portal prophecies 01 - keepers destiny (15 page)

The young prince's face went white. “What did she look like?”

“Tall, thin, very pristine, hair always very neat, tied back in a bun, clothes always clean and proper. Nice features, some of the girls wished they had her cheek bones. She was pleasant to look at and well spoken. Is it her?” Sabrina asked, without hesitation.

“I don't know,” he answered leaving the room to find his brother.

Joseph had chosen a woman from the town named Martha, but hadn't gotten very far. He was about to slap the woman for the fourth time for not answering his questions, when Simon flung open the door asking to speak to him. After leaving the room, he listened to the story and read the names on the list, which was a little more extensive than he had expected.

“There are many worlds brother. I am sure there are many women by the same name as our long lost Aunt. The whole thing seems unlikely, don't you think?” Joseph asked.

“How so?” Simon asked.

“Guardians were creatures of great power. When they separated the worlds to their own taste and created their utopia, do you think they would have designed beaten up old wooden shacks for their keepers to live in? Our dungeons are better accommodations. Also, wouldn't there have been a guardian or two left to protect their homeland? No, I think this was a trial colony of some sort, an experiment. The size of the world itself was so small, one town, no bodies of water. Surely a powerful ancient race would have made a better home for itself.” Joseph motioned to one of his men to return the captives to the holding cells with the others.

“Wait!” Simon smiled. “The girl in the other room, have the maids bathe her and find her something...appealing to wear, then bring her to my room to wait for me. I do enjoy celebrations.”

Joseph laughed. “Let's find Lance.”

Lance was on the very lowest level of the dungeon when his two brothers found him. He had been standing in front of a special rock enclosure which was clear to see through and naturally blocked many special abilities. Inside was a woman with light strawberry coloured curly hair, shades paler than the girl he had seen in the forest earlier. They had similar facial features, perhaps related he thought. He hadn't been able to get the vision of the girl out of his mind. She was different some how, something about her intrigued him like no other girl had before. His thoughts were interrupted.

“Something wrong?” Joseph asked handing him the list of names that had been collected.

“No, just wondering how to get her to give up the other creature,” Lance lied while looking over the list.

“Why? The other one is immortal. We have eternity to torture it for its crimes,” Simon offered.

“It no longer responds. Look for yourself. I think it is broken beyond repair, as good as dead but trapped in life. It has given up and is useless to you now,” Lance responded.

Joseph entered the cell beside the woman his brother was watching and returned with a body of a black bird, motionless. One wing had been removed, all of its bones had been repeatedly broken. It had endured the worst forms of torture until it could endure no more.

“Immortal isn't always a blessing,” Joseph mused.

A loud noise came from down the hallway. Three girls, all dressed in black, their skin a pale olive green were heading their way.

“Do we have victory sisters?” Joseph asked.

“Victory...there was nothing to be victorious over. This was the first world we have seen with no intelligent life forms. At first we thought there were some humanoids but it ended up being just bunch of beasts, sharp teeth and claws...vicious yes...but usable, no. The land however, was perfect to assimilate into the new world once the barriers between space come down. We made sure any plant life would die off quickly and water sources would dry up fast. It won't be long before it is barren land that we can later transform into whatever we want,” Zoe responded. She was the impulsive one of the three princesses, quick to make decisions. “I thought those things couldn't die,” she added referring to the bird her brother was holding.

“They can't but it is broken, beyond help now. I just don't know what to do with it. Seems such a waste to use valuable space on it now,” Joseph answered.

Without a word Zoe grabbed the bird and rushed back up the staircase. Several minutes later she returned smiling.

“What did you do?” Lance asked.

“The doorway was still open to the world we were just in. I threw it in. Let the beasts play with it some before they expire and it's out of our hair. We can use that room for other things now,” she answered.

“I may be starting to understand why you are father's favourite Zoe,” Joseph said.

“Why don't you share the good news with the lady, Lance. I am sure it will jolt her some, maybe even anger her enough to let the other one out to play,” Simon said.

“Actually, I think I will have a chat with her and catch up to you later at the celebration.” Lance entered the stone room and closed the door behind him.

“Hello,” Lance said. He had never actually paid any attention to the women before. “Raven, isn't it?”

“I have no desire to speak with you,” she snapped.

“I have information for you, about your friend and...daughter,” Lance said.

Raven's eyes widened, “What has happened to the guardian? Return her to me and we can speak.”

“I am afraid I can't. The guardian gave up hope. The torture you let it endure on your behalf was too much for it to bare. The broken body was discarded moments ago.”

“You are a vile race, without any signs of morals or decency,” she yelled, spitting in the prince's face.

Lance took a cloth from his pocket and wiped his face. “It was your precious guardians who imposed their will on us. They took our lands, our property, our family and our right to grow away from us. They imprisoned us with walls created between worlds, designed to hold us back from our true potential. We are not the villains here we are the victims. If you are as civilized as you pretend then why weren't we consulted as to our future?”

“Your father was angry, furious, his sister was chosen by guardians to help in the restructuring and he was not. That is what you fight for, a man's jealousy,” she cried turning away.

“And you? What do you fight for? Your daughter? No, you left her...didn't you?” Lance was fishing for information, anything he could find out about the girl from the forest. Could she have escaped? Would he meet her again? His blood rushed through his body at the thought, blue flames blazing in his eyes.

“What are you looking for prince?” Raven asked as if reading his thoughts. Perhaps the clear rock wasn't as good an ability blocker as had been thought.

“Her name,” he answered honestly.

“I must disappoint you then. I have no daughter...If I did, her name would never cross your lips. That I would make sure,” Raven said.

“Your world was destroyed by necrid flames a few hours ago. Tell me did she have the talent to escape?”

“Nothing can escape necrid flames. Is that not true?”

