The Tower of Endless Worlds (16 page)

“Maybe I should rent a movie or something.” Simon got to his feet and headed to the phone. He decided to order pizza, something he hadn’t done in ages.

The phone rang, and Simon snatched it up in relief. “Hello?”

“Hey, college boy, it’s me.”  

Simon leaned against the wall. “I though you were going out with your mother tonight.”

“So was I,” said Katrina, “but  she’s not feeling up to it. Too tired, I guess. We’ll do it later.” She sounded both annoyed and worried. “So what are you up to?”

“Oh, a lot of things,” said Simon. “I’ve got quite an evening planned.”

“You’ve got nothing.”

Simon sighed. “Yeah.”

“And that’s why you’d be hopeless without me,” said Katrina. “You’d spend all your time in your mother’s basement reading history books.”

Simon grunted. “I do not live in my mother’s basement.”

“Oh, just down her hall then, right?” 

Simon rolled his eyes. “You’re in tart mood.”

“Tart? What the hell is that? A tart’s something you stick in the toaster. Anyway, mind if I come over? Mom’s not pleasant company right now.”

“Sure,” said Simon. “I was going to order pizza…”

“Sounds good. Why don’t you call it in, and I’ll pick it up on the way over?”

“You already bought me lunch,” said Simon.

“And you can buy me supper,” said Katrina. “You pay me when I come over. It’s not rocket science, Dr. Simon goddamn Wester. It’s not even history.”

“Funny,” said Simon. “If you want to get a movie or something, I’ll pay for it too. It’s pretty quiet over here.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Katrina. “Your mom’s in Florida, isn’t she?”

“Yup,” said Simon. “Apparently my aunts are taking her to Disney World.”

“So we’ll have this nice big house all to ourselves then, right?”

Her tone made Simon’s ears flush. “Um…yeah.”

“Sounds good. Where are you getting the pizza?” said Katrina. Simon told her. “Great. See you in an hour. It should be fun.”  Simon hung up, called in the pizza, sat on the couch, and waited. 

It seemed like an eternity.

The doorbell ran thirty-five minutes later, and Simon opened the door. Katrina stood on the porch, a pizza box in her hands. “Delivery for Dr. Simon goddamn Wester?”

Simon rolled his eyes. “You know, that wasn’t even funny the first time. How much do I owe you?”

“Twelve bucks,” said Katrina. “Where do you want to eat?”

“Living room,” said Simon. He led her through the dining room and the living room door. “Why twelve bucks? The guy on the phone said it would be nine something.”

“I got some cheese bread,” said Katrina, tapping a smaller container atop the pizza box. She settled cross-legged on the couch, kicking off her shoes. “What? I like cheese bread. I don’t eat pizza often. Bad shit, plugs up your arteries like plumbers’ putty. So I may as well enjoy it when I do eat it.”

“Sounds logical to me.”  Simon sat besides her. “Considering you used to smoke, what, ten cigarettes a day?”

Katrina made a sour face. “You nagged at me like an old woman.” Her frown shifted to a small smirk. “Though you tell me if it’s an improvement or not.”

She leaned forward and kissed him, her tongue slipping between his lips and into his mouth. Simon shivered and kissed her back.

“Yeah,” he said when she pulled away, “yeah, I’d…I’d say it’s something of an improvement, yes.”

Katrina smiled and traced a finger along his collar. “Think my tongue still has acid on it?”

“What?” said Simon, blinking. 

“Right after we first met. You asked me if I ever choked on all the acid dripping from my tongue,” Katrina said, smirking.

“Um…no, no,” said Simon. He laughed. “I was a little rude, wasn’t I?”

“Terribly rude,” said Katrina. “You never really apologized.”

“Well, I apologize now,” said Simon. “How can I make it up to you?”

Katrina slid onto his lap. “I can think of something.”

“I…Katrina…I…” Simon’s brain shut down. He pulled her close and kissed her. Somehow his shirt wound up on the floor, and her hands began undoing his belt and the front of her jeans.

“Just do everything I tell you,” she whispered into his ear.

He did.

###

“The pizza’s cold.”

Simon squinted into the glare of the setting sun. He grumbled, staggered over to the window, and pulled the shade shut. “Oh, man. The shade was open the entire time.”

Katrina laughed and took a bite of pizza. “I don’t think anyone noticed. And if anyone did, I doubt we would have noticed.”

Simon stared at her. He had never seen a naked woman eating a slice of pizza before. 

