portal prophecies 01 - keepers destiny (17 page)

Mike looked at the placement of the flag pin on the map. “Yes the pink flags are known closed portals. That one, if it is there, hasn't been discovered yet.”

“Okay, so all we need to do is round them up and send them home,” she said.

“You forget they are savage,” Mike said.

“You forget they are beings who have great intelligence. They learnt to be savage from men in order to survive. Part of them can still be reasoned with,” Willow said. “We can divide into three teams, two search parties and one to remain here. Nathan and Diana, can you two complete that map with each of the portals that are missing?”

Nathan and Diana agreed. Willow was about to split up the teams, when Mike interrupted, “I do hate to butt in and all...actually no I don't. You arrive here after how many thousands of years, waltz in, insult the man who has dedicated his life to protecting a portal and preserving life here and try to take over? This man watched everyone he knows disappear or die. This isn't your show, so back off!”

Silence over came the room as everyone stopped what they were doing and were staring, waiting for new instructions from, someone. Willow looked at William sitting at the table alone with his hands on his face, elbows on the table. As much as she hated to admit it Mike was right. This was William's place, his army, his supplies, it was his show. They needed to agree. She asked everyone to clear the room for a few minutes so she could talk to the guard alone. William looked up and nodded to his people to step outside.

“I am sorry. I was wrong to take over like that. I will prepare to leave immediately. Most of my people will join me, however a few may prefer to remain in your hospitality. They won't interfere with your operations.”

“How do you know all this? That what I am doing isn't what I was meant to do? That the mark will reappear?” William asked, his head hung low facing the table.

“I...” Willow felt a tug in her left shoulder. Seconds later a black cat jumped on the table and sat looking at the guard.

“I am Aslo, Leander and guardian, I spoke the words to the girl. She is my keeper. She only repeated what I asked her to.”

Both William and Willow gasped out loud as if they were seeing a ghost. Silence followed for several minutes before Aslo spoke again.

“We don't have time for this, daylight hours are passing and there is work to be done. You are a good guard William, but your path has been lost over the years. Not just one world has the right to survive, they all do. We do not have the right to judge how they live. Our job is simply to ensure they have the right to live as they choose.”

“It isn't always that simple,” William said without emotion. “To protect one means to destroy another in some cases.”

“Yes, there is no exact science, but we must try rather than just condemn. There are cases where the innocent must be defended and others destroyed, but in this case both parties are innocent. They both are fighting to exist and neither one has more right than the other to survive.”

“I understand and will step aside.”

“No!” Willow exclaimed. “These people look to you for direction. You need to lead them. We will do as you request. Ask us to leave or stay and help. I must follow the way of the guardians, but I will respect your choice.”

“What do I...we do? How do we save both?”

“We try,” Willow answered. “First of course we have to find them.”

William gave a half smile. “Yeah, that should be easy enough.”

“We do have some skill sets that may help a little,” Willow said sensing the sarcasm in his voice.

“I forgot completely about that. I have a unique radar to locate portal stones within walking distance of me. I expect you each have something different.”

“You could say that, but for the moment we are out of time. We need to find the missing Hannulate and get them home before more damage is done,” Aslo said as he jumped to Willow's shoulder and disappeared onto the surface of her skin again.

Chapter Eighteen

William got up from the table and summoned the others back into the room, giving a short speech that all had been worked out and a common goal had been found. The details of which would be made known later after the urgency of the day had been settled.

Tactical teams were formed. William headed the first, picking several of his own men as well as Iskander, Jessie, Dezi and Pete to cover ground to the north. Willow was to lead the second group to the south, consisting of Mike, Faramund, Zsiga, and Neil.

The remainder of the people were to remain at the base of operations, some to protect, and some in the command centre.

Nathan, Diana, Ashlyn and Clairity were assigned to helping the young girl who maintained the maps, Sarah. Over the course of the morning they heard her story about how she had lost her parents and younger siblings to the vamprite, a race she knew as vampires. Back in the time of the blood wars when humanoids were looking to drink the blood of the magic folk, a young prince, Drake, decided turn about was fair play. He captured young women and drank their blood. It was soon learnt that drinking human blood could keep his race of shape shifters young, strong, and beautiful. Given the chance the vamprite would gladly invade and live in this world. They had once before found a foothold here. It was believed a few hundred had come through one of the holes in space between realms and had taken up residence. It was easy to understand the folk lore people had built up about vampires and why cover-ups weren't a problem in this world. The people here made up stories to explain the unknown themselves.

Their job was to fill in information Nathan had read in books about portal locations and which worlds they connected to on the maps. Sarah was also marking whether individual portals had been disabled or not and any information about where portal stones were hidden that she knew.

The rest were given communication devices to stay in contact with the two groups. The guards themselves could stay updated since they could communicate telepathically.

Within moments the groups were prepped and on their way. The command centre was busy locating possibilities for dark places where the creatures could hide for the groups to search.

Willow's group took the truck south, agreeing the possibilities were best that the Hannulate would have travelled at least to dense forest land, as there weren't as many mountains or caves in their direction as there were to the north.

The trees were tall and reminded her a little of home, although packed much tighter together. Willow had the urge to take off her shoes and climb. Being able to communicate with trees meant she could run across the top of the forest, feeling the branches and leaves beneath her bare feet and never worry about falling or hurting herself. She put her hand on the trunk of the tree in front of her and felt the warm whisper of welcome vibrate through her body. A feeling of complete relaxation came over her body. She was safe, protected, loved. Taking a rhythmic breath in and letting it out, she closed her eyes and saw what the trees had seen, where the beings they were looking for had gone. She thanked them and turned to the others in her search party.

