Authors: Maer Wilson
“We do not know whether all of her visitors left voluntarily. It is believed that her mother would not have gone along with this. However, there is simply no way to tell at this time.
“The guard has been sent to protect all of you, but especially the Light Ones. I do not think she will attempt to harm them here in the palace, but she presents a danger that I feel you must be made aware of before we continue.”
He looked at us with those startling green eyes. “I will certainly understand if you choose to end your journey at this point. While I will take every precaution to safeguard your lives and ensure your safety, I cannot guarantee it, as I might have before.”
Belus spoke up first, “Obviously, we have already committed ourselves to the journey. To leave the Light Ones now, would be unacceptable. Aurelia, Sloane and I will continue with you.”
Reo, Thulu and I exchanged looks.
“With such a large group, surely we can protect ourselves. How many are in her group?” asked Reo.
“We simply do not know. If she has gathered more followers here on Phaete, they could, indeed pose a danger. We will have some added protection while we are on Phaete, but the guards who will see us safely to the portal will not continue through.
“We have contacted the other portal and so far she has not put in an appearance there. However, I fully expect that she will. I felt it best to apprise you of the situation in private, so you had some time to decide what you want to do. I need to tell the Light Ones immediately, so they can be on their guard. Please return to the other room, once you have made your decision.”
With that Dhavenbahtek strode to the door and left the room.
“We shall call for reinforcements,” said Belus. “I believe there will be elves who are willing to accompany us.”
Aela nodded. “And I will call in another contingent of warriors.”
Romeo and Juliet spoke quietly together. Thulu, Reo and I did the same.
I shrugged, “So what do you guys think?”
“If the elves bring in more people and the fairies bring in more people, then I think we’re safe. I sure as hell am not ready to go back home,” said Reo.
Thulu was quiet for a few moments, before turning to me. “What do you think, love? Should we chance it?”
Of course, the responsible thing would be to turn around and go home. Taking chances when one had a child was not responsible, but I ached to continue on. The wonders we’d seen already and the chance to set foot on non-human worlds was too tempting to give up. I nodded. “I think Reo’s right, and with the extra help we should be okay. And if things get dicey, we can always leave.”
Thulu pursed his lips in thought and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he opened them again and nodded. “Okay, for now, we continue.”
He looked at the others and spoke so they could hear. “We’ve decided to go along for now.”
Juliet nodded. “Yes, Romeo and I have also decided to continue the journey. What sort of chroniclers would we be, if we left at the first sign of trouble?” she said with an impish grin.
We all looked at each other, and I felt as if we’d made a pact. Aela said “Very well then, let’s go tell Dhavenbahtek.”
We all filed out of the room and back to the one across the hallway. When we came in, Dhavenbahtek was deep in conversation with Mihren and Barterian.
It didn’t take long for Mihren and Dhavenbahtek to inform the entire group. The Light Ones met the news with their usual non-reaction, but once again I sensed something under the surface. There was an alertness that hadn’t been there before, but I didn’t sense anxiety or even concern from them. Not that I was an accurate barometer.
Dhavenbahtek finished his conversation and came over to us. Thulu nodded and told him that we would be going along. Each member of the group confirmed that they would also be going. I got the feeling that Dhavenbahtek was pleased and saw a little bit of Jones’s human personality flash in his eyes for just a moment.
“I am glad that you will be continuing,” he said formally. He raised his voice so everyone in the three rooms could hear. “We shall be delayed for a short time while we wait for others to join us. More food and drink will be brought for you. Feel free to rest up, while you can. You will need the rest for the journey across Neva.”
That was the first time I heard the name of the Light Ones’ world. I wondered why they didn’t use the name more. But then who understood anything the angels did? Of all of the creatures and beings we’d met over the last month, they were certainly the most alien. I doubted I’d ever understand them, in spite of how fascinating they were. Their apparent lack of emotions made them oddities. Considering all the magical races we’d met, that was saying something.
Aela and Aurelia left, presumably to get the reinforcements they’d talked about. The rest of us made ourselves comfortable while we waited.
