The Gilweean Gateway

by R A Lindo

  Farraday rubbed the bevelled edge of Kaira’s Follygrin to magnify the illustration. “It’s hard to make out in such a small picture, but the peephole allows you to study the tide. I don’t know how much you know about Quibbs Causeway, but it’s a long, narrow stretch of land - a path which appears when the tide is out. You use the peephole to judge the appropriate time to step onto Quibbs Causeway and, also, to carry out a quick reconnaissance of the area. It’s rarely without danger - visible or otherwise.”

  “The Mantzils,” commented Kaira as she studied the intense look on her dad’s face, a sense of relief forming as Aunt Phee enacted the Velinis charm, shrouding them in a purple hue of protective cover before they entered another sinister space. Meyen Grayling had done the same although her isolated figure looked far less prepared for the journey - doubt creeping in, perhaps, or a slow realisation that the man she was expecting to meet had no history of bargaining for power.

  “Yes, the Mantzils, amongst other things. As you witnessed in Dyil’s Ditch, the Ameedis can appear in realms not fully protected by the Society’s defensive charms; Quibbs Causeway is one of these realms. It sits between darkness and light, touching the margins on Society Square and stretching to The Velynx: the faculty made of a hundred floors, situated within the cliffs beyond Quibbs Causeway.”

  “What’s in The Velynx?” asked Guppy.

  “Bad things and bad people,” replied Farraday, “but more of that later. Casper and Phee are making their move. Get ready and hold your nerve … real battles are fierce and people get hurt, but we have remedies for injuries and plenty of spells to counter the best Erent Koll can offer.”

  “So, no one’s going to die?” questioned Kaira, fighting visions of a curse ripping through her father as her aunt succumbed to the maddening Mantzils’ cry.

  “That’s up for debate,” replied her father’s closest friend matter-of-factly. “The tide is lifting, meaning the Mantzils are near.”

  21

  Fire & Ice

  Quibbs Causeway shared the dark, bleak energy of Dyil’s Ditch but, instead of screaming buildings, it had screaming monsters. Added to this, the tide was no ordinary body of water; its gentle rhythms transformed into violent waves which rose and fell onto the brave and foolhardy, as if it were lashing out at their unwanted presence.

  The tide was the first obstacle to be navigated on a stretch of land and water with the power to unhinge the mind. Casper and Philomeena Renn took measured steps within the protection of the Velinis charm, anticipating the mind-splitting screech of the Mantzils, which no magical spell could protect against.

  Meyen Grayling’s own protective cover was visible up ahead, moving against the wild wind as the waves rose to new heights around her. It was too late for retreat or redemption now, she knew, the violent movements of the fragment within her handbag reminding her of this. Wrapped in Taulyn to neutralise its power, the lethal artefact maintained a furious venom, crashing into the sides of the metal container it remained in.

  If there were any doubts residing within her, they would have to be suppressed. She had gambled on the bargaining power of the dark fragment, knowing that if the high-stakes deal collapsed with Erent Koll, she would be abandoned in a no-man’s-land where neither side - light or dark - would accommodate her, having betrayed one and of little value to the other.

  With the tide lifting, the path separating the water whipped in her face. She was aware of the presence of Casper and Philomeena Renn closing in on her, wondering how they had found out her secret. They had tracked her down to negotiate a peace, no doubt, a peace she was sick of, wanting to bask in the glory of Gorrah which ripped through facade and fear, enslaved to no rules and no external authority. Indeed, Gorrah was the ultimate authority, controlling the creatures of the underworld and, with the help of some minor curses, those weak of mind.

  The time for peace had passed, Meyen Grayling had decided some time ago, recognising that the fragment Cialene Koll had been killed for offered a unique opportunity for the unrivalled power she craved. The figure with fire-red eyes and flame-red hair who came into view had hunted the Terrecet for years, and was known for killing anyone who attempted to encroach on his plan to discover the remaining fragments.

  Challenging Erent Koll was a mistake, she knew. Aligning herself to him, a more viable option for, with The Prince of the Underworld on your side, who could stand in your way?

