Crossroads: An Artifactor x Deepwoods Short Story Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Published by Raconteur House

  Murfreesboro, TN

  CROSSROADS: An Artifactor and Deepwoods Crossover Short Story

  A Raconteur House book/ published by arrangement with the author

  Copyright © 2019 by Honor Raconteur

  Cover by Katie Griffin

  steampunk vintage background with mechanical gears and cogs on canvas paper by Magergram/Shutterstock; Natural brown leather texture background. Abstract vintage cow skin backdrop design by Hitdelight/Shutterstock; Steampunk golden key with mechanical wings on rusty textural background by Black Moon/Shutterstock; Three steampunk keys with gears of gold, bronze and steel on black background by Black Moon/Shutterstock

  This book is a work of fiction, so please treat it like a work of fiction. Seriously. References to real people, dead people, good guys, bad guys, stupid politicians, companies, restaurants, cats with attitudes, events, products, dragons, locations, pop culture references, or wacky historical events are intended to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously. Or because I wanted it in the story. Characters, names, story, location, dialogue, weird humor and strange incidents all come from the author’s very fertile imagination and are not to be construed as real. No, I don’t believe in killing off main characters. Villains are a totally different story.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  Purchase only authorized editions.

  For information address: www.raconteurhouse.com

  Author’s Note

  For your understanding, and to avoid confusion, let me make the timelines clear. This happens two years after Fallen Ward, the last Deepwoods book. On the Artifactor side, this occurs just after Dreamer’s Curse. I set it at this time for two reasons: A) When a fan first gave me the idea, I’d just finished Fallen Ward and we were currently working on the third Artifactor book, so this timeline got stuck in my head; B) It was the only way, as I needed Sevana’s magic to work in order for this story to make sense, so it had to take place before Scofflaw Magician.

  At any rate, there you have it.

  Chapter One

  Sevana blinked up at the ceiling, parroting back, “There’s nice people inside?”

  Big, sounding both defensive and sheepish, gave a guttural groan of assent, the rocks sounding as if they slid against each other. Nice people. Sorry. Lost.

  Oh, for the love of…. Sevana was accustomed to Big taking care of any unwanted visitors (mostly looters), but never had someone ‘accidentally’ entered the mountain before. Big normally closed them off before they got more than a foot inside. The only people who actually managed entrance were either very dangerous magicians or ones with terrible timing. I.E., when Baby and Grydon were bored and wanting something to chase. ‘Sorry, nice, lost’ people was a new category altogether.

  “Alright, fine,” she huffed, laying down the tools in her hand. Clearly she would get no further work done until this was straightened out. “Where are they?”

  Show you.

  Tugging the goggles over her eyes up to rest on her forehead, Sevana followed the guides as Big led her out of her workroom door and to the left. The path sloped ever so slightly downward, indicating the way, but she’d barely switched to a different tunnel before she started hearing voices.

  The voices got closer and more distinct as she walked, and Sevana tried to get a headcount as she moved. Big hadn’t mentioned an exact number, but it sounded as if there were at least eight people? She had a wand on her, and of course she’d snagged her sword, and yet strangely didn’t feel as if she needed either. Big had been quite firm they were nice people, and she trusted his judgement. She rather had to as she couldn’t discern a single word they said. Sevana wasn’t exactly fluent in all the languages of the world, but she had enough exposure to them that she could at least pick out what language was being spoken, usually.

  This one sounded utterly foreign to her. She couldn’t begin to place it.

  Following the curve of the tunnel, she stepped out into the wider cavern and paused there, a lantern in hand. A child, three women, eight men and—good grief, two of them were veritable giants, although clearly not related. One of them had pitch dark skin, as dark as any dark elf, and the other as pale and blonde as the Fae themselves. They did not look at all like thieves, as they wore bright colors for the most part, a clear mix of cultures from their general appearance, and didn’t have a single thief’s lamp or loot bag among them.

  Sevana barely had two seconds to get this overall impression before three of the group instantly turned around. The two dogs—both of them dark, furry creatures about half the size of a full-grown wolf—whined at her approach, and a thin, blond man’s head came up sharply, spying her. She’d made no sound to speak of, but he’d detected her approach all the same, and the muscles and stance clearly marked him a soldier of some sort. Seeing those sharp blue eyes focus on her, she cocked her head at him and carefully lifted both hands in the air to show that she wasn’t hostile. He didn’t exactly stand down, his hand lingering on the hilt of his sword, but he didn’t draw it. He did, however, say a sharp word to his companions and they all reacted, pivoting about in a quick movement to face her.

  The look of them didn’t match with any people she’d seen before. Their clothes, their weapons, it was all subtly different than any culture she knew of. Suspicions rose in the back of her head, offering one strange theory after another. Just where were these people from?

  “Can you understand me?” Sevana asked, just on the off chance, only to get a wall of blank expression in return. “I take that as a no. Alright, let’s try a blanket translating spell, shall we? Fozata sol ne fole!”

