by Peter Wilson
“Where did you hear such nonsense...oh that blasted book!”
“Oh I doubt Richard Gregson had many people who liked him, let alone ‘fancied’ him,” their grandmother said gravely. “He was a horrible man, consumed by greed and a desire for power. When the portal was open, the Gregson family used it to travel worlds for exploration and trade. Richard however was different. He went in search of weakness, and ways in which he could exploit it. From small communities to full civilisations, he began invading and ruling with fear.”
“Did he kill people?” Rosie asked.
“Yes many died, but not him. The story goes that he grew so strong in magic that he was able to cheat death. Once his brother Charles learned of his evil deeds, he had the blue emerald made, and sealed off our portal from his possible return.
“So with the blue emerald gone, he can come through the portal?” David asked worryingly.
“Anyone can, which is why I cannot leave,” she said sighing. “I must stay and protect the house from any intruders.”
“But who would have stolen the emerald? Why would someone want him to come back?”
“Richard commands a legion of deranged followers. People who actually want to live in his dark world. Somehow one of those people have found a way through the portal, stolen the blue emerald and somehow infected our home with Richard’s evil magic. Our only clue is this stone,” she said holding up the necklace. “We must find out who enchanted it and have Anthrow track the thief that stole our emerald. Now to work,” she stood as if to leave the attic.
Jack said, “Grandma, I still have my question. What will happen if we can’t get rid of that mist? What if Richard comes through the portal?”
She looked thoughtful before reciting, “The great Horde cometh, to take away our land. The great Theorden cometh, our bones in the sand.’ That’s a children’s poem I heard long ago. I don’t recall the rest. The Horde they talk of is the mist you saw in the garden, only so much more. It spreads like fire, consuming the land it comes in contact with, killing all life in its path. Once the land is covered, Theorden arrives to take control of what’s left.”
“Theorden? Is that what they call Richard Gregson?” asked Jack confused.
“The Horde, Theorden. I don’t know who coined it but yes it’s him. He is the reason we hide ourselves away, our family shame that curses everyone that crosses his path. You asked what would happen if he returned here, and my only answer to that is, above all else we cannot let that happen!”
Everyone was silent as they took the words in.
Finally Jack stood and said, “Well then, let’s go stop him.”
Chapter Six
The Door Opens
Jack walked alongside his cousins as they made their way towards the Western Gardens. He was still coming to terms about everything that had happened that day, from discovering the magic book all the way to learning about his evil relative Richard Gregson – Theorden. Secrets upon secrets were being revealed to him, ones even his Great Uncle didn’t know about. How could his Grandmother keep so much from them!
After she had revealed the families dark past, she had sent Alice, David and Rosie downstairs to join the family for dinner, as they had returned from the Western Garden.
Jacks cousins had protested, thinking she just wanted to exclude them from the mission. She was able to convince them that they didn’t want to cause the family any alarm, and missing children always caused alarm, so it was best they show their faces, tell everyone Jack was not feeling well and that they would see him tomorrow.
Jack was pretty sure it was an excuse because she had then asked the Curator to make herself busy on the opposite side of the room, so she could talk to Jack alone.
“Jack, there are things you must know,” his Grandmother had started, struggling on how to proceed. “About your mother and father and about this house.” She had paused but Jack hadn’t said a word, not wanting to give her a reason to stop talking.
He knew very little of his father, having learned to stop asking questions about him years ago. What he did know was that after his mother had died, his father had run off, never to return.
“This manor, and everything in it will someday be yours. By birthright you are the heir to Gregson manor and with that comes certain…responsibilities. It’s time for me to start teaching you the secrets of this house, something I’ve already left too late.”
Jack had then started asking questions, wanting to know more about his parents and the secrets of the house, however his Grandmother asked for his patience. Tomorrow would be soon enough to begin his education on the real Gregson family history.
As he now walked alongside David and Rosie, he wondered if he would be able to tell them about what he learned, or would he have to keep the secrets to himself, just as they had been kept from him. They had a right to know he decided.
“It’s cold,” Rosie said they approached the staircase. “I should have brought a jacket.”
“Grandma said there wasn’t any point. It’s warm beyond the door.” Jack replied. She had been very insistent that they didn’t need to pack too much for their journey, as once they had delivered the message they were to return immediately to the house, therefore only being gone for an hour at most.
She had however given Jack a pouch to fit to his belt to hold various items to take with him. One was a small metallic cube, heavy to hold and tarnished with age. Four sides were flat, with intricate circular engravings swirling across them. The other two sides had a slightly raised dome across them. Once they were on the other side of the door, he was to press both domes down tightly to call Anthrow to their location.
Before handing over the second item, his Grandmother had made him promise that he would only use it if they were in dire need of help.
“Jack, the last thing I want to do is send you through that door, but at this point we have no choice,” she had said while handing him a small black bag. He had undone its drawstrings and opened it up to reveal a glass sphere the size of a tennis ball and black in colour.
