Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 3, Portal Guardians (34 page)

We reached a huge arch cut into the rock, a large, thick wooden door made to cover it standing wide open.
 
We passed through and made our way inside the huge room beyond.
 
It had a really high ceiling, and the entire surface of the floor was covered in cages made of thick iron or other black metal, the bars of most of them as big around as toilet paper rolls and close enough together that no regular-sized fae could fit through.
 
There were some smaller cages interspersed in the mess, with smaller bars fitted closer together.
 
It was in one of these that we eventually found Tim.
 
His cage was sitting on top of the one holding most of our friends.

Spike and I made our way across the room, occasionally hiding behind a cage's occupant while a guard walked by.
 
Most of the caged beings were asleep - or maybe dead, it was hard to tell in this light - and none of them made a sound when we came by.
 
The ones who were awake watched us though, their heads moving slowly left to right as we passed by.
 
It was creepy, not knowing if they were supporting our efforts or waiting until the perfect moment to raise a ruckus and get us trapped too.

"She's here! She's here!" yelled Tim.
 
"I told you she'd come.
 
I taught her everything she knows!
 
My best student!"

I ignored Tim in favor of counting heads.
 
My eyes scanned the group of our friends who'd all stood to greet us, noticing right away that there were two people missing.
 
Samantha and Tony!
 
Oh no, not Tony!
 
I rushed up to the bars and grabbed onto them, pushing my face inside.
 
"Jared," I whispered.
 
"Where are the others?"

Jared came over, looking left and right to check for guards and said quickly, "Tony's in the Gray waiting to take us back.
 
Maléna took Samantha."

I wanted to growl and nearly did, but Jared grabbed my hand.
 
"They're coming!
 
Hide!"

Spike was already on the move, taking my hand and pulling me in between our friends' cage and another one nearby.
 
Jared, Finn, and Niles all went and stood in front of where we were crouched down, blocking the guards' view of us from the walkway.

I peeked between Jared's legs.
 
The orcs who each held clubs in their hands stopped in front of the cage, gesturing to the fae inside and grunting in their language.
 
After a few moments of what sounded like arguing, they moved on.
 
Jared dropped down on one knee along with Finn so they could talk to us without us having to move.
 
Niles stayed put, already at the perfect height to join the conversation.

"How'd you get in without getting caught?" asked Jared.

"We came in the front door," said Spike, flashing his pearly whites.

"Good move.
 
We got suckered into the easy way in and got busted not twenty feet inside."

That would have been us if I hadn't listened to Spike.
 
I reached out and gave him a fist bump for being awesome.

"How can we get you out of here?"
 
I asked.
 
"Where's the key?"

"We ain't seen it," said Finn.
 
"By the way, it's great to see you, girl.
 
I hope they don't catch you too.
 
I think we're gonna be the dragon's dinner in here."

"Not if I can help it you aren't."
 
I looked at Spike.
 
"What do you think?"

"I think we need to follow the guards and find out where they're keeping the keys, and then take them off their hands."
 
The red in his eyes swirled a little, blending a bit too perfectly with the red glow in the room.

"They all seem to be coming from that direction," said Niles in his gruff voice.
 
It was softer now than I remember it being before.
 
"I'd bet a box of tokens that they have some sort of quarters over there or a guard station, and that'll be where the keys are kept - easy access for all the guards but out of the sightline of the captives."

Jared nodded.
 
"I agree.
 
That's the most likely scenario."

Spike looked at me, putting his hand on my neck.
 
"You ready to do this?"

"Hell yes, I am."
 
I put my hand over Spike's for a moment before pulling it away from my neck and holding it down at my waist.
 
"Okay, we're going to head off in that direction.
 
If you guys could give us a few minutes and then maybe cause a bit of a fuss or something.
 
Make some noise.
 
Maybe that'll draw them away from their station or whatever and leave the keys out in the open."

"Good plan.
 
I can see not all of our training was wasted on you," said Niles.

I smiled at his backhanded compliment.
 
"What can I say?
 
Some
of the trainers at the compound knew what they were talking about."
 
I stood before he had time to noodle through the fact that it wasn't he who'd taught me this stuff, but Robin.
 
Jared's wink and Finn's snicker told me they'd figured it out, though, and my step was already lighter knowing I'd gotten one over on the crusty old dwarf.

Spike and I retraced the path of the guards who had recently passed by.
 
Some of the fae and demons in the cages made noises as we went by, but none of them the sounds that would alert the orcs that we were coming.
 
I tried not to make eye contact with any of them, but it was tough.
 
All of them were condemned to die as a dragon meal, and all I could think about was that giant pile of poo outside.
 
I did
not
want to go out of this realm in poo.
 
It was just too undignified, even for me.
 
I told myself after I got my friends out, I was going to let those beasts take the keys and free themselves, too.
 
Let the dragons catch their food like everyone else.
 
I deliberately ignored the fact that most of these dinners were probably evil creatures who deserved to be here and maybe even deserved to be meals for smelly serpents.
 
I was no judge and certainly no jury.
 
I'd let destiny and chance figure it all out for us.

The room wasn't as big as it seemed, most of the volume taken up by the very high ceiling.
 
In no time, we reached the edge of the room that had a doorway leading into another smaller room.
 
Spike and I stepped behind the last stack of cages, peering through the bars at the place where we thought the keys might be.
 
