by D. H. Dunn
She had never had a student, no young person to share her knowledge or views with. That Kater seemed to want one was a difficult need to judge. Perhaps in his lifetimes that need had grown in him, or perhaps this was just another deception.
Or perhaps his need to prepare for these dragons was like her need, one that left him open to possibilities he might not have considered before.
“You do not trust me, and I have not given you reason to. Very well, trust this. I have the knowledge you came here seeking and I will give it to you. I do not have the same value to your friends. Remember my value to you.” At times, Kater seemed out of his mind. In other moments, he seemed to be able to read them.
Kater stopped, his legs braced on either side of the fissure. Wanda was about to question him further, but the words died in her throat. Just a few feet below Kater, the fissure opened into a broad circular space filled with boulders and rubble. On the far side of the chamber was a second opening, a large path leading into the depths of the mountain.
Lodged into the stone wall, just inside the opening, was the flickering portal. It was spewing snow and wind in what appeared to be a winter hurricane―a wall of wind and ice that crashed against the far side of the room and up through the fissure.
This was the source of the cold that had been running up into the chasm, strong enough to be felt all the way back to the Others’ camp. And the storm was running out of the portal at full intensity, directly in their path.
Wanda said little to Kater while she waited for the other two teams to make their way to the small rubble-filled enclosure. The wind was loud enough to drown out any speech short of shouting. The cold, razorlike wind sliced through the large bowl-like space. They had taken shelter behind a small collection of boulders and debris near the chamber’s wall that formed a bunker between them and the storm.
They each sat alone, huddling against the stone as they waited. There was no time to consider Kater’s offer, the failing portal commanded all her attention.
The rubble-strewn chamber was a relative circle, the fissure depositing them on one end. Set almost in the center of one wall was the oval gateway, throwing an onslaught of snow and wind into the space. The escalating maelstrom cut the room in half, brief breaks in the snow revealing hints of the passage on the other side. The only route out of the chamber save back up through the fissure.
Pulling her cloak tighter, she stared into the wintry conflagration, her frustration mounting apace with the growing numbness in her limbs.
It was death to wait, yet she could think of no action that might allow them passage.
Nima arrived first, stunning Wanda by pushing through the wind to get closer to the portal, examining it before retreating to the scant shelter.
The young woman huddled up against her, adding her warmth to Wanda’s own. Moments later Drew joined them, sharing his body heat as well.
“We’ve got to do something!” Drew’s shout was barely audible over the storm. “We can’t stay in this cold too long!”
“I saw something!” Nima yelled. “Opposite the portal! A dark shape in the other wall!”
Wanda peered into the white maelstrom and could see little but snow and ice opposite the portal, but Nima had gone closer than she had.
Seeing Kaditula drop down from the fissure, Wanda grabbed hold of the boulder they were hiding behind and stood. She caught the smaller man’s gaze and pointed toward where Nima said she had seen the dark shape.
Kaditula nodded and ran forward into the center of the space, his squat legs spread wide for balance. He turned back and gave them a smile, his beard filled with snow.
Leaping into the chamber from above, Merin charged out against the wind, pulling her husband back with her to the shelter behind the rocks.
“There is a closed portal on the other side!” Kaditula shouted, joining the small circle of warm bodies around Wanda. With Pasang coming in alongside Nima, only Perol huddled with Kater, propping her shield to ward them against the wind.
Nima waved Kater over. Walking in a crouch, the old man hunched against his attendant. Together, they used her shield as a bulwark and slowly made their way over.
Wanda noted Kater’s shaking against the cold. Long lived perhaps, but Kater’s strength seemed to be against time not the elements.
Nima pointed to the closed portal, though Wanda wondered if the old man could even see it. “Can we open that?”
Perol repositioned her shield to block the entire group from the wind, and the relief from the cold was almost instant. Wanda could feel slight warmth returning to her cheeks. Kater still stared at the portal, as if he had not heard Nima’s question.
“Kater!” she repeated. “I asked―”
“Why ask me?” The cords in his neck stood out. His thin beard appeared even more brittle and gray against the wind. “Portal lore is my sister’s! I simply pass through them!”
“You’ve gone through them more than we have!” Wanda shouted.
“I know enough to know you need the right colored crystals,” Kater yelled back. “We have none!”
Pasang pulled the satchel off Kater’s shoulder so fast Wanda was barely aware the old man had lost it before Pasang was opening it up to show the group its contents. His face beamed, looking at his sister for reaction.
Inside the small handmade pouch were dozens of colored crystals, each about as long as Wanda’s finger.
The color returned to Kater’s cheeks as he snatched the bag back from Pasang, his hands moving almost as fast as Pasang’s had. Small ribbons of flame dropped from his fingers, each quickly ripped away by the wind.
“You little―” The fire in Kater’s eyes matched the sorcery surrounding his hands. Nima wedged herself between her brother and the old man, but his expression lost its rage as fast as it had arrived.
“Fine. Yes, I have crystals, but those are for later. For when we get to my sister. Otherwise there is no point to this. Besides if we use the wrong crystal―”
“To hell with your lies and this waiting!” Nima said. She grabbed one of the crystals from Kater’s bag, not stopping to look at color or size, and ran out into the storm.
