The Age Of Ice And Fur

“Grab it.”

“You grab it!”

“It was your nanobots that stole it.”

“Don’t blame Stardust! They were just trying to help.”

The three of them were huddled together staring at the silver hilt, the blade itself still embedded beneath the deflated looking blob that was Stardust.

“How is it not hurting them? If it’s as sharp as Mika said it is,” asked Wentworth.

“They must be avoiding the edges, they’re smart enough not to touch anything that would hurt them,” said Sol proudly, giving the swarm of nanobots a warm smile that seemed to perk them up a bit.

“Alright well, here goes nothing I suppose.” Leura tried to steady her racing heart as she reached out and gripped the hilt firmly, pulling the blade free from Stardust in one fluid motion. It came away effortlessly, and all three of them gazed in awe at the zero point blade. The hollow pad lay forgotten on Leura’s bed.

At first, holding the blade made Leura feel vulnerable. It had a deadliness about it that made her flesh and bone seem laughably weak in comparison. But the longer she held it, the more it seemed to share its strength with her, until Leura did not feel weak anymore. In fact, she’d never felt more powerful in her entire life. Not even the dice of serendipity made her feel this way. It frightened her how much she liked it.

“You know what those edges remind me of?” said Wentworth, but Leura was already reaching for the dice, pulling them out and holding them in her other hand so they could compare them next to the blade.

“It’s definitely made from the same stuff,” said Leura. “What did Mika say it was again? Some sort of matter?”

“Materialised dark matter,” answered Wentworth. “I wonder if it’s illegal too, just like the dice.”

“We better keep it hidden for now, I don’t think anyone’s going to notice it’s gone, I think they’d stopped looking at mum’s stuff long before we got there.” Leura went to put the dice and knife back into the hidden nook between her bedframe and the wall, but hesitated. “I don’t want to accidentally cut anything!”

We need something to hold it in place and make sure it doesn’t move around,” said Wentworth, but as they cast their eyes hopelessly around the room, a small group of nanobots broke off from the main body of Stardust and drifted over to Leura. They swarmed up her arm and formed a perfect scabbard over the zero point blade, completely covering it up to the hilt.

“Thanks Stardust!” said Leura with surprise, “are you sure you don’t mind leaving some of your nanobots behind?”

Stardust was now perched on Sol’s shoulder and formed the shape of a thumbs up.

Leura placed the covered knife and the dice back into their hidden nook, and as she stood back up her eyes found the hollow pad, remembering with a start the whole reason they’d gone to the Other Library in the first place.

“Do you know how to use one of these?” Leura asked Sol as she picked up the thin device.

“It’s just a computer, even you guys had those in your time didn’t you?” said Sol with a shrug. Leura looked the device over trying to find an on button, but there wasn’t one. As she held it up close to her face, it projected three words just above its surface.

“User Not Recognised,” read Leura out loud. She looked at the others. “Guess it’ll only turn on for mum then.”

Wentworth grabbed it and held it to his own face, his sharp features so much more like Raya’s, but the same three words appeared.

“I wonder why Bowen wants it so bad if he can’t even turn it on?” wondered Leura.

“Who cares,” said Sol, “we held up our end of the bargain, let’s just call him already.”

Leura took out the pearly white earphone she’d kept tucked away in her robes since the Temporal Tournament. She hit the small button on its edge, then tucked it tightly into her left ear. It made no sound, and fit so perfectly it was hard to tell she was wearing it at all. Her heart began to beat a little faster. Now that the moment had come, she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear what Bowen had to say. It seemed like every new thing she learned about Raya was just adding to the weight trying to drag her down. What if Bowen only had horrible things to say? Could she really carry even more doubt than she already had?

Leura looked between Wentworth and Sol, seeing their own nervous yet determined faces. She forced herself to take a slow, steady breath, then spoke aloud, “Bowen Aeros?”

Nothing but silence answered.

She tried again, “Bowen, can you hear me, it’s Leura?”

“Give it a minute,” said Wentworth. “If he’s a long way off there might be a delay. He said the signal travels faster than light but that doesn’t mean it’s instantaneous, he could be thousands of years away, millions of years, for all we know.”

Leura waited. One minute passed, then another. It was tense, not knowing if they were waiting for a reply that would never come. But just as Leura’s nerves hit breaking point, the silence burst into staticky speech.

“Leura, this is Bowen. Are you in Alexandria?”

Leura looked at Wentworth. “Yes we are,” then because she felt weird leaving it like that she added, “over.”

Wentworth shook his head at her and she poked her tongue out at him.

Another minute passed in silence, then Bowen’s voice returned, much clearer this time. “Alright, I’m close to you now, go ahead, did you manage to find the hollow pad?”

“Yes, we’ve got it. How do we get it to you though?”

“That part will be easy. There’s a shrine, near the town square, for the Egyptian god Anubis. Go there alone. The slab of rock at its base can be moved - with a bit of effort. You’ll find a box beneath it. Place the hollow pad inside and cover it up again. I’ll come for it at a safer time.”

Leura nodded, then realised Bowen couldn’t see her. “Okay, we’ll do it. But what about your promise? You said you’d tell us the truth about our mum?”

“Deliver the hollow pad, then call me back. I’ll keep my word.”

Silence returned, and Leura knew Bowen was gone.

“So, what did he say?” asked Wentworth nervously.

“We have to take the hollow pad into town, there’s a hidden box for it at the shrine of Anubis. Then he says he’ll keep his word and tell us everything.” Leura could hear her own doubts sitting heavily in her voice, but they’d come too far not to see it through now.

“Well, no time like the present then,” said Sol happily, snatching the hollow pad from Wentworth and heading out the door, the twins on her heels.

Finding the shrine of Anubis turned out to be harder than they thought.

The town of Alexandria was littered with small temples and shrines to the many different gods worshipped by the Egyptian people. Although students of the Great Library are allowed to visit the town, there is a strict curfew to be back by the time dinner is being served. Judging by how low the sun was hanging in the sky, Leura knew if they didn’t find it soon, they were going to be in big trouble.

