“I don’t feel her yet,” she says. “But don’t worry, I’ve got the psychic equivalent of an umbrella up right now. As soon as I have to, I’ll put more into it and someone will need to carry me.”

  “No prob,” says Anthony.

  After another hour of walking, the city’s close enough to make out a huge defensive wall, with a crap-ton of tents circling the base of it. Most of the tents are as big as cabins, some rounded like teepees, others closer to small circus tents… the sort of things people put up at outdoor festivals to cover rows of cafeteria tables. It doesn’t look like a transient caravan stopping in the shade of the city, but rather a separate district unto itself, a permanent outer-city arranged in a ring, a modest distance from the defensive wall.

  I can’t tell from this far away what the wall’s made from other than stone of some kind. It’s white and fairly smooth, having no cracks or seams between individual bricks. Kinda resembles adobe. Like a pyramid, the wall is angled inward, and looks about twenty-five feet tall based on the size of the soldiers patrolling on top of it.

  While I’ve never claimed to be any sort of professional tactician, it doesn’t make much sense to me for walls to be sloped like that. An athletic person could legit run straight up the side to the top if they got enough of a head start. Only reason I can think of is someone thought it ‘looked cool.’ Admittedly, the generally triangular shape of the city from a distance is kinda imposing, even if their fortification is more decorative than functional.

  Guess they’re not worried about land invasions being so far out in the desert. Moving an army to this place would be a colossal undertaking since I’m almost certain this world does not have aircraft or giant tanker trucks carrying water. Additionally, the lower parts of the wall have to be ridiculously thick, narrowing the higher up it goes. Battering it down would be a pain in the ass.

  At the center of the bizarre wall stands a gate made of two dark brown slab doors. From here, they somewhat resemble wood, but only in color. They’re presently open. A small cadre of soldiers stand guard in the relatively narrow passageway leading into the city. Seems like they are allowing people to freely come and go.

  Tammy’s still walking on her own, but she has a suspicious ‘where are you hiding’ expression. I’m guessing she kinda feels Elizabeth’s presence, but can’t exactly tell where she is. Telepathy is similar to sonar. Tammy and Elizabeth are two submarines playing chicken at the height of the cold war, listening for passive sounds. If either one of them sends out a ‘ping,’ the other will know the enemy is close.

  Max leads us to the outskirts of the tent city, close but not going in too far. He wanders for a little while before stopping near an open space between two big, rectangular tents. Three of the robed Light Warriors who helped open the portal, two guys and a woman, stand in a row and raise their arms. They seem hesitant until Max nods, then they focus, chanting in Latin, I think. Swirls of sand kick up in the empty spot seconds before a large plain brown tent pops into being out of thin air.

  “It worked!” The woman in the middle jumps back as if shocked.

  The guy on the right stares in awe at his hand. Most of the remaining Light Warriors react with varying degrees of surprise. Max and Allison both appear largely unimpressed. Allison’s a little surprised at the sheer size of the tent, but she’s conjured physical objects into existence before… so this isn’t too strange to her. Granted, the biggest item she managed to conjure pre-Red-Rider-blowing-up was a fountain pen. Magic in our world has gotten more powerful, but she’s thinking this dimension is significantly more magic-rich.

  Max ushers his people into the tent as if afraid of them being seen, then asks us to hide out in the tent as well. No real point to argue, so we go inside. Once done, he and one of the larger guys head out for a ‘scouting trip.’ Minutes later, a small group of robed Light Warriors decide to look for some water and head out. Good idea.

  Allison, Tammy, and I sit on some conjured pillows, discussing how weird it is to be in an alternate reality chasing Elizabeth as well as trying not to freak each other out by wondering how dangerous she’s going to be when cornered.

  Anthony fidgets in a way that tells me he really wants to be playing a video game, or at least doing something. He looks bored, but also far too calm, like we’re on another leg of our vacation about to watch a bunch of period re-enactors joust. Out of the blue, he walks over to the group of Light Warriors and joins their conversation, mostly about Max planning to open another gate to bring in additional reinforcements from the East Coast and Europe. They all seem to have the belief we’re looking at a serious battle here, more or less a straight up war.

