TwoSpells

by Mark Morrison

  “DO YOU MIND IF WE MAKE an important stop?” Liam asked Sarah as they rounded a corner toward an unfamiliar corridor.

  “Do I have a choice?” Sarah replied. Liam chuckled.

  They arrived at a dead end and he drew his wand. Sarah watched as he whispered some kind of strange chant into his wand and drew an archway on the stone wall. The stone slowly disappeared, revealing a walkway into a room full of medical staff working frantically.

  “Is this a hospital?” Sarah asked.

  “Of sorts. We’ve quadrupled the size of our conventional staff by enlisting doctors in every field of medicine, science and technology from around the globe. They’re hard at work identifying a way to stop this virus,” Liam explained.

  Seth grasped Liam by the shoulder. “We don’t have a lot of time, brother.”

  “Right. Right,” Liam agreed and then led them away. “We brought you here for a specific reason, Sarah.”

  They worked their way through the maze of activity, weaving around dozens of doctors in white coats hustling and bustling about.

  Bunsen burners glowed beneath bubbling glass beakers and vats full of gurgling colorful solutions. Expressionless nurses carted racks of vials and bottles. Rows of blood filled test tubes were stacked in spinning apparatuses and large gyrating devices. Medical staff were injecting fluids into various basins and vigorously transposing information onto laptop computers.

  But there was magic too. They passed by black iron kettles stirred by witches. Swirls of blue and purple smoke poured forth from colorful vats of goo. Several rooms were filled with robed sorcerers, wizards and the like, all debating spells and enchantments in a heated frenzy.

  Another large room had technical forensics physicians examining infected books, scooping words from melting and dissolving stories and attending to desperately ill characters that leaked through the damaged inter-dimensional portals. Most were mere ghostly representations flickering between realities. It was too painful to watch and Sarah turned away.

  As they neared one particular wing, Sarah saw a cluster of doctors and nurses tending to sobbing patients, all strapped to gurneys. They plead, cried and shrieked for help. An older woman was strapped down with electrodes adhered to various places on her shaved head. She writhed beneath tightened straps and a shadowy creature arched up, reeling in pain as it struggled to cling to its host.

  “The virus spreads quickly and does frightening things to the body,” Liam said as they rounded another corner. “Gets into your mind and warps your sense of reality.”

  “All this and you’ve had no luck?” Sarah asked, dodging an infected patient trying to grab her as she passed.

  “Nothing seems to have much effect on the virus,” Seth replied. “And for now it only affects our kind. We can’t seem to isolate it because it mutates every time we think we’ve locked down a vaccination.”

  Sarah stopped suddenly. On the other side of the lab was her mother. She smiled and burst into a full run toward her. “Mom!”

  Her mother lifted her head from the clipboard she was reading and took Sarah into her arms.

  “Why didn’t you come home?” Sarah asked. “I’ve been so worried!”

  “Because they’re measuring Bohktar’s life in hours now. Not days,” her mother replied.

  Liam pushed through the crowd and stood beside them. “We haven’t had a doctor like your mom here in a long time. She’s been an incredible help so far.”

  Sarah’s mother sighed. “If only it showed in our results.”

  A small goblin-like creature in a full-length medical jacket stepped in front of her mother. He handed her a printout from a computer and she leaned down to exchanged a few whispers with him. She glanced back at the spreadsheet, faked a smile and took Sarah by the arm, pulling her close.

  “I’ve got to see a patient immediately. Come with me,” she said. She looked to Liam and Seth. “Please find my son and father. I can’t work to my fullest without knowing they’re safe.”

  Liam nodded. “We’ve got our best team on it.”

  The two brothers departed and Sarah's mother led her to a tiny door in the rear of the medical facility where two Orcan warriors and two Seventh Sense Security officers blocked the doorway. Her mother approached and the security team raised their hands to halt them.

  “Your credentials?” one of them asked.

  Sarah’s mother allowed them to hold a hand to her forehead and search her mind for the answer. “I have a patient waiting. Let’s make this quick, please.”

  “Shouldn’t take long,” the officer said, finishing with her mother and then placing a hand on Sarah’s temple. She recoiled, wincing as if pain had shot through her arm. “It’s one of them.”