“Is that it? Wait, no, that’s a cat’s head, we’re looking for a jackal right?”

“And what exactly is a jackal?” asked Sol, “there weren’t a lot of animals in the EcoDomes where I grew up, except for the ones we used to eat of course.”

“It’s like a dog, you know what a dog is right?” said Wentworth warily.

“Of course!” said Sol, then seeing the worried looks on the twins’ faces added, “they worked in the wellbeing centres. We’d have to go there every week and speak to the therapists and they had dogs you could pet and play with. Plus I saw them all the time on our family holidays.”

“Well, keep an eye out for a statue with the head of a dog then,” said Wentworth, and they continued through the winding streets.

Just as the sun was beginning to set, they found it.

The Shrine was small, tucked in between two stores selling spices and herbs. The statue of Anubis was only just taller than Wentworth.

“Bowen said a stone slab at the bottom could come loose,” said Leura, kneeling down at the base of the statue and prodding at the flat stones at Anubis’s feet. One of them gave the faintest wobble as she did it, and with considerable effort over a few painstaking minutes, Leura was able to remove the stone completely, revealing a small cavity beneath the statue. She reached inside and pulled out a thin box of dark metal, only just big enough for the hollow pad.

“There’s no lid,” said Leura, turning the box over in her hands and seeing nothing but more smooth metal, “it’s sealed shut.”

“It’s an Incrypt, only its owner can open it. Mum used to hide packets of grupple in hers so I couldn’t get to them,” said Sol rather bitterly. “Just put the hollow pad on top of it.”

Leura laid the hollow pad on the smooth top surface of the box, and a few moments later the box absorbed it, like the cryogenic chairs in skyhook crafts.

“No going back now, it’ll only return the hollow pad if Bowen’s the one holding it,” said Sol simply.

“Put it back and let’s get moving,” said Wentworth with a nervous glance at the setting sun. Leura put the Incrypt back in its hole and jammed the stone slab back over it as tightly as she could. Then they ran off in the direction of the library.

They made it back just as the main doors were closing.

“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today,” said the burly black robe who was about to seal the library doors when the three of them came sprinting up to him.

“Got… lost… sorry…” was all Leura could get out. They slipped through the crack in the door beneath the black robe’s arm and tried to catch their breath as they made their way to the dining room.

Leura couldn’t eat much. She was too agitated, all she could think about was getting back to their bedroom so she could call Bowen.

She skipped dessert, and left dinner early, with Wentworth right behind her, and a reluctant Sol scrambling to catch up after hastily stuffing a few spoonfuls of Venusian pudding into her mouth.

As soon as they were in the privacy of their bedroom, Leura put on the earphone and said Bowen’s name loud and clear.

This time, there was almost no delay before his voice answered. “Good job kid, knew I could count on you.”

Leura looked into Wentworth’s eyes as she answered, hoping he couldn’t see the fear in her own, or hear the sound of her raging heart. “Now it’s your turn. Tell us the truth… about our mum.”

Bowen let out a deep sigh that almost sounded like he was on the brink of laughter. “I’ll tell you, but little good it’ll do. It’s not gonna be the story you wanted, kid.” Leura was glad Bowen wasn’t there in the room to see how much that rattled her. She forced herself to keep listening. “Your mum started out as a Scouter for the CI, just like me. We trained together, worked our way up, but Raya was different… special. She caught the attention of the head of the whole operation, Frey Thorisdottir. And Frey placed her in her own personal squad.” Bowen paused, the bitterness in his voice clear. “Do you know what the CI does?”

Leura hesitated a moment. “They stop us from changing things?”

“That they do, but the real question is what things. You swore to obey the tenets, like every other new time traveller right? Well, it’s the CI’s job to enforce them. Scouters usually start out stopping people from messing with their past, or anyone else’s. It can be tedious, but every now and then there’s a big mess to clean up. There are plenty of people who’ve ended up in Jotunheim for it.”

Leura hardly breathed while she listened. Part of her already knew where this was going, had known for a long time now, but she hung on Bowen’s every word, desperate for the certainty only he could give her.

“Things start getting serious when it comes to messing with the course of history though. In the CI we called them the prime events. Anything that helped move humanity forward, that kept progress on track. Even changing them by accident got you a lifelong stint in Jotunheim.”

Leura could tell by the way he spoke that he still hadn’t gotten to the reason yet, that Raya had done something even more serious than this…

“But there was something the CI protected above all else. Something Frey only trusted to her most elite squad. Raya’s squad… We all swore not to alter the Final Fall. To let humanity die with our solar system. Most travellers think it’s impossible to change anyway, even if we wanted to. And very few of us want to.”

“Why?” Leura interrupted without meaning to, but Bowen’s words had brought back memories of that nightmarish asteroid, swarming with desperate and dying people. “Why wouldn’t anyone want to stop the Final Fall?”

Bowen made that noise again, part ways between a sigh and a laugh. “There is a belief, a powerful belief, that comes from The Board of Chronologers themselves, that history has to end with us. That the last great act of humankind must be the creation of time travellers.” He spoke like he meant it, even though his voice sounded strained and furious. “That’s why we exist… because the world was ending. Humanity couldn’t escape the dying solar system, so our ancestors found a different way to survive. They were just a group of scientists who didn’t have a future anymore, so they hid in the past instead.” Leura was trying desperately not to let her mind race ahead of itself. She was certain she knew where this was all heading now, but she needed to hear Bowen say it. “Think about it kid. If the human race carried on after us, how long until we become outlawed, or weaponised, or wiped out by newer, better time travellers? How long would we get to remain free, like we are now? The cold hard truth is that even if we could save humanity, we’d be dooming ourselves in the process. Most of us get that, but for some of us, it’s just too big a pill to swallow. Your mum couldn’t stomach it.”

