Portals of Infinity: Book Two: The God Game

by John Van Stry

  All we could do was sit and stare, and applaud, as we watched the show. Once again it was almost mesmerizing, the bands were that good. I wondered if we had the same effect on the crowds watching us. It seemed hard to believe, but then again, we were getting more and more popular everyday, so who knew?

  “Hi, Wilma!”

  I turned and looked surprised, it was Alice! She leaned in and gave me a kiss; we’d fooled around a few times since that first show, but we both had admitted to more serious interests, so we’d just kept it casual.

  “Hi, Alice, what brings you out here?” I asked surprised. I knew she worked Sunday nights.

  “I’m on my break, I saw you sitting out here and I thought I’d introduce you to a friend of mine.”

  I looked behind her and sure enough, there was a guy there. He looked older, I’d guess about whatever passed for fifty-ish here.

  “Wilma, this is Henry, Henry is one of the better managers here in town, he’s had more bands go to the big show in Scopuli than any other manager I know of.” She leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “I don’t want to see you get screwed, hon, that’s my job!”

  I grinned at her and gave her a kiss. “Thanks, I owe you!” I whispered back.

  “Good ‘cause I plan on collecting!” She smirked and then straightened back up.

  Henry stuck out his hand and I shook it, “Nice to meet you, Wilma, caught your show last night, very impressive.”

  “Thanks,” I said smiling.

  “Care to introduce me to the rest of the band?”

  “Oh of course,” I poked Stephan and Josie, they both turned and I made introductions.

  “I need to get back to work,” Alice told us. “Henry’s the best, so listen to him.” And she waved as she walked off.

  “Can we go someplace better to talk?” Henry asked.

  I looked at Stephan and he nodded, so we all got up and followed Henry out of the Amphitheater down into the offices that were underneath the seats. I hadn’t even realized there was anything underneath beyond restrooms and cheap food vendors.

  “Have a seat,” he said showing us in and sitting behind a large desk. There were pictures all over the walls of different bands, what I guess were awards, and even a few instruments that were signed hanging there as well.

  “So who’s in charge of the band?” He asked us.

  “I am,” Stephan said taking a seat in the middle and motioning for Josie and me to sit on either side. “But Will is the one who writes the songs and picks what we play.”

  “So where are you all from?”

  “West of here, a good ways,” Stephan told him.

  “There isn’t much out there.”

  Stephan nodded, “Yeah, its pretty open. Which is why we came here. We didn’t really have a lot going on for us there. There isn’t much music.”

  “Well, it definitely adds a nice amount of mystery to the band, which is good, we can use that. Have you been paid yet?”

  We all stared at him a bit blankly.

  “You know you get paid for performing here once you’re on the regular schedule, don’t you?”

  I snickered and Stephen blushed, “Umm no. We thought you got paid by the places you endorsed.”

  Henry laughed, “Oh the big money does come from endorsements, but you do get a stipend for working weekdays, and a bit more when you switch to weekends. Private appearances can be very lucrative however.”

  “Private?” I asked surprised.

  “Yes, there are a lot of parties on the weekdays, that’s why the bigger acts have it off, so they can go earn money.”

  “And you can set all of that up for us?” Stephan asked.

  “Of course!” Henry smiled.

  “What’s your cut?”

  “Twenty-percent.”

  “Isn’t that a bit high?” I asked surprised.

  “Yes,” Henry nodded, “it is higher than most charge. But I have connections in Sirenum Scopuli, as well as a house there. If you keep performing like you have so far, I can guarantee you shows there, and you can stay at my house rather than pay for rooms, which are extremely expensive. I will also provide you with a place to stay here, as well as meals and a secure place to practice.”

  “You’re positive you can get us a gig at the big amphitheater?” Stephan asked him.

  Henry nodded, “Your sound is very unique. People like it, so they’ll definitely want to hear it, once it gets around.”

  Stephan looked at me and I nodded, he looked at Josie who also nodded.

  “Fine, where do we sign?”

  Henry got us signed up, moved us to a nicer part of town, and threw in a room for our ‘roadie’ which made Cenewyg happy. He also went and got our pay, which he took his twenty percent out of and paid us the rest.

  The rooms were actually fairly nice, and the practice room was far better than anything we’d used so far. He even got us a gig for the following night. It was at some small private house and we played two thirty-minute sets for a small party.

  “How much did we make from that?” I asked Henry afterwards.

  “Twenty each.”

  “That’s not very much,” I said surprised.

  “That’s because you’re new and people are just hearing about you. A few weeks from now you’ll be getting a thousand a night each.”

  “Whoa,” I said even more surprised.

  “Stick with me, and I’ll make you all rich,” Henry said with a laugh.

  So we practiced each morning, did a private show each night, and that weekend we did the one hour shows on Friday and Saturday. Then on Sunday we did our first two-hour show and I was glad we’d done all of those private shows. Playing two hours straight was like running a marathon.

  But come Monday, we were getting over five hundred a show and suddenly the money was starting to add up. By the next weekend, we had bought back the necklaces we had sold at the pawnshop, replaced the rest of our lost gear, and were thinking about instrument upgrades as well.

