by Gabi Moore
He thought the voice sounded feminine, but the thunder muffled his hearing. Dion couldn’t be sure how anything sounded until his sense of sound returned to normal
Dion heard the doors began to move back in place when he was clear of them. Once the doors closed, he heard the sound of locks as they snapped into place. This had to be done by something automatic since the dim figure in front of him hadn’t moved since he’d entered.
Once he managed to wipe the rain from his face and his vision adjusted to the dark room, Dion was able to see the person in front of him.
The person who’d opened the door was a woman. She was dressed in black.
Not only was her outfit, a dress which cascaded to the floor, black, but so was the woman who faced him. Dion himself was dark in complexion, but this woman was the color of a black diamond. She appeared to be in her thirties and had blood red lips. Her hair was straight and flowed down to her waist, but was unkempt. As his vision further adjusted to the room, he could see she held a short spear in the other hand. Her nails were the same brilliant red color as her lips. She was also barefoot.
“Pardon the spear,” she apologized. “But we can’t assume anyone knocking on the door is a friend. I’m Kiley Mahen. We’ve been expecting you, Dion.”
“You know my name,” he stated. Somehow, this wasn’t a surprise.
“I know a lot about you,” she told him. “The elemental grandmaster you need to find isn’t here, but she’s supposed to be back soon. The sooner the better for all our sakes. Come upstairs with me, I’ll get you some dry clothes and everything will be explained.”
Dion heard a rumble to his right and turned to look. The lamp cast long shadows in the room they were inside and Dion noticed the large boxes and crates piled around them. They were in some kind of storage area or warehouse with wooden crates piled every place. He saw all manner of tools and metal piled up in on corner. The level they were on, the ground floor, was easily two levels high to accommodate whatever they needed to bring into to the tower. The stairs to the tower where built into one side of it. He could see the doorway leading up to the next level.
“You bring people into this room?” Dion asked her. “Guests are shown the warehouse?”
“This tower was built for defense,” she told him. “It has guarded the Borgia Pass for the past thousand years. It’s only in the last hundred years the pass was at peace. We were sold the tower because no one thought there was the possibility of invasion again. Besides, air power takes out any reason for a huge fortress such as this place represents. Do you want to go upstairs and get into some dry clothes or do you prefer to stay down here and shiver?”
Dion was about to apologize when he heard the rumbling noised and turned to look again. The light had cast a beam on the bars of a cage. No, it was another entrance of some kind. The bars blocked something from entering the bottom level of the tower. This had to be the small, attached building he noted on his approach to the tower. From the bars, he could see the eyes of something very big stare at him with hunger.
“That’s Draco,” she told him. “We keep him in the former stables. Don’t need to keep teams of horses in reserve any longer since the tower doesn’t guard the pass. There is a barn out back for the ones we need. We do use the old stables to keep Draco inside when the weather is bad. Can’t let him run free in the tower, too dangerous. He has plenty of room to hunt outside when the weather is good. Keeps the deer population under control and people away.”
She held the lantern up a little bit higher and Dion could see the face of a very big adult lion that starred at them from the bars. The beast didn’t look very friendly and all Dion could see in those eyes was a big cat who considered him dinner. “Draco” growled again, the source of the rumbling noise he’d heard.
“That cage door is locked?” Dion said to her.
“Of course,” Kiley replied. “How stupid do you think we are? Draco is a wild animal. Always will be. The only reason we have him here is for protection. Now come on, don’t you want to see the rest of the tower?”
He followed her to the stairwell. His shoes made a squish every time they touched the stone steps. Water still dripped off him. The stairwell felt chilly, it was obvious the tower lacked any kind of central heating. He wanted to ask the women where they were, but Dion decided to take his time about gathering information. She’s known his name when he arrived and acted as if he was expected. Plus, she knew about the Aether Grandmaster he needed to locate.
At least the grandmaster didn’t appear to be in danger. One of the reasons for his trip to the clock tower in the mall was to rescue her and obtain full aether elemental powers. But, according to this woman, she was gone. At least for the moment.
The other thing he wanted to ask her about was….
“You uncle is upstairs too,” the woman told him, as she looked back. He red lips contrasted with the rest of her appearance and Dion noted she had red eyes to match. Who had red eyes unless they were bloodshot? In this woman’s case, the entire cornea was red. Was she even human?
“I expected to meet my uncle on this side,” Dion remarked, “just not as quick.”
“He informed us about your arrival,” She told him. “Your uncle is an interesting man, to say the least. He seems to think his birthright was stolen from him. He also felt he could manipulate the abyss to do what he wanted. But now he’s opened a gate to it and we have to deal with the consequences. You’ll learn more when we get the great hall.”
He exited the stairwell into a smaller room. Dion looked up to see the light of the lantern vanish into the open space and realized the small room was divided by a series of partitions. The tower solved the problem of privacy by creating dividers inside each level, but this one lacked a ceiling for some reason. He stopped and let the water flow off him. Kiley opened a small cupboard door and took out some dry clothes.
