The Portal Keeper

by S. T. Sanchez

  The elf tried to mimic her gesture. He closed his eye and was barely able to keep the other one open. “What does this mean?” Leif asked.

  Niv laughed. “Keep practicing. It’s called a wink,” she explained. “It’s merely a little sign friends do with each other. It means you’re sharing something with just that person.” She turned to find Sky. She followed him through the woods. The hoosula climbed a tree and soared from one branch to another. She had been right about the extra skin. It made wings for Sky to glide on.

  The elf followed behind unobtrusively.

  Niv made Sky and Leif wait a little ways from the pool. She bathed quickly in the cool water and then opened the bundle.

  She was stunned to find pants and a shirt. Niv had never worn them before, nor had she ever seen another maiden dressed in the same attire as a boy.

  Not wanting to put her filthy dress back on, she pulled on the pants and blouse. The pants were black and loose on her; luckily, there was a purple sash she used to hold them up.

  The top was bright red. It was plain and longer than she was used to seeing. It hit her mid-thigh and had long sleeves, but was surprisingly lightweight. There was no collar and it had a square opening for her to push her head through.

  Niv rang her hair out and brushed through it with her fingers as best she could, feeling blessed her hair never tangled too much. Her mother had always attributed it to how fine Nivara’s hair was.

  Niv whistled when she was ready and Sky and Leif made their way to the pond.

  “It fits you fairly well,” Leif noted. “I was not sure.” He leaned down and filled his water skin. Then he scooped up a few handfuls.

  Sky drank straight from the pond. His fur was almost dry now. He scurried up and sat on Niv’s shoulder. “Are you sure we should bring her there? Isn’t that dangerous for him, too?” the cambriar asked.

  Leif scratched his head. “It is certainly a risk. I would also be breaking my oath.” He sighed. “But I feel that he will understand. We never envisioned this happening. I do not know where else to take her.”

  Niv put her hands on her hips. “Bring me to whom? And do I get any say in this?”

  “To the other portal jumper.” Leif spoke as if he were committing the ultimate betrayal.

  “Wait, you know where the Prince is?” she clarified. “But you nev—”

  “No,” the elf interrupted. “He came here long ago. Maybe ten years.” He shrugged uncertainly.

  Niv’s mouth dropped open. Someone entered the portal ten years ago. “Where is he?”

  “Far from here.” Leif pointed ahead. “Through the Lonely Sands, past the Never Ending Night, and finally into the Chasm of Sky.”

  “Where? I don’t understand what any of that means,” Niv sighed.

  The elf picked up a stick and drew a rough-looking map in the dirt. There were odd names such as Stinking Bogs and Death Lake. “We will head in this direction,” Leif explained, showing her the route they would take.

  “Okay,” Niv sighed. It sounded like a long journey. “Let’s get started.”

  Leif took the lead. He told her they would be out of the Sinking Jungle in a couple of hours.

  The wilderness was hot, but the new material Niv was wearing kept her cooler than she had thought it would.

  Niv snacked on some blue grape-looking things as they walked. At first, they had seemed so peculiar. They were juicy, but had a nutty flavor to them. She would eat one and then toss one up to Sky who was still perched on her shoulder. Niv had made a mess of their game at the start, overshooting Sky completely. But as they continued to hike her aim had improved and he would catch two out of three.

  “Blueberries are my favorite,” Sky insisted, licking his lips.

  “Blueberries, huh? Those are an entirely different fruit where I’m from,” Niv explained.

  Sky scurried onto the top of her head and hung his head down, looking upside-down at Niv’s face.

  “Where are you from?” he enquired. “I mean what’s it called? Is it anything similar to the Sinking Jungle?”

  Niv tried to move her head so she could look at Sky right-side up, but he slid off. She caught him before he fell completely.

  “Oops. Sorry,” she apologized. “Well, there are a lot of trees where I’m from. There are many kingdoms. I don’t know if anyone even knows them all.” She set Sky back on her shoulder. “I come from Rastella.” Niv could see sand in the distance.

