A squad of elves—some folks said they were from the elven king’s army—recently had come to live at the castle, and were teaching archery to local boys. There was a temple at the castle, and one at a village about a day south, and there were real healers, again.

“That was fun,” Rudy said, as he undressed for bed.

“Good stories, but not well told,” Alexis said. “Bet you could do a good job of retelling them. Are you too tired to share?”

Rudy had taken off his trousers and moccasins. He pulled his shirt over his head, and tossed it onto a chest. He stood, naked and hard. He stepped into Alexis’s embrace. Alexis lowered his head and kissed the boy. Rudy gasped and then fumbled at the laces of Alexis’s tights while Alexis pulled off his tunic.

Alexis and Rudy had shared, slept, been wakened by rain and thunder, and shared again. After the second sharing, Rudy snuggled against Alexis, warmed by sex and the woolen blankets. “Alexis, do you believe in love at first sight?” Rudy tried to hide the trembling he felt.

“I do, Rudy,” Alexis said. “And I love you. But I’ve known you from your stories for years. I’ve loved you for a long, long time. So, it’s not, for me, really love at first sight.”

Alexis felt the boy’s smile. “It is, for me,” Rudy said. “Alexis, I love you. I feel like I have known you forever. I shouldn’t love you so much, I think. I . . . I don’t know what to do about Sam.”

“Sam has been your companion in this life,” Alexis said. “Yes,” he responded to Rudy’s open-mouthed look. “You wrote about him . . . and you are right, he’ll be terribly worried when he finds out that you’ve disappeared. Please remember that ‘love shared is love multiplied.’ I know, that sounds like an easy answer, but it’s the way things work. Sam will understand, I think. He didn’t seem to have any problem with you and Arthur and his companions sharing, did he?”

Rudy shook his head. That memory was from this life, and was fresh. No, Sam and I shared with Arthur and George and Larry, and I was so happy that we did. Rudy remembered Sam’s first love, the boy William, now dead. I wish Sam had shared with Gary. He was so much like William. Maybe, just maybe, we can get Sam and Gary together. Oh! I wonder if that really would be a good idea!

By sunrise, they were awake and dressed. Before they left the room, Alexis pulled Rudy into a hug, and kissed him. “Rudy, thank you for last night. Thank you for sharing yourself. I felt you. I felt more, too. Love and wisdom. You are truly remarkable.”

Rudy’s blush nearly matched his hair, and hid his freckles. “I’m a boy,” he said. “I’m supposed to love easily, although I feel something different—stronger—with you. But, wisdom?”

“You know,” Alexis said, “that you have lived before. You know that you have magical talent beyond your age. You should know, then, that you also have wisdom and experience that will—soon, I would think—waken in you.”

Rudy nodded, and kissed Alexis. Thoughts that had been chasing one another around in his mind coalesced. Rudy understood. His decision was an easy one. He took Alexis’s hands in his, and looked into Alexis’s eyes. “Will you guide me, for I know I will need your help? Will you protect me, for I know I will need your strength? Will you be with me, for I know I cannot face this, alone? Will you love me, for I love you?”

Alexis spoke instantly. “I will be with you as long as I am able; I will love you forever,” Alexis said. The air in the room shimmered.

Rudy gasped at the power of Alexis’s oath. Then Rudy responded. “Alexis, I will be with you, too, as long as I am able; I will love you forever.”

In the common room, the caravaneers were glum. “Rainstorm last night turned the road into a morass,” the one who told the stories explained. “The new duke has started working on the roads, but hasn’t gotten to this one, yet. We’ll stay here, today. It’ll cost us a bit of our profit.”

Alexis nodded. “Perhaps you’ll share more stories, this evening?”

The man agreed, sure that Alexis would, as before, pay for the stories with ale.

After breakfast, Alexis and Rudy returned to their room. Alexis pulled from his saddlebags a book.

“How did that book fit?” Rudy asked. “Oh, I felt the magic. Are you a mage, too?”

“I know a few things,” Alexis said. “However, these saddlebags were made by my late master, who was a lot smarter than I am.”

