"It would have been a very dark and terrible time for those who came here. Even starting a fire, which with our ability is simple, would have been a struggle.
"As a result, generation upon countless generation would have lived in savagery and ignorance that would have been ruled by superst.i.tion and hardship. Recording events would have been a luxury beyond the scope of people struggling just to survive another day. There would likely be no real record of it here.
"The era would now seem a black hole in your history."
"So that"s why we don"t have magic and you do?"
"Yes. Your ancestors-like mine-were people who lived lives with magic as a routine part of everyday life. The difference is that the people in our world still have their magic; the people who came to your world don"t."
Alex wiped a weary hand across his face. He tried his best to keep the impatience out of his voice. "I guess that I can imagine that there is magic in your world, Jax. It"s a different place. For all I know, the laws of nature could be different there. But here things don"t work that way. It isn"t just that magic doesn"t exist here-it can"t exist here. The laws of nature don"t permit such a thing."
He had almost said "such a silly thing" but restrained himself.
"So?"
"So, I can"t believe that it was ever part of reality for the people of my world."
"It wasn"t, once they were here." Seeing that the answer didn"t satisfy him, she looked up, thinking for a moment before asking a question. "You don"t have have wizards, witches, sorceresses, dragons, or magic here in this world?"
"No, not real ones."
"Then why are those things part of all cultures, all peoples, throughout your history? Why do different people in different places in different times speak of them? Why do they even have the words for things that can"t possibly exist?"
"It"s just ancient legend, myth."
Jax arched an eyebrow. "Why has this myth always been basically the same in every culture, in every corner of your world? Why do they all have the same words for the same imaginary things-myths-that can"t exist? Where do you suppose such common myth was born?"
Alex didn"t have an answer.
She leaned closer. "It was born in my world. The reality was left behind in my world. Why is magic such a universal part of your language, your culture, even though it does not exist here, cannot exist here? Why?
"Those who came here could bring with them only the fading memories of those things. As you say, magic is not part of the reality of nature here. It can"t exist here. I"m sure that those who resettled here soon came to deeply regret ever having wished for a life without magic. There could have been nothing worse for them than getting exactly what they had wanted.
"Those things lost lived on in this world but only as a ghost of what once was, of what is now gone.
"That myth, that legend, is all the history that"s left from those who came here from my world.
"They left magic behind, yet it still haunts you."
ALEX COULDN"T BRING HIMSELF to accept her story as true-it just seemed too far-fetched and there were too many things that didn"t seem to fit with what he knew of the history of the world. Yet at the same time it had a haunting quality to it, some kind of lingering whisper that he couldn"t entirely banish. There had been vast dark stretches in human history about which virtually nothing was known.
"I don"t have an answer for you, Jax, but just because I don"t know the answer doesn"t mean that there isn"t one. For all I know, it could be that your history is really the one based on legend and myth."
"Have it your way, Alex," she said with a sigh. "If it"s too much for you right now, then let it be. Besides, that isn"t what matters at the moment. What matters now is that the Law of Nines indicates you are the one named in the prophecy from my world, where prophecy is magic and magic is real."
He knew that she was right about at least some of it. He knew that what was going on now was real. His muscles ached from the shocks Bethany had given him with the Taser. He"d seen bodies vanish. He"d seen a man appear out of thin air.
He didn"t know the truth about the past or if he could ever believe the whole far-fetched notion, but he did know that something was going on now, and it most definitely involved him.
"All right, I"m listening," he said. "What matters now?"
"We believe that Cain"s people have been coming to this world to find something that will help them tip the balance to their side once and for all. We don"t know what it is they"re after, but they"re expending a lot of resources on it, so we fear that if they find what they"re after, we"re finished."
Alex lifted his hands in exasperation. "But if your people believe in prophecy and that I"m the one who can save your world, then why would they want me dead? I die, you all die."
She regarded him with the kind of expression that made him a little uncomfortable. "Prophecy can mean something very different from what you think it does. What if you were to cooperate with Cain"s people? What if you were tortured into helping them? What if you helped them without realizing what you were doing? Any of those would result in the same end. You would be directly responsible for the deaths of millions.
"If any of those things turned out to be true, then the only way you could be our salvation would be if you died before you could help Radell Cain.
"The prophecy, you see, does not say that you must be alive to save our world. It could mean that you must die if our world is to be saved."
