A Portal for Your Thoughts

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  Steve put his arm around Sarah’s shoulders and guided her away from the throng of people that were rapidly taking apart tents, tables, and anything else that needed to be put away. They slowly walked over to the anomaly and stared at the gently swirling mists within the small vortex.

  “I sure would like to know where that goes,” Steve murmured.

  Sarah was still sobbing. “Think of all those poor people who have disappeared. And the girl! What will her parents think? Oh, honey, I feel so bad.”

  Steve wrapped his arms around her in a hug and held her while she quietly sobbed against his shoulder. He watched as the giant maroon tent was pulled off its frame and rapidly packed. Poles were pulled apart and packed away. Maelnar was hastily plucking various devices off the wizard’s allocated work table and handing them over when Steve saw the dwarf hesitate. Maelnar held the most recent device he had picked up, one that was spherical in shape, up to his ear. He heard the dwarf say that it was making noise. Maelnar examined the pewter colored device by gently turning it over in his hands.

  “What is this, wizard? It’s giving off a soft hum and its vibrating.”

  Shardwyn looked up from where he was hastily shoving his instruments into a large trunk.

  “That is a mobile levitator. I used it earlier when I was conducting experiments with the anomaly.”

  “Ah. You used this to lift large objects up?”

  The wizard nodded.

  “That’s right. I wanted to see if an object of increased mass made a difference when going through that portal. Consequently, it didn’t. It’s making noise, you say? I must have left the silly thing on. Go ahead and press that red button right there.”

  Maelnar jabbed a finger down on a small red button. Instead of going quiet, which is what he expected the device to do, the round machine became louder and started shaking even harder.

  “That did not shut it off, wizard. What’s it doing?”

  Shardwyn rushed over.

  “All you had to do was turn it off. Here, give me that.”

  “If you tell me the correct button to hit then I will,” Maelnar angrily shot back.

  The wizard reached for the device but before he could get both hands on it, Maelnar yanked it away. They both heard a loud click and suddenly Shardwyn was floating several feet off the ground.

  “Very funny, dwarf. Now put me down.”

  “I didn’t do it on purpose,” Maelnar snapped back. He punched a few more buttons on the device.

  Shardwyn let out a terrified shout as he found himself hurtling away from the surprised dwarf as though he had been shot out a cannon. The wizard collided with Steve, who was still consoling his wife. Sarah was knocked out of Steve’s embrace, much like one croquette ball would do when struck by another, and was sent stumbling forward. Unfortunately, there was nothing in front of Sarah except the anomaly. She shrieked in terror as she tripped over an exposed root and fell head first into the vortex.

  Chapter 3 – Roadtrip, Anyone?

  Steve stared in horror at the swirling mists within the anomaly. One minute he had been holding Sarah, trying in vain to make her feel better about the missing villagers and the next his arms were empty. Thanks to the ongoing feud both Shardwyn and Maelnar still had, his wife was gone. Having been rendered speechless, Steve’s ashen face looked up at the king, who bore a similar expression. Together the two of them angrily looked at wizard and dwarf.

  Maelnar instantly dropped to one knee.

  “This is my fault. I alone share responsibility for this catastrophe.”

  Shardwyn shook his head and pulled the dwarf to his feet.

  “I cannot allow that, friend Maelnar. I should have –”

  “I don’t give a crap about pointing blame at anyone!” Steve shouted. His hands, which had turned dark red, both flamed up. The fire climbed up his arms and spread across his chest. Ignoring the rapidly expanding flames that were quickly engulfing his body, Steve ran a shaky hand through his hair. “What are we going to do? The way I see is that we only have about twenty seconds to decide.”

  Kri’Entu looked up. “Twenty seconds? I do not see… Sir Steve, please lower your flames lest you force us to vacate the area.”

  Steve glanced down at his chest and noticed most of his torso was engulfed in fire.

  “Right. Sorry.”

  “Thank you. You said we have only a short amount of time. Please explain.”

