Desolace Omnibus Edition

by Lucian Barnes

  "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" Katie frowned, studying his face.

  "I don't think so," he replied after giving himself a cursory examination.

  Offering a hand to him, Katie helped him to his feet. As they began to inspect the dimly lit room, dawn's first light seeped through the roiling clouds outside. It wasn't much, but it made their investigation a little easier. To one side of the nonexistent door, once used to bring deliveries inside, a dolly was lying on its side on the floor. One of its ancient, hard rubber wheels was missing, and the other was loaded with cobwebs, barely attached to the rusted frame. Scattered throughout the room, several crushed cardboard boxes with faded lettering on them littered the concrete floor. In one corner of the room, just barely visible, was a stack of old wooden milk crates. Strolling into the shadows, Katie grabbed a couple for them to sit on. As she picked them up, two large rats scurried out, one of which scampered across her foot and caused her to drop the crates with a scream. The rodents quickly disappeared out the door and into the rain.

  Bending down, Katie plucked the crates from the floor and carried them closer to the light filtering through the back entrance. She offered one to Mike, who placed it beneath himself and sat down. After a moment of thought, he held up a finger and rose. Walking to the darkened corner she had gotten the crates from, he grabbed a few more. Returning to where Katie stood, he began to break them apart.

  "Okay, I'm game. Why are you doing that?"

  "You'll see," he replied, grinning as he watched her eyebrows climb her forehead in confusion. Once Mike was satisfied that the crates were sufficiently demolished, he snatched up a cardboard box and cleared a space on the concrete with the sweep of a foot. As he started to arrange the scraps of wood in a pile, Katie understood what he meant to do. After constructing a small teepee out of the busted pieces, he shredded pieces of cardboard and tucked them neatly between the slivers of wood. Removing a disposable lighter from his pocket, he crossed his fingers. The first flick of its wheel yielded no results, not even a spark. Suddenly, Katie wished Edward was here. He'd have that fire roaring in no time.

  Grimly, Mike persistently tried to get the lighter to work. After flicking the wheel for nearly five minutes to no avail, he was about to give up. Without any warning whatsoever, a spark jumped to life. As Katie cheered, he carefully shielded the flame from the wind coming through the doorway and began lighting the pieces of cardboard. Flames swallowed the corrugated paper rapidly, forcing Mike to shred more boxes to keep the diminishing campfire going until the wood caught. A couple of minutes later, the scraps were burning well enough that he wasn't worried about them sputtering out. It wasn't until he was able to add more wood to it that he finally began to relax. Sitting down next to Katie, he sighed softly. For the next few minutes, they held their hands out to the flames, taking in its warmth in silence.

  Glancing toward her, Mike smiled contentedly. "So ... what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

  "Umm, I'm not sure how to start." Her voice cracked nervously.

  Reaching over, he took her hand in his and offered a reassuring smile. "There's no need to be nervous. I don't bite, honest."

  Katie's jitters eased slightly. "You'll probably think I'm crazy."

  "Well, of course you are. No sane person would jump into a fight where they were totally outnumbered to help a complete stranger."

  "There is that," she admitted, blushing. "But, seriously."

  "Just spit it out. I promise I won't haul you off to the loony bin, no matter what you say."

  "Okay, here goes nothing ... I need your help." Raising an eyebrow, Mike looked at her questioningly and motioned for her to continue. "I'm originally from Misty Hollows, Ohio. Recently, there was a serial killer in our area."

  "Was this person the one the media was calling the Headhunter?"

  "Possibly. When I left Ohio he hadn't been named yet, but that sounds like something people would call him," Katie admitted.

  "He left his victims grotesquely displayed without their heads, right?"

  "That certainly sounds like him. Anyway ... my friend Julie and I had been screwing around with an Ouija board and managed to contact one his victims.

  "I played with one of those once," Mike confessed. "It was a few years back, but it seemed like more of a party gag than anything else."

