The Portal

by Brock Deskins

  Drew finally discovered what had happened to at least some of the former residents. On the far side of the village, a large mound of earth was piled several feet high. He figured it was likely a mass grave. The thought chilled him before realizing this may actually be a good sign. It was unlikely that whoever sacked this town would have bothered to bury their victims. It stood to reason that a group of people had come by, or maybe those who escaped had returned, and buried the dead before moving on, possibly to a larger settlement down river.

  He found a set of intact doors leading down into a cellar. The floor of the house that once stood above it had also survived the fire. Drew decided this was the best chance of finding shelter for the night and crept down the steps into the cool earth. Again, he was grateful for his Swiss army knife. It was a pretty big one and even had a tiny LED flashlight on it. It did not send out a large or strong beam, but it allowed him to survey the subterranean abode a few feet at a time.

  The walls had once been lined with shelves upon which had rested jars of canned fruits, vegetables, and fish. Most of the jars now lay shattered upon the earthen ground, their contents consumed by the attackers. Drew plucked at the shattered pieces and smelled fish, apples, beets, and potatoes. Under the broken shelves and shards of pottery, he found a couple of jars intact.

  He opened their clay lids sealed with wax and gratefully devoured the contents. The first jar contained smoked fish that was salty and quite nourishing. The second was packed with sliced peaches, and the third was full of nuts. He slipped this jar into the leather bag he had taken from the goblins that still carried a few strips of dried meat.

  Drew found a clear area on the floor, kicked away a few pieces of shelving and clay shards, and laid out his bedroll before quickly falling asleep. He woke several times during the night, once from the screech of an owl on the hunt, another from a nightmare in which Droog was beating him with his heavy leather belt. He started awake, his heart racing, and his bladder full. The sounds of the night made him loath to leave his small sanctuary, so he simply felt along the wall and relieved himself in the corner, a decision he quickly regretted as the smell of his own urine filled the chamber.

  Drew accepted the fouling of the air with a resigned shrug and fell back to sleep. His dreams were of a happier sort this time around. He dreamt of waking to the calls of his friends, who had triumphed over all sorts of dangers to rescue him. They had the irascible Droog in tow, leading him with his hands bound and a rope around his neck. The goblin pleaded for mercy and begged forgiveness when Drew showed his friends the welts and lashings Droog had given him. As he woke, he thought his dream had actually come true.

  He heard noises above and in the distance and Droog’s unmistakably course and angry voice floating through the decimated village. Drew crept up the stairs, lifted one of the cellar doors, and peered out into the morning light.

  Droog and his band of goblins were following the stream right toward him. A pair of goblins in the lead pointed at the ruins and shouted back to those behind them. Drew knew they would easily find the cellar and search it.

  He gently lifted the door higher and crawled out, grabbing nothing more than his water skin and bag of food. Drew quietly laid the door back down and crept in the opposite direction of the goblins, trying to keep the few walls still remaining erect between him and the goblins.

  His attempt at stealth failed as one of the goblins let out a howl and broke into a run straight for him. Drew sprinted away as fast as he could with the goblins howling and yipping after him. Branches slapped at his face as he dodged between trees, cutting through the woods instead of trying to run along the rock-covered shore of the stream.

  Impossibly, the short, bandy-legged goblins gained on him, and the guttural growls and curses seemed to be coming from right behind him. His side began aching, and he quickly realized he would not be able to outrun the swift and determined goblins. Drew scanned the area ahead of him, seeking a place to hide or some egress that would provide an escape. Nothing promising a means of getting away presented itself, but he did spy something that may provide him with a distraction.

  A large hornet’s nest hung from an overhanging tree limb ahead of him. As Drew ran under the basketball-sized nest, he hurled his bag of food up at it and caught it squarely as he passed beneath. The nest and sack of food crashed to ground behind him. The furious hornets buzzed angrily in the path of the pursuing goblins. In the seconds that it took the majority of the hornets to scramble, Drew had run well past the fallen nest, and the first goblin ran straight into the swarm of vengeful, stinging creatures.