Aela returned first, with an entire flock of fairies. The tiny warriors spread throughout the rooms we were using. They dispersed too quickly for me to count, but I guessed there were two to three dozen, in addition to the ones already there.
Aurelia returned about an hour later, with eight more elves. In contrast to the fairies, the elves were around seven feet tall. A few seemed taller and there were two who were closer to Sloane’s six and a half feet. Most had golden hair, like Aurelia and Belus, but the two shorter ones were dark-haired, like Sloane.
As soon as they made their appearance, Dhavenbahtek asked everyone to get ready to move out. We shouldered our packs and he lost no time in opening a portal.
He turned to us and said, “We will proceed through this portal and hold on the other side until we can be sure that Neva is still uncompromised. The King sent extra guards to the Neva portal as soon as Satorah escaped. They report no activity, but we should be cautious during the transitions.”
In hindsight, someone should have seen the attack coming. We had seers, psychics, telepaths. Hell, we should have had common sense, too. But, of course, no one really expected Satorah to attack her own people. And the daemons didn’t count on the betrayal by some of the guards.
We were sitting ducks after we went through the portal, straight into the room that held the portal to Neva. Another gigantic room, similar to the other two portal rooms awaited us. It took several minutes to move the entire group in. Dhavenbahtek closed the portal behind us, and we began to drift toward the portal to Neva.
Part of the group had just reached the platform that held the portal when some of the guards attacked. The air filled with more daemons, led by a screaming Satorah. The sound of battle quickly became deafening, and the smell of blood and death hit my nostrils.
Dhavenbahtek yelled for us to go through the portal. He practically threw anyone close to him through the portal. We were still across the room and the attack had filled the space with too many people between the portal and us.
Daemon guards were fighting each other and Light Ones seemed uncertain who the good daemons were and who were the bad. I didn’t have any idea either. Everyone on our side was trying to get through the portal to what we assumed was safety. I wished I’d thought to pull my gun out.
One daemon started to grab Thulu, but was stopped by an arrow through the throat from another daemon’s bow. His body toppled heavily at our feet.
No way a human would survive a fight with a daemon. They were simply too strong for us. Our best bet was complete avoidance.
Thulu tried to maneuver us through. He held my hand so tightly, I thought he’d cut off my circulation, but I had no intention of saying so. We’d gotten separated from Reo and the others and were alone in our area with teeming giants bent on destroying each other. With so many large bodies around, it was tough to see much of anything. All the unfurled wings didn’t help matters any, either. I got hit in the face more than once by feathered wings, but we ducked as much as possible and scurried through, backpacks clutched tightly in one hand, free hands clasped even tighter for fear of losing each other.
Bodies on the floor began to block our movement as we tried to get to the portal. I didn’t look too closely, but I saw at least two Light Ones and several daemons. We tried to keep our heads down and not attract any attention as we inched our way to the platform that held the portal. Since the daemons were more intent on slaughtering angels, we were literally beneath their notice. We hoped.
I was thankful Thulu was with me. I was already confused as to where the platform was and terrified of the battle around us. But Thulu went unerringly toward the portal.
It took a while to make our way through the chaos, doing our best to avoid the slashes from swords and daggers. I could barely breathe from fear. A daemon appeared before us, his sword raised to strike down at us. Thulu moved closer to me, doing his best to shield us with his backpack. The blow never came, as the tip of a sword grew from the daemon’s chest. His body crashed to the floor, and we skirted it on our way forward once more. Our heavy backpacks caused some issues as we traveled across the room, but after that episode neither of us was willing to drop them.
The screams of the injured and dying tore at my heart, but we finally saw glimpses of the portal. The portal was still ours. Dhavenbahtek and a few guards were fighting off the other daemons, as they tried to pull people closer and shove them through the portal.
As we made it to the platform, Dhavenbahtek saw us and immediately moved to pull us forward. I took a quick look around the room and saw that most of the fighting was now between daemons. I saw no Light Ones standing and hoped most had gotten through. A few elves were moving toward the portal. I caught sight of wings in their midst and realized they were guarding a Light One child.