Leura could hear herself taking short and shallow breaths but felt like her lungs were empty. “So, mum tried to stop it… tried to save everyone… and they locked her away, kept her from us, all because she didn’t want people to die?”

“She did more than try. She found a way. She was closer than anyone had ever been before, closer than the CI even thought possible… and it was one of their own… that’s what really pushed them over the edge. Not the heat from the Board. Not how close Raya actually got. No, it was the betrayal that made Frey Thorisdottir angry. So when they came for her, they did it at the worst possible moment, the one that would cause the most pain… the day she had you and your twin. And they weren’t quiet about it either. They wanted our entire world to know. It was a warning you see, to those of us who still felt the same way your mother did. They never said what she did outright, but they didn’t need to. It was obvious Raya had tried to change something big, something that put us all in danger.”

Thoughts were crashing violently up against each other inside Leura’s head. The storm it created in her felt out of control, and she hardly noticed herself speaking until she’d almost finished saying it. “Did she know? That the time travellers would die… that…”

“That her mission was a one way ticket?” Bowen almost sounded sorry. “Yeah kid, she knew. I told you this wasn’t going to be the story you wanted to hear.”

Suddenly she felt eerily calm, like she’d just floated into the eye of the storm, briefly protected while it continued to rage all around her. She knew there was more than one way to handle this moment, that she didn’t have to let the storm drown her. She could see the goodness in her mother, the woman who had tried to save humanity. It was right there in front of her, like a lifeboat ready to carry her safely through the storm. But beneath the surface of the waves, something huge was stirring, and she knew there was no lifeboat big enough to save her from its jaws.

It pulled Leura under, and she let herself drown.

So, she chose what mattered to her the most… and it wasn’t me.

Bowen seemed to feel the pain he’d caused, even across a distance as great as this. “I know she loved you kid, you and the boy.”

Then the earphone went silent, and Bowen was gone.

Leura stood there with Wentworth and Sol’s wide eyes piercing through her.

She tried to get a grip on herself, to bring herself back from the deep abyss she’d been pulled into. It took every ounce of strength she had, but slowly, piece by piece, she told them everything. She found that repeating it out loud helped. By the time she reached the end she felt like she could almost think clearly again. This was a good thing, because it was now Wentworth’s turn to lose it.

“Dad was right about these people! They can’t do that to mum, just because - just because she… she was trying to save everyone!”

“But, what if they’re right?” said Sol with a shaky voice. “What if stopping the Final Fall means time travellers would be wiped out? I mean, we’re time travellers.”

“We’re humans too,” whispered Leura, but her voice was heavy with doubt. Her mum might have been willing to sacrifice everything to save humanity, but could she have done the same? She’d spent her whole life convincing herself that she was just like Raya. Now she’d never felt more alone.

“What do we do Leura?” asked Wentworth, looking to her as he always did, when the way forward seemed difficult and uncertain.

There was only one thing Leura wanted now. She did not know whether it would help or just make things worse, but if she didn’t get the chance to speak to Raya herself, and hear first hand why she’d chosen to abandon them, she wasn’t sure she’d ever escape the storm inside her.

“Now, we settle the bet,” said Leura, letting her rage bubble up to the surface once more, and directing it firmly towards Cron.

Over the next few weeks, Leura obsessed constantly over Cron. She needed a way to speak to him alone, but being the height of popularity among the white robes, he was always surrounded by friends and followers. He also still had the annoying habit of disappearing after lessons and she had no idea where he was sneaking off to.

Adding to her frustration was the fact that neither Wentworth or Sol seemed as determined to get to Jotunheim as she was.

Sol never said it out loud, but by the way she tended to change the subject whenever Leura brought it up made Leura suspect that this might be the one place Sol was actually afraid of.

Wentworth on the other hand, was all for it, but was getting more and more distracted by the day. He’d gaze absentmindedly at the wall during lessons, or fiddle with his food without actually eating any at meals. And late at night, while Leura was playing with the dice of serendipity, she was no longer the only one awake. The flickering crystal cast strange patterns of light onto their walls and ceiling as Wentworth stared into its depths.

Mika had said the crystal was harmless, but Leura was starting to doubt it. There must have been a reason her mother had it on her the night she was taken. If she was capable of owning something as deadly as the zero point blade, who knows how dangerous the crystal really was. Her concern for Wentworth only made her more anxious to get to Jotunheim and speak to her mother. Only she could tell her what it really was, and just how much danger Wentworth was in by keeping it. She added it to the growing list of questions she had for Raya. She carried them around inside her head, like chains that shackled her to dark thoughts and painful memories. She was both desperate to get all the answers, and terrified of what she’d hear when she finally did.

Then one day Aristar gave another announcement over dinner, that made Leura even more impatient to get at Cron.

“New Dawn Day is fast approaching,” said Aristar in her usual monotone voice. “The day we celebrate the anniversary of the first time travellers, who settled into the past and founded our world. As most of you will be spending this significant day with family, all lessons will be cancelled.”

Leura’s eyes darted across the tables until she found the back of Cron’s head. She wished she could see the look on his face, but was confident in what she’d find. He’d definitely be spending New Dawn Day with his family. He was going back to Jotunheim…

“I expect you all to make up for it by working extra hard as the holiday approaches. It will not be long now until we hold the gradings, where we will determine whether you are ready to move up a rank. Inevitably, some of you won’t be,” Aristar’s gaze swept over the white robes as she said this, and Leura had the disconcerting feeling that they lingered on her for a fraction too long. “Any blue or white robes who are planning on leaving the Library for New Dawn Day, please alert Librarian Callimachus before the end of next week to arrange an escort. That is all.”

Aristar sat down unceremoniously, and the dining room broke out into chatter amongst the tables once more.

“Will you go back to Mars then?” Wentworth asked Sol as he helped himself to second servings of poached dodo eggs.