  “Sarah said that her mental picture shifted every thirty or so seconds,” Steve reminded the king. “If that’s true then whatever we’re going to do must be done in that time or else we run the risk of the portal moving to a completely different location. If that happens we’ll never find her! I have no choice. I’m going after her.”

  The king looked angrily back at Shardwyn and Maelnar before beckoning to a nearby soldier.

  “Your water bag and provisions. Now! Hurry!”

  The guard instantly handed over his provisions to the king, who shoved them in Steve’s hands.

  “You’re right. There is no time to lose. You must hurry! You’re going to need a weapon. Here, take my dagger.”

  Overhearing the king’s comment Maelnar unbuckled his small hand axe and handed it to Steve.

  “May it bring you as much luck as it has always brought me. I am deeply sorry, Sir Steve.”

  “The guard over there has a bow he can take,” Shardwyn informed them, visibly shaken by this tragic turn of events.

  “There’s no time!” the king snapped as he slid his personal dagger, sheath and all, into one of Steve’s jacket pockets. Kri’Enu took Maelnar’s axe and held it up, handle first, and waited for Steve to take it.

  Water bottle and bag of provisions were slung over Steve’s shoulder as he nervously stared at the anomaly. He smiled fleetingly at the king before turning to face a very somber wizard and dwarf. In the blink of an eye both hands turned red and were threatening to ignite once more.

  “If I make it back you two are going to officially bury the hatchet, is that clear?”

  Dwarf and wizard both nodded.

  “When,” Kri’Entu corrected with a meek smile. “When you make it back, not if.”

  Steve nervously swallowed and looked once more at the anomaly. “Right. Wish me luck.”

  Filled with worry over his missing wife, Steve gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and jumped feet first into the anomaly.

  “Good luck, Sir Steve,” Kri’Entu whispered as he stared at the empty space where the fire thrower had just been standing.

  ****

  He felt like he was both floating and falling at the same time, if that was even possible. The dizzying sensation was enough to make him nauseated and remind him, unpleasantly so, of the most extreme roller coaster he had ever been on. Steve ordered his lunch to stay put and kept his eyes screwed tightly shut. Even though his eyes were closed he could still see bright lights flashing unmercifully on the other side of his eyelids.

  A headache erupted and began pounding away at the base of his skull. Wham wham wham! Steve couldn’t tell if his eyes were still closed as all of a sudden he was seeing stars. From the headache? From the nauseousness? Was he still falling? Could he even tell which way was up?

  His headache hammered mercilessly away at him. He screwed his eyes shut and waited for the pain to pass. It didn’t. He couldn’t think straight. Why was this happening to him? Could he even remember what he was supposed to be doing?

  Sarah. He had to find Sarah!

  His awareness latched on to that single thought and held it as though it was the most precious thing in the world. Sarah. His wife. She was his whole world. Somehow he’d find her. He didn’t care what it took, if there was a way to bring her back, he’d find it.

  He felt the pounding on his skull lessen somewhat. Relaxing in the temporary bliss he felt, Steve did the only thing he was capable of doing: he passed out.

  Some time later he woke, face down, on the ground. Every muscle in his body ached as though he h
ad put it through the most intensive workout he could have imagined. He gave the order to wiggle his fingers. After a few seconds he felt the fingers on his left hand grudgingly comply.

  He could feel pine needles. Now that the pain center of his brain was reawakening, the bare skin of his exposed arms reported in that they were not happy with the present situation and wanted to lodge a protest. Steve gently flexed his left arm, only to recoil in pain. It felt as though it was pinned under a heavy object and it was hurting something fierce.

  Steve started to roll to his feet when he discovered the reason why his left arm hurt: it had been pinned under his chest. He grunted. No wonder it hurt. Taking a deep breath he sat up and unkinked his arms to try and restore circulation. After suffering through several minutes of prickly sensations running up and down his arm Steve carefully flexed both appendages and took stock of his surroundings.

