Passages (Alternate Worlds Book 1)

by Taylor Leigh

  Molly’s eyes went wide. ‘What was that?’

  There was another loud CRUNCH! just beyond the veil of trees.

  Thedric struggled to control his animal. The noise was growing closer. ‘We are not waiting round to find out! GO!’

  His horse needed no convincing and broke into a terrified gallop away from the crunching, crackling approach behind them. Victoria felt like a doll as she was bounced and jostled wildly along the tiny trail they’d been following. They tore through overhanging branches, jumping logs and sliding down muddy hills, horses charging at breakneck speed.

  It was not for a long time till the animals were finally allowed to walk.

  Ahead, rising above the trees was a great fortress perched atop a rocky crag. It was to this structure that her captors directed their steeds. As they climbed the road, Victoria’s thoughts were lost to anxiety as she realised they were reaching their destination. Soon she would be faced with a new unknown, and that scared her more than anything.

  As the horses were pulled to a halt, Victoria got her first look at her future. The stone structure, all mossy and grey, towered before her. She could see bright red flowers growing in a garden and high glass windows. Her eyes continued to climb and she saw a giant tower sticking up from the main building, her head continued to lean back till it touched Thedric’s chest. She stared up at the tower in confusion. What good could that possibly be?

  Molly glanced over at her and smiled kindly. ‘Welcome to Watcher’s Keep.’

  Chapter Eleven

  Reginald wiped sweat from his brow and stared out at the view. He was surprised how far away from the palace, and the city itself, he was. It was a place he’d never seen before, and he was rather surprised no-one had found it before, because it was fantastic.

  They were in a round basin of rock which was rather large and held a labyrinth of tunnels, digging deep into the mountainous stone walls. Water, which he had always believed to be rare on Scrabia, flowed through the basin in abundance and spilled down a straight drop, perhaps twenty metres, to a vast jungle below, which stretched as far as he could see. He had no idea Scrabia could look so lush and alive. If he had known about this basin during the Trials, he would have been living like a king!

  Altogether, the place was like something from a dream. From the posh palace, or his wild, dry province, he had never been somewhere so strange and beautiful.

  Arkron came out of the tunnel which she’d designated as theirs.

  ‘Well, I’ve got sleep cots set up, food, weapons. There are tunnels that lead to the forest floor below, but it’s a dangerous place. Try not to get lost. Things that should be long extinct may still be very well alive in certain parts of this world.’

  Reginald nodded, mind whirling. He still had no idea who the woman was, and for about the hundredth time that day, questioned his judgement for so blindly following her into the desert.

  ‘You can drink this water. It’s pure. Those Denizens haven’t polluted it yet with their spores.’

  He gaped. ‘You mean to tell me the Denizens are doing something to the water? But spores are dangerous, believe me, I know! I’m allergic. If they’re polluting water, why am I not feeling the effects?’

  ‘Well, for one, the aquifers are completely different in your province, so they may not be poisoned yet. Your little patch of land isn’t that important to bother with. Or they may just now be getting to the point where it’s affecting people. For another, the aquifers are so vast, and the amount of spores is so small in comparison that the water dilutes it down. It’s going to take a while before people start feeling the effects. However, it will eventually get to the state when they look like your aunt. Give it a year or two if things keep going the way they are now.’

  ‘What about my aunt, or those priestesses?’ Reginald asked.

  ‘Your aunt and those women have been downing spores like there’s no tomorrow. They’re hooked on it. From what I can gather, last night after the Passing was quite a party. The Denizens managed to get most of the royal court drugged beyond any discernment last night and they’ve been feeding them a steady diet of the drug since then. Queen Lucinda and your father are going to be yellow eyed sleepwalkers in no time.’

  Reginald stood in a panic. ‘We have to do something! Is there any way to stop this?’