“Suppose I better,” said Sol with a shrug, “dad gets really into New Dawn Day, he’ll probably want to take us on a trip somewhere. I hope it’s Titan, the celebrations there are always the best in the whole system.”

“Wish we could go somewhere fun too,” said Wentworth gloomily, thinking that they’ll probably end up spending most of the day in the museum waiting for their dad to finish work.

“We’re not going home,” said Leura, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“We’re not?” Wentworth’s fork was frozen an inch from his mouth, the large dodo egg wobbling precariously on it.

“No, we’re going with Cron, to his home.”

The dodo egg fell back onto Wentworth’s plate with a squelching splat.

“So you’ve convinced him then?” asked Wentworth sceptically.

“Not yet, but I will,” said Leura, with the same defiance in her voice that Wentworth had heard enough times before to know not to argue with her about it.

“So what’s the plan?”

Leura looked over at Sol. As always, the golden blob of nanobots was sitting on her shoulder, gently moving in a way that almost resembled breathing.

“Is Stardust up for some more spying?”

The golden blob morphed into a hummingbird before Sol had the chance to answer.

It took Stardust longer to find out where Cron had been hiding than it did to find the Librarian’s Other Library.

Three days went by, with an increasingly disgruntled Stardust returning at the end, having lost track of Cron at some point after lessons ended. He was apparently very good at not being followed, and knew his way around the labyrinth of passageways within the Great Library better than any white robe ought to.

On the fourth day, Stardust resorted to taking the form of a mouse, and climbing daringly into Cron’s robe during their class with Istros, while they were dressed in their zero-g combat clothes, and their robes sat unwatched at the edges of the Sandbox.

That night, Stardust came back bursting with excitement, looking like a mini firework that never stopped exploding. They all knew what it meant.

The next day, after lessons were over, they followed the golden hummingbird deep into the passageways beneath the Library.

“Are we even allowed down here?” asked Wentworth as the stone around them seemed to deteriorate with every step, “these passageways are ancient, even for this place.”

“Doesn’t matter, if this is where Cron’s hiding then this is where we’re going,” said Leura stubbornly, and they carried on through the twisting and turning passageways, trusting in Stardust’s synthetically perfect memory to lead them.

Before too long, they came to a small room, filled with crumbling sarcophaguses. Like the passageways, it was lit with a few electric lights embedded in the walls, causing the sarcophaguses to cast eerie shadows around the space. Stardust landed on the best preserved one, right up against the back wall, then turned into an arrow pointing directly at it.

“Um, Stardust, please tell me there’s like, a secret passage under that, or something?” said Leura. The little arrow shook itself, clearly answering no, then pointed again at the stone slab that sealed the sarcophagus.

“I think they want us to open it,” said Sol, with a little too much enthusiasm for Leura’s liking.

“A sarcophagus, really?”

“If Stardust says this is where Cron’s been going, then it’s where he’s been going,” said Sol defensively.

“Look,” said Wentworth, pointing at the floor around the base of the sarcophagus. Unlike every other inch of the room, which had a thick layer of dust and sand, the patch of ground at the base of the sarcophagus was worn down to the stone beneath, like someone had been walking over it repeatedly. “Someone’s been here, that’s for sure.”

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” said Sol, crossing the small room swiftly and placing her hands on the stone slab, “help me open this thing.”

Reluctantly, the twins joined her. Stardust even turned into a little crowbar to pitch in. The slab was heavy, and Leura couldn’t help but be impressed with Cron for moving it all on his own. It took all three of them giving it everything they had to open it. With a final grunt of effort, they made enough of an opening to get a good look inside the sarcophagus.

“It’s empty,” said a disgruntled Wentworth.

“At least there’s not a mummy in there,” said Leura, shivering at the memory of those stained yellow bandages and cold, vice-like hands.

“But there’s no Cron in there either,” said Sol with a frown. “I don’t get it, Stardust is sure this is where he’s going, but why climb into an empty sarcophagus, unless… unless…”

It came to Wentworth first, and he looked at the other two with wide, delighted eyes. “He’s using it as a time capsule!”

Leura grinned from ear to ear. “He’s travelling! This sarcophagus has probably always been empty, I bet you could safely get all the way to the beginning of the Great Library from here, or right to the end of it. Hey! Do you think he’s going to the Other Library?”

“I doubt it,” answered Wentworth, “only black robes and Librarians are supposed to go there. But we’ll know soon enough, won’t we.”

“How? We can’t follow him unless we get a look at his timedial,” said Sol.

“We don’t need to follow him, he’s going to come right to us,” said Wentworth with a satisfied smirk. “This sarcophagus is his only way back, we just have to wait here for him to show up.”

Feeling thrilled with themselves for cornering Cron like this, they sat down at the base of the sarcophagus and waited. But as the hours ticked by, their good mood was slowly chipped away by boredom and discomfort.

“Dinner must nearly be over by now,” said Wentworth gloomily, looking up at the ceiling as his stomach gave a loud rumble of complaint.

“He can’t be much longer, he’s got to come back eventually,” said Leura, trying to keep her own impatience out of her voice.

But Cron didn’t come back quickly. The hours dragged by, the room got colder and the lights dimmed almost down to nothing. Sore, cold, and hungry, the three of them were in a dangerously bitter mood when, deep into the night, the air around the sarcophagus collapsed inwards with a resounding crunch.

They stood up at the same time Cron did. Already much taller than them, it didn’t help that he had the added height of the sarcophagus beneath him. If Leura wasn’t so furious at being forced to wait here all night, she might have been frightened to see him glaring down at them, equally angry.

“What the hell are you three doing here?” Cron spoke quietly, but with a strong undertone of violence.

“Waiting for you! And you took your sweet time getting back didn’t you.” Leura made sure her voice was just as hostile as Cron’s.

They glowered at each other for a few moments, then the shock of finding himself cornered seemed to wear off. Cron relaxed a bit, and spoke with his usual sneering confidence. “Well congratulations, you found me. What’s the big plan then? You can’t force me to take you to Jotunheim, it was a stupid bet anyway.”

