Portals

by Wilson, Maer

  But what took my breath away were the angels. And from where we stood, they did look like a host of angels flying on the wind. Their hair and wings probably covered every pastel and pale color the human eye could see. And maybe even a few we couldn’t.

  Mihren flew over with a shouted, “I shall go on ahead and let the leadership know you are here.” He gave a wave that was almost jaunty and flew off. Maybe being home made even the stoic Light One happy.

  Jones decided we should probably just wait where we were and Belus and Aurelia agreed. We grabbed whatever came to hand to munch on and most of us just sat and watched the teeming life going on in that valley.

  I didn’t see any buildings, but then Jones said that Light Ones didn’t usually build. I did see angels landing in trees and wondered if they had tree-houses. Which I thought would be totally cool.

  It wasn’t very long before we saw a figure flying our way. I don’t know why I was surprised when he landed a little ways away and folded his wings to carefully make his way to us.

  But then, Michael was very different from his brother, Gabriel. His hair and wings shone gold in the late morning sun. I was actually kind of glad to see him. Which is weird, considering the last time I’d seen him he’d had a dagger to my throat. The same dagger he’d later handed to me and was resting in my backpack.

  He addressed Jones first. “We meet again, Dhavenbahtek. You have brought home the last of our people. For that, I thank you.”

  He looked around at the rest of us and when he saw me, I got a small smile. Definitely an improvement over the dagger to my throat. Hey, sometimes, it’s the small things.

  “We shall talk more, when you arrive at our Gathering. Once you come to the valley floor, an escort will show you where the elves are set up. That will be the best place for you, I think.”

  With that Michael walked a short distance away and leapt into the air. His powerful golden wings caught the wind and light alike, and he flew back down the valley, coasting on a downdraft. He was a gorgeous sight, no doubt about it.

  We lost no time in getting back into our ATVs and getting under way once more.

  Driving down the mountain was a bit hair-raising. It was steeper than the other mountains. Finding paths that would be wide enough for the vehicles was a challenge, but we managed to do it.

  We reached one area that was narrow in the extreme. It was a very rocky section, about forty feet long, with a sheer drop that went down about a hundred feet. The elves cleared the rocks and boulders out of the section ahead, but it still wasn’t smooth. Everyone got out of the vehicles, except the drivers.

  Stuart was in the lead in the other Hummer, followed by Jones and Reo in their ATVs. They made it across with ease and I carefully watched them.

  When my turn came, I eased my foot gently on the accelerator and then moved my foot to the brakes for the downward slope. I kept my eye focused on the narrow strip that was only wider than the Hummer was by about two feet. I kept my attention in front of me and not on the drop so close to my own window.

  I was about halfway through, my heart in my throat, when my wheels lost traction. I gently pressed the brakes immediately, but my momentum down continued. One of my tires caught on a large rock or edge of the mountain or something. I lurched to the side, the side with the drop, for one heart-stopping moment.

  I knew I was going over the edge and my hands became slick with sweat as they gripped the wheel in a death grip. I swear one tire was over the edge, but my momentum or, more likely, some magical help carried me past, and I eased down on the brakes once more.

  After I was past the bad area, I drove on to give those behind me room to pass that evil section. As soon as I could, I stopped. My hands were shaking so bad, I couldn’t continue and simply rested my head against the steering wheel. I concentrated on taking deep breaths, very thankful I was alive.

  Thulu had been right behind me. Soon my door was opened and he pulled me from the vehicle. I only had a moment to catch the fear and relief in his eyes before he enveloped me into his arms. I stayed there trembling for some time, safe in a tight hug and in no hurry to move away.

  The others gathered around me, and I felt pats on my back. I turned to them with a shaky smile, assuring them I was just scared, but would be fine. Once we had all the vehicles on this side of Evil Trail, we took a short break. Sloane came over and did his magic empath thing to ease my fears. He followed it up with a hug, which made me feel even better.

  It took another hour as we proceeded carefully the rest of the way down the mountain. When we reached the valley floor, it was with a very heavy sigh of relief on my part. The first half of our journey was completed. I think we were all glad to see the end of it.

  It turned out the elves had been assigned a large clearing near the edge of the forest nearest the mountain we had just driven down. We were able to get our ATVs fairly close to it. I cut the engine with another huge sigh of relief and leaned back in my seat. Not driving would be fine with me for a while. I wasn’t in a hurry to have to return up that mountain any time soon.

  There were maybe another four dozen elves to add to the nine who had come with us. Some came to greet Belus, their prince, before returning to whatever they’d been doing. Most of those who had come with us joined them and left.

  Thulu came over to me and took my hand. I wanted nothing more than to sit and do nothing for a little while. Setting up camp could wait as far as I was concerned, but food was an enticing idea, so we only took a short break before moving to an unused area of the clearing.

  Since we weren’t sure how long we would be there, our group took a bit more care to set up a workable arrangement. The tents went up and air mattresses were inflated and put inside, along with sleeping bags. A cooking and communal area was set up in the center and camp chairs were brought out. We set lanterns on little folding tables.

