Jack Gregson & the Forgotten Portal (15 page)

He looked at the map Anthrow had created but
still couldn’t understand how to read his strange scribbling’s.
David would have eventually worked it out, he thought.

He wondered if his cousins were angry with
him. David and Rosie would be home now, telling grandmother that
Alice had stolen the blue emerald.

Soon they would seal Earth off to prevent
Theorden getting through.

Jack didn’t even know how he was even going
to get home to Earth. If they sealed off the portal, was it even
possible?

Enough! He once again tried to put the
future out of his mind as he focused on his current problem.

“Where would a lake be in a deserted place
like this?” he said to himself as he looked around.

The portal he’d come through was attached to
a large red rock, three metres tall and twice as wide. Why hadn’t
Anthrow added that to the map? It could hardly even be called a
map, just a black line that wove around the paper leading to a
large X.

Anthrow had told Rosie that it would guide
them to Diamond Lake. It was a strange way to explain a map, Jack
thought. Usually one would say to follow a map, not have it guide
you.

He suddenly had a thought. What if the map
were magic? He quested out to it, much like the black ring on his
finger, willing it to activate.

A small hum started to fill Jacks mind, as
he felt magic weaving out into the air.

The map caught fire in his hand, and Jack
let go of it quickly to avoid getting burnt. Rather than fall to
the ground, a small ball of flame hovered in the air as it consumed
the remaining paper.

Slowly the fireball grew as its flames
turned from orange to a deep blue. It grew until it was the size of
a football, and the hum that had gotten louder and louder in Jacks
mind subsided.

What now? Thought Jack, just as the small
blue flame started to move away from him at a fast pace.

He rushed after it, moving at a jog to keep
up. Soon he was running, as the flame raced past the rocks and
shrubs covering the landscape. Still Jack couldn’t see any
significant landmarks or lake on the horizon.

Suddenly the blue flame slowed down, just as
Jack noticed a shimmer in the air ahead. Before he could stop
himself he hit an invisible force that caused his body to slow down
like the flame.

He felt like he was moving in slow motion,
as he continued to run through the thick air around him. He kept
going for ten more steps before he broke through, returning to
normal speed as he fell to the ground exhausted.

“Stay down Jack!” A voice whispered urgently
from his left.

Jack did as he was told as he looked to see
who had spoken. It was Anthrow, crouched beside a large bush,
looking intently in the other direction.

Jack crawled towards him, taking in his
surroundings as he did so. The harshness of the desert was gone,
replaced by lush bushes and trees. Beyond to where Anthrow was
looking, he could make out the twinkling of the moons light,
reflecting off what he assumed was Diamond Lake.

“What are you doing here?” asked Jack.

“Helping you!” whispered Anthrow as he put a
hand to Jack’s mouth. “Theorden’s men are down there, by the
lake.”

Jack pulled Anthrows hand away from his
mouth as he peered over the bush. A group of men sat around a fire
right beside the lake. The light of the flames allowed him to see
that their backs were to him, and they appeared to be eating.

He glanced up at the lake and saw more fires
around its perimeter. It was completed guarded.

He came back behind the bush and turned to
Anthrow. “Why are you helping me? I thought your debt was paid to
the Gregson’s.” The feeling of betrayal was starting to well up in
Jack again.

“My debt is paid. When I left you three, I
decided to make the journey to Earth and tell your Grandmother just
that. And to let her know the foolish journey you were undertaking.
I figured she would leave the manor to save you, or at least find
someone more heroic than I to help you. Did you think I would just
do nothing and leave you to undertake this massive task alone?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, well…I considered it. But you three
were good company and people I’d rather not see dead. Speaking of
three, where are David and Rosie?”

“They returned to the Manor,” said Jack.

“They can’t of made it through the portal to
Earth!” Anthrow said, alarmed. “I said I decided to go to Earth, I
never said I got there. When I arrived near the portal to your
world, there were thousands of Theorden’s men gathering throughout
the Grotto, with many more joining them. His army is gathering and
I fear he will invade Earth any day now. The only thing holding him
back now appears to be your capture, although we still don’t know
why.”

