Project Brimstone

by Paul B Spence

  Harrison shifted position to fire on the gunner in the machine gun nest, then on the ammo loader who scrambled to help him. Their position hadn't been provided with cover from plunging fire, another sign of how lazy the enemy had become.

  A quick glance showed swirling chaos down below, but at least Raven and Anton weren't on the scaffold any longer. He hoped that meant Jonas was getting them to safety. Some of the villagers weren't following the plan and falling back. They were fighting hand-to- hand with the soldiers. Harrison shot any soldier that he could, but the villagers kept getting in the way.

  "Damn it!"

  He ran along the wall, shooting two more soldiers on the walls who were trying to find targets in the crowd below. He jumped down to the top of the stables and crouched, shooting another soldier before something hit him in the side hard enough to knock him off the roof. He hit the ground with a thud and lay stunned for a moment before reaching with his left hand to feel where he'd been shot. The rifle bullet hadn't penetrated his body armor, but it felt as if he'd broken a few ribs on that side, and maybe the ceramic plate.

  He could hear more gunfire now as the villagers were routed and forced back through the breach in the wall. He forced himself up and limped over to the machine gun nest. With the gunners dead, the other soldiers hadn't thought to re-man it. Their mistake.

  In operation, it was much like the .30-caliber machine guns he'd used in basic, water-cooled and meant to have both a gunner and a loader. Well, he'd have to make do without the loader. He draped the heavy belt of bullets over his arm and opened up on the courtyard. He winced every time he passed over one of the villagers, but they'd been warned to get out of the keep, and he wasn't going to miss a chance to end the enemy soldiers once and for all. He saw the soldiers who had reached the wall breach hesitate and look back, and then the boys outside opened up with their volley. The soldiers were cut down en masse.

  He ran out of targets before he ran out of ammunition. He opened the gun up and jammed a shell in backwards, then shot the water jacket full of holes with his pistol. That should keep anyone from using it again.

  Motion caught his eye, and he began cursing. One of the soldiers, better dressed than the others, was dragging Raven through a door in the side of the keep. He was probably the commander. If he had access to a device to escape this universe, he'd probably take Raven with him for insurance, and then Harrison would never get him back.

  Harrison jumped down out of the machine gun nest, wincing as his broken ribs grated. He ran across the courtyard, ignoring the screaming cries for help from the wounded. He had to get to Raven before it was too late.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Harrison opened the door with his foot and jerked back as a large hole was blasted out of it at chest level. He hadn't counted on anyone having a shotgun.

  Such is life.

  "Look, I'm sure we can work this out!"

  He was answered with another shotgun blast.

  Harrison kicked the door and dove into the room. He was about to shoot when his eyes met the enemy commander's, and he found himself unable to move. There was something in the man's eyes that shook Harrison to his core.

  The commander was trying to load another shell into his shotgun when Raven kicked out with his good leg. The commander dropped his shell and stumbled, and Harrison snapped out of his mental fog and blew the man's head off with his rifle.

  "You okay, Raven?"

  "Been better," Raven said. "Been worse. Untie me?"

  Harrison knelt down and worked the knots loose. He would have used his knife, but he remembered Raven's reaction to steel.

  "Anyone else in here?" he asked. Sacks of grain had been spilled here and there around the room. Even without the smell of gunpowder, blood, and voided bowels, the room was rich with pungent odors.

  "Not that I know of," replied Raven. "Was that you shooting out there?"

  "Yes." Harrison finished untying the knots. "Can you stand?"

  "Uh, maybe not so much at the moment." Raven propped himself up, but he appeared weak.

  "Okay, stay here."

  "I'm not going anywhere."

  "Are the women from the villages in here?"

  "They hold them locked in a room in the back," Raven said, his voice leaden with disapproval.

  "I'll go look for Anton and let the others know it's over."

  Harrison left the room and cautiously approached the breach. A bullet pinged off the wall to his right, and he ducked down.