  “Can they control the tide?” asked Kaira as she watched the water rise higher and higher, arcing into a crashing chorus across the stretch of sand.

  “If necessary,” replied Farraday as he studied the moving illustrations with a surprising degree of calm.

  “You said the Mantzils were close,” commented Jacob.

  “They are. When Kaira’s dad and aunt enact the Verum Veras charm, you’ll know the Mantzils have arrived.”

  “Does it protect them from the Mantzils’ cry?”

  “Minimally, and only for a temporary period. Other things offer greater protection - things beyond our magical powers.”

  “Like what?” prompted Kaira.

  “Like what’s going to appear out of the water very soon,” replied Farraday as he brushed off further questions, suddenly fixated on the Follygrin’s moving illustration as Erent Koll’s figure flickered into view half-way along Quibbs Causeway, rising his hands to control the spinning sand that whipped around his body. As the sand floated around his feral form, he opened the palm of his right hand, watching as the grains fell into his hand.

  Crouching to the ground, as he had done outside The Sylent, he flung the sand over the water framing Quibbs Causeway, a toothless smile forming as flames appeared on the surface of the water which returned to a soft ripple.

  “That’s not good,” he uttered as the flames stretched across the water on both sides, lighting up the dark sky.

  “Why?” queried Jacob.

  “The best counter to the Mantzils travels via water.”

  “So, my dad and aunt are in danger?” pressed Kaira, fighting the thought of bursting through the circle of flames surrounding them.

  “You always need more than one countermove in battle, Kaira. Relax … you’ll have your own battles to fight but this isn’t one of them.”

  “She’s playing with fire,” stated Jacob who watched his mother’s figure, now forming in both the Follygrin and Panorilum, edge closer to the shimmering figure of Erent Koll.

  “Indeed,” agreed Farraday as Casper and Philomeena Renn closed in.

  As the flames rode on the surface of the water, illuminating the figures occupying different ends of Quibbs Causeway, the mind-splitting sound penetrating the most guarded mind floated on the wind … a hellish sound which reverberated, causing Casper and Philomeena Renn to enact the Verum Veras charm as a temporary protection. Formless and merciless, the Mantzils’ squeals filled the air, rising over the tide to unhinge the mind.

  In contrast to Kaira’s dad and aunt, who took cover from the mind-shattering sound, Erent Koll stood, unaffected by the noise, revelling in the problem it posed to his enemies and, more importantly, the pain it was causing Meyen Grayling who, for some bizarre reason, seemed unable to offer protection against the wicked army penetrating her defences.

  Unbeknownst to Guppy and Jacob, a curse had been used on their mother … the Voxum Vexa curse - or the asphyxiation curse - causing her to collapse to her knees in the squelching sand of Quibbs Causeway, struggling for breath as her windpipe slowly crushed. The subtlety of the curse, combined with the Mantzils’ cry, was enough to catch her off guard - the delusional belief that Erent Koll had an interest in sharing power suddenly shattered, like her increasingly fragile mind.

  She was now at the mercy of The Prince of the Underworld, losing her grip on the handbag containing the fragment of Saralin ‘that bent the will of men’ … the part of the legend Meyen Grayling had paid the least attention to: the nature of dark magic to manipulate the meek and seduce to strong - for she was now a feeble f
igure, crouched at the mercy of a murderous minister, unprotected in a desolate space.

  “Get up,” commanded Guppy as she stared at the Follygrin, fighting back tears. The reality of her mother facing death at the hands of Erent Koll shattered the hard shell she had built around her, returning her to a more delicate state where compassion still lived. Watching anyone suffer was painful, but the vision of a parent gasping for breath at the feet of pure evil was excruciating. “Why aren’t they helping her?” shouted Guppy as she stood from the table, kicking out at the chair.

  “They are,” explained Farraday with an unease replacing his neutral expression. “They’re enacting a counter-charm which is the only reason your mother’s still alive.”

  “And where’s this army you mentioned,” challenged Jacob whose shadow of anger returned. “Are Kaira’s dad and aunt actually going to do anything beyond hiding behind the protection of the Verum Veras charm?”

