by Peter Wilson
“We go back to the manor and warn Grandmother,” said Jack after making his decision. “If Alice is working with Theorden, we have to warn her.”
David seemed about to say something but then paused and nodded.
Jack stood and looked at his cousins. “It’s time to go home.”
Chapter Fifteen
The Forgotten Portal
Jack swung Rosie’s backpack over his shoulder as they prepared to leave the cave.
He still held the book and read out its instructions on how to get to the Forgotten Portal.
Once you turn us back to mist form, travel up and over the mountain. At the top of the peak, the rings you received from Gregson Manor should allow you to see through the illusion in place. You will see a silver tree that will lead you to the hidden forest where the Forgotten Portal resides.
“I thought all the tree’s on Coran were dead,” said Rosie.
Not all of them. When you see the silver tree, you will be compelled not to walk towards it. You will want to turn around.
If you do turn around, you will forget about the tree immediately and feel a sense of relief that you are not walking in that direction.
It is a powerful charm that has been placed on the forest, one that has even kept the Horde at bay. Now that you know it is an illusion, it should be easier to fight it.
“Hold on to me,” Jack said as he raised his arms.
He reached out to the black ring with his mind, willing it to activate. He felt the magic release and slowly weave the air before him into mist. He listened and heard the distinct hum that the magic was releasing. It was different to that of the portals magic, but at the same time it had similarities.
Jack matched the tone of the magic in his mind and attempted to reach out to the forming mist. All of a sudden it grew, faster and faster as all three of them transformed.
That was easy, he thought. It was as Anthrow had said, if you could understand the magic, you could manipulate it.
He wondered if he’d be able to create the mist without the rings help and promised himself to try once this was all over.
“Let’s go,” Jack said, his voice a deep hiss.
He moved towards the hole in the wall and looked down below. The men were still there, scouring the area for any signs of them. He waited until none were looking towards the mountain and started to move, climbing up, defying gravity as they hugged the rock.
Suddenly an arrow tore through the mist and rebounded off the rock.
They’ve seen us! Jack heard the thought flow through the mist.
He started moving them faster, climbing to the peak as fast as he could. More and more arrows flew through them and as he looked back, he saw the men rushing to the mountain trying to find a good place to climb.
“There he is, the heir!” said a deep reptilian voice, echoing loudly through the air as the Shadow Man rushed back, at the head of the Horde.
“GET THEM MADDOX! BRING ME THE BOOK!” another voice boomed through the air, making them all shudder in fear.
It’s Theorden! Hurry Jack!
They reached the peak of the mountain, and Jack pulled them over and down the other side, arrows still shooting through the air as the Horde below began its accent up the mountain.
“Phew! I know those arrows couldn’t hit us, but that was intense,” said Rosie.
Jack sent his agreement through the mist as he searched ahead for the silver tree.
“We should go this way,” said David urgently as he started to pull them to their right.
“Why?” asked Jack.
“Because I don’t want to go the other way.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not sure.”
“In that case we have to go the other way,” said Jack as he scanned to his left for the tree. “There it is! You’re right, maybe we should go the other way.” Jack all of a sudden knew walking towards the tree was the wrong thing to do.
“We’re walking towards the tree,” said Rosie.
“What tree?” asked Jack. He didn’t remember seeing a tree.
“The one the book told us about. The one you just forgot about. I want you to both listen to me and do what I say. Look to your left and you will see a silver tree. Walk towards the tree. Walk towards the tree.”
Jack looked over and saw it. He started walking to the tree, with every fibre of his being telling him not to. The only things keeping him from turning away and running in the opposite direction was that he knew he was fighting an illusion and Rosie’s continuous chant telling him to go on.
Closer and closer they got, the urge to turn away got stronger and stronger.
“We have to go back!” yelled David.
“No! Keep moving!” Rosie yelled back.
Jack glared at the tree as he urged them forward, a roar of pain escaping his lips.
“Move!”
Suddenly it was pain was gone and a great feeling of relief washed over Jack. They’d made it!
He looked back to where they had come. The Shadow Man stood at the peak of the mountain, staring in their direction.
The Shadow Man was his father! Jack felt sick at the thought. His father was the one who had been trying to catch them. To kill them!
After a time Maddox looked away, leading the Horde away in the opposite direction.
“Phew! The illusion drew them away,” said Rosie
“How did you do that? Why didn’t the illusion affect you?” David asked Rosie.
“Easy, I never looked at the tree, so I never felt the urge to turn away from it.”
“And because you didn’t see it, you couldn’t forget about it,” said Jack as he put his father out of his mind and concentrated on the ring, willing them back to human form.
The three of them now stood at the base of the silver tree, on the outskirts of a small forest.
Jack stepped forward into the dense layers of vines that carpeted the ground before them.
“Food!” said David as he rushed forward to a tree carrying the purple fruit Anthrow had given them in the Grotto.
He took one and bit into it greedily before grabbing more and handing them to his cousins.
