Portals of Infinity: Reprisal

by John Van Stry

  Rachel giggled, "She does the same thing to me, when you're not in the room."

  "Really?" I said surprised.

  Rachel gave a small nod, "In her mind, you own her. As I'm your wife and I'm her queen, I own her too."

  "That's just, strange," I paused a moment, "and a little exciting too," I purred.

  Rachel purred back and rubbed up against me, "Yes, I noticed."

  "So, not mad at me?" I asked and kissed her.

  "I can never stay mad at you, Love. What kind of a big, nasty, tough, brute of a male would you be, if you didn't act like one?"

  "I love you," I purred and started showing her just how much, once again.

  "I know," Rachel purred contentedly.

  # # #

  I was getting ready to leave for Earth, to continue my fight against Cenewyg when I had my first confrontation with Rachel over Laria.

  "What did I tell you?" Rachel growled.

  "But this is different!" I said looking back at her.

  "How is it different?" Rachel asked, still growling at me.

  "I'm going someplace," I wasn't sure how to say it, "I'm going someplace far away."

  "Distance doesn't change things!" Rachel said staring at me, tail lashing angrily. "As much as I enjoy her company, I told you when you got her; she went with you, to keep you out of trouble."

  "I don't need help staying out of trouble!" I sighed.

  "With females," Rachel growled.

  I looked at her, standing there with her hands on her hips, and damned if I didn't want to drag her off and have my way with her.

  "I don't think she can take it," I sighed.

  "Why not?"

  "Well, because things are different. A lot different."

  "Then explain it to me, William," she said giving me a look that made it clear that if I didn't, we were going to have one hell of a fight.

  "You're not going to believe it," I warned.

  "We won't know that, if you don't start, now will we?"

  I sighed; the problem with being married to a queen is that they have excellent logic skills.

  "Okay, it's like this. The world we live in here? It's not the only one, there are thousands of worlds, and they're all different. My other wife? She lives on a completely different world. This place I'm going to? It's the world I'm from, which is even more different."

  "Different how?" she asked looking at me.

  "The one my other wife is from, isn't too different than here, a bit more developed perhaps, but everyone," I tried to think of how to explain it, but really couldn't, "everyone is different from the people here."

  "How?"

  "They don't have tails or claws, and they're not covered in fur."

  "They must think you're pretty strange looking then," Rachel said surprising me.

  "When I'm there, I look like them, not like I look here."

  "Why?"

  I shrugged, "Those are the rules, when you go to one of these places, you're changed to fit in, to look like the people there."

  Rachel stopped and thought about that a minute, "That's why you haven't brought your other wife here, isn't it. Because you're afraid she won't be able to deal with it."

  I nodded, "Yeah, that and she'd not be able to visit her family, unless I took her back."

  "So, you're saying that only you can make this trip? Others can't do it?"

  "Some can, most can't. Being able to see the openings to these other places, well only some can do it."

  "Can I do it?" she asked.

  "Actually, I don't know." I told her, "I'd have to take you to one of them, and see if you can. Our children will all be able to."

  "Because you're their father?"

  I nodded.

  "So you're worried that Laria might not be able to handle the change?"

  "That's part of it," I sighed, "but there's more."

  Rachel looked at me expectantly.

  "I come from a hi-tech world."

  "What is 'hi-tech'?"

  "The world we live in here," I said and waved my arms at everything around us, "Is like my world was, about a thousand years ago. We have built things and developed things based on all those years of learning that to someone from here, it would look like magic."

  "Such as?"

  "We have machines that can speed along the ground faster than an arrow can fly, we have machines that can fly through the air, and we take it all for granted."

  Rachel's eyes got wide, "Truly?"

  I nodded.

  "You are taking her with you, my mind is made up."

  I started to open my mouth and she put her hand on my chest, "Do you love me, Will?"

  I blinked surprised by the question, "Of course I love you! What kind of question is that?"

