by Dan Raxor
CHAPTER 46
Earth - Montana
June 22nd 2023
I arrived in Montana to a warm summer’s breeze. The sound of children playing resulted in me swiveling to look at the bottom of the hill.
Where the upgrades for a riding field, a barn, and a training field were supposed to be… was an honest to goddess, renaissance fair. My jaw dropped in shock.
My entourage arrived behind me with weapons at the ready. “Sheathe your weapons, everyone,” I ordered.
A family walking a dog in cowboy outfits waved at us. I saw we blended in with the massive crowd down the hill and were probably mistaken as a random wandering group.
Giving them a wave back, I watched the fairgrounds some more. I saw hundreds of horses, tents, wagons, and… I thought I’d gone back in time for a minute.
“Oh no,” Ming blurted.
She had taken her phone and was reading texts. Instead of pestering her, I hurried inside.
The sound of feet running to keep up with me told me my guards were following. I bolted through the foyer to find Krissy cooking with some of the servants I’d left behind. I deviated left to immediately ask her what was going on.
“What they hell is going on?” I asked.
Krissy squealed, running into my arms in a massive hug. “Welcome home! And Lidia too. Oh thank the lord you're both alive. I was so worried. So. So. Worried.”
I pushed her out to arm’s length, fingers digging into her shoulders. “Focus, Krissy, what the hell is going on?”
“Oh, you mean all the people seeking refuge in Lornia?” she asked in a snide tone while pointing out the window. “Your friends spread the word you could take people off this planet that is fighting an invasion.”
“What?” Lidia said, greeting her friend with a hug. “What invasion?” It dawned on me. “Wait! Why would they want to leave? We should be winning.”
“Huh? We sort of are. And they want to leave because portals spawned and unleashed an endless tide of gray skinned monsters,” Krissy said.
I raced upstairs to get to a device to see the news.
I arrived in my room to see Susanna giving a tour. A jerk of my hand had me thumbing them out.
They could see I was furious and knew better than to prod me right now. With a deep exhale I let go of the spell I held this whole time in concern. I needed to think.
Arenia said I had months. Was Earth ahead by months? I just figured Lornia was like in Australia on the other planet and there were reverse weather patterns.
Leaving the thoughts behind, I jerked the tablet off the wall and it told me I had satellite internet. I flipped to the news and what I saw horrified me.
Goblins or something close to them were running to buildings and literally exploding in a green gory mess. Whatever they were filled with was corrosive. Half of Syracuse, New York had crumbled in a pitched battle.
Soldiers set up perimeters trying to contain the creatures. Armored trucks rested behind barricades with heavy weapon infantry. Live on the screen, a section of ten goblins raced for the defenders. Tracer fire knocked down nine out of ten gray-skinned, acidic beings.
That tenth one though, it ran into an apartment building and blew up, tearing a gaping hole into the structure.
The camera panned out to an ogre type creature the size of a small house. It stood atop a tall pile of rubble that the news identified as a former hospital. A line of aliens were walking up to the hulking brute.
It flung the explosive little gray gremlins at every standing structure. The craziest thing was the victims were smiling in line and even cheering as they flew to their demise.
I groaned when the news feed swapped to portals around empty farm fields of Ohio. Tanks sat idle with helicopters whirling around the outskirts of the armies’ formations. This was different. The dead littered the fields in the thousands and there was a quiet on the screen.
Whatever enemy general there was had decided to stick to cities where there was cover and abandoned these entries. I huffed, wishing there were more bodies sprawled in death.
Lidia arrived to view over my shoulder.
A quick glance showed everyone from Lornia waiting on me for news. I stuck the display onto the wall where it enlarged so they could see.
The feed flickered to life, occupying the wall, and causing gasps of shock.
“Your scrying spells are amazing here,” Siofra said.