  Pine needles covered the ground. Massive green pine trees were everywhere. Yep, he was still in a forest.

  Steve quickly glanced to his left and then his right. There were no signs of Sarah anywhere.

  “Sarah!”

  The forest was utterly still, with the exception of the evergreens gently swaying in the breeze. Steve sniffed the air. Pine, pine, and more pine. The overpowering scent from the fragrant evergreens was the only thing he could smell.

  Steve rose to his feet and dusted off his clothes, noticing a handful of pine needles had decided to stick to his knees. Even a pine cone had managed to find its way into his pocket. How had that happened? He must have been thrashing about when he landed.

  Curious, Steve turned to look back at the place he had woken up. No, there wasn’t any evidence he had been there at all save a slight disturbance in the blanket of pine needles covering the forest floor. Wherever here was, he certainly hadn’t walked here.

  So this was where the portal had deposited him. Great. Once again he was stranded in the middle of some forest. The problem was, which forest? What kingdom? For that matter, what world? And, most importantly, was it the same world that the portal had dropped Sarah?

  Spying a few errant pine needles still clinging to his pants Steve plucked one of them off and studied it. It had a single point, unlike the multiple points Lentarian pine trees were known for. He sniffed it and nodded sagely. Yep, he hadn’t a clue as to what he was looking at other than he was holding a simple pine needle.

  Steve dropped the needle and inspected several nearby shrubs which had caught his eye. He wandered over to study the tall stems protruding out from the base of the shrub. Each stem was covered with bright yellow flowers which resembled elongated tubular bells.

  Nearby was a large bushy plant covered with multi-petaled flowers. A closer inspection of the plant revealed there was only one flower head per stem and that the flower didn’t have any scent that he could detect. Was the flower Lentarian?

  Steve shrugged. He really didn’t know anything about flowers other than what Sarah had told him. She’d know if the flowers were native to Lentari or their own world.

  He looked around the quiet forest. There were no paths, no signs of habitation, and no indication of which way to go. He spent the next hour methodically scouring the surrounding area looking for some signs of Sarah’s presence but was unable to find so much as a single footprint anywhere other than his own.

  With a heavy heart Steve realized it could only mean one thing: Sarah had never been here.

  “I really should have thought this one through,” Steve muttered quietly.

  Not knowing what else to do, Steve quietly spun in place. Hopefully he’d be able to get a sense of which way to go just by facing in that direction. It always seemed to work for Sarah. After stopping every three seconds to see if he could detect anything, Steve finally finished turning and came to a stop. Nothing. Nothing stood out. Once more he was lost and this time he was by himself.

  “Get a grip,” Steve angrily told himself. “Sarah’s out there. Somewhere. I just have to find her.”

  He looked up at the evening sun and turned so that it was on his left side. He held up his hands and ordered his jhorun to ignite. In moments his hands were lit. He gave them a quick flick to extinguish them and headed off.

  “This has got to be Lentari,” Steve thought to himself as he pushed his way through several shrubs. “My jhorun works fine.”

  Your jhorun works fine on your world, too, a little voice said in his mind.

  Steve nodded. “True. I concede the point.”

  And the pine needles had only one point. Lentarian pine needles have two, sometimes three points.

  Steve shrugged. “Noted.”

  You don’t know enough about flowers to determine which type they are, let alone where they typically grow.

  “What’s your point?”

  And you’re arguing with yourself.

  “Shut up and leave me alone.”

  How then do you plan on finding Sarah when she could be on a different world?

  “You’re not helping,” Steve grumbled to himself.

  Do you want help or not?

  “You’re me,” Steve thought to himself crossly. “I know what you know, remember?”

  And yet you still haven’t noticed it.

  “Noticed what?”

  Must I tell you or would you like to guess?

  “Wow, I must have really hit my head hard when I landed here. I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. No, dude, I don’t want to guess. Just tell me.”

  Didn’t you smell the water?

  Steve froze in mid-step.

