Teruvisa
Two Kingdoms
By Gentry Winn
Copyright 2011-2012 Gentry Winn
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Contents
Prologue: Vanished
Chapter 1: Nightmares and Visions
Chapter 2: Under the Lake
Chapter 3: The Coincidental Deaths
Chapter 4: The Council Room
Chapter 5: The Tour
Chapter 6: The Sublevel
Chapter 7: Ferran’s Library
Chapter 8: The Rebellion Begins
Chapter 9: The Spies
Chapter 10: The Division
Chapter 11: Dreggan Wins
Chapter 12: Rise of the Enemy
Chapter 13: Neural Connections
Chapter 14: Diestro
Chapter 15: Amatay
Chapter 16: Bleeding Mountain
Chapter 17: Jared, the Hero
Chapter 18: The Uninvited Guest
Chapter 19: Ketauro
Chapter 20: The Decoder
Chapter 21: The Passwords
Chapter 22: Danielle’s Sacrifice
Chapter 23: Crossing Over
Chapter 24: Light Versus Darkness
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Prologue
Vanished
The instant Hilcar exited the portal of swirling light, he crouched down by a nearby tree and looked around to see if his arrival had been noticed. The portal had vanished, and all he could see around him was jungle, blanketed by the usual misty darkness that covered Obalin.
The last place Hilcar wanted to be was Obalin, but he didn’t have a choice. That was where he had tracked Amron, Meya, and Jared (he started tracking them the instant they left Teruvisa).
He took out his treyo—a silver, credit card-sized handheld device. He used it to quickly verify his position and then, returning the device to an inside pocket of his brown robe, looked in the direction he needed to go.
Just up ahead. Better get going. Hilcar took a deep breath and set off into the jungle and its thick darkness toward his family.
In less than a minute, Hilcar reached the clearing he was looking for. Through the dark mist, he could see movement. His heart raced, but he crept closer—the haze still helping to hide his advance.
When he reached a large tree that was about 10 feet from the clearing, he turned around and leaned back against it. This is close enough for now. He didn’t want to risk being seen—the mist, though thick, wasn’t thick enough to conceal his presence if he got any closer.
I need to come up with a plan. He took a deep breath to calm himself and listened.
There were sounds of some shuffling and a physical struggle. Jared, Hilcar’s two-year-old grandson, began to cry.
Hilcar rotated slightly to the right and peeked out from behind the tree, concerned for Jared. They better not hurt him.
Dreggan, who was wearing a black, hooded robe with wide, gold trim, had taken the boy from Meya.
Meya reached out for her crying son but was held back by one of Dreggan’s black-robed thugs. “Let him go!”
Amron was also being restrained by a large, robed man.
“Silence her.” Dreggan gave the command as casually as someone would say the time of day.
The large, robed thug holding Meya turned her around and then swung a massive fist into the side of her face. She squeaked and let out a groan as she fell to the ground.
Amron called out to his wife as he struggled in vain to free himself, “Meya!”
Hilcar tensed up, clenching one hand into a fist and clawing at the tree with the other. After witnessing Meya getting struck and seeing her lying motionless on the ground, he wanted to storm into the clearing and fight off the captors, but he couldn’t allow his emotions to cause him to act impulsively. Dreggan was too powerful. Hilcar needed a better plan than rushing into a fight and hoping they could escape.
But what? Frustrated, Hilcar hit his forehead with his fist a couple of times. Come on... think. He wished he had more time.
Meya stirred slightly and moaned.
Hilcar relaxed a little. Good. She’s coming around. Tough girl. His daughter-in-law was about as tough as they came. He smiled to himself, remembering how she had stood up to him once. And stubborn.
Dreggan waved his hand in front of Jared’s face, and the toddler instantly stopped crying. “Where are they?” He sounded calm but determined.
Amron fired back, “I’m not telling you anything!”
Nearby, to his left, Hilcar saw a dense group of tall plants with broad leaves and thick stalks, behind and to the side of Dreggan, and got an idea. If I can make it over there, I just might be able to get Amron’s attention without the others seeing me.
