“If they are his allies, is it wise to use their paths?”
“Oh, the Travellers are nobody’s allies but their own.” She looked around. “We have six worlds to cross,” she said, raising her voice so all could hear. “We will stop in each to check if anybody is missing. Remember to take a deep breath before we leave a world. Parents, keep a firm grip on your children. If some of you are separated the sorcerers with you will move you to the next world. Stay there. We’ll come back for you.”
She placed a hand on his shoulder. Two sorcerers gripped Tyen’s arms. Two more took hold of Yira’s.
“Is anybody not ready?” she called.
Nobody replied, though there was plenty of shuffling, and a child somewhere asked if everybody was going to start dancing now.
“Take a breath,” Yira ordered. From all around came the sound of indrawn breaths. “Go now, Tyen.”
Tyen drew in magic and pushed away from the world. It was disconcerting, but only because it felt no different to usual. Despite his assurances to Yira, moving so many people worried him, not because of the effort but because of the responsibility. If he lost any he would feel he was to blame, doubly so because it had been his idea to move the families.
What would it be like to move an entire nation of people? He recalled the story a Liftre teacher had told of the Raen saving his people from a disaster in their world by taking them to another. It’s hard to believe, after all the explaining we had to do today, that everyone would understand they must keep hold of their neighbour, and take a deep breath. The Raen probably lost some people in the place between. Some may have suffocated before they arrived–though if the Raen is as powerful as they say, maybe he transported them so quickly that it was never a danger.
The fear of losing someone urged him to quicken the pace. The next world was a wasteland, so it was not hard to find a place large enough for so many people to arrive in. To his relief, nobody had disappeared and none collapsed.
The next arrival place was a small dais in the middle of a city, so he moved sideways to a field, surfacing a little above the ground so they dropped down onto the crop. There were exclamations and complaints, but when Yira asked if everybody was missing all quietened as their numbers were checked.
Next he deposited them on a beach, where he had to adjust for the slope, but this time nobody complained when it meant a few of them staggered sideways. As Yira drew breath to ask if all were present a woman shrieked.
“Where is she?! Where?”
Tyen’s stomach sank. The voice came from the edge of the group. He let go of Yira and shrugged out of the grip of the sorcerers holding his arms. Pushing between worlds, he sped towards the woman, but before he surfaced again he saw a movement over by the water’s edge. A child was running towards the foaming, pink waves. To his amusement, it was the same girl who had taken a ride through the place between at the base while holding his trousers. He skimmed on, catching up with the girl, and appeared before her.
She tried to run around him, but he grabbed her and lifted her onto one hip.
“No!” she protested. He moved into the place between and hurried back towards the edge of the outer circle, seeking the child’s mother.
He found her still casting about, weighed down by an enormous pack on her back and a baby in a sling between her breasts. Six of her children stood with hands linked in a ring around her. As he appeared next to them she looked up, gasped and began to apologise.
“I’ll keep hold of her, if you like,” he offered.
She hesitated, then nodded.
Returning to the centre, Tyen joined Yira. She placed a hand on his shoulder. The sorcerers gripped his arms again.
“There’s an arrival place to the north, in a ruined city up in the mountains,” she told him. She lifted her head. “All ready?”
“Wait…” someone said, then: “Yes, go ahead.”
“Take a breath,” Tyen instructed, then he counted to five and pushed away from the world and began to skim.
They reached the ruined city and followed a path to the next world. A cultivated garden appeared, and he moved sideways until he found a wide enough stretch of flat ground to arrive in. A group of people in fancy clothing watched with mild curiosity at the large number of strangers who appeared before them. Tyen’s skin pricked at so many witnesses who would remember their passing, but it couldn’t be helped. The next arrival place was in a forest clearing, so Yira held everyone just outside the world while he went ahead and levelled the vegetation.