The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
-Samuel Johnson
I laid in bed in a stupor oblivious to the world for all of 2 hours when I was abruptly shaken awake by a hand on my shoulder.
"Ugh men emblem emf mi,[or." OK I don't wake up the most intelligent person in the world, but hey I said I was exhausted and I had only been asleep for 2 hours. I opened my eye, the left one; the right one was on strike and told me where to go, to see Farren standing over me. He had changed out of his suit and was wearing rough homespun clothing that looked like it could wear for a long time before you could ever get any comfort out of it.
"Clark the time has come for us to go." He said in a whisper.
"What the hell, it's the middle of the night." I managed to croak out in a half dead voice, which was good since I felt all dead right then.
"There is no time to explain the intricate situation we find ourselves in, we must go now." Saying this Farren pulled me from the bed, he was much stronger then I gave him credit for. Dragging me behind him, he opened the door and peered furtively in both directions before leading me into the hallway outside my apartment. We went to the up lift and went to level 17 and proceeded to the gateway room where I had spent the day training.
Rushing through the room we passed the sound shield and went all the way to the back of the room. In the left corner of the room was a large pile of various supplies and equipment put there in preparation for some upcoming mission. Farren went around behind the pile and there in the very corner of the room was a small door.
"This is pretty damn strange Farren, where is Tomos? I thought this was supposed to be my first training mission with a full team to support me?"
"There is no time Clark, things have changed, it would appear that things are not as they seem here."
"What is that supposed to mean? Did you dream something? Are we in danger, give me details damn-it!"
"View these and prepare to open a gateway." He said thrusting a sheaf of papers into my hands. I looked down at the papers and shuffled them to see what was on them. Each one was for a different realm, all the information I needed to make the gateway to that realm.
"The one on top is the only one you need for now, this is where we will be going first." He said in an agitated voice."
"What about..."
"ENOUGH!" Farren yelled, then he looked around the room with a scared look on his face, he lowered his voice. "We have no time, if we don't go now we will be trapped here. It is imperative that we not allow that to happen. Bad things will come to be if we are trapped here."
Suddenly loud voices came from the other side of the piled supplies and equipment. "......everywhere to make sure they are not here."
I peeked around a large crate to see at least twelve men coming through the sound barrier, fanning out to search the room. Presumably they were looking for us. I ducked back behind the crate and looked at Farren's frightened face.
"Well why didn't you say so? Let's get the hell out of here." I said in a whisper walking to the door. I set the required information in my mind and reached down inside myself and felt the now familiar power grow. Felt the tingle begin in my left hand as I reached out and grabbed the door knob. My whole body tingled as my hand contacted the knob and I twisted it and opened the door. Beyond was a small room with dim lights. Farren passed me and went through the door into the room and I followed pulling the door closed behind me. As the door closed I released the power and felt the knob grow cool in my hand as the gateway closed.
The lights come up in the room and I looked around to see where I was. It was a small room with a single desk in the center of it. No other furnishings were in the room and the walls were unadorned and plain with no windows. Well of course there were no windows we were still 17 levels below ground, just in a different realm. The only door was the one we had just come through; I opened it and looked out into an empty hallway, then closed it. Cool I knew that I could use any door to open a gateway to or from, but it's not the same as seeing it for myself.
Farren went to the desk and sat down behind it in the chair, the only chair in the room I might add and I could definitely use a chair right now.
"Okay enough of this, tell me what the hell is going on."
"At this time all I know is that I dreamed that people who meant you harm would come for you tonight in an attempt to prevent you from going on your first mission. I can't predict the future because it is always changing and there are many variables which change. All I can do is see one of many possible futures, and every action that I take or that is taken because I saw that possible future changes it further. It is a never ending cycle, for every action that is taken there is a different action that could have been taken which would result in another realm splitting off." He sighed deeply, "It can be and is very confusing at times. And you must remember I can't see the future I only see what is revealed in my dreams. So I must act upon what I saw in the Dream, while sleeping, with no knowledge of how things will turn out until I Dream again. Do not dwell on it too long or you will go crazy, it is like the dog chasing his tail, there is never an end to it."
"So what do we do now? I'm exhausted and don't know how much longer I can keep going." I said in my best hero not whining at all voice.
"I have made arraignments. We used the only door in the gateway room that is not monitored by the monitors. They will know that we entered the room and when they see that we did not use any of the permanent doors they will check the records on all the other doors. When they find no record of us using them they will know that we used the unmonitored door, but it will take them a long time to determine where we went. And by then we will be long gone." He stood up from the desk and crossed back to stand beside me in front of the door. "Now quickly go to the next realm in the papers I gave you and open the gateway there. We have further to journey this night."
With a sigh I moved the front paper to the back and looked at the next in line. Feeling the power grow in me I reached for the knob and went through the process of establishing and opening a gate for the second time in a few minutes. The next few hours were a hazy blur of stations and substations as I went through the whole stack of papers to more than a score of realms. Some of them we entered a station, though none as large as Center, and we had to leave quickly and quietly. Some were substations like the first one was and no one was there to worry about. We rested at one of the substations for a few minutes, other than that we went from realm to realm one after the other in what seemed like an endless progression.
The last realm we entered the substation appeared to have been unused for some time. It was dusty and smelled stale and old. Somewhere along the way we had picked up packs which we carried on our backs as we left the substation. It was a cool clear night and we appeared to be totally alone. No lights shown from anywhere and the sky was full of more stars then I had ever been able to see before, the moon was full and bright shining its light through the trees to guide us as Farren led us away.
