by F M Andrews
Lutex was elated until a thought suddenly ambushed him. This would be the last time they would all be together. Only he and Lifen needed to go further. This was where he would have to say goodbye to the troll and the cat that he had come to rely on, to trust with his life and most importantly call his friends. A hard lump appeared in his throat, making swallowing difficult. They were almost family now and the thought of never seeing them again hurt a lot.
“It will be alright. The portal should be safe; after all, Zail would want the Telft to arrive strong and ready to fight,” Brack reassured him, misunderstanding the reason for his sorrow. Lutex shook his head and sniffed.
“It’s not that … it’s just that I am going to miss you and Tubble so much. You have been so brave, so amazing and wonderful and ….” He couldn’t finish.
“What do you mean?” Brack asked, clearly confused. At exactly the same moment Tubble chimed in with, “Tubble not understand!”
“This is where we have to say goodbye,” Lutex whispered. “There is no coming back from here. If you come with us, you will not be able to return.” It hurt him so much to say these words but they had to be said.
Brack sat back on his heels and regarded the distraught boy in front of him. “Good try kid, but you can’t get rid of me that easily. I have to see how this thing ends,” he said looking very serious.
All Tubble said was, “Tubble come too.” And that was that.
Lutex threw himself at Brack and Tubble hugging them with all his might, unable to find the words that expressed how grateful he was.
“Um ... I hate to break up this love fest but I think we are in trouble,” Lifen interrupted sounding worried. Looking up it was clear that the portal had closed again. What had happened? Surely it would stay open for longer than that if they wanted to transport a whole troop of Telft at a time. A closer examination of the arch revealed a small trickle of blood draining out of the channel at one end. Lutex quickly put the pieces together. Of course there had to be a way to get rid of the blood when it was no longer needed. The last person to use the channel had obviously left the drain open and, as a consequence, they had now lost enough of their precious liquid to render the portal inactive again. Quickly Lutex closed the tap but the damage had been done. Somehow they were going to have to top it up themselves.
“We would do the world a favour if we used his blood,” Brack said pointing at the unconscious priest, voicing what they were all thinking.
“Yes,” Lifen replied. “But then that would make us as bad as he is, and I for one don’t think I could do it.” She would not look at anyone, instead, she studied the floor.
“Well, you might not be able to do it but I certainly can. If we have a chance to get to Errin in time we have to take it,” Brack reasoned, his voice raising, his tone self-righteous.
“No,” Lutex intervened, sighing in defeat. “She is right. We have to act honourably or Zail will have already won.”
Brack threw his axe down and stormed away, out of the halo of the torch light and for some moments they could hear him stomping around, muttering angrily. They left him to it.
“We are going to have to fill it ourselves, aren't we?” the princess asked rhetorically. “Brack needs both hands to fight and you do not have our blood,” she reasoned. “So that leaves me.” Lutex did not want to agree but he had no choice and reluctantly he watched as she drew her knife and in one quick movement draw it across her palm. It was obvious that it pained her but she bit her lip and squeezed her hand. Ever so slowly the channel began to fill once more.
Brack stomped back to them, huffing and puffing in protest. Tubble came and sat next to them, bored with the darkened hall and in silence they anxiously waited for the portal to open again. Lutex began to fidget. Waiting was hard and to distract himself he took out Errin’s parchment. To his relief there was still a stroke left. They had not let Errin down yet.
By the time the buzzing sound of the portal activating finally broke the silence, their nerves were in tatters. Every moment they had fully expected the door to open again and a troop of guards to march in on them. Instantly they jumped to their feet and stood in front of the shimmering gateway, the princess hastily wrapping her hand in a strip of material torn from one of her shirts. The archway was only just wide enough to accommodate two people at a time and it had been decided that an invisible Tubble and Brack should go first to secure the other side. Lutex and Lifen would follow after twenty breaths.
