26 March 1686 of the 6th Era, Smith Road, West District

  Antony put down his empty cup and leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. Charlotte opposite him, on the contrary, was leaning back with her eyes closed, seemingly lost in thought.

  “What is your stance on breaking the law in the name of truth?” He asked suddenly.

  “Depends on the severity and how much I want to know the truth. What is your proposal, Mr Levy? Hopefully not steal a scroll with an exceptionally powerful spell that allows one to travel to the past?”

  “Nothing like that, no, just break into the Welz’s house,” he said in a very mundane, matter-of-fact voice. “The spell would be of my own making.”

  “This sounds more and more intriguing with every passing moment,” Charlotte finally admitted, opening her eyes and observing him. It looked like Antony was still unable to reach a final decision, or, perhaps, was already regretting the fact that he said something. “You don’t have to force yourself, you know? I can pretend I didn’t hear anything and then pretend to be offended by the fact that you used my desire for the impossible as a pretext to invite me for dinner and then continued to drop the subject to simply have a conversation in private.”

  “If I didn’t want to force myself, I wouldn’t have said anything,” his shoulders visibly relaxed as he looked at her and continued, “I sincerely hope this will remain between the two of us. I am a time mage, Lady Dawntreader.”

  She tilted her head slightly, scrutinising his face and overall body language, “That’s…”

  “An extremely rare school of magic, yes, and one that always garners special attention from the authorities of the country you happen to reside in.”

  “I’ve only met one with power over time itself before,” Charlotte suddenly giggled, her face brightening at the memory. “He was a human that I taught some… A while ago. Tried cheating on an exam using that power of his.”

  “Did he succeed?”

  “No,” she grinned. “He tried to predict the future. See what questions he would have to answer during the exam and studied for those specifically. Only that… I guess he didn’t take into account the possibility that there could be more than one future, especially when he tinkered with the present in a way that basically led to a very different result, or that, generally speaking, no event is set in stone at all until it’s happened. Gods, the disappointment and confusion on his face and his subsequent confession were, I would say, almost endearing. At least he never tried to do it again. Or maybe finally learned to control his powers better, though I doubt it considering his grades.”

  “The future mostly isn’t set in stone,” Antony corrected her. “There are certain events that happen in all timelines, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try to change things.

  “What became of him, if you remember?”

  “He is probably no more now, unless the Source deemed his life worthy of being prolonged indefinitely. He dropped out of university in his last year. He was a bright kid. Very inquisitive, but writing a paper longer than a couple sentences was beyond him.

  “Last I heard of him, he landed a position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but,” she looked away, her gaze becoming sad, “I suspect he became part of the Secret Service.”

  “Not the worst that could happen to him,” Antony admitted. “Definitely better than becoming a test subject or being forced to manipulate time and space and end up doing something horrendously tragic.”

  “Were you…”

  “No, thankfully,” he quickly shook his head, laughing. “I might have done some stupid things here and there, and maybe a few that caused the very foundation of magic to rebel against me, but all of that were my own actions, and there is nothing that I truly regret. Nor do I regret being able to do what I can do. In my opinion, it’s a gift to be cherished and used to better the lives of others. It’s just that some friends of mine sometimes forget how tricky the spells I weave are and…”

  “And you end up helping Mr Placek with a thing or two, or twenty, and end up completely drained with barely a word of gratitude to show for it,” she guessed, and Antony nodded in return.

  “All the trouble I went through to aid him was worth it in the end I guess, though perhaps he would have agreed to meet you without me asking.”

  “He wouldn’t have been as helpful,” Charlotte firmly shook her head. “Then what do you regret?”

  “Huh?”

  “When you said there are things in the future that cannot be changed, for a moment, it felt like you were thinking of something very specific, not just any event.”

  “Can’t say I was. If anything, I regret it more that I cannot change the past. There are so many things I would have done differently. So many people I would have loved to save. My wife, for one. She perished in an accident hundreds of years ago,” he hurriedly added, seeing Charlotte’s rapidly changing expression. “Not that it hurts any less, but… I at least had some time to come to terms with it. As I said, I cannot do that. Or, rather, I can, but the price the world will have to pay is just too steep. The energy cost alone would be tremendous. And her surviving might drastically change the present and the future. For example, it might lead to someone neglecting safety measures, causing a citywide fire and hundreds of thousands of victims. Because of that, someone else might never be born. You, for example. I cannot control every single thread or make sure the worst possible future never comes to pass.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Bringing back a loved one only to find out that that action caused a chain of events that lead to the destruction of an entire city, or a nation… Is that really rational?”

  “Some people would say it is. Many people, even.”

  “I know,” his smile was bitter. “Now, coming back to the topic, there are a few things I want you to understand. While the spell can be invoked with a simple snap of the fingers, the underlying weave is incredibly delicate, and you need to precisely follow every single rule I give you. These are not guidelines, but a necessity for your survival and safe return to the present we are in.”

  “Alright. I think I can name the very first one already. Do not try to change a single thing.”

  “Precisely. You can look, but not touch anything. You shouldn’t use any spells, as those can leave traces, and we already know that none were found at the crime scene. We need to make sure we leave the place the exact same way it was,” he nodded. “Second rule that should not be broken under any circumstance… You cannot leave my side. And by that I mean, whatever happens, you’re not to let go of my hand.”

