by Joseph Heck
“What the frag was that!” she gasped, jerking her hand away from him.
Zak ignored her question. There was tightness in his chest. It was his turn for embarrassment as he realized it was caused by his fear for her safety. Not the normal fear he experienced in the past, when people were at risk and he was obligated to protect them. This fear struck deeper, gripping his very core. It was the same fear he’d felt when he’d lost his mother. He discarded the thought immediately. How could he compare this Elf to his mother!
“You okay?” Was all the concern he allowed himself.
“Yeah,” Megan panted, nodding her head as verification, but her expression wasn’t very convincing.
They remained sitting on the floor allowing time for further recovery. Zak felt disoriented by the intensity of his concern for Megan. He concentrated on bringing his full attention back to the situation at hand. He had been a trained ASID Agent. He should be able to control these unwanted feelings, but the thought of ASID only served to remind him of who Megan was and of the events of nineteen years ago.
“There is something inside that office!”
Megan’s voice disrupted his internal struggle. He forced himself back to the here and now, but remained silent.
“Inside the light - the energy - something is there.” She was breathing more normally now, but looked anxious as she tried to explain. Her voice grew more excited as she spoke, her body language more agitated. “Something completely evil and very powerful. I think it is trapped there. Whoever is responsible for this... In addition to the concealment and the containment sorceries, there is also some sort of ward against evil cast upon the office. I think there are other sorceries, too. They are like layers of an onion, one upon another. There was definitely more than one sorcerer at work. I think they were trying to close the...portal.”
“Portal?” Zak asked.
Megan nodded her confirmation. “I am now certain that the energy source is some sort of a portal.”
“Portal to where?”
“Good question,” Megan said. “To some other world...or dimension, I think.”
“So, it’s a wormhole of some kind?”
“More like a paranormal gateway. It is definitely not natural. Whoever created it was trying to close it again. And when they could not do that, they used layers of sorcery in order to both contain and conceal it. But that sorcery is definitely weakening.”
“Contain and conceal what exactly?”
“I do not know!” An involuntary shudder rippled through Megan as she spoke. “But I do not think I want to find out. We have to do something before it loses containment. Whatever it is in there, it is evil!”
Zak was unable to sense anything definite from within the office, but he had experienced an overpowering sensation of malevolence emanating from the small office as he tried to free Megan from the door. If Megan was correct in her evaluation and this strange anomaly was a portal, it raised a whole lot of new questions for Zak to ponder. Particularly if, as it seemed, the warehouse had something to do with the Grimrok theft. “So, we have some evil – something - trapped inside a portal to who knows where. What in a demon’s curse does that have to do with the Grimrok theft?”
“I have no idea.” Megan appeared to be more calm and thoughtful now. “This is part of the vision. It must be. The part about, while evil ripens.”
“In that case, I’m really not too excited about how that vision thing is coming together.”
“We need to find out more,” She got up from the floor, taking a side-step as she tried to find her balance. She quickly steadied herself and turned toward the small prefab structure once again. “I need to understand what this thing is and how to get rid of it. I need to get into that office.”
“I don’t think so,” Zak said firmly. “Not after you nearly became part of the door simply by touching it!”
“Zak, this is not about stolen technology anymore.” Megan became agitated again. “Six people have been murdered. There is a partly opened gateway and we have no idea where it leads to. And there is some sort of evil attempting to break through to our world. Like it or not, we have been chosen. If we do not do this, our world could be destroyed. Zak, this is some serious shit, we need to do something!”
“We will!” His temper flared. The fear he felt for Megan’s safety suddenly challenging his ability to remain calm and rational. He was not accustomed to dealing with such strong emotions concerning someone. He wasn’t even certain where they had come from. He certainly hadn’t known Megan long enough to feel this deeply about her. What the frag had he gotten himself into, anyway? He took a deep breath to calm himself. “First we need to figure some things out and come up with a workable plan.”
“Zak, you are not listening. I have no idea how long these spells will hold!”
“Okay, what do you suggest?” he snapped at her. He was tired and on edge. He took another deep breath, but it didn’t help much.
“We need to know more about this gateway and about the thing trapped in it. I have to get a better look at what is going on in there.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
“If you cast a protection spell it will add to my own. It should give me enough protection to take a closer look inside.”
“No.”
“Do not worry,” Megan said in an irritated voice. “If you do it remotely, there will be no danger to you!”
“I mean no, I can’t. I can’t do magic.”
In the darkness he couldn’t see her expression, but he heard disappointment in her voice. “But you are Elf.”
“I told you before...half Elf,” he corrected.
“It does not matter. Sorcery is in your blood!” Megan said. “Besides, even Humans are capable of learning sorcery. Dr. Raghnall is Human and he is a Master Wizard.”
“Well, it’s not in my blood!” How could he ever expect her to understand that he’d shunned magic his entire life and that he’d done so, not out of some moral objection to it, but because of his father.
“Ooookaaay, then...” Megan’s voice made it clear that she found what he’d said puzzling. She stood quietly thinking for a moment, obviously trying to come up with an alternative to her plan. After a few moments she seemed to have found one. “Okay, I have to go back to the car. I have an amulet in the trunk that may do the trick.”