  We did that for two months, at the end of which we had quite a bit of cash that we didn’t know what to do with, but more importantly we got an invite to go play at Sirenum Scopuli.

  “Finally!” Stephan said as we lay there in bed together.

  I stretched and yawned. Josie did the same. The three of us had all been living in the same room since the hotel, it was a little strange at first, but even though Cenewyg was no longer trying to bed either one of us, we just felt better keeping close.

  It also cut down on getting hit on by the guys. Other than Alice, we three had all stuck very much to ourselves

  “So when do we go?” Josie asked.

  “I’ll ask Henry after breakfast,” Stephan told us. “I am so looking forward to not being a guy anymore.”

  “I don’t know, you sure seem to make a good one,” I said grinning and gave him a kiss.

  “What, you’re happy being a girl?”

  “Eh, I guess its okay,” I said and shrugged. “Yeah, I want to go back to being a guy, but it hasn’t been all that bad. No use in complaining about it when you don’t have a choice, you know?”

  “So now that we’re finally going there, what next?” Josie asked.

  “Well, first we’ll need to scout as much of the coast area in the city and around it to see if we can sense the gate. Then we’ll have to find some kind of boat.”

  “Sounds easy enough.”

  “Are you sure that the gate is close to the shore?” I asked.

  Stephan nodded, “Yes. Sailors coming by always had to sail close to the show, which due to the music, is pretty dangerous.”

  “Why’s that?” Josie asked.

  “Well, haven’t you noticed how much the music affects everyone here?”

  “It does kind of draw you in.”

  “Well the shore is rather rocky through here, and if you don’t pay careful attention to sailing, you’ll end up on the rocks.”

  “Even Cen is affected by the music,” I said. “Have
n’t you noticed?”

  “What? He hates the music here!” Josie laughed.

  “He hates it, because it affects him and he doesn’t like that.” I said.

  “So that’s why he doesn’t go to the shows?”

  “Next time take a look at his ears,” Stephan said, “he wears earplugs whenever we play or he’s working with us at a show.”

  “Huh.”

  “Well let’s get dressed and go find Henry and find out the details.”

  Eight

  Sirenum Scopuli was impressive; it was a fortified city, with a rather visible force of constables or soldiers around and in it. Apparently they weren’t just worried about people trying to sneak in who hadn’t earned the right, but spies and agents from the other main cities as well.

  Things were expensive here, but the pay was high as well. We went back to doing weekday shows, but the schedule was a little different here. First, the show ran twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Second, all shows were an hour long, except after eight o’clock in the evening until two in the morning, they were two hours. Third, you played three shows a week, and you played a late show anywhere from once a week to once a month, depending on how in demand you were. Of course, you had to earn the right to do one of those shows, as there were only three a day.

  We were booked for private shows on all of our off days, and those tended to be three sets, each set about a half hour long. Usually there were other bands at these private shows as well, and they would play when we weren’t. It was incredibly busy, we would get up at noon, practice up until whatever show we were doing, do the show, go out and party, go to bed, then repeat the next day.

  The partying wasn’t just for fun either, Henry had us going to a lot of places, making sure a lot of people got to see us and know us, spreading our name around. Even Cenewyg was being kept busy this entire time, Henry had him managing the details of our shows, and running our security. Even here it was not unknown for bands to get into fights that left them unable to perform, or worse.

  “Henry, we need a day off,” Stephan told Henry one morning after we’d been there three weeks.

  “Yeah, this seven days a week thing is getting old.” I agreed.

  “I’ve got you booked solid for the next week,” he replied.

  “Well, from now on we want one day off a week,” Stephan said. “We’ll play the ones you already committed to, but no more of this non-stop stuff.”

  “But you’re still going up! Think of the money!”

  I smiled and shook my head.

  “We’re not here for the money, Henry,” Stephan told him. “Plus with our first big show coming up, we really don’t want to be walking in there worn to a frazzle.”

  Henry nodded, “Okay, I can see your point on that. I’ll move the Wednesday show so you can have the day off before you do your first full show. After that I’ll see that you get a day off each week.”

  “Thanks Henry,” Stephan said.

  “Yes thanks,” Josie and I echoed.

  He went off to deal with the schedule change and we all looked at each other.

  “Maybe now we can actually do some sightseeing and find that damn gate,” Cenewyg grumbled.

  “I can’t believe we’ve been here this long and haven’t had the chance to go look.” Josie said shaking her head.

  “Between the shows, the private gigs, the promotional stuff he’s got us doing, I’m amazed we even get to practice, much less sleep,” Stephan agreed.

  “Well I’ll see about getting us one of those small touring cars they have, and we can spend Wednesday driving up and down the side of the city on the water and see what we can find,” Cenewyg said. “The sooner we get out of here the better.”

  “Yeah, it is getting kind of old,” Stephan said.

  When Wednesday came, we got up early and went out to explore the city. Henry had wanted to come with us, but the car Cenewyg had gotten was small enough that it really couldn’t hold more than the four of us. Henry didn’t have his own car; most people here in Scopuli didn’t, as there was a fairly well-designed and maintained central trolley system. So when you needed one you rented.