  "It's over!" he shouted.

  "Michael! Is that you?" He recognized Jonas' voice.

  "Yes, Jonas. Is Anton out there with you?"

  "Yes, he is. I am sorry, but one of the soldiers took the other man before we could get to him."

  "It's okay. I dealt with the commander. Raven is safe. There are a lot of wounded in here. Come and see to them."

  Jonas peered in through the breach. "It is good to see you whole, Michael."

  "It's good to be whole, Jonas." Mostly whole, he thought. His ribs hurt. "Can you send Anton in? Raven needs some attention."

  "Bert took a bullet to the leg. Anton is mending him."

  "I am here, Harrison," Anton boomed. He came up behind Jonas. "I am finished with Bert. What is this about Raven being hurt?"

  "His leg wound is bleeding again. He's in the keep."

  "Lead. I will follow."

  Harrison could sense Anton wanting to stop and help the other wounded, but he didn't slow down. He didn't care about the enemy soldiers, and the villagers could take care of their own. The sooner they got Raven patched up , the sooner they could get out of this place. Harrison was starting to feel a building pressure to get back home. He'd been gone for more than a week, and he was no closer to home now than he had been before meeting Raven, maybe even farther.

  "Are you hurt, Harrison?" asked Anton. "You walk like you're hurt."

  "It's nothing," Harrison said. "I was shot, and I broke a few ribs."

  "Nothing, he says."

  "I'm not bleeding, Anton. See to Raven first, and then we'll see what we can do about my ribs."

  Anton grumbled in Russian but followed Harrison up the stairs into the keep. Raven wasn't where Harrison had left him.

  "Damn it, Raven, where are you?" he called.

  "I'm here," Raven called back. He limped around the corner, carrying his rifle. "I had to get my stuff."

  "You get your Door device, too?" said Harrison.

  "I did – Ow!" Anton was poking Raven's wounded leg.

  "Sit," Anton ordered. Raven sat.

  "Hey, are you guys okay?" Gillian called as she enter the room.

  "What are you doing here?" asked Harrison.

  "I heard the fighting was over and wanted to come see if you were okay."

  "Not too much the worse for wear," Harrison said, sitting down slowly. "You didn't get much of an introduction before, but the big guy is Anton, and the pretty one is Raven."

  "Hey!" Raven complained.

  "Hold still," grumbled Anton.

  "I remember them," Gillian said. "Sorry about the storm, guys. It was a real doozy."

  "Speaking of such things," Harrison began, "now that we're back together, I'd like to talk a little about what we're going to do from here on. I, for one, would like to get home. I just don't know how to do that."

  "I think we all want that," Anton said, looking up.

  "I'd really like to try to find Simone," said Raven. "I'll understand if you don't all share my enthusiasm. You've already helped me far more than I could have ever hoped for."

  "Well, the big problem I see for all of us is how to get where we want to go. The wrist device that I have may or may not work for more than one person. I've never tried it. I do know that it seems to lack fine discretion. I got close to home once, but the coordinates on either side of it were much different. I may not be able to get back that way." Harrison paused to shift his position to one where he could breathe easier. "Raven, you still have the Door device, but tha
t could bring down the wrath of your enemies on us, and you don't even know how to select for a specific place. Gillian, you can call a reality storm, but you said they're rare, only a few per year, at most. If you could call one, how long would it take get here? And would we have any more luck at navigating? Or is it just haphazard?"

  "Um.. Since a storm just passed through here, it would probably be six months or more before another one came near enough to call closer."

  "Damn," Harrison said with a sigh. "So our only real option is to use the Door device and hope for the best."

  "We'd have to be ready to fight," Anton said. "You and Raven are not ready for such, and I am not one to take a life. Not even scum like them."

  "Without knowing how to use the Door device properly, it would be suicide," Raven added.

  "I don't see that we have much choice, do you?"