  Arkron leant back against a rock in ease. ‘I like your spirit, kid. Unfortunately, the Denizens have done a good job destroying any antidotes. They’ve been planning this for some time. If I’d arrived sooner my group could have done something about it but I only arrived a couple days ago, and for a completely different reason. You can imagine my surprise when I realise a coup was about to take place. It’s rather embarrassing, really. By then, as I said, I couldn’t do anything to stop it, or the spores. I’ve actually heard of an antidote found on Scottorr,’ she pointed up. ‘But for now that’s out of the question, and I have no idea how to find it, or if it still exists. Luckily, there’s someone up there, a friend of mine who was actually paying attention who can find it. Not that he knows what he’s looking for. Yet. But even when he does find it he won’t be able to send it down for a while. The Passing won’t happen again for another year.’

  ‘So, I’m the only ruling power left who isn’t going crazy?’ Reginald asked shakily.

  ‘Correct. Congratulations!’ She offered him a nastily sweet smile.

  Reginald ran his hands over his short hair. ‘This is insane! I don’t understand why? Why would the Denizens want to do this?’

  Arkron gave him a long look. ‘Why do you think?’

  Reginald thought. ‘With our parents crazy, that leaves Victoria and I in power. But they tried to kill Victoria and are after me. Who’s next in line for the throne if we don’t survive?’

  Arkron smiled thinly.

  Suddenly it all became horribly clear. ‘Brilliant. Scrabia is going to be ruled by Denizens! They’re drugging everyone up to keep them compliant. What do those spores do, in large doses, I mean?’

  ‘They’re hallucinogenic, cause paranoia, overconfidence, openness to suggestion, openness to… possession.’ Arkron shrugged.

  ‘So, if everyone is in a constant state of that, they won’t much care about who’s in charge. But how can the Denizens hope to succeed? There’s only a small collective in the city! If it will take a while for people to get to a drugged state, then they’ll know something is up, at least for a little while.’

  Arkron’s eyes sparkled. ‘Do you really think that there’s only a small population of priests? There are an awful lot of Denizens outside the city gates that aren’t religious leaders. It’s tough out there and there’s a lot of wild Denizens that don’t live in posh temples. They are hive creatures. Where the leaders go, the Denizens will follow.’

  Reginald shook his head. ‘Wait, back up. You said open to possession. What does that mean?’

  Arkron’s face was dark now. ‘You know anything about the religious stuff that goes on here? Do you know whom those Denizens claim to serve?’

  Reginald turned a bit sheepish. ‘Well, no. I’ve never really paid it much mind.’

  Arkron sighed. ‘Have you heard of Daemons?’

  He felt a chill go through him. He did his best to play it off. ‘Well, yeah, in kid stories. They’re like evil ghosts, right?’

  Arkron stood up. ‘Not exactly. Follow me.’

  She led him up a thin, winding path, the same one they’d come in on, till they had a view of the city. Reginald stared at the glittering lights and winding columns of slaves as they came back to the gates for the night. For some reason, it didn’t look like home to him.

  ‘What if I told you that you weren’t the only world out there?’

  ‘What do you mean, do you mean like the Dead World?’

  She rolled her eyes irritably, making Reginald feel rather defensive. ‘No. I mean a world so close to ours it could be right on top of us, beside us, maybe even in us, but there’s no way to see it.’

  �
��An invisible world. Like where the ghosts are?’

  ‘Close. Let me see if I can make this simpler. Do you see the city, and all those roads branching out every which-way? That is like these worlds. The technical term is Realms. Do you follow me so far?’

  ‘I think so. Realms are invisible and they’re roads, or a web.’

  ‘Bingo. Let’s say that Scrabia, Scottorr and everything that we can see, that includes all of the stars, is one of those branches.’ Arkron pointed.

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Now,’ Arkron’s eyes sparkled in the waning light. ‘Let us say that one of those lower branches is the Daemon’s Realm.’

  ‘Got it so far.’

  Arkron continued. ‘That bottom branch was the Daemon’s original Realm. But the funny thing about Realms is: the ones that touch each other can have gateways. It’s all a giant web, they’ve all got little points of impact that form doorways. If you know how to do it, or have the power to do it, you can cross Realms. That’s how some people see ghosts. Ghosts cross over the Realms. It’s how other people swear they’ve been abducted by metal beings and all that other rubbish.

