Long, Dark Road

by Bianculli, Susan

  When the golden motes had solidified enough, out of them stepped the goddess. The tips of her long golden hair swung down by her ankles as her signature green fog dress with the refracted light girdle belt drifted around her slender body. She came right over to me and enfolded me in both her arms and in her huge white and gold wings. I hugged her back, breathing in her spicy scent and feeling safe and secure.

  “My Champion, I have the greatest respect for you, for all you have accomplished,” she said. “You have done excellently for me, and I am most proud. You have persevered through trials and tribulations that most beings—whether Human, Elven, or whatever race—might not have handled as gracefully as you have done. And I want you to know that I appreciate you.”

  “Th-thanks,” I said breathlessly, feeling a little overwhelmed at her words.

  She unwrapped her wings from me and stood back to hold my shoulders with her slender hands. “Do not worry about being able to return to your home. I have it on good authority that Heather’s gate will work for you, and you will appear in your world where that gate is.”

  I reddened, embarrassed at having doubted her.

  “Do not feel embarrassed,” she said, smiling. “Just feel relieved.”

  And I was. Caelestis then held out an arm to Auraus, and drew her in for a three-way hug. It felt nice.

  Caelestis stepped back after a few minutes and said, “But there is no guarantee that Heather’s gate will open next. It may be another one somewhere else in the world.” At my growing look of dismay, she said, “Lise, do not worry. Return to the valley, and I will see to it that you, Jason, and Heather will reach whatever gate opens before it closes.”

  “How?” Auraus asked, speaking up for the first time.

  Caelestis smiled. “Leave that to the Divine.”

  Caelestis stepped back a few steps, held out the palm of her hands towards us in the now familiar gesture, and radiant streams of golden particles stormed around Auraus and me. I swear I felt a kiss pressed on my forehead as the golden storm subsided, and when we could see again, we were clean, whole, and healthy. Also as usual, we were dressed in clean clothes, but to my surprise I was dressed in what I had been wearing when I came here: my sneakers, my jeans, and my white t-shirt!

  “Wow, I guess Caelestis really is ready to help me get home,” I said, seeing Auraus’ perplexed look at what I was wearing. “These are like the clothes I wore when I first came to your world.”

  Then I noticed three piles of clothes at my feet. One was of my Champion’s chainmail, sword belt, and wing-hilted saber; one contained hiking boots, khaki shorts, a red t-shirt, and a red plaid flannel shirt which I remembered Heather had worn when she’d crossed over; and the last one was made of the clothes that Jason had first chased me in: sneakers, jeans, a hoodie, and a scarf.

  I laughed as I scooped them all up. “Let’s go show Jason and Heather. Won’t they be surprised!”

  Jason and Heather were duly surprised, Jason taking the clothes with an exclamation of gladness, while Heather’s expression was more thoughtful. Dusk and Ragar examined the odd-to-them clothing, and we explained to them as much as we knew about how they were all made. I also made sure to introduce my friends to the concept of roomy pockets.

  The next morning we joined the group that was headed back to the valley. Jason and his Ogre and Giant ex-captors continued the “I-don’t-know-you” game, which was just fine with me. Less than two days saw us back at the slowly diminishing keep. The furniture in the bedrooms was gone by now, so the six of us set up camp inside one of the empty room so we could spend our last days together.

  As soon as we were settled, Auraus and I sought out Emalai, the dark-haired Surface-elf beauty who was waiting for Arghen’s return. With many fits and starts, I ended up telling her what had happened to Arghen while Auraus stood by with one hand on my shoulder for the promised moral support. Emalai’s response was a stone-faced silence when I finished, and she turned away and left us without a word, even to waving away Auraus’ offer of comfort.

  “Did I do it wrong?” I asked Auraus, who drew me in for a hug.

  “There is no right way to tell such news, Lise. I felt you did well,” the Wind-rider replied.

