Reader Beware

Chapter 23

            It wasn’t until late the next morning that Elthia finally ran out of questions for Rika. While the men looked on, Damek with interest, Ahisu with what Rika thought was boredom, the healer covered all sorts of topics about where Rika was from, almost like she was trying to trip her up. In the end, Elthia sighed. “I would never have believed it, but so many things you’ve shown me are impossible to counterfeit. And most of them you’d have no reason to do so for. I have no choice but to believe you’re telling the truth.”

            Rika grinned. “It’s hard to believe in other worlds, but isn’t the idea great? I mean, if there are at least two worlds, mine and yours, then doesn’t that mean there are others? There could be hundreds, thousands, even millions of other worlds with people on them. And we still don’t even know where our worlds are in relation to one another. What if I’ve been transported through space to here? Or this could be another dimension, or an alternate reality where Earth developed into a place with magic. Any way you look at it, it’s exciting!”

            Elthia stared at Rika then turned to look at Damek. He nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, she’s always like this. You get used to it.”

            The healer drifted closer to him, glancing surreptitiously back at the mage, before whispering “I understand why you travel with Rika. You’ve said she saved you, and you’re a man of honour. But why is Ahisu with you? He doesn’t strike me as the sort to help without a reason.”

           Damek chuckled, not bothering to keep his voice down. “He’s got a life debt to Rika. It’s the only reason I trust the demon summoner in the slightest.”

            Elthia gasped, one hand going to her mouth as she turned wide eyes on the mage. Ahisu didn’t spare her even a look, gaze on the road ahead. It was Rika who said “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him being a demon summoner. It’s not like you can choose what kind of magic you have. I’d rather be a summoner than have magic that’s only useful for moving paper around.”

            “You don’t mean that,” the healer said.

            Rika folded her arms over her chest. “I certainly do. I’d rather have magic that’s actually useful even if people don’t like it. I can’t even say I have magic, since I haven’t even mastered a single spell, let alone figured out what kind of mage I am and-”

            She was cut off by the head of Ahisu’s staff being applied to her shoulder. She met his gaze with her chin up, determined this time not to let him win the staring contest. But the linger she looked into his nearly black eyes, the more the ground seemed to hold a magnetic attraction for her gaze. Rika felt her face heat up as she dropped her eyes, muttering about Ahisu cheating. He only snorted and turned his attention back to watching the rest of caravan in front of them.

            A few moments later and the others were also staring ahead of them. There seemed to be an unusual amount of activity among the wagons ahead of them, especially since it wasn’t yet noon. Elthia, Rika, and Damek exchanged glances before the latter hurried forward, a frown pulling at his lips.

            He practically flew back, raising a tiny cloud of dust as he stopped in front of them. “There’s a checkpoint up ahead. We’ll be there in minutes. Soldiers are looking over everyone passing through. The performers say they heard that there are roaming squads of them in the woods, to make sure people don’t slip through.”

            Rika felt like her blood had been replaced with ice water as her skin pebbled. “So what do we do?”

            “What we planned before. Stick to the story,” Damek replied, before turning to Elthia. “Everything we just told you about Rika? Forget it. If anyone asks, her name is Darrika. Rika is a nickname. And she’s my sister.”

            “Why?”

            He shook his head. “Later. If we get through this, we’ll tell you about it tonight, okay?”

            Only when she nodded did Damek look back to the head of the caravan. It didn’t take long for them to reach the checkpoint. A wooden blockade had been placed across the road, four soldiers wearing uniforms of dark yellow manning it. Already they were questioning the lead merchant, one poking around the goods he had in his cart, all of them leaving hands near their weapons.

            Rika’s breath caught for a second as her heart doubled its speed. She could feel her palms beginning to sweat and had to fight the urge to run when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Damek. He smiled, squeezing her shoulder, and said “It’ll be alright. Relax, sister. They won’t have much to do with us.”

            She met his steady eyes for several moments before she nodded. She concentrated on keeping her breathing even, rather than the panic that had again invaded her stomach. She thought she’d managed to calm herself, right up until she saw two of the soldiers heading their way.

            If it hadn’t been for the hand Damek laid back on her shoulder, Rika thought she’d have run. But the physical pressure on her helped keep her from completely falling to pieces. The first soldier looked them over, then read over the piece of paper he was holding, frowning slightly. “Who are you and where are you going?”

            Smiling, Damek said “I’m Damek Genrazy. This is my sister Darrika and our friends Ahisu and Elthia. Elthia is heading towards the capital and we’re accompanying her that far before we head on to Cotess, where we’re from.”

            “How long have you been with this caravan?” he asked, while his partner circled them, studying them intensely.

            “Only four days. We were lucky enough to catch up with it. We met Elthia here when we joined up.”

            “I see. Carry on then,” the soldier said, gesturing to the other man, before the pair of them marched back to the barricade.

            Watching it being pulled back, Rika couldn’t help but sigh with relief.