Lance smiled, she had given him all the information he wanted. The look in her eyes told him the girl was her daughter, and her lack of concern meant she was alive somewhere. Their paths would cross again one day, and he looked forward to the confrontation it would bring.

Chapter Sixteen

Willow landed with a thud, banging her head on something on the ground. Years of being joined with several Leanders, the cat like race of ancient beings, meant she had picked up a few of their traits including night vision, stealth, agility and she had always landed on her feet, at least before now. There had been no choice but to leap head first through the portal as the necrid flames engulfed the forest around them and even less time to worry about how she would land on the other side or what she would find. Rubbing her head she realized she had hit it on the book she had asked Clairity not to lose, '
The Portal Prophecies.
' Without that book she never would have figured out how to escape in the first place. She looked up to see if the others were okay, but it wasn't a friend that greeted her.

A weapon, some form of a gun that she and Nathan had read about in one of the encyclopedias they had found, was pointed in her face. This day just wasn't going to end she thought to herself.

“Get up,” a male voice said.

Willow got to her feet. She staggered a bit, the bump on her head had made her dizzy. Looking at her captor she couldn't tell much other than he was a tall man. He wore a baseball cap that hid the features of his face from her.

“Turn around,” the man ordered.

Willow faced her back to the stranger, trying to search for signs of her friends who had come through the portal before her.

“Hi, I'm...”

The stranger cut her off, “Don't speak, we know about your kind and what you are looking for.”

“My kind? What kind?” she said.

“I said no speaking,” he repeated. “Now just walk over there and join the others you came with till we can figure out what you are doing here.”

“Might be easier to figure that out if I could talk.” she said under her breath, but loud enough that her captor could hear.

“Just shut up, okay? Don't get me mad,” he barked back.

“Okay, okay. Just saying, you can't know what we are doing here, if we are the only ones who know and you won't let us tell you.”

“Enough, I am not listening to your tricks,” he yelled.

'
Real winner this one is,'
Kiera said telepathically.

'
Can you see him, what he looks like?'
Willow asked in her mind.

'
No, we can do a lot of things but seeing through a jacket isn't one of them,'
Aslo answered.

'
Right, forgot I was still wearing it,'
she answered silently.

Ahead of her she could see the others now. They all seemed fine, at least for the moment. There were several men with guns keeping them in a line. She took the place beside her best friend, Clairity.

“Well this is much better,” Malarchy whispered.

“You could have stayed and fried in the flames, pretty sure I didn't twist your arm,” Willow whispered back. Malarchy and his daughter had little right to complain. They were right at the heart of the actions that led up to what had happened.

“Can you ever be quiet?” the stranger's voice asked.

A few of her friends in the group let out a little giggle forcing Willow to peek her head down the line and ask, “Really?”

“Hello, man with a gun here. Just shut up,” the stranger said, a strong sense of authority resonated in his voice.

“Yes, yes, scarey man with weapon. I am just a little confused. You...want us to stand here until what? You magically figure out how and why we are here?” Willow asked.

“You left out without speaking.” He added, “It's been a bad day. Don't test me.”

Willow chuckled. “Wanna compare notes?”

“Someone get some duct tape for her mouth please,” the stranger yelled to the other men.

One of the men ran to a truck. She recognized it from the pictures drawn in one of the books Nathan had shared with her. This world used them for transportation. She found the idea fascinating, to have so much space that they needed to use something to move them from one spot to another. It had to be huge or people would just walk. When the man returned, he was carrying something round and silver. He pulled part of it and it seemed to stretch, then rip. He placed it over her mouth. It stuck. Her mouth was stuck shut. She tried to move her lips but nothing '
mmmmmmmummm
' was the type of noise she could make. '
How rude,'
she thought.

Time seemed to go by slowly. Willow tried to complain a few times but her muffled sounds just made the stranger laugh. When she looked at the others to say something she ended up just sighing. It was clear none of them wanted to have the stuff put over their mouths. Of course she couldn't blame them for that. It was uncomfortable and irritating. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there before another truck pulled up and a man stepped out. Her captors seemed to have their own little meeting. Then the new man moved in front of her group.

“Who is in charge?” he asked.

No one moved or talked. The stranger moved to Willow's side, pushed her away from the others, then pulled the sticky stuff off her face in one swift motion.

“Owe!” Willow screamed. “That hurt, You really have some nerve. You can't just go around gluing people's mouths shut like that!”

“This one should have no problem answering questions,” he said.“We should talk here where the others can't hear.”

“Perhaps I don't want to answer your questions now!” Willow said crossing her arms across her chest.

“Oh, I think your need to speak will take over without problem,” he said with a chuckle.

“Enough!” The man who had just arrived raised his hand in a stop motion. On his arm he had a picture Willow had seen before.

“You are a portal guard?” she asked.

“My name is William and I am the one asking questions. Who might you be?”

“Willow,” she answered. “Are you all portal guards?”

“No, and I am asking questions, remember?” he said.

“Yes but seems strange if you are a portal guard and they aren't, why were they at the portal and you weren't?” she asked.

“It's a long story, but I need to know who you are and why you are here,” he said.

“Why should we trust you?” she answered. “You capture us, point weapons at us, refuse to listen to our story, put stuff over my mouth, then want to know everything.”

William was starting to get frustrated. “You recognized the symbol on my arm, and you seem to know what it means, that tells you what I am...”

She cut off his words. “And three of us have that same mark. Did anyone trust them? Or extend hospitality? I can answer that...No.”

William looked at the stranger, “Is that true Mike?”

“I didn't look,” he said. “They were all just sneaking around, so we rounded them up and waited for you.”

“The book might have been a give away.” She held up the large book she was still carrying titled '
The Portal Prophecies
'.