“Nima! No!” Wanda shouted, her words ripped away by the wind. She stood, pulling away from Drew’s attempt to hold her back.
She raced into the center of the room, the snow and cold immediately battering her face. The wind fought against her every step and it was clear she would not reach Nima in time.
Helpless, she watched as Nima cast the crystal into the fierce wind, the velocity of the open portal’s gale catching it instantly and sending it hurtling toward its closed twin on the opposite wall.
There was an emerald flash, and the dark rock released a wave of force that knocked Wanda off her feet to land hard on the rubble and stone. She could see Pasang and Drew on the ground alongside her, the trio watching as green mist began to swirl into a vortex where the dark stone used to be.
“It’s working!” Nima shouted. Wanda got to one knee and stared at the brilliant emerald light rotating on the far wall.
Indeed, Nima’s action appeared to be opening the portal. The snow and ice were being extruded from the blue portal to their right was shifting course, more and more of the icy wind being pulled into the new opening on the left. A path around the wind began to become evident, an opportunity to reach the exit from the chamber clear if the storm continued to decrease in intensity.
The wind died further. Wanda’s crimson hair fell into her face. The constant pelting of ice and snow ceased as the full force of the wintery storm was now detoured into the new green world they had accessed.
With the wintery maelstrom routed away, the path out of the rubble-strewn area was accessible. Drew cheered as he ran out to join them, Kaditula clapping as he ran behind.
“See!” Nima said, glaring back at Kater. “It’s not that hard. What other lies have you been telling us―”
An odd ripple passed through the air, originating from the new open
ed portal as though a stone had been cast into a pond.
Wanda felt a pull at her boots, then felt her body slide across the ice. Nima reached out, grabbing at Wanda for support as she too started sliding. Drew dropped to one knee, his arm shooting out and grabbing Wanda’s.
Idle bits of snow and small pebbles began tumbling past them, headed for the green portal.
Perol jammed her shield into the ground as she and Kater clung to it as the pull increased.
“You see!” Kater yelled back, his anger visible. “The wrong crystal. You opened the portal, but the pressure between worlds is not stable!”
Pasang’s hat flew by, the orange knitting flashing before Wanda’s eyes for an instant before it flew out of view. The pull was increasing, forcing Wanda onto her stomach so she could dig the fingers of one hand into the dirt beneath them, even as the other was clamped onto Drew, the American digging in his boots as he held onto both her and Nima.
Merin threw Nima a rope, which Nima struggled to attach to herself amidst the gale. Wanda looked around the chamber, frantic to find a solution. She could see nothing but rocks and blowing snow, collections of boulders and stones marking the passage of Upala’s library through the mountain.
She looked up again, focusing on the boulders this time. Some of them were massive, and many only had a precarious connection to the walls above them. She looked back down, her fingertips were now gouging a trail as the pull continued to increase.
Nima cried out, the rope flying from her hands and dangling in the wind.
Peering over her shoulder, Wanda could see several other large boulders above the emerald portal, any one of them big enough to block the opening if they could dislodge one. Her body lurched several inches farther, Drew losing his grip for a moment before regaining his hold with a cry.
They wouldn’t last much longer.
“Perol!” she yelled, hoping the woman could hear her. To her relief the woman looked out from behind the shelter of her bulwark. Her dark hair had been pulled out of its severe bun and was streaming in the air, pointing toward Wanda and the green unknown.
“Your shield!” Wanda cried, then pointed above the portal, “The rocks!” She blinked her eyes as more dust and snow flew into them. She knew she was asking the woman to give up the only thing sheltering those behind it. There was no time to wonder if Kater would order his attendant to listen to Wanda or defy her.
She cried out as her feet left the ground, her boots and pants beginning to yank away from her. There was a woman’s shout in front of her, and she opened her eyes long enough to see the circular shape of Perol’s shield arch through the air. There was a clang and a crash, then she was hit with a force strong enough to flatten against the ground a second time.
“Now!” She heard Merin’s voice, pitched in tune with the ringing in her ears. The wind was rising back up, her hair whipping around. The pull was gone though. She opened her eyes as Kaditula pulled her to her feet.
“Now!” Merin repeated. “Run!” With her vision still blurred, Wanda allowed Kaditula to help her to her feet. Merin and Pasang were already down the path out of the chamber, as boulders and rubble blocked the access to the green portal Nima had opened. The winter storm was still pushing its way out of the other portal, the intensity increasing as the circular room began to rechannel its fury.
Kaditula’s strong arms pushed her, with Drew pulling Nima alongside them. Her vision wobbled along with her balance. Wanda kept running until she could feel the cold of the storm abate slightly.
The stone passage they ran along quickly narrowed, forcing them to slow their progress to a hurried shuffle, the walls of the Under pressing against them on either side.
She heard a shattering sound in the distance behind them, the sudden rush of cold air telling Wanda all she needed to know. The winter portal had forced its way open again, pushing its chill back into the chasm.