  "There was definitely real contact when we used it. Julie could vouch for it if she were here. Unfortunately, she is the reason that I need your help. The ghost we contacted showed us where her killer lived. When Julie peeked through his window, he saw her looking in and abducted her later that night."

  Mike frowned, one brow raised in disbelief. "A ghost showed you?"

  "Honest." Katie held up her fingers like a Girl Scout swearing an oath. "Promise you won't freak out on me?"

  "I can't guarantee anything, but I'll try."

  Katie glanced around as if she were looking for something. "Amber? Are you here?" For a heartbeat, there was no response, but then a shimmering, nearly transparent form floated through the open doorway and Mike's jaw seemed to unhinge. "I bet you believe me now," Katie said triumphantly.

  Seconds ticked by while Mike tried to find the ability to speak. "I—I believe you," he stammered.

  "Shit! I need to speed this up," Katie stated, realizing how quickly that daylight was approaching. "If the storm clouds break up, or it gets any lighter in here, I won't be able to see Amber." Katie could tell the weather was letting up and she was running out of time. The previous deluge of rain had slowed to a drizzle, almost as if someone had turned off a giant faucet. "If the idea of a ghost showing us where the killer lived sounded unbelievable to you until now, then what I am about to say will sound even more absurd."

  "At this point, I think all bets are off on what I'll believe and disbelieve," he remarked with a nervous half-laugh, still staring at the ghostly form.

  Sighing heavily, Katie smiled awkwardly. "What I am about to tell you started with a dream. In this vision, I was on a strange world, one that wasn't Earth. I met a man who called himself Edward the White. To make a long story short, he wanted my help. He told me that there was a way he could bring me to his world physically, with the aid of magic. When I woke up, I found out that Julie had gone missing. Immediately, I dreaded the worst. While I contemplated what I could do to help find her, Amber showed up and led me through a portal. When she insisted that Edward had opened it for me, I didn't believe it at first. I quickly changed my tune when I stepped through and ended up standing on another world."

  "Once I was through the portal," she continued, "I met back up with Edward, for real this time. He told me of how his town elders had charged him with a quest to rid his world of a growing darkness. He also informed me that someone else from Earth had appeared on his world, supposedly to aid these dark forces. I immediately thought of the killer, and how he had most likely brought Julie with him. Edward talked with me at great length about what we needed to do, and people he felt we would need to help us accomplish these goals. When he spoke of others that would need to join his quest, he mentioned a healer, a priest, and someone who could fight. I suppose you might call the latter a warrior."

  Pausing to meet his eyes, Katie tried to figure out if her story was registering in his brain. Suddenly his eyes seemed to shine, as if a giant light bulb had just been turned on in his head. "I suppose you are telling me all of this because you think I am the warrior he referred to?"

  "In a nutshell, yes. I believe it is why Amber led me to you."

  As he put the pieces together, Katie could almost see the gears in his mind turning furiously. "After hearing your story, am I correct in assuming that we need to find one of your portals to get back to this other world you mentioned?"

  "Hopefully, the portal I came through to get here is still open. I must admit, though, I am still very new at all this," Katie confided.

  "So, where exactly is this gateway to the other world?"

  "Actually, it's not far from h
ere. It's in the alley outside of this building," she said with a grin. "I should probably warn you, though ... When we go through the portal your clothes will change."

  "I'm not sure that I follow your meaning."

  "They will alter in appearance to become their equivalent in that world. As an example, on Earth I am wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Once I step through to the other side, they will become leather pants and a vest. I imagine your clothing will undergo a similar transformation."

  "So, by the sound of it, this is a medieval world?"

  "Kind of ... In most respects I would agree, but I have seen things that seem futuristic as well," Katie confessed. "It will be easier to understand when you see what I'm talking about first hand."

  "Well then, I guess there's no time like the present," Mike stated, rising from his crate.