  “What happens if I do?”

  “Well… You might end up in the Third Era, or somewhere close to the beginning of the Fifth, if we’re lucky. I will be able to find you, but who knows how long it might take.”

  “Not Second or First?”

  “If that happens… You’d be lost,” he said grimly. “I cannot go there.”

  He stood up and walked towards the window, looking at the darkness that had finally descended on the city. Somewhere in the distance, he could see the faint lights of the gas lamps, barely illuminating the way for those who had to be out and about at this hour.

  “I should write down the name of this hotel to recommend it to some of my friends for whenever they come to visit,” he mused. “Quite the view.”

  “It’s also decently priced.”

  “That’s definitely a plus in my book. Now… There’s one more thing you should understand. My gift has its limits,” he adjusted his glasses. “I cannot freely wander around the timeline, or travel to whatever point I feel like travelling. The Second and First Eras, specifically, were completely wiped out from existence. Not sure what happened, obviously, but I suspect it was a spell of such magnitude that it distorted the very time and space itself.”

  “You’re… Not far off.”

  “What?”

  “I did tell you I have a bit of a special connection with the Lady of the Dead Moon,” Charlotte clasped her hands. “I know some things I shouldn’t, probably. I know why the Second Era came to an end, but I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t disclose the details.”

  “I’d rather you did just that,” Antony grinned. “I don’t exactly desire to learn things not meant for mortals. It never ends well. I’m just trying to warn you that there is a small chance the entire endeavour might fail, and it won’t be your or my fault. However, if that happens, we’ll at least know that the scale of the issue is much larger than might seem at first.”

  “Alright. So, don’t touch anything, preferably just stand still and observe. Don’t let go of your hand no matter what happens. Anything else I need to know?”

  “I… The murder took place at around 2:00 AM. Would going there at around 4:00 AM be fine?”

  “Are you afraid that if I see the murderer, I…”

  “Not that,” he shook his head. “We can change the past, Lady Dawntreader. I’d rather avoid the temptation. Don’t misunderstand, I know that you will follow my instructions. I might fail to follow them, and I dread to think what the results might be.”

  “That is reasonable,” she agreed. “Besides, what’s the fun in knowing who did it but not being able to accuse them because the method you used to get that information is, at best, questionable.”

  “I’m happy you see it my way.”

  “Now… What about that breaking the law bit?”

  “Oh, right,” he took out his pocket watch, glanced at the time, then closed it with a satisfying snap. “It is paramount that we start our little trip to the past in Lord Welz’s study. We won’t be able to stay in the past indefinitely, that’s another shortcoming of mine I am afraid, so let’s not waste those precious minutes on getting to our destination. That would be the third rule. Time is limited.

  “Lord Bradley is celebrating his birthday today, and his balls and banquettes tend to be especially exuberant. Doubt that Lord Welz’s children will want to miss it.”

  “And you just conveniently remembered that fact,” she propped her head with her hand, a rather mischievous smile appearing on her face. “Mr Levy, I have a lot of questions.”

  “Perhaps… I anticipated this, ever so slightly,” the reply came after about half a minute of silence. “It’s not like this is the first time I’m doing something like this, but I hope that this little confession also stays between us. Usually I work with Mr Placek and a few more people from the SIU. I’ve aided the Nightmare Poets in the past. Sometimes… Obviously, Lord Blackwater is also aware of my skills, and he has asked me to look into a number of things.”

  She sighed, but said nothing, deciding not to show if she approved or disapproved of his actions. She herself wasn’t quite sure what she felt about the matter.

  “You don’t happen to know a couple of spells that will get us there unnoticed, do you?” That barely sounded like a question.

  “Guess.”

  “Maybe there is something to Mr Placek’s suggestion,” she got up and joined him by the window, leaning on the window sill and gazing into the dark streets below. “Provided we don’t end up at each other’s throats before we even start in earnest. You’re quite stubborn from what I’ve seen so far. Also, don’t expect that bribing me with cake will work.”

  “It worked this time, didn’t it?” His face became red. “Let’s come back to this conversation after we’ve solved this case.”

  “We?”

  “What you said worries me, and I cannot shake the feeling that you’re right about it. If you are, I will be bashing myself till the next century for simply walking away.”

  “And Lord Blackwater?”

  “I’ll think of something to get him off my back,” her expression remained sceptical still, so he quietly continued, “I really want to help. If just by gathering information. You needn’t worry, I don’t intend to jump into a fight with some skilled swordsman, unless you don’t mind putting me back together from however many pieces I end up in.”

  She turned towards him, her eyes slightly narrowing as she observed him, but he simply continued to stand there, not averting his gaze or faltering under her silent scrutiny.

  “I’m not one to turn down help,” she finally uttered. “Just… If I tell you to stay out of it, will you?”

  “No.”

  “I thought as much,” she sighed. “Fine. But you’ve been warned.”

  “I will be waiting for you at the corner of Tamir Avenue at a quarter past eleven. That’s two blocks from here in the direction of the city centre, we passed it in the morning if you remember,” he walked over to the hanger to fetch his coat, hat, and walking cane.

  “I do,” she nodded. “Till then.”