Katrina laughed. “You have the stupidest grin on your face.”

“I…um…well, I’m hungry,” said Simon. He took a slice of pizza for himself.

Katrina grinned at him, her eyes sparkling. “Of course you are. We were busy.”

“Yeah.”  Simon laughed. “I suppose we were.”  He looked at her and smiled, his eyes wandering up and down her body. He dropped the slice of cold pizza on the table and reached for her. “I hate cold pizza.”

“What’s this?” said Katrina, taking him into her arms. “Am I going to have to start…”  He swallowed her words with a kiss.

They forgot about the pizza for a while. 

Chapter 15 - Children of the Void 

Between the Worlds

Liam sprinted through the yawning gates of the Tower of Endless Worlds.

Twin statues of leering winged creatures flanked the entrance, their wings joined over the gate. The portal opened into a vast, vaulted hall of pale dark marble. Thin columns sprouted from the ceiling and arched to the floor, and a dim green glow shone out of the depths. Liam had taken six running steps before he realized that Ally had stopped.

Liam whirled. “Child, are you mad? Run!”

Ally looked at him. The green light gave her pale skin a ghastly cast. “They won’t follow us.”

“How do you know?” said Liam, peering out the gate. She was right. The dark shapes vanished wailing and screeching into the Crimson Plain. “Why don’t they follow us? We would make easy prey in this hall.”

Ally scratched at her ragged hair. “They’re afraid of the Tower.”

"But that soldier said the ghouls come out of the tower," said Liam.

Ally shrugged. "Maybe. But they're too scared to come back in."  

Liam looked over the vast hall. Bas-reliefs covered the ceiling, showing strange scenes of other worlds. Long lines of words had been carved into the floor, written in a strange alphabet Liam did not recognize. An unnatural stillness hung over everything. Liam turned a full circle. He could not shake the feeling of hostile eyes. 

“Are they afraid of the Tower itself, or something that dwells within?” said Liam.

Ally said nothing. 

Liam sheathed his Sacred Blades, but kept his hands on the hilts. “Let’s go.” 

They set off down the hall, Liam's boots clicking against the cold stone floor. Ally padded along, her dark eyes darting back and forth over the strange carvings. 

The hall opened into a vast circular chamber. A colossal statute of a nude woman stood in the center of the room, taller than the highest spire of the now-ruined Scepteris Palace. Eleven other vaulted passageways opened off the circular chamber, the faint green light shining from within their depths. 

“By the gods,” muttered Liam. He had never seen such gargantuan construction. “The Tower of Endless Worlds, indeed. Which way do we go?” 

He looked up, and could not see the ceiling. The chamber rose away into nothingness. Balconies with ornate stone balustrades and leering statues ringed the wall at regular intervals. And twelve passages branched off every balcony, which meant that thousands and thousand of corridors led from this central chamber. Spiral staircases rose around several of the slender pillars, climbing into the Tower’s vast heights. 

Endless worlds. 

And how was he to find Earth among such a multitude?

“By the gods,” said Liam. “Which way to Earth?” He tried to think. Perhaps the strange writing could tell the way, but he could not read it. How had Marugon gotten to Earth? Had the last of the Warlocks found his way to Earth and its terrible weapons by sheer chance? 

“Look,” said Ally, pointing.

Liam followed her finger and noticed a dark smudge on the floor before one of the vaulted corridors. Liam moved closer and saw that a sigil had been burned into the stone. 

“What is it?” said Ally.

“A clawed hand holding a burning eye,” said Liam. “The personal sigil of Lord Marugon.”

"What does that mean?" said Liam. 

“Have you ever heard the story of the evil woodsman and his two children?” said Liam. 

Ally nodded. “The evil woodsman left his son and daughter in the great forest to die. But the son had a loaf of bread. He tore it into crumbs and left a trail, and he and his sister found their way out of the forest.”

Liam tapped the sigil with his boot. “I think Marugon left us bread crumbs. The fingers of the hand point at one of the passages. That must be it! Marugon didn’t bring the guns through the Tower himself. His minions did it, and he left them markers to follow the path to Earth through the Tower.” 

“What if some of his minions are coming through the Tower right now?” said Ally.

Liam hadn’t thought of that. “We’ll deal with that if we find any of them. We should keep going.”

Ally nodded. They started down the passage Marugon’s sigil indicated.

###

Liam frowned. “I forgot.”

“Forgot what?” said Ally. 