  Smiling as she stood up, Katie was thankful that he didn't seem to think she was a full blown lunatic. Turning toward the door she stopped for a moment, realizing that time had passed more quickly than she had thought. Amber's hazy form had vanished from sight. The rain had stopped, and the storm clouds had broken apart. The first rays of morning light shimmered on the fine mist that hung a few feet above the ground.

  Tapping the toe of his boot on the embers of the dying fire until all that remained were a few errant wisps of smoke, Mike made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "Lead the way."

  Happy that things were going as well as they were, Katie grinned and moved toward the open doorway. Stepping outside, the cool, damp ground reminded her that she was still barefoot.

  Unable to figure out what had brought the goofy smirk to her face, he glanced at her with a cocked eyebrow. "Finding something amusing?"

  Shaking her head, Katie laughed. "When I realized that I was still barefoot, a silly thought popped in my head ... Why couldn't the portal have brought me to a shoe store?"

  "You're right. That is silly."

  Rounding the corner and entering the alley, Katie led him to the spot she had come through the portal. It was just barely visible in the window, but it was still there. "Shit," she grumbled, realizing how difficult it would be to go through the gateway without some sort of assistance.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I forgot that we wouldn't be able to just walk through," she griped, pointing up at the window.

  "I can give you a boost," Mike offered.

  "And how would you get through then?"

  "Hmmm. Obviously, I didn't think that far ahead," he confessed. Gazing around, he tried to find something they could stand on. The banged up dumpster on the opposite side of the alley was one option, but since it wasn't on wheels there was no way to move it to where they needed it. As he attempted to come up with an alternative, an idea came to him. "Hang on a sec, I'll be right back." Katie watched him run to the rear of the abandoned building. A couple of minutes later, he strolled around the corner carrying a tall pyramid of crates in his arms. The crazily leaning stack was at least three feet taller than he was, and seemed as if it might crash down on his head at any given moment.

  Quickly running over to meet him, she yelled, "Stop!" The crates tottered wildly as he complied. Before his burden could tumble to the ground, Katie reached up and took the top half of the pile from him. "How the heck did you make it out the door like that?"

  "I stacked them on the ground outside before I picked them up," he stated with a smirk.

  Making their way back to the window, they set down their load and arranged them into a semblance of stairs. As she stepped back a few feet to admire Mike's ingenuity, he dramatically gestured with one hand. "Ladies first."

  Carefully mounting the crates, Katie disappeared through the portal. Not knowing what to expect, Mike hesitantly made his way up the makeshift stairway. Steeling himself against whatever waited for him on the other side, he stepped through the shimmering window.

  Chapter 39

  Once Katie had disappeared through the portal with Amber the lighting in the cave all but vanished. The swirling gateway had become almost invisible. With no idea how long they would be gone, Edward opened his palm and summoned a small flame. In the light it provided, he checked his surroundings for anything of use. The only item he saw nearby was the sack of vegetables they had acquired earlier, lying on the ground near his feet. Exhaling sharply in frustration, Edward supposed he would have to find his way back through the maze of tunnels to get outside so he could gather some wood for a fire. This far back in the cave, the air had a chilly dampness to it that was sure to settle into his bones. As much as he wanted to remain close to the portal to make sure it stayed open until Katie came back, he knew it could be hours, or days, until he saw her again. He had to be prepared for the long haul, just in case.

  Slowly making his way through the winding tunnels toward the cave's entrance, he tried to make a mental note of each twist and turn. As he shuffled forward, the sounds his boots created upon the floor caused him to shiver. The soft scraping noise echoed through the cave and reflected back to his ears, sounding like a corpse trying to claw its way out of a coffin.

  Edward sighed with relief when he finally emerged from the cave and the echoes receded. The moons above him shone brightly, comforting him with their familiarity. No longer needing the dancing, magical flame in his palm to see, he closed his hand to extinguish it. Recalling the rocky climb he and Katie had endured to get to the cave, he had forgotten about the ledge he now stood on, which overlooked the stream below. To the left and right of the outcropping, Edward saw that the ground was more level than he would have thought. It was still rocky, but nothing like his climb to the cave had been. Here and there he saw small, dead-looking trees, which had apparently withered and died when their roots couldn't penetrate deep enough to find the water they needed to continue growing. Edward couldn't help but wonder how they had begun growing in the first place.