  Gillian sighed loudly. "I didn't want to have to say this, but I haven't been entirely honest."

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  It was probably a sign of the kind of week he'd had that Harrison wasn't even surprised. She was too damn perfect not to have some flaws. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

  "I mean that I know more about all of this than I've said."

  Raven didn't quite point his rifle at her. "Go on."

  Harrison glared at Raven until he lowered his weapon.

  "I know another way to navigate the Realms," Gillian said.

  "Some way other than your storms?"

  She nodded. "The storms, I discovered accidentally. I have met a few others who ride them, but no others who can call them to wherever they are. The storms only exist through a narrow corridor of Realms. They don't go very far north or south. They are other...ways. Paths through the Realms that few know about and fewer can navigate."

  "And how do you know about them?" asked Harrison.

  "I'm not like other people. My people are... ancient," Gillian said.

  "So you're not from Georgia."

  "I only said I went to Georgia Tech, which I did. I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you everything."

  "So where are you from, exactly?"

  "The Ruined Courts, forever falling around the Great Om-phalos, the wellspring of worlds."

  "The what?" Harrison responded, looking at the others to see if they understood what she was talking about.

  "You asked. That is what it's called, my home."

  "And you?"

  "I was Gillian Novakoph on Earth. I am of House Torenvey in the Courts. Gillian is as close as English comes to translating my name. I was initiated into the mysteries of the Om-phalos when I came of age. I had heard of the education available in the more stable northern Realms, and went there to learn what I could. It was there I was caught in a reality storm, and my real journey began. I told you about that already."

  "If I knew more about what you were talking about...," said Harrison. "Raven? Anton?"

  "I haven't any idea," Raven said. He looked more confused than worried, and Harrison relaxed a little.

  "I heard of a place called this once, a long time ago." Anton shrugged. "Was even more of a myth than the Plaza of Worlds."

  "The Plaza of the Worlds," Gillian corrected. "The Plaza is just a legend to my people, but I have heard that it is a very real place, or, at least it was a real place at one time."

  "Heard?"

  Gillian shrugged. "I've been wandering the Realms for fifteen years. I've picked things up. I've met other travelers who knew more about such things. It lies far to the south, if it exists at all."

  "Why do you refer to different worlds by north or south?"

  "That's just how we were taught to think of it. It helps when navigating the Realms if you can hold an image of some kind in your mind. I use something similar to two trees with laced branches." She demonstrated with her fingers. "I'm sure it's different for other people."

  Harrison shook himself. "Okay, so the gist of what you're saying is that we don't have to use the Doors to get where we want to go, right?"

  "Right."

  "Okay, I can work with that."

  "So that's it?" Raven said. "I'd like to know a lot more before we trust her."

  "Do any of us really know that much about each other?" Harrison asked. "Gillian stayed and helped us when she could have left at any time. That's enough for me. I trust her."

  "Thank you, Michael," Gillian said quietly.

  Raven sighed. "I guess we haven't got any real choice. We aren't in any shape to try the Doors. So what now?"

  "Raven, you and Harrison are in no condition to travel," said Anton.

  "What's wrong with you?" Gillian asked Harrison.

  "I broke a few ribs when I was shot. I'll live."

  Anton shook his head. "I say we rest here, if the villagers will let us. Then we see if we can find Simone and Deegan."

  "You mentioned him before," said Harrison. "So who is this Deegan?"

  "Good question," Raven said. "When I first met him, it was on a world where everything was going to hell. He helped try to fix the situation. Later he showed up at the JRC, but he wasn't a part of what was going on there. He was investigating it. He had his own unique way of getting around. He didn't use the Doors."

  "This place was an Earth?" asked Gillian.

  "No," Raven answered, shaking his head. "It was a distant world colonized by humans. They'd had spaceflight for hundreds of years there."

  "And you got there by going through a Door?"

  "Yes. Why?"