They walked down a high corridor of blood-red marble marked with another of Marugon’s sigils. Statues of smirking imps with six wings and nine eyes leered from the pillars and walls. Bas-reliefs showed the imps fighting, cavorting, fornicating, and feasting on the flesh of humans. Liam wished Ally and Lithon didn’t have to see the scenes, but he supposed they had seen worse horrors. 

“To eat,” said Liam. “I had hoped to do so when we entered the Tower, but I forgot in the rush of the moment.”

“I’m not hungry,” said Ally. 

“You should eat,” said Liam. “It…” He frowned. “Nor am I.” It had been sixteen hours since they had entered the Tower, so far as he could tell. He had neither drank nor eaten since then, but he was neither hungry nor thirsty. Nor had he needed to relieve himself. 

Strangest of all, he was not tired.

“We should hurry,” said Liam. “I fear this place is having an ill effect upon us.” He knew some diseases that hampered appetite and thirst. Still, if Marugon and his soldiers had survived the Tower’s perils, then Liam supposed they could as well.

“Why?” said Ally. 

A red marble statue of a nine-eyed imp stood in the center of the corridor. Liam stepped around it. “Because we haven't needed to eat or drink. That cannot be a good thing.”

“I don’t think it is bad,” said Ally.

Liam looked down at her. “Why?”

“Why do we eat or drink?” said Ally.

Liam blinked. “Because we are hungry or thirsty. Our bodies need food and drink to remain strong. It is the way of all things, even beasts and plants. Animals must eat, and plants must have water and sunlight to grow.” 

“That is the way of things on our world,” said Ally. 

“So?” said Liam.

“We’re not on our world anymore,” said Ally. “We’re in the Tower. I think the Tower is between the worlds. Maybe rules on our world, like eating and drinking, aren’t rules here.”

It was a strange idea, but Ally’s words rang true. “I suppose that makes sense.” He smiled. “How does a little girl know so much?”

Ally shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought about it.”

Liam nodded. What if Ally wasn’t a human child at all? What if she was one of Marugon’s creatures in disguise? Liam dismissed the thought. She had had numerous chances to kill them, and would have done so before they entered the Tower’s labyrinthine passages.

Still, she was a very strange child.

The crimson corridor ended in a domed chamber of gray stone. A bubbling fountain stood beneath the dome, its clear waters splashing and sparkling. Heaps of bones, some human, some not, lay piled around the fountain. Clearly, drinking from the fountain would be unwise.

A red metal cylinder with silver lettering on its side lay by the bones. 

“Coke,” said Ally.

Liam blinked. “Coke? You mean coal?”

Ally shook her head. “No.” She pointed. “It’s what that cylinder says. Coke.”

Liam tapped the metal cylinder with his boot and sent it rolling away across the floor. “It’s metal, yet so light. Perhaps it is of Earth. If so, we are on the right path. How do you know how to read the script of Earth?”

Ally didn’t say anything. Liam shrugged and took a step back. The fountain had a strange, sweet smell, and was starting to make his head spin. 

“I don’t think we should drink the water,” said Ally.

“Agreed,” said Liam, his eyes wandering over the bones. He spotted Marugon’s sigil burned into the floor before another long passageway. “That way.” 

He started forward, but Ally remained still.

Liam turned, reaching for his Sacred Blades. “What is it?”

“Listen,” Ally whispered. 

Liam listened, and realized he could hear a distant roaring, like the blowing of a great wind. 

“Do you hear it?” said Ally. 

Liam nodded. 

She pointed. “It’s coming from the way we have to take.” 

Liam looked at the corridor. It was built of dark gray stone, its ceiling vaulted, pillars running along the wall. The corridor looked as empty of life as all the others they had seen. Yet when Liam lifted his hand, he felt a faint breeze against his skin.

It was coming from the corridor marked with Marugon's sigil. 

“What do you think it is?” said Liam

Ally said nothing.

Liam grimaced. “Well, we’ve nowhere to go but forward.”

“Okay,” said Ally. She reached up and took Liam’s hand. The old Knight looked down at her in surprise, smiled, and continued walking.

###

Statues of robed men with serpents’ faces gazed from the walls. Bas-reliefs of strange machines and towering cities covered the walls. The breeze grew to a gentle wind, while the distant howling became louder.  

“Look,” said Liam. He pointed. “Someone’s passed this way recently.” 

A leather sack lay discarded against a pillar. Besides it rested a square of shiny paper. A strange sigil marked the silvery paper, alongside a pair of words written in red letters.

Liam frowned. “I don’t suppose you can read that as well?”