“Didn’t think it was so stupid when you made it though, did you?” said Sol. “We beat you, now pay up.”

“Or what,” said Cron, his wolfish face contorting into a menacing sneer.

“Or, we go to Aristar and tell her about your private little time capsule,” said Leura, “I’m sure she’d be interested to know you’re running off somewhere every evening, probably messing with other time travellers, she might even report you to the CI if we’re lucky.”

Cron looked murderous. “I’m not doing anything dangerous, I know what happens when you break the tenets better than anyone.”

“Then what are you doing?” demanded Sol.

Cron hesitated, clearly conflicted between not wanting to tell them and not wanting them to get Aristar involved. Through bared teeth, he explained, “my cousin was a white robe some years back. I go and hang out with him, in the Rec room mostly, nothing he wouldn’t already be doing in the first place - nothing big enough to mess with his timeline.”

“Even so, I think Aristar would love to hear all about it,” said Leura, calmly turning to the others, “wouldn’t you agree?”

“Definitely,” said Wentworth.

“No question about it,” added Sol.

“So I guess it comes down to which one you think is worse, taking us to Jotunheim, or Aristar finding out about this?” Leura finished with a satisfied smirk, then crossed her arms and waited.

Cron’s face was pinched like he’d been force fed something sour. He looked like he was considering what little options he had, including attacking them right then and there, and hiding their bodies in one of the sarcophaguses. But after a few tense moments, he gave an involuntary spasm of rage and said, “fine, I’ll take you, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Jotunheim will eat little runts like you alive.”

“Great!” said Leura, ignoring that last part. “When?”

“New Dawn Day, obviously,” spat Cron, “and no mouthing off about this place to other students, or the deal’s off.”

Leura held out a hand for Cron to shake. He looked at it like he’d sooner break it off than shake it, but he clasped it quickly, then leapt out of the sarcophagus, causing the others to stumble backwards away from him. With a single motion, he grabbed the stone slab and pulled it back into place. Leura gulped silently, more aware than ever of the difference in size and strength between them.

“Meet me on New Dawn Day, down here,” he ordered. Then without another word he brushed past them and left the room.

As the sound of his footsteps faded, Leura, Wentworth and Sol looked at each other like they could hardly believe what had just happened.

“We did it,” said Leura, “we’re actually going to Jotunheim… we’re going to see mum.”

Wentworth looked apprehensive. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy, Leura.”

“Who said we wanted it to be easy?” said Sol with a shrug, “I’m hoping for outrageously dangerous myself.” Leura laughed, but Wentworth knew she was being too serious to find it funny.

They made their way carefully back to their living quarters. The twins didn’t even bother saying goodnight to each other as they got into bed. They both knew they’d be awake for some time yet, lost in thought, staring into the darkness of the dice of serendipity, or the embers of the flickering crystal. Just a few short weeks ago, Leura would’ve been thrilled that she was finally going to Jotunheim, but that was before she’d heard Bowen’s story. Now she just felt sick. What would Raya even say to her? Would she deny everything, claim it was all a big misunderstanding and that she’d never abandon her children by choice? Or would she admit her biggest regret is simply that her plan had failed?

Leura wasn’t sure she even wanted to know, but she felt drawn to Jotunheim like it had its own force of gravity, made just for her. There was no turning back now.

New Dawn Day arrived, and Leura woke long before the sun.

She was full of nervous energy. Despite Wentworth’s consistent warnings not to get her hopes up, she was adamant they were going to get to see their mother for the first time since the day they were born.

“You should eat,” said Sol during one of the brief moments her mouth wasn’t stuffed full of scrambled dodo eggs and Martian sandhog bacon.

“Huh, what?” said Leura, absentmindedly poking at the food on her plate.

“I said, eat! You don’t want to pass out from hunger before we even get there do you?”

Leura pulled herself away from the daydream she was having about breaking open her mum’s cage with her bare hands, and forced herself to finish all the food on her plate. When she’d gotten ready this morning, she’d grabbed the dice of serendipity out from their hidden spot and tucked them safely inside her robes. She felt them now, through the tough white fabric, then she noticed something else, heavier and bulkier, sitting right next to them.

It was the hilt of a blade. She hadn’t meant to take it, she couldn’t even remember grabbing it alongside the dice, but there it was, tucked within her robes. She gripped the hilt through the fabric and immediately felt braver. The zero point blade was her mother’s after all, it felt right having it with her on the day they finally reunited.

While most of the white robes headed off towards the lighthouse to make the journey back to their own time, Leura, Wentworth, and Sol hung back in their living quarters until it seemed quiet enough to make their way down to the tomb.

None of them had seen Cron that morning, and as they descended into the labyrinth of passageways leading deep below the library, Leura couldn’t help but worry that he would betray them, that there would be no one down here waiting for them, or even worse, that it would be Aristar, ready to punish them with another trip to the Final Fall. But as they entered the dark and decrepit room, the tall figure of Cron emerged from the shadows.

“Here’s how this is going to work,” he said, his voice low and threatening. “I’ll show you the way to Jotunheim, but once we’re there you’re on your own. If you get caught and tell them I was the one who brought you I swear I’ll make you pay. Though I seriously doubt any of you will be leaving Jotunheim alive anyway.”

“Stop trying to scare us, just cause you’re a chicken doesn’t mean we are,” said Sol with a level of confidence neither of the twins were feeling.

Cron sneered. “We’ll see about that, won’t we.” Then he leapt into the opened sarcophagus at the back of the room. “Come on then.”

They walked over to it and one by one climbed inside with Cron. It was lucky they were all so much smaller than him. The four of them crouched inside the sarcophagus was a tight fit. Cron heaved the stone lid over the top of them and they fell into darkness.