“There’s a path,” said Rosie as she walked off to the right.
Jack followed her, a small group of punkey’s watching them intently as they went. They must have never have seen a human before, he assumed.
His mind kept going back to his father. Anthrow had said he had joined Theorden, but now he knew that he was the Shadow Man, was that really true? Wasn’t the Horde a collection of the lives that Theorden had captured and enslaved? Maybe his father was being coerced into doing his bidding.
They walked along the path as it zigzagged its way through the trees. Soon they could see a long wall made of stone in the distance, overgrown with moss.
As they approached, Jack could see that the wall had no sides. It was simple one wall, about twenty metres long with a great wooden door in the centre of it.
“This must be it,” said Rosie as she opened the door and looked into the passageway beyond. “It just looks like the other ones.”
“Of course it does, it’s what all the other ones were based on. Isn’t that right Jack?”
“I suppose so. Rosie, do you want to go first?”
“Sure,” said Rosie as she walked into the passageway.
Nothing happened.
She looked back at them with a questioning look.
“Say Earth portal or something. Imagine the door in the Western Gardens,” said Jack.
She closed her eyes and within seconds she disappeared, as she was swept away.
“You next,” said Jack.
He watched David walk into the passageway. He was going to miss his help.
“Earth!” David said as he turned back to Jack. He seemed to notice something on Jack’s face. “No!” he yelled as the portal pulled him away.
Jack sighed and walked through the doorway. He couldn’t return home without knowing m
ore about his father.
“The closest portal to Diamond Lake, on the First Knot of Bowlandose,” he said.
The portal complied, dragging him into the unknown.
Chapter Sixteen
Diamond Lake
Jack arrived in darkness. The red sun of Bowlandose had set, replaced by a skyline filled with stars and a large moon that illuminated the land with its dull glow.
He scanned the area quickly, looking for any sign of the Horde or Theorden’s men. Seeing none he decided the best course of action was to find the lake, throw the stone in and then get back to the Grotto as quickly as possible.
But what would he do then?
He wanted to learn more about his father, but how was he going to do that? Return to Coran and give himself up?
Why do you even care about him? He left you when you were a baby!
The question crept into his mind. A question he couldn’t answer. He didn’t know why he cared so much and it reminded him of his conversation with Anthrow about Gratins.
He decided it would be easier if he didn’t care about his family. But it was something he couldn’t escape. He did care and he had to know why he had left him!
He swore at himself for being foolish, all of a sudden wishing he had just returned to Earth with his cousins.
Still, throwing the stone in the lake was important too, he reminded himself.
The Horde may not be able to spread while the stone was covered with Vonsant’s cloth, but Jack hated the thought of knowing it would it would always be there, infecting the Rear Garden.
He decided to put his father out of his mind and concentrate on finding the lake. There would be plenty of time to work out what he was going to do if he was successful.
The first knot of Bowlandose was nothing like the city on the main continent Anthrow had taken them to. Instead of row after row of streets and shops, the first knot looked like a desert, with large rocks and small shrubs littering the ground he could see in the dim glow of the moon. Jack wondered how there could there be a lake in such a desolate environment.
He looked at the map Anthrow had created but still couldn’t understand how to read his strange scribbling’s. David would have eventually worked it out, he thought.
He wondered if his cousins were angry with him. David and Rosie would be home now, telling grandmother that Alice had stolen the blue emerald.
Soon they would seal Earth off to prevent Theorden getting through.
Jack didn’t even know how he was even going to get home to Earth. If they sealed off the portal, was it even possible?
Enough! He once again tried to put the future out of his mind as he focused on his current problem.
“Where would a lake be in a deserted place like this?” he said to himself as he looked around.
The portal he’d come through was attached to a large red rock, three metres tall and twice as wide. Why hadn’t Anthrow added that to the map? It could hardly even be called a map, just a black line that wove around the paper leading to a large X.
Anthrow had told Rosie that it would guide them to Diamond Lake. It was a strange way to explain a map, Jack thought. Usually one would say to follow a map, not have it guide you.
He suddenly had a thought. What if the map were magic? He quested out to it, much like the black ring on his finger, willing it to activate.
A small hum started to fill Jacks mind, as he felt magic weaving out into the air.
The map caught fire in his hand, and Jack let go of it quickly to avoid getting burnt. Rather than fall to the ground, a small ball of flame hovered in the air as it consumed the remaining paper.
Slowly the fireball grew as its flames turned from orange to a deep blue. It grew until it was the size of a football, and the hum that had gotten louder and louder in Jacks mind subsided.
What now? Thought Jack, just as the small blue flame started to move away from him at a fast pace.
He rushed after it, moving at a jog to keep up. Soon he was running, as the flame raced past the rocks and shrubs covering the landscape. Still Jack couldn’t see any significant landmarks or lake on the horizon.
Suddenly the blue flame slowed down, just as Jack noticed a shimmer in the air ahead. Before he could stop himself he hit an invisible force that caused his body to slow down like the flame.
