Realm at the Edge of the multiverse

by B G Mitchell

  Arderan nodded as he looked at the map. He then said, “What about the palace?” He pointed at a large, fortified structure in the centre of the city.

  The captain snorted in contempt. “The royals are not being much help. They just camped out at the palace, not doing much of anything. I have requested their help, but the only response I have had is we are to defend the king and here we shall remain, and even now there has been no word or even sighting of his royalness.”

  Arderan thought for a moment and scratched his chin. “Hmmm”, he responded. “Well, it has fortified walls close to the front, and it has the tallest towers in the city. The king may not want to leave, but he will have some guest.” The Cardar just nodded as Arderan continued, “I shall base my artillery next to your regroup point as well as a couple of infantry divisions. The rest of my men will secure the palace.” The rest of the humans nodded. They knew all was lost.

  To say Gary was worried was an understatement. He had raided his life savings and was now down by the American-Mexican border, and he had managed to book a cheap hotel room and gone on a road trip to various establishments, well dressed as inconspicuously as possible. After a couple of questions to people who normally didn't like to ask questions, he had managed to pay too much for a small nine mil pistol, and he was now in another backwater town, a place he heard where he could get a hold of an automatic rifle and some ammo. He had already met one dodgy man in a bar that would regard the phrase dodgy as a compliment and would be something that he would happily put on trip advisor.

  He was now heading to the secret rendezvous point and thanked whatever god or goddess that happened to be listening in his world that the cheap four by four he had rented had managed to get this far. When he finally reached the point that was marked by a large tree and lots of desert scrubland, he stopped the car, an old rather banged up black Jeep Cherokee. The contact was here already, and his car was a rather expensive looking dodge pickup. He made sure his small 9mm was stashed safely in the back of his pants and loaded as he stepped out of the vehicle. The person in the other car did the same. A light brown man whose head had been shaven bald in a shiny grey suit. He then noticed sitting in the car was another light brown skinned, not the car man with very short brown hair. He also noticed in the man’s lap was an automatic rifle. Something smelled wrong before they had a chance to react, he pulled his pistol and jumped back into his Jeep.

  He kept his head down as he heard two gunshots, one of which smashed into the driver’s side window, shattering it all over his legs. He fumbled with the keys, cursing his jeans pocket as he heard somebody fumble at the car door. Forgetting his keys, he got his pistol and fired two shots at the door itself. He then heard one of the armed men yell, “Shit.”

  Figuring he was in a bad spot, he opened the passenger door on the other side of the car and crawled out the passenger door to the sound of about five more shots. He then got an idea and shouted out in pain. He then heard the laughter of one of the armed men who then spoke rather loudly as he crouched and walked to the back of the car.

  “Listen here, my friend, if you drop your little pistol and come with us peacefully, then you may just live.”

  He peeked under the car and could see two legs right by the driver side door. He heard the thug try the handle and made his move. He jumped out, made sure he was aiming for the head and was holding the pistol steady with both hands, and he pulled the trigger twice. One of his bullets hit one of the bandits on the side of the head, causing him to drop like a rag doll. Any victory celebrations were very short lived as the other bandit happened to have the automatic rifle in his hands and he was raising it. Everything seemed to slow down as Gary pulled the trigger again, feeling the kickback of the gun. This time he managed to hit the bandit in the chest, but the rage on his face told Gary this man was not intending to go down. He pulled the trigger again and again, trying to hit the head. A couple of bullets did impact the chest, causing the bandit to cry out in pain. He then dropped his rifle and collapsed on the ground face first.