  The magic whirled forward, covering their heads in a fine mist of glowing sparkles, which made a few people flinch, instinctively ducking. Sevana gave it a moment to settle—translation spells normally worked better once absorbed, and then offered, “I take it you’re the ‘nice, sorry, lost’ people?”

  The redheaded woman snorted a startled laugh. “That sounds about right. Siobhan Wolfinsky, Deepwoods’ Guildmaster at your service. Sorry for the trouble, I promise we’re nice, and we’re definitely lost. Who might you be? And that light show, what was that?”

  “Sevana Warren, Artifactor,” Sevana threw up a hand to indicate the mountain all about them, “and the ‘light show’ as you put it was a translating spell. We’ll be able to understand each other now. This is my home. The voice you heard from the mountain is Big. He reported to me that you were here. How exactly did you get in here? Big was startled, which means you somehow snuck in past his notice. That’s not an easy feat to manage.”

  “As to that,” Siobhan responded, making a sour face, “we’re not at all sure ourselves. There was a bit of mixup on our end.”

  Pursing her lips, Sevana studied the group again. Two of the men looked vaguely magical to her eyes, with roughly the same magical power that she herself might possess. Without a diagnostic wand, that was a guess, but Sevana trusted her instincts in this. “I take it that you were working some magic and something went awry?”

  They blinked at her, then glanced at each other, but it was Siobhan that once again answered. “Well, yes. If you’re working magic,
then are you…?”

  What an interesting question. Even someone from the boonies knew what an Artifactor was. And where was that accent from? Sevana had traveled the width and breadth of the world in her eighteen years but had never heard the like of it before. “Quite knowledgeable about magic, yes. Answer me one question. Where were you heading to?”

  “Goldschmidt,” Siobhan answered promptly. “We were coming through from Baring, on our way home from a job.”

  Sevana’s eyebrows shot into her hairline. The woman didn’t at all seem to be lying. But those were not cities that Sevana knew. She could cast a truth spell on her to double check, true, and she might in a moment. Some gut instinct in her said that what she knew as truth was about to take a very sharp turn into the unknown. “And what continent are you on?”

  Something about the way Sevana asked this question caught the woman’s attention and she answered more slowly, “Robarge, of course.”

  Sevana could only stare in response. Either this was the biggest hoax she had ever encountered or heard tale of, or…well, the ‘or’ sounded preposterous even in her head. Still, it was the only explanation that made sense. A group of people, culturally diverse in a manner she’d never seen before, speaking an unfamiliar language, dressed in clothes that were strange to her eyes. There could only be one conclusion.

  “Big. Open the living room, shift enough furniture in there to accommodate fourteen, and ask Baby to go fetch Kip. This will take a while to unravel, I think.”

  “No, hang on,” a thin man with glasses and a scholarly look to him demanded, voice squeaking, “You answer a question for us. Where are we?”

  “Noppers Woods.” Sevana stared back at him, but the confusion that chased over his face was transparently sincere. Not a hoax, then? “You don’t know where that is. Windamere won’t sound right to you either.”

  “No,” he agreed faintly, then turned sharply to his dark, giant companion. “Tran, is that a name you know? Is that a small town?”

  “It’s a country,” Sevana interrupted and part of her thrilled at their response. Something ludicrous and fantastical had just happened, apparently, and for once she was actually excited to have visitors in her own home. “I think you’ve just successfully done interplanetary travel.”

  “How?” they demanded in an outraged, screeching chorus.

  “That is the question,” Sevana agreed, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. “I haven’t had a challenge like this in weeks. Maybe the past decade. Come along, now, you’ve facts to give me if we’re to figure this out.”

  “You’ll help us sort this?” The youngest of the bunch, a child with short blond hair and penetrating blue eyes asked sharply.

  Sevana gave him a sharp grin. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss the challenge of this for the world.”

  It took awhile to settle everyone. More than a few demanded to see the outside of Big first, and that strangely seemed to settle it in their mind more than anything Sevana said. She gathered the impression that this group traveled quite a bit, possibly more than she herself did, and that they knew their geography intimately well. Nothing outside of Big’s door looked even remotely familiar. Some of them were dismayed, others intrigued, but under her eyes they visibly closed ranks. A tight-knit group, this one.

  Shooing them back inside—at this time of the year, the cold was brutal, although they hadn’t been doused with snow yet—Sevana urged them into the living room. Big, bless him, had rearranged things so that they all chairs to sit in, more or less arranged in a circle. People filed in and tentatively found their places, and Sevana marked with interest that all of the men who looked like fighters sat closest to the door, as if guarding all within the room. Habit or were they nervous here?

  “So,” it was the youngest, the child who looked about twelve, that dared to voice the obvious question, “the mountain can talk to you. And move things. Why?”

  “I accidentally turned him sentient as a child,” Sevana explained in amusement, flopping down into her favorite armchair near the fire. She shot off a re-heating spell, getting the stacked logs going again, as it was more than a mite chilly in the room. “I’ve seen no reason to reverse the magic. Big’s a good friend and a perfect host, those times I’m forced to accommodate visitors. Now, sit. You and you—” she pointed to the two men magically glowing, “—sit closest to me. I have a feeling it’s something one of you did that landed you here.”

