by T J Trapp
“She’s all yours,” the yardman said to Alec. Then he quickly left to secure his new fortune.
Alec went to work. They pulled the wagon into the shop with the three drungs. His previous experience with wagons had taught him how to repair almost any piece. One of the first things he did was to make a winch and pulley system so that he could do most of the heavy work himself. Occasionally he would borrow one of the yard hands to assist him. Erin could see that he was enjoying himself with the work; this was more interesting to him than strategizing how to fight a battle. By late afternoon, with liberal applications of dark energy, Alec had repaired the main beams and replaced the broken wheels. Erin’s chore was to stand guard and sense for any danger. With their experience at the previous town, they were worried about town toughs.
On the third afternoon, Alec was completing the work that needed to be done on the wagon when two grubby men walked into the shop.
Watch out! Erin alerted. Alec looked up and noticed that yard hands had left the shop and it had gotten very quiet.
The two men stared at the wagon and walked all around it. Then they looked at Erin, gave her a leering look. One gestured towards her sword and smirked.
“That’s our wagon,” one of the men said, spitting sideways.
“I don’t think so,” said Alec, casually picking up his staff and leaning on it. “I bought this wagon just the other day and have been fixing the entire thing.”
“That couldn’t be,” said the other man. “You have only been here three days. It takes weeks to do a complete repair job. It is our wagon that we left here to have a little work done. Now get your hands off our wagon, or we will treat you as a thief and punish you appropriately.”
“We might be willing to sell you our wagon,” the first man said, cagily. “I think a nice wagon like this is probably worth at least forty gold.”
“The punishment for wagon thievery is death, you know,” the second man said. He grasped his sword and looked at Alec. They could see that Alec did not have a sword or knife with him.
Erin slid smoothly beside Alec from where she had been watching. The two looked at her and her sword and again smirked.
“Pretty little toy that you have there, little girl,” the first man said, pointing at Erin’s sword.
“We will give you until tomorrow to find the coins to buy our wagon,” the other man said, grinning gape-mouthed at Erin. “And while you are looking, we will let your little friend here entertain us” He licked his lips. “If she isn’t good enough to earn her keep, we may have to charge you another five gold to cover our efforts.”
“I don’t think we are interested,” said Alec, still leaning on his staff. “Now, why don’t you leave us alone and go pick on someone else.”
The two men snarled and drew their swords. Erin’s sword was out and slashing before theirs were fully drawn. The two engaged Erin.
“Little girl thinks she can do swordplay! We’ll teach you a little lesson, dearie.”
Erin’s sword moved with blinding speed as she engaged the two fighters. Alec stepped back ready to help. Both men considered themselves excellent fighters and knew how to fight together, but they were no match for Erin’s sword – it moved faster than the eye could follow. In only a few moments both men lay on the ground dead.
The yardman appeared out of nowhere. He looked at Alec as Erin wiped the blood from her sword on the shirt of one of the dead men.
“What happened here?” the yardman said with utter innocence.
“Why I don’t know,” Alec said, with equal innocence, staring at the dead men as if he had just noticed them. “These two came in here while I was working and seem to have had a disagreement. They must have fought with each other and ended up on the floor.” He peered quizzically at the two bodies. “They seem to be dead! Since this is your shop, I would suggest you clean it up, so that I can finish working.”
The junk man looked at Erin and then looked at Alec. Then he looked at the two bodies on the floor, then back at Alec.
“I will take care of it,” he said, with a discreet cough. “We wouldn’t want their friends to know about this because they might come and take their anger out on my shop.”
“We won’t say a word,” said Alec. “Now clear them out and let me go back to work. We want to leave tomorrow.”
Erin sat down, back on her perch, alert to any more intrusions.
What you taught me worked, Erin thought to him. I used the dark energy crystal, and could sense everything they were going to do before they did it. I felt like they were moving in slow motion. It almost makes fighting unfair.
Alec came to her perch and hugged her.
Anything that keeps you alive, and in my arms, seems fair to me.
✽✽✽
The day started with a trip to the town stables. They paid the stable master to board their trogus for a month and took their three drungs with them to the junkyard shop. They harnessed two of the drungs to their wagon and tied the third to the back. They were happy to get out of town, heading in the direction of the convulsing energy field lines.
In the afternoon they encountered a caravan of empty wagons heading in the same direction. They met with the Caravan Master.
“We hear that fortunes can be made hauling supplies for the Aldermen,” Alec said. The Caravan Master looked at them slightly suspiciously. “We are down on our luck, and we borrowed her father’s wagon to see if we, too, can make a bit of coin.”
“Are you an experienced hauler?”
“Well, we both know how to load and drive a wagon, but we’ve never hauled cargo for others before,” Alec admitted.
The Caravan Master looked over their wagon with a skeptical eye. He needed every wagon he could get, and theirs looked reasonably sturdy. Then he looked at Erin. She looked too good to be a typical camp follower. He suspected she was a run-away rich kid. Perhaps she would garner a hefty ransom; perhaps he could collect it. Accidents could happen to her companion on the way, and she would require someone to console her. He would make sure that he filled that role.