  “We are almost to the Lonely Sands. We need to be cautious. They are called the Lonely Sands because if you enter with two, you leave with one.”

  “That sounds ominous,” Niv shuddered, shielding the light from her eyes with a hand. She scanned the horizon, looking for something perilous, but didn’t see anything.

  “We need to keep our eyes out for scorpibugs.”

  Niv wondered if they were anything resembling scorpions.

  Leif continued. “They are almost invisible. They blend into the sand very well,” he explained. “If one stings you…” he shuddered, “you will not be able to move. Then it calls others and you are slowly eaten to death.”

  “Lovely,” Niv said sarcastically.

  “Lovely?” Leif asked. “I suppose this word must have a different meaning in Rastella. It is not lovely. It is a very bad thing.”

  Nivara nodded. She thought it was easier than trying to explain sarcasm to the elf.

  “Scorpibugs have a distinct smell,” Sky interjected. “They smell like dead fish. If you smell something rotten, let us know.”

  “Also, the heat gets very intense in the Lonely Sands,” Leif added, handing a piece of cloth to her. “Wrap this around your head to protect it from burns.”

  Niv covered her head and draped the remaining fabric across her face so that only her eyes showed.

  They hiked a few hours before the light started to fade. Niv’s muscles were burning. She had never seen sand before, other than in books. It was described as being soft, which it was. However, she had never imagined that walking in something soft would be so much work. The sand wasn’t flat either, as it appeared in paintings of the beach. This sand was hilly. She hiked up and down for hours, working muscles she didn’t realize she had.

  Leif laid out a blanket with cheese and bread. They ate quickly. No one felt like talking much.

  “Get some rest,” the elf suggested as the stars began to appear.

  “You too,” Nivara yawned. She went to sleep on the blanket with Sky cuddled up beside her.

  “Don’t move,” a voice warned calmly, waking Niv out of a deep slumber.

  She froze obediently but opened her eyes slowly. A few inches from her head was what Niv could only assume was a scorpibug. It shimmered and was the same color as the sand.

  She couldn’t believe the smell hadn’t woken her. It was exactly as Sky had described; it smelled comparable to dead fish that had been sitting out in the sun for days.

  The scorpibug was about the size of a small watermelon. It started shaking its tail and turned, locking eyes on her.

  Niv shifted slightly, startled by its blood red eyes. It swung its tail down at lightning speed.

  Niv closed her eyes and scrunched her body up like an egg. She waited, expecting to feel a sharp stinging pain, but it never came.

  Leif ran over to her and shook her. “It is alright. You are safe,” he spoke soothingly.

  Niv sat up hesitantly. She looked around and saw the scorpibug a few feet away with an arrow protruding through its midsection.

  She threw her arms around him. “Thank you!”

  Sky ventured closer to examine the bug. “Whew,” he whined. “It smells worse than the Stinking Bogs.” He prodded the shell gently with his paw, careful to avoid the pincers and tail. “I can’t fathom how your arrow pierced through the armor. It’s even thicker than I imagined.”

  Leif walked over. “I did not assume it would,” he explained, as he cautiously sliced off the tail, burying it deep in the sand. “I was just hoping the m
omentum from the arrow would knock it off Niv.”

  He pried off the shell and removed his arrow. “Well at least we have breakfast now.” He smiled, slicing the meat out of the hull of the scorpibug.

  “We are going to eat that?” Nivara asked skeptically.

  Sky scampered over to Niv. “It’s rumored to be very tender and tasty.” He licked his lips. “Also, it’s extremely hard to come by.”

  Leif cut the meat up and then offered some to Niv.

  “Aren’t you going to cook it?” she asked, aghast.

  He looked around. “Do you see any wood?” the elf asked. “Stones?” he rolled his eyes. “Perhaps you start fires differently where you’re from.”

  Nivara sighed. Her stomach wasn’t rumbling yet, but she knew it would be soon if she didn’t eat. She reluctantly picked up a chunk of the raw grayish meat.

  She shut her eyes and tried to imagine she was eating anything else. Sky had been right. It didn’t taste half bad, but the squishy, rubbery texture was enough to make her gag.