  ‘Now, picture the Daemon Realm and all of its inhabitants slowly branching out into each other little thread, crossing barriers and bringing other stowaways with them, like the Denizens.’

  ‘Wait a minute. You said everything we see is in our Realm. You’re saying that the Denizens crossed over?’

  ‘Correct. Scottorr is a good example of this phenomenon. A very long time ago it used to be a different Realm, but it was so close to this one it finally kind of bled through; it’s technically still a different Realm, but it’s so close to this one, they’re almost the same.

  ‘The further down the Realms you go, the darker it gets. Daemons are about as dark as you can get, and Light Beings and whatnot are about as light as you can get. Different ends of the spectrum. Denizens, with their Realm so close to the new Daemon Realms, have a close connection with them, like you have a close connection with Denizens. The Denizens managed to move into your Realm and they’ve been here for thousands of years, but they are still closely associated with the Daemons. And the Daemon population is still expanding.’

  Reginald stared at the city and sat down. ‘And they want this Realm now.’

  ‘Precisely. You’re not as dumb as you look.’

  ‘And the Denizens are helping us be more…possessable?’

  Arkron nodded. ‘Yes. To put it simply, Daemons are spiritual parasites. They feed off of negative emotions. All they want are nice little bodies to hide inside of and feed off of. They do whatever they can to make their hosts’ lives living hells so that they can gorge themselves.’

  Reginald swore.

  ‘Just calm down. There are very strong magical barriers in this world that will be difficult to break, but anything is possible. For an overwhelming number of Daemons to get through, a great many things will have to go wrong.’

  ‘Which means they probably will,’ Reginald moaned.

  ‘Way to stay positive.’ Arkron smiled.

  ‘So the Denizens are trying to help them get in, why? Why would they do that?’

  ‘Probably to keep themselves from falling out of existence. If your entire species was about to be destroyed, don’t you think you’d make a few promises to keep them alive?’

  Reginald shivered. ‘I don’t know.’ He’d like to think he wouldn’t, but it was never a problem he ever thought he’d be confronted with! Reginald stared at Arkron for a moment. How could she be so calm by all of this? How could it possibly be so normal to her? ‘Just tell me one thing.’

  Arkron shrugged. ‘If I can.’

  ‘Who the hell are you?’

  Arkron laughed lightly. ‘I guess you could say I’m an adventurer of sorts. I travel about here and there with a small group of special people. We protect worlds like yours from invading forces, not other nations or rot like that, but actual other forces. Forces from other worlds, other dimensions, Daemons are just the start of it. We try to keep a balance. Try to keep the exposure from becoming too great. Every world has to grow up some day and accept the fact there are other worlds and species out there, but they all have to do it in their own times. It can’t happen too fast. We try to minimise the damage.’

  ‘And this friend of yours, the one after the spore antidote, the one who saved Victoria, he’s a part of your group?’

  Arkron smiled, a distant, almost sad smile, Reginald thought. ‘On occasion. When he wants to be. He’s a bit of a lone wolf. He likes to do things his own way. But I always consider myself incredibly lucky when he decides to help.’

  Reginald shook his head. ‘Why?’

  Arkron grinned. ‘Because he’s brilliant. And when he’s with us, I feel nothing can stop us.’

  As comforting as Arkron’s words should have been, Reginald suddenly felt very small and insignificant. If what Arkron said was true, then his whole world no longer mattered. He was just a small dot in a galaxy of other worlds and beings. How could one person hope to accomplish anything important in the grand scheme of things knowing that? He glanced over at Arkron and studied her soft, attractive profile in the dimming light. She seemed to. Somehow, Arkron knew all of this and wasn’t bothered by it. Why? How did she get through each day with that knowledge? He had to know. He didn’t know how he’d be able to go on without knowing.

  ‘How do you do it, Arkron? How do you go on each day, knowing that you’re just an unimportant speck in the universe? How can you be happy knowing there is so much out there?’