As he held it in his hands he could hear a tapping sound, as if someone was knocking from within, trying to get out.
“What is it?”
“A Chaos Pixie Orb. I refuse to give you kids any weapons however at anytime you feel threatened, throw this on the ground and run, run fast and don’t look back.”
Jack put his hand in his jumpers’ pocket and held the sphere, making sure it was still there. He felt comforted that he was walking into the unknown with something that could protect them, even though he had no idea how or what they would need protecting from.
“We’re here,” David said stating the obvious as they descended the stairs of the Western Garden. Jack felt the excitement flow through him as he looked upon the door. It was finally going to open! He looked towards his cousins and saw that they too saw this as a momentous occasion as they approached wide-eyed.
“Grandma gave you the key didn’t she?” Rosie asked.
“Got it,” replied Jack as he put his hand into his other pocket to retrieve the third item his Grandmother had given him. It was large and black, old fashioned in design but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary.
He looked up to the keyhole, something he’d tried to pick hundreds of times with an assortment of sticks, paperclips and nailfiles. Taking a deep breath he slowly placed the key in the hole and turned it left, a satisfying ‘click’ as the bolt shifted to an unlocked position.
Jack looked at them both, “Ready?” he asked.
“I’ve been ready since I first saw the door,” Rosie replied smiling. “Open it!”
Jack grabbed the handle and pushed, a long creak coming from the old hinges as the door slowly swung open. A narrow passageway greeted them, trailing off into darkness.
“That’s it?” David asked.
“Go on,” Rosie said, urging Jack to enter.
Jack shrugged and walked through the doorway. The walls were sandstone, the floor bene
ath him a grey brick. As he entered he immediately felt a slight tugging sensation on his body.
He walked further in and the tug became stronger, something trying to drag him further down the tunnel into the darkness. He started to struggle against it, but the more he fought, the stronger it got. All of a sudden he was propelled forward, an invisible force pulling him down the long straight corridor.
Soon he was travelling fast, really fast. He lifted his feet off the ground and began floating at an impossible speed as the walls and floor vanished before him.
A ring of white light appeared around Jack as a silhouette of a door appeared in the distance. He hurtled towards it unable to slow himself down as he started to fear he would hit something and be splattered all over the place. Just when he started to scream for his life, it all stopped.
Jack was standing, the sudden sunlight in this new place temporarily blinding him. He rubbed his eyes as his vision started to clear and took in his surroundings.
He stood in a round clearing of short grass in what appeared to be a forest. A once well-used path trailed out before him, leading through the beautiful ancient trees that surrounded the area. The air seemed to glow a brilliant yellow, as the light sparkled off the damp leaves that were slowly drifting down from the branches above.
Glancing back, Jack saw a rock wall stretching up into the sky, a trickle of water flowing down its rough surface. The open door from where he’d come was built into the rock, the grey paving within leading back home. He turned again and started down the path, wondering how long it had been since another Gregson had walked it. The weeds and undergrowth pushing through the trails hard soil made him think it had been many years.
“Bloody hell!” David cried as he appeared at the door next to Rosie. He was rubbing his eyes as he tried to adjust to the light. “You think she might have warned us! Maybe mentioned we’d be travelling a million miles an hour through some sort of crazy vortex. That was mental!”
“Let’s do it again!” Rosie yelled.
Jack smiled at her as he made his way back. “It was pretty fun, now that I know I’m still alive.”
“It’s a forest,” David said as he walked down the path.
“I think Grandma called it a Grotto, whatever that is,” said Rosie. “It’s beautiful.”
Jack agreed, it was truly the most beautiful and peaceful place he’d ever been in. Nothing like the cold England they had been standing in minutes earlier. The climate here was warm and the air was fresh.
“Look at this!” David yelled from further down the path. He had walked past the row of trees surrounding the clearing. “It’s not a forest, we’re in a cave!”
Jack and Rosie rushed down the path after him, a dense mixture of oak, vines and underbrush on both sides of them. But after just ten metres it ended and they walked into a large rocky Grotto, the sky above them a rich blue peaking through the small holes and gaps in the rocky roof.
“Wow!” Rosie said. “It’s a massive cavern.”
Jack walked around taking it all in. The Grotto was massive, with large mossy rocks, worn pathways and old overgrown plants continuing on as far as they could see. A small freshwater stream trickled past them, starting at a crack in the wall and trailing down a corridor out of sight. Within the rock faces were more pathways leading off into their own miniature forests embedded in the walls.
He walked to the closest one and continued up the path, through the trees and into another clearing. Like the one they had entered, a door was built into the rock face; identical to the one they’d just walked through. He wondered where this one led as he put his hand to its wooden surface. Back to Earth? Another planet? The possibilities were endless and a feeling of excitement started to build within him. We can go anywhere! Travel anywhere just by walking through a door!
He grabbed the handle, but then suddenly thought of his Grandmother and the mission they were on. His excitement faded. Were they really going to leave this place so quickly? Would their grandmother ever let them come back?
