The Gilweean Gateway

by R A Lindo

  The smoke-like energy field stunned Kaira and her friends into a state of confusion - the man universally feared appearing to offer protection. The protection came in the form of a Verum Veras charm: a protective charm which created a curtain, making the user invisible to the enemy.

  The action reminded Kaira of the way in which the leader of the sky urchins, Ivirin, had parted the air to create a natural Perium back to The Cendryll for her. Still in shock and reeling from the daunting presence of her grandfather, Kaira realised that she had to decide between the lesser of two evils: the terrifying appearance of Isiah Renn or the venom of Erent Koll, currently hovering by the ground-floor window of The Sylent. With her grandfather parting the air, revealing a glittering space to step within, Kaira looked to Guppy and Jacob for help - all of whom were still without the ability to talk.

  Isiah Renn studied his granddaughter’s tears before saying, “I have used the Vyoxal and Magneia charms out of necessity, Kaira, knowing the reputation I have in the Society, and with your father. To prove I mean you no harm, I am going to release you and your friends from both restrictive charms. Before I do, however, you must be utterly clear about one thing: should you scream, you will be faced with the Prince of the Underworld. A man who has killed women and children with the flick of a wrist.

  Your penchants protect you from serious injury within The Society Sphere but not the excruciating pain of a Searing curse: a curse that rips through the body - only healed by Srynx Serum, assuming you apply the remedy in time. We must leave now; Erent Koll senses our presence and won’t hesitate to attack.”

  Guppy was shaking her head as Kaira felt lost in an impossible decision, trying to move her arms to wipe the tears away yet unable to, recognising she was at the mercy of a grandfather she had little choice but to trust. There was no safe option behind the parted curtain of air, yet certain injury awaited them in the foul, scarred-ravaged figure of Erent Koll: the most terrifying person Kaira had ever laid eyes on.

  As he delicately adjusted the lily decorating his silver-grey suit, Isiah Renn added, “I’m going to release you from both charms now, but the moment any of you utter a sound, you will be swamped by the evil lying in wait.”

  The sudden weightlessness of their bodies made each of them stagger momentarily, their equilibrium struggling to find its centre of gravity.

  “We need to move,” instructed Isiah Renn as the light faded in the ground-floor window of The Sylent: a sign they were faced with an impossible choice.

  “We shouldn’t go, Kaira,” whispered Guppy as she helped Conrad to his feet: a boy more lost than ever in a maelstrom of mind games he was neither part of nor free from.

  “Taking out the Looksee was a mistake,” explained Isiah Renn, his gaze moving between Kaira and the darkness The Sylent had fallen into. “Your training clearly hasn’t taught you that light and dark magic counteract with each other, meaning the Looksee has changed the atmosphere in The Sylent, causing the dark energy within to change. Erent Koll now knows he’s being watched and is about to step out of that building to respond with fire and fury. So, you have a simple choice: follow me or face excruciating pain.”

  It was no choice to make; Kaira knew this as well as Guppy and Jacob. A mild whistling sound forming in the wind made up her mind and she stepped towards her grandfather, realising that either Conrad’s whimpering or Erent Koll’s venom was about to get them scarred for life.

  “Come on,” pleaded Kaira to the others as she stepped through into the glittering comfort of the parted air created by the Verum Veras charm. The fact that neither she nor her grandfather vanished into a deadly trap made up Guppy’s mind, closely followed by Jacob who had to drag Conrad’s whimpering body through the protective portal - just in time to witness a vision of hell.

  As the curtain of air fell across them, the menacing, scar-ravaged figure of Erent Koll appeared in the darkness surrounding The Sylent. Dressed in black trousers too short for his thin frame and a matching overcoat, The Prince of the Underworld’s fire-red hair rose as if sensing battle with an unseen foe.

  “Do not make a sound,” whispered Isiah Renn as Erent Koll took his first, sinister steps through the winter wind, encroaching ever closer on their temporary sanctuary. “The Verum Veras charm masks images but not sound so get your friend to be quiet.”

