by Jamie Davis
It made sense to Kurt based on what little he knew of such things. Marci had the Ph.D. in astrophysics. He’d leave the theory of such things to her.
“How far away is the gate from this community,” Kurt asked as he sipped at his tea. He hid Marci’s ability to home in on gates. “We know it’s close, but I didn’t see the telltale blue glow in the darkness anywhere nearby.”
“The gate is across the ridge above this camp. The way is treacherous in the dark. There is another, easier path down from it that leads to a community park used by you humans to fish and hunt. People do not often come this way and we like that isolation. I still feel the power of the gate when it opens from time to time. I felt it twice in the last week. I didn’t see anyone at the time, but it’s likely your friend was taken through the last time someone went through.”
Kurt nodded. “That makes sense. It likely opened once to let the kidnappers into this world and a few days later, opened to let them return with Clara as their prisoner.”
“I assumed this young woman was your mate,” Ilsa said, indicating Marci. “But that is not true, is it? This Clara is the one you think of as your mate, isn’t she? You seek her rescue even though she has left you for another.”
Kurt didn’t like where this was going but he didn’t feel like he could completely avoid answering his host’s questions.
“It’s complicated. Marci and I are just work companions. As for Clara, we parted ways because we spent a great deal of time apart because of my work. We found we weren’t as close as we used to be anymore.”
“That is sad. I couldn’t bear to be away from my husband, even though he could be an annoying old goat at times. Then, he passed from this world and I realized I had no choice but to bear it. The world puts upon us the trials and burdens it will. It is our duty to bear up to the strain and move forward or break under it and die. You should tell her how you feel.”
Kurt shrugged. “First I have to get her back.”
Marci must’ve sensed his discomfort and changed the subject. “Is there anything you can tell us about the warlords you mentioned on the other side of the gate?”
“They are ambitious and ruthless. That is a combination that leads to great ruin for any who would get in their way. The most powerful warlord in the region is one called General Barand. He inherited his lands from his father about fifteen years ago. As soon as the old father was in the ground, he launched an attack on a neighbor who had long been an ally. They were caught by surprise and the attack succeeded without any trouble at all. The General put the entire ruling family to death, a move he has repeated several times over with each conquest.”
“Sounds like a real piece of work,” Marci remarked. “Someone like that needs a bullet to the brain.”
Ilsa smiled. “Funny you should say that. After he conquered the lands all around him, the General started instituting new, harsher rules and penalties on all the landed servants working the fields and crafting in their shops in the villages. It was after one of his tax parties came through and took some children as payment for taxes owed that things got worse. One of our more foolish neighbors decided that the General needed killing. He found an old musket somewhere and hid in an attic along the route the General took for his afternoon ride.”
“On the day of his ride, he took along his favorite wife to accompany him. Unfortunately, our neighbor was a poor shot and his bullet killed the wife, leaving the General and his men searching the neighborhood for the assassin. They found him and put him to the question before they executed him. One of the things they discovered was the village where he came from.”
Ilsa sighed. “We had little time to gather belongings or do anything other than fleeing for our lives. Those of us who could, ran as fast as our feet would carry us. Those who stayed behind,” she stopped and shrugged. “All of them who remained perished at the hands of the General’s henchmen. Then they chased us until we crossed into this world and escaped. We found a place to settle here, where we could live at peace and tend our farmland alongside our human neighbors. We believed the gate had closed behind us.”
“That was not the case, though. Five years to the day after our arrival, men from our homeland came through the gate. They paid us little mind, instead exploring this world and trying to see what treasure or opportunities for conquest it offered. Since then, there has been fairly regular traffic at the gate. At least once a month someone or sometimes a small group comes or goes through it. They do not bother us, opting to take the easier trail down the far side of the ridge. We keep to ourselves and do not bother them either. That is the way I would like to keep it.”
“Ilsa, we do not want to be any threat to your community,” Kurt said. “We will make sure we take our time and cover our trail so that no one can trace our path back to you.”
“That would be a good thing, but there is no way you can guarantee that.”
“What if we went back down the road to the park and came up on the other side of the ridge? Marci asked. “There’d be no record of us coming here at all.”
“That would work,” Ilsa said after a few second’s thought.
“One more thing,” Kurt added. “You said the sarcophagus resembles a relic from your world. What use would the General have for something like that?”
“It is likely he would use it to show he has divine support for his leadership. It is supposed to give the leader who possesses it great power over his enemies.”
“Nothing like a megalomaniac finding a magical way to garner more power,” Marci muttered.
Kurt glanced at Marci and then lifted his cup to finish his drink. He drank the remaining tea and set the cup down. “Ilsa, thank you for the information about what we will find on the other side of the gate. It will help us to complete the exchange for Clara.”
Kurt stood and Marci joined him. Together they walked to the door.