More daemons appeared, but whose side they were on, I had no idea. Since the number of people had greatly thinned out as they’d gone through the portal, visibility became much easier.
I heard an unearthly scream again as Satorah saw she had a clear path to Dhavenbahtek. She held a dagger in her hand and flew toward him. He held a sword so big I couldn’t have lifted it. Her hatred blazed through her eyes. Dhavenbahtek spared a moment to sweep Thulu and me through the portal. My last glimpse was Dhavenbahtek blocking the portal, just as Satorah reached him.
Thulu and I tumbled out onto hot sand, our heavy backpacks dragging us off balance. Hands quickly reached to help us up, and we were still sorting ourselves out when the group of elves came through with the Light One child. They fell through the portal, and we scrambled to get out of the way. The heat was incredible, and the light from the sun was weird, but I didn’t have time to do more than note it.
We waited for several long moments. At last, Dhavenbahtek came through, bloody sword in one hand. My relief at his appearance was short-lived.
Two things happened almost simultaneously that cause me to cry out.
I stared in horror as I saw the dagger protruding from his chest, just as the portal behind him flickered several times and disappeared. Yeah, that same portal that supposedly never closed.
We all were stunned as we looked in disbelief at the place the portal had occupied only moments before.
At the disappearance of the portal, all attention turned in our direction. Thulu and I shouldered out of our backpacks and dropped them to the sand. We made our way over to Dhavenbahtek, and I was relieved to see he was still alive. Belus reached our group and saw the dagger in Dhavenbahtek’s chest, but before he could even say anything several elves, including Sloane, appeared at his side.
The healers quickly conferred, and one woman knelt beside Dhavenbahtek as the rest returned to our other injured. She carefully pulled the dagger out and immediately placed her hands over the wound, which had started pouring out dark red blood. It was only seconds before the blood flow slowed and the wound closed up. The healer left her hand there for a while longer, and I knew she was healing the damage that been done internally.
Dhavenbahtek’s skin was slick with sweat from the battle and his injury. He needed water. My heart sank as I remembered he’d said we couldn’t survive on the food here. In the heat of the battle, there hadn’t been time to gather the equipment and provisions he had so carefully arranged. I didn’t even remember seeing them near the portal. I hoped our situation was not as desperate as it seemed. If it was, this journey was going to be over for us a lot sooner than we had planned. And permanently.
Within a few moments Dhavenbahtek sat up, blood drying in the hot desert sun. The sand was red. The sun was red. As far as red planets went, I think this one outdid Mars.
I looked around to see who else had made it through as the others around Dhavenbahtek dispersed to see to the rest of the group. I was relieved to see that all of my friends were there.
Reo and Sloane were attending an angel with what looked like a broken wing. Stuart sat cradling an arm, patiently waiting for a healer. Aela appeared unhurt, as did Romeo and Juliet. Fairies flitted about, and I asked Aela if all of them had made it through. She said all the fairies and elves had made it through.
It looked like most of the Light Ones had made it through, too. I saw Belus making his way back through the people lying on the sand. I found Aurelia bent over another one of the wounded.
Reo had joined us by that point and had given Thulu and me hugs of relief.
I kept looking at the spot the portal had been. I frowned and looked at Dhavenbahtek.
“I’m sorry. I would’ve grabbed some of the supplies if I’d known where they were.”
Dhavenbahtek smiled, which was a bit annoying under the circumstances.
“Do not concern yourself about that, La Fi,” he said. “Everything was brought through earlier today. I did not wish to take the time while we had the Light Ones with us.”
He pointed, and I saw nothing but tall angels. I moved to get a better look and blew out a heavy sigh of relief. A short distance away I saw four Jeeps and two Hummers, with roof containers. It looked like that part of the situation was not a problem. I looked back at Jones.
“How did you manage to get all that here?”
“I had the human acolytes move it from Earth to Phaete and transfer it here.”