“Here you go,” she said. “There’s a towel with them too. On the floor, you will find a basket. Drop your wet things into the basket. The maids will take care of them later. Put on what you find in the bundle.”
Dion took the clothes from her.
She handed him a pair of boots. “These should fit you. I’ll be outside with everyone else. When you are ready, come and see us. There are a number of people out there who want to meet you.” She opened the door on the other side of the partition and left him with his clothes.
Dion removed his dripping clothes and dropped them in the basket next to the door. After drying himself off with the towel, he unfolded the clothes she gave him. It consisted of a tunic and pair of loose hose. Since he didn’t want to violate her hospitality, Dion went ahead and put them on, followed by the boots. This was a little bit difficult since there weren’t any chairs in the vestibule. Comfort was not a big item to whoever lived in the tower. And he didn’t even know if it had a name or did they just call it “The Tower”?
He left the vestibule and shut the door behind him. Dion found himself in a large hall, which was, once again, two levels in height. Whoever built the tower wanted it to impress everyone. At one end of the hall was a large fireplace with a stack of wood, which burned and produced enough heat for the entire hall. In front of it was a long table where a group of people was seated. They turned to him when he approached.
It was that moment he recognized his parents.
Chapter 5
Dion’s mother jumped up from the table and ran to him. She wasn’t his height, but his mother could still toss her arms around him. Dion was relieved, as he now knew both of his parents were safe, something which concerned him for the past year. His father stood up and walked over to Dion too, placing his arms around both Dion and his mother.
The other person he noted at the table was his Uncle Seth. His uncle sat closer to the fire, near the three women at the head of the table. As Dion expected, he didn’t look too happy to see him. It was obvious his uncle was not in charge in this place. If anyone was in control of this tower, it had to be
the three women on the other end of the table.
One of whom was the same woman that greeted him when he entered the tower.
“I was worried we’d never see you again,” his mother wept on his shoulder. “I knew you’d find us, I always knew you would make it here. Your father worried it was too much responsibility, but I knew you’d come for us.” She continued to sob.
His father removed his arms and stepped back. “As you can see,” he announced to Dion, “We are guests of the ladies who own this tower. As is your Uncle Seth.” He glared at his brother.
Dion was happy to be reunited with his parents, but he needed to know something. When he last confronted his uncle outside the shopping mall, his uncle made a claim that needed to be resolved. This might not be the best time or place to ask such questions, but he had to know for sure.
“I’m glad to see both of you too,” he told them. “But there is something I need to know.” His mother released him and stood back.
“What is so important you need to hear it from us before we get out of this place?” she asked.
Dion looked up at the great hall and thought for a few minutes. He had to word his question with care or he’d never know the truth. And he needed to know, or it would affect his ability to get them all back home. He could see a small window near him and watched the lighting illuminate the sky once again. The storm raged in the distance. He was grateful he’d found his way to the tower before it got this bad.
While the thunder boomed outside, Dion looked the great hall over. He could see several small rooms and partitions that were built into the far end of the wall. Metal pipes ran down into the rooms, which confirmed what he thought. The tower had its own plumbing system and it was protected by the walls. This had to be a recent innovation. Indoor plumbing would not be big concern to a war tower.
Banners hung down from inside the walls. The entire hall was illuminated by lamps and candles. He couldn’t see any electrical devices inside, which seemed to indicate the tower didn’t have electricity. He wondered if this particular time circle used electrical power or did the tower lack it? Surely, wiring the entire tower for power would be expensive, but so would any construction work need to make it into an estate and not a military emplacement.
“I want to know if you are my real parents,” he asked his mother and father. “Uncle Seth claimed you aren’t. I don’t expect much in the way of truth from him, but I need to know.”
His mother appeared shocked, but the look on her face told him a lot, as she lowered he head. His father put his arm protectively against the shoulders of his wife and looked at their son.
“We’re you foster parents, Dion,” he told him. “We planned to tell you when you were much older, but I see my brother has forced this issue.”
“I hate to interrupt this moment,” Seth Bach spoke from the table near the fireplace, “But we have to talk about something. In particular, the reason we are all in this place. You’ve just had your tearful family reunion and I sympathize with what you had to go through to be here, Dion.”
“In spite of the fact that it’s because of you I’m here,” Dion snapped from across the room. “You did your best to keep me from reaching the elemental grandmasters that just happened to be working in the shopping mall you owned. You had my parents abducted over a year ago and paid to have my friends snatched away too. You’ve threatened me with all kinds of things and tried to keep me away from fulfilling my quest. Now, what on earth could you have to say?”
“I think he’s a little bit angry, don’t you?” It was one of the women at the other end of the table, close to the fireplace. “Why don’t you come and sit at the table Dion. Dinner is almost ready and I’m told you like beef stew. The cooks are serving it tonight. I’m sure you’ll like their recipe.”