“Marci and I should go. I want to be heading up the trail on the far side of the ridge before dawn.”
“Be careful of treachery, Kurt. The General will not hesitate to double-cross you if he sees a benefit to himself.”
Kurt nodded and pulled the door open, letting Marci leave first and then following after to return to the SUV. If all went smoothly, he could have the exchange completed and Clara back safe and sound in less than a day.
Chapter 14
Kurt and Marci returned to the SUV and started back down the long lane through the woods. Returning to the main road, they turned left and headed along the state highway until they reached the county park they’d passed on the way in.
“That’s got to be the park Ilsa talked about,” Marci said.
“Agreed. The gate is closed but I think I can drive around it between the post and the trees lining the road into the park.”
Kurt managed to steer the SUV around the metal and concrete posts blocking the entrance. There wasn’t much room between them and the post on the right and the first tree at the forest’s edge but he took his time and squeezed through with a few centimeters to spare on either side of his truck.
Driving down the lane, they entered a parking lot with several trails leading off in different directions. Only one headed up the mountain, though. That was the one they wanted. They needed to hurry and unload the sarcophagus before anyone arrived to open the park. Dawn wasn’t too far away at this point.
It didn’t take the two of them long to attach the pipe handles to the sides of the sarcophagus. Once again, they flipped the toggle switches and slid the golden coffin out of the back of Kurt’s truck.
“Marci, I’m serious about you not coming along. When we get to the gate, I want you to help me shove this through and then I want you to return here to the SUV and leave. I’ll comm you when I’m back and safe with Clara.”
“What makes you think I’m going to leave you like that?” Marci asked.
“This is not subject to debate, kid.”
“Don’t call me a kid. I’m a grown woman and have been for a
long time, Kurt Carter. It’s about time you realized that and we can start acting like partners instead of you thinking you’re here to babysit me. My father may think that’s what you’re doing but I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”
“I don’t think I’m babysitting you, Marci. I just don’t want you to get hurt. Your father—”
“My father can mind his own business. Look, K.C., I like doing this. I like working with you and I like the action. I’m good at it. Plus, I have the magical and the technical skills to find and open gates that are difficult to transit. You need me.”
“Marci, I can do this without you. I appreciate you coming and bailing me out of jail and I appreciate you helping recover the sarcophagus from the warehouse but I cannot put you in the type of danger we are likely to run into on the other side of this gate. This warlord, this General Barand, he sounds like a real piece of work. I’ve run into people like that during my time in special ops. I know how to deal with them. It just takes a little ego stroking. If worse comes to worse, I’ll break Clara out and make a break for it back here to the gate. I can’t do that if I’m worried about where you are, too. Do you understand?”
“I understand you’re wasting time. I’m not changing my mind. If you go through without me, I’ll just re-open the gate and cross through myself.”
“Why do you have to be so stubborn?”
“I think it is one of my more endearing qualities.” Marci flashed him a smile. “Now let’s get going. You said you wanted to be well off the trail before dawn and judging by the lightning of the sky to the east, dawn is on its way.”
Kurt glanced eastward and saw she was right. Grumbling he took hold of the handle. With her help, they started walking up the mountain trail towards the location of the gate.
Kurt checked his phone GPS several times to make sure they were heading in the general direction they were supposed to. It appeared they were drawing close. They were about parallel to the location of the trailer park on the opposite side of the steep ridge to their left. It took them over two hours to wrestle the sarcophagus up the winding trail even with the help of the antigravity handles Jonesey had provided them.
They arrived at a large clearing and Kurt looked around in the early morning light just peeking over the hills to the east.
“Marci, can you sense the location of the portal?”
“Sure, give me a sec.”
Marci closed her eyes and her brow furrowed in concentration. When she opened them, she pointed across the clearing to the base of a large boulder that was part of a rock outcropping protruding from the mountainside.
“It’s over there.“
Marci and Kurt hauled the sarcophagus over to where she said the gate opened. The blue glow of the open gate showed as they came around to the far side. There was enough daylight coming from the rising sun that they couldn’t see the glow from the main trail. It explained how the gate had remained hidden from hikers during the daytime.
They set the load down and rested for a few seconds. Kurt looked through the open portal and saw a long, grassy slope leading downward.
There was no sign of anyone waiting for him. The gateway was wide enough to drive his SUV through if he could’ve gotten it up here and made it around to the ledge where the portal was. He tried to look left and right to either side of the portal without going through.
Everything looked clear.
Marci leaned down and grabbed her handle glancing at Kurt. He returned to the sarcophagus and picked up his side. Together they lifted the massive load and pulled it through the portal to the grassy slope on the other side.
In this world, the sun was already high in the sky and it was somewhere near midday. The light from the sun here seemed less yellow and harsher on their human eyes. Kurt blinked as his eyes tried to adjust. Because of this, he didn’t see the uniformed guards waiting on the far side of the gateway. As soon as they passed through the portal, loud voices shouted at them from either side to raise their hands.