  Gary dashed down next to the man, grabbing the rifle on the ground. He noticed it was a black FN-FAL rifle. He turned back to his foes while clutching the rifle in his hands as he heard a slow moan. He turned the rifle, holding bandit over to find his chest bloody and him breathing very shallowly. The man reached out his hand before gasping for his final death rattle and dropping his hand down. He looked at the first bandit he had managed to drop and checked his jacket for car keys. Maybe Gary thought to himself they had more weapons in the pickup. He then looked at his car, given the fact it now had a smashed window and a couple of bullet hole in the side. There was no way he was getting his deposit back. In fact, he rather doubted he could drive the car around Mexico in that state. He found the guy’s wallet in the top pocket and opened it up. The first thing he saw was a faded picture of a smiling girl about seven years old. Good God, his daughter, Gary thought to himself. He let out a long sigh and threw the wallet on the ground in a bit of huff.

  He eventually found the keys in the trouser pocket, making the experience that much more unpleasant. Once he had managed to go over the dodge, all he had found was another clip of ammo for the rifle. He was rather hoping for more. He started the car with a rather dejected feeling and as he looked at the two bodies on the ground and felt even guiltier, he looked to his side. At least there was a satnav. He then stopped the pickup and looked at the satnav and smiled.

  This was going to be interesting, thought Lathenia to herself. As far as she knew, this was the first time such a spell had been tried, but if it worked she would have extensive bragging rights. She could even write a paper and present it to the society of magical research. She studied the placement of the statue. It was made of marble and was of a pretty dark elf woman standing straight with her two arms outstretched and was about six feet tall. It had been looted from the temple of Zateria and had the minor magical ability to grasp and ungrasp sacrificial knives in her outstretched hands. Now it magic was to be enhanced with any luck. She got out a chisel and carefully scratched in another runic symbol at the statue’s base and double checked the chalk outline on the floor. Once that was done, all that would be left to do was wait until the grand necromancer army had arrived. So far they were still a couple of days away. Their march had been slow.

  So far Arderan’s attempt to occupy the palace had come to nought, and trying to get through to the captain of the royal guard had been difficult, and he had very quickly lost his temper. So he ordered a cannon to be brought up to blast through the enforced wooden gates which was a bit of a shame as they had been carved with images of men fighting each other in a very ornate and stylish fashion. His men were in the process of arming the cannon when the Cardar appeared with a group of his own men. He kicked the door hard and shouted, “Open up in the name of the city guard.”

  The royal captain stuck his head out of the wall and shouted down to them, “Ahh, captain, as you can see the city has been overrun by elves. I assume you are here to deal with this threat.”

  Cardar gave him a look which said that the lookee was no longer sane. He then turned to Arderan and said loudly enough so the royal captain could hear, “Do you need help setting that cannon up?”

  He then heard the royal captain shout in a rather shocked tone. “Cardar, your’re helping them. This is treason. Do you not realise you are helping out enemies?”

  The captain gave him the same look and shook his head he then shouted up to the royal captain, “And do realise we have a horde of skeletons running around at the moment?”

  “But they are elves,” replied the royal captain, stating it in such a tone that indicated the argument was over and he had won. One of his soldiers came up to him and nodded. He cleared his throat and tapped Cardar on the shoulder and indicated they should move, which they did in a rather fast walk away from an area whose main future endeavour would be shrapnel.

  Once they were clear, Cardar shouted up to the royal captain, “You may
want to clear the gates.” The royal captain let out a sharp laugh. “Do you think any cannon can penetrate our magically strengthened gates? Give it your best shot.”

  Arderan heard the guard shout, “Fire,” followed by a short bang and an even louder one, as the doorway itself was hit, and shrapnel flew everywhere. Once the smoke had cleared, one gate was badly burnt and had a hole in it big enough for a man to crawl through. The other gate was hanging by just one hinge and was in almost cut in half.

  Cardar walked up to it and gave it a good kick, causing the door to collapse into a pile of rubble. Arderan poked his head inside. Leading from the gate was a brick road for the royal carts, and next to it was what he assume was the palace itself, which had white brick walls and ornate windows. Along the side of the road was the wall. Arderan could see the royal guardsmen running up to the gate. He noted many wore rather ornate uniforms with red capes and gold trimming. Also many seemed rather portly compared to the average guardsmen, and their armour was a lot shinier. They also had their swords drawn. He turned and noticed his men had already formed a line with their rifles drawn. Cardar stepped between the two forces with his hands outstretched. He then shouted, “Stop,” which the royal guardsmen did do.