The realisation that they were all in immediate but unknown danger quickened their heartbeats but strengthened their bond. They were going to be separated here, and there was no guarantee that they would ever see each other alive again. Nervous smiles were shared, before Brack reached down to place his hand on Tubble’s ruff and the two of them disappeared. A slight shimmering in the portal’s sheen was the only indication that they had passed through. Lutex was concentrating on counting and so was pleasantly taken by surprise when Lifen’s hand found his. This was it then. It was literally a leap of faith, a step into the unknown. The fact that they were doing it together somehow made it more doable although he could still feel his heart hammering in his chest.
“Ready?” he asked, staring at the portal.
“No, but that won’t stop me,” Lifen replied.
Lutex reached down to pull the plug once more, and then together they stepped across the threshold.
The portal transport was absolutely nothing like limbo. This was short, sharp and painful. He was sure this would be how it would feel to be struck by lightning. Gasping like a landed fish he stumbled through the barrier and, unceremoniously fell to the ground, panting. It took him a moment to orientate and all the while he could hear the princess dry-retching beside him. Pushing past his discomfort, he forced himself to survey his surroundings. They were in a huge, high-ceilinged room. Small portals lined three of the walls and a huge archway dominated the fourth. It took up the whole wall and reached to the ceiling. Curiously, off to one side of it was a stone table. It caught Lutex’s eye as it looked really out of place here.
Tubble and Brack were standing in front of the large arch, staring down at the ground. Lutex gave a sigh of relief as he noted that there was not another soul around. They were completely alone. Gingerly he stood, shuffled over to Lifen and offered her a helping hand and together they slowly made their way across to their friends.
It only took a moment and no words were needed for them to understand the reason for the disappointment stamped on the big troll’s face. All four stood in shock, staring at the huge groove that ran across the threshold of the final portal. It was immense. It would take an entire life’s blood of a grown troll to fill. There was no way forward. It was so incredibly frustrating. Here they were, standing only one pace away from crossing into Feld but without the key they would never be able to take that final step. Feld was so tantalizingly close, but so impossibly far away, all at the same time.
Brack was the first to recover and without a word he drew his knife and marched over to the table. Now that Lutex was closer he could see that the table drained into the channel. It was like a meat slab at home. A slab used to bleed out slaughtered animals. This was a sacrificial altar where lives were lost in order for the portal to open.
“No!” Lutex screamed in his head as he suddenly understood what Brack intended to do but Tubble was quicker. A blur of fur launched at Brack’s chest and the two of them tumbled to the ground, the knife spinning noisily away across the stone floor. Lutex pounced on it and scooted backwards out of the troll’s reach. There was no way he was going to let Brack give his life for this. Zail was not going to take his friend from him. He had no idea how to solve this problem but he was definitely not going to let the troll make the ultimate sacrifice.
Brack was stubborn and honourable, a terrible combination in this situation and Lutex knew it would be nearly impossible to stop him once he had set his mind on something. Tubble was still sitting on Brack’s chest, growling at e
very move he made, unwilling to let the troll up and Lutex felt a huge surge of gratitude to the cat who had saved the day yet again.
A familiar buzzing sound snapped their attention back to their surroundings. An archway on the opposite side of the hall was shimmering and it could only mean one thing. A troop of Telft was on its way. Their only option was to hide. Frantically they scanned the room, searching for a suitable space and in the end they ran out of time as a foot pierced the portal. Scrambling backwards they bumped up against the stone table. There was a small crawl space beneath it which, Lutex discovered, led to an area large enough for two. Grabbing the princess and Brack he pulled them backwards, explaining that he and Tubble would become invisible.
They had not been a moment too soon as, a moment later, the hall was full of hulking Telft. The sudden noise and smell invaded their senses. There was no discipline, no order, just eager anticipation of the promised fighting to come. A single troll led the way and Lutex watched in disbelief as he calmly ordered one Telft to kill another. There was no hesitation, no questioning and a gleeful gleam in the killer's eye was really the only acknowledgment of the fact that he was asked to take another's life.
