Beyond the Stone, page 1
Jamieson Wolf
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to any events, institutions, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional.
BEYOND THE STONE ©2021 by Jamieson Wolf. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact Renaissance Press. First edition.
Cover art and design by Nathan Frechette. Interior design by Jenna Low. Edited by Meaghan Côté, Evan McKinley, Jade Crevier, Myryam Ladouceur, and Jenna Low.
Legal deposit, Library and Archives Canada, October 2021.
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-990086-04-5
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-990086-13-7
Renaissance Press - pressesrenaissancepress.ca
Printed in Gatineau
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Beyond the Stone
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Acknowledgements
About the Author
For Michael, who is magic
Part One
Chapter One
Asher stared at the computer and tried not to swear out loud.
“Fuck.”
Well, you couldn’t be successful at everything you attempted, he thought.
The email was flashing on his screen. He clicked it open and waited for the words to appear. When they did, he swore again. “Shit fuckers.” He rubbed his face with his hands.
“Would you mind keeping it down, Bane?” a voice said next to him. “Some of us would like to work without the benefit of profanities.”
Madison Lemar peeked up at him over her half-cubicle wall. Her luscious red hair made the grey walls of the cubicle look cheerful. She gave him a small smile. “What’s got your panties in a knot?” she asked.
Her name tag wasn’t visible, but he knew it carried the symbol of a crystal ball. He knew that Madison was only asking as not to appear to know more than she should. She was just asking him to be nice.
“Fucking pop-up meeting,” he said.
“So? What’s so horrible about that?” Standing, Madison shook out her long hair and smiled at him. “Even if what they’re saying is boring, there is always lots of mind candy to listen to.” She gave him a wicked smile.
“Yeah, for you, maybe. Not for me. No, I get to sit there and try not to look like an idiot if I’m called upon to report.”
She almost purred at him. “Asher Bane, are you afraid of public speaking? Since when is a Rook afraid of anything?”
He bristled and felt the stone markings start to slide across his skin. She must have felt the change in him, too, because she tried to look concerned rather than all-knowing.
“Just because I’m a Rook doesn’t mean I like being fucking brave. Everyone always expects that of me, but is it so wrong that sometimes I just want to sit with a good cup of mist wine and get sloshed?”
She shrugged. “Don’t look at me like that, Bane. It’s not my fault you’re a Rook. Your power is also unknown, aside from your shapeshifting ability, that is.”
“You could tell me what it is. You’re the fucking Seer.”
Madison shook her head. “No, I couldn’t,” she said. “When I try to look, I don’t see anything. Only smoke and shadows.”
“Fucking Seer. What good are you?” he spat.
“Bane, when was the last time you got laid? If you ask me, you could do with a good fuck.”
“Why don’t you tell me, since you already know?”
Her eyes narrowed. There was a beat of silence and he could feel her in his head. “Gods, Bane, two years? What’s the matter? You haven’t met anyone that tickles your fancy? I know that Claude would love to take you for a rough and tumble.”
He shook his head and couldn’t hide the grimace. “Fucking Dryad. He’d go on and on about saving the earth and all that. There’s not that much left to save, anyways,” he sneered. “He’d probably ask me to eat granola or some shit like that.”
Madison shrugged. “Probably. Plus, he’s got a small dick. It would be a waste of your time.”
“How do you know?”
She pointed a finger at her name tag and clicked a red fingernail at the crystal ball that was beside her name.
“Right. Seer.” He thought about it for a second. “Wait, you only see things people think, right? So how do you know the size of Claude’s dick?”
Madison let out a little laugh. “For a confident man, he sure spends a lot of time thinking about his junk,” she said.
***
Mr. Edwards looked like he needed something shoved up his ass.
This was, of course, just Asher’s opinion.
He stood in front of the room like a limp rag left out to dry too long in the sun. Even his voice was devoid of any colour or intonation. To top it off, his complexion resembled that of a limp noodle, all sweaty and pale from the water. His voice sounded like a small child’s whine and he had just the one setting.
In Bane’s opinion, shoving something up Mr. Edwards’s ass would be an improvement. He wasn’t sure how it would improve him, only that Mr. Edwards needed some excitement in his life before he faded away into nothingness. It was too bad that Bane couldn’t find anyone to excite Mr. Edwards. He thought about it for a moment. Bane wondered if Claude was into limp dicks.
“As you can see from the projections of numbers on the board, it’s imperative that we do everything we can to curb spending by keeping in mind that we are using government funding to achieve our means.”