  The goblins following behind the lead chaser briefly wondered what kind of seizure their brethren had fallen into as he thrashed about in some strange parody of dance, his arms flailing and slapping at himself. They understood his dilemma as they also plunged into the hornet swarm and found themselves under attack by hundreds of tiny warriors. Drew heard the screams of the goblins grow fainter as he put more and more distance between himself and his pursuers. He grinned in triumph as he imagined the evil goblins’ plight.

  His legs were starting to give out on him, and his side ached with a stitch from all the running. Drew could no longer hear the shouts of goblins behind him, so he slowed to a fast walk to catch his breath. The thought of not having food, bedroll, or even a blanket concerned him, but the need for escape pressed much harder on his mind.

  Drew headed in the direction he hoped would lead him back to the river. He listened intently, but he was apparently too far away to hear it. Drew knew he had veered to the right, away from the waterway, so he turned slightly to the left hoping that the river had not made a major course change. He felt a sense of relief a short time later when he heard running water ahead of him and to his left. The exhausted young man walked along the edge of a steep embankment, looking for an easier path down to the riverbank. Suddenly, a high-pitched keening rang in his right ear just as a heavy object struck him hard and low, pitching him over the embankment.

  He looked into the raging, insane eyes of Droog as they both tumbled down the steep slope. Drew threw the lighter goblin off him and jumped to his feet. The goblin rolled onto his own large feet, dagger in hand and murder in his eyes. Drew could hardly recognize the goblin. His face was grossly misshapen from dozens of stings that had raised huge, angry welts all over the goblin’s body.

  Drew frantically searched the ground for something with which to defend himself. There was no doubt in his mind that Droog would find his death a far greater reward than any amount of gold now. He picked up a large stone as the goblin slowly advanced then stopped and stared at something behind him. Drew cautiously risked a quick glance over his shoulder. The rock slid from his grasp as he looked in astonishment at what lay behind him.

  Goblins, orcs, and ogres stood en masse not more than fifty yards away. There had to be hundreds of the evil creatures, and more were filtering in through the woods. A hooded and robed figure strode between them without a hint of fear or trepidation. Although the robe and hood masked most of his features, Drew was certain that the man was human, or at least appeared to be human. He stood no taller than Drew and probably weighed no more than the youth as well. Physically, the man was completely unimposing, yet he exuded power to such an extent that Drew’s blood ran cold.

  The man next to him was the opposite. Although Drew had no fighting skills whatsoever, he could tell the man was absolutely lethal with the sword sheathed on his hip. The way he held himself, moved, and seemed to study everything around him as if it were a potential battlefield spoke of a professional warrior and killing machine.

  “I certainly hope you were not planning to use that blade on my prize, goblin.” Lord Darkrell’s voice was soft but threatened severe reprisal should the goblin attempt to harm his captive.

  “Put the blade away, goblin,” Lucien warned, his voice full of malice.

  Lord Darkrell glided forward almost as if he were walking on air, his footsteps making not a sound
as he strode toward the enraged goblin. “What is your name, goblin?”

  “Droog, Master, pack leader Droog,” the goblin replied sullenly, falling to his knees before his master.

  “You have done well bringing the boy to me, pack leader Droog. Although, you look to have had a bit of trouble fulfilling your duty.”

  Droog simply knelt, quivering before his master, whether from fear or the rage at not being allowed to exact his revenge against the human, Drew could not tell.

  “It is of no matter. You shall be well rewarded for your pain and diligence, Droog. Bring the lad along, Lucien.”

  “Yes, My Lord. Come along, boy. Don’t make me bind and drag you,” Lucien ordered brusquely.

  Drew had little choice but to follow along as the Captain took him by the elbow and guided him after the imposing lord. He glanced back at Droog, who just knelt in the dirt shaking. Drew did not know what lay in store for him in the hands of the dark, enigmatic lord, but he was certain it would not be pleasant.