Hilcar crawled behind the low-lying foliage along the edge of the clearing toward his next hiding place.
“If I have to ask again, your precious little boy won’t have a mommy.” Dreggan snapped his fingers.
The man standing by Meya picked her up by the throat. Her feet dangled above the ground. Gasping for breath, she began to kick her legs wildly and clawed at the arm of the brutish attacker choking her.
Hilcar’s blood boiled. He clenched his jaw as he restrained himself from rushing to her aid. Almost there. Just keep going.
“Okay, I’ll tell you!” Amron cried. “Just put her down!”
Dreggan’s thug dropped Meya, and she went crashing to the ground. She coughed and gasped a few times but otherwise seemed to be okay.
Hilcar made it to the plants behind Dreggan undetected. Now, how am I going to get his attention?
Hilcar decided to try beoveh. Since Dreggan apparently hadn’t noticed that his prisoners had been followed by Hilcar, the odds that he would be listening for a beoveh communication from Hilcar were pretty slim. However, it was still risky.
Hilcar did his best to concentrate on sending his message to only Amron and then reached out mentally to his son. Son... I’m here... don’t try to talk.
Hilcar saw Amron’s eyes dart around, looking for him.
Wanting to let Amron know his position without anyone else noticing, Hilcar looked around for something small to throw at him—something inconspicuous—but not too small that he wouldn’t feel it or too big that it would hurt him. A drop of liquid was the first thing that he thought of, but he didn’t see any dew on the leaves of the plants he was hiding behind or any other form of moisture nearby. So....
He stuck a finger in his mouth and pulled it out with a bit of saliva on it. Right... He flung the saliva at Amron’s face, and then, using some of his powers, he pushed the spit with a focused, almost microscopic, stream of air that propelled the drop to its target. Here.
Amron wiped the moisture from his cheek and looked right in Hilcar’s direction, but it was unlikely he could see Hilcar hidden behind the large plants in the mist at the edge of the clearing.
“Well? I’m waiting.” Dreggan, who was still cradling Jared in his arms, sounded very impatient.
It was time to act. Hilcar risked one last beoveh communication with Amron. Distract them, and I’ll grab Jared.
Amron exhaled loudly. “Why do you want them, anyway? There’s no way you can get into Teruvisa now.”
Dreggan barked out a laugh. “Ha. Teruvisa? Obalin will become more powerful and glorious than Teruvisa ever was.”
Hilcar wondered what Dreggan meant by that statement but dismissed it. He didn’t want to get distracted while waiting for Amron’s distraction.
A thug escorted Meya, who had gotten back on her feet, to Amron’s side.
Dreggan said through clenched teeth, “Now, tell me where they are.”
Amron took a deep breath. “Right here.” He reached into his robe and then threw something down.
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br /> Dreggan’s attention turned to the ground. Amron had tossed an olamshi—a golf ball-sized, silver orb—at Dreggan’s feet. Hilcar immediately threw an arm up to his eyes to protect them from the blinding flash of light he knew would come.
The olamshi made its high-pitched squeal.
Dreggan wailed, “AAAAAH!”
Hilcar sprang forward and jerked Jared from Dreggan’s arms.
“KILL THEM!” Dreggan shouted.
Amron called out, “Dad, get Jared to the rendezvous point! We’ll meet you there!”
Hilcar, holding Jared tight against his chest, launched himself up and out of the jungle. At the other end of his mile-wide arc, he let himself freefall into the Divide—a great canyon—until his robe, acting like a parachute, slowed him down.
When Hilcar landed gently on the thin strip of shoreline between the river and the canyon wall, without so much as a stumble, he took out his treyo and pointed it straight ahead. A disk of light appeared in the rock, and he stepped forward through it.
A breath later, Hilcar was standing on the steep slope of a forested mountainside. The earth beneath his feet loosened, and small rocks tumbled down the hill. He grabbed onto a nearby boulder, heaved Jared onto it, and then climbed up next to his grandson.