"We have friends who will be meeting us here in this realm." He said from in front of me.
"I sure hope they're not far, because I am getting sick and tired of all this running around. I trained all day and then opened gateways all night; I don't think I can take too much more before I drop." I was so exhausted I knew I was at the end of my rope. I just learned to control and use my ability today and I was on serious overload with all I had been doing.
"It will not be much farther Clark, we are almost there and you can sleep then."
I'm sure I must have fallen asleep while walking because it seemed that no sooner did he say it then we entered an empty clearing in the forest. The moon lit the clearing except for shadows from the trees surrounding us, or at least that is what I thought till several of those shadows approached us.
"Greetings Westal I am pleased to see you have arrived. I trust that your journey was better
than ours." Farren said to the man who stepped forward. I didn't care who he was right now and if he wanted to kill me he was going to have to wake me up to do it. I dropped my pack to the ground and collapsed beside it, slumping over onto it. The last thing I was aware of was Farren turning to me as I shut my eyes and passed out.
Growing up as the son of a man-of-arms of the king had its advantages. Since he could walk Westal had been trained to use a sword. Many endless hours had been spent in training with the various trainers and arms men. But because he has never trained with a group he was not really suitable for a men-at-arms position, he hated standing in a line waiting to be attacked. He was one of the best swordsmen in the realm as an individual but when it came to fighting in formation and marching in step with a legion he was not interested. This combined with his natural distrust of most others made him a loner. Which also made him an enigma to everyone else, and that just made him more inexplicable.
So he became a traveling swordsman, not a sword for hire, but a kind of paladin.
Westal traveled the land, righting wrongs, protecting the weak and defending the good people from the bad. He was technically a warder of the kingdom in the employ of the king. This meant that he had free range of the kingdom and enforced the king's laws wherever he went. He was the judge and jury in all matters and when needed the executioner.
He came to the attention of the agency when he was twenty two and he came upon brigands besieging a caravan that a group of agents were in. The traveler with them was a knocker and they had no way out of that realm, and it was looking like they had no way to escape at all. Most of the guards had already been killed and it was down to just the merchants and the agents and a few guards. Twenty five outlaws, deserters and cutthroats surrounded the group huddled behind the wagons of the caravan. No hope of escape or winning against such odds. The caravan master raised a white square of cloth on a broken lance picked up where it had fallen from the dead hand of one of his guards, in the universal sign of surrender. A shout rose from the throats of the attackers as they saw the white flag. The leader raised his hand and signaled his men to stop the attack. Yelling loud he said "Come forth and be counted craven merchants." The outlaws closed in as the remaining caravaners and agents stood up and stepped out from behind their hiding places in the circle of merchants wagons. They were grabbed roughly by the outlaws and their hands were tied behind their backs and then they were forced down onto their knees. The leader an evil looking man with slanted eyes who wore his hair slicked back with grease that made him smell like a rancid dead thing, stepped forward and looked down on the caravan master. He stared at the caravan master with contempt on his face. "You filthy money grubber, five of my men are dead because of you. I gave you the chance to surrender and save lives in the beginning and you refused."
Behind the leader a man suddenly appeared at the edge of the forest as if from thin air. His cloak the same shade of green as the surrounding foliage made him nearly impossible to see. All the outlaws focused on their leader as he pulled his dagger and in one motion slashed across the caravan masters face opening his cheek to the bone in a deep cut. The caravan master let out a scream of pain and all of the outlaws roared with laughter, none of them noticing as the man in the cloak came up behind the man farthest from the front and slide his dagger across his throat and eased his body to the ground in silence. The brigand leader grabbed the caravan master's right ear in his left hand and pulled it out away from his head, raised his dagger and yelled "What is the pleasure of the group?" As the crowd of outlaws roared "take the ear", the caravan masters eyes grew wide. The outlaw leader smiled a cruel smile as he looked into the caravan masters eyes, till he realized that the caravan master was looking past the outlaw leader. He began lowering his dagger as he turned to look behind himself, then his eyes grew wide. He let go of the caravan masters ear and spun around at what he had seen. The man in the cloak was wading through his men with a dagger in each hand delivering killing strokes left and right. Swinging his daggers back and forth the man came toward him, each movement of his arms dealing death to an outlaw.
The leader screamed "Kill him!" pointing at the man in the cloak. The outlaws surged toward the man as he threw the dagger in his right hand at the nearest one striking him in the chest; then the cloaked man drew his sword as the impaled man fell. The man with the cloak became a blur of motion to fast to follow as he rushed forward to meet the oncoming brigands. His sword and dagger dealt out death to all who came within his reach. Three attacked him at once, one on the left, one on the right and one straight on in front of him. These three had fought together many times for years and knew how to take down a single opponent. The one on the left swung his sword in a slash at the man in the cloaks neck designed to separate his head from his body, while the one on the right thrust at his right arm pit. Meanwhile the one in front came in with an overhand blow designed to cleave the man in the cloak from head to tail. The stranger blocked the slash coming from his left with his dagger, catching the sword close to the hilt. He batted the sword thrusting from his right with his sword and kicked the man in front of him in his right knee with his left foot. Pivoting on his right foot spinning faster than the eye could follow his dagger sliced across the throat of the man in front of him as he started to collapse on his broken knee, continuing to spin till he was facing back the way he had come, his sword flashing out at the man who had been on his left decapitating him just as the outlaw had tried to do to him. His dagger in his left hand embedded itself in the neck of the man who had attempted to impale him; leaving it there he grabbed the outlaw's sword from his suddenly limp hand. Now armed with a long sword in each hand he charged into the remaining brigands swiftly ending their sorry lives. In less time than it takes to tell he stood in front of a stunned outlaw leader who stood there with his dagger in his hand and his mouth open in shock. He just watched one lone man butcher twenty five hardened heavily armed criminals as if they were defenseless babes. In all of his life he had never seen such a sight. It was the most masterful thing he had ever witnessed. Then his face grew grim as it occurred to him that it was the last thing that he would ever see. Looking down at the red stain spreading across his chest he could only think, 'I did not even see him move, how could he do that so fast.....'