Spike motioned for us to get closer to the room, but I shook my head
no
.
 
There was nothing to hide behind, and it was too risky to stand out by the entrance to the room with no cover.
 
Guards could come out or in at any time, and we'd have nowhere to go.

A bunch of yelling and banging came from behind us, the distinct sound of redneck hoots and hollers telling me it was the distraction we'd asked for.
 
Four orcs came running out of the room, the last one pausing in the entrance to grab a heavy ring of keys that were hooked just inside the door.
 
He took off behind his cohorts, his leathery feet slapping on the stone, the sound fading as he got farther away.

I grabbed Spike's arm, and he nodded, showing he'd seen it too.

"What do we do now?" I asked.
 
"They took the damn keys with them!"

"Ambush," said Spike, sneaking out from behind the cage, jogging over as quietly as he could to the guards' room.
 
I was a few feet behind him, and then alone for a moment as he disappeared inside.

"Psst!"
came a whisper behind me.

I spun around, half expecting someone to be standing there ready to bite my head off at the shoulders.

"Elemental!
 
Over here!" came the voice, three cages down.

I warred with myself.
 
Part of me wanted to follow Spike,
needed
to follow him in there to save our friends.
 
But the other part of me wanted to know what Underworld creature was calling out to me in this place - one who knew who I was.

I crept over to the source of the voice, finding a demon standing alone in the cage.
 
Something about him looked familiar.
 
I stopped in front of him, eyeing him up and down.
 
"Do I know you?" I whispered.

"I am the demon who was once known to you as Spike.
 
I possessed his body and mind."

Suddenly, I remembered where I'd seen him before.
 
"Holy crap ... what are you doing here?
 
I thought you were in the Here and Now."

"I returned.
 
It is the natural Order of Things.
 
I want my opportunity to come back in the correct way."

I looked around the room.
 
"But why are you
here?"

"I was selected."

"Who does the selecting?
 
That doesn't seem fair."

"The guardian does.
 
We have no choice.
 
It is part of our penance."

"Do you mean the dragon chooses?
 
And what penance?
 
What did you do?"

"Yes, the dragons.
 
There are two of them.
 
And many of the demons in this realm were responsible for the uprising and the deceit that eventually led to the closing of the portals and the condemnation of the guardians to this realm.
 
It is only just that we pay the price."

"Yeah, but for how long?
 
I mean, that was like a thousand years ago."

"Much longer in this realm."

"Yeah.
 
A lot longer.
 
Isn't it time to be forgiven?"

"There is rarely forgiveness in the Underworld, and never from the guardians."

"Well, I'm going to get you out of here if I can.
 
What's your name?"
 
He could have taken all of Spike, even his soul, but he'd spared him because of Spike's love for me.
 
Shoot,
if it weren't for him, I probably never would have known Spike's true feelings for me, and I would have continued to blow him off forever, thinking he was just messing around with me.
 
This demon guy was like our fairy godmother or something.
 

"When I was fae, I was known as Lars."

"Well, then Lars, I'll see you soon, I hope.
 
No promises, but I'll try."

"Do as you wish and as you will.
 
I am ready to meet my fate as I have done many times in the last eon."

I was about to walk away but his last comment made me stop.
 
"What do you mean?
 
You keep being punished?"

"Of course."

"By being eaten?"

"That and other manner of punishments."

"How many times have you been eaten by a dragon?"

"I lost count at fifteen.
 
There was no point in keeping track anymore.
 
I appear to be one of their favorites."
 
He smiled without humor, and his sharp teeth only made it look more gruesome than it already was.

"Dude, you need to move to another part of the realm ... a different hood or whatever," I said, shaking my head at him.

"With the greatest trials come the greatest rewards.
 
I stay and suffer so that someday I might suffer in another realm."

"Wow.
 
Depressing."

"On the contrary.
 
To suffer is to live.
 
I cherish the idea of doing it with faekind once again."

"Whatever, dude.
 
I'm definitely coming back here to let you out.
 
You need an intervention or something."
 
I shook my head, walking away, wondering what had given this crazy demon the idea that suffering was what we needed to enjoy life.
 
Nuts
.

The sounds across the room had died down, so I raced over to the entrance of the guard room to join Spike before the orcs got back.
 
I stepped inside, seeing nothing much more than a couple tables, some chairs and another tunnel on the other side of the room.

"Spike?" I called out.

"Shhh!
 
Over here!"
 
His arm came out of the tunnel and waved me over.
 
I was going to join him when I heard sounds coming from out in the main room.
 
I had no time to join him without being seen, so I side-stepped and plastered my back against the wall, just inside the door.
 
I quickly grabbed my sword and pulled it from its holder, yanking Blackie from its sheath.

A deep breath in and out readied me for the massive clubbing and stabbing-fest I saw in my near future.
 
Spike was standing inside the next tunnel gesturing like crazy for me to come to him, but there was nothing I could do.
 
He didn't know they were coming and that they were almost there.
 
If I moved from my hiding place they'd see me for sure.
 
At least this way I had a split-second chance to take one or two of them out before they knew what hit them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE SOUND OF THE ORCS' footsteps came into the room.
 
I lifted Blackie up high and waited, the sword held lower and slightly pointed out.
 
I squeezed the grip of it over and over, the muscle in my forearm getting pumped and ready.