  Ugh. I really hope not. And it’s strange hearing multiple people talk about how much they’ve wanted to stop Elizabeth ‘for years.’

  The small group who left returns carrying large clay jugs. Except for the glowing blue markings around the fattest part, the pitchers appear like any ordinary ancient bit of pottery. We’re all—even me—damn thirsty, so the presence of water distracts everyone into a frenzy of drinking. Despite being about the size to hold roughly two gallons, it keeps on pouring long after they ought to have been empty.

  “This is so trippy,” whispers Tammy.

  “Magic.” Allison wags her eyebrows. “Enchanted pitchers are probably as common here as electric tea kettles back home.”

  “How’d they even buy them?” asks Tammy. “Do the people here take credit cards?”

  “Or even speak English?” asks Anthony.

  “They’re not speaking any language from our world,” says a blonde woman from the group who fetched water. “It shares multiple sounds with Persian, but also Czech. Can’t comment on the grammar or syntax since I didn’t recognize a single word.”

  “So… how’d you get water?” I ask.

  “Lots of hand signals and pantomiming.” She smiles. “And conjured gold.”

  “At least gold is precious here,” says the man next to her.

  Tammy clamps a hand over her mouth to stop from laughing. Yeah, they basically stole the water since the conjured gold will disappear in a few hours. Stealing water doesn’t bother me at all, but someone’s going to go on a hunt for a thief that doesn’t exist.

  Max returns carrying a large cloth sack. He sets it down, rummages, and hands out new clothing for everyone. Allison helps out with an illusion of a privacy curtain so we can all change. She also needs to do some magical alterations on Kingsley’s garments so they fit him. Apparently, no one in this world is as beefy as him. These garments are an interesting commingling of Arabic and Roman styles. At least the tunic/dress he hands me is comfortable. Tammy ends up wearing a tunic and baggy pants that—according to Anthony—makes her look like a girl playing Aladdin in a high school play.

  He should talk. He looks like a grown up playing a Hobbit.

  Tammy snickers.

  Allison’s longer dress is somewhere between Roman senator’s wife and the girl holding the wine pitcher in the background of movies about Caesar.

  “All right,” says Max. “You will be able to blend in now. Sam, I think it will be best for you five to scout around the city in search of Elizabeth or any sign of her people. My connection to her is far too strong for even Tammy to mask. Also, dark masters have a much easier time sensing my people. The effect will be more pronounced here in a world where magic is so much stronger.”

  I nod. “All right. Was feeling a bit like a fifth wheel just sitting around.”

  Max pulls a cheap-looking copper ring out and hands it to me. “This will help. Wearing it will allow you to understand the spoken language of anyone you are concentrating on. Also, anything you say will be understood in a person’s native language.”

  “Interesting.” I take it, ponder a moment, then hand it to Tammy. “Better she wears it for now since she can eavesdrop on the entire city at once.”

  “Oh, joy.” Tammy accepts the ring, smirking, but puts it on. “You’re getting it back if you need to adjust anyone’s brain.”

  “Okay.”

  While Max and the Light Warriors get into a discussion about reopening the interdimensional gate, my crew and I head out and make our way among the other tents. An area of open sand somewhat longer than a football field separates the innermost tent from the gate in the actual city’s gigantic wall. It really is a ridiculous shape for a wall, having forty-five degree angled slopes both inside and outside the city. Anyone athletic enough could run up one side and down the other, assuming it’s not enchanted to be slippery or loaded with spike traps. Considering we’ve seen a magical flashlight and water pitchers capable of holding far more than their size should allow, I’m going to guess the wall has some kind of defensive spell in it.

  Hmm. Maybe they built it more to protect against the wind than invasion? The angle would redirect a strong breeze upward, where a flat wall might just collapse altogether. Hopefully such a sandstorm will miss us.

  A group of men in black leather armor with red trim, red skirts, and sandals guarding the gate into the city all give us weird looks.