  Siobhan sat at her right hand, eyes narrowed on her thoughtfully. “You can tell just by looking at Grae and Rune that they’re our Pathmakers?”

  “I don’t know what that means.” Sevana, for once, didn’t mind those words or admitting to ignorance.

  The Pathmakers exchanged a glance, but it was the younger of the pair that explained in a smooth tenor, although he kept darting looks at the other man. “Pathmaking is simple enough in theory. We lay a path of natural stone into the earth, then we take water from a source nearby, and draw upon the power of the sun overhead in order to activate it. A group traveling on the path can cross hundreds of leagues in a few steps that way.”

  Sevana threw up a hand, halting him. “Let me get this straight. You literally build a magical path, using three different natural elements, in order to cross immense distances at a time. And both of you can do this?”

  “Yes,” the brunet answered in a soft voice. “Rune, here, was my apprentice. He only recently became Master Pathmaker himself.”

  Master and apprentice. That now made more sense, why the blond deferred so openly to the other. “And was your former apprentice working a path? That’s how you ended up inside Big, isn’t it? You were walking an open path and it somehow dumped you here?”

  “Ah, no,” Grae disagreed with a shamed face. “I had the path open. We were, ah…that is to say, most paths can’t travel across certain natural barriers. Large lakes, seas, deserts—those all prevent paths. If you try to cross them, they fail. But Rune and I have been experimenting and theorizing for months now, and we thought we could perhaps cross a lake at least. We’d done short trials, mostly over rivers, with success. So we attempted Umlaut’s Waters Lake….”

  Dryly, Sevana finished for him, “Which spectacularly failed. I see. I’ll definitely need a better idea of how this all works in order to help you unravel the mystery. I’ve never heard of this before, and it’s very intriguing in concept. I certainly wouldn’t mind adapting it for my own use, assuming I can get it to work on my world. For now, we need full introductions and a few house rules, as you’ll likely be stuck here for a week or more. Big will accommodate any reasonable request you make, so if you need something, ask him first. Do not, absolutely do not, go into the woods behind the mountain.” Pointing a stern finger at the single child in the room, Sevana growled, “Especially you, young man.”

  Alarmed, he pointed a finger toward himself. “Why me?”

  “Because you are young enough to entice the Fae. Ah, curses, you won’t know who I’m talking about. Magical race of beings that are very powerful, rather ruthless, and they can’t have children of their own. So they adopt human children and turn them into Fae. Any child unwary enough to waltz through their territory gets kidnapped and I do not want to go through the hassle of negotiating a child away from them for a second time. So kindly stay in front of Big at all times, alright?”

  Siobhan gave him a worried look. “But if you’re in their territory—”

  “They’re actually about a two-hour hike behind me,” Sevana disagreed blithely. “They respect my territory, I respect theirs. Nothing to worry about as long as he stays out of the woods. Now, second rule: I have both a sentient mountain lion and a young wolf cub that live here. They will think it fantastic fun to play stalk you and land on you in the middle of the night. Don’t stab them. I’m speaking to you, gentlemen, as you have the earmark of a soldier to me and you’re likely to stab first and send flowers later.”

  Sevana saw more than a few were amused at this, and for some reason t
he tall blond giant got a few pointed looks, which made her think he’d be the first to jump. Hopefully in the right direction. Her healing skills were not the best. Sevana noted that while she listed out these dangers and safeguards, the group visibly relaxed a few notches. Were they more comfortable now that they had a better understanding of their surroundings? Or just more comfortable with her, knowing that she would look out for their wellbeing?

  Gesturing toward the two dogs sitting at her feet, the young woman with the milky brown skin asked nervously, “They won’t attack our dogs?”

  “No, no, as I said, they’re basically sentient. They quite like other animals, and as long as your two won’t start a fight?” Sevana paused, got a hasty nod as an answer, and continued with a shrug, “then we’ve nothing to worry about. Other than that, final rule: there’s a particular door that’s across the way from this room. It leads to my workshop. Absolutely do not enter it unless I invite you in. I’m usually in the middle of volatile experiments. Is that clear enough for everyone? Excellent.”

  The front door gusted open with Kip swearing up a storm, the door banging against the stone wall hard enough that she could hear his entrance even from here. “Sevana! Stop sending Baby to fetch me, he thinks its funny to jump me from behind. I’ll have heart failure because of this cat.”

  “You’ve been saying that for ten years,” Sevana called back, unconcerned. “It hasn’t happened yet. Thank you, Baby.”

  The cat slinked into the room, head panning to take in all of the people, the very tip of his tail twitching in leftover pleasure at having gotten the better of Kip. His ears went flat, then up, taking in details that no human could pick up on. Sevana could feel the tension ratchet up in the room at his entrance, but no one made any sudden moves, and Baby took advantage of that to go to each and give them a sniff. Grydon, still all paws, tumbled into the room as well, tail wagging as he greeted people. They both seemed especially interested in the dogs, who stood to greet them. Since tail wagging happened all around, Sevana didn’t expect trouble from that quarter.