Standing in front of the caravan master and the agents the man in the cloak said "I am Westal a Warden of the King." Wiping his sword clean on the clothes of the man whose blood covered it, he sheathed it in one motion. Then he used the sword he had taken from the brigand to slice the bonds on the caravan master and the others. As the agents stood they looked at each other in awe at what they had seen. This man was the best they had ever seen. And many of these agents had been on hundreds of worlds where swords were the main weapon of choice. They had seen thousands of swordsmen and none had compared to this man with a sword. In fact they could think of no one on any of the realms who had his speed. They imagined him with a gun in his hand and tried to think of the fastest gun slinger in the realms where the gun was the main weapon. But none of them could think of ever seeing anyone with the kind of speed that made their body blur to the human eye. They did not even think that the speed they had seen this man display was even possible. It was obvious that they needed to recruit him for the agency.
As they set around the camp fire having eaten a hearty meal, exhausted from the task of burying the dead, the agents set about the monumental task of recruiting Westal. It was no easy task to recruit anyone from the sword worlds because it was so hard to explain the existence of other realms let alone the whole Multiverse. But to attempt to recruit a man who was at the top of the food chain so to speak was very difficult. After all the man was an agent of the highest level to the king. Everyone except the king looked up to him; he had complete control over everything in his life. Unless he drew the anger of the king he would continue to be the main force to be dealt with till he became too old or physically infirm to do his duties, at which point he would settle d
own on whatever land his king choose to give him. And since Westal was the best of the best he would be rewarded handsomely for his service. This would not be an easy task for the agents.
Nothing, which was something that I was getting used to, does that even make sense? Well it makes as much sense as everything else that was going on in my life. With everything going on I had not even had time to start my novel. Start my novel, what the hell, who was I kidding? I was away from home without my computer, or I was lying in bed in a drug induced hallucination. This was not working out the way I had intended. But what did I expect; it is pretty hard to write when you're popping in and out of existence, or opening and jumping through gates, or slipping in and out of reality, whichever the case may be. I still can't believe how much my life has changed in the last few days. Multiverse, alternate universes, realms, hell I had never even heard the terms before let alone known what they were.
I woke to see the sun starting to peek over the horizon. Sitting up my body complained from the long night spent on the ground. I definitely was not used to this. But if I could travel between alternate realities I am sure that I could get accustomed to anything as mundane as sleeping on the ground. Although an air mattress would have been nice.
The fall foliage was more breathtaking then any I had ever seen. The colors brighter and more varied then what I was used to seeing on my own realm. I was really surprised that there was such a difference in the realms. I mean after all this was still earth that I was on. They tell me it is something to do with the amount of minerals in the soil, and the amount of pollutants in the air, or the lack thereof. Some realms that have never had humans seem so strange; the Delta Sector is totally devoid of human life, except for the interlopers from the agency or the rebels. The forest were so lush and thick, the air so clean and clear. I really enjoyed the clear colors and the crisp morning air. Although as the memory of last night came back to me I wasn't so sure that I was going to enjoy this realm as much as I could. I doubted that I would be here long enough to get use to this realm.
"Good Morning Clark."
"Morning Farren, but I don't know about good." I said feeling cranky at best.
"We should get a move on we have a long way to go. I want to make it as far as Metazorlan before night fall."
"Look the sun is just coming up. I'm not a big breakfast eater normally but I'm starving. And I don't even get dressed till I have had my coffee. So just keep your pants on."
Farren Olivera grabbed up a leather pouch and tossed it to me. "Break fast with this. We have no time for any more. And as for coffee, you should know that on this realm coffee was never discovered. The coffee plant originated in the Arabian Peninsula in most realms, on this realm the peninsula was not settled at the right time and if the plant ever existed it was never discovered." Turning his head to hide the smile spreading across his face Farren waited for the outburst he knew was coming from Clark.
"What the hell! No coffee! What kind of road trip is this?" Opening the pouch and reaching in I pulled out a small loaf of hard bread and cheese.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me. You have to be the worst host ever." Clark grumbled as he bit into the bread and followed it with a piece of cheese. Actually it was fairly good to be honest, which he did not want to be right now.
"In the realm from which you hail from is it customary to begin the day with prayer?"
"Well some do I believe but not me. I have always been a go my own way kind of guy."
"Then I see no reason for you to be destroying the silence of the forest with endless prattle. Become silent and let us be on our way."
Oh great of all the Dreamers out there in all the alternate universes and I have to get stuck with the stoic type, just my luck.
Well I do need to get going. Because the only way I have of getting out of here is finding a door, and evidently the substation wouldn't do. Not that this is a bad place, I just think I can think of a few others that I would rather be.