I was about to quibble when I realized that assessment actually wasn’t too far off. The screen flipped to a section of Canada. An image showed the beleaguered military fighting a losing battle. Enemy shamans wearing tattered robes cast blue shields against small arms fire.
A giant monster that stood at least thirty feet tall leaped from a ten story rooftop, slamming into police cars. The police and soldiers tried to take down the big behemoth in their midst and failed. One by one they were squished, smashed, or thrown. The camera panned to another point on Earth.
There was another set of quiet fields with about a dozen portals spread out in a cluster area. Nothing moved with heavy defenses trapping those who exited with clear lines of sight.
“Mr. Berns,” a gruff voice said from my doorway.
I saw a man in jeans and a polo, his sunglasses on his head. He looked casual and yet, deadly. This was probably a CIA guy or something.
“I’m Darnel, with the Secret Service. I…” He paused, sticking up his hands defensively when my defenders repositioned. Good, they saw this Earthman as a threat. “I come in peace and merely need some answers.”
“So…” I said, moving to the front of my group. He pulled out his phone, likely starting to record. “This is the part where I extort you, you plead for our nation, and yada yada. Short answer, which is all I got. There are a bunch of planets bound together. More than two, and no I don’t know how many. These gray beings are classified as troll-kin and have portals created by a super shaman on their home. Colonization is their goal and you… you should have already defeated them.”
“Nothing else?” he asked into the recorder.
“They’re so numerous there are other planets being sieged too,” I said.
“Are the troll-kin as you call them from this Lornia?” he asked and I shook my head no. “Are they currently on Lornia?”
“Not in invasion numbers and not known. It’s not like here. Well more like medieval times. Information takes a while to move,” I said. “They could be around and we just don’t know it yet.”
“Can you win here or change the tide for us?” he asked and I shook my head.
“Based on what I saw, not a chance. The cities seem to be great cover,” I said with a sad shake of my head. “They seem to have intelligence, and this invasion is on an epic scale.”
He grunted with a nod. “They’re burying under the rubble and setting up homes. We cleared a few out but new ones show up and we lose too many troops to traps. What would you recommend?”
“Tall thick walls of stone with men atop them and as many arrows as you can get,” Nathanael said and the man nodded.
“They burn through simple walls,” he objected.
Nathanael and Siofra shook their heads. “Our walls are thick, and we use moat slime to deflect the -”
The recording was put in their face. “Moat slime? As in algae?”
“Moat slime,” Nathanael said with a shrug. “Green, stinky, and thick. It grows somewhat naturally on our walls.”
“Thank the heavens. That may win us the war. What can I do for you?” he asked.
“Did you bring all these people here?” I asked.
“Heavens no. They’re the family members of the teams who cured Alzheimer’s, developed the flu vaccine, and improved autism rates. Or deproved,” he said looking up in thought. I wanted to tell him that wasn’t a word when he continued. “Anyway. They led me to you, because yeah, a few thousand people flocking to a random spot in Montana raises flags, and surprise… here you are. I’ll let the suits know you were coope
rative and can’t help.”
“And these people?” I asked.
He shrugged, leaving the doorway to my room. When I saw my dad coming up the stairs I wasn’t surprised.
“Out, all of you,” I said, buzzing them out with shooing motions. I went to my bed, grabbing another tablet from my end table.
I sat at my eating table, waiting for my father. A few taps revealed that due to an act of god my accounts were frozen. Everyone’s banking was frozen. So much for buying horses.
A quick check showed I had emails from Yukio, about a thousand of them. Then a few ex-lovers, and even fellow students checked on me. I closed the device as my dad took the seat across from me.
“Wait, where’d Lidia go?” I said, seeing it was just us.
“Hi, T. She’s after your mom. So… Um… Hey, crazy times,” Dad said, resting his elbows on the table.
“Yeah, how’s the house?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Hanna is madder than a bull in a china shop. We took her from all her friends. Well, you remember what it was like to be sixteen.”
