Portals of Infinity: Book Five: Demigods and Deities

by John Van Stry

  When the next morning came Nikki looked happy.

  "Aryanna told me the others will be showing up this afternoon, so I'll run into town and pick them up at the portal we came through."

  I nodded and wondered why Fel hadn't told me as well? Then again, Aryanna was the one coordinating the forces on this, which when I thought about it, felt kind of weird. I mean it was my child, so I figured I'd be the one in charge, but Nikki had all but usurped my role in this.

  Of course my sister did have a lot more training on this kind of thing than I did, so I wasn't too put out by it. But it did seem kind of strange.

  I decided to spend my time searching the house, not that I was really looking for anything, but I was kind of curious as to what was there. The place was really pretty big, and there were a lot of rooms we'd not checked out.

  I puttered around a bit, finding a few more guest rooms, storage closets, a few dens, a library, and a map room of all things, when eventually I came across one rather large room in the back of the house. It looked like a ballroom at first, there was a huge amount of open space, and there were chairs all nearly stacked on either side against the walls.

  But it was what was in the front of the room, on the far wall from the doors, which caught my eye. There was a large hanging flag with the 'G' symbol with the dagger on it behind what looked like some sort of table, which was up on a dais. I walked over to it, and stepped up onto the dais and pulled the sheet that was covering the table off of it.

  It was an altar. Or rather, it looked like an altar. The same symbol was engraved across the front in gold. There were two gold and silver daggers laying on it as well, and I was pretty sure the grooves cut around the edges and leading to a corner drain were blood grooves. I looked around, and back at the closed door, and loosening my shirt and my belt, I kicked off my sneakers and shifted quickly. Leaning down I sniffed at the drain and the grooves, but didn't scent anything, beyond a very weak trace of Cenewyg.

  I shifted back rather suddenly as I head footsteps, and straightening up my clothes I slipped my feet back into my sneakers. I'd torn the toes out of my socks when I'd shifted of course, it was a bit uncomfortable, I'd have to change them later.

  "Mister Taylor," Botha said coming in, "what are you doing in here?"

  I shrugged and looked around, then taking the sheet I drew it back over the table. "Just looking, it's a lot bigger than the one they have at Nikki's parents' ranch. Do you use it much?" I bluffed, thinking that if I just calmly accepted the fact that it was common for there to be a sacrificial altar in the middle of an estate, that it wouldn't raise any alarm.

  Botha smiled, "Only when Mister Gatwick is here. He's promised us to make us great again, to free us from our chains. I did not know he had built others."

  "Oh, several if I'm not mistaken," I told him, surprised that my bluff had worked. Of course now I suspected that there probably were a few more of these around. "But this is the main one, the biggest, and the fanciest."

  Botha nodded, "I am glad that Chamers left, he did not seem to be a man of faith. I often wondered how he came to be here."

  I shrugged, "I have no idea, maybe he once was, but his faith weakened with time. Some people need to see a thing everyday, or they start to lose their faith. The ones that never waiver, they are the ones that will be the most rewarded when the time comes!" I said finishing passionately. I'd heard enough preaching over the years to know what people liked.

  Botha nodded happily, "Yes! These are the things my father taught us, and the same things that Mister Gatwick says. 'We must have faith, and bide our time, because the great goat herder will come when we least expect it, and will bring us power and freedom, and end the poverty of all of Africa.'"

  I nodded and said the first pithy comment that came to mind, "The promise made, is the promise kept."

  "Ah, I have not heard that one, is it new?"

  I smiled, "He told it to us when we saw him last."

  Botha nodded, "Did he tell you where he was going? When he would be back?"

  I shook my head, "I don't think those things are for you and me to know, Botha, though perhaps he will tell us when he returns," 'if I don't kill him first of course,' I finished in my head.

  I heard the sound of a car out front, "Ah, I think I hear Nikki returning. If you'd excuse me?" I said walking towards the exit.