Alexis handed Rudy the book.

“Liber Heroicum,” Rudy read from the cover. “The Book of Heroes?”

“Open it to the first page,” Alexis asked.

Rudy gasped. He read,

The Book of Heroes
Stories Compiled by
High Master Mage Rudbec of Barrone

“That’s my name,” he said. “And I’m from Barrone in this life, and, I think, the one before that. But I’m not a high master mage! I had just been accepted as an apprentice the day before I was taken to your world!”

“Perhaps not now a High Master Mage,” Alexis said. “But you were, or will be when you write this.”

“But this book is ancient,” Rudy protested. “I can feel its age. I have written stories in this life—stories about heroes, but so long ago?”

“Yes, the book is ancient,” Alexis agreed. “But, I know that you are the author. Perhaps as you remember your past lives, you will remember more stories, and you will remember writing these. Please, open the book.”

Rudy tried to open the book. His fingers slid along the edge of the pages until the book opened to a picture.

Three boys stood in on a rectangular slab of stone surrounded by pine trees. They kissed, and then two stepped off the slab. The remaining boy turned away from the setting sun. In moments, a gate appeared. He turned, waved to the other boys, and stepped into the vortex.

Rudy gasped, again. “That was Mark and Kevin, and I. But that just happened!

“Alexis, I’m afraid! What is this? What am I?”

Alexis pulled Rudy into his embrace. “Please do not be afraid. This is just a book. You are a boy who has lived many lives and who is a mage and a storyteller. That is all. There is nothing Evil, here.”

Rudy felt Alexis’s trepidation, and wondered, Will he tell me the rest?

“That doesn’t mean that it is always safe. In fact, there are many dangers related in the book. There are many dangers you will face. Please remember my promise to be there for you.”

Rudy relaxed. Alexis asked him to read the story that followed the picture. Rudy read.

A boy walked into the public house. The boy’s clothes were ordinary: shapeless and nearly colorless trousers and pullover shirt that hung past his waist, and moccasins. He sat at a table and looked at the door as if he were expecting someone. In a booth across the room, two boys sat side-by-side. They were looking at a book that one held. Their whispers echoed from the walls of the booth, and traveled clearly to the table where the boy sat.

“He’s got to be the Arthur in the first story” Kevin whispered. “It’s obvious.”

“It’s too obvious,” Mark said. “I think he’s the healer in Minnesota. He’s always a healer or a teacher, and Jon, the doctor was Tyler’s teacher, and at the monastery . . .”

“No, no. Look,” Kevin said. He moved his finger across the page. “See? It’s got to be the Arthur in the first story. He’s a healer, and he’s all the time teaching George and Gary and . . .”

The boy at the table across the room listened to their argument for several more minutes before standing and walking toward the booth. He stood at the end of the table, and said, “He’s none of these.”

The two boys looked up. One fumbled as he tried to close the book. Before he could do so, the new boy said, “The real author is none of those people. He’s the storyteller. Who is the storyteller?”

When neither of the two boys answered, the first one continued, “Rudy. Sometimes known as Rudbeck. Do you know him?”

Rudy looked at Alexis. “This just happened, two—no, three days ago. How?”

“Do you know that gates move between times?” Alexis asked.

“I’ve heard that,” Rudy said. “Arthur warned George about it.”

“The simplest explanation,” Alexis said, “is that the book, too, at least, this copy, has moved in time. You wrote it in the future, it traveled with someone into the past. It came into the possession of my master, who gave it to me. Copies of it also traveled to other worlds.”

“Like Mark and Kevin’s world,” Rudy said.

“I think so. The stories tell of more than one Earth, which is what Mark and Kevin, and others call their world.”

“You said I live in my stories . . . this one, for sure. But do you, too?” Rudy asked.

“Well, yes. At least, the story you and I are now living is in this book.”

“You have read it?”

“Only the beginning of it. That’s how I knew where to find you. There was just enough information to do that.”

Rudy handed the book to Alexis who flipped a few pages, and read.