As Farren started gathering all of our supplies and preparing to move on, I took the opportunity to get a good look at our new companions. It seems that last night in the dark I missed seeing everyone. There were at least half a dozen new bodies lying around the camp site this morning. The blankets that each of them was rolled up in made it near impossible to tell anything about them. But if size was any indication then we had a very diverse group. Off to the left of the fire away from most of the group was a large shape under an even larger blanket. That one had to be at least seven feet tall and broad as a barrel of wine; I have always preferred a barrel of wine as a descriptive instead of a keg of beer, it sounds so much more refined. Of the other five at least two of them appeared to be of the diminutive race of monitors of which Fanya Alpha IV and Tomos Alpha LXV belonged. The last three looked fairly average in size and shape. Well average to me, maybe not to Farren Olivera who was as tall and skinny as they come.
As each of the companions woke Farren Olivera was there to greet them good morning and give each of them a bit of food for breaking their fast. What the hell, I was starting to talk like Farren now, worse yet I was not even talking I was thinking in his weird speech pattern. When the big guy sat up I realized that he was huge! I think if anything I had under estimated his size. When he stood up I realized that he was a true giant, he was at least eight feet tall and as broad as a car. Not one of those little wimpy foreign models either but a true American muscle car with plenty of width. I know he had to tip the scales at better than five or six hundred pounds at least, and I don't think there is an ounce of fat on him. If I remember correctly Farren said his name was Khasa Maurie and I am sure it translated into giant one who walks anywhere he wants. So it is only natural for me to call him Biggin, well maybe not to his face, I would hate to make him mad. Now the two diminutive ones were Ananga Mellie and Antara Hilb I vaguely remember Farren telling me that during one of our rest periods on the trip here. Well maybe not a perfect translation but I think it was pretty close. But all of this really isn't the point. These were my companions for this leg of my journey, wherever the hell I was going. Who would have thought two days ago that I would be waking up in the middle of the forest on my way to Oz looking for the wizard? Well I might as well be, but it was the only way it seemed that I could get home and let's face it I'm sure that whatever I needed to do and wherever I needed to go on this plane, planet, world, realm or whatever the hell you called it, I would need all the help I could get.
We prepared to leave as everyone milled around gathering their things and packing up. Westal sharpened and oiled his sword; he was like a boy scout his motto was 'always be prepared.' He was purported to be one of the best swordsman in the realm, well his realm but I had no idea which one that was, nor did it matter since they were all pretty much the same to me. Sitting on the other side of the clearing across the fire from Westal was an average looking guy I heard someone call Orman. He had a long bow laid out beside him and he was waxing the string. Suddenly Orman raised his hand high up in the air, everyone froze. Orman evidently had the best hearing of all of us because he had heard something when no one else had. With a yell of fury a rag tag group of cutthroats burst from the brush on the north side of the camp. All of them were filthy and covered in dirt and twigs, but the weapons they brandished appeared to be well cared for and very deadly. There were too many to count quickly and they were upon us in no time at all.
They had caught us totally unprepared, but as I jumped up and prepared to defend myself I noticed that maybe everyone else was not as unprepared as I had thought. Westal was the closest to the brigands as they came into the clearing that we had made our camp in. His sword flashed out as the first two attackers came at him, a blur too fast for the eye to follow. One second he was sitting on the ground with his sword in his lap, the next he was on his feet his sword in his hand and pointing to his right. A red mist hung in the air between him and his two attackers; then both of them crumpled to the ground as blood jett
ed from their throats. Before I had time to wonder how in the world he did that things got very hectic around me. Suddenly I was the focus of far too many bad guys.
A sudden yell brought me back to the dire nature of my predicament, "That is the one we want. Take him alive, kill the rest."
What the hell? This was some serious shit. Five of the hooligans rushed me with clubs; as the first raised his club and brought it down in a blow designed to crush my skull an arrow sprouted from his left eye. Cool trick, oh wait he's going down like a rag doll, I don't think it was his trick. Then the others were upon me and I was fighting for my life. Two of them flanked me and came in swinging. I was too new to this kind of fighting, hell who am I kidding, to any kind of fighting. The closest I had been to a fight in years was watching action movies on television. The one on my left was the bigger of the two, and he swung his club high at me to bring it along side of my head. I ducked right and met the other ones truncheon coming in from the right. An explosion of light filled my world, bright stars everywhere shining down on me. A loud roar sounded from across the clearing, Biggin was getting into the fight now, which was the last thing that I heard as I sank down into a black abyss.
I was floating on the nice gray waves again. I had been here before and was beginning to like this place, no one to bother me, no nagging little people, no one trying to kill me. So peaceful and quit, I think I will stay here awhile this time. Off in the distance I hear voices. "NO" I'm not ready to go yet. What the hell, I just got here. The voices are coming closer, getting louder. Damn, I need a vacation.
"........He has to be around here somewhere." The first voice said.
"They did not carry him off, of that I am sure." I heard a voice say that sure sounded a lot like Farren Olivera.
A lightening of the gray and I realized that I had been unconscious and was coming awake. I opened my eyes slowly and blinked. There was stickiness in them, I wiped my hand across them trying to clear my vision and my hand came away wet. Damn that guy had really hit me a good one. My hand came away covered with blood, tacky, thick and dark red. Very dark red, I raised my head and looked around. The others were standing spread out looking at the ground; Westal was not more than five feet from me. I realized they were looking for me. Something wrong with my vision everything was blurry and gray. Probably from the whack on the head I had taken.
"Damn good thing I'm not dying. If you guys can't even find me lying out in the open how the hell are you going to help me find a door to get out of here?"
"Keep looking, he may have crawled into the woods for cover. He took a hit in the head before I could reach him." Westal said to the others.
"He did not even have a chance with no training. And we have failed our duty to protect him." Antara Hilb stated.
