The Street

On my knees, both hands on cold stone, I breathed far too quickly. Everything seemed intact: no scraped palms, no blood, no pain in my bones. Only cold, the smell of a damp morning, and somewhere water dripping from a roof into a gutter.

Slowly, my gaze lifted.

The street was narrower than it had looked from above. Houses with dark windows stood to the left; to the right, a high wall ran all the way to the gate that had only moments ago seemed far away. Towers rose behind it. Not grand towers, but old, heavy buildings that had not been built to look welcoming.

A glance behind revealed no one.

No one stood behind me.

Elias“That is impossible.”

VoiceWhether something is possible is rarely the first problem here.

The voice came again from nowhere. Neither loud nor quiet. It was simply there.

Standing too quickly forced me to catch the wall. For a moment, the street turned around me. Beneath my right hand, the stone changed colour, grey at first, then darker, almost red. Once my hand was torn away, the colour remained for one more breath and then withdrew.

Elias“What was that?”

VoiceA warning.

Elias“About me?”

VoiceAbout what you bring with you.

Before an answer came, footsteps grew loud at the end of the street. Several students came around the corner, probably older, with bags over their shoulders and moving too quickly. One shoved a smaller girl aside, not hard enough to call it deliberate, but hard enough for her to lose her balance.

She stepped backwards onto the kerb. Behind her, a cart rolled past, drawn by an animal that appeared only at the edge of my vision: too many legs, its head too low, heavy wheels.

There was no time to think.

My hand closed around her sleeve and pulled her close. The cart rattled past so near that its wake brushed my jacket. The girl stumbled against me, caught herself, and looked up.

She had dark hair tied back with a black ribbon. Her face was pale with shock, but she forced herself upright at once, as though fear were something you did not leave lying around in public.

Mara“Thank you,” she said.

Once she had her balance, I let go of her sleeve. “It is all right.”

Mara“You are new.”

Elias“Is it that obvious?”

She studied me, not mockingly. Closely.

Mara“You are standing in the middle of the street, looking at the gate as though it had insulted you.”

An answer was already forming. Then the street dropped away beneath my feet.

Not really. Not as before. The houses remained where they were, but my hold on them vanished. The girl reached for me, her fingers briefly touched my sleeve, and then everything went dark.