  It doesn't matter how they came to be, only that they are here and appear to be useable. For the next hour, Edward made several careful trips between the withered foliage and the cave. It took longer than he would have liked, but carrying smaller armloads was a much better alternative than falling down the hill and breaking his bones because he couldn't see where he was stepping. The fact that no one was around to help him if he got injured served to strengthen his conviction. Setting his current armload near the mouth of the cave, Edward realized that his pile of branches had grown to considerable size.

  Satisfied that he had stockpiled wood, he opened his palm and produced a flame. Picking up a branch from the pile, he held his hand beneath it until it caught on fire then set it upright against the cave wall. For the next fifteen minutes, Edward traversed back and forth to repeat the process, each time traveling further into the cave, until he had created a path of torches that would allow him to safely negotiate the tunnels with larger handfuls of brush.

  After carrying the last armload of branches into the chamber near the portal, he retrieved the closest torch, setting it against the wall well away from his woodpile. The last thing he needed now was to have the whole heap go up in flames at once. Flame-broiled Edward was not something he wished to put on the menu of any critters that may be in the area.

  Slowly holding one branch at a time over his torch, he created a small campfire on the floor. Soon, the light from the roaring flames danced on the walls. Strange, writhing shadows fluttered about the chamber as the heat of the campfire dissolved the dampness from the air and warmed him. Lying on the floor at a comfortable distance from the flames, he began to relax. Though his muscles ached from gathering wood, the growing heat was making him sleepy. Knowing he needed to recharge, he supposed a little nap wouldn't hurt. If the fire died down and the air became cooler it would wake him before it actually went out. Closing his eyes, Edward entered the bliss of sleep almost immediately.

  When he awoke a short time later the fire was still flickering, but was mostly a small pile of embers. With the intention of adding more wood to the dying fire, he sat up and rubbed
his eyes. A clicking sound echoed through the chamber at that moment, causing him to jump. Blinking his eyes into focus, he looked wildly around for the source of the commotion, knowing how tricky echoes could be. For all he knew, whatever had made the noise could be right next to him. When he couldn't determine the cause, Edward shot to his feet and grabbed a good-sized handful of wood, quickly dropping it onto the embers. In seconds, the campfire flared back to life, illuminating the chamber brightly.

  Squinting against the brightness until his eyes began to adjust, Edward saw that the entire passageway leading from the chamber was lit in a shiny glare. Studying his surroundings curiously, he couldn't figure out why the dull stone walls were suddenly flecked with a reflective quality it hadn't had before. Surely it couldn't be the shadows of dancing flames that were causing the anomaly. After all, it hadn't been like that when he first lit the fire.

  Sitting down again, Edward continued to watch the shining passageway, waiting in silence to see if the clicking sound would recur. As the warmth of the fire began to spread and his eyelids started to get heavy, he heard the noise again. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of movement coming from the tunnel, almost as if the passageway itself was moving. Fascinated by the liveliness, his intrigue turned to horror as the shining mass drew closer and he was able to pick out distinct shapes. Before him, a multitude of giant mechanical spiders had apparently been drawn out of hiding by the heat of his campfire.

  His mind reeled as he attempted to process what he was seeing, but Edward knew he had to act quickly. Will a blast of cold from a spell drive them away? He sighed in frustration, realizing the magic would likely do what he needed it to, but would probably douse his campfire and plunge him into darkness in the process. As his internal debate raged on, a new sound distracted him.

  Katie's happy voice erupted in the near silence. "Edward! Look what I—" Turning toward her, he put a finger before his lips to quiet her and used his other hand to point toward the surging metallic mass.