  Mom! whispers Tammy in my head. They’re suspicious of us for being so pale. They’ve never seen white people before—except for the new empress. They think we’re from ‘across the great water’ like her.

  Oh, shit. They would be right, of course.

  I grab her hand, borrow the language ring, and hammer them over the head with a mental command to ignore we exist. I’m not surprised to find a deeper bit of mind control forcing them to be loyal to Elizabeth in there. It didn’t come from her, though. I get a glimpse of a male ascendant dark master wandering among them on a battlefield in the aftermath of a skirmish. Someone, most likely Elizabeth’s forces, shredded dozens of other men, who lay dead all around them. The ascendant approaches them and stares into their eyes.

  It’s strong, but I pluck the command loose, then make sure they don’t remember seeing us go by.

  The guards stand there in a stupor while we hurry through the gap in the wall, entering the city within. It’s like traveling between two halves of an Egyptian pyramid after it’s been cut in half. Faint echoes from inside tell me there are passageways or perhaps even rooms inside the wall itself, but no visible doors or windows can be seen. Makes sense. The main gate would be the most defended part of the city. Kinda silly to have a door to the interior of the wall where invaders could easily reach it.

  Tammy slips her finger back into the ring but keeps holding my hand.

  Allison casts a spell to make us ‘less noticeable’ as she thinks of it. If we merely walk around and stay out of peoples’ way, no one will acknowledge we exist unless they are specifically searching for us. Neat trick. If we touch someone or get close enough to breathe on them, they’ll realize we exist.

  We wander into a large, open square full of people, merchant wagons, a few small stages, and a fountain more intended for drinking water than being fancy. Looks like anyone’s free to help themselves to water, though several enterprising people—mostly teenage boys—have set up booths to sell pitchers and cups. Unlike the other ones, these don’t appear to be magic.

  Tammy looks around, no doubt listening in on people’s thoughts and conversations. Something makes her squeeze my hand real hard after about eight minutes, but she doesn’t say anything right away. We cross the bazaar and enter a street leading into the city proper. Various shops on both sides sell all manner of trade goods from clothes to furniture to art objects, and of course, magical ‘appliances.’

  Curiosity gets Tammy’s attention. She stares at the place, no doubt scanning the minds of those inside, then explains they sell primarily items to preserve food, store water, clean clothing, and make light… not really appliances in the sense I think of the word.

  We continue walking, Tammy randomly reading minds around us, looking for general useful information as well as if anyone has seen Elizabeth. All of a sudden, she squeezes my hand real hard. Sensing my worry, she gives me an ‘I wanna go home’ look.

  Mom, they have slaves here… and it doesn’t matter like what color people are. They grab poor people, drunk people, debtors, prisoners, street orphans, anything. It’s like normal for them.

  I grumble in my head. Of course, my immediate first thought is going on a city-wide rampage and killing all the slave traders. Violent vigilante justice isn’t a terribly noble thing, but in some cases—like slavery and anyone who’d hurt a child—I’ll make exceptions. I’m still half tempted to throw Paxton’s father down the stairs, but I’m resisting. Maybe I’ll simply give him a memory of being thrown down the stairs if I ever meet him.

  “Relax, Tam. I won’t let anyone grab you or Mom,” says Anthony.

  Tammy laughs nervously. “I don’t think Mom’s gonna let anyone grab Mom.”

  “She is slightly more difficult to kidnap than the average woman.” Kingsley gives me a little tap on the butt.

  “Hah. Just a little.” I narrow my eyes. “Anything else we need to know, Tammy? Is this place weird about women showing their faces in public or anything like that?”

  Tammy resumes eavesdropping.

  “I wouldn’t think so,” says Kingsley. “None of the women in sight are covering up excessively.”

  “No rule about that,” says Tammy. “And wow, I’m kinda having trouble believing what I’m seeing in people’s thoughts.”

  “Lemme guess,” says Anthony, folding his arms. “It’s men who are discriminated against here?”