“They aren't far. There is a dark spot in the forest where they stopped for rest. We can be there in less than ten minutes,” Willow said to her team.

“Great, lead the way,” Mike answered.

“I don't have to, we just follow the path.”

Mike's eyes widened with surprise as the trees appeared to part in front of him creating a dirt trail through the dense forest. He looked at Willow as if he was going to speak, but ended up shaking his head as he stepped forward to take the lead.

The trail ended at the darkest part of the forest. Mike stopped and turned to Willow as if questioning where to go, but not wanting to speak out loud and disturb the creatures he was sure were resting nearby.

Moving forward, Willow placed her hand on a tree. Within moments branches of all the surrounding trees swayed and parted, revealing camouflaged bodies scattered on the ground like fallen leaves. The creature closest to her opened an eye and seeing the strangers, titled its head upward with a growl, showing off its sharp teeth. Seconds later it was on two feet and threatening attack. The wild war noises spitting from its jaws quickly awoke the others from their slumber and Willow's team found themselves face to face with danger.

“We mean you no harm. We want to help you return to your world,” Willow said showing both hands in front of her with palms forward.

“Why should we trust you? We have been tricked by the humans before,” it hissed.

A black cat appeared by Willow's feet, rubbing against her legs. The creature turned its attention to the animal.

“So, there is hope left then. We understood you were all...disposed of,” it said still with more of a hissing noise than normal speech.

Kiera looked up and jumped forward, transforming into the largest animal Willow had ever seen. She had just assumed the guardian's normal form was that of a cat. Now Kiera was standing before her, towering well over her height, with a face similar to a black panther but a larger body, more like a black lion, if a lion came in an extra extra large size.

Kiera spoke. “As you can see, we are not and our keeper isn't either. We will help you return to your home. The humans in this place are not the same ones who hurt you in the past. They are helping us return order. We ask your friendship and trust and offer ours in return.”

“Where were all of you when we were being tortured for generations? We had no friends then!” it exclaimed angrily.

“We did not know what had happened to your people. But now we wish to make sure that no atrocities like that happen to other races. There are fewer of us now, but our duty remains to protect the innocent,” Kiera answered calmly, flicking her long tail back and forth.

“Then you are late. Our world was invaded today. It has been left barren of all water and plant life. There is nothing for us there. You cannot help us.”

“We can still help you, more than you know. There is a terraformer in our company, who can rebuild what was destroyed, perhaps even better than before.”

“That is an unusual ability, very powerful, it is. Show us if you wish us to believe.” Another creature from the back had moved forward to join in the conversation. “Perhaps an apple tree? We have not had food for some time.”

Willow stepped forward and looked at the ground space available. “We will need a clear area. There is no room here for a full grown tree.”

“I can transport us to a location close to the portal if I am allowed,” Faramund offered.

“The others of your kind, you will help us to convince them as well? They separated from you in the other direction.”

“And you know where they are? We will permit you to transport us and show us the power, then we will talk about other details. If you lie we...take action,” a third creature spoke.

Kiera nodded and Faramund asked everyone to gather together in a group before him. He raised his arms and a green fog released from his palms. The coloured gas swirled around them and created a wall, above, below, beside. They could see nothing but green. The guard said the approximate coordinates of the portal to the creatures' homeland and seconds later the gas was retreating, back into Faramund's hands and a new scenery unfolded before their eyes.

They were within walking distance to the portal now, about five minutes away and in an open area, with no signs of human life to the eye. Willow stepped forward away from the group and asked a apple tree to grow for her. A small green sprout appeared, slowly getting larger. The group watched as the seedling transformed into a fully grown apple tree, then with blossoms and finally with red apples, sparkling in the sunlight.

Sunlight, Willow thought. She looked at the creatures who were already trying to find a place under the tree for shade. Looking up at the sky the clouds swirled and a darkness fell over the area, but no rain fell. She apologized for not shading them earlier, when they first arrived.

The Hannulate were impressed by the human girl's actions. She showed respect and great strength. They agreed to return to their homeland if she would come through and help rebuild a place were they could live. Faramund once again summoned his transportation powers to move himself and a creature who identified itself as Shakine to the location of the other team, where they approached Aslo before confronting the other Hannulate with news of the agreement that had been made. In the end the whole process took less than thirty minutes before they returned to the portal location. They found Willow and the others at the stone base where the doorway between worlds would open.

Several more apple trees had already been created by the time they arrived, to feed their starving new friends and the creatures ate as if they had never seen food before.

“Those teeth and claws for...eating fruit?” Mike mused.

“More of a defensive tool they developed to escape captivity. They are naturally a peaceful race,” Willow answered. She moved forward to the portal base and looked at the stones which were still embedded in the corners, the same as the one in her homeland. She knew exactly what to do.

“Stand back, this is going to take some electricity,” she yelled so that everyone could hear. Holding her palms face up, she looked directly into the sky above. A gold dust appeared from her hands and swirled up as if caught in a mini tornado high to the clouds. A darkness fell over the area and a rumble turned into a loud boom of thunder. Rain fell over the stone base and a bright flash as a single bolt of lightening struck the stone base releasing the corner stones which sprung into the air forming four corners of a door with a glowing light show of colours in between them.

Willow smiled and turned to Shakine. “Your doorway home.” She bowed.

“We would ask for you to go through the portal first, as we agreed,” it hissed back.

Willow took a step towards the open portal, when Mike grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “You can't actually be serious about going through. There is a good chance something horrible is waiting for you. Keepers are a hot target.”