The deed was executed so quickly and with so little fuss that it took Lutex some time to understand that a death had occurred. It wasn’t until the body was lifted up onto the table above him that he knew what was happening. With a grunt, the unfortunate Telft’s veins were opened and the rich, iron smell of blood filled the air. There was a steady dripping sound as the table drained into the waiting channel. Lutex felt ill and fought his rebellious stomach, instead concentrating on staying out of the way of the huge Telft boots that were stomping passed him, a hair's breadth from his face.
In less time than he could've imagined, the trough filled and the portal sizzled into life. An excited muttering spun around the room and, as one, the Telft surged forward. Lutex watched them disappear in twos and threes until only the commanding troll was left standing in the empty chamber. The silence felt almost solid, a physical thing, and Lutex held his breath, watching in horror as the troll leant forward to remove the plug, allowing the blood to begin to seep away before he calmly followed the Telft through the arch to Feld. Without hesitation Lutex leapt up and replaced the stopper but it was too late: too much precious blood had been lost and the portal stuttered to a close.
Lifen and Brack crawled out from under the table and stood staring at the blank portal. The steady drip of the dead Telft’s blood had slowed but with any luck it would continue long enough to replenish the threshold. Lutex snuck a quick glance at the shrunken corpse and shuddered, morbidly wondering just how much blood a Telft body held. The sound of another portal being activated, brought his attention back to the hall. It was the gateway from their camp, the same one they had arrived through. The priest was through the portal and half way across the chamber before they had time to draw breath. Terrified that he had brought reinforcements, Brack raced back towards the portal, axes held high as Lutex and Lifen drew their knives and dropped into a defensive stance ready and waiting for the screaming whirlwind to come to them.
Unexpectedly, and without warning, he side stepped them both, bent down and pulled the plug on the archway to Feld before reaching forward, and in one frenzied motion, scooped out a huge handful of the precious fluid flowing there. Blood splattered the floor, the arch and the priest. The princess lunged, her knife striking harmlessly past his ribs and as Lutex watched, a claw-like hand shot forward to clasp about her neck and with the unbelievable strength of the insane, he lifted her completely off the ground at arm’s length. Tubble growled, his hackles raised, yet he could not get past the princess to attack. Lutex was also at a loss as to what to do. He watched Lifen struggle, her face turning from red to blue. Behind him he could hear the sound of axe on wood as Brack attempted to disable the arch. It was a terrible feeling knowing that you needed to act, quickly, but uncertain as to what that action might be. He took a step forwards, trying desperately to see a way to reach their nemesis past the struggling princess before it was too late. The priest was screaming, the veins on his neck standing out and his crazy, blood shot eyes bulging.
Lifen went limp and Lutex gathered a fireball in his hands, aimed and threw. The priest dodged and it flew wide. Quickly he gathered another but the distraction had been all the princess had needed and suddenly her knife appeared, protruding from the mad troll’s chest. His eyes went wide in surprise before he sank to the ground. Lifen fell, released from his deathly grip and she sat gasping and coughing on the floor. The entire episode had been so quick, a mere matter of heart beats. Lutex leapt up to replace the plug just as a resounding crash heralded Brack’s destruction of the archway.
Coming together again the four sat recovering and Lutex took the opportunity to take a quick look at Errin’s lines, noting with relief that a half a line remained. There was still hope. All they had to do was re- activate the portal.
“As I see it, we might as well use him now,” Brack said, kicking the inert body of the priest. “After all it would be the ultimate insult to him if we used his sorry carcass against Zail.”
Try as he might, Lutex could not disagree; after all, he was dead. It took both Brack and Lifen to lift what was left of the Telft off the table and replace it with the priest. Brack had to slit his throat as neither Lutex nor Lifen could bring themselves to do it. Lutex thought to himself that he would be very pleased if he never saw any blood ever again after this, although he suspected that his nightmares would be full of it for a long time to come.