"What the hell is wrong with you assholes, I'm right here!" I said as I sat up and looked at them. Whoa, my head spun and everything spun in the opposite direction, this was definitely not good. It was worst then I thought, everything was blurry and gray but my companions were translucent. I could actually see through Westal as he walked past me, nearly stepping on my left foot. "What’s up Westal? You don't look so well." Oh shit, he kept walking like he didn't even hear me. Which means that he didn't even hear me!
I stood up groaning as my head felt like it was being ripped open by a giant otter to get at my brain like it was a clam. I looked around at my surroundings. The companions were all translucent, I could see right through them, most of the trees were a little blurry and all of the bushes were fuzzy and much bigger than they should be. All right think Clark. I turned in a circle and surveyed the clearing with our camp in it. All of our packs were lying around where they had been dropped when we were attacked; they were as translucent as my companions. The stew pot from last night’s supper was tipped over next to the camp fire. All of our belongings were transparent, the packs the pot everything. The stones that we had put in a circle to build the fire in and the flat griddle shaped stone that we had built the fire on were transparent, except for one. Hhhhmmmmm the large stone that was sticking up out of the ground that we had used as a starting point for our fire circle was crystal clear and crisp. Almost like it belonged there and nothing else around it did. An idea began to form in my head; I quickly took two steps to my left and searched the ground. There it was. The same flat stone that I had put in the center of the fire ring last night and that I had just seen there transparent now was also in the same place that I had taken it from last night. It was starting to dawn on me. Without knowing how I had slipped between realms. But that was not possible I was a knocker not a walker. I was not supposed to be able to go between. Only walkers could do that, or maybe arties, I was not real sure of that, but definitely not a knocker. So how did this happen, how did I get between? And more importantly how was I going to get back. I needed to talk to Antara Hilb or Ananga Mellie; they were my watchers so maybe they would know what had happened and how to reverse it.
"Hey, Antara Hilb look over here." It was no use. No matter how loud I yelled they could not hear me. I had to think of something else to try to get their attention. Looking around I started remembering what Tomos Alpha LXV and Fanya Alpha IV had told me about being between. All of the trees were in both of the realms that I was between but not in the exact same place they were just a little separated in space so they appeared blurry, and the bushes were the same but maybe even a little farther off but still close enough to be in the same space, so they appeared fuzzy. Everything that was transparent was only in one realm or the other in that space thus the rocks that I had moved last night were in the fire circle in one realm but still on the ground where I had found them in the other. Because these were realms in a delta sector there was not much difference in things at all. Reaching down for one of the stones on the ground my hand passed right through it. Anything that was transparent had no substance in the between, however if I remembered correctly anything that was in both realms occupying the same space in both realms would have substance in the between and I would be able to interact with it. So all I needed to do was find something that was in both realms and I would be able to use it to signal my companions. I started looking around for a rock or a stick or anything that was not blurry or transparent. Looking down on the ground it occurred to me. The ground was in both places. Running over in front of Ananga Mellie I pulled my knife and knelt down and scraped on the ground 'I'm here'', just as he looked down.
"Aaaa." Ananga Mellie yelled as he jumped into the air and back.
Instantly everyone converged on him with weapons drawn.
"What has overcome you Ananga Mellie?" rumbled Khasa Maurie, as he turning in circles looking for a threat.
"There" Ananga Mellie said pointing to the ground in front of him.
All of the companions gathered around Ananga Mellie and looked where he was pointing.
Khasa Maurie looked around "Where is he? I don't see anyone or anything. Is it Williams Henry Wilson?"
"I do not know how this happened but I think that Clark is in the between." Ananga said. "This should not have happened. He is a knocker not a walker. Unless one of the brigands was a walker or an artie and took him between, he should not be there, this is most unusual." Looking around at the group he said, "Clear this space, we must communicate with him." Saying this he proceeded to draw his dagger and kneel down.
"What are you doing? If he is here why not just talk to him?" Khasa Maurie asked with a puzzled look on his face.
Antara Hilb answered while Ananga Mellie proceeded to use his dagger to write in the dirt where they had cleared the ground.
"If Clark has indeed gone into the between he will not be able to hear us nor will we be able to hear him. No sound can travel across the boundary from the between, but the ground where we are is the same as the ground in the between so when we scratch in the dirt he can see it just as we saw what he wrote."
"The real question is how did he get there? It should be impossible for anyone other tha
n a walker or artie to go between, and Clark is neither of those, he is a knocker as has already been demonstrated. So now Ananga Mellie is trying to find out exactly how he came to be in the between."
At which point Ananga Mellie looked up from the ground. "The bad news is he has no idea how he got there. He was knocked out; the last thing he remembered is getting hit in the head then blacking out. When he came to he was in the between. He is there alone and sees no sign that anyone else has been there, so it does not appear that a walker or an artie took him there, but as to how he got there I have no clue. It is not possible yet it is so." Shaking his head he continued, ""The good news is he can hear us even though we cannot hear him. I'm not sure how this is possible but it is not my specialty so we will just accept it as so."