He felt like he was moving in slow motion, as he continued to run through the thick air around him. He kept going for ten more steps before he broke through, returning to normal speed as he fell to the ground exhausted.
“Stay down Jack!” A voice whispered urgently from his left.
Jack did as he was told as he looked to see who had spoken. It was Anthrow, crouched beside a large bush, looking intently in the other direction.
Jack crawled towards him, taking in his surroundings as he did so. The harshness of the desert was gone, replaced by lush bushes and trees. Beyond to where Anthrow was looking, he could make out the twinkling of the moons light, reflecting off what he assumed was Diamond Lake.
“What are you doing here?” asked Jack.
“Helping you!” whispered Anthrow as he put a hand to Jack’s mouth. “Theorden’s men are down there, by the lake.”
Jack pulled Anthrows hand away from his mouth as he peered over the bush. A group of men sat around a fire right beside the lake. The light of the flames allowed him to see that their backs were to him, and they appeared to be eating.
He glanced up at the lake and saw more fires around its perimeter. It was completed guarded.
He came back behind the bush and turned to Anthrow. “Why are you helping me? I thought your debt was paid to the Gregson’s.” The feeling of betrayal was starting to well up in Jack again.
“My debt is paid. When I left you three, I decided to make the journey to Earth and tell your Grandmother just that. And to let her know the foolish journey you were undertaking. I figured she would leave the manor to save you, or at least find someone more heroic than I to help you. Did you think I would just do nothing and leave you to undertake this massive task alone?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, well…I considered it. But you three were good company and people I’d rather not see dead. Speaking of three, where are David and Rosie?”
“They returned to the Manor,” said Jack.
“They can’t of made it through the portal to Earth!” Anthrow said, alarmed. “I said I decided to go to Earth, I never said I got there. When I arrived near the portal to your world, there were thousands of Theorden’s men gathering throughout the Grotto, with many more joining them. His army is gathering and I fear he will invade Earth any day now. The only thing holding him back now appears to be your capture, although we still don’t know why.”
“This is why,” Jack said taking the book out of Rosie’s backpack. “It’s also how my cousins made it back to Earth.” He then went on to explain the book’s true purpose, their suspicions about Alice stealing the blue emerald and their journey to the Forgotten Portal.
“Amazing! It makes sense then. If Theorden had that book in his possession, he could create hundreds of portals and attack Earth from multiple places at once. He could place those Horde stones all over the globe and overrun your world in a matter of weeks!”
“I don’t get why is he so interested in invading Earth.”
“Earth is quite unique Jack. Because its portal has been kept a secret, it has allowed you humans to grow and thrive without the influences of magic and other civilisations. Unlike other worlds, you haven’t spread out across the Universe and there are now seven billion of you on the one planet. You don’t have magic, but you have weapons can kill hundreds of thousands of people with the push of a button! If Theorden managed to take control of your people and technology, and combine it with his magic, he’d be unstoppable. He’d have a good chance of controlling the Universe!”
Jack sat back in shock. Control the Universe? He couldn’t understand why someone would want that much power.
“Jack. If David and Rosie went back to the Manor, they should have taken the book with them. It isn’t safe carrying that around. Why did you three decide it should be brought here when you split up?”
Jack shifted uncomfortably where he sat. “We didn’t really discuss it. We didn’t really talk about splitting up either…”
Anthrow looked at him and then sighed. “You decided to come here alone, and didn’t tell them. Why?”
“We need to throw the red stone in to the lake. You know that.”
“What I know is that your ‘mission’ as you put it was to find out who stole the blue emerald and you did that. The smart thing would have been to return and tell your Grandmother about Alice and Diamond Lake so that she could sort this all out.”
Jack didn’t answer him, knowing there was some truth to what he said. He couldn’t help feeling insulted that Anthrow thought he wasn’t capable of doing this without his grandmother’s help.
“Just like his father,” Anthrow grumbled under his breath.
“I am nothing like my father!” Jack said loudly without thinking. He quickly glanced over the bush again, to see if the closest group of men had heard him.
Once he was sure they hadn’t he turned back to Anthrow. “Nothing like him.”
“How do you know, you’ve never met him! You ran off, completely disregarding the advice and feelings of those who care for you, just like Maddox did. You are exactly like him.”
“I have met my father. He’s about your height, made of black smoke and has been trying to kill me ever since I stepped through that bloody portal! Maybe you remember him from the Grotto,” Jack said angrily, trying to hold back his emotions.
“That was Maddox…”
“We heard Theorden call to him through the Horde and demand he get the book from us.” Jack looked away from him, not wanting to discuss it further.
Anthrow seemed to notice as he went quiet for a time, glancing to the lake to watch the men around the fire eat.
“Jack, we need to get back to the Manor. I think I understand the real reason you stayed behind, but if you’re right and that truly was your father, you need to rethink what you plan on doing. He’s controlling the Horde! Trying to reach out to him would be suicide.”