The anticipation was excruciating. Brack could not sit still and so he set about destroying as many of the portals around the room as he could. Only two remained when the gateway to Feld sizzled back into operation. Lutex took a deep breath; he couldn't believe it, they were going to make it in time. He was going home and he was bringing the princess and the shard with him as well as the bonus of two valued friends. He just hoped with all his heart that they would not arrive into a wild magic storm but he kept that terrifying thought to himself.
Nervously, the four walked up to the arch, knowing that no matter what awaited them on the other side they had overcome tremendous odds just to reach this point, knowing that they could trust and rely on each other to face whatever was thrown at them and, as one, they stepped forward into the unknown.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Elarick was enthralled.
The first indication that the clan was nearing the gathering was the sighting of scout yachts from other fleets skimming across the horizon. Excitement buzzed and everyone was at the railings staring forward, anticipation causing people to call exuberantly from boat to boat. Already there was a festive air and the children, sensing the mood, were running between the adults’ legs, squealing and laughing with delight. The twins’ first glimpse of the gathering took their breath away. There must have been at least ten clan flotillas all parked in a huge circle, their flag ships facing into the central empty space. It looked like an enormous wagon wheel laid out on the land below. The glint of sunlight off water caught their eyes and on closer inspection a large lake materialised a short distance away. Only two spokes of the wheel were empty and the girls presumed that one of these was their clan’s spot.
“Are we one of the last clans to arrive?” Ela asked Ralta, not taking her eyes off the spectacle below for a moment.
“Yes, this year we are. The hunt held us up; however, I think we are only a day or two behind the rest. Only one more clan to arrive, I think,” Ralta replied with a happy smile. “But we are here now!”
The strange thing was that they could feel that the shard was not below. It had been steadily drawing closer and closer yet it was still some distance off and the only conclusion they could make was that the shard bearer must belong to the missing clan.
Rhelin stood at the prow of the falcon in all her finery, as the fleet maneuvered itself into position and gently lowered itself to earth. Within moments, the ramps we
re down and the clan had disembarked, dispersing throughout the other parked flotillas around the circle. This was the one time during the circle when all the clans came together. There were many intra-clan marriages and this was the event where they could, once again, catch up with long-lost family members.
The central circle was huge, large enough, the girls guessed, to hold every person here. A large peat fire was laid out at the very centre, possibly as a focal point for the festivities to come. Each clan had something to trade and these wares were displayed on tables in front of their ships. Ralta and Bhan had shooed the girls off, telling them to go and have a good time but to be back before nightfall, and they had not needed to be told twice, racing off to explore immediately. Strolling past clan after clan the twins could not take their eyes off the incredible sight of so many magnificent ships all in one place. All were slightly different from each other but all were immaculately maintained and beautiful to behold.
All the sails with their heralds emblazoned on them were furled but every mother ship had a banner beautifully embroidered with their clan’s emblem, hung over the side. Most were birds although one or two were more abstract. One looked like a symbol depicting the wind, another the sun and one had a bow with a fitted arrow on it. The twins thought their falcon was the most beautiful. There were so many people, all with pale hair and violet eyes yet there were subtle differences in facial features and clothing that marked the different clans. Wandering around, the girls noticed that they were being stared at constantly.
“I suppose we stick out like dog's balls with our dark hair and all,” Ema quipped. They had forgotten that they were different because they had been so seamlessly accepted by their clan. Ela sighed with frustration and resignation as they made their way back home.
That evening, the fire in the centre was lit and everyone, dressed in their finest, made their way into the circle. Musicians had begun to play next to the fire, and glow globes, dancing in time, bobbed around the perimeter, banishing the shadows with their warm light. In no time the circle was full and the musicians finished their cheerful melody, replacing it with a series of ascending notes that made all turn and look to the very centre.