I folded my arms, leaning back in my chair. “Sure do. Look, sorry about the house. I’m sure the military will clean this up in no time.”
“You were gone for a month and a half,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “They’ve been here for weeks and… well, they’re winning in the cities.”
“And?”
“No ‘and’ to it, T. Just… have you seen those folks down there? At least a few thousand city slickers are playing at being cowboys. They’re all thinkin you’ll take em to a promised land,” Dad said, getting to the big issue.
I grunted before saying, “Let me guess. They’re all packing gold, gems, and rare metals?” He nodded. “Shoulda brought big horses.”
“They did. There are so many people complaining about having to shovel horse shit. Whoever monitored what you were taking or buying, paid attention.”
I scoffed. “Well that’s great, because I need to buy about five thousand big horses.”
He shook his head. “You can’t buy a draft horse right now even with most of the interior doing fine. It’s not just these folks. People realize there will be less gas going to pumps. Main sections of America are cut off from transportation. Electrical grids are failing. You know what relies on none of that besides grass and water. A horse.”
“How bad is it really? The news tends to blow things up,” I mentioned.
He sighed, running his hands through his hair. “We… We’re not built to fight a losing war of attrition. There is only so much fighting spirit in -”
“They’ll toughen up. Humanity will bleed off the weak and the strong will crush the spirit of these invaders. They have to. Dad, look. I… I… I don’t have any good news for you.
“I’m not going to save the day here. Also, those people out there are probably not getting a trip to Lornia,” I said and he frowned, tapping the table in frustration.
“Why would you not take them to Lornia?” His eyes squinted as they looked for my tells. The problem was I wasn’t his teenager lying about drinking booze or kissing girls.
“So let’s say I did take them to a realm where there is zero automation. Then what? No chance in hell a bunch of whiny entitled Americans can tough it out without causing problems. If they were rugged ranchers… sure.”
I paused, stealing a water bottle from my fridge and gulping it down.
“I understand that this is a hard thing to say but this is not a game. If they come to Lornia they will die in the snow, or get robbed with slit throats, or anger a lord and become a servant.”
He shook his head. “How have you done so well?”
I pointed to the ruby in my staff that he could see. “I’m your adventuring partner, Dad. Always will be. I’m not your young son anymore though. I had to prove my worth through trials of flame. I’ve taken lives, and quite a few of them.”
“T. Take these folks please. They have no hope here anymore. Even if these cities are reclaimed, they won’t be rebuilt right away. The country folk already are declining bank transfers to buy land and… there is infighting over disputes.
“Their fancy tower homes are gone and we’re all learning the hard way that cash means nothing to a farmer with a basement full of food and closet full of guns,” Dad said.
I snickered. “Damn straight.” While I was a free thinking voter, Dad was a big leftie. You could tell it hurt him to say those words. “I always said it shouldn’t be a crime to be prepared.”
“I don’t want to get into a gun debate, T. As you can see they are working in the rural areas and not slowing the tide enough in the cities,” he said with a huff.
“Yeah. In Lornia, I’m a badass, Dad. Grade A certified killer. Even I’d struggle to stop that. Then again, I’m not alone. Look. I need to prepare. Are you coming?” I asked.
He walked over to the closet that glowed dimly with the shine of a few charged gems. “Can you teach me?”
“To go to Lornia?”
He nodded and grumbled. “Ya, Dad. I guess I can.”
“Grab a ruby,” I said, retrieving a bin with a sparkling ruby in it. “Ensure it is connected to you in some way. Think of a super joyous occasion and connect that feeling to the -”
Poof. My father vanished.
Hmm...
He appeared a minute later gasping for breath and in a panic. “I was in some castle courtyard and there were archers everywhere.”
I furled my brows… Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. He went to where I left last. Nathanael had a full wagon crew and my fey were heading south to pick us up from the other exit point. The goddess’ words crashed over me as I connected the dots.
Neither she nor I could change the entry point. But my father or another ruby mage could.
