Between Kings by W. R. Gingell

Author:W. R. Gingell [Gingell, W. R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-30T23:00:00+00:00

We gathered beneath Hobart’s central business district in the darkness of the Hobart Rivulet tunnel around mid-morning. It wasn’t completely dark; there had been some attempt at lighting the place for the walking tours that used to happen, but most of the lights were darkened by mildew or had blown their bulbs a while ago. The lights that were still working gave a kind of heavily-shadowed half-light, but more luminous by far was the sheer amount of Between to the place.

The shadows weren’t green in any way that could be seen by the eye, but they felt green. They felt as though they were sieving reality to me through the filter of Between, and in the glow they created around them, I saw things moving that shouldn’t have been real.

“This is gunna be good,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. Memories came back to me, thick and fast, and I knew then for certain that we couldn’t have settled on a better place.

JinYeong, looking around with narrowed eyes, sniffed slightly. “I think the king will also like it.”

“Yeah,” I said. “But that can’t be helped, and we already know he’s more magical than Between-focused. I don’t reckon you can bend the rules for as long as he has and expect the system to love you, even if it is a twisty system.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I do not know about Between.”

“You go through it all the time,” I said, looking up at him in surprise. “What do you mean, you don’t know about it?”

“You breathe air all the time,” he said, slightly sulky. “So you should make a hurricane.”

A breeze whipped up my hair around my face and pushed JinYeong’s carefully coiffed hair askew.

“I can do it,” said North.

“Yes, but you are abnormal,” JinYeong told her. “That is my point.”

“Right,” said Daniel, pointedly speaking a bit louder. “If you want to know where everything is, listen up. Once we’re shut in, it’ll be a bit late to try and get your footing.”

“Yes, boss,” I said, and two of the lycanthropes snickered before Daniel scowled at them

“There are two main ways in and out—where we came in here near the hospital, and up toward the top of Davey Street heading toward the brewery. There are access tunnels here and there, plus a few viewing holes near the Mall and Wellington Court.”

“Anywhere for us to hole up and defend ourselves if things go wrong?” asked Tuatu.

Daniel cocked his head sideways, indicating a faintly lit series of blocks. “That’s the Wellington Bridge. Sandstone, I think. Most of it is still the same as it was when it first got built, so it’ll probably keep off a bit of magic—what do you reckon, Pet?”

“I reckon someone did a good job laying the sandstone with magic and steel,” I said, looking it over. “Fae don’t like stuff that’s been built with the help of metals, do they?”

“Nope,” he said, grinning. “And there’s magic there, right?”

“Yeah,” I said curiously. “More than I would have expected.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.