  **

  The last two watch shifts of the evening were performed from inside the tent. Snow had started to fall partway through Felicia’s shift, and by the time Josh and Gabe came on to finish out the night, the snowfall was so heavy their eyes could not penetrate the flurries beyond a few feet. Now the watch shift had turned into a listen shift, but the sound of the wind howling through the gap even hampered that sense.

  The party awoke to two feet of powdery white snow. The thought of traversing the narrow pass through this new impediment caused much grumbling as they ate a cold breakfast and drank lukewarm tea heated over a can of camp fuel. The snow was still falling, albeit with far less intensity, so they unpacked their waterproof jackets and donned them under whatever armor they wore before packing up the tents.

  The party trudged through the snowy pass with Chuck in the lead acting as a two-legged snowplow breaking a path for the rest to follow. The passage was little more than a narrow, twisting fissure surrounded by steep-sided, snow-covered slopes rising hundreds of feet over their heads. Beyond the steep slopes, hidden behind the veil of falling snow, mountains rose up thousands of feet, piercing the cloud layer like a boulders jutting up from a river parting the flowing water.

  “Man, this metal nut cup is freezing!” Chuck complained, puffing like a blacksmith’s bellows as he forged a path through the snow.

  “Chuck, you’re not supposed to wear the codpiece against your skin,” Felicia informed him, stifling a laugh.

  Chase decided to forego such decorum. “Hey, at least you have something other than steroids to blame your undersized junk on now

  “I do not have undersized junk!”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  “Where’d you hear that? Did Susan say something? We were at the lake, and the water was cold!” Chuck said, stopping in his tracks to defend himself.

  Chase kept walking and smiling but said not a word. Chuck soon gave up his protests and resumed his trail breaking duties. As the morning wore on, Chuck traded his point position with Josh.

  “We’ll walk for another hour before taking a break,” Josh told the group.

  It was a rough estimate of time based on fatigue since they could not see the sun through the grey clouds and falling snow. His proclamation was suddenly punctuated by the crash of a large boulder nearby.

  “What the hell?” Josh exclaimed, scanning the sides of the slope just as another boulder came crashing down, missing Phil by only a couple of feet.

  Movement midway up the sides of the slopes on each side of the pass drew their attention. A dozen or more huge man-like creatures, each twelve to fifteen feet tall, stood upon the slopes with large stones held over their heads in preparation to throw.

  “Giants, run!” Gabe cried out in alarm.

  Ted chanted a quick incantation before sprinting after his friends. His spell produced a thick fog two hundred yards long and floating a few feet over their heads to provide some concealment from their ambushers.

  Basketball-sized stones rained down the slopes and crashed into the gap before, after, and occasionally between the fleeing humans. Felicia shrieked loudly as one stone narrowly missed her and sent up a spray of snow. A deeper, more ominous rumbling soon replaced the crashing sound of falling boulder. The sound of a hundred freight trains suddenly filled the gap. The earth vibrated as snow began cascading off the slopes and into the pass.

  “Avalanche!” Phil yelled.

  “I see an overhang behind these rocks, let’s go!” Josh called from up ahead.

  The party ran after Josh as he led them to the overhang he had identified.

  “Hey, it’s a cave! Quick, everybody inside!” he screamed, trying to make himself heard over the roaring slide of snow, stones, and falling giants.

  Seconds after the last in line made their way into the cave, thousands of tons of snow and rock crashed into the gorge, sealed the entrance, and threw their world into utter blackness. Ted and Gabe chanted out a few words, and the crystal on Ted’s staff and the gem on Gabe’s mace illuminated the cave with a bright white light.

  “At least we have light,” Chase said.

  Josh examined the former entrance to the cave, now completely blocked by tons of snow and rubble. “Well, we’re definitely not getting out this way.”