  “They have to keep Meyen alive first.”

  “Then what?” asked Kaira, wanting to hear Farraday describe some act of bravery about to ensue. The Panorilum had been deactivated, based on the belief that one image of a mother’s fatal end was enough.

  “Then they fight to retrieve the fragment now in Erent Koll’s possession before he gets a taste of his own medicine.”

  The medicine came in the form of what, at first, appeared to be wisps of light fizzing along Quibbs Causeway, as if a dozen shooting stars had descended from the sky. The speed of these spinning strings of light was striking … gone in the blink of an eye whilst offering no clue to their purpose … until Erent Koll’s attention was diverted from Meyen Grayling - his arms whipping out in their direction towards a familiar enemy.

  “What is it?” asked Kaira as Guppy and Jacob took hope from their mother’s movements on the ground, crawling to the approaching figures of Casper and Philomeena Renn who wrapped her in the Verum Veras charm.

  The compassion offered to Meyen Grayling would be explained in time, but now wasn’t the appropriate moment as the attention of the four figures crouching over the Follygrin turned to the enormous streak of light bursting from Casper Renn’s outstretched arm … stretching to the sky before falling towards the bank of water touched by fire - fire about to be turned to ice.

  As Erent Koll’s attack remained focused on the ferocious streaks of light bounding around him, Philomeena Renn administered Srynx Serum to the wound burning into Meyen Grayling’s neck. Blinking at the ear-piercing chorus surrounding them, she ignored her errant colleague’s garbled words … a once-powerful figure now reaching out blindly for help: a sight which made Guppy leave the dining table.

  She walked to the edges of the circle of light created by the Infernisi charm, the flames rising as she approached the permitter. Guppy watched the flames, wishing she could start a fire and burn Erent Koll and everything he desired to the ground. Studying the Follygrin was unbearable now … the sight of her mother grappling for reason and compassion as she squinted at each shriek of the Mantzils: a formless shadow camouflaged in the atmosphere, presenting an indefensible enemy - or so Guppy thought.

  Conscious that Guppy and Jacob needed space whilst remaining concerned for her dad and aunt, Kaira watched a palette of colour form in the water. It didn’t take long for Kaira to realise that colours were creatures, moving below the surface before bursting into the air … spinning and circling as each colourful specimen expanded as it rose, vast and majestic with a furious energy not witnessed in Gilweean.

  The lighting rod of purple energy her dad had sent into the sky had transformed into rainwater on the way down - the veritable storm neutralising the flames resting on the water, bringing new activity to Quibbs Causeway.

  “The Williynx,” muttered Kaira as she continued to puzzle over the frenetic action displayed in the Follygrin: the shower of Williynx ascending in the sky, each one morphing into a colossus as Erent Koll attacked a synchronised alliance with a catalogue of curses - beginning to hit the mark … the first example of this the explosion of green feathers in the sky as the first Williynx fell, crashing into the water.

  As another Williynx succumbed to the elaborate traps Erent Koll spun, one of the wisps of light circling him shimmered into a human form, clearly injured. A violent explosion of white light ripped across Quibbs Causeway and through the figures upper body, causing it to fall into the rising tide.

  Kaira’s dad and aunt remained protected by the Velinis charm, doing their best to keep Meyen Grayling in the land of the living. Farraday had hoped there would be no deaths in this battle but this seemed increasingly unlikely as Erent Koll gained the upper hand, forming arcs of energy fields designed to magnify the Mantzils’ cry which disoriented the army of Williynx swooping above.

  “Who are they?” asked Kaira in reference to the streaks of light darting from one spot to another, closing in on Erent Koll … only adopting a human form when struck by a counter curse.

  “The Quliy,” explained Farraday which piqued Guppy and Jacob’s interest. “Inhabitants of The Wenlands … able to manipulate time and space which explains why they’re not affected by the Mantzils’ cry. They’re able to move at a frightening speed which acts as their main weapon of defence. Sound waves are much too slow to affect them, meaning the Mantzils offer no threat. Erent Koll is a supreme wizard, however, with gifts few people possess.”