  We later learned that Emalai left the keep the following morning to join a caravan of Miscere who were going to contact the nearest Elven settlement in hopes of establishing trade, saying she was going to find her way to her old home from there. The six of us called down good wishes to her from our window when the caravan left, but Emalai didn’t turn and acknowledge them. I guessed she was feeling miserable, and that made me feel bad.

  Days passed, and the Summer Solstice approached all too fast, and not fast enough. I was torn between going home, and knowing I’d never see all my friends here again. I slept badly in the nights running up to the date, from the nerves of not knowing if we were going home or not. I tried to sleep that night, but sleep wouldn’t come. When the moon started to set I gave it up as a bad job, and snuck out of our shared room as quietly as I could to go sit in one of the rooms still open to the sky from the earthquake we’d caused. Dawn came, and I started yawning and thinking that it was time to try sleeping again when an overlarge reptilian head popped in out of nowhere, a rainbow sheen rippling across his face.

  “Champion Lise!” Frelanfur distantly boomed. “Gather your things together at once! A mist gate has opened far away from here, and if you wish to get there before it closes, we must leave quickly!”

  Chapter 47

  I about jumped out of my skin at the dragon’s appearance, and it took a couple of seconds for his words to sink in. When they did, I scrambled back to the room, calling over my shoulder, “We’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere without us!”

  “Meet me in the keep yard,” he replied as he moved out of sight.

  I burst into the shared bedroom, where Ragar, Auraus, Dusk, Heather, and Jason were still sleeping. “Frelanfur the dragon’s popped up out of nowhere! And he says a gate has opened and that if we don’t want to miss it, we gotta get moving now out to the keep yard!” I said excitedly, stripping out of my medieval clothes and getting into my human ones.

  Pandemonium reigned as Ragar, Jason, Dusk, Auraus, and Heather woke abruptly. After I repeated myself, Jason and Heather rushed into their human clothes as Dusk, Auraus, and Ragar scrambled into their regular ones. I looked at my armor and my sword lying beside my bedroll as I waited for the others. It was a real wrench to leave them behind as they had served me so well, but they would cause questions to be asked on the other side that I didn’t want to answer. Jason and I grabbed for the chest Alveo had given us, and the six of us dashed down the stairs and towards the back of the keep, startling a few early risers on their way to getting breakfast and other duties underway.

  We burst into the keep yard and found Frelanfur sitting on the crumbled-down cliff face of loose dirt and rock at the back like he’d had done the last time we’d seen him.

  “Jason, Heather, and I are ready!” I panted, coming to a stop just in front of him.

  “As are Dusk, Ragar, and I,” added Auraus.

  I looked in surprise at her. “I didn’t know you wanted to come?”

  A hurt expression crossed her face. “And not be there to say a final goodbye?” she asked.

  I ducked my head in embarrassment. Frelanfur opened his mouth, but Dusk cleared his throat and looked meaningfully at the dragon, and surprisingly the dragon didn’t say anything; he just nodded his head towards his broad back. We scrambled on and seated ourselves, and once again the invisible bubble of protection rose up around us as he took off.

  I turned to Dusk. “What was that all about?”

  The amber-eyed Surface-elf bared his teeth in an imitation of a smile, and said softly, “My mother spoke to me and told me of the arrangements that had been made to get all of us to the gate, whenever it happened. I am thinking Frelanfur was hoping that we did not know all the details.”

  “Do you?” I asked. />
  He shook his head “no,” still with that smile. “But I will not tell the dragon so.”

  I got up and walked towards the dragon’s head, and was suddenly struck by the fact that Venire wasn’t with him. “Did you get what you wanted from Venire?” I asked conversationally.

  I could practically hear the smile in Frelanfur’s voice as he replied as we flew, “Yes, I have. He acquitted himself satisfactorily and is now back in the Sub-realms learning his new duties as a priest to Alveo.”

  “That’s great to hear. About both those things,” I said. Changing the subject, I asked, “So how far do we have to go, Frelanfur?”

  “A couple of degrees of the sun rising away to the south,” he replied.

