Portal to the Forgotten

by John Gschwend

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Nephilim were on earth in the ancient times.”

  “Yeah,” Luke said. “They are in the Bible.”

  “They are here now. This is the ancient time.”

  “Wait a minute.” Luke stood and brushed off his pants. “You are saying we are really back home, but back in time?”

  “No, Luke. We are not, but this is what it was like long before the Egyptians, even before the Sumerians. The portals were used to travel between the worlds. Something happened to stop the portals—earthquakes maybe, magnetic storms, perhaps—but now they may be beginning to open again and neither civilization is prepared for the reunion. In this civilization maybe only a few decades have passed, but in your world thousands of years have gone by, and they know nothing about the portals.”

  “You led me to believe the portal we came in through was just an oddity that the Florians had found. Now you are telling me portals were used like subways by ancient people. When in hell are you finally going to tell me the truth?”

  “I’m sorry, Luke.” She took his hands. “In my job, deception is how I stay alive. I haven’t meant to be so dishonest with you. I just haven’t told you everything. But if these portals begin opening again to your world, it will be devastating for both worlds.”

  “And you are here to stop it from happening.”

  Moon squeezed Luke’s hands. “That’s right, Constable. And now you are going to help me.”

  Everyone fell asleep except for Luke. He had never been more tired, but his brain was in a race after Moon’s civilization mumbo jumbo. Luke had always been simple, not much into deep thought. He was no dummy and he liked to read occasionally, but he was not into deep study. He would much rather take his bow and arrow to the woods and hunt. He liked the primitive stuff, but now he didn’t even know what primitive was anymore. Everything he thought he knew wasn’t true…or was it? Hell, it was all so confusing. Somehow, he finally drifted off and got a few hours of needed sleep.

  The guards came at dawn and woke them up. Luke couldn’t see any difference in the guards than “regular” people. He wondered why they served the giants. They snatched Moon from the cage. She didn’t resist.

  “Where are you taking her?” Luke said as he and Adam started for them. One of them stuck Luke in the leg, just enough to bring blood.

  “Stay back,” Moon said. “I want them to take me.” She smiled. “I have a mission and I’m a big girl.”

  Luke held his wound, but he still managed a smile. “You’re only five feet tall.”

  As they escorted her from the cage, she said, “Concentrated power in a small package.”

  He watched her go and worried for her life as she went out of sight.

  Luke dropped his pants and studied his wound—it wasn’t bad, just a nick. He shook his head. He had to be more careful. The next poke may be serious.

  “Luke,” Adam said.

  He looked to see Adam silhouetted against the pink eastern sky. He was laughing. “What’s so funny? We are penned up like chickens and they just took Moon. I don’t see much to laugh about.” He went to the bars next to Adam and looked toward where he was looking. It was just dawning, but he could see one of the guards below their building. All at once the guard fell. Adam laughed again. Then Luke saw the guard being dragged. It was Grace.

  “There are two,” Adam said. “I have watched as they moved up.”

  At first, Luke thought the girls had knocked the guard unconscious, but he watched Wak’o cut another guard’s throat. They meant business. Grace threw a rope up, climbed up the building, and soon was at the gate sawing her obsidian knife on the big rope that held the gate.

  “I told you not to come here,” Luke said.

  She cut the last strand and Wak’o pulled the gate open. “I never was much on doing what I was told,” Grace said.

  “Thank you, Grace,” Adam said.

  “Welcome,” Grace said.

  Luke pointed to Adam. “This is Adam.” He pointed to the girls. “Grace and Wak’o.”

  Adam moved past the girls. “We go now.” He slid down the rope and grabbed a spear from one of the dead guards. The others followed, and Luke picked up a spear and found his and Moon’s packs.

  They managed to get out of town without being seen. It appeared to Luke that the locals were late sleepers.

  Grace had a hideout set up on the side of the mountain. She had food and water stored there.

  “I knew you were into athletic stuff and karate, but I didn’t know you were a survivalist,” Luke said as he inspected the cache in the little cave.

  “I’m afraid I’m not. That’s Wak’o’s department.”

  Luke turned to Wak’o, “Merci beaucoup.”

  She smiled and handed Luke a waterskin. “Well…come.”

  “She’s learning a little,” Grace said.

  Wak’o pulled a stick of bread from a basket and handed it to Adam. He took it with a smile. She blushed.

  Grace looked at Luke and winked. “He’s a hunk and I think Wak’o thinks so too.”

  Luke motioned for Grace to follow him, and they went to the other side of the cave. “Well, Miss, that’s the second time you’ve rescued me, and I thought I was here to save you.” She only smiled. Luke shook his head. “Grace, you are so pretty. I see why Tyler is so crazy about you.” She kept smiling, but wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. “I promise you I’m going to get us home somehow,” Luke said. “I’m going to reunite you and Tyler.”

  “There has got to be some way to get home,” Grace said.

  Luke drank from the skin. “You remember the other girl here I told you about?”

  “I remember,” Grace said as she took the skin from Luke. “She’s a little short thing, reminds me of Cat Woman. Like I said, we stayed clear of her. She looked like she was dangerous.”