Clark was worried. Here he was in the between and he had no idea how he got here let alone how he was going to get out. It was a good thing that he had eaten breakfast just before the attack. He had no supplies to speak of, only what he had on him at the time of the attack which was his cloths his weapons and some jerky in his belt pack. What about water he wondered, there was water in all realms as far as he knew but he was not sure if he would be able to drink it in the between. Being in the between was not hit on very much during his training since they determined that he was a knocker. So he was racking his brain trying to remember what he could. It was strange to be able to see the companions as if they were ghost. Which reminded him, he seemed to remember something about ghost and poltergeist being mentioned by Tomos Alpha LXV and Fanya Alpha IV. He needed to find something that he could grasp in his hand that was in both realms. If he remembered right he would be able to move it in both realms from the between. All that was required was that it was in the same space in both realms. He stood up and started walking around Biggin, just as Khasa Maurie decided to move himself. The result was that they walked into each other, stepped right through each other. Clark shivered, he started in shock, there was a tingle like his whole body was going to sleep for a split second. But it was more the mental shock than anything physical. Khasa Maurie however gave a huge shudder his whole body shaking. It was obvious that it had affected him much more than it had William Henry Wilson. Clark imagined that Khasa Maurie just had a close encounter of the ghostly kind. Now it was time for him to see about finding something that he could use to interact with the realm where the companions were. He looked around the clearing but any hope of finding anything that they had not disturbed when making camp was slim. But they had not gone into the woods except to find fire wood, and not too deeply at that.
As Clark walked in to the trees at the edge of the clearing it gave him a very strange feeling. The trees and bushes were very close to being in the same space in both realms but not close enough. As he pushed into the wood it was like walking into molasses or honey. The air seemed to grow thick and push back against him as he walked. It reminded him of the fog in his dream during the induction training. He could feel the bushes to a small degree and they moved as he walked through them as if a wind blew them. It was a very strange feeling indeed. As he walked through he looked at the ground for anything that he could use. He noticed a group of stones under the boles of a giant oak tree. This tree was as much bigger than the surrounding trees as Khasa Maurie was bigger than himself. On closer inspection the tree was not an oak but some other type that he did not recognize. He reached the tree and realized that what he thought were small stones were really rather large, and they were solid so they were in both realms, just what he needed. He knelt down and started inspecting the stones. Picking them up and hefting them into the air to get a feel for them. Then he would set them to the side as he went to the next one in the pile. In this way he worked through the pile looking for the perfect one. He had selected several that were fist sized and smooth and round. Perfect for throwing or bashing heads if needed. Because it had occurred to him that he could use this between to his advantage if the brigands came back.
Picking up the stones he had chosen he carefully placed them into his pack which he hefted over his shoulder. Now having armed himself he felt better, much better. There was no doubt that now he would be able to assist his companions if the need should arise. Walking back out into the clearing he noticed his companions were ready to head out. Antara Hilb and he had worked out a plan of action, they had about twelve to fifteen hours of walking to reach the city that they were headed to and Antara Hilb believed that when they got there that Clark would be able to open a door and come back into the same realm they were in. Then maybe they could determine what had happened and how he had gotten into the between. It had been decided that they would follow the banks of the river where possible since Clark had no way to carry water. That way he could drink his fill when he could so that thirst would not be an issue. Clark determined that he would never again be without the necessities again. From now on he would always have a canteen and food with him, even though he was no walker he had ended up in the between somehow.
Khasa Maurie led the way into the forest following the river as planned as the companions headed out. Orman was second in line with his bow strung and an arrow nocked and ready for action. Next in line were Antara Hilb and Ananga Mellie, a very deadly fighting pair despite their size. Then was Farren Olivera with Westal bringing up the rear. I knew that the order of march would change throughout the course of the day. I trouped along behind as we wound around through the woods. Then it occurred to me that I did not need to bring up the rear or even stay on the trail. Were the trail followed the river in its serpentine path I found that I could go in a straight line and just walk through most of what everyone else had to walk around. It was in this way that I found myself in front of Khasa Maurie and about fifty feet up the hill from him. That is why I found the ambush instead of Khasa Maurie being caught in it. There was an outcropping of boulders that the path skirted on the downhill side and that is where I found the brigands who had attacked us earlier, waiting for us to finish the job. There were twelve of them, six on the uphill side of the outcropping and six on the downhill side. They planned to catch the companions as they rounded the outcropping and trap them between the two groups.
Antara Hilb and I had not thought of anyway to communicate in an emergency as neither of us had any experience with the between. I did not think there was time to try writing in the dirt, and even if there was how would I get their attention. I would have to see what I could do by myself before they got caught in the trap. Coming down the hill to the group of outlaws who were on the uphill side of the outcropping and thus hidden from the view of the companions the most I took off my pack and set it down beside me as I contemplated what to do. The first outlaw was looking around the end of the outcropping trying to sight the companions coming up the path. I reached into the pack and seized one of my stones. As I lifted it out of the pack the next outlaw who stood behind the first waiting turned ashen and his eyes grew wide in shock and fear. I realized that he was seeing a stone appear as if by magic rising into the air. He drew in a breath to shout; before he could I straight armed the stone right into his face. It was impromptu and did not have a lot of force but it was hard enough to knock him back stumbling and falling onto his back side. His eyes crossed and he shook his head as if to clear it. The first outlaw turned at the noise and I recognized him as the one who had knocked me out or into the between depending on how you looked at it. This time I was ready and pivoted to my right and swung the stone at his head with my full weight behind it. Blood splattered against the stone outcropping as his head caved in with the force of my blow. His body flew backward to land in the path. A chill ran through me from my right shoulder to my left hip as I saw about ten inches of sword tip follow that same path through my body. The third outlaw had seen the stone crush the skull of the lead man and knew that someone was holding it. Unfortunately for him it did him no good to know that or to attempt to kill me. Having knowledge and being able to use it were two different things. I was b
etween and beyond his touch. As I turned and swung my handy stone at this outlaw he jumped back as I heard shouts from the other end of the stone outcropping. The lower group of outlaws hearing the commotion on this side of the stone outcropping had mistakenly assumed that the companions had already passed the first group of outlaws and were being attacked by them. The second group had come out to soon, right into the path of Khasa Maurie. His battle ax was making quick work of them. I could not let this group of outlaws past me to attack the companions or it would be the same as if the ambush had sprung as intended. I drew my arm back and let fly the stone, straight at the head of the outlaw who was still backing up. Dead center of his face it struck him. As he collapsed the other three who had not seen any of the stone fight came charging out of the brush to round the outcropping. I crouched down and reached into my pack with both hands and grabbed a stone in each, waiting crouched there till the first two were nearly upon me. Then standing suddenly I threw my arms out to each side as they came even with me. Crashing the stones into the sides of their heads as they passed me, I knocked them both to the sides away from me. The third outlaw skidded to a stop in shock as his two accomplices flew off the path to either side. Standing there like a statue allowing me plenty of time to dispatch him with a stone to the forehead.