  "Then you will take her there with you, and we will see if she survives."

  I nodded slowly, "Okay, why?"

  "Because, I've always wanted to fly. And if she can survive, then I know I can too, and one day, Love, you are going to take me to this world and show me its wonders."

  "Rachel I—"

  "Shhh," she said and pressed up against me, "this is one of those times where you just nod your head and say yes. Understand?"

  I sighed, smiling, and nodded my head, "Yes, Dear, I understand."

  Two days later Laria and I rode up into the hills, on wolats. I was riding Tom, and she was riding a female named Jeri. I had spent some time trying to think of which portal I wanted to take back to Earth. There were a couple I could have used, but none of them came out close to where I wanted to go.

  I could have gone through Hillshire, but that would have added a few days, and to be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to subject Laria to that many surprises just yet.

  Fel had suggested the portal at the altar where I'd first entered the world here, and so we were now heading to that. As trips go, it wasn't too far of a ride, we got there in less than four hours.

  I took a few minutes to look around when we arrived, I could feel the portal now of course, it was just to the side of the old stone altar on the top of the small hill. By the light of day I could see just how old it all was. The altar was covered with vines, I guess they had cleaned it off first, that time years ago.

  The ruins were also fairly decrepit. At night it hadn't been easy to see just how run down and pitted all the stone remains were, but now it was pretty evident.

  "What is this place?" Laria asked looking around.

  "All I know is that they call it the 'ring of the seven mounds.'"

  "What does that mean?"

  I shrugged, "I don't know. Some people believe that the gods of the world all come here to watch what happens when a sacrifice is made on the altar."

  "Do they?"

  I laughed, "If they do, they sure don't show themselves. Then again I've never seen a sacrifice here either, just an attempted one."

  I got off of Tom and took his reins, "Now, you remember what I told you, right?" I said to Laria as she dismounted and took Jeri's reins.

  She nodded, "I'm going to change, and I'll look and feel different, but not to worry about it."

  I nodded, "Exactly. Now take my hand, and we'll step through."

  Laria smiled nervously, but she followed instructions and we walked through the portal together. I'd never taken a non-portal traveler through one before, but I had taken wolats, so I was fairly certain it would work, and sure enough, it did.

  As before, the wolats had become dogs, wearing collars and leashes instead of a halter. They looked like Irish Wolfhounds, except possibly bigger and stronger.

  "You, you look different," Laria said looking at me, and I smiled looking her over as well. To put it bluntly, she was hot.

  She had long brunette hair, still only came up to my shoulder, which made her I guess about five and a half feet tall. She had a very beautiful face with pouty lips and almond-shaped eyes like Brigitte Bardot, and a long-legged slender body with a rather nice bust.

  I was glad I had brough
t cloaks with us, because the outfit she was now wearing had become a rather snug tube top and short mini-skirt. She was still wearing the sandals I'd had her put on, as felinoids, it was common to go barefoot, both because of our claws, and the tough footpads.

  "What, what happened to me?" she asked looking down at herself.

  I stepped over to her and gave her a hug, "Don't worry, you look fine," I said.

  "You think so?" she asked a little worriedly and looking herself over.

  I gave her a kiss, "Oh, I definitely think so. Now, come. I need to see if I can remember how to get back to civilization from here."

  It didn't take us long to find our way back to the road, which wasn't too surprising, I'd run from there to the portal in probably in five minutes the last time I'd been here.

  What was surprising was that my car was still there.

  And it looked exactly like it had when I left it there too.

  "What is this thing?" Laria asked while the wolats, rather the dogs, sniffed at it.

  "It's my car," I said looking at it and walking around it. The only way this could have happened was if Fel did it. My suspicions that he had were confirmed when I looked at the registration stickers in the window and saw that they were current.

  "What's a car?"