  Realising that the sight of Erent Koll was exacerbating Conrad’s terrified state and, in turn, his high-pitched whimpering, Isiah Renn took it upon himself to re-enact the Vyoxal charm to mute his fear, trusting that the others now recognised the genuine nature of the protection offered.

  Trust was in short supply under the current circumstances but when a painful death was the only alternative, instinctive decision was the one remaining option. For reasons beyond her comprehension, Kaira sensed that her grandfather posed no danger to herself or her friends. More significantly, she believed that the myth of the man had been distorted somehow. After all, why else would she be standing behind a protective shield, hiding from the venomous figure of Erent Koll?

  If her grandfather truly had aligned himself to the dark side, he would be working to make them prey. Instead he stood alongside his granddaughter, studying Erent Koll’s movements closely. Something about her dad’s story didn’t add up, Kaira concluded, because, had he not appeared, seemingly out of thin air, she and her friends would almost certainly have experienced the brutal fury hovering beyond their curtain of safety.

  10

  A Flicker of Faith

  With the glittering light of the Verum Veras charm falling over their winter coats, Kaira, Guppy and Jacob managed to contain their fear as Erent Koll stepped closer to the bank of trees, acting as an additional shield. Wishing she could whisper how much the scar-ravaged figure reminded her of the sky urchins, Kaira felt a sudden need for a further layer of protection, choosing to stand behind her grandfather. Guppy, Jacob and a voiceless Conrad followed, forming a silent line of appreciation impossible to imagine minutes ago.

  Where are The Sinister Four? mouthed Guppy, conscious of the importance of making no noise within a protective charm that didn’t mute sound.

  Kaira and Jacob shrugged, their nonplussed expressions mixed with a tension so great it caused them to grip onto each other as the one thing they hadn’t yet noticed about Erent Koll came into view: the fire-red eyes that burned with fury as if the flames of hell resided within.

  As he stepped towards the trees, a singular menace emanating in the scar-ravaged face and eyes, Isiah Renn opened his arms as if ready to retaliate. The glittering light of the Verum Veras charm sparkled and bounced off his silver-grey suit as he did so, signifying a concentration of inter-related energy currently working to mitigate the need for violence.

  The fact that the protective curtain did not protect from curses had already occurred to Kaira, relying on her penchant to do exactly that - Conrad’s blue, tanzanite gemstone emanating a soft glow as it reacted to the danger closing in.

  Thankfully, Conrad was too terrified to make a sound as the Prince of the Underworld stepped closer, moving like a feral creature operating on his senses which were acutely tuned to his prey. Kaira felt herself shudder as she peered into Erent Koll’s fire-red eyes … eyes that seemed to stare right through her. The sight of her grandfather putting a finger to his lips was strangely reassuring - a man who had brought shame onto the Renn family name: the man risking his life to save her now.

  Guppy and Jacob remained close to one another, using Isiah Renn’s imposing figure as a pre-emptive shield. Like Kaira, they had quickly learnt the limitations of choices when faced with evil, realising that Isiah Renn was their strange saviour.

  If he was working with Erent Koll, he would have dragged them into The Sylent to meet a terrible fate. Instead, he was standing calmly, instinctively protecting them as their sinister enemy crouched lower, placing his hands in the cold ground - inches from the protective charm maintaining their disguise.

  The Prince of the Underworld sniffed a
s if sensing their presence before flicking the fingers of his right hand to create a Spintz charm. With the charm illuminating the bank of trees surrounding The Sylent, Erent Koll took a step forward, inching towards the space occupied by the prey he could almost taste.

  At the sight of fire-red hair touching the edges of the Verum Veras charm, Kaira felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned to see her grandfather gesturing towards a Cympgus - the circle of purple light spinning in mid air. Isiah Renn signalled for them to step through to safety and, this time, no one hesitated.

