Chapter Eleven

Where are you wandering to, little fools

Itchy little wasps sucking rotting flowers

From Wasps by Ho Xuan Huong

Translated from the classical Chinese and Nôem by Marilyn Chin

Stepping through the Vortex felt like walking through one of those giant bubbles of liquid soap; filmy and sticky, yet remarkably fresh. I finally felt like I could draw a complete, clean lungful of breath for the first time in what I knew was moments, but had felt like ages. Not to mention that I was now fully aware of every iota of knowledge I had gleaned, not only from my Na-Nan, as she called herself, but from the Sphere of Knowledge I now possessed, as well as the pages from the Book of The Way that I had ingested.

“You’ll not succeed,” Lady Arwin screeched from behind the Vortex walls. “They’ll use you up and spit you out like an overused gamboling Zombie. You’ll be just one more piece of cannon fodder in an endless list of forgotten names. Do you hear me, child?” she bellowed.

My gaze found Xavier’s, and for one small measure of a moment I considered Lady Arwin’s words while I watched the knowledge fade from his face. While I watched the years of subterfuge and strategies flow behind his eyes. A lifetime of Other Worlds games — Rise and Conquer, Defeat and Peril. It was all there, each pain, every uncertainty and every death ran the gamut of emotions behind the splendor of Judge Trollness’ eyes. For the first time since I’d known Xavier Drae, I wondered whose side he was truly on. Theirs, ours, or his own?

The sizzling burst of an explosion directly behind me broke my revere. The cell we stood in shook to the core of its foundation. Dust rained and soot smoldered. I turned just as another dark, fiery blast rocked the walls surrounding the Vortex.

“You’ll never leave here alive, Rihker! We’ll all perish in this hell-hole before I allow you to leave with the knowledge to save the Light,” Lady Arwin swore. “Not when I have worked so long to turn it over to the Darkness.”

She was screeching again, her voice like claws along the flesh. I turned back to see her dark form floating, like an elusive shadow filled with hate, above the chamber of her cell, despite her burned up wings. Venom in the form of wrath spewed from her lips. Power erupted from the snake like tendrils of mist that clung all around her. She appeared more a black halo of death than a debunked child of Light. Each blast of power she threw at us grew more vigorous than the last. The Vortex quaked with the aftershocks. The chamber began to shake and crumble as each explosion rocked the dark world around us.

“We need to leave this place.” It was Xavier, his hand strong and stern on my shoulder. His words of urgency pulled me back from the displacement my mind had traversed. With one last glance, I watched Lady Arwin, watched her descent, her free-fall into the deep end of the abyss.

“What if she succeeds and gets out of that box?” Gimlit questioned. He had his sword drawn before him, each arm rigid with tension, muscles tight with strife. My thinker was in battle mode, ready for the end, or the beginning, I wasn’t sure which. A good fight was never feared by an Ogre, least of all my Guardian. But, it was a good question to ask. What if she did escape the Vortex? What then? Could we allow her Darkness to be set free? Could we allow her hatred to spread amongst the human world? If the Other World could not contain her, how were the poor, meek humans to survive her brand of Darkness?

Xavier was two steps from the door to the chamber, Jade, with his pale eyes watchful was seriously considering a retreat as well, despite the battle stance that he bore. In the pit of my stomach I too wanted to bail, but what then? That was the million dollar question. Too bad the next blast of dark power against the side of the Vortex wall left us no time for answers.

The chamber rocked and shuddered like it had been struck by an earthquake. We all staggered while the roof rained pebbled dust all around us. I had to close my eyes and hold my breath to avoid the haze. It was that, or suck it in and having it coat my vision. Call me crazy, but breathing and seeing sounded like much better options. When I was finally able to open my eyes again, I watched, horrified, as the Vortex rumbled. The outer shield rippled like a skipping rock across the perfect glass sheet of a still lake, its surface quaking. In its wake, a gaping, circular hole.

Lady Arwin’s laughter ripped through the chamber and Xavier was suddenly beside me, a sword and shield I hadn’t known he carried clenched tightly in each hand. The sudden appearance of Drae’s weaponry made me wonder where he’d kept them hidden. What other weapons he had secreted about his person. I had known that Trolls were warring creatures, but this just proved how battle ready they really were. It was something to remember for future reference. Especially where Drae was concerned.

I briefly considered what Xavier Drae was really like beyond the persona of his three-piece suit and matching tie. Beyond the image of Silent Court lackey. It made me think of what he may have been like before war and reason brought the Other World into the lives of men.

“May the Prophets have mercy upon us all, should she escape this chamber,” he stated. The gruff seriousness of his voice trampled down my spine and jammed itself like a fist in the pit of my gut.

Who knows, maybe I’d get to see what Drae was made of after all. Scary thought, that. Just goes to show how shitty this escapade was becoming. This close to Halloween, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Even I knew the fabric between the Light and the Darkness grows most thin this close to All Hallows Eve. Death, madness and Darkness just all seemed to go hand in hand.

Jade had stripped down to his jeans and was already morphed into Werewolf mode. His elongated jaw showed the line of sharp canines, his glorious chest a froth of silver-grey hair. His hands and fingers had grown into the extended, razor-sharp claws that I knew could and would tear up an opponent and leave them bleeding and worthless as they begged for their life.

With all of their battle readiness, all of their brute strength and warrior code, I knew that this fight, despite my grandmother’s grandiose arraignment of illusion and magical subterfuge, would be a quiet fight of skill, intellect and downright blatant will to succeed and survive. In a nutshell, it was just her and me.

Here’s hoping that the Sphere had shown me the Way. And, that I wasn’t about to burn my ass in an antechamber of Hell.