  Arkron smiled at him strangely. ‘How could I survive if it wasn’t that way? I think it’s brilliant! Imagine, there’s so much to see and do out there, so many new things to discover! I live for it! Why do you think I run around, doing what I do? It’s because I never want to stop exploring. Never.’

  He smiled weakly. ‘I hope someday I can see it that way. Because right now, I’m not afraid to admit, I’m bloody terrified!’

  She squeezed his shoulder. ‘It’s a lot to take in. I know.’

  He took a breath. ‘So what do we do? Just hide up here till the planets pass each other again and Scottorr can send down some antidrug?’

  Arkron smirked. ‘Oh, no. You’re not getting out of this that easily.’

  ‘W—what do you mean?’

  ‘The Denizens will have control over the crown in less than a week’s time. All of the people here will be enslaved and will slowly succumb to the drugs in the water. The Denizens will overrun everything.’

  ‘Well, what are you suggesting we do? It’s not like I can march in there and take the throne back!’

  Arkron leaned forward conspiratorially. ‘Not alone. Think about it. You’ve got, what, twenty thousand people in this city? When things start getting tough for them—and it will, those people are going to look to someone to turn to.’

  ‘What? You mean me?’

  Her eyebrows went up in answer.

  ‘No, no, no, no! There’s no way I can do that. Lead an uprising? Are you crazy? Against everything those creatures are capable of? Impossible!’

  ‘It’s either that or hide up here in this cave until the Denizens find you, and trust me, they will. If that’s your choice I won’t be here to save you, but if you decide to fight, you’ll be glad you have me at your side.’

  Reginald stared off into the distance. It was mental. Going up against the creatures they were supposed to revere? Mad. But still, the choice of that or rotting in the desert…It wasn’t much of one but after what he’d seen, the thought of Arkron leaving him was terrifying.

  His heart clenched up in his chest. His father and aunt would die if he didn’t do something. And what about Scrabia? Arkron said that there were measures put in place that would stop the Daemons from coming through, but with the Denizens overrunning the planet, all working hard for that one goal, how long until those barriers were broken? He swallowed. He knew the answer, it wouldn’t take long. Maybe not in his lifetime, but the
idea of him dying knowing that he could have tried to put a stop to it and hid like a coward instead made him sick. Slowly, without quite realising it, he felt himself nod.

  ‘Right then, let’s do this.’

  Arkron grinned. ‘Fantastic.’

  Chapter Twelve

  Molly dropped down to the soggy earth and reached out for the horses’ reins. ‘I’ll take them in.’

  Victoria numbly slid off the horse and cowered behind Andrew as she looked towards the great manor. Creeping vines stretched up the three storey building, snaking round stained glass windows and burrowing into every available crack in the stone. It reminded Victoria of dead flesh clogged with green veins.

  Victoria, though terrified, wished Andrew or Thedric would have made some move towards the huge wooden doors. Though the rain had slowed considerably, the cold air cut through her soggy, thin clothing, making her shake constantly. She was bewildered at her captors. How could they manage to stand in this wet, abysmal weather without one complaint? It was intolerable!

  The sky rumbled overhead.

  Victoria turned round in a small circle, taking in more of her surroundings. The manor appeared to be surrounded on all sides by the forest, which looked impossibly green in the grey light. Unearthly.

  The front of the manor was nothing spectacular, mossy stone steps led up a ways to the huge wooden doors. A few haphazardly trimmed bushes and crumbling statues dotted the sloping hillside. With the rain easing up, birds were singing more cheerfully and the still, watchful wood didn’t seem quite as menacing at the moment. Still, dread hung over her like a cloud.

  A noise from the manor caused Victoria to spin back and she watched as the front doors were opened. A large man, both in girth and build pushed his way out into the light. He had a great red beard and tangle of hair. Victoria could easily tell he was important by the ornate clothes he wore, which she found quite odd. A kilt, long stockings and a great plaid sash. On his head a woollen cap sat to one side jauntily. His face was mostly obscured by the massive amount of facial hair he had, but his red face shined with amusement.