Portals of Infinity: Reprisal

by John Van Stry

  "Good idea," I said heading down the trail.

  When we got there, I pulled myself up and looked inside. I could see the bundle, it was still smoldering in the entrance. Grabbing the rope, I pulled it out and was surprised when it burst back into life.

  So Tal and I waited for it to burn out, and then waited another couple of hours, giving the air a chance to return in the cave before venturing inside. We took turns napping while we waited.

  When we finally climbed up and started to explore we found two dead bodies, one was the leader I had hamstrung, he was about halfway to the portal, and the other one was ten feet from it.

  "How come they're not stone?" Tal asked.

  "Takes sunlight for that to happen," I said and started searching each of the bodies. "Wow, these guys stink," I said trying not to breath through my nose.

  "Too bad we can't get any sun in here, should we drag them up to the entrance?"

  "Sure, but lets go get that rope, I really don't want to touch these guys anymore, they're pretty filthy," I said and looked for something to clean my hands with. I finally remembered that I had the flask on me, and water is water, so I poured some on my hands to get the stink off.

  "Will you look at that!" Tal said, and I looked down at the corpse of the giant at my feet, that was quickly turning to stone.

  "What's in that?" Tal asked.

  "Holy water," I said and looking over at the other corpse I went over and sprinkled some on it. Sure enough, it tuned to stone as well.

  "Huh, interesting." I said and looked around the cavern. If we got enough bodies in here, I could easily block that portal by piling them all up and turning them to stone.

  "Hold onto this a minute," I said and handed Tal the flask.

  "Why?"

  "I'm going to pop through that portal and take a look. I may be gone a while, so go wait at the camp until either I or the others come back."

  "Sure thing, Will. Just be careful, okay?"

  I nodded and quickly stepped through.

  Eight

  Underworld - Troll Camp

  8 Months

  My body felt like someone had just lit me up with a couple of hundred volts and I stumbled, dizzy and disorientated as I came out the other side of the gate. It took me a minute to get my bearings and figure out where I was; thankfully there was no one else around.

  It was black, pitch black, and I couldn't see or hear anything. But I could smell the air, and the strong stench of the giants. So taking careful steps and feeling around, I found first one stone wall, then another. I was in another cave.

  Having figured that much out, I moved slowly towards the source of the stench, and away from the portal. It didn't seem like a long cave, but in the darkness with no references, it wasn't easy to judge time or distance.

  When I got to the end of the cave, it was without any warning, there was no 'sunlight' or even 'moon light' to let me know I was at the exit. I was just suddenly there, and it was all laid out before me.

  The sky was dark, and it glowed weakly, sort of like the night sky outside of New York City on an overcast night. I didn't see any stars; I didn't see much of anything up in the sky, except maybe the occasional dark shape flying by, off in the distance.

  There was a trail leading down the side of the hill, and there was a single giant moving down it. I watched him as he got to the bottom, and then started off across a rock-strewn field. Looking ahead of him, I saw it then, there was a settlement, of sorts. Perhaps it was a city even. It was hard to make it out in the darkness, but I could see stone huts, and I could see forms, other giants I guess, moving around in the dim twilight.

  I started to pick my way down the path; I wanted to get a better look at what was down there.

  It didn't take me long to get down to the bottom, I was a lot more agile and I moved quicker than the giant did. Oddly enough, I could feel Fel prodding at my mind, so I did the 'eyes and ears' thing and continued to move closer, going across the rock-strewn field.

  The rocks themselves looked out of place. The field itself was dirt with some kind of grass growing out of it. The rocks, all craggy and ranging in size from a foot to three feet, were just strewn about everywhere. Like they'd been tossed there.

  As I drew close to the settlement, or town I guess you'd call it, I could notice a lot more of the giants walking around, and even things that weren't giants. Some looked like they were half serpent, half man; I think I may have seen something that looked like a centaur as well, only it was bigger than the giants.

  And there were a lot of giants. Dozens, probably hundreds. I watched carefully as the one I'd followed went into one of the stone huts, and after a minute, there was quite a bit of bellowing and other noises coming from the hut. Others slowly started to gather around it and even go inside, attracted by the noise I guess.

  I decided that I'd seen enough at this point and turned around and left. This wasn't a small group that had been coming and attacking us, more like scouting parties that had been sent to look around. I'd definitely have to figure out how to get a large number to come through, but I did have a few ideas on that now.

  Going back through the portal was painless; I guess that was because I was going back where I belonged. That made me wonder what it was like for the giants when they came through, a few moments of disorientation could be helpful. When I came out of the portal, there were a couple of bales of oil soaked wool and wood sitting about halfway up the cave. I was surprised at how quickly they'd gotten them here, it wasn't even evening yet.

  "Is that you, Will?" I heard Tal's voice shout down the cave.

  "Yes," I said and made my way up and out of the cave. He was standing guard there with another of the archers from the town. They had a burning lamp there, already to go. Looking up I noticed that the sun was approaching the far horizon!

  "Damn, almost sundown! I had no idea I was gone that long," I said.

