Pavel Konstantin and Ivanoviska walked to where Ivanoviska last remembered being
alive. Once they were there, the plan was to look for his body.
If they couldn’t find it on their own, Pavel planned to ask his wife if she would help
him out.
It wouldn’t be the first time they had hunted something down in the city.
“I think it was down here somewhere,” said Ivanoviska. He pointed a borrowed finger
at an alley next to a restaurant and a saloon. “I remember coming out of the saloon,
and looking around.”
“Looking around?,” asked Pavel. He put his hands in his coat pockets. “Looking
around for what?”
“There was a whistle, then a bell,” said Ivanoviska. “Then I heard something like a
roar. That was when I started running.”
“You heard this from the alley?,” asked Pavel.
“I think so,” said the spirit. “I was running for my life, so I didn’t look back to see if
anything was chasing me.”
“That’s understandable,” said Pavel. He had done the same thing often enough in the
past not to condemn someone else for cowardice. “Let’s see if your monster is still
there.”
“What happens if the same thing happens to you?,” asked Ivanoviska.
“My wife will be extremely upset at the both of us,” said Pavel.
“I do not want her upset at me,” said Ivanoviska. “I have enough problems.”
“That’s fair,” said Pavel.
He paused at the mouth of the alley. He looked at the walls, and then the floor. He
looked up at the sky. He sniffed the air.
“I don’t see anything strange,” said Pavel. “You said you heard a bell?”
“Yes,” said Ivanoviska. “I don’t see any bells around. I don’t see anything that might
whistle either.”
Pavel stepped into the alley. He looked things over. He hunkered down and looked
at the floor. He put his hand on scratches in the brick floor.
He wondered what had made those scratches.
“It looks like something was here, Ivanoviska,” said Pavel.
“That could have been made by anything,” said the spirit.
“No,” said Pavel. “These were just made in the last few days.”
“So the killer made these?,” said Ivanoviska. “What kind of person makes these?”
“Not a person,” said Pavel. “I don’t think a Rhiem would make these.”
“Something from the Alvas?,” said Ivanoviska.
“Maybe,” said Pavel. He started down the alley.
Pavel raised a hand, scanning the walkway. He didn’t see any immediate trail. It
puzzled him. Had the thing flown down on Ivanoviska? Was the sound the effect of
its flight?
What kind of monster did that?
He didn’t know of anything that caused a bell sound when it flew. Maybe his wife
knew. She knew a lot about things people weren’t meant to know.
“Do you hear that?,” asked Ivanoviska. “I hear the sound of air moving.”
Pavel looked around. He saw debris drifting to a point at the end of the alley. He
didn’t like that.
“I think we should run,” said Pavel. He started down the alley to the street. He pushed
Ivanoviska ahead of him.
The air turned black. Pavel didn’t pause. He wondered if he should leave Ivanoviska
behind as he tried to reach the safety of the street. He should have asked his wife to
meet them at the murder scene.
The wind grabbed Pavel and Ivanoviska and pulled them to the spot where it became
a point. He heard a bell in the air. Something was on the other side of the gate making
that noise. The whistling was the sound of the air moving.
The sensation of falling gripped Pavel. He was off-balance and unsure which way he
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.was moving. He tucked himself into a ball and waited for impact. He crashed down
into something solid, bounced and hit the ground. He winced at the pain shooting up
his side from the impact.
“Pavel?,” shouted Ivanoviska. He sounded close by. “Pavel Konstantin? Can you hear
me?”
Pavel took a moment to catch his breath. He checked himself with his hands. He
didn’t feel any broken bones, or open wounds. He might have some bruises when
things were done.
That was better than being dead in his opinion.
“I’m all right,” shouted Pavel. He got to his feet. “I don’t see you.”
“Hold on,” said Ivanoviska. “You may hear some shouting. Ignore it.”
Pavel frowned as something hit the shield on his brain. He looked around. He saw a
glimmer of light floating in the air. He could almost make out a face. It flew off to his
right.
Someone screaming in the background woke him up enough to follow the light
through the weirdly crooked streets of yellow amber. Buildings rose on all sides, but
they looked like they were made of food. He exhaled as he saw the glimmer disappear
into the hijacked man buried in what looked like honey. The man fell silent when he
saw the clerk approaching on the street.
“Can you get me out of this, Pavel?,” asked Ivanoviska. “I tried to bring you here
with the body power, but I was rebuffed.”
“Naturally,” said Pavel. He doubted he could move the huge bulk of the stolen body
with his own. He didn’t have enough mass. He needed something he could use as a
lever.
“I am going to look around for something I can use to get you out of that,” said Pavel.
“Don’t go anywhere.”
“You are so funny,” said Ivanoviska.