  He heard another voice shout, “Protect the palace at all costs.” He saw the royal captain running down the steps along the wall and had pulled his sword out. Arderan pulled his small pistol out from its holder at the side of his coat and fired off one shot, which impacted the solid granite wall right in front of the royal captain, sending a couple of stone chips bouncing off the captain’s armour and causing him to stop. Cardar cleared his throat as another human male appeared. He seemed about seventy with a wrinkled face, most of his hair was grey, his clothes were rather tatty and frayed, and Arderan guessed that at some point in the far past they might have been blue but were now greyish and might have actually looked somewhat fancy in the past. What amazed Arderan was the reaction from the royal guards, who were now bowing to this old man.

  He turned to Cardar who shrugged in confusion. “Quite,” shouted the old man. “Or you will wake her.”

  The royal captain rushed down the stairs and bowed deeply. “I am sorry, your majesty, but as you can see, the city has become overrun. If you could go back into the palace, please, and we will defend you from this horde.”

  Arderan heard Cardar say to no one in particular in a rather amazed voice, “Shit, it’s the king.”

  “A horde, you say,” replied the king, ignoring Cardar’s comment. “I shall use my magic to stop them.”He then turned to Cardar and Arderan. “It is like back in the old days, we used to fight a horde of monsters. Do you know I have even used my magic to stop death itself? Come, I will show you.”

  Arderan pointed to one of the tall towers overlooking the burning part of the city. “I want a command post set up in there and take control of the walls. Oh, and clear the remains of the gate.” He then proceeded to follow the king. He noticed Cardar following him as well. The king led them down a long hallway which had a red carpet that Arderan could not help but notice had seen better days. The walls themselves were mostly white and had a golden pattern on the top. On the bottom every now and then there was a window out onto a green courtyard or a picture, mostly of men in armour or a beautifully dressed woman or even scenes of landscapes. From the ceiling hung large candle holding chandlers.

  They passed a maid who was in the process of cleaning one of these chandlers on a ladder who gave them a weird look as they passed but continued her cleaning. Arderan thought he heard the sound of cannon fire as they reached a large set of double doors, which the king flung open. Before him, lying on the bed, was a human woman who was in her mid-twenties with long, black hair and her arms crossed across her chest. She seemed to be in a deep sleep. He then had a look at her side table and noticed a rose next to it, and one of the petals seemed to be frozen in mid-air. He walked slightly closer to take a better look and stepped back. He could sense the powerful magic in play. The lady was not asleep, but stuck in a time spell. The king was next to her.

  He said in a voice that sounded like it could break into tears at any moment, “You see I have saved her, my gorgeous concubine.” He then began to cry and started mumbling something rather incoherent. Arderan backed away and noticed Cardar doing the same thing. They both went down the hallway, silently heading towards the new command post. In the distance was more cannon fire.

  The car came to a halt, and it was getting dark. Gary looked at the building. It was one of those back alley industrial garages. He looked at the keys. He got one he hoped would fit the lock on the metal gate they had. He waited in the car, making sure no one else was about or in the garage. Once it got dark and no lights turned on inside the garage, Gary made his move. He drove up to the solid metal gate, got out of his car, and unlocked it. He then pushed the gate open, making a loud rumbling sound that was sure to alert anyone still in the compound that he was making an entry.

  Inside the compound there was a covered area to his right with a tool bench which had seen better days, and next to it was a couple of jerry cans, and there were two breeze brick shacks, both with a sheet metal door on it up against the wall. Once he had the gate open, he drove his stolen truck in and closed the gate behind him, making sure it was locked. He then went straight to the door of the concrete shack and tried his keys on the door with no luck. He looked back at the tool rack and noticed a crowbar as well as spent cartridges.