  “We’re losing the battle,”

  “Until the second act.”

  “Which is?” queried Kaira.

  “A plan to get your dad, aunt and Meyen out of danger.”

  With Meyen Grayling continuing to struggle for breath, Guppy and Jacob returned to the dining table, taking their places alongside Kaira. Unusually silent, Guppy studied the Follygrin intently, her legs jigging up and down anxiously at the sight of her mother’s disoriented figure.

  She was being helped to her feet by Philomeena Renn as Erent Koll spun dark charms, controlling and limiting the attack of the Quliy and circling Williynx - another explosion of bright blue feathers symbolising the need for the second act to begin soon.

  “We need to get my mum out of there before he kills her, or someone else,” stated Jacob as new figures appeared on the edge of the Follygrin’s moving illustration … familiar faces from The Orium Circle: Weyen and Ina Lyell, ready to enact a crescendo of fire and ice.

  With Erent Koll facing a burgeoning army rivalling his unique powers, Weyen Lyell took charge of the final act, orchestrating the synchronised descent of the Williynx, reframing the sky in a carousel of colour.

  Kaira watched as the man sharing the flamboyance and heritage of her Caribbean grandfather signalled for the Williynx to produce their own moment of magic: a blaze of ice, washing over the surface of the water before spreading ever upwards into a thick, impenetrable wall, silencing the Mantzils as it did so.

  With the Williynx now forging colossal walls of ice to mute the Mantzils’ cry, Ina and Weyen Lyell offered further protection for creatures and humans alike by releasing fire-like streaks of energy in Erent Koll’s direction, forcing him to release a counter-curse which connected with the orange blaze of light crackling across Quibbs Causeway.

  The clashing forces of light and dark energy met, framed by the spectacular walls which offered the Williynx protection from further attacks. The majestic, brightly coloured creatures had their own battle to fight, still exposed to the searing screech of the Mantzils which reverberated upwards from the wall of ice, adding a hellish chorus to the violent clash of charms and curses.

  Recognising that his advantages were now significantly minimised, Erent Koll directed his attack towards the soaring sheets of ice, sending racing, black surges of light crashing into the walls in a final act of venom. It was only as a section of ice exploded into hundreds of pieces, falling into the water framing Quibbs Causeway, that Meyen Grayling grabbed her throat, gasping for breath within the protection of the Velinis charm. Never one to counter mercy, Erent Koll had added a sinister degree to the Vox
um Vexa curse placed on Guppy and Jacob’s mother. The Velinis charm could protect them from physical attack, but not a dark wizard’s arsenal - a fact not lost on Guppy who began to bang her fist on the table in a mixture of anger and fear.

  “Do something!” she yelled at the Follygrin.

  The only thing the adults defending her mother could do was give in to Erent Koll’s demand, voiced above the blaze of battle. “I disappear unharmed or we can all watch Meyen die.”

  “You expect us to let you go with the fragment in your possession?” challenged Casper Renn contemptuously. He stepped out from the Velinis charm to form a trio of resistance with Ina and Weyen Lyell.

  “Do you expect me to let Meyen live if I don’t?” countered The Prince of the Underworld, sending another streak of dark energy crashing into the colossal walls of ice.

  As Casper Renn moved closer to his arch nemesis - a surge of repressed violence rising in him, the sound of Ina Lyell’s voice caused him to pause.

  “Let him go, Casper.”

  Kaira’s dad glanced at Ina Lyell, fighting a desire to release his own destructive army on Erent Koll. The most senior, female member of The Orium Circle was clearly in no mood to be challenged. Cloaked in grey, her flawless, dark skin and short afro hair was complimented by elaborate, silver jewellery - all giving her the air of a dignitary with unrivalled authority.

  “I said, step back and let him go,” repeated Ina Lyell as the fire-orange streak of energy keeping Erent Koll at bay lessened in intensity and colour - a sign that she was honouring the Society’s founding principles: preservation over destruction. Meyen Grayling’s life was to be preserved at the expense of recovering a destructive artefact: a decision which would save a family from imploding whilst adding fuel to a legend. As in all things, power came with complications.