  “Water? Where?”

  And could you smell any brine? No? What does that tell you?

  Steve was silent as he thought back to when he was circling in place in the forest. Had he smelled any water? He didn’t think he had but… Wait. Wait! One of those directions he had faced did remind him briefly of rain yet there weren’t any rain clouds in the sky.

  Very good!

  “Don’t get snarky with me. I have no qualms about kicking my own ass.”

  Yeah, right. Don’t flatter yourself. You couldn’t get your leg up that high.

  Steve’s eyebrows shot straight up. Had some part of his own brain just insulted him?

  “You do know that when you insult me you’re actually insulting yourself, too, right?”

  You need to keep moving. Wake up and get going.

  “Excuse me? Wake up? I’m not dreaming. I’m not even asleep.”

  Yes you are. You were feeling light headed so you sat down on the ground and rested your back against a tree. Naturally you were out like a light.

  “Oh. I don’t remember that.”

  Wake up. Follow the water, young grasshopper. Hurry!

  Steve groaned and shook his head. He must have been really tired.

  “And how do you propose I do that? That’s assuming that I even believe you.”

  The scene shifted and suddenly he was driving his truck. A motorcyclist zipped by him and cut him off. Steve gasped with alarm and reacted instantly by slamming on the brakes.

  Steve’s whole body gave a violent, spasmodic jerk which knocked him off the fallen log he had been sitting on. Once more Steve found himself rising painfully up off the ground and dusting himself off. He looked down at the fallen log and grimaced. He hadn’t even remembered sitting down to rest. How sad was that?

  Steve stretched his back and looked around. It was time to get moving. Clearly Sarah wasn’t anywhere in the area. Logically, if she had been dropped in an area similar to this then she would start searching for some signs of civilization, too. He could only do the same.

  A more detailed investigation of the surrounding area revealed the existence of a shallow river. He decided to follow it north. The slow moving water was flowing south, so something had to be feeding the river. Whether it was runoff from the nearby mountains or else being fed by a lake he didn’t care. It was a direction to go and he stuck with it.

  Noticing that the sun was setting mu
ch faster than he would have cared for, he picked up his pace. It was one thing to go camping outdoors; he was very fond of spending time under the stars. However, when there wasn’t any RV or trailer to return to, or else a hotel room to check back in to, then it was another matter entirely. He did not want to be stuck out here overnight. He could only hope that he’d find some type of town before it got too dark. Another glance at the overhead sun told him he had one, maybe two hours of sunlight left before it’d become too dark to see. Either he’d have to find a place to hole up for the night or else he was going to have to pray his luck would hold out and he’d be able to find someone who could help.

  As he walked his thoughts drifted to that which worried him the most: what if Sarah had been dropped on another world? What if he had become stranded here? She, on the one hand, would more than likely be able to get herself home. Her teleporting skills were unparalleled. His jhorun, on the other hand, had nothing to do with teleporting, so if he couldn’t find her then he was going to be up a proverbial creek without any means of propulsion.

  Steve angrily shook his head. He had to stay positive. He had to believe that both he and Sarah were on the same world. He just had to find her.

  His thoughts turned dark again. What if she had been dropped on the other side of the planet? What if she had been dropped in a nest of monsters? What if she was in danger right now? What if she’s already returned to Lentari and he was making this trip for nothing?

  Steve groaned. In his rush to help Sarah he hadn’t even considered the possibility that his wife could have made it back on her own. What if she had already returned and was preparing to go out after him and THEN got herself dropped onto a different world? A headache formed. There were just too many variables to consider. He needed more information and the only way he was going to do that was to keep moving forward.

  A small hard object suddenly dropped onto his head as he passed under the branches of a large tree. Rubbing the stinging welt on his head, he glanced up at the overhead branch to see a tiny pair of beady black eyes regarding him. Steve caught a glimpse of grayish-brown fur with spots of red and a striped tail; it was a squirrel. The furry creature was motionless as it studied him.