“I need experienced drivers,” he said, “and you have a good wagon. I will let you join up with us; to compensate for our service, I will require one coin in four of your profits.”
“Yes, of course; that will be an acceptable arrangement,” Alec said, and they were members of the caravan.
The caravan was stopped three times over the next two days as they moved along the road. Each time the Caravan Master showed his seal, and after a cursory inspection of the wagons, the caravan was allowed to move forward. Several times during the day, they heard a low rumble coming from ahead of them. What is that? thought Alec.
I don’t know, but it is the same sound that I heard when you first appeared in the Grasslands, Erin thought back to him. Except yours was much louder.
Late on the second day, they reached their destination, the large Alder camp in the Grasslands. The camp appeared to extend for several els in each direction. There was only one gate into the camp and it was heavily guarded. The camp boundary was protected by two rows of what looked to Alec like concertina wire, separated by about twenty arns, with dogs patrolling the open area between the rows of wire. Every fifty arns or so was a watch tower, and Alec could sense ammunition in each. The caravan moved to a staging area and parked with a number of other wagons.
The Caravan Master went off to check with the camp’s loadmaster. He soon returned and told all the caravan drivers there was a three-day backup before they could load. He gave them directions to the stable for their animals and told them they could do anything they wanted, but he exhorted them to not get in trouble.
Alec had been sensing the oscillating dark energy fields as they moved towards the Alder enclave. It was apparent they were close to the source of the oscillations. After eating they sat in their sleeping hut and thought to each other.
This is it, Alec thought. This is the place we have been searching for.
Then we should
use tonight to scout out the situation, Erin thought back.
It may be dangerous. I don’t know what we might encounter. I could go scout alone, and you stay here in the sleeping hut until we know what is here, Alec suggested.
Absolutely not! Erin responded. I am with you, and this is a place where you will need me.
After dark, they carefully made their way toward the source of the dark energy oscillations. Alec had both his medallions with him as well as his staff. They moved stealthily towards a central area. As they approached, a large boom! rang out. The surrounding air shimmered and a whirlwind raised dust. Lightening flashed from projections on a large building in the center of the area, illuminating a large gray building in the middle of a field of packed dirt.
That building seems to be the source of the oscillations, Alec thought to Erin.
It looked to Alec like a prefabricated metal warehouse, of the type that was so common on Earth. It looked to Erin like the largest building she had ever seen. Erin could sense the presence of roving guards. Alec created a obscuring field and they easily crossed the open field. The two of them came to a side door of the gray building, lit by a dim light bulb. Erin stopped and looked at the light bulb with amazement. “Keep moving,” hissed Alec.
Erin could sense that no guards were close as they crept up to the door. Alec tried the knob, but the door was locked. Then he noticed a cipher lock on the door, like those used at the Institute and other secure facilities back home.
Let’s see what happens, he thought to Erin. He pushed the pad on the lock.
“Please enter your password,” a computerized female voice said in English.
English! Alec wavered, startled by the sound.
Your Wizard language? Erin thought to him, uncertainly, slightly taken aback by a talking door.
Yes! It had been so long since he had heard something in English that he almost didn’t recognize it.
“Please enter your password,” the monotone repeated. Then after a two-second pause, “Press one for keypad entry or press two for password entry.” Alec pressed ‘2.’ A long pause followed. Then the voice asked, “What is a girl’s best friend?”
Alec thought he knew the answer but reflected on what Sarah had told him as she lay dying in his arms.
“Diamonds,” he said. Green blips crossed the keypad screen. Alec waited nervously.
Did I get it right? he thought to himself. Then there was a faint whir.
“What kind are her boyfriend’s best friend?” the monotone voice asked.
This was the part he hadn’t understood, the word that Sarah was trying to tell him as she died. The first password was a pun – a line from a song that only English-speaking Americans would understand. Then the answer came to him: the second password was a pun that would only make sense to English-speaking dark energy users. There could only be one answer.
“Artificial,” Alec said.
The computer whirred softly for a few seconds, and then the door lock clicked.
“Please enter,” the computerized voice said.
Thank you, Sarah, Alec thought to himself.
Alec reached down and turned the knob. The heavy door slowly opened. He grabbed Erin’s hand, and they stepped inside and closed the door behind them. The room was dark, but Alec had prepared a light globe for this situation. He pulled out the small globe and lit it with dark energy. They were standing inside a large room with an elevated platform in the center. There were two smaller platforms on the other side. Pallets were stacked around each of the platforms. A large roll-up garage door was on the far end of the room. Alec could feel dark energy pulsing through the platform in the middle of the room and from the smaller platforms on the side of the room. The far side of the room was stacked with more pallets of equipment that looked ready to be deployed. Alec pointed them out: supplies ready to be taken to the Alder’s war.
“What do we do now?” Erin whispered.
“We have to figure out how we can stop this thing,” he answered. “Do you sense anything? “
Erin felt the energy.