  "You left yesterday morning!" Tal said, "What did you see in there that it took you so long?"

  That brought me up short, "I've been gone a day and a half?"

  He nodded.

  "Huh, only seemed like a few hours to me, there must be a serious time dilation in their sphere. That might be why they aren't attacking every night, by the time they get back to their town, and return, it's been several days for us."

  Tal looked at me and shook his head, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

  I snorted and shook my head; I should have guessed it wouldn't make sense to him.

  "Things move slower there, that's all." I said. "And I saw a large town there, hundreds of the giants, and some other things that I'd like even less to run into."

  "So what's the plan then?"

  "I think the plan is tomorrow morning, I'm going to go in there and stir up some trouble and see if I can't lead a whole bunch of them back through the portal and into the tunnel."

  "Why would you want to do that?" the other guard asked.

  "So we can kill them and stack up the bodies and block the portal," Tal said nodding slowly. "Could work."

  I nodded, "Yes, I think it could. Is there food up at the camp?"

  "Food and most of the militia. We're keeping a guard on this cave, so we can light up those bales the next time any giants come through."

  I nodded, "Good. I'm going to go get some food; I'll talk to you later."

  § §

  "So, your plan is to shoot up their town with your bow, and then run back through the portal?" Fel said to me.

  I looked around; I was seated in the bar.

  I shrugged, "I figured that would probably rile them up pretty good."

  "It should, but there's a good chance that you're going to have a lot of them coming through the gate soon anyway. They do not like it when their own are killed. Especially as they view you as little more than livestock. Your wiping out most of their last party will incite them all by itself."

  I nodded, "I just wondered what they were bellowing about when the on
e survivor went into that hut."

  "You really don't want to know," Fel told me.

  "Really? That bad?"

  He nodded, "Their sensibilities are pretty alien to us. But it is also why I suspect going back through may not be necessary."

  "I'm still going to do it anyway, Fel. I need to see what they're up to, and yes, if necessary I need to get a lot of them to come. The sooner I block that gate up, the sooner I'm done here."

  Fel sighed and nodded, "I cannot argue with you on that, some of the creatures you saw while you were there are a lot more deadly and a lot tougher than the trolls are. If any of those come through, they could kill a lot of people before you could stop them."

  "Well, hopefully tomorrow we'll take care of it then."

  "There is one thing you need to keep in mind," Fel said. "You can not gate back to my temple from there. No matter what happens, you cannot do it. I can't impress that heavily enough."

  "Won't reach?" I said curiously.

  "Oh no, you can reach. The problem is, a gate to a holy temple of this world will show up like a beacon to them, and there are powerful creatures there that are more than capable of traveling through your gate in the short amount of time you would have it open. Having one of those set loose in my main temple would cause a huge amount of death and destruction."

  I nodded, "So, no portals home, got it."

  "Good luck Will, you'll probably need it."

  "Thanks, Fel."

  § §

  The next morning I set out, well before sunrise. I talked to all of the men there and told them what I was doing, and that there was liable to be a lot of giants coming through when I came back, and to have more bales ready to be tossed into the cave there, after the first ones were lit.

  Then I went down, and crossed the portal.

  It was lit up when I got there, that was a bad sign. I froze in place, I was still dizzy from the transition shock, and everything was blurry and still coming into focus. Then there was a grunt, and I shifted into overdrive as a dark shadow came my way.

  I dodged to the left, smashed into the wall, then ran forward, tripped over a rock, and rolled into a leg.

  I spent the next minute rolling back and forth, trying not to get stomped to death as the giant danced above me, trying to pin me down and kill me. Once I got one of my swords out I was able to start stabbing him, and I got him in the crotch twice, the second time making him give a rather high-pitched scream.

  Which was when he stepped on my leg, snapping the bone in two.

  I got him in the ankle then, as there wasn't much else I could do while he grabbed his crotch and keened in a high pitch voice.

  After the third shot to the back of his ankle, he lost his balance and toppled over and I dragged myself up his back, and in a panicked rage of my own, I hacked at his neck until eventually I severed enough of it that he stopped moving.

  I tried to heal my leg then, and found to my surprise that I was completely unable to do so!

  Looking around I could see that there was no one else in the cave, currently, just this one giant, who I guess was guarding it. Or something.

  It took me about ten minutes to cut strips of his clothing off, and I used my other sword, still in its sheath of course, to make a splint.

  I got to my feet carefully then and trying not to swear too loudly I hobbled down the cave towards the entrance. When I got there I looked out over the ground below and there were quite a few of the giants, as well as a few other beasts that I couldn't identify, assembling on the edge of the settlement.

  Just then something swooped down from the sky and I had to throw myself to the floor to avoid a pair of giant claws as they passed overhead, I didn't even see what they were attached to. I heard whatever it was scream as a shadow banked over in the air and came back to make another approach. I fumbled a few moments with my bow, and managed to get an arrow off just as it flapped down to attack.

  I missed badly, but I had scared it off, for a moment. I heard bellowing off towards the town then, and suddenly the sound of something like a stampede. Taking a second shot at the thing in the air, I looked down, and sure enough, I was going to be having company real soon.