Pavel looked around until he found a broken piece of wood. He took the limb back
to where Ivanoviska waited. He held the limb out to be grabbed.
Ivanoviska grabbed the end of the branch. He frowned at it. He shook his head. He
worked his hands up the length of the thing, tugging himself free slowly. He didn’t
want to pull his rescuer into the mess with him. He got to the edge of the pit and was
able to secure a grip on solid land. He pulled himself out of the morass.
“Drowning in honey is not the way I wanted to go,” said Ivanoviska.
“I can understand that,” said Pavel. He looked around. “This reminds me of some of
the old stories we used to hear about the Alvas.”
“Like what?,” said Ivanoviska. He looked down at the honey coating his boots and
the lower legs of his trousers. He shook his head. He wasn’t wiping that off with his
hands.
“How they had places between the real world they could use as their own personal
kingdoms,” said Pavel. “They supposedly use it for their architecture.”
“So this could be a big room?,” said Ivanoviska. He spread his arms wide to
encompass the entire space they stood in.
“In a tiny cottage,” said Pavel. “We should look for an exit before we get into any
more trouble.”
He didn’t mention that the evidence looked like an Alvas had killed Ivanoviska for
some reason they didn’t know yet. And he didn’t want to meet such an Alvas on its
home ground.
“What about the rest of me?,” asked Ivanoviska. He shook his borrowed legs as he
followed Pavel through the recreation of a small town.
“I am pretty sure that it is buried somewhere in this place,” said Pavel. “And I don’t
think you are getting it back.”
“So I am stuck as a ghost borrowing other people’s bodies?,” said Ivanoviska. “I
don’t like that at all.”
“If we run into your murderer, I think you will like that even less,” said Pavel. He
paused to check out the false storefront in front of him before moving on.
“You think an Alvas killed me, don’t you?,” said the spirit.
“I would be surprised if that was not the case,” said Pavel. “I don’t see any way out
of here.”
“We fell out of the sky,” said Ivanoviska. He pointed up at the black sky. “Maybe our
exit is up there.”
“Neither of us can fly,” said Pavel. He shook his head. “You can fly. Go get help.”
“Where would I get help from?,” said Ivanoviska. “And what would you do to this
body to keep it under control while I was gone?”
“I don’t know,” said Pavel. “On the other hand, if the owner of this space doesn’t like
us, we can both be in hot water.”
“I would rather take my chances instead of dealing with your wife,” said Ivanoviska.
“She’s practically harmless,” said Pavel. He kept walking along the street. He didn’t
see any exit from the space. It led him to believe they would have to talk to the owner
first.
“How long have you been married, Pavel,” said Ivanoviska. He tried a door and found
the thing wasn’t a door, but a wall with a knob sticking out of it.
“A few years,” said Pavel. He paused to look at his companion. “Why?”
“I think you have a biased opinion of your wife that doesn’t match reality,” said
Ivanoviska.
“Are we getting on the witch horse again?,” asked Pavel. “I will punch you in the face
again.”
“We both know this is true, and more importantly, we need it to be true if we want to
get out of this with our skins,” said Ivanoviska. “I think something is in here with us.
I don’t like what that could mean for either one of us.”
“I’m thinking the same thing,” said Pavel. “And I don’t like how everything is made
out of candy.”
“I hadn’t noticed but you’re right,” said the spirit. “Everything does look it has been
made of sweets. I wonder why.”
“I think we are about to find out,” said Pavel. “There’s something coming at us. Get
ready to fight.”
“I’m always ready,” said Ivanoviska. “Let’s see what this fiend looks like.”
A throne of red wires marched toward the two men on legs made of ovoids joined
together by amber blocks. A woman with red hair sat on the throne in a dress that
revealed more than it hid. She smiled as she raised her interlaced hands to her chin.
“I think I am in love,” said Ivanoviska. “She is beautiful.”
Pavel punched him in the face. He staggered back from the blow.
“What was that for?,” asked Ivanoviska. He rubbed the sore spot with his hand.
“This is your murderer, idiot,” said Pavel. He waved a hand at the pale woman. She
smiled back. “Don’t fall in love with your murderer, monkey brain.”
“I’m sure it was a misunderstanding,” said Ivanoviska.
“Shut up,” said Pavel. “This is so much trouble. My wife is going to kill me, and then
you. Get ready to run.”
“I thought we were going to fight,” said Ivanoviska.
“I think it would be better if we ran,” said Pavel. He waved at the woman. “Hello,
how are you today?”
“I think I am doing a lot better than you two,” said the woman. She waved one of her
hands. Amber flowed out of the street into yellow dogs. They growled at the two.
“It was a pleasure meeting you. Goodbye,” said Pavel. He ran for the closest alley.
Ivanoviska stared after him. He looked at the dogs advancing on him. He turned and
ran too.