  The officers nervously stepped aside and the Orcan warriors grunted in their strange language before opening the door.

  A waft of familiar smells enveloped them. Sarah inhaled deeply and entered first, delighting in the wonderful mixture of aloe and hazel. The room was dimly lit by alcohol lanterns and tiny, glowing beetles buzzed about leaving amber trails around a large bed in the center of the room. In the bed was a dozing man—thin, pale and unshaven.

  Sarah squinted through the mist of incense and oils burning in small glass bowls throughout the room. A female Shaman in thick robes and a hood sat in one corner chanting softly in a foreign tongue. She rolled bone dice over and over, watching them bounce and tumble to reveal strange carved images. She turned her head to them, drawing back her hood, revealing a hairless skull tattooed with intertwined serpents. Her toothless grin and forked tongue let Sarah know that she wasn’t from this world.

  Several Elfin women applied oils to the man’s arms and legs with soft sponges and rags. He groaned softly as he noticed them enter.

  “Is that him?” Sarah asked.

  Her mother nodded. “Smell that? It’s my own formula: Benzoin, Marjoram, Fennel, Angelica, and Sweet grass for texture. A healing stew.”

  Bohktar motioned weakly for them to come forward. Sarah’s mother touched his face gently. “I’m here.”

  He opened his eyes, immediately recognizing her, and then gazed beyond her to Sarah with a sad smile.

  “This is my daughter, Sarah,” her mother said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

  Bohktar mumbled in choked whisper. “Your eyes.”

  Sarah reached up and touched her own face. “My eyes?”

  “Me brother’s eyes,” he groaned, gasping for oxygen. “Who are ya’ lass?”

  Sarah’s mom leaned in. “She’s my daughter, Bohktar.”

  “Your lass?” he asked with a heavy wheeze. He reached out toward her. “Cadence? What have ya’ done to your face?”

  Sarah looked to her mother, bewildered. “Cadence?”

  “Bohktar, try to get some rest,” her mother told him. She frowned and shook her head. He slumped back and let out a lengthy moan.

  “He needs the lass,” Bohktar rattled. “He needs the lad. Neither are safe. He wants them both and he’ll have them. Ya’ must stop him.”

  Sarah’s mother helped him to a sip of water. “Save your strength. Hush.”

  A small trickle of water and saliva ran down the corner of his mouth and he coughed violently. The Elfin women quickly sat him upright and tended to him. Sarah’s mother took her by the hand and began to lead her out of the room.

  “She speaks the tongue of the beast,” Bohktar moaned. “And the lad. The lad can as well.”

  Sarah’s mother paused. “What tongue?”

  “The book,” he murmured, ignoring the question. “It’s all in the book. Cato seeks the truth about us—about our past. We are not of this world, ya’ see. Not the true heirs.”

  Sarah’s mother stepped closer again, her brow knit with concern. “You’re not making sense.”

  “Oh?” Bohktar’s eyes rolled in his head as he leaned forward, coughing. His face was devoid of color. “It’s in me mum’s hand. Have ya’ seen it? That beautiful script—me true birthright is bur
ied within those pages. Me life is a story. A wondrous dream that I will never wake from. She took me. She took me and she took Cato. She was barren and she took me. She took Cato.”

  He rolled onto his side and took a deep, rattling breath. “The letters dance in me vision. The words—they call. The book is a lie. A deceit. The fools,” he spat and collapsed back into his bed.

  Bohktar didn’t move again. He lay still and silent. The Elfin nurses rushed to his side and Sarah’s mother pulled her away quickly.

  Liam and Seth burst through the door and Sarah’s mother turned her over to them. “Take her. Go. Please.”

  And before she could protest, Sarah was rushed back through the maze of corridors and back toward the library, leaving her mother to tend to Bohktar.

  CHAPTER 33

  LIAM LED THE WAY TOWARD a clear, circular dome over twenty feet across at the center of the TwoSpells arena. There didn’t seem to be a way to get inside of it.

  The flagstone that was removed from under the portal used by Cato and Jeremy sat atop a large wooden table within the dome. Liam’s bodyguards and Orcan troops had taken up strategic positions around the perimeter. Seth, the Dwarves, and the Elfin positioned themselves on the opposite side.