“This is why,” Jack said taking the book out
of Rosie’s backpack. “It’s also how my cousins made it back to
Earth.” He then went on to explain the book’s true purpose, their
suspicions about Alice stealing the blue emerald and their journey
to the Forgotten Portal.

“Amazing! It makes sense then. If Theorden
had that book in his possession, he could create hundreds of
portals and attack Earth from multiple places at once. He could
place those Horde stones all over the globe and overrun your world
in a matter of weeks!”

“I don’t get why is he so interested in
invading Earth.”

“Earth is quite unique Jack. Because its
portal has been kept a secret, it has allowed you humans to grow
and thrive without the influences of magic and other civilisations.
Unlike other worlds, you haven’t spread out across the Universe and
there are now seven billion of you on the one planet. You don’t
have magic, but you have weapons can kill hundreds of thousands of
people with the push of a button! If Theorden managed to take
control of your people and technology, and combine it with his
magic, he’d be unstoppable. He’d have a good chance of controlling
the Universe!”

Jack sat back in shock. Control the
Universe? He couldn’t understand why someone would want that much
power.

“Jack. If David and Rosie went back to the
Manor, they should have taken the book with them. It isn’t safe
carrying that around. Why did you three decide it should be brought
here when you split up?”

Jack shifted uncomfortably where he sat. “We
didn’t really discuss it. We didn’t really talk about splitting up
either…”

Anthrow looked at him and then sighed. “You
decided to come here alone, and didn’t tell them. Why?”

“We need to throw the red stone in to the
lake. You know that.”

“What I know is that your ‘mission’ as you
put it was to find out who stole the blue emerald and you did that.
The smart thing would have been to return and tell your Grandmother
about Alice and Diamond Lake so that she could sort this all
out.”

Jack didn’t answer him, knowing there was
some truth to what he said. He couldn’t help feeling insulted that
Anthrow thought he wasn’t capable of doing this without his
grandmother’s help.

“Just like his father,” Anthrow grumbled
under his breath.

“I am nothing like my father!” Jack said
loudly without thinking. He quickly glanced over the bush again, to
see if the closest group of men had heard him.

Once he was sure they hadn’t he turned back
to Anthrow. “Nothing like him.”

“How do you know, you’ve never met him! You
ran off, completely disregarding the advice and feelings of those
who care for you, just like Maddox did. You are exactly like
him.”

“I have met my father. He’s about your
height, made of black smoke and has been trying to kill me ever
since I stepped through that bloody portal! Maybe you remember him
from the Grotto,” Jack said angrily, trying to hold back his
emotions.

“That was Maddox…”

“We heard Theorden call to him through the
Horde and demand he get the book from us.” Jack looked away from
him, not wanting to discuss it further.

Anthrow seemed to notice as he went quiet
for a time, glancing to the lake to watch the men around the fire
eat.

“Jack, we need to get back to the Manor. I
think I understand the real reason you stayed behind, but if you’re
right and that truly was your father, you need to rethink what you
plan on doing. He’s controlling the Horde! Trying to reach out to
him would be suicide.”

“I need to know why…”

“You don’t want to die finding out why.
Let’s return to the Manor. We will talk to your Grandmother and
find a way to contact Maddox from a distance.”

Jack wiped his nose with his sleeve as it
had started run. He didn’t reply to Anthrow but nodded slightly in
agreement.

“We need to throw the stone in the lake,” he
said after a time. “How are we going to get past those thugs over
there.”

“With this,” said Anthrow as he tugged on
the necklace that allowed him to move with great speed. “It looks
like dawn isn’t far away, so we’ll need to move quickly if we’re
going to have the cover of darkness to our advantage. I’ve been
looking for a good spot by the edge of the river where they
hopefully won’t spot us. See that tree?”