“May do the trick?” Zak asked, but she was already on her way.
“Just do not touch any part of that office until I get back!” She called to him.
“Yeah, like I was going to.” he mumbled to himself.
Now that he was alone in the darkness he felt suddenly exhausted, as though the electrostatic air around him was sucking the energy from him. His mood seemed also to be affected as he slipped into discontentment. He wasn’t sure if his annoyance was from Megan’s expectations concerning his ability to perform magic or from his own irrational disappointment for not living up to those expectations.
The buzzing of energy continued from the small prefab office. He could feel it licking at his skin, reminding him of the hatred he’d felt coming from beyond the door as he tried to free Megan from it. What the frag had he gotten himself into, he asked himself again.
He suddenly felt the need for light and searched for the flashlight he’d dropped. He retrieved it not far from where he’d dropped it and then went through the motions of searching the area around the office. He found it impossible to focus, his mind a jumble of thoughts as he attempted to make sense of the events of the past several days.
Was this portal somehow responsible for the incessant weather? His instinct told him it was. But what could it possibly have to do with the Grimrok break-in? Was EAST Group plotting with the Orks? If so, what was their objective? And why were the Elves executed? The thought occurred to him that they could possibly have stumbled across something totally unrelated to the theft. But somehow that didn’t ring true.
Then there was all that prophetic mumbo-jumbo procl
aiming him and Megan as saviors of the planet. He could set that aside as just so much mystical superstition, but how could he account for the unexplainable attraction he felt towards Megan? If these things were all pieces to the same puzzle, he just couldn’t see how any of them fit together.
After what seemed like forever Megan’s petite form suddenly reappeared from the gloom between the tall pale shelves and his attention focused upon her approach. It was only when he realized that his headache was growing worse that he realized he’d been using his Elf vision while watching for her return.
“Okay, stand back,” she said as she reached him. “I do not know if the amulet will protect us both from whatever we are dealing with here.”
Zak shined the light on her as she slipped something over her head. In the light, the finely linked gold chain sparkled against the white flesh of her neck. The chain supported a gold pendant that fell between Megan’s breasts. The pendant was shaped into a seven-point star with a small blood red gemstone set into its center.
“Are you sure that thing will protect you?” Zak asked doubtfully.
“This thing is a Dragon’s Eye,” Megan informed him, holding up the pendant so he could get a closer look. “It is a very rare and a very powerful amulet. Protection is only one of its powers.”
Upon closer examination Zak noticed that there was a small black dot located in the center of the red stone. As he studied it he couldn’t help feeling that the thing was somehow looking back at him. He forced his gaze away. He had never completely trusted magical items and he wasn’t about to start now.
Megan allowed the amulet to fall back into place around her neck and slowly reached for the door once again. Her hesitation gave Zak the distinct impression that she wasn’t entirely convinced that the amulet could protect her from what was contained within the darkness of the small office.
Gradually she allowed her hand to come in contact with the door and she closed her eyes in concentration.
For a moment, it appeared that everything was fine, the amulet was working. Then suddenly Megan’s head snapped back with whiplash force. She gasped for breath. Her body began to jerk and twitch. She attempted to back away from the door, but was held once again by some invisible force. Her movements quickly became more violent, bucking in strong convulsive motions, but her hand refused to break contact with the door. With her free hand she attempted to pry her fingers open, but then both her hands seemed to become entrapped.
Fear for her safety burned through Zak in an instant, flooding him with adrenaline. He immediately reached out to grab hold of her, but then froze. In spite of his heart-pounding desire to rescue her, some instinct whispered caution to his conscious mind; he was suddenly certain that this time grabbing her would only entrap him within the battle that Megan was now fighting.
Without taking time to think further, he lowered his shoulder and lunged at her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he jammed his right shoulder into her ribs, his feet constantly working to drive himself forward. Using his own weight as leverage, he twisted away from the door, pulling Megan with him. He tackled her in perfect form. Megan’s hand broke free of the door, her body twisting with Zak as they both spun to the dirt-covered concrete floor for yet a second time.
She lay there with her eyes closed, gasping for breath.
“Are you ok?” Zak asked, but she didn’t answer. He frantically rolled her onto her back and began checking her for injuries. This time her hand looked much worse than before, her palm now an angry red and more swollen than it had been. There were strips of skin missing on her palm and fingers. He went on to check her for any other damage. She winced when he touched her ribs where he had made contact with his shoulder. He lifted her shirt to confirm that there was some bruising, but nothing too serious. He allowed himself to become angry. “What kind of a foolish stunt was that? I thought you said that thing around your neck would protect you. You aren’t going anywhere near that office again!”
Megan made no sign that she could hear him. Her eyes remained closed and she continued to breathe heavily. Zak’s anger dissolved back into concern, as he tore strips from his shirt to use as bandages and carefully wrapped her swollen bloodied hands with them. He wished he had some antiseptic to put on her wounds, but he had nothing with him. He watched her face as he worked, feeling the ache in his head grow worse as he prolonged the use of his Elf vision. She had grown very pale and still. That worried him. He checked her pulse and her breathing. Both were elevated, but not enough for alarm. He worried anyway. When she suddenly opened her eyes, the look of fear and horror in them tied another knot in the pit of his stomach.