  "You'll find out soon enough," I told her. "Just remember from now on, if there are other people around, don't ask me about what something is, because people will look at you strange. Save it for when we're alone. Understand?"

  She nodded. "Yes, Will."

  I opened the car, and put the back seat down, then got Tom and Jeri to hop in the back and sit down. I noticed that all of the stuff I'd left in it was still there, which was most of my renfair gear, as well as a few changes of clothes, all packed away. Next I got Laria settled in the passenger seat, and belted in. I showed her how the seat belt worked, and made sure she had it on. I figured she was less likely to cause problems that way.

  When I started the car, that got some shocked responses from everybody, and when I started driving it, that got quite a few more.

  When Laria saw all the other cars and trucks when I finally pulled out onto the highway her eyes were rather wide, and I think she was shaking. The dogs didn't seem to care all that much, and just watched with curiosity.

  I reached over and put my hand on Laria's leg.

  "You'll get used to it; they're all just things that people have made."

  "I can't believe that people could make such things, Will!" she said looking at me.

  "I know," I said agreeing with her, "it's pretty amazing when you think that hundreds and hundreds of years ago, everyone here lived just like you did back home."

  She just nodded and watched quietly as I drove.

  I decided then to head to the Renfair and see if anyone remembered me there. I figured it was a good place to stay the night, and give Laria and the dogs a chance to get used to their new bodies.

  Ten

  Boston

  6 Months

  We ended up spending two weeks at the Renfair. Everyone remembered me, some because like Josh, they were still there and others because I'd been talked about more than once, a combination of my abilities and popularity. So when I asked to pitch my tent in the back and stay a few days, it was accepted rather quickly.

  The reason we stayed longer was that Laria needed a bit of time to fit in, and learn about how her body was different now, as well as come to terms with this very different reality. I also needed to do a little 'opposition research,' which was primarily looking over maps, asking questions about Boston from those who had been there, and a couple of trips to the library to check some of the more recent newspapers.

  But it was a lot of fun showing Laria that yes, some things still worked the same way as before, and that was rather well. A few of the male performers and faire goers were rather taken by Laria, but between myself and the dogs, everyone quickly figured out that she was off limits, which kept there from being any incidents I'd have to deal with.

  I also taught the dogs a few tricks while we were staying there and everyone was quite impressed by them as well. As they were all Renfair types, they didn't even think it odd that most of those tricks had to do with taking down people.

  Driving to Boston was more of a pain than I remembered it being, I guess traffic had increased a little in the last ten or so years since I'd made the trip. But I found us a nice little motel on the edge of town, where the manager looked the other way when it came to large dogs if I slipped him some extra cash.

  "So, why are we here?" Laria asked, staring at the buildings and people as we drove around the city.

  "I'm here to kill a bunch of people and destroy a temple. You're here to keep me out of trouble," I laughed.

  "What trouble could I keep you out of?" Laria said looking surprised.

  "The female kind and you did a very good job of that at the Renfair."

  She grinned, "Oh, yeah, I guess I did."

  Few of the women at the fair could hold a candle to Laria, so none of them tried flirting with me. Which was a refreshing change of pace. I checked the map and then the name of the street we were on one more time, then slowed down as the street I was interested came up, making a right turn onto it.

  We were in a rather upscale neighborhood, with a lot of expensive houses in it. While they were fairly large, they were mostly packed rather closely, sort of like brownstones in New York, just bigger and more expensive looking. I'd already explained the numbering symbols to Laria and I had given her a cheat sheet to look at. We were now both looking for a particular address as we drove down the street.

  "There, the blue one," Laria said pointing as we neared the end of the street.

  I nodded and took a quick look at it. There wasn't much about it to set it off from the others; I drove down the block and around the corner and parked for a few minutes while I thought about what I'd seen. I'd go by it again in a few minutes; I just didn't want to be obvious about my interest.

  I pulled out the ring I'd taken off of the dead priest back in Garrison, and showed it to Laria. "Keep an eye out for this design when we go back the next time."