  Botha smiled, "Of course, and may you walk in the path of our blessed goatherd."

  I smiled, and wondered just what the hell Cenewyg was doing here. "Thank you, Botha," I said and I left the room.

  We were sitting in Cenewyg's office, drinking his booze, and eating his food. I looked around at the others; I was impressed by how many Aryanna had gotten to show up. Joseph and Dezba were here of course, as well as two others that I'd not met before: Gregory and Suzona.

  Gregory was from a world that wasn't that much different, technology and magic wise, from Aryanna's. He was about five foot ten, long thick black hair, and built like an NFL linebacker with huge arms and legs. He made me think of Conan the Barbarian. Apparently he'd been a champion for quite a few decades.

  Suzona was from a world that was much more technological then Earth was and which had no magic, but was fairly warlike and was mostly city-states and small countries with no large countries. She was about six foot, had short blond hair, and was built like a super-heroine off of a comic book cover: lean, long, big busted, svelte muscles, and a thousand-yard stare that put all thoughts of romance and sex deep in the cellar, in a box, with chains wrapped around it while they whimpered quietly and hoped not to be noticed.

  I was a little put out that Jane hadn't shown up, but when I thought about it, with all that Stivik could do back home, it probably wasn't safe to pull her away right now.

  I sat back and listened as Nikki explained the situation to everyone there, Joseph and I were the only ones not in our champion forms, because neither one would fit in here on Earth of course. I did wonder if Joseph was still a giant wolf, or if Circe had given him a new one?

  When Nikki mentioned that the baby was mine, Joseph looked at me and smirked, while Dezba shook her head and didn't look at all surprised.

  "What do you mean, the baby is his?" Suzona asked in that sexy low contralto of hers.

  "She means, that I got pregnant, and delivered a child," I said looking back at her.

  "How is that possible? You're a man!"

  "Were you paying attention when Nikki told you that everyone's sex is changed in that sphere?" I asked.

  "But still! You're a man, how could this happen?" She said smirking.

  "Would you like to come back to my room and have me demonstrate the process?" I growled at her.

  "Pfft! In your dreams," Suzona said dismissively, her accent I noticed was rather Slavic. I wondered if she had come from Earth?

  "Who was the, err, the other parent?" Gregory asked. His voice almost sounded like a radio talk show host, and I'd noticed that for all of his aggressive looks, he was unfailingly polite.

  "Another champion," Nikki supplied, "his girlfriend."

  "Girlfriend?" Suzona asked raising an eyebrow.

  "Well, when the men in the party became women, the reverse happened as well," Joseph supplied.

  "And you were all okay with this?" Suzona pressed.

  "Wasn't like we had any choice in the matter at the time," Joseph said, smiling back.

  "But still ..."

  "Obviously, you have never been in love," Dezba said, which earned her an immediate glare.

  "Of course I have!" Suzona fired back, and then immediately blushed.

  "Yeah well, love makes us all do stupid things," I grumbled.

  "But there are cantrips, spells ..." Suzona said still looking embarrassed.

  "Yeah well, it was our first time like that, and we both sort of forgot," I said blushing myself.

  "I'm surprised you went through with it," Gregory said.

  "Will loved her, and she's no longer here," Nikki said interrup
ting, "and Aryanna asked him to 'go through with it' it as a favor to her."

  Gregory and Suzona both went 'oh' and nodded slowly, Dezba rolled her eyes and smiled at me, and Joseph was just sitting there looking thoughtful.

  "So, we over this?" I grumbled.

  Everyone nodded.

  "Okay," Nikki said and pulling out a large sheet of paper, she used a couple of thumbtacks and posted it against the wall.

  "This is what we know about the place where the child is being held. It's more of a monastery than a temple or a church, but it is on holy ground."

  I looked it over, "Where did you get that from?"

  Nikki smiled, "Your friend Evean was quite busy. She scoped the place out rather carefully, and sent us the details."

  "Another girlfriend, Will?" Dezba asked laughing.

