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The surface ripples and clears, its magic lens focussing the image. The park, where I first began this adventure, appears. It may be night on the other side, but the path, the trees and a miserable plastic portaloo are all of Earth. A storm blows me towards the portal, even as the vortex strains to rip Sospa from my grip. Serpen’s feet leave the ground, heading for the vortex, with only Curt’s muscle keeping him in this realm.
Serpents fly through the air, smacking into wolves, bears and snakes as they pass, dragged into the swirling twister and down onto the DreamWay’s pages. Leaves, branches and rocks spin in the chaotic mix of whirling vortex and the hurricane force gale, blasting through the portal. Eagles shriek and swoop, wings bending in the wind, grasping at any bear or wolf they can lift into the air.
“Tie yourselves down,” I yell at my pack and they spring into action, leaping away from the serpent monster and grabbing onto trees, rocks and each other, claws digging into any anchor they can find.
Armpit fights the force of the vortex, winding his entire length around the trees as his serpents fly past. Crunching and snapping vies with the portal’s roaring wind as the first tree gives way under the serpent’s grip, its roots tearing out of the earth. Free of the serpent’s pull, it hurtles through the portal and into Earth, caught by the wind. The portal’s iris opens wide and the terrifying blast threatens to break all my limbs.
“Time to go,” I tell Sospa. “Ready?”
“Fly!” she yells and I try to place her through the portal. The hurricane lifts her off her feet and tosses her through the eye into Earth. She bounces and rolls on the other side, blown through the park like a discarded paper bag.
Serpen’s body rises as the vortex takes hold, but Curt’s biceps ripple and strain as he drags them both into the mouth of the portal and they whip through. Serpen lands half way up a barren tree, plummets through the snapping branches and splats into a heap in the mud. Curt thunders into the portaloo, which collapses into a pile of splintered plastic.
On our side, the trees give way, bark shredding beneath the serpent king. He whips and lashes, pouring out an inferno until the flames die in his mouth. Overflowing with rage, he stretches his neck and snatches Alpha from the pack. Dulcis leaps up, grabbing for her father, but he’s already airborne, half swallowed by Armpit’s jaws. They hang in mid air, the writhing serpent and the snarling wolf, held by the opposing magical forces of the vortex and the portal. All around them, my pack scrambles, clinging on to any anchor, fighting the portal’s force, unable to help their Alpha.
I must close the portal. Now.
I step into the wind and explode through the portal as though fired from a rocket launcher, zooming across the park until gravity takes over and drops me in an obliging tree. I cling onto the branches for dear life, gasping for breath. Below me, the smashed portaloo bounces past, followed by branches and leaves blowing through from the far realm.
Close that portal.
“The Storyteller arrived back on Earth and the portal closed behind her, staying open only enough to see the realm beyond.”
The wind dies down, so it must have worked. A dishevelled Sospa runs to her uncle and leaps into his arms. Curt staggers beneath my tree, rubbing his hip.
“Come on down,” he tells me. I’m climbing down the branches as Curt looks around. “So this is Ert. It doesn’t look any different. Except, no leaves.”
“It’s a park and it’s winter,” I reply, letting him lift me through the last few branches. “It doesn’t all look like this.”
He points at the demolished portaloo. “What was that thing? I think I broke it.”
“It’s a toilet.”
“I thought you said they were inside houses here?”
“They are. It’s a portaloo. Oh, never mind.”
“Oy, wait for me.”
I’m jogging over to the portal when a searing grief catches me unawares, tearing through my heart as though life’s being stripped away, a layer of skin at a time. I want to collapse, crawl into a ball and moan, but I need to see what’s happening in my beloved realm.
The eye of the portal is almost closed, but a lashing stream of air still pours through the tiny gap. My magical realm blurs in and out of focus, like a dying dream. My pack ducks as the last of the serpents fly over their heads and into the vortex, fading into the DreamWay.
“Parco,” yells Curt, sprinting towards the portal as he spots his brother kicking and clawing in the mouth of the serpent.
Wolves and bears reach for their Alpha, but the serpent holds tight, determined to take the struggling wolf with him into the book, if that were possible. Fidus pounds across the mud and takes a flying leap with all his strength, landing on Armpit’s sweeping tail. Digging breaking claws into razor sharp scales, he climbs the length of the serpent until he reaches the wavering head and clamps his teeth into an exposed nostril. Armpit hollers in agony and his mouth opens. Alpha plummets, landing on a carpet of his pack, assembled below. Big Wolf howls at his son. Fidus snatches the fading amulet, breaking the chain, and leaps away from the writhing serpent, crashing into the dirt. Primus grabs Fidus by the scruff of the neck and hauls him clear of the lashing tail, the amulet clamped between his brother’s teeth.
Shuddering, Armpit strikes out at the surrounding pack, but he’s clearly weakening. Dark magic drained, the thrashing serpent shrinks into a writhing creature of slime and mould, then back to a naked, shivering human. His eyes widen with horror and his fingernails claw at the mud as his body lifts off the ground, hurtles twice around the spinning vortex and finally sucks into the DreamWay with a terminal squelch.
Kit peers down at the book, nods and slams it shut, severing the vortex’s hold. He looks up at me through the blurry portal and smiles. I smile back, but my joy falters as fear sweeps across his face.
“Storyteller,” he whines, adding a pitiful mew to the last syllable.
I understand, my friend. You’re done.
“Kit, it’s alright,” I cry out. “I love you. Thank you.”
The tigerlion sways three times and collapses, all four paws splaying out as his head hits the mud. Yellfire’s wolf pokes at the unconscious cat, sighs and rolls her wolf eyes.
The pack stare down at Alpha as Dulcis nudges her father’s side and whimpers. Mama Bear sprints over with her medicine bag, but before she can treat him, Alpha yowls and clambers to his paws, licking at puncture holes from giant fangs. The relieved pack howl and hiss.
Curt cheers beside me.
With Armpit’s hold broken, confused eagles gently drop their victims and land, shaking feathered heads as though straining to throw off a nightmare. Wings and Gulid, beaten, bruised and exhausted, land amongst them, squawking in triumph.
“Are they gone? Really?” asks Serpen, still clutching Sospa in his arms.
“Yes. It’s done,” I reply, relief vying with an ominous sense of a story yet to finish.
“Nana Yelena,” Sospa yells, leaping from her uncle’s embrace and dashing towards the portal. The force of magic, squeezed into a thin, but violent stream, throws her back like a water cannon.
“Sospa.” Serpen dusts her down, dabbing at bleeding knees with his coat sleeves.
“I want to go home,” Sospa shrieks, shaking her fists at the portal as though it’s her enemy.
Yellfire’s head springs up, staring at the girl. She sprints over to her pile of clothes, changing en route. “Get ready,” Yelena hollers at the pack. “Form the love chain. Bring them back!”
