Portal to the Forgotten

by John Gschwend

  After about an hour, the men stopped to drink and eat. One of the men who had been in the rear and away from her walked up to her with a cheesy grin on his face. She knew this wasn’t going to be good. He tried to pull her breast from her top. She kneed him in the groin and when he yelled and bent, she kneed him in the face, flipping him to the ground. He rolled on the ground moaning. She stomped his head. The man holding the leash jerked her to the ground. She felt as if her head was being yanked off.

  “Aagoo!” The man with the leash said, placing a spear to her belly. He said more garbage that she barely heard, but she got the message.

  The other men shook the man on the ground. He didn’t move. From the odd position of his head and neck, she knew he was dead. All the men began pulling at their hair and chanting more gibberish.

  The man with the spear yanked on the rope, hauling Grace to her feet. He pulled a large bone knife from his belt and raised it high. Grace wanted to shield herself from it, but her hands were lashed behind her.

  The man with the knife shrieked. There was an arrow stuck through his hand and the knife fell. The cane arrow was almost perfectly halfway. It had a stone point on one end and feathers on the other.

  They all turned to see a man standing on the rise above the river. Grace thought him to look like Moses.

  All the men raised their hands at the same time and said, “Orion!”

  “Orion,” Grace said under her breath.

  Orion raised his bow over his head and yelled something down to the men. They immediately ran down the river like scared deer. The one appeared odd, running with the arrow swinging from his hand.

  Orion descended the rise slowly, but deliberately. Grace thought the river would surely part before him. She closed her eyes and thanked God for sending an angel at just the right time.

  Orion started across the river from his direction, and Grace started from hers. They met almost in the middle. They were next to each other before they even spoke a word.

  “You must be Grace,” Orion said as he pulled a stone knife and cut the straps from her wrist.

  Grace pulled the leash from her neck. “And you are Orion.”

  Orion looked across the river. “You are alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where are the others? Where is Adam?”

  Yes, he looked like Moses, but he wasn’t Moses. He was just an old man. How in the world was he going to help get Wak’o off the prairie? How was he going to rescue the others?

  The purple sky was mostly gone when the Reeze began building campfires on the prairie. Adam warned it was just a diversion to mask the coming attack. The fires were just something to hold Luke and the group’s attention while the Reeze eased in for the kill. Luke could still make out their silhouettes, but it would soon be too dark for even that. He knew they would attack then. He looked down at his hands—they were trembling. His teeth were even chattering.

  “This will be close quarters fighting,” Moon said. “They will be right on us before we see them. Your bow will be no good, so get a club.”

  Wak’o whispered something in French and Moon replied.

  “What did she say?” Luke said.

  “She wants us to leave her and take to the river.”

  “We will fight right here,” Adam said.

  “Yeah, that’s what I told her.”

  “Listen!” Adam said as he cupped his ear.

  “They’re in the river,” Luke said.

  Adam started over the barricade. “I will get them first.”

  “No!” Moon said. “That’s what they want. They want to split us up. We stay together.”

  Adam backed down and nodded. “Yes, Kayeeya, I will stay.”

  Luke grasped his tomahawk so tightly his hand hurt. His inside was just a jumble of hard knots—he hated the dark anyway. At the same time, it was the highest rush he had ever known. His hobby back home was living and hunting primitive. He had never thought about primitive war, but it was on him now, and it was an adrenaline overload.

  He looked over at Moon in the fading light. She was as focused and coiled as a lion ready to strike. Her pistol was ready and a club set by her feet. She had closed her eyes—she was listening. She had all her faculties focused on the sounds around her. Luke had done that very thing while hunting back home.

  Luke turned to Adam. He was standing with a spear in his hand, and he smiled down and nodded at Luke. Luke smiled back. There was no one better to have on your side than Adam. He was simple and true. He did things with a purpose. He meant what he said, and he backed up what he said with action.

  Wak’o sat below Adam, bundled in a robe. She was still very sick. They had stopped the bleeding with the orbs, but she was still in rough shape. She still held a stone knife in her hand. The scene made Luke think of Bowie at the Alamo. If all went bad, she would go out fighting. Luke turned back to the prairie and prayed this didn’t turn out like the Alamo.

  The fires were all that could be seen now—darkness was complete. Luke could still see his own companions up close, but that was all he could make out in the draping darkness. The Reeze would be com—

  “Yaa!” A man jumped over the barricade. Luke swung the tomahawk like a tennis racket and rolled the man back over the logs. It was purely instinctive, like shooting when a covey of quails explodes in front of you. He heard a yell and thud behind him. He whirled to see Adam pulling his spear from a wide-eyed man’s chest. Then it was over and quietness settled back in.

  “They were probably just seeing if we were still here,” Moon said.

  “Now they will come in force, right?” Luke said.

  Moon turned to him and with a faint smile said, “I think they will.”

  Luke looked at her for a long spell, but she said nothing else, just smiled. The weak smile said it all—they didn’t stand a chance. It was the Alamo.

  Luke heard a screech. He turned with his tomahawk in time to see a red streak fly across the sky and land among the Reeze’s fires. After a short pause, there was a small explosion. Then another came across the sky. It looked like a giant bottle rocket. It exploded just before it hit the ground.