  Luke shrugged his shoulders and said, “Okay. Well, I think Cat Woman knows the way home—maybe. We have to rescue her.”

  Grace smiled. “That will be fun, another adventure. But when I watched her on the prairie, I had the feeling she could take care of herself. I saw her kill a little animal. She ate the heart and liver raw. We were close and hid well, but I think Cat Woman knew we were there.”

  “She is formidable.”

  Grace pointed to the other side of the cave. Wak’o was tending Adam’s wounds. “Look at her blushing.” Luke could relate to that.

  Adam said, “Thank you.” Wak’o looked up briefly from the work and smiled.

  “That’s so cute,” Grace said.

  Luke thought it was touching, but then he thought of the horrors they had seen, and he turned back to Grace. “How are you holding up? I mean we have seen a lot of horrible stuff here—we’ve done a lot of horrible stuff here.”

  The smile ran away from Grace’s face. “I try not to think about it, Luke. All my life I’ve always stepped up to do what needed to be done to win. I just do the same thing here.”

  “This is not softball or karate. This is…this is killing.”

  Grace slowly nodded. “Your brother was in the Special Forces, wasn’t he?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Imagine what he must have seen and had to do. We do what we have to do to win. And to win is to get home. I plan to win.”

  Luke had always admired this pretty girl—now he admired her more. “Then we will win.”

  Adam came to Luke. “I have to get Sha-She.”

  “Why don’t we rest and see if we can come up with a plan,” Luke said.

  “I go alone.” Adam looked at the two women. “These are brave women, but you help them get back to Orion. I will go after Sha-She.” Luke said nothing—he was surprised by this. “I will be more careful this time,” Adam said. “They won’t get me again.”

  “What’s your plan?” Grace said.

  Adam grabbed his spear. “Plan is to kill Shevay.”

  “Why kill him?” Luke said.

  “The giants have killed man
y of my people, and we have always been afraid. I will cut off the head of the snake.”

  “There are too many guards for you to get close enough,” Luke said.

  Adam started out the cave and turned back. “May not have to get close.” With that, he was gone.

  Luke watched Adam go and he was torn on what to do next. He had come after Grace—he had Grace with him. Adam could survive in this land better than he could. In fact, to tell the truth, Luke was probably an impediment to Adam. If Luke were to follow him, he would probably get Adam in more trouble instead of being any help.

  And what about Moon? She was a government agent. What could he do to help her? What could he add with his hickory bow? Moon was the expert. Moon was the government killer—she had shown she was a professional at it too. Sure, he had held up pretty good considering he was just a do-nothing constable, and he had contributed more than he took.

  Maybe the portal he came in on was the key. He and the two girls could strike out in the morning. Maybe they could figure a way to get back through it. Maybe Orion knew how to help. He had lived here for a long time, and he probably had answers. No, he would be concerned for Adam.

  “What are you thinking about?” Grace said as she sat beside him. She was perky. Luke wished he had the confidence of Grace.

  “Wondering what to do next,” he said.

  “Why, Luke, that’s easy.”

  He smiled. She looked like a school girl ready for a softball game or something, all flushed and excited. But oh how wrong was that impression. “Okay, Gracie, how is it easy?”

  “Me and Wak’o have seen a lot of this land now, and I have been keeping mental notes.” She brushed a wild lock of hair from her eyes. “This place has an order about it.”

  “An order?”

  “Yeah. Everyone knows their place and pretty much does their own thing.”

  “I don’t know about that, Sweetie. The first two tribes—”

  “Luke, cut it out with the little girl stuff. I’m a big girl now, if you haven’t noticed.”

  He smiled and thought of Tyler, waiting. “You are right, Grace; I’m sorry. What I was saying is the tribes where we first came here have had wars among themselves in the past.”

  “That may be, and I’m sure my theory is not perfect, but from what I’ve seen, there is a class system here with the giants being at the top.”

  “Okay, I follow you on that, but how does that make everything easy?”

  “The people on the prairie have it figured out.”

  “They are called the Reeze. How do they have it figured out?”

  “They know who has the power—the giants—and they make sure they have something they need.”

  Luke grinned. “Go on.”

  “They roam the prairie and beyond and bring the giants stuff.”

  “Yeah, but they could have slaves and make them get them stuff.”

  “But a slave would only bring the bare minimum to please his master. The Reeze know the better job they do for the giants, the more the giants will leave them alone.”

  Luke stood and looked down at Grace. “Okay, so what does that have to do with us?”

  “We please the giants. We bring them stuff.”

  “I think we’ve already shot a hole in that plan. Hell, we’re on the run from them now. They have Moon captured. Adam is on the way to do who knows what to them.”

  Grace stood too. Luke noticed she was a little taller than he. He followed her to the opening of the cave. A hawk swooped down and caught some type of pigeon. “We have knowledge—knowledge that they don’t have.”

  “Like what? What knowledge do we have that they need? They don’t need to know how to get on the Internet or make a phone call.”

  The hawk took flight with the dead pigeon in its talons.

  Grace nodded. “They don’t know how to fly. I bet they would think it was some sort of magic.”