  Nivara swallowed and took a sip of water, trying to settle her stomach.

  “It tastes delicious,” Leif said, enjoying another chunk of meat.

  Sky devoured another piece. “I could eat this every day,” he agreed.

  The elf offered her another hunk.

  She waved her hand. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

  After the scorpibug had been consumed, the group set out on another long day of traipsing through the desert.

  “Where does the light come from?” Niv asked, looking up at the sky.

  Leif paused and looked in the same direction. “What is your meaning?”

  “Where’s the sun? The source of the light.”

  He shrugged. “This is just how it has always been. I do not know what a sun is. After the darkness departs the light appears. How do day and night work in your world?”

  Niv kept walking. “There is night and day, and at night we have stars...” except not pink, she thought, “but we also have a moon. It’s round and whitish. That’s how we get light at night. Day looks the same, but we have the sun. It’s an orangish-yellow round ball in the sky. It produces the light and the heat during the day.”

  “Hmmm,” was all Leif said.

  They marched for a few more hours. Niv never saw any plant life nor any water. She did once think she faintly smelled rotten fish.

  They had stopped and Leif and Sky had made a quick search of the area near them, but didn’t find any more scorpibugs. They assumed one of the few breezes had carried the scent towards them. As they were sitting for a quick break and some water, the ground began to rumble beneath them.

  “Run!” Leif screamed.

  Sky took the lead, and Niv followed quickly behind him. Leif readied his bow with an arrow, and ran behind, glancing back.

  Sand was swirling in the spot they had been sitting. Suddenly an enormous creature burst through the sand.

  “It’s a sandworm!” Leif cried.

  Niv glanced back. The worm was massive. It seemed to have heads at each end. It reared one of its heads back and spit a purple goo.

  “Do not allow the goo to touch you! It’s an acid!” Leif yelled as they continued to run.

  They dodged to the right and left as the purple substance was fired in their direction.

  “It’s gaining on us!” Niv shouted. It wasn’t as fast as she imagined. But it didn’t seem to be tiring. “I can’t run at this pace…” Niv panted, “for much longer.”

  Sky started to shimmer and shake as he ran. In a moment, he returned to his large form. He stopped. “Quick, hop on!”

  Niv jumped on first. Leif climbed on behind her. The worm was upon them. It reared up and dove towards Sky, mouth gaping open, divulging rows of sharp teeth.

  “Go!” Niv yelled.

  She could feel the wind from the worm barely missing them.

  Leif shot an arrow at the beast, but it seemed to have no effect.

  “Aim for the eyes!” Niv instructed, noticing for the first time four eyes lying flat on the sides of the worm’s face.

  “Okay.” Leif notched another arrow and fired quickly, just as the worm was lunging towards them again. The arrow buried itself deep into the bottom right eye. The creature roared and began throwing its head around in a wild craze. It flailed around, stirring up a whirlwind of sand before diving back down into it.

  Leif slung his bow back over his shoulder. “I believe we are okay now,” he announced.

  Nivara shook her head. “Keep running if you can,” she urged the cambriar forward. “I’d rather be sure. Let’s put as much distance between us as we can.”

  Sky panted, “I can run a little longer.”

  They ran for another ten minutes until Sky began to slow his pace.

  “I feel spent,” he huffed.

  Leif and Niv slid off his back, and he reverted to his smaller size.

  Niv scooped him up as she would a baby. “You were amazing.” she leaned down and kissed him on top of his fluffy head. “You saved us. Relax, I’ll carry you.”

  The running must have taken a lot out of him because it wasn’t long before he was sleeping in her arms.

  “I can take a shift if you wish,” Leif offered.

  “I’m okay for now,” she smiled, “but I will let you know.”

  “By nightfall we will reach the borders to the Never Ending Night.” Leif said.

  “What exactly is that?” Niv asked. It didn’t sound very appealing.

  “It is a very dark place. Light does not penetrate its borders. If I lit a torch and stepped into the Never Ending Night, it would extinguish itself.”