Alex ran his fingers back into his hair and held his head. He wanted the whole nightmare to be over. He hated the deliberately vague nature of prophecy. Prophecy always tried to make any outcome look like a prediction or else it spoke of war, floods, and droughts because there would always be war, floods, and droughts. As far as Alex was concerned, prophecy, like magic, was childish nonsense that depended on the gullible.
"Why then," he finally asked, "didn"t you kill me?"
"If I believed that version of the prophecy you would already be dead."
"So you believe this prophecy, but the other way around?"
"We have a saying: "The House of Rahl is not ruled by prophecy; the House of Rahl reigns over prophecy."
"The first time you saw me, you pulled me back to save me. It was a test. My test. You pa.s.sed that test. Had I judged you to be the kind of man to help the enemy I would have killed you on the spot and have been gone before you hit the ground."
"So, because I pulled you back from getting run over by pirate plumbers, you decided not to kill me?"
"In part. I subscribe to the Rahl view of prophecy, that it needs the balance of free will in order to exist. Free will in the House of Rahl meant that they did not abide by prophecy."
That bit of common sense made him feel better. "So the Rahl line in your world didn"t believe in prophecy, either."
She laid a hand on his forearm. "I came because of prophecy-not because I believe it, but because Cain does. I believe that you, Alexander Rahl, are the key to solving what"s going on. Radell Cain believes it as well."
"If he needs me, then why hasn"t he acted? You said they"ve been coming to this world for some time. Why haven"t they done what they came to do? Why haven"t they s.n.a.t.c.hed me?"
"I asked myself that same question," she said. "What I finally decided is that he must not know enough about what he"s looking for. I"m sure that he knows in general, but I don"t think he knows nearly enough, yet, to act."
"How could he be here looking for something and not know what he"s looking for?"
"Well, let"s say, for the sake of argument, that when the worlds were parted, besides sending people here, an important book was also sent here. Things like that have been done before to keep dangerous information out of the wrong hands."
"You think he"s looking for a book?"
"I"m just using that as an example. How would he find it here? He couldn"t use magic here to help him-magic doesn"t work here, remember? Where would he look?"
"So for some reason he"d try to find it through a Rahl?"
"Do you know where to find such a book that came from my world and didn"t belong here? How would you know where it was, or even what it was? You couldn"t. Maybe he"s already killed members of your family trying to make them tell him and he found out that that didn"t work. So, what"s he to do, now?"
"I"d like to know the answer to that question," Alex said.
"He knows that you"re involved in all this-that"s why he has been watching you through mirrors, tracking you with your phone. He"s trying to find answers. But since you"re his last lead, he has to be careful."
For the first time since they had fled his house Alex felt a bit of optimism. "So if Cain needs me, then those men who tried to run us down when I first saw you must have been Bethany"s men."
"No, they were Cain"s men."
Alex lifted his hands in frustration. "That doesn"t make sense. If he needs something from me, if he"s been watching me, then why would he suddenly have his men try to run me down?"
"They weren"t trying to run you down. They were watching you. When they saw me, they recognized me. They were trying to run me down. You prevented them from doing so."
Alex paused a moment. "You recognize them? You know them?"
"I know the big one, the one who was on the side closest to us. His name is Yuri. I killed his brother."
Alex sighed. This was one determined woman.
"That was my first, brief visit here. I wasn"t able to stay long.
When I returned home we immediately began making preparations so I could come back again, but it takes time. It was while I was watching the gallery through the mirrors, looking for you, that those preparations were finally completed. That was when I saw Vendis. When I returned to this world you gave me that painting.
"You have no idea what it meant to me."
"I think I do," he said softly.
She smiled a little but shook her head. "When I saw that painting I knew that you are central to solving what is going on. So, I thought that if I told you some of the nature of the trouble, you might be motivated to help me. But . . ."
"But I made you angry instead."
Jax smiled as she nodded. "When I went back I told people how you so faithfully painted the Shineestay, the place I told you about. People understood, then."
"Just because I painted a forest that looked similar?"
"No. Because I told them how you painted the exact place, down to the placement of every tree-except the one tree I mentioned that was missing from the scene."
Alex remembered. He had painted over that particular tree because it didn"t fit the composition. He didn"t say so, though, as he listened to her go on with her story.
"You see, it"s said that long ago the Rahl leader at the time-the one who is said to have separated the worlds-believed that magic involved art, that the creation of new magic in some ways involved the application of artistic principles at the least and maybe even artistic ability."
"Oh come on. Now you"re telling me that art is magic?"