Ananga Mellie and Antara Hilb came rushing around the end of the stone outcropping with weapons draw, jumping over the body of the first outlaw who was laying in the path. Ready to finish what ever needed to be finished. They saw the bodies of the other outlaws and looked at each other in surprise. Then they noticed a bloody stone bouncing up and down in the air a few feet off the ground as I tossed the stone up in the air then caught it again.
"It seems we have a guardian angel." Ananga Mellie said to Antara Hilb smiling from ear to ear.
The sun set behind the towers of Metazorlan as the companions walked through the main gates of the city. I wanted to find a door to use to travel back as soon as I could. The rest of the journey had been uneventful with no more attacks from outlaws, but I was getting hungry and big surprise to me the silence was growing tiresome. As long as I was within ten feet or so of someone I could hear them talk, but any farther and their voices quickly became muffled. The city guard at the gates stopped the companions as they approached the gates. The captain of the guard stepped in front of them and questioned their business in Metazorlan, while all of his men could not take their eyes off of Khasa Maurie. I realized that they had never seen anyone as large as him. I doubted if there was anyone on this realm who even came close to his size. This was a realm that did not practice magic and there were no magical creatures as far as the agency was aware of. So no giants called this world home.
As the captain questioned Farren Olivera, a large crowd gathered to stare. It was obvious we had made a mistake by coming to the main gates in day light with Khasa Maurie in plain sight. So much for me keeping a low profile on the return trip to the agency control center. Farren Olivera was explaining to the captain, or rather to everyone in hearing that Khasa Maurie was his brother and their whole family was over sized and that each generation got larger than the last. Unfortunately it was not working. Hell Khasa Maurie was almost eight feet tall and weighed over five hundred pounds; no one believed that he was even human. I could see that things were not going good and that we were going to have a lot of trouble with this. The guard captain was not only going to stop us from entering the city, it looked like he might be willing to arrest every one of us just on the principle of being different. Well everyone but me, as far as these people were concerned there was no Clark to be seen. Which meant that it was time for me to take matters into my hands before the local yokels became a problem.
I had a problem that I had not anticipated and had not encountered before this out in the forest. Too many people surrounded me. While the companions looked around at the crowd starring at them, I could see this transparent crowd and the guards plus the transparent people populating the city in the next realm as they went about their business. It was strange to see all of the people as they walked through each other with no knowledge that they were there. It was confusing for me and made it impossible for me to determine which ones were on the same realm as the companions and which were not. This would make it hard for me to interfere on my companion's behalf. Then I noticed a door, a small personal door off to the left of the main gates. There was a shed type building that must have been used as some type of storage built next to the wall. I ran to the shed and reached for the door knob. Damn, my hand passed right through it, and I realized that it was transparent. It was only in one of the realms that I was between not both, so it was useless to me in my present state. I turned and looked back at the companions to see how they were fairing. Not good at all. While my back was turned, and of course I could not hear anything which made it very hard to keep track of things, the guards had surrounded the companions and drawn their weapons. To make matters worse reinforcements had also arrived. There were at least fifty or sixty guards around the companions now and there was no way that the companions as good as they were could stand up to that many when they were surrounded with weapons drawn. This was getting desperate now. There was nothing that I could think of that I could do that would make any difference in the outcome of this confrontation. There was only one way that I could help. And that was to get them out of there somehow. I just was not sure what I could do. The huge city gate was the closest thing that I could use to travel and I had not opened anything that big yet and was unsure of exactly what to do and how to do it.
So being the super over cautious type that I am, I ran to the gate and reached out to the Gate. Not sure what I was doing just knowing that I had to do something I felt the power flow through me as I touched the stone archway. I had no visualization in my mind like Tomos and Fanya had trained me to do, I just reached out waiting for the now familiar tingle to spread from my hands up my arms, and there was a loud POP as my body turned to flame! Or at least that is the way it felt, as the power surged through me like never before. A loud roaring filled the air and a rushing wind blew through the Gate into the city, a wind so strong I could feel it pulling and sucking at me. Trying to suck me into the city, only the city was not there, looking through the gate I realized that I was looking through the Gate into another realm and that it was a dead airless world. The city was there in ruins and the air from this realm was being sucked into it. Without realizing what I was doing I had opened a Gate to a dead airless realm and if I did not close it all of the air from this realm would be sucked out through the Gate and this would be a dead realm to. I remember Tomos telling me that this had happened to other realms when knockers had been unfortunate enough to open Gates to airless realms and that the knockers had died before they were able to close the Gate. I was gripping the stone of the gate with all of my strength as the wind sucked at me; unfortunately I was halfway through the gate so there was no way to close it without killing myself in the process. At least I assumed that if I closed a Gate while I was halfway through it I would be cut in half, and that is not something I really wanted to find out first hand. As I held tight and tried to pull myself back out of the gateway screaming guardsmen and citizens flew past me being sucked into the dead realm. This was not my day; I was straining to pull myself back and slowly losing my battle and slipping into the dead realm. It was becoming harder to breath as the wind rushed past me. It was like I was in the middle of a hurricane and the breath was being sucked from my lungs. Just as I knew that I was going to die and take this realm with me a giant hand gripped my arm. I looked up into the face of Khasa Maurie as he landed against the wall next to me and started pulling on my arm. Pulling me back into the realm where there was air to breath, where there was hope of survival. He pulled me through and I grabbed the stone of the gate and cut off the power to the Gate.
