‘The children haven’t since we moved here.’
Blaze glanced across at Alex. ‘Was it the same as that time when you had House protect my old neighbourhood?’
Alex nodded. ‘Yeah, and House told me there were a few men acting strange until he arrived.’
George leant forward in thought. ‘So if it’s you or your children it believes is a threat to this Final Destiny . . . why does it not try to take over our minds?’
‘Your psychic powers could be blocking it, or it knows it would be removed soon as you step on our land.’
‘It sounds serious,’ said Joseph. ‘We need to find out as much as we can.’
Carrie sat forward. ‘We believe it’s a dark spirit of some kind.’
It is the most likely of answers, said Rho. As we have a great spirit here, there could always be a bad one wanting to stop Alex.
Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘Stop me from what? I’d never heard of the final destiny before the sergeant mentioned it.’
It will be something you will have to find out, and it is what you are good at.
Luella shifted in her seat. ‘A demon spirit.’
‘What makes you say that, Mother?’
‘Just a feeling,’ said Luella.
Alex rubbed his chin as he glanced around at them. ‘I had a dream of another battle.’
‘Now that’s something I want to hear more about,’ said James, very interested.
Carrie smiled. ‘Who we fighting this time?’
‘I was standing on a castle wall where hordes of creatures like goblins and ogres were attacking. My hand glowed, I blasted a huge troll, and they turned and ran.’
Adair scratched his chin. ‘The same way you destroyed the demon?’
Alex nodded. ‘Exactly the same.’
‘This could be an interesting fight,’ said James. ‘What happened next?’
‘The dream changed.’ Alex thought about the rest of his dream, but said nothing.
‘That’s frustrating.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘We can look through the books until you recognize the creatures,’ said Joseph.
Alex tilted his head to one side as he considered it. ‘Yeah, that would be a good idea.’
‘Are you going to tell the elves?’ said Adair.
‘I’m not sure if I should, none of the creatures are from their world, and the battle is not over there.’
‘They do know about them. I saw goblins and other creatures a very long time ago in the old world and some in northern Europe.’
‘What were they like?’ said Alex.
‘Most unpleasant and was always wanting to start war on someone.’
‘They’ve had a few thousand years to change that.’
‘Then it might be a good idea to talk to Torgon,’ said Joseph, ‘and his council as they might know where they went.’
‘That’s true . . . I’ll talk to them in the morning.’
‘I will go through the books.’
‘I could search for anything on the Final Destiny,’ said Skye.
‘Do we need to search?’ said James. ‘Or wait until Alex dreams of where they are?’
Alex shrugged. ‘I don’t know if there’s any urgency to it, the answer will most likely come to us.’
‘Can’t House locate where the battle is from your thoughts?’ said George.
No, I am not sure if that is because it came from a dream, said the spirit. I could not do it with the last battle either.
‘Was we in your dream?’ said Fergal.
Alex shook his head. ‘No, but don’t worry, you wasn’t in the last one either.’
‘Then we best get back to training,’ said Carrie. ‘I want to practice in the elf armour.’
Asima nodded. ‘Yes, I would like to test that out, too.’
You never mentioned the part of your dream in space,’ said House.
I know, said Alex, but I think it’s something which happened a long time ago, like my dream of the ancient world.
Why would you think that?
Because Siphon lost his daughters, and I’m somehow seeing what happened to them.
I do not envy you and your dreams.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Enchanter
The following morning Alex, Carrie, Adair, and Joseph went in search of Torgon to discuss the dream, and of the creatures he had seen. They found him with Rasmus having breakfast at the Brightstone tavern.
‘You’re early today, nothing wrong I hope,’ said Torgon, sipping his coffee tasting drink.
Alex sat at the table. ‘I wanted to have a word with you about my dream.’
‘The one you had of here?’
‘No, this one is different, I saw another battle.’
Torgon’s eyes grew large. ‘We will be prepared this time.’
‘It wasn’t this world as far as I could tell. I didn’t recognise the place, it was at a castle, and they were using weapons against each other.’
‘It is not here then,’ said Rasmus, somewhat relieved.
‘I didn’t mean to worry you, but Adair told me you might know something about the creatures from your old world.’
‘What were they?’ said Torgon.
Alex rubbed his chin. ‘I believe some of them might have been ogres and goblins.’
‘Ogres are vile creatures, but less of a threat than the demons. I believe they went to one of the other worlds with the goblins.’
‘It doesn’t sound like a very nice place, but it looks like I’ll be visiting it.’
‘Indeed not,’ said Rasmus, ‘and you will find creatures a lot worse than those.’
‘I saw a troll, another big one.’
‘Yes, they would be with them, too.’
‘How can they all live together?’
Torgon finished his drink. ‘There was never that many of them.’
‘In my dream there were thousands of them, a huge army, all fighting together.’
Rasmus rubbed his five thousand-year old eyes. ‘They must have a powerful leader controlling them if they are fighting together.’
‘It has been a long time since they moved to their world,’ said Torgon. ‘I hoped the goblins would have changed by now.’
‘Why would you think that?’ said Alex, very curiously.