“I’ve set my timedial, but I can’t get us there on my own, you’ll all have to help. We’re not going far, only six years back. Even white robes as pathetic as you three should be able to handle it.” Before Leura had the chance to say anything back, Cron had started a countdown, and she quickly had to focus her mind on travelling. “Three, two, one, now!”

Leura found it easy to tap into a powerful emotion, she’d been overflowing with them for days. She used them now to travel through time, just as Callimachus had taught them. It was not about desire. Wanting to time travel was not enough to make it happen. It was a response to a need. The need to leave this time and enter a new one. Her anger had created that need the very first time she ever travelled. It was either leave, or be consumed by it. She knew better than that now. Callimachus taught them the best need came from emotions like joy and love, but Leura chose to use her fear instead, and her need to be rid of it. She briefly wondered if that was the same need the first time travellers used as they fled their dying solar system. The small space inside the tomb collapsed in on itself with a crunch, and a few moments later, light came rushing back in as Cron heaved the lid off the sarcophagus again.

They all stood up at the same time. For a moment, Leura thought it hadn’t worked. The room looked exactly the same. Then a voice rang out from near the door.

“About time, it’s creepy waiting down here alone you know.”

They spun around to see a white robed student leaning up against the wall just to the left of the doorway. He had dark hair and eyes, and the same wolfish look as his cousin, though it was less pronounced, and came across more like a good natured dog instead of a wild wolf like Cron.

“I told you not to come down here too early didn’t I,” growled Cron as he leapt out of the sarcophagus. The twins and Sol followed.

“So, these are your friends then?” asked Cron’s cousin with a raised eyebrow.

“They’re not my friends. We have a deal, that’s all, now let’s get this over with.” Cron strode past his cousin and into the passageway.

With a smile that made it clear he enjoyed annoying Cron, the boy turned to the others. “I’m Jhon, welcome to my time. Sorry about old Crony there, I liked him better when we were growing up, he was much younger than me then.” Jhon let out a sigh, and motioned for them to follow him into the passageway.

They made their way back up through the underground labyrinth, and into the atrium of the library. It was very late at night. Only a few lights remained on, casting long and ominous shadows from the many pillars that lined the room. Light from the moon and stars did a feeble job at illuminating the rest of the space, painting everything a silvery-blue colour.

No one spoke a word as they crept through the silent atrium towards the main entrance. Then Leura nearly shrieked with fright as someone in black robes stepped out of the shadows to meet them.

“Relax, it’s only Harlow,” whispered Jhon, “he works for our family in Jotunheim. He’s going for his red robes, all our top generals have to have a master’s rank.”

Harlow had a brutish look about him, with sunken cheeks and a large brow that reminded Leura of a chimpanzee. He gave Cron a deep bow of his head, a smaller one to Jhon, and nothing but a look of disdain at the twins and Sol. It was clear he didn’t want to be doing this, but it seemed Cron was not someone he could easily refuse. He opened the towering front doors for them, and together they made their way out into the night, heading for the lighthouse.

The journey was a tense one. Harlow led them into the time capsule, and brought them to the future so they could catch a skyhook. Leura paid close attention to each step of the journey. The skyhook took them to New York, a colossal city that rivalled New Tokyo, though the buildings did not reach as high into the sky, and it was far less beautiful on the ground. Huge dams protected the city from the rising waters of the harbour. Unlike Sydney, New York had refused to adapt to the changing world around it.

Harlow led them deep into the city, until they came to Central Park, which seemed to have changed the least over the millennia. Green grass and tall trees still covered the park, along with clear blue lakes and streams. Harlow led them to a forested area near the centre, where they came across a rock formation that looked like the oldest thing you’d find in the entire city. They scrambled up the rocks until they reached a flat spot in between two larger outcrops. Harlow crouched down and traced his hand over a small carving at his feet. Leura couldn’t quite make it out, but she thought it looked a bit like a bear.

“From here we can safely travel to Jotunheim,” said Harlow, speaking to them for the first time. “Within these stones hides the same technology as our most advanced time capsules.” He looked at Cron. “Shall I take you to New Dawn Day, Mr Malabor?”

“Not with these three, obviously,” snapped Cron. “Let’s drop them off right after my last visit, father was away on Board business then. You can take me to New Dawn Day afterwards.”

Harlow nodded, and made some quick adjustments to his timedial, which Leura noticed was made from black and rusty-red metals. Then, without warning, the world collapsed around them with a painfully loud crunch, and the city was gone.

Leura felt cold like she’d never experienced before.

Ice and snow covered everything around them. Low mountains rose up along the horizon, and a light wind sent cold shivers deep into Leura’s body.

They were still standing on a rock formation, though it was not the same arrangement as the one in Central Park. As Leura’s eyes adjusted to the glare from the snow, she realised they were in front of a sprawling fortress made of ice.

A frozen wall twenty feet high encircled the fortress, followed by a second, thicker and higher than the last. And in the centre, rose a great tower of ice, wide as a castle, and twice as high as the wall that surrounded it. Jotunheim was every bit as terrifying and horrible as people had said it was.

“This is as close as I can get you, even I can’t just turn up at Jotunheim unannounced,” said Cron bitterly.

“But, how do we get inside?” asked Leura. She had a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach as she looked at the imposing fortress. Any hope she had of actually seeing her mother was quickly evaporating.

“That’s not my problem. The deal was to take you to Jotunheim, not get you inside.” He nodded to Harlow who gathered closer to Cron and Jhon, ready to travel again.

“Wait! You can’t just leave us here, how are we supposed to get back? We can’t travel that far by ourselves!” There was genuine panic in Leura’s voice, and Cron sensed her fear like a predator does with its prey.

“I guess I won’t be seeing you around then,” he said with a wicked smile. “Let’s go Harlow.”

“Wait.” This time it was Jhon who spoke. “You never said you were going to ditch them here. We both know they’re not going to make it inside so at least give them a chance to come back.” He was looking fiercely at his cousin, and in that moment they saw the wolf in him, not as close to the surface as it was with Cron, but still there when he needed it.