  “But why?” Niv asked.

  “No one knows, it simply does,” Leif explained.

  Niv placed her hand on his arm. “How will we make it through to the Chasm of Sky if we can’t see?”

  “We will stick to the edges of it and follow Sky. Smaller creatures’ eyes are different; they see better in the dark. It will still be slow-going. Even to Sky it will be difficult to see, but at least we will not be entering blind,” Leif explained. He took out his water skin and offered it to Nivara.

  “Thank you.” She took a few sips and passed it back. “Are there any dangerous bugs or giant worms in there?” she trembled.

  Sky awoke just as they were arriving at the border. Niv could see a dark fog in front of them. It was black as night, and she couldn’t see anything past it.

  “We are here already,” the hoosula noted as he began to stretch.

  “How far will we have to travel in the dark before we get to the chasm?” Niv asked nervously. “And how can we follow Sky if we can’t see him?”

  Leif dug into his pack and pulled out a thin rope. “We will have to connect ourselves and listen to his directions. It is a forest of complete darkness. It will be slow-going, moving around trees, climbing up and down ravines. The task will not be an easy one.”

  “Alright,” Niv said tentatively.

  “Let us camp here for the evening,” he suggested. “I do not want to arrive at the chasm in the night. If we misstep…” He used his fingers and had them stroll off his hand and fall.

  Niv’s eyes widened. “I think that’s probably a good idea.”

  The elf pulled out some hard bread and a dried sausage. He sliced them and divided them up between the three of them.

  “I wish we had some more scorpibug,” Sky complained as he chewed on the bread.

  Niv ate happily. Anything was better than that gray meat from this morning. The bread and sausage tasted wonderful.

  Leif laid out the blanket and Niv and Sky curled up together. He sat down and set his bow and arrow on his lap.

  Niv sat up. “Did you stay up last night?” she asked, the realization finally dawning on her.

  “Yes. Someone needs to keep watch.”

  “Let me,” she offered, standing up. “You rest. It should be my turn.”

  “No, it is fine. Elves do not need much sleep,” he infor
med her, motioning for Niv to sit back down. “I typically only nap a few hours each week. I will be fine for a few more days.”

  “If you’re certain,” Niv replied, yawning.

  Leif smiled, and Niv laid down on the blanket and went to sleep.

  Chapter XII

  Home. Blake was beginning to accept that he would never see it again. His wrists and ankles throbbed. The ropes were tight but he could deal with that. What he really wanted was the gag removed and a few swallows of water.

  Rough hands grabbed him out of the back of the cart, shoving him onto his feet. It was difficult to stand. His whole body ached.

  Turk and a second elf each grabbed the Prince under an arm.

  Myder called to them from a doorway. “Hurry up!”

  Blake was dragged down a passage. Even exhausted and in pain, he could tell this place was nicer than any he had seen before. It had to be the leader’s residence. The floors shined and floor-to-ceiling windows lined the hallways.

  Myder pushed open a thick door. There was a richly dressed elf seated at a long rectangular table, surrounded by all manner of cuisines. He held a golden goblet, and looked up, annoyed.

  “This better be good,” the elf moaned, already looking bored. He set his glass down and stood.

  Turk sliced the gag off of the Prince’s mouth, and the second elf roughly pushed Blake towards Striker. The Prince tried to keep his balance but stumbled forward on his knees. He moved his jaw from side to side, feeling a little relief at being able to close his mouth again.

  “He’s a portal jumper,” Myder piped up eagerly. “I brought him straight here, Striker.”

  Striker bent down, examining the Prince. He pulled at Blake’s clothes, touching them as little as possible. Then he yanked Blake’s chin up so that he could look in the Prince’s eyes. “Is that so,” he said, more of a statement than a question. “Are you a jumper?”

  Blake hesitated. The elves seemed to fear Striker; would it be safer to be honest or play dumb?

  Suddenly, the elf lifted his hand and smacked the Prince hard across the face. He yelped and fell flat onto the floor.

  “I asked you a question,” Striker raised his voice in anger.