"No, not at all, but Lord Rahl believed-"
"Who?"
"The man who was the leader at the time of the separation event was a Rahl, the last Rahl we know anything about before the House of Rahl vanished somewhere in history. Back then he was called simply "Lord Rahl." He fought and won much the same battle of survival that we find ourselves fighting now. The t.i.tle of Lord Rahl has since come to represent the preservation of magic and individual liberty, to represent for us the very concept of freedom.
"We don"t know a great deal about the time back then, but it is known that Lord Rahl"s victory against all odds ushered in a period of peace and prosperity known as the Golden Age that lasted hundreds of years. This man was its architect. His victory over tyranny and the banishment of those who wanted to eliminate the gift made it all possible.
"For this reason the very concept of the Lord Rahl is hated by Radell Cain and his ilk.
"Anyway, Lord Rahl believed that new forms of magic are acts of creation that necessarily involve elements of artistic visualization. Art-good art-involves principles of balance, flow, placement, and composition, among other things. These elements must be in harmony, each element working with all the others, in order for art to have deep meaning to us, for it to truly touch our souls. So magic and art, he believed, were inescapably linked. When you painted a picture of my world, you were somehow tapping into that elemental concept that he used to bridge worlds, time, and s.p.a.ce."
"Does this mean that you"re not going to try to kill me?" he asked with a smile.
She returned a sleepy smile. "I"m here to protect you, Alex. I need your help if we"re to solve this. Other than finding you and trying to keep both of us alive, I don"t know what to do next. That part is up to you."
Alex blinked in surprise. "Me? How should I know? These people came here from your world. I"m in the dark about the whole thing. Why would you expect me to know what to do?"
She stared at him as if it should be self-evident. "You"re Alexander Rahl."
"Jax," he said at last, looking away from her eyes as he considered how to put his thoughts into words, "I don"t know if you really have the right person."
"The Law of Nines says you are the right person."
"That"s not what I mean." He lifted a hand in a weak gesture. "I think that maybe you"re putting too much faith in me. This Law of Nines business is just superst.i.tion. I fell into the prophecy by chance, that"s all. None of it says anything about me as an individual. I"m just a guy who paints pictures for a living. I don"t know about any of this. I don"t know how to fight people from another world."
"You"ve done all right so far."
He shrugged off the notion. "I was just trying to stay alive. That doesn"t mean you should put your faith in me. Even if people from the House of Rahl really did come here, exactly as you say, that was an awfully long time ago. I can"t live up to what they could do in your world." He ran his fingers back through his hair in frustration. "I just don"t think you-"
"Alex, listen to me." She waited until he looked at her. "There is a mirror in the room where you paint. When I was waiting for the preparations to be made for me to make a longer visit here, I sat for hours at a time watching you paint, wishing I could find a way to warn you through that mirror of all the forces homing in on you."
Alex had remembered well her advice when he"d first met her that people could watch him through mirrors. He had been careful with mirrors even before that warning. And he had purposely placed that one in his studio, hoping he would be watched-hoping that Jax would see him through that mirror and decide to return. He had placed it there specifically for her.
"I learned a lot watching you through that mirror."
He smiled a little. "A lot about how to paint, maybe."
"No. A lot about you. When you watch a person for a long time you come to understand their dedication, their focus, their moods, their emotions-the way they think, or don"t bother to think. You come to learn what"s important to them.
"One day, as you turned to wipe your brush, I saw a picture catch your eye. It was the picture of your grandfather that you kept on the desk beside you. You laid down your brush and picked up that picture and sat staring at it for a time until tears ran down your face."
"It"s human to grieve," Alex said. "There"s nothing meaningful about that, nothing special."
She nodded. "I know. It"s natural to grieve, to be sad, to pine for one lost, to have a broken heart. But as you wept, your other hand fisted. Your jaw clenched. Your face turned red with rage. You pounded your fist on the desk as you wept."
Alex swallowed at the memory of the heat of that emotion. "What of it? I was angry."
"You were angry at death for taking him. You were raging against death itself. You raged against death because life means that much to you. You"re the right man, Alexander Rahl. You"re the man I came here to find."
Alex listened to the rain as he thought about her words.
"Then that bell rang," she said. "I saw Bethany"s reflection in a window.
"In that instant I saw all that was about to be lost.
"We"re still struggling to learn to come here. It"s very difficult and takes us quite some time to craft a lifeline. Pa.s.sing into the great void is daunting beyond imagining."