  "She just wants what she can't have," I grumbled some more.

  "She's the one who tried to lure him into bed so she could kill him," Nikki supplied grinning. "Apparently she has seen the error of her ways."

  "Why would she do that?" Gregory asked looking amused.

  "Our William here is quite the lady's man," Dezba teased.

  I sighed, "Could we stop talking about my sex life, and get back to the plan?"

  I noticed Suzona looking me over, curiously, and I tried not to shiver. I suspected she left a trail of broken and ruined bodies in her wake, and I wasn't thinking of her enemies.

  Nikki coughed and we all looked at her as she continued. "Okay, from Evean's observations, this is what we know."

  I listened attentively, as all of the entrances and exits were pointed out, the suspected location of stairs, where the rooms were most likely located, how may guards and priests or priestesses there were, and were they were guessing my daughter Cam was being held.

  "Why don't we know more than this?" Suzona asked.

  "Evean knew that if she set foot on the grounds, then they'd know there was a champion observing them, and that they'd probably then move Cam someplace else. Right now, as far as we know, they don't know that we have this information."

  "Ah, I see," Suzona said and we all nodded in agreement.

  "So what is the plan?" Dezba asked.

  "I have a bunch of weapons I want to make sure you all know how to use," Nikki started out, and held up one of the MP5's. "Firearms work in the reality we're going to, and the opposition will be armed, though their weapons are far more primitive. I also want to go over a couple of team exercises on the grounds here to make sure we can all work together.

  "After that, we'll go over the plan of attack, practice it a couple of times, then go in."

  "That could take weeks!" Gregory said.

  "Five days," Nikki said. "We're all experienced; none of us are new at this. I think five days should be enough."

  "And who put you in charge," Suzona asked.

  I don't know why, but something about the way she said it just pissed me off. I shifted and stood up, not really giving a damn about my now ruined clothes.

  "I did," I growled looking down at her. "Do you have a problem with that?"

  Suzona looked me over and slowly smiled. "No, I don't have any problems at all."

  Eleven

  South Africa

  Nikki laughed at me, "You're going to have troubles with that one, Bro."

  I sighed, "I just wish I knew what I did wrong."

  We were talking about Suzona of course. She'd been having problems with damn near everything so far it seemed, since we'd started training. And of course I had to be the one to help her out, because Nikki was busy with everyone else.

  "I can kind of understand why she has a problem with the gun, if it's similar to something she's used to. Minor changes can mess you up more than bigger ones," I sighed.

  Nikki laughed again, "Oh, it's not that, Bro. She's interested in you, and in a very shallow and maybe not so meaningful way."

  I glared at her, "With all the crap she's been giving me? How can you say that?"

  Nikki smiled, "Because you are the only one not drooling over her looks, and you're not afraid of insulting her, or getting in her face. You laid down the gauntlet when you got in her face about who was in charge. Up until then she thought you were just some lame-ass wuss pushover. Now she sees that you're a tough customer.

  "And I'm betting she likes the tough customers!" Nikki smirked at me.

  I groaned and facepalmed. "I got enough troubles already; I don't need some gal looking to get me in bed."

  "Yeah, for a guy trying to avoid it, you sure do seem to end up there a lot!" Nikki said and giggled some more.

  "Maybe if I acted desperate, they'd leave me alone...."

  "Too late for that now!" Nikki smirked, enjoying my discomfort. "She's on the prowl."

  "Maybe Gregory or Joseph will slow her down then?"

  Nikki smiled, "I don't think either of those two would touch her with a ten-foot pole. They know better!"

  I sighed and shook my head again. "Oh, I found the strangest thing this morning," I told her.

  "Oh? What?"

  "I think I'd be better off showing you, I don't want my opinion to affect your observations."

  "Will, it's late, I was thinking more about going to sleep."

  "It will only take a few minutes, it's just downstairs."

  "Fine," Nikki grumbled and stopped undressing. I led her down the hallway barefoot, I'd already destroyed enough socks today, and if I had to shift again, I didn't want to ruin anymore.