  He grabbed the crowbar and began to leverage the lock, eventually after a few hard pulls he heard a snap. He looked down and saw that the actual metal ring the lock used had snapped. Shrugging, he opened the door which was heavier than he first guessed. Inside, the shack was dark, but he found an old pull light switch which he pulled. The one naked bulb hanging from the ceiling lit up. Inside, Gary found old metal shelves, most of them had metal cases of ammo. It also had a wooden bench which included a partial assembled rifle. An Ak-47 and a couple of more pistols as well as a couple of World War 2 era grenades.

  He grabbed the crowbar and headed to the second shack which took a bit more prying to open than the first. He turned on the light and found a stack of cardboard boxes. He opened one and found them full of plastic bags and white powder. He did not need a chemistry degree to know what was in them. He went back to the ammo shack and got a hold of every ammo case he could. He also grabbed another 9mm pistol and a cleaning kit. He went to the bench and picked up and sniffed the jerry cans, then grabbed them once he was sure it was petrol and chucked them in the back. He went to the gate, unlocked it, and began to pull it open. He looked back at the shack, still filled with the drugs.

  Once he had got the gate open, he grabbed one of the jerry cans from the back of the truck and poured petrol all over the cardboard boxes. Once the can was empty, he grabbed a box of matches, stepped outside the shed, and threw a light one in, which landed on the dusty floor all burnt out. He sighed, grabbed the box of matches, set them on fire, and threw them in. The shack went up with a satisfying whoosh, causing Gary to step back from the heat. He then hopped back into his truck and sped off before he could breathe in whatever particles were in the smoke.

  Narderba was again silent as the day was nearing the end, and even the Dark Elves needed their sleep. Lucinda stood at her balcony. She felt confident. For once, her troops were armed with the latest dwarf weaponry, most to say were battle harden by the last battle, and she had magic users as well as Elven Tarian cannons. She even had a sorceress on her side. Last minute training had been done, the cannons had been ready, ammo stash had been set up all over the city. Now the only thing to do was rest up for the battle. From here, she could see the barricades enforced since the last battle, as well as the lights from the few taverns that were throwing the last drinkers out and were closing for the evening.

  She had never been in a tavern before. She had been too much into her books. She looked down and saw through a window, Lathenia seemed to be getting ready for bed.
She was wearing a simply black nightie skirt. She blushed slightly and tried to turn her head, but then noticed Sylvania coming up to Lathenia’s side. She was wearing just a white bra and a pair of panties. Lathenia took Sylvania in her arms and their lips locked in a passionate kiss. Lucinda could feel her face get even redder and wanted to move, but she did not want to be spotted. Eventually the kissers parted, and Sylvania removed her bra then walked over to a dresser and got something out of the drawers.

  Lucinda stood and watched the scene intently. Part of her knew this was wrong, but she could not help it. She had little experience in matters such as she was observing, and her curious mind overwrote any feeling of shyness. Sylvania put on the bed a length of rope which was picked up by Lathenia. Sylvania while still sitting down on the bed. She turned her back towards Lathenia and crossed her arms across her back. Lathenia picked up the rope and began to bind Sylvania’s arms. Lucinda looked at the scene even more curious now why would Sylvania allow herself to be tied, then she understood that it was the loss of power and the trust she placed in Lathenia.

  By now, Sylvania was kneeling on the floor, her head slightly bowed, and Lathenia pulled out a long leather strip which took Lucinda to recognise it as a collar which was duly slipped around Sylvania’s neck. Lucinda was more than intrigued at this moment and felt herself getting turned on by the scene in play. At that moment, she heard a knock on the door. She checked the two lovers once more, making sure they were not looking. Lathenia had pulled Sylvania up by the collar and was now kissing her on the lips.

  Lucinda reluctantly went to the door when she heard the knocking again. She opened the door and in stepped Nataylia. She couldn’t help but notice she was wearing a simple black dress with a revealing neckline. Lucinda focused on Nataylia’s neck for a moment but was quickly snapped out of it when Nataylia spoke. “Are you okay? You seem slightly flustered.”