  Using the bow as a cane I started to hobble back into the cave and down it, as fast as I could. I think it was about then that I realized I hadn't kicked into high gear when I had been attacked.

  At that point I dropped the bow and started to scramble on my hands and one good leg as fast as I could; dragging the broken one along behind me, and trying not to scream each time it hit a rock, which was pretty often.

  I could hear them echoing in the tunnel as I got about halfway down, and I could tell they were closing on me fast. For once it was adrenaline spurring me on, and not my abilities. When I hit the final stretch, and could see the portal, I heard one of them bellow behind me loudly, apparently they had me in sight.

  I had just reached the portal when I felt something grab my broken leg; rolling onto my back I saw a big grinning face with broken teeth right in front of me.

  I punched him in the eye as he jerked my leg back, causing both of us to scream. I could feel the bones cracking and grating in my leg as he squeezed, and my first instinct was to grab it, my hand instead falling on the hilt of the sword I was using as a splint, so I pulled it out and stabbed around my leg trying to get him to let go.

  Which he did, but not before I stabbed myself as well.

  I fell to the ground then, rather stunned, but the portal was right there, and I scrambled though it like a rat running from a dog.

  The giant came through right behind me of course, but he started to stumble about, banging into the walls. I didn't wait to wonder why; I started to scramble down the cave towards the entrance, as I heard my pursuer bellow, and the sounds of more joining him.

  "William?" I heard someone call.

  "Light them up!" I yelled as I felt myself start to shift into high gear as my abilities came back, letting me scramble along fast enough to stay ahead of my pursuers.

  I passed the first bundles as they exploded into flames. There were more than I remembered from the night before, and as I scrambled down the cave on my hands and one good leg I passed two more, each of which caught fire as I passed them. When I finally got to the end of the cave, I tumbled out and over the edge to drop down to the ground and land in a painful heap, my broken and bleeding leg at a most unnatural angle, as I passed out.

  When I came too, I was at the entrance to the box canyon, my leg was bound and splinted, and I could see there was something burning rather merrily below the opening to the cave, it was still dark out, though I had no idea how late it was.

  "What happened?" I asked looking around. Tal and a couple of the others were there.

  "That's what we were going to ask you," he said.

  "I got ambushed by one of them," I said. "I probably should have come back then, but I wanted to see what was happening, and well, I got attacked by a lot more."

  "Well, that explains the one that followed you out of the cave. He almost landed on you, but he was burning pretty well at that point, so thankfully we didn't have to do anything other than pull you out of the way."

  I nodded and grabbed my leg. I could feel that it was going to take more healing than I could muster right now; the bones had been smashed into a dozen pieces. But at least I could stop the bleeding and get the bones to start knitting properly.

  "Any others get out?"

  "I don't think so. But there was quite the ruckus going on down inside that cave, after you came out. So we all decided it would be better to pull back here."

  I nodded, "Let's move to someplace a little safer, in the morning we can go take a look at what's left."

  Everyone nodded, and they helped me up. Tal supported me as I hobbled along to a spot out of the way, should any of the giants make it out of the cave. I then laid down and fell asleep.

  When I woke up, it was almost afternoon; the sun was rather high in the sky.

/>   Sitting up carefully, I checked my leg, and healed it some more. I didn't think that I'd be able to walk on it any time soon, and it would still have to be kept in a splint. I looked around and found Tal.

  "Has anybody checked out the cave?"

  He shook his head, "We've been waiting for you. Nothing else has come out of it though."

  I nodded, "Well help me up, and let's go look at it."

  "How's the leg?"

  "No longer in a dozen pieces," I grunted, "I can't heal that much damage as easily as a priest can."

  "You can heal?" he said surprised.

  "A little, but I really could use a priest right now," I grumbled as Tal helped me hobble back to the cave.

  Someone had thoughtfully left a rope there, to climb up, so I was able to pull myself up onto the ledge. One of the other males was already up there, keeping watch.

  "Anything burning down there?" I asked.

  He shook his head, "The last of it stopped smoldering not long after the sun came up."

  I nodded, "I'll go in first."

  "No, you're wounded, I'll go in first," Tal said.

  "Well, if you start feeling dizzy, come back quickly," I told him.

  He nodded, "Don't worry; I know what to look out for."

  He took one of the lanterns, lit it, and when down into the cave. I could see him moving back and forth, skirting either bales or bodies. After a few minutes, the light of the lantern was all that we could see easily, and then it got brighter as he came back.

  He smiled at me when he came out, "There are more than enough to make a nice pile in front of that portal thing. Heck, from the pile of 'em right in front of it, it looks like they were tripping over each other!"

  I nodded, "They probably were."

  "Come on, boys, we got a lot of bodies to shift before nightfall," Tal said.

  When night finally came, they had moved all of the bodies around the portal, piling them up one a top the other. Tal still had the flask, and was sprinkling water on each body as it was added. By the time he was finished there was a mound of solid rock right up to the ceiling, and twenty feet out. There had been dozens of dead giants.