  "I'm going to have to reevaluate the JRC," Gillian said. "I'd dismissed it as a simple nexus of Waypoints, but if the JRC can open Doors on non-Earth worlds... This could be a dangerous thing."

  "Well, I think we can all agree the JRC is dangerous," said Harrison. "Raven, you still haven't said why we should be looking for Deegan."

  "Deegan can look at a person and know where they're from. I think he could help us all get home."

  "And you think he'll help us?"

  "I think so, although I don't know what he may want in return."

  They were considering that when a young man poked his head in the door. "Michael?"

  "Yes? Bart, right?"

  "Yes, sir. Jonas has asked if you would come and talk. We're trying to figure what to do with the wounded enemy soldiers."

  "Okay, I'll be right out." Harrison stood with a slight grunt of pain. He wasn't doing too badly, all things considered. "How about we meet back at the village? I'll stay and tidy things up."

  "I will help with the wounded," Anton said.

  "I'll check on the women, let them know they can come out," said Gillian.

  Harrison nodded. He was more tired than he'd realized. "I'll broach the subject with our hosts about staying for a bit. I don't want to stay too long, though. As much as they needed our help, sooner or later they will begin to resent us. We are outsiders, and we brought death on a scale they hadn't seen before."

  "I could travel later today, if we go slow," Raven said.

  Anton just sighed and shook his head.

  "That might be for the best," said Harrison. "Raven, you didn't happen to learn how these soldiers got here, did you?"

  "No. I don't think they knew."

  "I overheard them say something about walking through a hole in the world," Anton said. "They were not inclined to discuss it with us."

  "Well, at least the people here will be better prepared if it happens again."

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  The night air was cool as they made their way from the village.

  The villagers had been gracious and had given them food and drink for their journey, but Harrison could tell they were glad to see him and his companions leave. The carnage at the keep had been something that none of the villagers had ever seen before, and more than one of them had made devil horns at Harrison for his role as the Angel of Death. Raven and Anton didn't fare much better, since they were a constant reminder of the family who had died for sheltering them.

  "So how does t
his work?" Harrison asked Gillian as they walked the dirt road.

  "It's hard to say," Gillian said. "I have to work it out by how it feels. It helps to move physically south, but that's purely a product of my own personal metaphor."

  "What happens if you walk east or west?" Raven asked. Raven had cut a walking stick, but it was obvious to Harrison that he was still in a lot of pain.

  "Again, it doesn't really matter, but for me that's how I work my way through Realms that are very similar. For instance, if I was on your Earth, I could walk east or west to mine, at least theoretically."

  "How do you know if you're going in the right direction?"

  "I just do. I know that isn't a very satisfying answer, but I think it's tied up in the nature of my initiation into the mysteries of the Om-phalos. I can always sense when I am traveling toward the wellspring, the Great Om-phalos, home."

  "You say its name with almost religious reverence," said Raven.

  "If your god were a physical being that you could see in the sky, you'd have rather strong beliefs, too."

  "Hmm," was all Raven said in reply.

  "When you say physical being, what do you mean, exactly?" asked Harrison. He was imagining a giant sky-daddy.

  "The Om-phalos is like a great whirlpool, forever falling into the Eye. Our worlds are sheltered by the Cliffs of Matter. From the Om-phalos, all things are formed."

  "Sounds kind of like a black hole," Harrison said.

  "I took some astronomy courses," Gillian replied. "There is no comparison."

  Harrison shrugged. It didn't really matter as long as it worked. "So what now?"

  "We walk," said Gillian.

  "I mean, when do we start moving into these other worlds?"

  "We already have."

  Harrison looked around, startled. "This isn't the same world?" He hadn't felt anything. Whatever she was doing, it obviously felt better than the other methods of universe travel he'd experienced.

  "No, we've already transited twice. I would move us faster, but the thin spots are sparse, north of the Dancing Mountains. Once we get into the Southern Realms, things will go faster."