“We have to seal it!” she cried out suddenly. She became hysterical, thrashing in his arms, crying. “We cannot let it get out. We have to close the portal!”
“Sshhh, it’s okay. You’re safe now.” Zak fought to hold her still, attempting unsuccessfully to calm her. Her words caused a chill to run up his spine.
“The shadow!” She became more agitated as she spoke, fighting harder to free herself from his grasp as she sobbed and cried out. “The office... Tahmore’s Island... We have to stop it!”
17
“It was totally dark. I could not see what was there, but I could feel it. It was pure evil!”
Megan’s hysterics had ended as suddenly as they had begun, but they had been replaced by a deep melancholy. She remained totally silent as Zak led her from the warehouse, said nothing when he coaxed her into the passenger seat of her car. He drove them back to his loft without a word exchanged between them, and she remained silent while he cleaned and tended to the wounds on her hands and the bruises on her ribs. She’d been sitting on the overstuffed leather couch in Zak’s loft for a good long time and these were the first words she had uttered.
Ke’aira was beside her, the dog’s large head lying upon Megan’s lap, her eyes alert and nervous as she watched the Elf. A tremor rippled through Megan as she absently stroked Ke’aira’s forehead and scratched at her ears. When she spoke again, her voice was drained of emotion. “Fear. I have never been so terrified.”
Zak watched her closely from the chair opposite the couch. Her hair was matted to her head from the rain, her blonde streaks hanging in stringy highlights to the natural darkness of her hair. He had insisted that she change into something dry when they had arrived back at the loft. She was now wearing a pair of his jeans and one of his t-shirts, which were both too large on her and made her look even more petite and vulnerable. The sound of Zak’s old second-hand clothes dryer could be heard in the background, the worn barrel of the dryer clunking as their wet clothes tumbled noisily within.
“Zak, I do not know how long that containment spell is going to last!”
“We’ll figure out a way to take care of it.”
“Yes, but if that thing gets free...” She grew silent again, burying her face in Ke’aira’s thick coat, as she attempted to find comfort there. Finally she said, “Poor Gavril...just lying there like that. We should not have left him. We should call the police!”
Zak raked a hand through his hair, fatigue pressing in on him. He sympathized with her pain over losing her friend, but his instinct insisted that they keep what they found at the warehouse to themselves for the time being. “No. No, not a good idea.”
“We should not have just left Gavril there like that!” Her voice became argumentative. “We need to tell Samarah what happened. She has a right to know.”
“We can’t do that.”
“You do not feel that murdering Elves is sufficient reason to report any of this?”
“Look, back at the warehouse, you said this is no longer about some stolen technology,” He leaned forward in his chair, hoping that he could make her understand. “You were right. There is more at stake here than a missing SHIAM. I know how badly you’re hurting, but there is even more at stake than five murdered Elves.”
“You are a cold hearted bastard!” Megan’s anger became instantly palpable. She str
uggled to jump up from the couch, but Ke’aira’s weight held her in place, the dog unwilling to allow her to leave. Her tirade went on as she struggled with the dog. “You have so little regard for Elves. You hate us that much. You have spent your entire life trying to separate your Human side from the part that is Elf. You probably had a blood transfusion to get rid of any Elvish blood you may have had and replaced it entirely with Human. Well, if you will not do something about Gavril and the others laying there dead, then I will...”
“That’s enough!” He exploded from his chair in his frustration with her. “That gateway and the dark thing inside it isn’t the only threat to the world. What do you think the reaction will be when people learn that an Ork is linked to a break-in of a major Aragne military contractor?
“There are people that would love nothing better than to find an excuse to go to war with the Orks. People like Senator Donovan and Defense Minister Hakkim and Karl Redcliffe of the Miner’s Guild. They see it as an opportunity for profit, a chance to gain control over the Akkasson Mountains and the arganite ore that’s buried there. They don’t give a rat’s ass about the lives that would be lost in a war. Orks, Elves or Humans!
Megan stopped struggling against Ke’aira. Zak was pleased that she appeared to be listening.
“Look, if you are convinced that the magic used at the warehouse is linked to the magic used in the Grimrok break-in, then that also links the dead Ork to the break-in. If we call the police in on this now, it won’t be long until the reporters sniff it out and make it public. What do you think Donovan and Hakkim will do when they find out Orks broke into Grimrok?
“I have no love for the Orks. Hell, I’d just as soon see every last one of them disappear from the face of the planet. But I have no desire to be the one responsible for starting a war. All these greedy fools are clamoring for war and we’d be giving them an excuse to start one. And a war between the Aragne Commonwealth and the Orkensha nations would almost certainly escalate into a full blown world war. It’s a given that the other Human nations and the Dwarves would fall in behind the Aragne’s against the Orks. The Kremloch Colonies have already said they supported the Orks in the border dispute. That would inevitably pull the Goblinesh nations in on the side of the Orks. How long do you think it would be before the Elves would be drawn into it?”