‘I am not sure why, but for some reason my father had some strange fondness towards them.’
‘Yes, he thought they would change,’ said Rasmus. ‘Just give them time, he always said.’
Torgon shook his head. ‘It looks like he was wrong.’
‘We have books back in our library,’ said Alex. ‘If you want to take a look, and see if they’re the same creatures.’
‘Yes, I would like to come and take a look,’ said Torgon, ‘and when you visit their world for this battle, I shall be going with you.’
Rasmus scratched his chin. ‘Are there any pictures of elves?’
‘Yes, quite a few,’ said Alex. They returned to the mansion, apart from Carrie, who decided to go for a walk on the elf world.
They spent a couple hours in the library studying pictures in books and on the internet. The elves recognised most of the creatures from the books with a few discrepancies, which Alex agreed on.
‘I don’t understand how elves are in these books if you’re only thought as of myths.’
Joseph flicked through a book. ‘You’ve been living with myths for a few months now.’
‘Yeah, but this is different.’
Torgon studied the pictures of elves. ‘Are they that much different to us?’
‘No, but you’re real,’ said Alex. ‘That’s what I don’t understand about these pictures. If you left over two thousand years ago, how are you in these books? Some of the pictures are very good likenesses.’
‘It is a very good point,’ said Rasmus. ‘These are just drawings, yet they look like us, even down to the clothes.’
Adair glanced up from a book. ‘You were careless.’
Torgon fro
wned. ‘That is unkind, old friend.’
‘I didn’t mean it as an insult. You had no choice but to be careless. It’s like you said, there was no way of seeing the other side of the portal on your visits back here.’
Torgon nodded. ‘Someone saw us.’
Alex sat on the edge of a table with his arms folded. ‘That means others came back here, like the troll we killed.’
‘It would appear so, we know the dwarves have.’
‘Through different portals I take it.’
‘Yes, each world has more than one, but I have no idea where they are on your world. I remember scrolls with the locations of them on, but for some reason they did not come to this world with us.’
Alex smiled. ‘It looks like you can put your books in the reference section now, Joseph.’
‘I might write my own one day.’
‘It would be weird, as you would have photos instead of drawings. I can imagine the gnomes, pucas and pixies all wanting to pose for them.’
‘I believe my brother would also do that,’ Torgon added.
Adair sighed. ‘I would rather none of you did, and people think of you as myths.’
‘Didn’t you say the same thing, Alex?’ said Torgon.
‘Yes, if everyone knew you were real, we’d have half our world out searching.’
~~~~
Carrie strolled through the city and arrived at the gates. She continued through the wooded area when she felt dizzy. Carrie leant up a tree trying to get her bearings, and saw him by one of the few remaining tents.
Alex smiled at her. ‘You’re here at last.’
Carrie felt dizzy once more and shook her head. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here.’
‘I know, I wanted to show you something,’ he said, and offered his hand.
‘Where are we going?’ she said, and quite happily took his hand.
‘I have a place I want to take you, where we will be alone.’
‘That sounds fun.’
He took her inside a tent and held her. It felt strange to Carrie. She spent three nights with him and they hadn’t even kissed, but she loved him, and had known it since the first time she saw him.
Alex stood and glanced outside the tent. ‘They’re going to take this away from us.’
Carrie rubbed her eyes. ‘Who are?’
‘The demons, I found out they set a trap for us, and I didn’t see it coming . . . you have to go and kill them.’
‘Why do I have to do it?’ said Carrie, feeling out of sorts. ‘You’re a lot more powerful than I am.’
‘Only you can, as they will sense me, and now they’re all over the mansion.’
Carrie rubbed her eyes. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Go over there and kill the leader. Once you’ve done that, I will be over to help finish off the rest of them.’
‘How will I get close enough to him?’
‘My power will hide you from them.’
‘When do you want me to do it? I don’t feel right.’
‘Now, you have to go outside and return to the mansion. The demons have cursed everyone and that’s why you feel as you do.’
Carrie did, as the last three days had been a blur to her. She couldn’t even picture her friends or the children any more. She went straight to the gym and picked up her short sword. There were demons in the hall, but they took no notice of her as she hid the blade behind her back. Carrie saw the demon leader and ran straight at him. She leapt in the air with her blade, but it disappeared before she could strike the creature. The demon caught her and grabbed both wrists, before shouting something she couldn’t understand. Another demon shouted, two more grabbed her arms, and the second one who shouted placed its hand on her head.
~~~~
Alex saw Carrie leave the gym, she walked forwards, and what happened next completely stunned him. She leapt into the air with sword in hand, before it vanished and he caught her. Her face looked crazed, and could only see hatred in her eyes. ‘Carrie,’ he shouted, but she just ignored him.
‘What’s going on?’ said Paige, running over to them along with Claire and Luella.
‘I’ve no idea, she just attacked me,’ said Alex, as the others surrounded them, many with shocked looks on their faces.
‘She’s been enchanted,’ shouted Luella. ‘Quickly, restrain her for her own safety.’
Paige and Claire did, worried about their friend, as Luella put her hand on Carrie’s head and spoke in the old language.
‘What’s going on?’ said Alex, but no one answered him.