“You know, Jones, I’m really glad you’re not dead,” I said.
Dhavenbahtek gave a very human sounding laugh as he answered, “Yes, La Fi, I too, am really glad I am not dead.”
“Did you kill Satorah back?” I asked, indelicately. The others looked at me and Reo rolled his eyes. “Oh, please, the question had to be asked,” I said firmly. After what she had done to the children and the ambush at the portal, I wasn’t exactly feeling very warm and fuzzy about her.
Dhavenbahtek looked at me for a long moment, before replying. “Yes, I believe so.” His voice held an emotion that I couldn’t quite identify. Somewhere between regret and relief, if I had to guess.
“So, you aren’t sure?” I took another glance at the missing portal area.
He looked off into the distance. “I am sure,” he said finally. “Unless, of course, she can grow a new head.”
Yeah, I guess he was sure, after all.
I didn’t feel the least bit bad about her death as I stared at the place where the portal to home had been.
Thulu spoke up with the question we should have been asking. “So, exactly how do we get back home again?”
“Yes, well, we are going to have to discuss that,” replied Dhavenbahtek.
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Thulu. It wasn’t like we were never going home. After all, there were elves here and they were quite capable of getting us back. It was just a matter of asking them to open a portal, so we could return. I said as much with a hopeful look at Belus, who had rejoined us.
He shook his head. “We cannot open new portals at this time. Two of the elves did not make it through. They will return to Avalon and get the word out that the portal has collapsed.”
Assuming, of course, that they were still alive. I thought their chances were good, considering the respect shown the elves by the daemons. I looked at Dhavenbahtek hopefully.
“I cannot open one from this world because of the spell the elves have on Neva. And even if there were no spell, I doubt I would be able to open a portal directly to Earth without my relics. Those, as you know, are back on Earth at this moment. I will need to find a route through several worlds and that will take some planning.
“We must get to the rest of the elves and hope that the spells they will be weaving will not take very long. Please, keep in mind that they are attempting to undo thousands of years of evolution. We may be here somewhat longer than we had originally anticipated.”
Lovely. Just lovely. I looked at Thulu with a frown. However, he didn’t seem to be as troubled as I would have thought. I looked over at Reo, and he looked positively unconcerned. My frown turned to a scowl and Reo smiled gently.
“It’s going to be okay, La Fi,” said Reo. “We’re alive. We lost some of our Light Ones and I feel for their families. But I don’t have a sense that this is a disaster for the expedition itself. Right now, I’m more anxious for those we lost or left behind. I want to get the injured on their feet. We need to return the Light Ones to the rest of their people. Then we can figure out what we need to do. I think we should proceed as originally planned.”
My tone was sharper than I intended, but I was worried, no matter what Reo said. “What concerns me, and apparently has escaped the rest of you, is that we no longer have communication to our own world available. There’s no way Parker, or any of the other dead, can come through a portal that no longer exists.”
Thulu and Reo looked suitably surprised.
Thulu spoke first. “Good point.”
“Well, we’ll just have to see if we can get an answer to that problem, too.” Reo said almost cheerfully. Right then, I could have cheerfully strangled him.
Mirhen came over to us and had obviously been injured and healed. His tunic was stained with blood around a large tear in the cloth.
Thulu turned to him and asked, “Have you done a head count of your people? Do we know if we left behind any who were alive?”
Mirhen shook his head. “We are missing four. I did not go through the portal, until I did a search. There were four dead. All were adults. Two of them had children with them and died protecting those children. The children were brought through, as well as all of our injured.”
“What happens to the children whose parent died?” I asked.
“One who has no child will take them in. There are many who cannot have children, so they will be cherished. Do not fear for them, La Fi.”
I was impressed that he had kept his presence of mind in that chaos. He seemed like a good choice to lead their small band.
I was interested in one other thing.
“Okay, so who the hell closed the portal? I thought it was impossible to close?”