  Luke pondered it for a time. He watched the hawk fly out of sight with its prey. “We don’t have a plane, and if we did, we don’t know how to fly one.”

  “I have an idea, but I’m still working on it,” Grace said. “You go catch up to that hunk before he does more damage than we can repair. I have to retrieve something on the prairie for my plan. I will meet you back here tonight.”

  “You going to tell me your plan?”

  “A woman likes to keep a man guessing.”

  He didn’t want to let Grace out of his sight, but he simply said, “Okay, Grace. We will try your plan.”

  Chapter 14

  Luke caught up with Adam at the hanging tree. He had hidden behind a boulder, waiting for Luke to approach. Luke realized what he was up to and slipped around to the other side and tapped his shoulder. “You’re slipping, Adam. I could have taken you.”

  Adam turned and stood. “Luke is getting better.” He squeezed Luke’s arm, pointed to a large rock at the summit of the ridge, “Let’s get to there and see what we need to do.”

  The climb was steep, but it kept them off the road and out of sight. They made it to the top, and Luke fished in his pack for his binoculars. He saw Moon’s pack crammed in the bottom of his. A sudden yearning and worry came over him at the same time. He must have stared at it for a time because Adam nudged him and pointed for him to look with his binoculars.

  Luke scanned the city. The pyramid was still sparking and arcing, buzzing like angry bees. Below the hill men were milling around the wall. He moved the binoculars and found about fifty more men in a semicircle. They wore robes made of orange feathers. He remembered seeing those robes somewhere before, but he could not recall where. They appeared to be some sort of primitive orchestra. But they all had the same type of instrument—extremely long horns. They reminded Luke of something from the Alps of Switzerland. The deep, low tone of the horns drifted up to him, making his whole body vibrate. The men appeared to be blowing at a giant stone like a snake charmer would blow at a cobra. A large arc shot from the pyramid, struck the stone, and stayed attached to it like an electric snake, slithering and snapping. The stone began to rise, and the horn-blowers kept their instruments aimed at it as it rose. It had to weigh ten tons if it weighed an ounce. It levitated in the air as if a magician had control of it.

  Adam snatched the binoculars. “I have to see.”

  Luke fumbled in Moon’s pack and came out with a monocular. He couldn’t believe it. The stone slowly rose. The electricity beamed a constant stream to the stone. The horns continued. How did the blowers not run out of breath? The stone rose higher, higher, until it was about eighty feet in the air, and then it began to drift backwards and over the wall. Slowly, it began to descend to the top of the wall. As it settled onto the top stones, like the top brick on a wall, electricity fanned out over the entire structure. Stones, tons and tons, began to settle from the weight of the descending stone, as if they were marshmallows. They squished and conformed to each other until there were no open cracks between them. “How in the hell?”

  “Orion told me of this,” Adam said. He never let the binoculars down. “The horn blowers with the orange feathers are priests.”

  Luke reached over and grabbed the binoculars from Adam and tossed him the monocular. The electricity drew back to the pyramid and the horns stopped. Luke watched a man climb the wall and inspect the job. “Unbelievable!”

  “There Sha-She,” Adam said.

  “Where?” But Luke found her in his binoculars. There was a group of giants standing under some type of awning watching the show. She was beside them with her hands bound behind her, with a guard on either side. The German was there, too.

  Adam started to rise. “Hold it, Adam. Let’s scope it out first. We can’t do her any good if we get caught or killed.” Adam nodded and settled back down with his monocular.

  Luke found the German again. He had moved to the stone wall with Shevay. They were pointing at the wall and Karl was nodding. Then Luke thought what would happen if the Germans got hold of this power. If these primitiv
e people can use it to lift giant stones, what would the Nazis do with it? The Giants may only be using a small part of the potential. The Nazis were brilliant with technology—they would get the most from it. Moon was absolutely right—Karl must not leave this world.

  “What are we going to do?” Adam said.

  Luke wondered what Karl had done for them to side with him over Moon. If Shevay was fond of Glen Turner, why now turn on Moon? Karl had something that Shevay wanted—what that was Luke didn’t know. But that had to be it because Moon was bound and Karl was free.

  Suddenly, Moon kicked one of the guards. Her hands were free. She knocked the other to the ground with her fist. “Adam, Moon is fighting them!”

  Adam jumped to his feet. “We must help!”

  “We can’t get down there from here. We have to take the road down,” Luke said.

  Adam slid down from the edge and started for the road. Luke grabbed the bags. He stopped as he remembered and looked into Moon’s bag—three more grenades. He plucked one as he looked back down and saw Moon kicking ass, and then she ran behind the pyramid with more guards chasing her. Luke stuffed the grenade in his pocket and followed after Adam.

  They struck the road and sprinted down it—no time to be cautious. Luke caught Adam. “You get her and I will make a diversion.”

  “Make what?”

  “You just get her out of there.”

  When they hit the first street, Adam almost plowed into Moon as she was trying to escape. Two guards were right on her tail. Moon turned and kicked one in the face. Adam almost knocked the other one’s head off with his fist.

  Luke pointed up the road from where they had come. “That way!” He sprinted past them and toward the pyramid.