  I tried to figure out where that might correspond to in the human world—when did I start thinking of home in those terms? I wondered—and guessed that if Frelanfur flew as fast as a 727, then a couple degrees of the sun from upstate New York would put us somewhere in the South.

  “Huh. Okay, thanks,” I said, and as I turned to leave Frelanfur said in an annoyed tone, “By the way, you can tell Quiris’ son that I heard him quite clearly.”

  I smiled to myself.

  It seemed like no time passed, but it was mid-morning when we felt and saw Frelanfur starting to descend.

  “I wonder where we are?” I mused.

  “Over a mountian range,” Heather said facetiously, and I grinned at her.

  “I meant in corresponding to home,” I replied. “Down South there’s Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas ….”

  “Does it matter?” Jason asked, interrupting. “We’re almost home.”

  I kissed him briefly. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

  Frelanfur landed on a clear, rocky mountain top, and once we were off of him he said, “Go down the slope to your right among the trees. I am told the mist gate is there.”

  “Thanks again for everything, Frelanfur,” I said, and meant it.

  Frelanfur’s lips curled into a smile as he replied, “You are welcome, Champion Lise. Do not forget what you have learned from your sojourn with us.”

  “I won’t,” I promised.

  To those staying, he said, “I will await your return so that I may fly you back to the valley.”

  We humans, with a wave of goodbye to the dragon, headed down the slope towards the woods. It wasn’t hard to figure out where we needed to go: the sounds of a drunken Southern accent shouting out unintelligible words could be heard from somewhere down among the trees.

  We crunched through the leaves and found a rumpled brown-haired man in his mid-thirties wearing camo pants, unlaced hunter’s boots, and a black t-shirt with holes in it. He stared at us from behind a wheelbarrow filled with ceramic jugs of what had to be moonshine, judging from the alcoholic smell drifting in the air. He blinked furiously at Ragar and Auraus and Dusk with disbelief. He grabbed one of the jugs from his wheelbarrow, opened it, and started drinking hastily two-handed from it, pausing every couple of minutes as if to see if the were-cat, the angel, or the elf had vanished. We stared back open-mouthed at his behavior. The man reached the midpoint of the jug pretty quick, and the six of us exchanged glances of concern.

  Jason said, “Hey, hombre, maybe you should take it easy on the alcohol there before,” but was interrupted by the man passing out and slumping to the ground. The jug fell out of his lax hands and rolled away, splashing its contents all over the forest floor.

  “Well, this kinds works in our favor,” I said. “I guess he’s a deep woods good ole’ Southern boy who was probably escaping the cops or something for an illegal still, if that accent and those jugs mean what I think they mean. That’s why the gate opened—the right timeframe, and the right mindset.”

  Jason said, “We can push him on his wheelbarrow back with us through the gate, leave him and his belongings on the ground on the other side, and get away easily. Because when he wakes up, he won’t remember a thing.”

  I closed my eyes and prayed. Caelestis, I’ll never forget you. Thank you for all you have done for me, and for all you had me do. I know I’ve changed in ways I’ll probably only figure out later, but for whatever I discover later, thanks.

  A caring mental pat that was somehow also wistful was my reward for my last prayer. Jason and I started hugging everyone, but I was surprised when Heather didn’t join in.

  “Don’t you want to say goodbye to everyone, too?” I asked her.

  “No,” she said, picking at the cuff of her red plaid shirt that hung open over her red t-shirt. “Because I’m staying.”

  Ragar, a huge grin on his furry face, whirled her up into a happy hug, and she squealed. Auraus and Dusk exchanged glances as if they were surprised, but not very. Jason and I, however, were shocked.

  “But, Heather …,” I started after the mountain-cat-elf put her back down.

  “No, Lise. I’ve given it an awful lot of thought these past couple of days, and I am more valued and loved here on this side of the mist gate than I will ever be back home,” Heather interrupted. “Over there, I am just my parents’ little girl who will be ordered to be the best at everything so that I become a prize which can be distributed at my father’s behest.”

  I must have looked confused because she clarified, “I will be told everything I can and can’t do—up to and including whom I can date, and whom I can marry. It was something I’d always known and had reluctantly come to accept, but here I don’t have to do that.”