  Before long, we were done and food was cooking on the stoves. It smelled like stew, and I wandered over to see Stuart heating a pot of frozen stew with all sorts of vegetables and chunks of beef.

  Jones’s chef Raoul had prepared it in advance. As much as Raoul hated to do it, he had agreed to allow it to be frozen for the trip. Since his cooking was the closest to divine I’d ever eaten, I was perfectly willing to bet that even frozen Raoul stew would be wonderful.

  I perched on a camp chair and asked Stuart how he was doing. He still didn’t seem to be his usual self, although he made every effort to be pleasant.

  “Not much gets by you, does it, La Fi?”

  “I don’t know about that, Stuart. I don’t consider myself very observant. Not like Thulu. But I can tell when a friend seems down. I’m here for you if you want to talk about it.”

  “It’s okay. Simply a matter of bad timing. I had to cancel a date with a lovely lady. And cancel at the last minute, which is not cool.”

  My ears had perked up. Date? Lady? I smiled expectantly.

  “Really? Do tell.”

  He chuckled softly. “Actually, I suppose I should thank you for distracting Jones from his former hobbies. I never would have become involved with anyone under those circumstances.”

  I nodded in understanding. Jones had been involved in some very unsavory businesses. I wasn’t sure if anyone had moved in to take over his little crime syndicate, but I hoped he was slowly dismantling it. Of course, that simply meant someone else would move in to fill the void.

  “So, who is this lovely lady? Where did you meet her? Come on, fill me in here.”

  Stuart’s eyes lit up and he told me about meeting her at the grocery store, of all places. Not the most romantic of spots, but apparently they met over avocados.

  He seemed much happier when I left him. After I’d assured him that the lady probably understood “family emergency” and once he called her when we got home, all would probably be well. He did say she was gracious about his canceling the date.

  I was more than ready to bathe and told Thulu we needed to find someone who could dir
ect us to where we could.

  Aurelia and Belus and most of the fairies had gone off to join the other elves, but Sloane and Reo were in camp. I told them I wanted to find a stream or lake to swim in, since that seemed to be my only water option. Sloane said he’d find out and went off into the trees. He returned about ten minutes later and said someone would show us.

  When the others heard where we were going they decided to join us. Thulu and I grabbed our backpacks. All of us waited like school kids getting a special outing for the day, even the little goblins.

  Aurelia appeared and led us to a deep, fast moving stream about twenty minutes into the forest. She again cautioned Reo, Thulu and me about the water and said to be careful not to ingest it.

  “It would be best to just not let it near your mouth, nose, eyes,” she cautioned. “But it won’t harm your skin.”

  Wanting privacy as much as possible, we all spread up and down the banks and spent a pleasant hour or so. I shampooed my hair, being careful to dunk my head backwards. Thulu steadied me and cupped water over my hair to get the soap out. It felt so much better than that dry shampoo stuff I’d been using. I returned the favor, gently moving the suds away from his face. The water had a strange feel to it, almost like mineral baths I’d been to. It also had a strange odor that was sharp and tangy, although not unpleasant. Being clean was worth a bit of strange.

  By the time we got back to camp, it was still early afternoon. My hair had dried quickly in the heat, and I felt springy once more. After stowing our gear in our tent, we headed over to the stove. Stuart had set the stew aside while we’d all gone to the stream and he returned it to the heat once more. Since it had defrosted while we were gone, it didn’t take too long to heat up. The stew was rich with beef and vegetables and the sauce was to die for. Nothing less than what I’d expected from Raoul.

  After cleaning up the dishes, we wandered over to the goblin tent. We sat on camp chairs and asked them how they’d be spending their time.

  Romeo said he’d be cataloguing plant and animal life in the forest.

  Since Juliet understood the Light One language, she would be chronicling as much of their history and way of life as she could get. She would be conducting interviews and held up a small recorder.

  “This is what I shall use. Jones got it for me. Isn’t it wonderful? Your people really have done wonders for being so handicapped.” Her big eyes grew even bigger. “Oh, I’m so sorry, La Fi. I didn’t mean to say it quite that way.”

  “Handicapped?” I was trying to think who had invented the recorder and if they were handicapped.

  “Well, you have all done so very well for yourselves. Lacking magic and all.”

  I was surprised. I hadn’t realized we were considered handicapped as a people and said so.

  “Well, dear, not all of you. Obviously, you, Thulu, Reo and I’m sure there are others who have gifts, but you are a technological and scientific society. Clearly a result of not having magic to draw upon. Look how you keep your gifts hidden for fear that you will be ostracized or worse by your own people.” She patted my hand. “This is not a bad thing you know. Look at all the wonderful devices your people have invented.”

  I felt a little defensive on the part of the human race. “Well, maybe that is our brand of magic. To be able to create cool stuff to make up for the lack of real magic.”

  She pursed her little green mouth in thought. “You know, that is an interesting theory. I shall have to give that some thought.” She beamed at me. “La Fi, if you have nothing else planned, would you care to help me with interviews? You understand the Light One language, correct?”

  I nodded.

  “It would be wonderful for you to also chronicle. You could be gathering information for your own people for the future. The two of us could share our findings and cover twice as much ground. What do you think?”