Kurt and Marci let go of the sarcophagus down and complied, keeping their hands in plain view and raising them over their heads. Several men and women approached from a campsite nearby. It was located to the side and behind the place where the portal opened so he couldn’t see them.
The group clearly have been guarding the gate, probably waiting for someone to come through. Kurt assumed it was him and he decided to try and talk them into lowering their weapons. “Easy does it folks, I think I’m the person you were here waiting for. Why don’t you put your guns down and we can talk about this like civilized people.”
The guns they carried looked like single shot muzzle-loading muskets or rifles of some sort. It was a strange design he’d never seen before. They didn’t have modern weapons which gave him an indication of the level of technology in this world.
One of the guards stepped forward and poked Kurt with the muzzle of the gun.
“Shut your mouth. The General said to expect you soon. Looks like he was right.” The one who was clearly the leader turned to the others. “Keep an eye out for any funny business, guys. The boss said they have some sort of sorcery on the other side of the gateway.”
There were only four of them and for a moment Kurt had the crazy idea that he and Marci could resist and take them down. He changed his mind. It was a bad idea. He had no idea where to look for Clara. He needed these people to take him to their boss so he could get Clara back.
Kurt looked at the leader, a short scruffy-looking fellow with the same vertical cat eyes the others from this world had. “I was told by one who called himself Cat that I would be met here. I have to deliver this package to your leader in exchange for a friend of mine.”
“The General is expecting you. He didn’t say nothing about exchanging anything for anyone, though. He takes what he wants, when he wants it. He don’t make bargains for things he could just grab for himself.”
That last statement set the whole group of them laughing. Kurt wished he was in on the joke. He had a sinking feeling this was going to be a bit more of a challenge than just a simple exchange.
“I’m sure he’s competent. I was told to deliver this package to him. Are you four able to take me to him?”
“Yeah, that’s what we were gonna do anyway. You’re coming with us. As long as you two don’t try anything I won’t have to tie you both up.”
“We’re not going to try anything,” Kurt replied. It was as much an answer to the soldier as it was a strong suggestion to Marci. She scowled at him as they disarmed her of her pistol and magazines.
Their captors led them down the hillside to a flatbed truck.. Kurt’s baton remained on his belt. They didn’t think he was armed since he didn’t have anything resembling a gun on him. They did take the pink backpack from him, though. The leader opened the backpack and looked inside before zipping it up and tossing it under the bench seat of the strange vehicle.
Kurt had never seen a design like this truck before. The engine sat exposed on the back of the wooden flatbed with a chain and sprocket running down to a gearbox around the rear axle. The four wheels were spoked wooden ones with metal rims. The whole thing looked like a typical farm wagon had been converted to take a simple internal combustion engine.
“Get up on the truck, both of you,” the guard leader told them. The final two soldiers hauled the sarcophagus between them and settled it onto the rear of the wooden truck bed. They climbed up beside it and motioned with their guns for their two captives to join them.
Kurt and Marci climbed up onto the flatbed while the leader climbed onto the bench seat behind the steering mechanism. There wasn’t a steering wheel. It appeared you steered this truck using a pair of levers. The final soldier climbed up onto the bench seat next to the leader and grabbed one of the levers in each hand.
One of the guards riding in the back with Kurt and Marci cranked a handle on the motor a few times, grunting at the effort. After a few rotations, it coughed to life and then growled with so much
noise that Kurt assumed at first something was broken.
No one else seemed concerned by the sounds coming from the engine as it rattled and shook the whole rear of the truck. With a lurch, the strange vehicle started forward.
The controls worked something like an armored tank. Pushing both levers forward moved the vehicle ahead. Pulling both lovers backward caused it to stop. Pulling one lever back and pushing the other forward turned either left or right respectively. It was simple enough once you figured it out.
Kurt looked over at Marci. She sat with her back against the bench seat at the front of the vehicle. She had a scowl on her face and seemed angry at the treatment they were receiving. Kurt wasn’t happy either, but at least they were headed in the right direction.
Kurt tried to smile and gave his head a little shake, trying to tell her not to attempt anything rash. He knew she didn’t like being cooped up or ordered around. This wasn’t the time to jeopardize their plan to free Clara.
Marci glared back at him and then looked away, shaking her head.
Kurt wasn’t sure if she got his message or not. He hoped so.
He should have known better.
The hopes she’d just go along with the soldiers’ orders were dashed as they crossed a bridge. The span passed about five meters above a broad, fast-moving river.
Marci jumped to her feet as they reached the middle of the span and took a running leap from the back of the flatbed truck, sailing out and over the low, stone railing lining the side of the bridge.
Everyone shouted at her, including Kurt. Then she was gone as she fell down, momentarily out of sight into the surging water below.