“Let’s go sit down,” his father said to him. Dion still thought of the two people who raised him as his real parents, even though they’d confessed to being his foster parents. Dion followed them to the table where they seated themselves between his uncle and the three women on the end.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Dion said to his uncle. “I don’t have the slightest idea where I am. I went through a door into your clock tower in the middle of the mall and emerged in two different rooms. The last one ended up across the fields. Where is this place?”
“Outside the time circle you remember,” his uncle Seth replied. “I expect you understand this after what you had to endure. Sorry about all the trouble I had to put you through to get you to the tower, but it was the only way I could accomplish it. I knew if your parents were gone, you’d do anything to get them back, including obtaining full elemental powers from the grandmasters. No, they weren’t in on my little ruse. I really didn’t think you would pull it off, but you impressed me. And now you are here to obtain the Aether Grandmaster’s accolade, but she is nowhere to be found.”
“She supposed to be back,” said one of the women at the other end of the table.
“Why did you allow her to leave?” one of the other women asked her.
“Wasn’t my place to stop her.”
Dion looked at the two women who sat next to Kiley Mahen. It took him a few minutes to realize it, but they were related. The same body types and facial structures. All were as dark as Kiley, but they were of different ages. The one who sat next to her wore the same kind of gown, but it was golden yellow. The woman to her right was dressed the same too, but she wore green.
Although Kiley appeared to be in her thirties, the women in yellow looked in her late twenties, with the remaining women in her early twenties, perhaps just eighteen. All of them possessed the intense dark complexion and red eyes. If they were the same age, the women would’ve passed for triplets.
Dion tensed as another clap of thunder boomed outside the tower.
“Don’t worry about it,” the women in yellow said to him. “Lightning rods protect this place. We’ve put them all over the tower.”
“Forgive our lack of manners,” Kiley said to him. “These are my sisters, as you probably can tell.”
“There is a slight resemblance…” Dion began to say.
“The lady next to me is my younger sister Loris,” Kiley told him. “The one in green next to her is my youngest sister, Susan. We own this tower.”
“Lease it from the kingdom, actually,” said the one called Loris. “The kingdom owns it.”
“We have a thirteen hundred year lease on the tower and the property,” Susan explained. “Yes, the kingdom does technically own it, but our family has been here the past hundred years, ever since the tower was decommissioned. So long as the court gets their money, no one cares what we do here.”
“That is all about to change,” Seth Bach said, as he placed a glass of wine down on the table. “When your illustrious sovereign finds out who’s taken the tower, I dare say she’ll have it pulverized.”
“We have them under control!” Kiley snapped at him. “And they wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t showed up with your schemes.”
“You didn’t mind the funds when I gave them to you,” he sneered. “A little short on the monthly payments to the capitol? It’s hard to make those transactions when the local farmers have packed-up and left. No farmer to soak for taxes means no cash for the tower.”
“It was a temporary condition,” Susan spoke up. “But you convinced us to allow you to establish the abyss link and now we’re stuck with what’s in the top of the tower.”
“Stuck with what?” Dion said. “You haven’t made any sense so far.”
“Queen Lilith and her Azuroth hordes,” Kiley explained. “They control the top two levels of the tower.”
“And they’re about to burst through to the one below that,” Seth told him. “The abyss experiment was supposed to ground the mall’s clock tower in this time circle and provide me an unlimited source of electrical power for the mall. If I could’ve taken the mall off the power grid, it would show the way to provide cheap ele
ctrical power for the rest of the country.”
“Which,” Dion’s father pointed out, “you would have provided cost-free to everyone.”
“Nothing is cost-free,” Seth Back snapped back. “Of course I expected to get something out of it. Do you think John D. Rockefeller gave away the oil from his wells? At least America would no longer have to worry about foreign oil.”
“One set of infernal deals for another,” Dion’s father grumbled.
“It didn’t work out so well,” Dion’s mother told him. “Your uncle let in a horde of creatures from the abyss to this place before he closed the gate. He can’t send them back and they don’t want to return.”
“Queen Lilith and her minions,” Seth grumbled as he took another sip. “She controls the top levels right now. My development laboratory was up there and she came through with her bad boys the first time the gate lifted. We had to retreat lower and barricade the stairs. This all happened three months ago, I don’t see any further reason to discuss it further now that Dion knows about it.”
“We had every precaution taken!” Seth Bach continued. “There wasn’t a single safety factor we ignored. I had the instruments charged, the right protection in place and opened the gate to the generators. They were waiting on the other side. Someone tipped her off and she blew through with her minions the moment we began to pull power from the differential between the two universes. She destroyed every bit of equipment we had in place when they all charged through the opening.”
“We know about it,” Kiley Mahen replied, as she lifted a goblet to her mouth. “The noise was horrible. It woke up everyone.”
“We had to send all our household guards up there with Seth’s men to keep them from taking over the entire tower,” Loris grumbled. “And we can’t get rid of them.”
“The gate closed when they destroyed the equipment,” Seth explained. “I have no way to send them back.”
“I still say we should have contacted the sovereign,” Susan sniped. “When she finds out we opened a gate to the abyss, she’ll send the army down here and they’ll blow the entire tower up.”