My ears popped as the pressure equalized again, and I could hear the screaming coming from all around me. People lay scattered all around
where they had grabbed a hold of anything they could in an attempt to keep from being sucked through the Gate. The companions were all spread out on the ground with daggers stabbed into the ground to hold them in place, all except Khasa Maurie who had saved me. The companions reacted quicker than the rest because they had an idea of what had happened, the poor guardsmen and citizens of Metazorlan had no clue what was happening let alone know how to save themselves. Westal was the first to get up, and helping the rest of the companions up they came running toward me and Khasa Maurie. As a group we ran into the city and turned the first corner we came to and kept running. We ran twisting and turning through the streets shoving people out of our way in our hurry to put as much distance as possible between us and the gate. Khasa Maurie led the way and easily cleared a path for the rest of us. After what seemed like an hour of running we turned into an ally and after the first turn when we were out of sight of anyone who was watching we stopped. Gasping for breath we waited to see if we were pursued. After a full five minutes with no one coming around the corner into the ally we decided we were safe from discovery for now.
"Glad to have you back Clark, but I wish you could have been a little more discreet about it." Orman said while gasping for breath, "and thank you for saving us back there."
"Hey I am doing the best I can with what I know. This is all new to me; I have no idea what I did let alone how I did it." I said as I glanced back the way we came looking for pursuit. "Let's find a door that I can use and see about getting us out of here before we get in any more trouble."
"We need to get you back to the agency center to try to determine what happened to you. There is definitely something different about you. Not only should you not have been able to go in the between, you should not have been able to do what you did back there at the city gate." Ananga Mellie exclaimed. "What exactly did you do back there?"
"I knew that I had to do something or you all were going to be killed from the looks of things, so I opened a Gate, I never gave any thought to where I wanted it to go to, only that I needed to open a gate and get us out of there."
"That is just it," said Antara Hilb, "you should have had to open a door to this realm and pass through it. You were not in this realm at the time so you should have not been able to open a Gate from here to another realm. Any other knocker would have had to first open a door and come into this realm and then open the Gate to somewhere else. And to open a door first and then open the Gate would take a lot of power; most knockers would have to rest before opening the Gate. Even then they would have been exhausted for some time afterward. You not only opened a Gate from this realm to another while being in the between you somehow came into this realm without a door apparently. Then had the energy to run through the city streets for several miles and appear to be no more tired than the rest of us. This is unheard of, even without the impossibility of the Gate opening I know of no other knocker who could have done this and not taken hours to recover. Clark you have abilities and power which is unheard of by any of us before."
"Well it's no stranger then everything else that has been happening to me." Clark said. "Now maybe we should get out of here while we still can." He said as sounds of the pursuit came down the alley. "It seems that we have not lost them after all."
Khasa Maurie stood and unlimbered his battle ax. "I shall hold them off whilst you prepare a Gateway for us. In this ally their numbers mean nothing, I can easily best them here."
Looking around Clark found a suitable doorway and went to it. ""Use caution this time Clark, we do not want to revisit the dead realm."" Farren Olivera said with a raised eye brow.
"Everybody's a critic these days!" Clearing his mind of everything Clark pictured the realm he had been told was a way point on the way back to the Agency Control Center. A realm that had substations scattered across the world. He wasn't sure how it worked, it was part of his induction training, but he knew the realm he was opening a Gateway into was not the substation realm but one that would lead them to it. It was like he had a map in his mind that he could read when the need arose. He felt the power rise in him as he reached for the door frame. A tingle flowed up his arm as he touched it.
There was a loud bellow and the sound of men yelling with the clash of metal on metal coming from down the alley where they had come. Khasa Maurie was upholding his end of the operation from the sounds of it. As he grabbed the door he felt a burst of heat as the power flowed down his arm to his hand and he opened the old warped wooden door, and gazed into an empty warehouse with blazing lights on the other side. The bright light shining out into the dim ally from the warehouse was a welcome sight indeed. Clark motioned to Antara Hilb and Ananga Mellie to go through the door. As they ran through the open door they were followed by Farren Olivera, with Westal standing on the other side of the door way from Clark, he would not go through till Clark was ready to go through himself as it was Westal's responsibility to see that no harm came to Clark. Orman stood at the bend in the ally and whistled and Khasa Maurie appeared running back down the alley. As he ran past Orman the archer let loose with one arrow after another at the guardsmen. Khasa Maurie ducked low and dived through the doorway since there was no way he could remain on his feet and go through the door way and there was no time for him to get down on his hands and knees. Orman let fly two more arrows then came running and without slowing went through the doorway. Westal grabbed Clark and together they went through the door, once on the other side of the door Clark slammed the door shut and released the power that held the Gate open.