Ally squinted, her face knitting in concentration. “Burger…King?” She blinked. “It says Burger King.” 

Liam picked up the paper. “The Burger King,” he said. “I wonder who that is?”

Ally shrugged. “The king of the land of Burger? Or the king of the Burger people?”

Liam rubbed the greasy paper between his fingers. “I’ve seen paper of this kind before. It’s called foil. Marugon’s gunmen use it to hold their rations.” He nodded. “One of Marugon’s agents must have dropped it here on a journey back from Earth. Good.”

“Why?” said Ally.

Liam dropped the paper. The breeze blew it down the corridor. “It means we’re on the right path. And it also means that the corridor ahead is passable, despite whatever’s making that wind.”

They moved on. The wind grew stronger, tugging at Liam’s clothes and tattered cloak. Ally’s ragged hair whipped out behind her. The roar of wind became a dull howling, the air so cold that Liam's breath began to steam in the air. He braced himself against the wind and kept going.

“I can’t!” said Ally, yelling over the roar. “I can’t keep going. It’s too strong!”

Liam scooped her up. She wrapped her skinny arms around his neck. He forged ahead, grunting under the weight of Ally, Lithon, and his pack. 

He staggered into another domed chamber, the ceiling supported by slender pillars. The wind shrieked out of the doorway with chilling force. 

Liam stopped. “What is that?” Ally turned her head, frowning. 

A huge hole, easily as wide as a dozen men, had been blasted through the far wall and a portion of the ceiling. Chunks of scorched stone lay strewn across the polished floor. The wind blew from the hole.

Inside the hole was absolutely nothing.

Liam blinked, straining to see. Past the jagged edges of the hole he saw nothing but a deep, utter blackness that stretched for infinity. A low moan rose from it, perhaps made by the wind, perhaps made by something else. Liam could not shake the feeling that something in the hole could see him. 

Ally whimpered. 

“What?” said Liam.

“Don’t go near the hole,” said Ally. Her voice shook with fear.

“Why?” said Liam. “What is it?”

“A hole,” said Ally.

Liam grunted. “I can see that.”

“You don’t understand,” said Ally. “The Tower is between the worlds. That’s a hole in the Tower. It opens into the empty black places between the worlds.” She shivered. “If we fall through, we’ll be lost forever. Don’t go near it.”

Liam nodded. Another corridor opened on the other side of the chamber. He started across the polished floor, hugging the wall to stay as far from the strange hole as possible. The wind grew stronger, and the moaning from the hole rose to a high shrieking. Liam gritted his teeth and forced his way forward. Ally shivered, and Lithon began to cry. Liam stumbled through the doorway and into the next corridor. 

The wind vanished. 

“Gods,” said Liam, wiping cold sweat from his brow. He put Ally down, and Lithon's cries faded to soft whimpers. Ally took the boy’s hands and murmured soothing sounds. “I hope we don’t have to do that again.”

“Me, too,” said Ally. They rested for a moment, then continued.

“I wonder where that hole came from,” said Liam. 

“Marugon made it,” said Ally.

Liam frowned. “How do you know that?”

“He made it,” said Ally. “There was rubble over his mark on the floor.”

“Why would he do that?” said Liam. “He brings his guns and food for his gunmen from Earth. Why would he knock holes in the Tower?”

“Maybe he wants to let something into the Tower,” said Ally.

“Let what in? I thought you said there’s nothing between the worlds.”

“Maybe I’m wrong,” said Ally.

Liam remembered the black nothingness beyond the hole and shuddered. “Let’s keep going. I want to put as much distance between us and that hole as possible.”

Ally nodded. They kept walking. 

###

“There’s another one,” said Ally.

Liam turned around. They stood in a high, vaulted corridor of crimson granite. It reminded Liam of the great naves of the temples of the true gods, before Marugon had destroyed them. Statues of nude women with fangs and wings and nine eyes adorned the pillars and walls. 

Another gaping hole, the fifth they had seen, had been torn into the wall. Chunks of shattered stone lay across the floor. The hole opened into utter blackness, and looking at it made Liam’s head ache. At least no wind came from this hole.

“Liam.”

“Did you say something?” said Liam.

Ally shook her head. 

Liam tore his gaze from the ruined wall. “We have no time to stand around and gawk. One of Marugon’s caravans might come through the Tower at any moment. I would rather not stand around and wait for them.”

Ally said nothing. Liam grunted, adjusted the straps holding his shoulder harness, and kept going.