  The car used a tiller instead of a steering wheel, with a hand throttle like the one a boat had. Cenewyg had no real problem with driving it, and as he’d been around more of the city than we had, we let him drive.

  The city itself was rather hilly, even when you got down to the water. There were some rather large cliffs that gave a rather nice view off into the distance, and when we got to westernmost edge of the city, you could see the large amount of rocks along the shore and out into the water.

  We started east then and drove along slowly, not that we could go all that fast with the traffic and the hills. By three o’clock, we had covered most of the waterfront, but still had a bit to go. We had just driven around the amphitheater about a half hour ago. We knew it wasn’t near there already. Continuing on we got to a point where the road ended, even though the city had not.

  “Well time to get out and walk,” Stephan said.

  “What is this place?” Josie said looking around.

  “I think we’re near the temple for the local god,” Stephan said.

  “So these are the temple grounds?” she asked looking around.

  “Maybe, but more likely just the surrounding gardens. Doesn’t feel like its holy or anything.

  We all nodded and followed him down the sidewalk; we’d walked for maybe fifteen minutes when suddenly I felt it.

  “Feel that?” I asked.

  Stephan nodded, “Yup, and I’m pretty sure that’s our gate.” He looked around, “Let’s see if we can get a better idea of where it is.”

  We nodded and continued up the pathway. It continued to get stronger, until the city wall came into sight, then it started to get weaker.

  We all stopped and looked out to sea. The water looked a bit rough, and there were definitely quite a few rocks there.

  “So how far out do you think it is?” I asked the others.

  “Five hundred, six hundred yards I’d guess,” Cenewyg said.

  “So we’re going to need a boat.”

  “Do they even have boats here?” Stephan asked.

  “Yeah, down over there,” Josie pointed and we all looked. There was definitely a small dock with a handful of boats around it.

  “Well let’s go down and see if they rent them out,” Stephan said heading off towards the stairs that apparently led down to the dock.

  “Assuming that is we can even sail it.” Cenewyg grumbled.

  “Oh ye of little faith,” I teased.

  We followed Stephan down the stairs; they went back and forth as they descended, zigzagging down the cliff face. When we got to the bottom, it was a lot more than I had expected.

  There was the small dock that we had seen from above, with a few small boats tied up to it, but there was a cave cut back into the cliff face as well, with what I guess was a small marina. There were more boats in there, some in the water, some on stands off to the side on solid ground, and more than a few people walking around or working on things.

  “You’re not supposed to be down here!” A rather officious man said walking up to us. “Who are you? And why are you here?”

  “I’m Stephan and these are my band mates,” he motioned to the rest of us, “we didn’t see any signs, so we thought it was okay. We were just wondering if you could rent a boat, so we walked down to see what was here.”

  “Why would you want to rent a boat?” He asked suspiciously.

  “Umm, to go sight seeing?” Stephan said looking puzzled.

  “I think you better leave.”

  Stephan looked at him, then looked at us and shrugged.

  We all turned around and started to climb back up the stairs.

  “Well that was rather strange,” I commented once we were well out of earshot.

  “I guess we’ll just have to look for another dock.” Josie said.

  “I’m not su
re there is another dock,” Cenewyg said.

  “Oh come on, there has to be,” I said. “Why wouldn’t there be?”

  “Because the goddess of the Sireens doesn’t allow it.” A deep voice said.

  We had just gotten off the staircase and there was a large group of men standing there. The one apparently leading them was the one who had answered my question. He was pretty big, and he was armed. Actually, they were all armed, and they didn’t exactly look friendly.

  “Uh-oh.”

  “So who exactly are you, and where are you from?” He said taking a step closer and putting a hand on the butt of the pistol he was wearing. This was the first time I’d actually seen anyone with a firearm since we’d gotten here.

  “I’m Wilma, that’s Stephan, Cenewyg, Josie. We’re U.K.B and we just got here from Lionesnesc a few weeks ago and we’re sightseeing is all...”

  “I’m Rondall, the god Sireen’s champion,” he said cutting me off, “and you know that is not what I meant! Now who are you and why are you here!”

  “Umm, Steph?” I said weakly and turned to look at Stephan who was looking as worried as I felt.

  “Well, you see we’re here ....”

  “Ronda!?” Josie suddenly cried out.

  “Rondall,” He growled at her, his eyes narrowing.

  “Ohmysoreass! Ronda!” Josie almost screamed, “It’s Jo!” and she launched herself at him arms wide open.

  “Wha...?” Was about all he got out before he had Josie literally plastered up against him, arms and legs wrapped around him and kissing him while babbling about how much she missed him and other nonsense.

  Rondall grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back enough to look at her, “Stop!” He said and then starred at Josie who was giggling at him. He turned and looked at his men, then at us. “Nobody move. Just stay right there.” And he walked over to a small guard station, walked inside and closed the door behind him. A moment later the door opened and two rather surprised looking guards spilled out.

  We looked at the men who had been with Rondall, obviously guards as well and shrugged.