  “So what do we do now?” Chuck asked, trying to sound calmer than he felt.

  Josh looked around the cave briefly in the radiant light thrown off by Ted and Gabe. “We follow the tunnel and hope like hell it has a back door.”

  “Don’t worry Chuck, if there is a back door, I have complete faith that you’ll be the one to find it,” Chase assured him as he clapped him on the shoulder.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded as everyone started giggling, more at Chuck’s inability to grasp the insinuation than the joke itself. “C’mon, what’s that supposed to mean?”

  The entrance to the cave was little more than a crack in the rocky face of the mountain. The area they now stood in was just high enough to stand upright and walk two abreast. The darkness beyond the radius of the magical light suggested that the cave continued deeper into the mountain. The twins dug into their backpacks and pulled out flashlights that cut deeper into the gloom and combated the thick shadows created by Ted and Gabe’s magical lamps.

  “I need to rest a bit first and refresh my memory on my spells,” Ted said, his exhaustion evident in his voice.

  Josh looked around the cave. “All right, I guess this is as good a place as any to rest up. We’ll set up a watch shift like we did outside.”

  “Watch for what, bats?” Chase complained bitterly. “There’s no one in here but us! Oh, and my echo. Josh is a weenie!” he shouted into the darkness where his insult repeated several times, growing fainter with each repetition. “See, even the cave agrees with me.”

  “We’re setting a watch, and you will pull your shift—awake,” Josh insisted.

  “Just let me catch you sleeping on duty, twerp,” Chuck chimed in with an evil grin. “You know what the army does to people caught sleeping on guard duty?” he asked then drew a finger across his throat.

  “Fine, I’ll stand a stupid watch.”

  Ted studied his spell book for a couple of hours before exhaustion finally forced his eyes shut after several failed attempts at coercing the rest of him to go to sleep. The others rested against their packs and slept as comfortably as they could. Although they probably could have lain in a bed of broken bottles and still fall asleep.

  Chase paced about the cavern, muttering complaints about the pointlessness of keeping a guard when several tons of snow, ice, and stone blocked anyone who he would have to guard against. Unknown to him, something watched his restless grumbling as it shielded its sensitive eyes from the light given off by the two caster’s weapons. It crawled back deeper into the darkness, its grey skin making it blend in with the stone walls of the cavern and rendering it nearly invisible.

  Chase hit the light on his wat
ch and saw it was time to wake up his relief. He gently tapped Chuck on the shoulder twice before giving the large sleeping form a hard kick in the backside.

  “Huh, what?” Chuck half shouted, half mumbled as he sat bolt upright from his rude awakening.

  “It’s your watch, meat head,” Chase informed him.

  “Why does my butt cheek hurt?” he asked, rubbing his bruised posterior.

  “You probably slept on a rock. Good luck guarding us from the scary nothing monster. Watch out that the boogey-man doesn’t get you,” Chase said as he sunk down into sleep.

  Ted pulled the last ninety-minute shift and woke everyone up at the end of it. They ate a cold meal before those who wore armor suited up and strapped on their packs.

  “I’ll lead, followed by Gabe. Ted and Phil will guard the rear with Josh and Chuck in the middle,” Felicia instructed the group.

  The party proceeded down the cavernous maw. Several yards in, the cave opened up into a larger chamber that would easily allow the entire group to walk side by side with room to spare. The ceiling disappeared into darkness, extending beyond the reach of their lights. Shortly after exiting the spacious chamber, the cave narrowed to the point that they had to doff their packs and crawl through, pushing their gear ahead of them for almost fifty yards before the passage opened up once again to allow them to walk upright.

  “What do we do if there is no way out?” Gabe asked fearfully.

  “I’m sure we’ll find a way out and rescue Drew,” Felicia assured him.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because we’re the heroes of the story. It would be a pretty lousy adventure if the heroes got trapped in a cave and starved to death,” she said matter-of-factly.