  Tammy shakes her head. “Nothing like that. It’s this whole slavery thing. It’s legal and normal here... yet they’re also really progressive with women.” Tammy pauses, turning and scanning minds. “Okay. I get the feeling there are social classes here, but it’s based on age, wealth, and if you’re a slave or not. Obviously, slaves are the bottom of the social pyramid, but… oh, that’s beyond messed up.”

  “Do I even want to know?” I ask.

  She gawks around at a few nearby people. “Umm. Like, it’s a bigger crime to kill a slave than kill a free person here… because the slave is a piece of property with more monetary value. This place really hates thieves.”

  “Wow.” Anthony blinks.

  “Okay, I think this is how they’re set up... slaves are at the bottom. Then children who have no real rights or voice. Then old people who are kinda treated with respect but are also dismissed. Like this society considers all old people cute and funny, but not to be taken seriously. Then there’s normal adults, then rich adults.”

  “Do these differences actually mean anything to them?” asks Kingsley. “Any tangible differences in how the laws treat them?”

  “Umm, I get the feeling it’s mostly how people talk to each other. Not really legal differences.”

  “Let’s just find Elizabeth, separate her head from the rest of her, and be on our way,” says Kingsley.

  “Umm, there’s more.” Tammy bites her lip. “It’s about Elizabeth.”

  Anthony chuckles. “Shouldn’t you have brought her up first? She’s like our entire reason for being here.”

  “Kinda got distracted by being terrified we’re going to be kidnapped.” Tammy exhales.

  “If anyone dares try, they will regret it.” I glare around at random people, suddenly paranoid that slave-catchers are lurking everywhere.

  “We’re all at risk,” says Allison. “We look like outsiders.”

  Anthony laughs. “I’d like to see someone try to kidnap Kingsley.”

  Allison snickers. “I doubt they know how to make chains here strong enough to hold him.”

  “They don’t use chains,” whispers Tammy. “Think collars with pain magic that go off if a person disobeys.”

  “Right. This dimension is officially on our no-visit list,” I say. “Let’s find the bitch and get out of here before I lead an insurrection.”

  Tammy leans against me. “You’re too late. Elizabeth already did. People are thinking mostly about their new empress. She revealed herself to everyone yesterday as their new goddess-queen. They’ve already taken over the palace, killed the former king, and have promised this will become the capital of the greatest empire the world has ever known. A lot of citizens are scared out of their minds war is coming, but there’s a stupid lot of them who think it’s a great idea. They are happy this city will get bigger and richer when it’s the heart of her empire. They don’t care she’s going to treat them like peasants as long as they’re part of the awesome empire.”

  “So messed up,” says Anthony. “She kills their king and they’re okay with it?”

  “Their king did legalize slavery.” Allison shrugs. “I’d be okay with someone killing him, too.”

  “Yeah, except… Elizabeth’s going to be far worse once they get to know her.” I frown.

  We walk along the larger streets for almost two hours, avoiding narrower alleys or thoroughfares. For a while, we leave merchant areas behind and roam among small dwellings crammed so close together it reminds me of row houses, only more medieval. The majority of the buildings appear to be made of either adobe or solid stone shaped by magic. Predictably, there isn’t much wood around for building.

  Here and there, we spot people—mostly boys in their later teens—wearing gold or silver collars inscribed with glowing orange, green, or red writing. Other than their clothing appearing a little more drab than others, they don’t look to be in miserable spirits or poor physical condition. Most jogged by as if on an errand, while one worked sweeping the area in front of a large shop selling clothes.

  My mom instincts wanted to get involved, but I forced myself not to for two reasons. One, they appeared not to be in immediate distress, and two, as they say, starting a land war in Asia is a bad idea. More accurately, riling up the entire city for a slave revolt is the exact opposite of subtle. Elizabeth needs to go down before I make waves of any other kind here.

  Hey, Mom? Tammy smiles at me. Maybe if you free them from Elizabeth, the new king will be so happy he’ll give you a reward and you can ask them to outlaw slavery.

  There’s a thought. I almost add ‘assuming we survive,’ but, oops I did think it.