A couple sat before the fire. The pair were broad-shouldered, their long blonde hair a mass of plaits wound about their heads.
“Tyen!” the woman said, rising and drawing him into a tight embrace. It was a custom he’d never quite got used to when they were both students, and was even more discomfiting with her husband standing there. “I haven’t seen you in so many tides, I can’t count them.”
“You are looking strong, Hekkirg,” he replied. Then he turned to the man. “As are you, Ekkich.” Hekkirg translated.
Ekkich’s frown, Tyen understood, was considered good manners–that the man was taking his guest seriously. “What brings you to Gam?” the man asked in his native language, relying on his wife to interpret rather than struggle with Traveller tongue.
“Ill news,” Tyen replied. “Liftre is no more. The Heads closed it after learning that the Raen has returned.”
The couple exchanged a wide-eyed look, then began to discuss the news rapidly in their own language. Hearing the word “insectoid” several times, Tyen sought Hekkirg’s thoughts. He saw that they were discussing whether they should stop selling insectoids to other worlds.
Tyen stomach turned. “You’ve been selling insectoids as weapons?”
She nodded, smiling with pride. “We call them Defenders. They’re not as smart as human fighters, but since we’ve adapted them we’ve lost almost no guards to the raiders. Roup, who I met at Liftre, lives in one of our neighbouring worlds, where his country is constantly under attack by a neighbouring land, so we began selling them to him, and he knows of another people in the next world who were fighting off slavers. We have kept to your rule against projectile weapons, of course.”
“But…” Tyen opened his mouth, then closed it, unsure what to say.
“You did not mean for others to turn your ideas to warfare of any kind, did you?” Ekkich asked. His tone was unexpectedly sympathetic.
Tyen sighed. “No, but I suppose it was inevitable.” The knowledge he’d had of applying magic to mechanical objects had been all he had to offer in exchange for training at Liftre.
“The Raen’s return will slow the spread of knowledge,” Ekkich added. Then he smiled. “Which will be good for us, if we can find a way to keep trading, as we’ll have fewer competitors.”
At Tyen’s wince, Hekkirg stepped forward to hug him again. “Thank you for warning us,” she said. “You’ve risked your life to do so. I am sorry what we have done has upset you.” She stepped back. “What are your plans?”
Tyen shook his head. “I don’t have any, yet, beyond telling my old friends the news.”
“You could stay here.”
Catching the look Ekkich gave his wife, Tyen suppressed a smile. “Thank you, but I have a promise to keep, and I can’t fulfil it here. There are others to warn, too. I should go now.”
Hekkirg nodded. “Then I wish you a safe journey to wherever you choose to make your home.”
As she returned to her chair Tyen pushed away from their world. Parel, Ahlen and Hekkirg had been his closest friends among his classmates at Liftre. He could visit other classmates now or seek out former students. Those who lived the furthest from Liftre would be least likely to have heard the news… which wasn’t entirely true because the news had originated somewhere else. Still, if he continued in the direction he was travelling he’d be more likely to encounter people who hadn’t heard it.
Yulei, a former student, lived out this way, in a world he’d visited before. The most direct route to her world passed through some unfamiliar, less visited ones. A familiar path was usually safer, but perhaps not now when there was a chance of encountering the Raen, who, if enforcing his law against sorcerers travelling the worlds, would catch more if he watched established paths than less used ones.
So Tyen started towards the less familiar worlds. As he travelled he recalled what Tarren had said about the Raen’s ability to move between worlds as easily as walking. “You might have the strength for it. I’ve met few sorcerers with your reach and ability, and I don’t think you’ve ever truly stretched as far as you could.”
A skill like that might save his life. Perhaps he should try it now. Pushing harder against the previous world, he quickened his progress. He passed the midpoint, where neither world’s gravity dominated, then pulled hard towards the next one. Instead of slowing before arriving, he let himself snap into the next world, grabbed magic, exhaled, inhaled, then pushed away again.