“Wait here,” I told him.
I went to the gateway, realizing the dead troll warrior bodies were missing. Also missing was the bloodstains that should be here.
There was no use dwelling on the fact that the gateway had changed. I exited for Lornia and sure as rain on a stormy day, I arrived in Trimi.
I looked up to an archer. “Tell the eagle-fey to cancel the wagons and to not head south,” I said and the archer pointed to her chest. “Just see that it is done.” I waited.
Eventually a sergeant came out and the nervous archer breathed in relief when I said my orders again. I headed back to Earth and a minute later was standing by my father.
“Good news!” I said with a giant grin. “I can steal all their wealth and horses and help defend my kingdom.”
My father's eyes went wide.
“I told you, Father. I’m not the good guy who takes on charity cases that don’t deserve charity. This is your chance to return to Kansas and be the good guy,” I said.
He scoffed. “I raised you to be better than that.”
“I expected you to fight for your home, and you fled to mine,” I said with a leveled stare.
“I have Hanna, T. And we both know I’m not a fighter.”
“Dad, then what can you do in Lornia, it's all fighting. You’re not understanding your situation. You have to fight. Here or on Lornia,” I said earnestly.
“I’ll fight by ferrying people back and forth,” he replied.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll make you a deal. Every cent of gold, every gem, and every horse is given a fifty percent tax per family to Prince Trevor’s Treasury of Arenia Harbor. Every family gets taxed half,” I said and he grumbled. “The fair part is, if they have nothing, they’re taxed nothing. Trust me, the majority of them will be dead in a few months even if there weren't looming wars.”
“You want me to negotiate with the camp?” he asked.
“Yeah, you’re the one taking them. I’ll have some chickens set up at your exit point so you can kill them and recharge your stones,” I said.
He shook his head in confusion. “You’re not going to move them?”
I ignored his question. “Listen up,
Dad. Here is your crash course. Traveling burns energy from the stones. Go to Trimi and you’ll need to recharge them. You do that by killing living things.
“The magic you see dancing in these gems will hover over the dead. Ask it to go into the ruby, and it will. Easy, peasy. You’re going to arrive in a city controlled by Sir Nathanael called Trimi.
“Tell those you transport it will be considered neutral, not friendly. Anyone failing to pay my tax will be killed on sight,” I said, leaning on my staff with a smile.
“You… You’ve changed,” he said.
“Did you miss the part where they made me a noble of a ruthless fantasy realm?” I asked, smirking at him with a chuckle. “These aren’t desperate farmers seeking shelter. They’re boardroom executives leaving their homes instead of fighting for them.
“I get it. I’m leaving this home too. Still. Those arriving in a city I control indirectly is a burden. They’ll stir the society and will be a problem. Alternatively I could just say no and take your ruby away,” I said.
He shook his head no. “I’ll do it. They’ll be pissed, but the waiting is over and they finally have a hard choice to make. They won’t love you for this.”
“Who cares,” I said with a chuckle. “Honestly, I don’t need their wealth. I just need them to realize it's going to suck and that they’ll likely hate Lornia.”
There was a knock on my door. “Enter.”
Siofra strode in with a gaggle of people hounding for my attention. One of them was Yukio himself.
“Siofra, please prepare our party upstairs to be waiting for me. Include Krissy and the rest of the staff. No one is staying behind. I got one more meeting real quick,” I said to Siofra, who left. Susanna and Sir Nathanael flanked my sides. “You may go, Father. Spread the word. Oh, and grab a few rubies in case you get squeamish killing chickens.”
He frowned but did as I said.
Yukio stepped forward with some important looking folks who still wore business suits.
“Thank you for the samples,” Yukio said with a slight bow.
I returned the gesture. “Are you staying or going?”
“There is much work to do here. Those wishing to leave are the lower members of our order and their families. I ask that you try to keep them alive,” Yukio said politely.