Dhavenbahtek grew thoughtful. “I have no idea, but I am sure that my brother will do everything in his power to find out. And he is the most powerful of all of us. He will be looking to find a way to re-open the portal from his side. Word will travel to the other magical realms, and I am sure that a full investigation is already under way.”
“But what about the fighting? How many daemons did Satorah have on her side?”
Dhavenbahtek shrugged one shoulder. “That is irrelevant. She is now dead and any who followed her soon will be. Our people do not tolerate rebellion.”
I didn’t much care for the answer. I also didn’t like that our immediate way out was gone. Plus, I really hate it when the impossible happens. I mean, what’s the point of being impossible, if it’s not going stay impossible? I also wasn’t sure who would’ve closed the portal or why. Being in the dark and not knowing all the players, put the human contingent at a strong disadvantage. I was very worried that Thulu and I had made a grave mistake in coming on this trip.
Who was I kidding? I knew we had made a super colossal mistake. I was concerned that there was no way to let our family know what had happened. Parker would come through to Phaete and not have anyone who could speak to him. At least that I knew of.
“I have another question. Will any of your people be able to see and hear Parker?” I asked Dhavenbahtek.
“Oh, most assuredly. Most of us can see and hear your dead. He should have no problem finding out what happened.”
Well, that was a relief. I gave a sigh and looked around to see if there was anything that needed to be done. The elves had the injured under control. Far better than any help I could contribute.
I told Thulu I was going to wander over to the supplies and see if there was anything I could do to start getting us ready to move out. He nodded and told the others what we were going to do.
Dhavenbahtek agreed that we should start getting everyone together. He’d put together quite a haul, it looked like. There seemed to be plenty of water, food, tents and other equipment I didn’t bother to check out.
He had reverted back to his human form. I liked him better that way for some reason. He was more familiar to me as a human. It didn’t matter how stunning his daemon form was.
I was also sure that he’d arranged anything and everything he could think of. The man was brilliant at logistics and details. Hell, he was brilliant at everything I’d seen him do in the limited time we’d known him. That whole eight thousand years old thing gave one plenty of time to learn a lot.
As I headed off, I realized that I felt physically lighter. Jones confirmed that the gravity was a little bit less on Neva than it was on Earth. I decided I liked the feeling quite a lot. I took a couple of practice skips and liked those, too. It didn’t help lighten my heart, though. I felt trapped, which I was, and hoped it wouldn’t be too long before the elves succeeded in doing whatever massive cure it was they were doing, so we could get back home.
Thulu and I had once gone to Las Vegas for a few days in the summer. It had been a hundred and ten degrees. Neva was hotter than that and the sun was enervating, quickly draining the adrenaline rush I’d gotten during the battle.
It took some time to get everyone sorted out. The Light Ones would fly. As, of course, would the fairies. The rest of us would be spread out among the different vehicles. Since the vehicles were human products, it was decided that Thulu, Reo, Stuart, Jones and I would drive. Sloane was also tapped as a driver, with Belus as a backup.
I was glad all of the vehicles had tops because the sun was extremely hot. The air conditioning was nice, too. It looked to be early afternoon, if that strange red sun followed a path like our own sun. I wondered if their sun could cause harm and wandered off to find Sloane.
He was thoughtful for a few moments and said he’d get back to me. He went to Aurelia and they conferred briefly. Aurelia turned to me and motioned me over.
“I am not a scientist, as those on your world are. However, we can ensure the sun does no damage to you. May I touch you?”
I nodded and the tall golden elf woman laid her hand lightly on my arm. Her skin was cool, even in that heat and it felt good on my own overly hot skin. She closed her eyes, and I sensed her reach out to me, but not to my mind.
When she opened her eyes, I saw something had changed and realized she had probably done a complete body scan. That meant she knew I couldn’t have kids of my own.
She smiled sweetly, female to female, as she continued. She gently patted my arm and withdrew her hand. “I think we can combat any damage this sun could cause. It certainly is no worse than your own sun. We have a salve the humans can use on the exposed skin. Otherwise, there is nothing to be concerned about.”