Rudy was so intent on his task that he did not hear the steps of the horse until it was fewer than five paces away. “Hi, Rudy,” the rider said.

Rudy’s heart stopped for a second. He jerked his head around. The rider added, “My name is Alexis. I’ve been expecting you. I swear I will do you no harm.”

The picture on the facing page showed a boy kneeling by a pond and rinsing clothes in the water. Behind him stood a huge horse ridden by a tall tween.

“This story goes to the end of this page, when we reach the inn. After that, I cannot open the pages.” Alexis pointed to the clues that had led him to Rudy: an hour’s ride east of the road at a fallen mile-marker that showed a two-day ride to the castle. And the date: one day after First Market of the month of Harbinger in the 4^th year of Auric.

Alexis closed the book and handed it to Rudy. “I could not open that page until two months ago. My master had just died. His last gift to me was this book. I was in Arcadia. It took me most of that time to find the pond. Whatever magic controls the book, it’s very precise.”

Alexis laughed. “I’ve read in the stories that some people think you’re an elf, because you wrote in Old Elvish. No elf would ever have so precise a sense of time! It’s as if you wrote that—or will write it—to make sure I could find you.”

Rudy ducked his head, and then looked up and smiled at Alexis. “If I did—I’m glad I did.”

Alexis returned Rudy’s smile. Then, the smile on Alexis’s face vanished. “There are still parts of the book that I cannot read. There are parts of the book that you will not be able to read, either. They may be stories that you have not written, yet; perhaps they are stories that happen in the future; or stories that you or I are in. I suspect that what I cannot read and what you cannot read may not always be the same. We’ll have to be careful about what we tell one another. Here, you try.”

Rudy closed the book. He felt his fingers slip along the page edges until the book opened. The Translator III—Dragon Warrior, he read. “I remember this!” he exclaimed after a few pages. “I remember reading his journal and spell book! The spell to open the gate came from his book! Of course!”

Alexis waited, silently, as Rudy thought. “That was in an older life, but I remember it.”

*****

Alexis pulled a blank book from the saddlebags. “Rudy, you need a place to record the things you see and hear. Someday, I think it will be the foundation of your stories.

Rudy laughed. It wasn’t a mocking laugh, but one filled with joy. “Thank you, my beloved. Just as Arthur gave George a journal, you have given one to me. Art imitates life; life imitates art. Am I George to your Arthur?”

Before Alexis could answer, Rudy added, “Oh, and does Orion really understand you? Does he really talk to you?”

“He’s pretty smart,” Alexis answered the easier question. “He has learned not to poop in the middle of his stall, which is a vast improvement.”

“Hmm?”

“You see how big his hooves are. If he steps in poop, I have to clean them. ’Nough said. Does he understand me? I like to think he does. Does he talk to me? Well, I’d like to think that the thoughts I hear are his, and not just mine. Perhaps we’ll find the answer to those questions during this story.”

“But that’s not the most important question,” Rudy said. “Am I George to your Arthur?

“I don’t know, but after reading how strong is the love between George and Arthur, I rather hope so,” Alexis said.

Alexis and Rudy spent the day exploring the book. In the late afternoon, they bathed, and then joined the man from the caravan and his friends for supper, stories, and more ale. The stories and ale ended earlier than the previous night.

“We’ll be off to an early start, tomorrow,” the man said. “Can't make up an entire day, but we can get to the castle in time to unload before dark, and get off early the next morning.”

“Should we travel with the caravan?” Rudy asked Alexis, quietly. “There’s safety in numbers,” he said, parroting something he’d heard, somewhere, somewhen.

“True, but they will be slower than we. Besides, I saw a couple of the tween drovers looking at you and, well, I just found you. I don’t want anyone else in the picture for a while, anyway.”

Rudy blushed. “Nor do I. Will you share with me, tonight?”

Alexis nodded. “Happily. Tonight and tomorrow, if you will. Tomorrow, we’ll leave before they do and eat breakfast from trail supplies while we’re riding. They’ll have to stop more often. On Orion, we’ll beat them to the castle by a couple of hours,” he added.