Bane sighed inwardly. Edwards always said a lot without saying anything. He constantly talked without pausing, sounding like a never-ending nasal drone. He didn’t know why they had to come to these meetings anyway. Edwards was as likely to say something intelligent as it was the Clocktower sector stopping all at once.
Looking at the lightning bolt that was embroidered on the collar of his shirt, Bane shook his head. It was hard to believe that Edwards was capable of using the power of electricity in order to fuel the city’s power. Bane wondered if that’s why Edwards looked so tired all the time. Fucking turd.
“I’m sorry? Asher, did you have something to say to the rest of us that is important on the subject of budgets and overspending that we are all guilty of?”
Bane looked at Edwards and shrugged. “No.”
“Are you sure? I didn’t understand what you just said and thought that you had something you wanted to share with the rest of us that was important for what we are talking about here.”
Looking around at everyone, he saw they were all smiling and trying to hold in laughter. Darcy, a tall thin guy with dark wavy hair and pale skin that looked like death’s cousin, had actually stuffed his hair in his mouth to muffle the sound. Lucille, a petite blonde that always looked as if she had smelled something horrible, was now sporting a face as if she had smelled the most horrible thing known to mankind and was trying not to cry about it. Claude was looking at him with wide eyes and a grin that made him look as if he had shit himself. Madison had a hand over her mouth and her eyes were full of mirth.
Something funny was going on here, only they didn’t seem to be laughing at him. Had he uttered the words “fucking turd” out loud? “Shit?” Bane said. He could think of nothing else to say about the current situation that he found himself in.
“Yes, Asher, this certainly is a shitty situation. Thank you for agreeing with me. It’s nice to see you being a participant for once in conversations as I know you like to work alone and would prefer to be one-on-one but thank you for taking up the cause.”
Fuck, did he have to say everything in one long breath like that? It made his whining voice even more unbearable. “What cause would that be?” Bane asked.
“Why, the board of governors to establish better spending habits of course, You will also be responsible for the task force that will take out the leaders of the black market that are throwing our world into further decline as if such a thing were possible.” Edwards took a breath. “Thank you for volunteering.” Edwards actually gave him a wet noodle limp dick smile.
“Fuck,” Bane said.
***
Bane went to his desk and took out his work manual. He didn’t know why he bothered to keep it, only that it was like a talisman of sorts. He would often pick it up and rub his hands along the cover.
He looked at the title:
HOW TO PROTECT MORTALS
Bane let out a sigh. He didn’t know how much protection he actually did, if any. Was the title someone’s idea of a sick joke? When he had started working for the government, he had pictured himself saving mortals every day, flying through the air, a burning building behind him, a sexy mortal man hanging tightly to him and the soundtrack to Mission Impossible playing.
The reality was he was a paper pusher. He attended fucking budget meetings, info fairs, consultations about pamphlets, and other promo material. He wasn’t saving anyone and, least of all, himself.
Placing his manual back on his desk, Bane put his head in his hands and took a deep breath. “Fuck fuck fuckety fuck,” he said, letting the breath out.
“Honey, don’t you know any other swear words?” Madison asked, from the other side of the cubicle.
“Sure I do, but it would make you blush to hear them,” Bane said.
There was a moment of silence and Bane felt that tickle in his head, letting him know that she was inside his mind once more. He thought the dirtiest swear word he could and sent it out to her. Bane heard her gasp and then erupt in laughter. She stood and looked at him over the top of the half-cubicle wall. There were tears already sliding down her face and she was still laughing, her face a mask of merriment.
“Oh my goodness, you filthy asshole! I wouldn’t have even been able to think that word, much less say it!”
He shrugged. “Hey, what can I say? I’m a gentleman full of charm.”
“Bane, you may have charm, but no gentleman would know that word.” She pursed her lips. “Still, good one. So, what are you going to do about your task force? Are you going to assemble a team to go deep into the black market trading zones of the Clocktower?”
“I have no fucking idea,” Bane said. “Having never assembled a fucking team before. I’m a paper pusher, remember?”
“Hmmm.” Madison tapped her bottom lip with a fingernail painted in the same colour. “Well, there must be someone who knows how to set one up. You could talk to Claude; he did head up that one team last year that did that raid on several mortal homes.”
“He of the very small junk?” Bane asked. “No thanks, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about the size of his cock. And he probably sweats coconut water or some shit like that.”
“Now, that’s a gross overgeneralization,” Madison said, smacking his arm.
“A true one.”
“Yes, but nevertheless. I am trying to help you here, you know,” she said, almost purring.
“Why?” Bane said. “Why would you fucking want to help me?”
“You mean that?” She concentrated and dipped inside his head. “Goodness, you do, you’re actually wondering why I would bother to help you.” She let out a soft sigh. “You know, Bane, we’ve worked together for over ten years. We’ve seen a lot; we’ve been through a lot.”