  They re-appeared in the woods at the bottom of Horsel Hill, a safe distance from The Sylent and the terrifying presence of Erent Koll. With a growing sense that they were, indeed, safe in Isiah Renn’s presence, the young group followed Kaira’s grandfather through the woods towards the safety of Society Square. Their cover, Kaira believed, was more for the protection of Isiah Renn now.

  After all, despite the most recent evidence to the contrary, he was a wanted man - a malev with a list of charges to his name regarding the illegal practice of Gorrah. There was clearly more to the story, Kaira realised as Guppy and Jacob walked alongside her, Conrad remaining close to a man whose questionable past he knew little about.

  “Your dad’s going to go mad when he finds out we bumped into your grandad and Erent Koll,” whispered Guppy as they remained out of sight within the trees.

  “Something we should definitely keep a secret,” suggested Kaira who had long become accustomed to the importance of limiting the truth when it came to adults. After all, didn’t they do the same?

  “Why was he there?” queried Guppy as she wrapped the birthday scarf around her neck more tightly.

  “To meet The Sinister Four,” suggested Jacob, offering the most logical conclusion. “They stayed in The Sylent to avoid being seen with Erent Koll,”

  “So, we’ve got no proof they were actually there,” added Guppy.

  “We probably need to re-think the traditional above-ground tour from now on,” suggested Kaira as Conrad’s condition improved, helped by Isiah Renn’s use of the Removilis charm: a particular spell that removed a person’s memory of recent events. With Conrad returning to a more stable state, Kaira’s grandfather spoke in a mannered tone reminiscent of his son.

  “You’ve probably got a lot of questions,” he began as the morning light filtered through the woods, “beginning with why I used the Removilis charm on the boy. First of all, certain things should not be witnessed by the uninitiated - Erent Koll being one of them.

  Secondly, we have no idea of Conrad’s sense of allegiance to a Society he has just stumbled upon. Children are typically uninhibited - a fact which often extends to their loose tongues. The less Conrad remembers, the better for his state of mind and the Society, as a whole.

  The adult world is more complex than children realise and rarely explained effectively when complications arise. Choices can appear self-serving on the surface; however, when studied in more depth, invariably have various layers of truth. Conrad’s memory must be temporarily sacrificed to protect him, and those around him.”

  In the silence formed from the remnants of shock, Kaira studied Conrad’s dazed state before Guppy addressed the topic preoccupying her best friend.

  “You practised Gorrah in The Sylent. That’s why you got banned from the Society and are now a hunted man.”

  Patting his afro hair, made distinct by the grey streak running through it, Isiah Renn adjusted his dark blue tie before replying, “Yes and no. I engaged in the study of Gorrah for one simple reason: to understand the power of dark magic. After all, it’s impossible to defend against something alien to you.”

  “So, you’re not aligned to Erent Koll?” queried Jacob, already knowing the answer to this but wanting it confirmed, nonetheless.

  “If I were aligned to Erent Koll, do you think you would be standing here now?”

  “I just don’t understand why my dad refuses to talk about you,” commented Kaira, finally addressing the issue which most troubled her.

  “Because your father feels betrayed by my engagement with Gorrah, and the extent to which it brought shame on the family.”

  “So, you did do something wrong?”

  Isiah Renn nodded, the first tinge of sadness falling over his face. “Of sorts … if you consider the study of all aspects of knowledge a sin. Your father struggles with competing loyalties, Kaira: to the Society and to myself. Our family’s magical lineage goes back hundreds of years, even before the origins of the Society you have come to know.

  The Society for the Preservation of Magical Artefacts is bound by rules that I contravened. Rules that, in my opinion, limit our understanding of rising threats. It is a futile argument now because my fate has been decided.”

  “Then why did you turn up today?” challenged Kaira, struggling to comprehend the family rift between a father she loved and a grandfather she barely knew.

  “To protect my granddaughter, of course. Whatever has been said about me, I can live with my actions. They were determined by what I love dearest. One day, your father may understand but, for now, I must say my goodbyes.”