Carrie’s eyes grew big as she stared at Alex. ‘Oh god, what have I done?’
‘You tried to kill Alex,’ Blaze told her.
‘No,’ she cried. ‘It was a demon I was trying to kill, just as Alex asked me to.’
Alex’s mood darkened. ‘When did I ask you to do that?’
‘Earlier, on the elf world, where we spent the last three nights together.’
‘No, we didn’t, you’ve only been away a couple of hours.’
‘That’s impossible,’ said Carrie. ‘Where have all the demons gone?’
‘There are none here, you’ve been enchanted,’ said Luella. ‘I need you to think back to who you met.’
‘It was Alex, I saw him,’ said Carrie, and cried.
‘Just think of when you met him there, and I will do the rest.’
Carrie did, she thought of when Alex told her he wanted to show her something, and she saw it wasn’t him, the image of Alex changed to someone else. ‘No, how can that be?’ she said, now sobbing. Paige had let go of her arm and was now holding her.
‘Who would do this to her?’ Alex demanded.
Luella shook her head. ‘I don’t know, but he has dark magic. What do you remember?’ she asked Carrie.
‘I was on the elf world when Alex came to me, but it wasn’t him was it?’ she said. ‘It was an elf.’
‘What?’ said Torgon. ‘No elf has used dark magic in a long time.’
‘Nevertheless it’s true,’ said Luella.
Torgon’s face paled. ‘My Lady Carrie, I am so sorry this has happened, but I promise I will get to the bottom of it.’
‘I think we can do that now,’ said Alex. ‘You say no one has used that magic in a long time, so what happened to them?’
‘Just the one we told you about, his name was Dagur. He would have been put to death for the enormity of his crimes, but he escaped. I don’t know how it could be him as he would never be able to open the portal.’
‘What were his crimes?’
‘They were numerous, but his worst were sacrificing children, and not just on our world, but here and the dwarf world.’ Torgon looked somewhat disgusted. ‘We never told you of this before as it shames us.’
‘What did the elf look like?’ Alex asked Carrie.
‘His hair was not as long as most elves I’ve seen, he was horrible with a scar down his face,’ she said, and threw her arms around him. ‘I’m so sorry, I would never hurt you.’
‘I know,’ said Alex, and held her tight.
Torgon rubbed his chin in thought. ‘I don’t understand how he could be back.’
Alex felt anger build up inside. ‘I believe I know how he managed that, but let’s go and see if he’s still there.’
Torgon nodded. ‘Where did it take place, my lady?’
‘Outside the city where there are few remaining tents. I was just taking a walk, when I felt dizzy, and there he was, he showed me to a tent.’
Alex led Carrie to Blaze, and with Torgon he returned to the elf world and started searching the tents.
‘What is this, brother?’ said Thalion. ‘Have my people done something wrong?’
‘No, our people have done nothing wrong, but Dagur has returned and was in one of these tents,’ said Torgon, and told him quickly what had happened.
‘GUARDS!’ Thalion shouted, and eight elves ran to him.
‘My lord, what is wrong?’ one of them asked.
‘House, can you tell Adair and Martein?’ said Torgon, and a couple of seconds later both were standing there.
‘My lord,’ said Martein. ‘I am sorry the powerstone did not sense him at first, we now believe he is near the portal.’
Alex saw red, and he leapt in the air and flew. In less than a minute he saw the elf, who turned and looked at him before disappearing through the portal, and he followed. The elf stood there with a grin, soldiers from the Order surrounded him, all with their guns pointed at Alex.
‘This is fun, isn’t it?’ Dagur hissed. ‘I see the woman couldn’t finish the job, but maybe these kind soldiers will do it for me.’
Alex glanced at the soldiers. They had no hatred in their eyes, only sadness at what they were doing.
‘I think not,’ he said, as the weapons disappeared.
Dagur stepped back, now frightened. ‘How can you do that?’
‘The same way I’m going to destroy you for what you’ve done,’ said Alex, as he flew at the elf, but Dagur vanished before he got there, and all the soldiers collapsed.
Sorry I could not stop him from going, said House, the vase will not let me use it on anyone who does not want it to.
‘Probably for the best, we should never use it against anyone’s will.’
‘Alex! What do you think you are doing?’ Adair snapped, as he arrived with the elves.
‘Not enough by the looks of it,’ said Alex, as he knelt by one of the soldiers. ‘House can you do anything?’
No, this is different to the others.
‘They’ve been enchanted,’ said Adair, as he touched one of the soldier’s faces.
‘Get away from my men,’ Henrik shouted, as he ran over to them with six armed soldiers.
‘Put your guns down, Major,’ said Alex, ‘these are friends.’
‘Your highness, I did not see you there,’ said Henrik, and lowered his gun, as did the other soldiers.
‘That’s going too far, Major,’ said Alex, as he touched the face of an unconscious soldier, and the golden energy passed through him and he woke.
‘My lord,’ said the soldier, groggily, ‘I’m so sorry, I would’ve shot you and had no control over it.’
Other Worlds: Vesta Mansion Trilogy - Book Two - Fantasy Page 35