Jack peered over to where Anthrow pointed.
An old tree stood by the rivers edge, its roots exposed and its
ashen branches sagging. There were plenty of places to conceal
themselves if they could reach it unseen.

He looked back at Anthrow and nodded.

Anthrow smiled back at him and grabbed him
by the arm saying “This can feel weird the first time you do
it.”

“What do you mean by…”

Jack didn’t have time to finish his sentence
as he was pulled at incredible speed out from the bushes and
straight for the lake.

Anthrow was keeping wide berth of the nearby
fire but even if they had run straight through the group of men, he
doubted they would have been seen. Everything was a blur of colours
and light, impossible to make out any landmarks or objects.

In what seemed like a second they had
arrived at the tree and were securely hidden from the group.

Jack’s head spun as it adjusted back to
normal speed. “That feel horrible,” he said once he taken a
moment.

“You get used to it. Have you got the stone?
I don’t want to be here any longer than necessary.”

“Yeah,” Jack replied as he pulled it from
his pouch.

“Quickly, throw it in.”

Jack pulled his arm back and threw the still
covered stone in the lake. It was a good throw and travelled far
before making a small splash in still water beyond.

He paused and watched the water for
something to happen. Was that it? Did it work?

CRACK!

A lightning bolt split the night. Jack could
have sworn it originated from the lake, pushing itself up into the
sky.

Voices started to carry over the lake as
groups of Theorden’s men called out to each other in alarm.

“Oh dear,” said Anthrow.

In the distance a horn blew, calling the men
to action.

Chapter
Seventeen

Quick Exit

CRACK!

Another lightning bolt flew up from the
lake. Then there were dozens of them, all flying wildly into the
sky.

Jack turned to the group of men closest to
them and saw they stood and were making their way to the edge of
the lake. As he gazed around he saw silhouettes against all the
other fires as well.

“Well I don’t know if it’s killing the Horde
in your garden, but it certainly doesn’t like being in the
lake!”

Jack nodded in agreement, struggling to hear
Anthrow over the cracks of thunder.

Soon the bolts of lightning were becoming
less frequent, occasional sparks spitting out as if the stone were
taking its final breaths until finally, one large crack fired off,
signalling that it was over.

“Over there!” Jack heard someone yell, and
he swung in the direction it had come from to see a large person
pointing in his direction. The men behind him fell in as they
started to run towards them.

“Hold on!” Anthrow said as he grabbed Jack
and took off once again at lightning speed. Light blurred all
around them as they fled the lake.

Suddenly they were thrust forward as they
hit the illusion barrier of Diamond Lake as it cancelled out the
magic of Anthrow’s necklace.

Jacks head spun as he moved from a great
speed to slow motion, before breaking through and landing in a heap
on the red dusty sand of the first knot.

He looked back and saw that the lake had
once again disappeared, hidden by magic.

“Hurry, let’s move!” said Anthrow as he
stood up and grabbed Jack again and made to take off.

Nothing happened.

“It’s run out!” said Anthrow. “Come on.” He
let go of Jack and started running towards the portal. “It isn’t
far!”

Jack stood and rushed after him. As they ran
he looked back at the barrier. The men hadn’t come through yet, but
he assumed it was but a matter of time.

“There it is, right on the other side of
that rock.”

“I see it,” replied Jack as he pushed
himself to run faster.

They reached it just as the yells of
Theordens’ men could be heard in the distance.

“Don’t move!” a deep reptilian hiss
commanded them.

The Shadow Man stood before the portal, his
featureless face following their movements as they came to a stop
before him.

He stood alone, without the Horde at his
feet. His human frame was a swirl of angry black mist, with
twisting tendrils of black smoke rising from him. He stood, but his
feet seemed to barely touch the ground, as if he was
weightless.

“Give me the book, Gregson,” he hissed at
them.

Theorden’s men had caught up and were
surrounding them, closing off any chance of escape. They looked
angry, and Jack was sure that they didn’t intend on letting him
escape again.