Cron was baring his teeth at Jhon. “What do you care if they make it back or not?” he snapped, “they’re not even from your time.”

“If they get caught, how long until your father finds out we’re the ones that brought them here?” Jhon snapped back. For the first time since the day she’d met him, Leura saw real fear flash across Cron’s face. So there was something he was frightened of after all. His own father. Leura made a mental note to never cross paths with the Warden of Jotunheim. “Give them one hour, then Harlow can come back for them. They’ll be waiting on the rocks with their tails between their legs in far less time than that. You’ll have made your point, and no one else needs to find out about this.”

Cron and Jhon glared at each other for a few long and tense moments, and to Leura’s surprise, it was Cron who backed down.

“Fine. Harlow, get us out of here, and come back for whatever’s left of them an hour from now.”

Without warning, the air around them caved in and they were gone, leaving behind an echoing sound that quickly dispersed amongst the howling wind.

“Well that could’ve gone worse I suppose,” said Sol.

“I vote we just wait right here for Harlow… we still might freeze to death though,” said Wentworth, shuddering as he stared at the ice fortress ahead of them.

“We’ve only got one hour,” said Leura in a low voice. She was looking intently right at the tower of ice in the centre of the fortress. She felt its pull, almost like it was calling for her. No matter how dark things were inside that fortress, it was still better than returning empty handed, back to being alone with the thoughts that had tormented her since the day she’d spoken to Bowen. Without another word, she hopped straight off the rock into the thick snow, and began the gruelling march towards Jotunheim.

Sol followed eagerly, and Wentworth gave a loud whimper that no one heard over the wind before awkwardly jumping down and following Leura’s tracks in the snow.

They soon realised that Jotunheim was further away than they thought. The snow soaked through their robes, and the wind seemed to reach right into their bones. They were all soon shivering uncontrollably, and the closer they got to the fortress, the bigger and more intimidating it became.

They reached the outer wall, bitterly cold and already tempted to head back to the rock. Leura reached out and touched its surface. The ice was smooth and slick. Climbing it would be impossible.

“W-what n-now?” said Wentworth, shivering worse than the others.

“There must be a way inside,” answered Leura. She looked to the left, then to the right, but could see no signs of a door or a way up the wall. She reached into her robes and pulled out the dice of serendipity. She cleared away some snow at her feet until there was a flat patch of ice, then she rolled the dice on it, asking out loud, “should we go to the left?”

The dice landed and crimson flames shot to the surface, making a flaming number 9. Leura scooped them up and rolled again.

“Should we go to the right?”

Light green flames blazed to the surface this time, making a number 87.

“Right it is,” said Leura confidently, and she grabbed the dice and headed off along the wall.

Before long they came across a dark metal door embedded in the ice. It was small, not much taller than they were, and looked like it hadn’t been opened in years. It remained stubbornly shut no matter how hard they pushed or pulled on it.

“Maybe the dice wanted us to keep going,” suggested Sol, peering along the wall to the right. “A place like this must have a big main entrance somewhere.”

“Which is the most likely place to get caught,” said Leura, “the dice sent us this way because it wanted us to use a back door.” She reached into her robes once more and brought out the zero point blade.

Wentworth gasped. “W-why’d you bring t-that thing?”

“I’m not sure,” said Leura truthfully, “I guess I knew we’d need it.” She pushed the blade towards the seam between the metal door and the ice wall. The part of Stardust that was acting as a sheath retreated and covered some of Leura’s hand instead, protecting her as best it could in case something went wrong.

The tip of the blade made contact. Leura expected to feel some resistance, but it cut through it like it was made of a soft jelly. Slowly, she inserted the blade almost to the hilt, then began tracing around the seam of the door. Less than a minute later, she pulled the blade out and gave the door a soft push.

It tipped inward and landed with a dull thud on the frosted floor. They gathered around the entrance and peered inside. The door led to a dark tunnel heading straight through the wall. It was lit by flaming torches, but they were spread far apart, leaving long stretches in deep shadow. They couldn’t see where the tunnel ended, and realised just how thick the wall actually was.

“We’re running out of time,” said Leura, more to herself than the others. Taking a deep breath like she was about to dive underwater, she stepped through the doorway, and into Jotunheim.

The tunnel began to branch off in different directions almost at once. Some seemed to lead along the wall, while others led to spiralling staircases that Leura assumed would take you to the top of the wall. With each new branch, Leura rolled the dice, and they told her to keep heading straight along the main tunnel.

They could hear sounds echoing down the other branches. Faint voices, or footsteps, that made them freeze with fear each time. But the dice did not betray them, and they came across no one, reaching another door at the end of the tunnel quickly. This one was open, and they peeped through it to see a wide courtyard beyond, thick with snow, separating the inner and outer walls of the fortress.

“What do you think, make a run for it?” said Sol, trying to see if there was anyone out there.

“The dice said to go this way, so I guess we have to,” said Leura grimly.

They opened the door wider to take one more look for any guards, then they hurried through it and started wading through the deep snow towards the inner wall.

They made it about half way across when a thundering sound erupted from their right hand side. Leura turned to see something big moving through the snow towards them. It sent powdery plumes erupting into the air as it charged, making it difficult to see exactly what it was, but Leura caught glimpses of an enormous furry animal.

“Run!” Leura grabbed Sol and Wentworth by the arms and they hurled themselves towards the inner wall. But the snow made it impossible to move quickly, and the animal was gaining on them fast. Leura glanced back at it and got a good look at the short tusks sticking out on each side of its long trunk.

They reached the inner wall to find another locked door. Leura held the zero point blade with trembling hands and hastily started cutting along the seam, the thundering sound drawing closer and closer with each passing second.

“Hurry Leura!” shrieked Wentworth, gripping the back of her robes so tightly it was pulling against her throat and making it hard to breathe.