  With Conrad’s quiet figure situated under the bank of trees, Isiah Renn uttered ‘Comeuppance’ before adding ‘Whereabouts’, leaving the others to watch a purple ball of light form from the amethyst gemstone of his penchant. The ball of light quickly formed into an archway, hovering inches above the ground … another portable Perium, offering transport to another realm.

  “Thank you,” offered Kaira as her grandfather moved towards the Cympgus, its shimmering, purple outline a reminder of the magical wonders of a Society she had only touched the surface of. “Thank you for protecting us. You’re obviously not what my father thinks you are.”

  “Nor am I what he wants me to be,” replied Isiah Renn as he stood by the shimmering archway.

  Kaira, Guppy and Jacob glanced at Conrad who wore an expression of mild trauma and loss - a weight of alienation that Kaira’s grandfather understood well.

  “Now that we have some basis of trust,” continued Isiah Renn, “use your aunt’s quarters to locate Theodore Kusp.”

  “Is he hidden away in there?” asked Jacob, turning up the collar of his winter coat to offer protection from the whipping wind.

  “No, but the path to him is. Think of your aunt’s room as a room of clues, Kaira,” he offered in cryptic farewell. “You will need to access the room with the illustrated window and wall of boxes.”

  “There are hundreds of boxes in there,” added Guppy, remembering Kaira’s aunt presenting them each with a Vaspyl from two of the wooden boxes - endless, hidden delights they were about to learn more about.

  No further explanation was forthcoming, however, as Isiah Renn, stepped through the Cympgus with a wave of farewell: a ghost from Kaira’s past who had returned to save her.

  Once back in Society Square, each agreed that it would be wise to return to The Cendryll. The brush with Erent Koll had left a lasting unease within each of them, not helped by the puzzle of Isiah Renn. For Kaira, it seemed that the further she delved into the mysteries of the magical Society, the less she was sure of.

  After all, if her grandfather wasn’t bad, why was he so feared? Her dad had convinced her of the shame Isiah Renn had brought on the family long ago - never referring to anything related to the Society but making it clear his name was tantamount to dishonour.

  The moral conundrum surrounding her grandfather would have to wait, however, for there were more pressing things at hand, principally the need to return to The Cendryll before they bumped into The Sinister Four or Erent Koll again. They currently lacked concrete proof of the four Implementer’s involvement with Erent Koll because they hadn’t actually seen them enter The Sylent.

  Such experienced members of the S.P.M.A. wouldn’t have been foolish enough to allow themselves to be tracked, probably using an Invisils charm to hide their movements. Despite this fact, they clearly were involved with Erent Koll and Kaira
, Guppy and Jacob were determined to prove it.

  Conrad had other things on his mind, not least his traumatic meeting with a flamed-haired devil who he’d only escaped from with the help of another scary adult: one who parted the air with his hands! It wasn’t your typical introduction to The Society for the Preservation of Magical Artefacts and, it was fair to say, not one enamouring him with its charms.

  Like Kaira, Conrad had been thrust into the magical universe with little explanation and even less knowledge to navigate with. Instead, he was struggling to process the mayhem engulfing him as names of charms, artefacts and enemies abounded in his companions’ intense discussions regarding the meaning of it all.

  As he walked ahead with Jacob, Guppy enacted a Worble charm to mute her conversation with Kaira - conversation not for the ears of a boy more likely to talk than keep secrets, in Guppy’s opinion.

  “We need to find a way to prove The Sinister Four were with Erent Koll,” began Guppy as they strode towards Founders’ Quad and the familiar sights and sounds of Leaning Lane.

  “First, we need to have an explanation of why we followed them to The Sylent,” suggested Kaira. “Erent Koll appearing on Horsel Hill will have probably been spotted by someone, which could also place suspicion on us.”

  “You’re right,” replied Guppy as she kept her attention on the faces in the crowds.

  “My dad is going to go mad when he finds out.”

  “Not if we explain that we kept our distance, and that we had no idea Erent Koll would be there,” stated Guppy. “It’s not as if we went rushing into The Sylent and stumbled across them.”