  “What is it?” Luke said.

  “I don’t know,” Moon said.

  Another bottle rocket streaked across the sky, and exploded close to the fire. There were screams. It must have hit some of the Reeze. More rockets came, one after the other. They had found their mark as the screams and yells intensified.

  “They are rockets or mortars,” Moon said.

  “In this world?” Luke said.

  Adam began laughing.

  Moon turned to him. “You know what it is?”

  The river became alive with splashing and churning.

  “They are running!” Moon said. “They are leaving.”

  A streak ran across to the river and exploded. Luke could plainly see the Reeze in a panic in the river from the flash of the explosion.

  Moon said, “Look,” as she pointed toward the campfires. Luke looked that way to see a big silhouette between them and the fire. A rocket zoomed from the silhouette and landed on the other side of the river, hastening the Reeze retreat.

  Adam laughed harder.

  “What is it, Adam?” Luke said.

  “Orion.”

  Slowly the silhouette grew closer. It was Orion and Grace sitting atop of a mammoth.

  When they approached, Grace slid from the beast and ran to the barricade. Holding something in her hand, she ran to her friends. “Are y’all okay?” When she was sure everyone was good, she said, “Check this out!” She held up a giant bottle rocket. It was made of bamboo. “Scared the hell out of them.”

  Luke scrambled across the barricade and squeezed Grace. “Thank God you are safe.”

  “Yeah, and thank Mr. Orion.”

  Orion slid from the giant beast. Moon hugged him. “Glad to finally meet you. You arrived just in time.”

  Luke took the rocket from Grace and turned to Orion. “Where did you ge
t the gun powder to make this?”

  “I made it, simplest thing in the world.”

  “The Reeze didn’t think it so simple,” Moon said, as she took the rocket from Luke and inspected it.

  “I don’t know why they have turned bad,” Orion said. “I have always gotten along good with them.”

  “They have fallen in with bad company,” Adam said as he climbed across the barricade with Wak’o in his muscular arms. “We must get her home.”

  Orion squeezed one of Adam’s arms. “My brave son.”

  “You were right,” Adam said. “We should always stay away from the giants.”

  “This time you were the one who was right, Adam. You did what you had to do as I always have.” Orion inspected the girl, turned to the giant mammoth and patted him on the trunk. The large animal went down on its knees like a circus elephant, and Adam climbed on its back with Wak’o.

  Orion was like Moses and Tarzan all wrapped up in one Luke thought—a hell of a good man to know.

  Luke built up the fire as Adam placed Wak’o on the bed, and Orion concocted some sort of medicine or potion. This was the first time Luke had felt safe in quite a long time. All the natives were afraid of the mammoths down below the cave, so he wasn’t worried about an attack.

  Luke saw Moon sitting at the cave opening, watching the sun barely casting its first glow in the east. He sat beside her. “My second most favorite time of the day.”

  She kept her eyes on the pink sky and said, “What is your favorite?”

  “When you see this same glow in the west.”

  Moon turned and took both Luke’s hands in hers. “Do you still want to go home?”

  Luke wanted to say, “Of course,” but it didn’t come out. He found he wasn’t sure—strange. But was it really? After all, he had always dreamed of this life. This was paradise.

  Moon smiled and squeezed his hands. “I thought as much.” She turned back to the east and the smile slowly fell.

  Luke admired her face; the pink light of the sun accented it better than any makeup, her auburn hair wild, yet perfect.

  “He has made it to the portal by now,” she said. “He was smart by befriending and fooling the Reeze. They bought him time.”

  “Maybe not.” Luke said it, but didn’t believe that. She was right; he had plenty of time to get there.

  She turned back to him. “Yes. If he was going to make it, he has made it by now. And if, indeed, that is the case, I have failed my mission.”

  “He could have been hurt or killed by those white-headed heathens.”

  She looked down at the animals on the prairie. “You know why the mammoths are still here and not extinct as they are in your world?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “The people here are afraid of them. It may be just because they are so big, or it may be for religious reasons. I don’t know. In your world they were hunted, and that may be why they went extinct—we will never know for sure.” She turned to Luke and looked squarely into his eyes. “All those portals between the two worlds were closed from this side by the giants to keep this world from being contaminated or invaded. The Germans have the bell and they will return and screw it up.”

  “Shevay made it sound like the portals were broken,” Luke said.

  “I don’t believe that for a second. When I saw that mural of Alexander, I knew for sure then that Shevay controls the portals. He can open them and he can shut them when he wants.”

  Luke thought on it. “But if that were the case, why did he let Karl go? He sure as hell will contaminate this world.”

  “Maybe his grandson really was lost through the portal and he believes Karl can bring him back.”

  “So you believe Shevay and the giants control the portals and can open and close them at will? I don’t know if I believe that, Moon.”

  “Yes, I believe the giants can.” Moon hesitated. “Others.”

  “Others? What others?”

  She stood. “I’m not sure.”

  Luke stood and took her by the shoulders. “What does that mean?”

  “Maybe not of this world.”