“The answer feels like it is on the platform in the middle,” she said. They walked together onto the platform. They held hands and Alec felt the dark energy while Erin felt for the rightness of what he was doing.
Alec looked at Erin.
“I think I must go to the other side and leave my medallion there to fix the problem. Do you want to wait for me here?”
Erin looked at him.
“I go where you go. You are my Great and Good Wizard, and I will stand with you wherever you are.”
Alec felt the dark energy and used his original medallion to begin feeding energy into it. Erin sensed the rightness of what he was doing. The platform pulsed and throbbed. Multicolor flashes filled his eyes. Light and dark, dark and light; the flashes slowed, and a wave of nausea began. He felt the change and squeezed Erin’s hand tightly. He could feel an intense dark energy field being generated by a concentrator but could no longer feel the dark energy background. His ears popped, then cleared.
“We are on my homeworld now,” he told Erin. “Can you feel anything different?”
Erin let her senses roam. They were in a well-lit room, brighter than the glow that Alec’s light globes could provide. There were more supplies stacked high on pallets, supplies that she did not recognize. The pallets looked ready to be moved through the transfer point. She flinched – to one side of the other pallets were several stacks of death rods.
“My senses are clearer here than at home.” She grabbed his arm. “Someone is watching us from the little room,” she said.
Alec looked at the control room window and saw a slight figure within. The figure looked up, saw them, and raised his hand; then flipped a large switch. Alec felt the dark energy concentrator stop and the room became quiet. Then the person stepped out of the control room and walked towards them: a thin man with grizzled graying hair and beard, wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a ring like theirs.
“So!” the man said. “You have returned! I was wondering if you were still alive.”
Alec looked at the man.
“Dr. Alder,” he said.
“Alec,” he said, chuckling, and extended his hand in greeting.
26 – Portals
“I am glad that you have returned, Alec,” Dr. Alder said, smiling. “We need your help.” He turned towards Erin. “And who is this with you?”
Alec looked at his former mentor. “This is my Consort, Her Highness Erin, Princess of Theland.”
Alder looked at Erin for a long moment. “Pleased to meet you,” he said.
Untruth, Erin thought to Alec.
“Come with me. We have a lot to do, and not much time to do it,” Dr. Alder said.
“I can’t stay here,” Alec interjected. “I didn’t come here to help you. I came to shut down the transfer point before it destroys both worlds. Then I’m going back to Theland with Erin.” Hearing and speaking English seemed odd; the language sounded flat compared to the lilting tones of Theland.
“I’m afraid it is too late for her planet – for Nevia. Our transfer point has unbalanced a local dark energy device at the planet’s focus zero-point. Based on our measurements we can’t count on more than six weeks before it goes unstable.” Then, eyes darting towards Alec’s neck, “Now that you have brought your medallion back, we can decouple from Nevia and keep the instability from reaching us.” He gestured towards a doorway, “Let’s get out of the concentrator room.”
“We don’t intend to stay,” Alec said again.
“We can figure that out later,” Alder replied. “Anyways, it will take at least a day before the concentrator is recharged enough that we can use it again.”
He is lying, Erin thought to Alec. Alec nodded to signify he understood.
Dr. Alder motioned for them to follow him. The three walked to the entry door. Alder stopped.
“The process hasn’t changed, Alec. Or have you forgotten? All medallions have to sta
y in this room.”
Without a word, Alec took his old medallion from around his neck and handed it to Dr. Alder. The older man took off his own medallion as well and put both medallions into a safe. Alec noted that the protocol was much different from the simple locker he used to use at the Institute. Alder spun the safe’s combination lock, securing both medallions.
Dr. Alder ushered them through the entry door and down a long hallway. Armed guards stood at intervals along the hall. They walked past a large gate with a set of heavy steel bars.
“Where are we?” asked Alec. “This isn’t the Institute.”
“No, we’ve moved our operations,” answered Dr. Alder, continuing to hustle them down the hallway. “We needed greater security than they could provide at the Institute.” He gestured to the hallway. “This is the only way in or out of the concentrator room,” he said. “We need to ensure our safety. The guards check everyone and everything that comes in or goes out.” They stopped at a small windowless side room. Alder motioned them inside and flicked on the lights. The room was sparsely furnished with a small office table and a couple of folding chairs.
“Not quite the friendly research atmosphere that I recall,” said Alec.
“Yes, we are on a more warlike footing than when you left,” Dr. Alder said. “The elves are trying to stop our efforts.” Then he looked again at Erin. “I see she’s wearing an elf ring. I hope she’s not an elf. If she is, we are going to have to kill her.”
“Elf ring?” asked Alec.
“Nevia has many elves,” Alder replied. “The Elders have a test device. Tomorrow they will verify what she is.” Then Alder spoke directly to Erin: “Please don’t try to touch any of our guards. They have instructions to shoot any woman who tries to touch them, lest she is an elf.”
“Well, we encountered Sarah before we came back here, and she told us that Erin is a ‘cross-breed.’ Not an elf.” Alec carefully did not mention that he had fought Sarah as an opposing foe, or that Sarah had died.