  "Oh, I saw that one already," she said and smiled at me.

  "Really? Where?"

  "The door in the front, it was on there."

  I nodded, and pulled us out and turned around to go back and look. I'd been more interested in the fence around the property, and the car in the driveway. Sure enough, the glass of the front door had been made into the Gatwick design.

  "That is most definitely the place," I said and drove off down the street.

  "Now what?" she asked.

  I smiled, "Shopping!"

  "Shopping?" she said looking confused.

  I nodded, "There are a few things I need to buy, then we'll go back to the room, feed the dogs, then come back here, when it's nice and dark."

  Laria nodded. "Okay."

  We spent several hour shopping, I wanted a nice pair of gloves for the both of us, no need leaving fingerprints after all. And I needed something to make a nice 'bang.' A bag of fertilizer and a gallon of diesel fuel solved that problem rather easily as well. I picked up some rope, and some duct tape, lighters, a few bottles of alcohol, and a few rags.

  I would have liked to have bought a couple of guns, but that would leave a paper trail, and I didn't want that kind of attention. Assuming I could even legally buy a gun here.

  Then it was back to the room to take care of the dogs, relax for a while, eat dinner, and wait for it to get late. I figured sometime a little after sundown, nine-thirty was about an hour afterwards in the summer, so that would probably work out well enough. My plan was fairly simple and straight forward, use the ring to get inside, kill everyone, blow up the altar, set the house on fire, and leave.

  Should be easy, right? I just had a girl and two dogs to add into that, and I really had no ideas. Everyone seemed to think I was a tactical and strategic genius these days, when all I was really g
ood at was applying and adapting the ideas of others to the situation at hand. That and having a fairly decent skill at just 'winging it.' Which, when you're not all that concerned with dying, is pretty easy.

  However, Laria was important to me, and the last thing I wanted was to get her killed. But the clock was ticking, and I need to deal with this church quickly, so I could move on to the next one.

  I cleaned up the room, as best I could, settled the bill in cash, got everyone in the car, and we drove over to the target.

  When we got there, I was a bit surprised to see that there were quite a few cars in the driveway and all the lights were on in the house. Apparently someone was entertaining.

  "What's going on?" Laria asked me looking at the house.

  "Company, apparently," I said and parked the car in front of the house on the street. I rolled the windows down, and looked at Laria, who was dressed rather attractively. I myself was wearing a rather nice shirt and slacks as well. We'd only bought our current clothes two days ago to fit in, and weren't bothering to wash anything, which meant we wore new outfits every day, so we looked like we were dressed for an evening out.

  "Change in plans," I said. "Get out, you're coming with me."

  Laria just nodded and got out of the car.

  "Tom, Jeri, out," I told them as well.

  Walking around the back of the car, I got out the bag with the gear I'd purchased, and the fuel can with the diesel and fertilizer in it. I handed Laria the bag, then I took her other arm in mine and walked up the driveway, and over to the front door.

  "Tom, Jeri, follow," I told them and they fell in behind us. I thanked whoever was in charge of the rules here for allowing my wolats to keep their intelligence now that they were dogs.

  "What do I do?" Laria asked me.

  "Keep quiet and look pretty, smile at everyone."

  She nodded, "I think I can do that."

  I set the fuel can down, out of sight of the door, and took the bag from her and put it next to it. Then I knocked on the door and waited until a man opened it.

  "Do you have an invitation?" he said, taking a moment to give Laria a rather good looking over, not that I blamed him, apparently she preferred clothing of the 'skin tight' variety, and there was quite a lot worth looking at. I looked him over while he examined Laria's outfit and the way she was so nicely squeezed into it. He was about five foot ten, and heavily built, but dressed in a nice jacket with a bowtie. While I guess he was acting as the butler for the evening, the phrase 'gorilla in a suit jacket' was the one that came to mind first.