She withdrew the blade and hurled her whole body against the door, pulling Wentworth and Sol with her. They went crashing down on top of the door, just as the animal smashed into the doorway behind them. Leura felt something heavy wrap around her leg. She shrieked and scrambled on her hands and knees deeper into the tunnel, Wentworth and Sol pulling on her arms until she felt whatever was holding her let go. Once they were a safe distance inside, they turned to look back at the doorway.

The animal blocked the entire frame. It was much too big to fit inside the tunnel after them, but it looked them over with its large eyes, and gave them a few sniffs with its trunk. It must have been about twice as tall as Wentworth, and looked incredibly strong beneath its long brown fur.

“What is it?” Leura asked Wentworth.

“It looks like a mammoth,” he said, staring at the animal in awe. “But smaller. Maybe it’s still young?”

“They must use them like guard dogs here,” added Sol, staring wide-eyed at it while it continued to reach at them with its trunk.

“Well, let’s hope we don’t run into any more guard dogs,” said Leura, picking herself up off the floor. “Come on, we’ve got to keep moving.”

The tunnel they were in was much like the first, and Leura used the dice to guide them. This time it took them up a spiral staircase onto a higher level. They crept slowly along until they came to a crossroads, where another tunnel cut through their own. Leura was about to ask the dice which way to go when voices coming from the left passage made them all hurry backwards into the shadows between the torches. They crouched there, barely breathing, as two people crossed in front of them.

They wore white furs that made them blend into the ice. Their hair was long, and they were heavily muscled. Each carried a short spear with a crude stone tip. It only took a few seconds for them to pass out of sight again, and Leura heard them speaking in a rough language that felt immensely old.

They stayed crouched in the shadows until no sounds of the guards remained, then Leura quickly began rolling the dice to see which path to take. But it seemed every choice was getting riskier, and the best odds it gave them was a pale yellow 61, to take the same path as the guards.

“We can’t keep this up Leura,” whispered Wentworth, his voice laced with fear. “The dice can’t show us a safe path if there aren’t any.”

“Just a little longer - we’re close - I can feel it,” Leura’s heart was hammering inside her chest. She knew they were running out of time and luck, but she’d never been this close to her mother before, and she needed to hear her voice like she needed her next breath. Raya would explain everything, fix everything. All Leura had to do was keep going. No amount of reason or fear would stop her now.

The dice took them down another path that led to a small opening in the wall. Beyond it was a narrow bridge that spanned across the courtyard between the inner wall and the tower. The bridge was only wide enough for a single person to cross at a time, and there were no railings. It was over twenty metres long, and twice that high above the ground. In the courtyard below, they could see the bulky figures of mammoths patrolling, far more than there were in the outer courtyard.

“There’s no way we can cross that!” said Wentworth, looking at the icy bridge while strong winds howled into the tunnel around them.

“We have to,” said Leura, her voice breaking a little as she spoke.

“Enough Leura, if we keep this up we’re going to get ourselves killed! Then how are we going to help mum?”

Leura didn’t answer. There was nothing to say. She knew Wentworth was right, but she also knew she was crossing that bridge.

She rolled the dice at her feet, asking silently should I cross over alone? The dice were more sure than they’d been for many rolls, and she scooped them up the moment she saw the blazing green 99.

“Alright, you two wait here, and stay out of the torch light, I’ll be right back.”

Wentworth and Sol both protested at the same time, but Leura cut across them forcefully.

“I’m the one that brought us here, and I’m not leaving until I’ve found her! Wenny can’t make it across the bridge, and I need you to look out for each other. I promise I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for a response, Leura turned and stepped out onto the ice.

The wind was strong and bitterly cold. The icy bridge beneath her feet was smooth and slick. Leura moved quickly, the balls of her feet barely landing before they were off again for the next step. For the first time in her life, she was glad she was short and stocky, her low centre of gravity meant she was naturally very good at balancing.

She made it across the bridge without incident, and didn’t look back as she headed into the dark tunnel leading into the tower.

She let the dice guide her again, stopping often to crouch in the shadows as guards passed through the tunnels. She’d never felt more grateful for the dice, knowing she’d have been caught instantly without them pointing out the safe paths to take. It wasn’t long until she found what she’d been looking for. The tunnel opened up to a vast hall, right in the centre of the tower. All along the floor were circular grates about ten feet across, made from the same dark metal as the doors. There were dozens of them neatly spaced around the room. Leura crept over to the nearest one, and looked down through the thin holes in the grating.

It was like looking down a narrow well. At the bottom was a man with long matted hair, curled up under furs on a makeshift bed. The only other things in the tiny cell were a basin of water, and a crude looking bucket which Leura guessed was a toilet.

The sight of the man made Leura feel sick. He seemed barely alive down there. Is this how she was going to find her mother? She wasn’t sure she could handle seeing her like that, but she roamed from grate to grate, almost as if in a dream, peering down into the cells below. Some of them were empty, but the ones with prisoners were more or less the same. A pile of furs, a washbasin and bucket, and a decrepit person, mostly sleeping, but occasionally pacing around what little space they had.

Without warning, and before Leura had properly begun to prepare herself, she was looking down into a cell that held a woman with white-blonde hair and sharp features, as familiar to Leura as her own. She was sleeping under a thick brown fur. Of all the prisoners Leura had seen so far, she looked the most peaceful. Or perhaps that’s just the way Leura wanted her to look.

She struggled to wrap her head around the fact that she was seeing her mother for the first time since the day she was born. Not a picture. Not a fantasy or a dream. Her real mother. Living and breathing, and just a few metres away. For a single moment, she forgot where she was, and why she was here. She no longer cared what Raya had done, or what choices she’d made. All that mattered was closing what little distance remained between them, and falling into her arms so tightly that no force in this world could ever pull them apart.

Then she heard a sound that froze the blood in her veins more effectively than the icy wind outside ever could. It was a deep and thundering growl.

She turned slowly, afraid to move fast. Out of the shadows along the edge of the room, a huge, lumbering shape was moving towards her.