Hilcar sat up and exhaled loudly to calm his nerves. Made it. He looked around at the scenery and then at the silent, passive toddler, wearing the same style of blue pants and white collared shirt as he.
Hilcar remembered that Dreggan had waved his hand and made Jared stop crying. I’ll have to remove that soother Dreggan put on him as soon as we get to the rendezvous point.
“Well Jared, we better get going.” Hilcar picked Jared up, pulling his cloak around the boy and holding him tightly, pictured the exact spot in the backyard of the house in Riverside, California (more than 50 miles away) where he intended to land, and then sprang into the sky and rocketed toward the rendezvous point.
In the blink of an eye, Hilcar and Jared reached the back porch of their new home. Hilcar opened the sliding glass door and went inside.
“Hello. Anyone here?”
No answer.
That’s odd. I wonder why they’re not here yet. Hilcar reflected on the escape from Obalin, trying to remember what Amron and Meya were doing right before he flew out of the jungle with Jared. He recalled that they were both free and were leaving the clearing in the opposite direction as he and Jared.
He shrugged. They’ll probably be here any second.
Hilcar glanced down at Jared and then walked over to the family room couch. “Well Jared, let’s get you back to normal.”
After placing him on the couch, Hilcar waved his hand in front of Jared’s face and said the words to release him from the effects of Dreggan’s soother. Surprisingly, Jared didn’t start crying or even look around at his new surroundings as Hilcar had anticipated. He just fell over onto his side, closed his eyes, and went to sleep, apparently exhausted from the day’s events.
Hilcar carried him upstairs and tucked him in bed.
As he shut the door on the way out of Jared’s bedroom, worry started to set in. Amron and Meya should be here by now. He started to feel a little guilty for leaving them. I shouldn’t have abandoned them like that.
But, Amron had told him to get Jared out of Obalin and meet at the rendezvous point. There hadn’t been time to argue or discuss a different plan, and Jared’s safety had to take priority. I thought they would be right behind me. He clenched his jaw and balled up his fists.
A thought crept into his mind. What if they didn’t make it? Immediately, he reprimanded himself. No, don’t think that. He didn’t want to think about “what ifs” and went downstairs. Manasto will be able to send some people to find out where they are, he assured himself.
Hilcar contacted Manasto using beoveh. Manasto.
Manasto answered almost immediately. But, before Hilcar could explain what had happened and ask for help, Manasto’s voice filled his head, “We know. We were tracking them, too. Some men arrived at Obalin only moments after you left.” He paused (which caused Hilcar to gulp and a sense of impending doom to fall upon him). “I’m sorry, but they found no trace of Amron or Meya.”
No. Hilcar didn’t want to believe it. But if they were still alive, they would have been here by now.
His heart sank, and his legs lost their strength. He let himself collapse to his knees.
Hilcar wanted to cry out and beg Manasto to keep looking, but he found it hard to breathe, let alone speak. The world around him seemed to go dark, and it felt like time had stopped.
Manasto’s next words sounded distant. “We’re still monitoring all movements in and around Obalin as best we can, but so far, no gateways have been used to leave Obalin other than yours. So, Hilcar, for the time being, you must look after Jared.”
Hilcar muttered, still in disbelief, “Of course.”
“Good. I’ll keep you informed.”
The beoveh conversation ended, and Hilcar fell face down on the ground, groaning and sobbing uncontrollably.
When the tears stopped coming, he realized that he was curled up in a ball on his side, covered by his robe and its hood, but had no idea how long he had been like that. He was still shaking a little, so he tried taking deep breaths to steady himself.
After a few minutes, he reached deep inside—past the shock, disbelief, and grief that had overwhelmed him—and summoned the strength to get up. He took a step toward the stairs, intending to go up to his bedroom, but despair started to swell inside him again as he thought of Jared, who was asleep upstairs. How am I going to tell him?
Hilcar stumbled backward and then fell onto the couch as he let himself go limp. He sank into the cushions, and his head tipped back. He felt a great sense of loss and emptiness inside him as he stared at the ceiling.
Eventually, he succumbed to emotional exhaustion and fell asleep.