  “What is this?” Sarah asked.

  “The prison,” Liam replied, running a hand over the hard transparent encasement. “Like no other ever constructed. The Dwarven and Elfin clans worked together to construct an inescapable chamber. It was brought here from an ancient enemy’s world.”

  “Is it glass?” Sarah inquired, running her fingers along the smooth finish.

  “No. It’s a Cyclops eye,” Liam answered, grinning as Sarah yanked her hand away. “A very nasty and now blind, Cyclops made a mandatory donation of his only eye to our cause. Its surface is impermeable, even to magic. Legend says that even your mighty worm friends, with their remarkable digestive tracts, will devour a Cyclops but regurgitate the indigestible eye.”

  “That’s disgusting,” Sarah scoffed. “Wait. If it’s impermeable then how’d you get them inside of it?”

  “Through the optical port at the base of the eye, of course,” Liam replied. “We entombed the flagstone, then sealed it permanently by using the outer hide of a dead Woodworm and several embedded Buttress talisman sapphires. From there, we bonded that with a blend of the Woodworms’ dried saliva and blood.”

  “Ugh,” Sarah groaned. “This Cyclops must have been huge if this was its eye.”

  Liam grinned. “At least two hundred and fifty feet tall.”

  Suddenly, several shadowy figures moved through the bookshelves above the arena. Sarah squinted to see them better as they slipped through the aisles. Liam noticed them too and began rattling off commands through his headset. He pointed across the arena and several bodyguards took chase.

  “Who are they?” Sarah asked.

  “They’ll be forced volunteers,” Liam said, gesturing toward the bodyguards.

  A few minutes later, the golems dragged a group of young boys toward them. Sarah recognized the group immediately.

  “Stop—”

  Liam’s command was cut short as the air grew crisp and the ground shuddered. Sarah’s ears popped and she worked her jaw to try and fix it. The table within the Cyclops eye began to glow a deep red and purple.

  A portal within the dome began to spin and open slowly. Sarah held her hands up to soften the glare. A book was spat out from the portal, landing hard on the table with its pages fluttering wildly.

  Sarah watched in horror as a single ghost-like arm wriggled out from the portal. It was followed by a translucent arm, the bone structure and circulatory system clearly visible. It grasped the edge of the table and dragged its muscular torso across the table, exposing an armor plating that appeared to be grafted to its skin.

  It was wore a masked helmet, golden and studded with silver adornments. It reached up, flipping open the faceplate to reveal a contorted scowl. Two bloody sockets sat where its eyes should be. As it moved forward, a twinkle of blue and green glimmered beneath its bushy brow. Under each eye was a set of spidery black stripes meeting at its curling lips.

  It grinned at Sarah.

  “What—what is that?” Sarah asked, trembling.

  Liam stood still, glaring at the thing as it glided out of the portal. “That’s my father.”

  “Cato,” Number One grunted.

  The guards drew their weapons as Cato studied the gawking onlookers. He smiled, revealing a set of pointy, yellow teeth. “A warm welcome, I see.”

  Cato panned his new surroundings and then turned to face the removed section of flagstone beneath the open portal. He looked down at the chunk of stone at his feet, then to the boys. “Brilliant! If the mountain won’t come to Mohammad—”

  He floated down and settled onto his plate mail boots. He was fully clad in magnificent battle armor, pulsing with a life force of its own. On his breastplate was the same metallic sculptured gear and clock insignia that was mounted on the gates of TwoSpells and the Door-of-Doors. A golden sword and matching scepter were sheathed at his sides and they clamored against his armor as he stretched his body like a jungle cat preparing to pounce.

  “His eyes,” Sarah murmured.

  Another arm reached through the portal into their world. It fumbled for the edge of the table and pulled itself forward. This time a smaller warrior emerged with pale, translucent skin that exposed a grotesque horror of muscle and sinew beneath, his face painted in the same strange fashion. His lithe body glided effortlessly toward the stone floor.

  “Sermack,” Liam muttered. “He’s behind all of this. This blood is on his hands.”

  Cato patted Sermack on the back and smirked. He locked eyes with Liam and Seth. “Ya’ haven’t changed a bit, lads.”