“Not the least of which was Terrance’s toupee, remember that?” Bane said, chuckling.
Madison gave him a small smile. “I do. But let me finish.” She smacked his arm again. “I’ve seen you through thick and thin, through many different promotions and successes. I would have thought that by this time, we were friends.”
She let that sit there and it was as if that one word was sitting in front of them. Madison had presented it and he only had to grab hold of it. Instead, he only looked at the metallic letters until they faded away.
He saw her hurt face and said quickly, “We are friends. We are. You’re like my only friend.”
Madison sighed and went to turn away from him. Before she did, she said, “You know, you’d have an easier time getting laid if you didn’t push people away. And buy something colourful, for goodness’ sake! You’re not a goth and this is 2094, not 1994.”
Chapter Two
Bane left the office around five o’clock each day.
Every day, he promised himself that he would leave earlier. He went in at seven in the morning so that he could leave at three. It never worked out that way. Bane was always called into a meeting or a focus group or, like today, a fucking budget meeting. He never left on time. Yet he knew for a fact that Claude did nothing all day and watched pornography in his cubicle. He got off on mortals doing each other, the sick fuck.
Letting out a sigh, Bane left the building. It was dark when he arrived and dark when he left. Granted, the sky was dark most times now, with maybe an hour or two when you could see the sunlight. Otherwise, there was just too much magic going on to see clearly.
People never stopped to think of the simple theories of magic. The first one being that for every action, there was an opposite and equal reaction. Maybe that wasn’t magic but fucking Newton, but the theory was sound. For every spell cast, for every electric charge put out there into the wires, there was a reaction from the world around them.
It had been so subtle at first, it was almost romantic, like a fucking fog. People wandered around the Clocktower pretending they were on the streets of Paris for the first little while. Then the fog became thicker. After the sky started growing dark, bedlam broke out but there wasn’t anything that anyone could do at that point.
Bane walked by a couple of mortals doing dragon dust. They were already hopped up on it. The drug made you think you were a dragon, and you flew around and breathed fire and other stupid shit. At least, that was what you thought you were doing. What you were really doing was leaping off buildings and hitting the ground, only learning at the last moment that your wings didn’t fucking work. He had seen it time and time again.
“Hey man!” One of them, a wiry skeleton of a fuckwit yelled out. “I’m a fucking dragon! Did you know I can breathe fire?!”
Bane looked at him and tried to look intimidating, but he just didn’t have the energy to waste on someone too trashed to remember any part of this conversation the next day. “Of course you can! Have you tried farting it out of your ass? Only real dragons can do that!”
“Oh yeah? I am a real dragon!” He started trying to fart on his friend who started making loud dragon-like noises of protest.
Bane chuckled and mumbled, “Fucking douchebags,” and walked onward. He walked for another ten minutes, the area and surroundings getting increasingly rundown and dilapidated. There were a couple of burned up cars that were sitting like guards on the road in front of an old stone building. Bane didn’t know what the building had once been, but now it stood like a huge hulk of a thing, taking up an entire city block. The windows had been shattered and covered over with planks of wood. Glass still littered the ground, all these years later, and it glittered like diamonds on the pavement.
Bane could hear loud music, the softer sound of people speaking, and the occasional rumble of laughter. Taking his time, he walked to the front of the building and climbed the stone steps. Then he knocked on the door. The sound reverberated and the music and talking quieted, then stopped entirely. As Bane waited, he heard the locks clacking and clicking behind the door and he knew that the door was being opened by Hernando, a magician that Myko employed.
The doors seemed to hiss open and there stood Myko. Tonight, he was wearing tight white jeans and a crop top that he had bedazzled with real diamond gems. His hair was slicked back and dyed white. He looked like a gay pompadour.
“Where’d you get all the rhinestones?” Bane asked. “Did you fuck a drag queen?”
Myko scoffed. “Well, fuck you very much. I fucked up a drag queen to get these beauties.” He ran his hands over his top.
“You look like a freak,” Bane said.
“You’re just jelly. Did you want to come in? Or are you going to stand there in the half-light, looking all mysterious and shit?”
“I’ll come in, thanks.” Bane slipped past him and Myko closed the door.
The sounds of people talking and the soft music with a good beat immediately resumed. Bane saw people moving around on the dance floor, the lights flashing upon them making them look as if they were part of some sort of stop-motion animation movie. Other people were at a bar that was lit with bright white-and-purple lights. A few people he saw were walking into the shadowy parts of the building and Bane knew that this was where the real magic happened.