  “I think it’s an awesome idea! My tablet can record, but it’s not the best.” Plus that would give me something to do to pass the time. I rather liked the idea of myself as a chronicler, too. Thulu came up about that time and I filled him in on Juliet’s idea. I decided he could come along as well and help, too. I went looking for Jones to see if he had another recorder. Which he did. I happily claimed the small device for my own, and he handed it over.

  Going through my backpack, I dug out my tablet, thankful I’d be able to use a car charger to keep the battery charged. I decided I’d use both the tablet and the recorder. Redundancy can be a good thing when dealing with technology, especially on a strange planet.

  By the time I went back to Juliet, she had already tracked Michael down and gotten permission for Thulu and me to join the chronicler team.

  She gave us a crash course in interviewing angels. There weren’t too many taboos we had to worry about, but she did caution me against bringing up Gabriel.

  We were particularly interested in just how they procreated. Yeah, I guess in the end, it always comes down to sex, right? Or rather the lack of it. Either way, I had to admit I was curious.

  Did they extrude a part of themselves and form a kid like an amoeba? Did they lay an egg? I gave a mental shrug. Speculating was a pointless exercise.

  Basically, I didn’t know enough about biology even on Earth to guess at the different ways that could create new life. It made me wish I’d paid a bit more attention in biology classes in school. I shook my head. You just never knew when something was going to come in handy later on.

  My instinct to surf the net and find out more wouldn’t be of help either. I rather doubted they had the internet on Neva.

  I figured my best bet was to wait and see what Juliet might find out. She promised to tell me if she got an answer to that question. I wasn’t sure I had the guts to even ask it, though. Probably best to leave that to the professionals.

  We decided our first interviews should be with Light Ones we already knew. Since Thulu and I already had relationships with Mihren and Barterian and, to a lesser degree, with Sahrok, Juliet said we should talk to them and gave me a list of questions.

  Mihren was to be our first interview. Since we’d saved his child, we figured he’d be the easiest to approach. Setting out to find him, we wandered through the forest to the large area the Light Ones used for their gatherings.

  As gigantic as it was, there was no way it could hold three million people. It was large enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands, though. Especially when you considered the tall blue trees that ringed the area had large platforms. Flight abilities certainly gave an added dimension. Having no need of stairs, the angels had simply used their environment to their advantage.

  We hadn’t yet ventured among the Light One population. I remembered what Parker had said about angels not being very friendly. They seemed to have little or no interest in us at all, though. I found the lack of curiosity a bit unnerving and my stomach clenched as we approached the central area.

  The air had a pleasant scent from the trees, an unidentifiable something. The center of the clearing held a large raised platform that their leadership probably stood on.

  We approached a Light One, who looked like he might answer questions since he didn’t immediately look away from us. I asked how to find Mihren. He stared at us a moment and then said that Mihren would meet us shortly. Thulu and I thanked him and we moved a short distance away.

  I made a note on my tablet to ask if they were telepathic.

  When Mihren showed up, Barterian and Sahrok were both with him. Watching angels take off and land was even better than watching airplanes. I doubted I’d ever get tired of it. Landings were very cool because they tended to glide in, with only a few lazy wing flaps for control and touched down gracefully. The lack of effort seemed illogical for such large beings, but my knowledge of flight was about on par with my knowledge of biology.

  Watching the three Light Ones land together in what looked almost like a choreographed movement was impressive as hell.

  We told Mihren what we wanted. He list
ened thoughtfully while we explained that we were helping the goblin chroniclers and that we had permission from Michael.

  His head tilted to one side in a very human gesture as he stared down at us. Looking at the other two and back at us, he said, “This is actually a very good idea. Perhaps if others understand us, assuming the elves cure us, we might even be welcomed on the other worlds. Michael is very wise to allow this.”

  There was silence for a few moments while the three seemed to communicate. I made a metal note that strengthened my conviction they were telepathic. They soon agreed and said we could interview them.

  Even though the valley was cooler than the unrelenting heat of the desert, it was still hot. Rather than chat under the sun of the open area, we were invited to go to Mihren’s perch. Barterian and Sahrok took off, leaving Mihren to lead us.

  “It isn’t far,” he said.

  Now, if someone with wings, who is over eight feet tall, tells you something isn’t far, don’t believe it. Not for one minute. Their concept of far is nowhere close to a human’s who has to walk it.

  After an hour, during which I’d tripped and fallen five or six times, I gave up and stayed down. Courtesy of the last fall, I had a scrape on my knee that stung and oozed blood. Thulu hunkered down beside me, judiciously not saying anything. Mihren had gone ahead and when he realized we weren’t behind him, returned.

  “For creatures who use legs for travel, yours don’t seem to work very well,” he commented.

  Thulu coughed, but I knew he was hiding a laugh. I glared at him briefly before turning to Mihren, with a heavy sigh.

  “My legs work just fine. I just don’t do a lot of walking in woods or forests. I do quite well on sidewalks.”

  “We have no sidewalks.”

  “Yeah, Mihren, I kinda noticed that. You don’t even have paths. At this point, even a game trail would be nice.”