  My jaw hung open at her words.

  Jason cleared his throat. “Wow, that sucks.”

  “Yeah, it does,” she said grimly. “So I’m not going back.” Forcing a tone change, she said brightly, “So, the two of you should get going. You don’t want to have come all this way for nothing, do you?”

  I ran up to her and hugged her hard. “I’ll miss you, Heather. Do you want me to pass on any messages?”

  “No. That’ll just make too many questions you won’t able to answer without looking mental,” she replied with a smile, hugging me back just as hard.

  Ragar dumped the unconscious Southern man onto his wheelbarrow to make it easier to take him with us. Jason and I placed Alveo’s strongbox on top of him, and then we wheeled our burden to the place where the mist started thickening. We stopped at its edge, and turned back to look at everybody. I started crying, and even Jason had tears rolling down his cheeks.

  “We’ll miss you all so much!” I said, wiping my eyes.

  “We will miss you too!” Auraus called back, her grey eyes wet like everybody else’s.

  To the chorus of goodbyes rising behind us, Jason and I each grabbed a handle of the wheelbarrow and walked forward into the mist, towards the shimmering blue-white door of light that we knew would be at its heart to take us home.

  About the Mist Gate Crossings Series

  The Mist Gate Crossings Series follows the adventures of humans Lise and Jason after they accidentally stumble through a gate connecting our world to a world filled with magic, elves, and all manner of fairy tale creatures.

  To join The Mist Gate Crossings community online, find us at cbaybooks.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/MistGateCrossings.

  Besides discussing the finer points of the Mist Gate Crossings’ novels and novellas on our Facebook Page, we also discuss, review, and recommend other teen and adult Sword & Sorcery novels. We would love to see you there.

  For more information on the individual Mist Gate Crossings books, keep reading.

  Prisoners of the Keep

  The Mist Gate Crossings Book 1

  By Susan Bianculli

  Published by CBAY Books

  After being chased by a mugger through Central Park, Lise stumbles through an odd patch of mist and into a whole other, more magical dimension. With only an elf, a fellow human, and the blessings of a goddess to help her, Lise must find a way to create her own place in this new world.

  Bascom’s Revenge

  The Mist Gate Crossings Book 2

  By S
usan Bianculli

  Published by CBAY Books

  After stumbling through an odd patch of mist and into a whole other, more magical dimension, Lise had begun to adjust to her new life. With new friends and a new commitment to the Goddess Caelestis, Lise thinks she’s ready for the next adventure. At least, she thinks that until the only other human is injured and then kidnapped just as another mist gate opens. Forced to choose between Jason and her life back in New York, Lise’s new faith is put to the test.

  Descent Into Underearth

  The Mist Gate Crossings Book 3

  By Susan Bianculli

  Published by CBAY Books

  The search to save a missing friend takes Lise, Arghen, and their companions deep underground into a world of slavery, cruelty and torture: the world of the Under-elves. Finding their friend in such a location will take cunning and all of Arghen’s knowledge of Under-elf life. And if infiltrating an Under-Elf city weren’t enough of a challenge, it seems that a mysterious enemy is following them.

  The Long, Dark Road

  The Mist Gate Crossings Book 4

  By Susan Bianculli

  Published by CBAY Books

  Lise and her friends have finally defeated their greatest foe, but at a great cost. One of their number has been captured by wrathful enemies determined to extract revenge. Now with his life on the line, Lise must venture underground one last time before the final mist gate, and her final chance to go home, closes for good.

  The Grey Riders’ Search

  A Mist Gate Crossings Novella

  By Susan Bianculli

  Published by CBAY Books

  Dusk and Auraus and their band, the Grey Riders, have been tryingto determine what is happening to travelers disappearing in the Garrend Mountains. Unfortunately, after being captured in a raid, it looks like Dusk and Auraus might be the ones disappearing. See how Dusk and Auraus came to be at the Keep in this Prequel to Prisoners of the Keep.