“Jack?” Rosie asked from the edge of the trees. “We need the device you have, so we can call Anthrow.”
“I know,” he replied softly as he took his hand away from the door and walked back towards her. “Where should we do this?”
“Let’s go back to the main cavern. You know, it would be quite easy to get lost in this place. These clearings look exactly the same. I wonder how our family members used to find their way,” Rosie said.
“Wasn’t Anthrow supposed to be some sort of expert on them? Maybe there are subtle differences between each one that we aren’t seeing.” Jack replied.
Rosie shrugged but didn’t reply as they entered the cavern to find David looking through some trees. “There are some weird animals in this place,” he said. “I swear I just saw something that looked halfway between a puppy and a monkey. Truly, it was walking on two legs, tail wagging and tongue hanging out.”
“A Moppy?” said Jack.
“No, it was a Punkey!” Rosie countered.
“Seriously? I tell you about a mutant animal, that probably wants to eat you, and you try to come up with silly names for it?”
“I doubt something that looks like a puppy would want to eat me David. I think it sounded cute.”
“Whatever little sister. Where’s the thing?”
“I’ve got it,” said Jack as he pulled the metallic cube from his pocket. He looked it over. The two domes that needed to be pressed were on opposite sides of each other.
He placed his thumb on one and his index finger on the other and looked at his two cousins. “We ready?”
“Punch it,” David said, sounding a little nervous.
Jack was nervous too, not knowing what to expect from Anthrow.
He took a deep breath and squeezed the cube, the two domes pressing down like buttons.
It immediately went hot, as it began to glow white in his hand. Soon it was too hot to hold and he let go, rubbing his fingers. The cube remained floating in the air.
“It’s floating!” David said, once again stating the obvious to his cousins.
The cube glowed as it started to rotate and increase in size. Within seconds it was as large as a basketball and spinning at an incredible speed.
Small sparks of lightning began to spit out of it as the spinning caused a whoosh of wind blowing the three of them back.
A portal appeared before them, a face peering out at them in surprise. It rose into the air as it tilted itself towards the earth. It began shaking violently as if trying to dislodge something, until finally a man fell through, clumsily landing on the ground in a heap before them. The portal instantly disappeared and the cube shrunk down to its original size as it dropped to the ground, landing on the man’s head with a solid thud.
Rosie walked over to him lying on the ground, rubbing his head. He was skinny, with short black hair and a big strong chin. He wore brown trousers and a white shirt. A large coat sat beside him as if he’d grabbed it while being pulled through the portal.
“Um, Anthrow?” Rosie asked cautiously.
He looked at her and sighed, “Yes I’m Anthrow. And considering I’ve just been pulled through a portal without warning, right in the middle of my dinner I might add, I’m going to assume you’re a Gregson.”
“Do…Does our family usually catch you at inconvenient times?” Rosie asked confused.
“Is there ever a convenient time to be yanked through a portal without warning?” he asked, amused by the question.
“But we were told you gave us the cube, so that we could contact you,” said Jack.
“Ha! Gave is a strong word. But no matter, I’m here now.” he said standing up and dusting himself off.
He stood there and looked at the three of them, a calculating look on his face. Finally he said, “Now tell me Gregson’s, what could possibly be so important that you would risk coming here?”
“What do you mean?” asked Jack. “What risk?”
“What
risk? Why the risk of losing your head. You’re wanted men and women you Gregson’s. Considered extremely dangerous and wanted dead or alive. Turning three of you in would make a man very rich,” he said as he pulled a dagger from a sheath tied to his waist. “So I ask you again, what brings you to the Grotto?”
Jack looked from the knife to his cousins, stunned. How were they going to get out of this?
Chapter Seven
Run!
The Horde rolled along the uneven ground, the black mist surrounding the edge of rock above the Grotto. A thin tendril of smoke climbed up in to the sky, slowing growing out until it resembled the black shadow of a man.
He watched the three children below that had arrived through a portal. The plan had worked, he thought, smiling.
Through the mist a thought came to him, querying his progress. He began to report the news back to his master when someone appeared in a flash of light, right in front of the children.
He watched as they talked. All of a sudden the man below pulled out a knife.
The Shadow Man chuckled as he sunk back into the black smoke. Perhaps this stranger would do his task for him. Either way, the Gregson heir would die today and his master’s plans would start to be realised.
The black mist watched and waited.
***
Jack’s shoved his hand into his pocket and grabbed the black orb his Grandmother had given him. He held it high above his head, unsure of his next move.
“We were told you would help us, not hurt us,” he said to Anthrow.
“What is that?”
“A weapon,” Jack replied, feeling a bit foolish while trying to sound threatening. He had no idea what would happen if he threw it on the ground.
“What sort of weapon?” Anthrow pushed. He didn’t seem concerned at all as he stood before them, knife still in hand.
Jack looked around. His Grandmother had told him to throw the orb and run, but right now they were trapped. A rock face behind them, a man with a knife in front. There wasn’t anyway to run.