  Seth inched forward, spinning his battle scepter.

  Cato grinned and returned his gaze to the open portal. “Release the hellhounds.”

  The pages of the book fluttered and ruffled. Reptilian heads poked through the glowing portal, tongues flicking, tasting the air.

  “Get back!” Liam cried.

  Dozens of massive venomous snakes poured through the portal and across the table, flopping along the floor.

  “What do ya’ think, lads?” Cato asked the reptiles. He pointed at Liam and Sarah. “Are ya’ hungry? Just remember: take all ya’ want, but eat all ya’ take.”

  The snakes slithered toward the dome, hissing and lunging at the wall, pounding it repeatedly. Cato and Jeremy laughed hysterically.

  Seth lifted his scepter. “The dome’s impermeable. They can’t get through!”

  Drops of blood smeared across the dome as the snakes continued to hammer against it until they collapsed. Their bodies began to seize and spasm violently—twisting and contorting across the floor. Their skins split and tore open, splashing a sickening yellow fluid across the interior of the dome’s wall as they throbbed and writhed.

  Screams of agony rang through the library as scaly arms and legs emerged from the bloody pile. Each creature had a sleek, lanky appearance—more human now than reptile. Their fingers and toes were webbed and clawed.

  “Meet your half-brothers,” Cato cackled. “The resemblance is uncanny, isn’t it? Take after their mums, actually.”

  Sarah cowered behind one of the massive Orcan soldiers. Cato winked and blew a kiss in her direction. “As soon as I get out of here, we’ll have a wee chat about your mum, little lass.”

  “Enough!” Liam shouted. “It’s already over. You’ve lost.”

  “Don’t ya’ boys understand what I’ve created?” Cato asked. He slammed both of his fists against the dome wall and purple rings of electricity crackled. “A chimera of me own design—two beings in one. A new level of thinking beyond the subconscious. This world already sits in the palm of me hand. The seeds have been sown and it be time ta’ harvest ‘em.”

  “So that’s it then? This is all to create some ‘super race’ of beings?” Seth scoffed. “Pathetic.�
�

  Liam clutched his staff and pointed it at Cato. “It won’t work.”

  Cato began to laugh and TwoSpells quaked beneath Sarah’s feet. “It already has, Lad. I’m a demi-god!”

  Jeremy snarled and licked blood from the dome wall, his forked tongue flicking back and forth. He glared out at Sarah, eyeing the amulet at her neck. “Blue light!” he hissed, taking a wary step back. “Give it back!”

  He reached for his scepter and stepped back, lining up his shot at Liam. A burst of molten plasma roared forth, ricocheting off of the dome wall and shearing limbs from two of the reptilian creatures within. They screamed and writhed along the stone floor, green innards pouring from their sides.

  Cato grit his teeth and snarled as he looked over the distressed creatures. He drew his sword and lopped their heads off in a single stroke. “I really hate cry babies.”

  The remaining snake children lunged for the remains of their siblings, tearing into their twitching headless bodies.

  “You know, that hurt me as much as it hurt them,” Cato said, holding a hand to his heart. “Ah, well. The family that eats together—”

  Sarah turned away from the ghastly sight, her eyes tearing up. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jeremy sizing up the dome wall with his scepter drawn again.

  “You don’t really believe all that nonsense about Cyclops eyes bein’ impenetrable do ya’? I thought I taught ya’ boys better than that,” Cato said, chuckling again. “Lower the lights! Raise the curtain! Prepare yourselves for the show of ah’ lifetime!”

  CHAPTER 34

  EVERYONE OUTSIDE OF THE DOME took a stunned step backward as the lights began to dim. Jeremy positioned himself beside the book, removed his battle helmet and raised it in front of his face. He snapped it downward, changing it into a black magician’s top hat. He reached inside and drew out a fistful of slithering mist, tossing it to his feet. It expanded and swirled, snaking up and around his body, hiding him in a shroud of oily smoke.

  The smoke dissipated and Jeremy stood dressed in full vaudevillian magician’s attire, complete with a black tuxedo and a crisp bow tie. He placed the top hat on the table, reached deep into it and pulled out a black wand with a white tip.