  “You mean aliens—spacemen?”

  She ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m not sure—we’re not sure.” She looked back toward Orion. “But we know things that suggest there are others.”

  Luke saw she was looking at Orion. He turned her back toward him. “Moon, what are you talking about?”

  “You now know about the Nephilim. There were others. We have found proof, but it is held close to the vest by the government. Atlantis was real. The Inca didn’t build all that stuff in South America—at least, not alone. The Egyptians had help.”

  “What evidence of this do you have?”

  “Advanced tools. Advanced weapons. Things found among ancient artifacts.”

  “I never read that in a book or saw that on TV.”

  “The archaeologists found themselves dead.”

  “Come on, Moon, you expect me to believe…?” But he saw it in her eyes. She was telling the hard truth.

  “Luke, if you get back, that knowledge can’t get out. It would be like a gold rush. That technology would be hunted for as nothing else ever has. Governments would spend all their treasuries to find it. Your civilization cannot handle it. And more than that, we don’t know what else is to be discovered.”

  Luke turned and looked back out over the prairie. “I don’t know what to believe out of you. You have told me so many lies. You have misled me. I don’t know who or what you are.”

  “I told you. I am—”

  Luke turned toward her. “Don’t!” He put his hand up. “No more. I don’t want to hear any more.”

  “I understand.”

  “I will help you stop that German because I’ve seen and believe that much, but then I am finished with it.”

  “Okay, Luke. I don’t blame you. Maybe we can get Adam and Orion to help us.”

  “Help do what?”

  Luke turned to see Orion approaching. Luke cleared his throat. “Mr. Orion, it appears someone else has come from our world, a German.”

  “Prussian,” Moon said.

  “Well, what about this Prussian?” Orion said. “Let’s invite him here. Maybe he has knowledge to get us home again.”

  “Orion, he has knowledge of the Nephilim that he wants to take back to his evil government. He will try to go through the Florians’ portal.”

  “They will kill him,” Orion said.

  “He is resourceful,” Luke said. “He has already manipulated some of the Reeze as you well know. He may do the same with the white-headed people.”

  “If he makes it back, he will have the knowledge to travel freely between the two worlds,” Moon said. “He will come back to conquer.”

  “As did Alexander,” Orion said.

  Luke wondered where that came from.

  A buckskin clad Reeze started up the entrance to the cave. Luke ran for his bow.

  “No, Luke!” Adam said as he wrestled the bow from Luke. “He is a friend.”

  The man handed Orion two loaves of bread and they spoke in the Reeze’s language. The man had a lot of hand gestures as he described something. Orion handed him a small leather pouch and the man left back down the trail.

  Adam smiled. “That is good, very good.”

  “It appears the Prussian did not persuade the Reeze king,” Orion said. “He was captured. The followers were executed.”

  “But there were many,” Luke said.

  “They defied the king and now they are all dead,” Orion said.

  “Did he kill the Prussian?” Moon said.

  “No.”

  “Then we must go there. He must be eliminated.”

  “He escaped along with three or four others a few hours ago.”

  Moon turned to Luke. “I must go now. He is heading for the portal.”

  “Alone?” Luke said. “I will go too.”

  Grace rose from tending Wak’o. “I am coming too.”

  “No
,” Moon said. “I must do this alone. I don’t want to put any of you in any more danger.”

  Luke ignored her and gathered his things, as did Grace, and they stood at the entrance.

  Moon smiled. “Okay then.” She turned to Adam. “Please stay and tend Wak’o.”

  Adam grabbed up his bag and spear. “I was once suspicious of you. I thought you were like a panther in the dark. I was wrong. You will be Kayeeya. Adam will protect Kayeeya.”

  Moon took hold of Adams strong shoulders. “Adam, I am not your Kayeeya. I come from a far away place—”

  “Don’t talk down to him,” Grace said. “He knows who and what you are. I think you are the one confused.”

  Moon turned to Grace, but said nothing. She slowly nodded and then started out of the cave. Grace hugged Wak’o and then followed Moon.

  Adam said something to Orion in his own language and Orion nodded. Adam went back to Wak’o and gave her a kiss on the forehead and then left the cave also. Luke waved bye to Wak’o and she waved back and smiled. He took Orion’s hand. He wanted to say something, but nothing came.

  “Be careful,” Orion said. “And if somehow you get back to our world, remember to give the carving to my daughter.”

  Luke nodded and left out of the cave and thought if Orion was more than just a farmer from 1854, he certainly knew nothing of the future.

  Chapter 19

  The group stopped to take a break by a small stream. They had been traveling—running—for miles, and Luke needed the water more than treasure. When he had his fill, he sat back on his butt for the needed break. The stream was orange with the reflection of the setting sun. Its beauty almost made Luke forget the dangerous mission—almost.

  Moon piled down beside him and handed him a strip of jerky. “We may get lucky and actually beat Karl there. We may even be fortunate and the Scrain have already killed him.”

  He watched her tear a strip of the jerky with her perfect teeth. She savored it as she sat. He didn’t know her now any better than he did in the beginning. But now he was in love with her whether he wanted to be or not.