She pushed ahead, knowing there was likely no route back. Each step through the bitter cold pushed them all toward a point where only Kater and his sister could save them. Wanda felt as if she were losing strength and options with each foot fall.
24
“I didn’t go up there to die. I went up there to live.”
—Reinhold Messner
Wanda sat cross-legged on the snow-covered stone, looking across the wide chasm that separated the two halves of the chamber they were in. The passage from the winter portal had been as short as it was confining, but it had deposited them into a large space that was mercifully wide and open.
Behind her, the others slept, collapsed on whatever sleeping platform they had been able to craft out of their remaining gear and clothing. There had not been a discussion about setting camp, the temperature and their own bodies had made the decision for them.
The chill in the air was not as severe as it had been in the previous room, but it was still cold enough to sap their strength, making even breathing arduous.
Wanda’s sleep had been filled with fits and starts. She awakened in a state that left her muscles stiff and her mind unrested.
She walked away from the others and looked at the deep crack that separated one half of the natural chamber from the other. The crack was more than twenty yards wide, its shadowed interior giving no hints as to the depth. It could drop ten yards or a thousand.
Covering the walls on both sides of the chasm were portals, the most Wanda had seen in one place since coming to the Under. She spotted a few that seemed inert, darker circles of stone blotting the mountain’s interior. Most seemed active, though, a myriad of colorful windows into other worlds, other possibilities.
She guessed there might be a hundred of them lining either side of the chamber, the portals appearing to have been thrown into the stone haphazardly by the descent of Upala’s library.
If Kater’s story was to be believed, she reminded herself.
Looking to her left, in the light given off by the portals, she could see three bodies prone on the ground. After a moment she recognized Pasang, Drew, and a body farther off that was likely Kater. Closer, to her right, was Nima, Kaditula, and perhaps Merin. For a moment she could not locate Perol, then spotted the woman lying furthest from the group, close to where they had entered the chamber.
All seemed asleep or unconscious except Nima, who was looking up at the portals winking their colors into the darkness.
Noticing her, Nima rose slowly, seeming to take care not to disturb Merin or Kaditula. She walked softly over to Wanda, sat next to her and stared up at the wall opposite them across the wide shadow.
“They are beautiful, aren’t they?” Nima asked, her voice a whisper. A strong wind still blew down the path they had taken out of the rubble; the winter portal there still pushing out its seemingly endless supply of ice and snow.
“Yes,” Wanda said, surprised that it was true. The portals were beautiful, and not just as tools or scientific curiosities. They were windows into countless worlds playing out above them. Strange places that cared not for the villains or victims of wars, nor had judgment for those left behind. No requirements to be met, no legacies to protect or live up to.
“So many places,” Nima said. Her eyes were wide enough that Wanda could see the many colors of the portals reflected in them. “So many peoples and things. What a wonder it would all be to see, to run through those strange grasses. Climb mountains no one has seen. To see a hills, valleys, and oceans, and then see what is beyond them.”
“What will you do, Nima? If this sister of Kater’s can get you home?” Wanda found her own voice lacked the strength she could hear in Nima’s.
“Pasang and I will go back to Father. Back to the farm.” Nima’s eyes closed, the reflected sea of portals vanishing.
“Jang is dead,” Wanda said. “Your father will be free, yes? The farm will belong to him?”
Nima nodded. “Yes, only Jang had a claim on the farm. We were going to pay him with the money from guiding you.”
Wanda watched as the cloud
of vapor formed by Nima’s words floated into the air, then dissipated. No evidence remained Nima had ever spoken. Wanda found her fists clenched but could not remember doing so.
“So, the farm is safe. Your brother and father are safe. Then what?”
“I don’t understand.” Nima’s eyes reopened, the girl turned to look at her. Wanda found her own face faintly reflected back now.
“Do you work on the farm?” Wanda asked. “Do you marry?”
Nima bit her lip, bringing one hand up to her face to brush her dark hair out of her eyes. She took a moment, then shook her head slightly, the action seeming almost secretive to Wanda.
“No,” Nima said, her voice getting even quieter. “I don’t want to farm. Father is sure to have arranged something, but I―I don’t want to marry either. Not now.”
“What do you want, Nima? You will have saved your brother, your father. Risked your life for them both.” Wanda found her voice getting louder. She wanted to be quieter but could not find the will to pull herself back. “When is it time for you? When is it more about what you want and less about what your family wants?”
Nima reached out, brushing a tear from Wanda’s cheek. How had that gotten there? When had she started crying? Why was she crying?
Wanda turned away, staring back up at the portals. She took a deep breath, pulling the chilled air into her lungs and holding it. She felt her hands unclench slowly, and she allowed her breath to release. The vapor cloud held for a moment, then vanished. No evidence she had ever been here.
“You have the right for your life to be about you,” Wanda said, looking into the darkness above her. “Your choices can be about you, Nima.”
Nima’s gloved hand found hers, and Wanda accepted it.
“I’m lucky to know you, Wanda,” Nima said.
Wanda allowed herself to hold Nima’s hand until the others started to rouse. She could not tell if minutes or hours had passed, the only sign of her existence the passing clouds of her own breath.