  I took her downstairs and into the room, once we got inside I turned the lights on and closed the door behind us.

  "Just looks like a ballroom," Nikki said.

  "Yeah, I told Botha when he came in here to check up on me, that we have one just like it at your parents' house, well I said that the thing under the tablecloth is smaller, but that Sean put it there."

  "Thing under the cloth?" Nikki said looking at me.

  I made shooing motions with my hands, "Go, go look."

  Nikki shrugged and crossed the floor over to the dais, and stepping up she pulled the covering off the altar.

  Nikki gasped. "Is that what I think it is?"

  "You tell me," I replied. "I'm not sure what it is. I mean I know what it looks like, but I don't know of any gods with that sigil."

  "Yeah, me neither," Nikki said, and then took a moment to examine it.

  "I wonder what the hell he's been up to here?" She finally said putting the cover back over it and looking at me.

  I shrugged, "Damned if I know. But I figured I'd show it to you, and see if you can figure anything out." I related my conversation with Botha to her next.

  "Huh," She said thinking about that. "Maybe he's starting a cult?"

  I shrugged, "Why would he want to do that? And why here? On Earth? Yeah we're powerful here, but we wouldn't last long against a couple of guys with guns. And why goats of all things?"

  "Actually that's pretty smart," Nikki told me. "Goats are a pretty major part of African and Asian culture. They're everywhere and hold a lot of significance."

  "Maybe, but in European cultures aren't they associated with the Devil?"

  Nikki shook her head slowly and coming over to me she turned off the lights and opened the door. "I don't know. Do you think we should mention this to the others?"

  I shook my head, "Not right now. I'd rather everyone stay focused on rescuing my daughter."

  Nikki nodded and I followed her back to our room.

  "Well, at least with you in my room, I don't have to worry about Suzona," I said when we got there.

  "Oh yeah, about that," Nikki turned and smiled rather sweetly at me, "Would you mind switching with Joseph tonight?"

  "What?!"

  "Hey, unlike you, I'm not married, so I gotta take it where I find it. Besides, I like Joseph, he's actually pretty good at...."

  I held up my hand forestalling any further conversation. "I'll go get him," and I went.

  I was in Fel's bar, Jane and Fordessa were actua
lly onstage playing, which I found surprising.

  "Hi, Fel, what's up? And why can I actually see them?"

  "Oh, they like having an audience, so I felt it only fair to let you listen in."

  I nodded, they sounded pretty good, but I wouldn't have expected otherwise.

  "King Stivik launched his war this morning," Fel continued. "As we expected, he's going after the Mowoks first."

  "Good, that gives us more time at least. Do the Mowoks know they're coming?"

  Fel laughed, "They're looking forward to it actually. They know that Tantrus and I are at odds, so this is taking on a bit of a holy war aspect for them."

  I nodded, "Well, hopefully I can be there to help soon."

  "Don't worry about it, William," Fel said. "This is going to be a guerrilla war; there really won't be much of a place in it for you."

  I nodded, "Well, you're the boss." I paused a moment and listened to the two of them play on stage. It really was lovely. "Oh, I think Cenewyg was trying to start a cult or something, back on Earth."

  Fel nodded, and I was surprised that he sighed as well, "Yes, that or he was planning on taking up with a cult. Perhaps using his god given champion powers to help a god other than his own. This is the first that Aryanna or I have heard about it, and we're not quite sure what to make of it yet."

  "Do you want me to investigate it?"

  Fel shook his head, "Not now, there are more important things for you to do, starting with your daughter. Cenewyg is out of the picture, and will be for a while, so it can wait."

  I nodded, "Anything else?"

  "No, but you're welcome to stay awhile and enjoy the music."

  I noticed at that moment that Rachel was with me, sitting besides me and watching the stage as well. She turned and smiled at me when I kissed her neck, and we cuddled up against each other and just shared the dream together and enjoyed the show.