Jack Gregson & the Forgotten Portal (12 page)

“This one makes the person you point it at
fall in love with you,” said Anthrow after putting it to his
forehead and closing his eyes. “It’s not very powerful though,
would probably only work on the dumbest of maidens or thickest of
gentlemen. It won’t be able to spare your life by making Theorden
fall in love with you.”

“Ewww, gross,” said Rosie.

Anthrow said his magic wasn’t very powerful,
but useful for someone in the guide profession. He was able to
touch most magic objects and know what their power was. It was also
how he knew what world each portal led to, as each of them had a
different magic signature emanating from them.

“If that’s all you can do, then how did you
take your knife back from me when we first met?” David had
asked.

“With this,” Anthrow said smiling as he
pulled a necklace out from under his shirt. “It allows me to move
at incredible speeds. It was a gift from somebody very special, a
long time ago. Now, try this one Jack,” he said as he passed him a
black ring that was looped on a silver chain.

Jack slipped the necklace over his head and
held the ring in his hand. Anthrow had told them that while every
ring had a different use, the way to use them all was exactly the
same. The trick was to concentrate on the ring and imagine it
releasing it’s magic. The object would then sense that you wanted
it to dispel one of its charges.

Jack concentrated on the ring, not knowing
what its power was, but wishing it to activate. Nothing happened
for a nearly a minute as he focused more and more.

Just as he was about to give up and ask for
another ring to try, his arm started to turn black and pull apart
in small wisps of mist.

“What’s happening to him?” Rosie said,
alarmed.

Jack held up both of his arms as he watched
them dissolve into a dark cloud. His legs started to feel light and
as he looked down he saw that the rest of his body was gone, black
smoke stretching around him.

Soon he was floating, his whole body now
black mist, something he could feel and move like it was fingers or
toes.

“It’s a camouflage, designed to hide you in
the Horde. But be warned, the black mist is like a living thing,
and it would soon notice you were a separate being.”

“How long does it last?” Jack asked, his
voice sounded like a deep hiss. He saw Rosie flinch in disgust.

“It can last three minutes or thirty. It
depends what you do. While in mist form you can climb up walls,
drift down mountains or manipulate the mist into shapes like you’ll
often see happen. The more you do, the faster the magic will run
out. If you want to end it now and return to your human form,
concentrate on the ring and will the magic to end.”

Jack was confused at first as he no longer
had a neck, and he therefore didn’t know where the ring could be on
his mist body. But then he felt it, floating through the darkness,
expelling magic to keep him camouflaged.

He concentrated on it, willing it to stop.
He could soon feel his body returning to solid form, his body
crashing to the ground as he formed upside down in the air.

“Well done!” said Anthrow. “You’ll need to
work on your transformation back if you don’t want to break your
neck, but good effort. The more you activate rings the easier it
gets.”

“That was disturbing. I didn’t know if you’d
turn back,” said Rosie.

“It was a weird sensation,” Jack agreed.

“Now Jack. When we past Coran earlier today,
you were able to sense the evil emanating from its portal. That
means you must have inherited some abilities from the Gregson
bloodline. Whether you’re as powerful as your grandmother or you
just have a small ability remains to be seen. Who knows, you could
be more powerful that Theorden himself! Of course he’s been
practising magic for many years, so even if you are, I wouldn’t be
picking fights with him anytime soon.”

“What about me? I could have magic ability,”
David said, sounding a bit jealous.

“And me,” said Rosie.

“You all have Gregson blood running through
your veins, so it’s possible.”

“How does someone find out how powerful in
magic they are?” asked Jack.

“Well it depends on what species you are. If
you were a Chaos Pixie, you’d be performing magic as a baby. As
long as they have their magic dust, they can do near anything!”

“That thing was mental. Do you think we
could get more?” asked David.

“More he says! Just be happy it didn’t turn
you into a stack of cakes. Now humans, like many other people would
usually go through a number of tests to determine what they’re
capable of. We don’t have the time to do that now, so you’ll have
to find out on the go.”

“How do we do that?”

“Study the rings I’ve given you. Within each
is magic, moulded and created to do different things. Rosie the one
you hold now creates a fireball, David yours is ice. Study it,
reach out to it with your mind and see if you can understand how it
works. Magic is like a language, but one you cannot force yourself
to learn.”

“So if I can understand its language I
can…create it?” asked Jack.

“Exactly! If you can feel the magic in this
ring,” he said holding up one from the box, “and understand how it
flows and modifies the world around it to create its magic, with
practice you would be able to do it yourself, without the need of
magic objects.”

“But you understand it. Why can’t you create
it?” Rosie said confused.

“Imagine you gave me a book that’s written
in English. I could look at the picture on the cover and get a good
idea of what the book was about. I could see who the hero of the
story was, maybe even the villain. Perhaps it shows me a location,
some more little bits about what the story is about. But then I
open the book, and the words on the page mean nothing to me. I just
know what the cover told me, and hope I haven’t been deceived. Most
of the time I get it right.”

“So you’re literally judging a book by its
cover,” David said as he rolled his eyes. “The saying is ‘Don’t
judge a book by its cover’. You’re doing the exact opposite!”

“That is an Earth saying and one I haven’t
heard before. I don’t care for it. Now! Let’s give you all some
rings for the journey. Don’t worry I’ll let you know what each of
them does. I’ll also need to draw you a map so you can find the
portal on Coran and of course the portal to the Lake…”

“You’re not coming with us,” Rosie said
shocked.

Jack was also shocked. How could he not
come? He had helped them get this far, guided them safely through
Bowlandose and now he was sending them off on an impossible mission
alone!

How could he leave them knowing what danger
they were in? Did he even really care if they succeeded or would he
just be happy to see the back of them?

Anthrow stared at the rings sitting in a box
on his lap. Eventually he looked up and broke the silence by saying
“I cannot. We had an agreement. I would help you discover the
origin of the red stone. I’ve done that and more. It’s time for me
to return home, my debt to the Gregson’s has been repaid.”

“But we need you. How are we supposed to do
this without you?”

“How are you supposed to do it with me! It’s
Theorden! This isn’t a game, and I am just a guide. I will happily
take you anywhere in the opposite direction of where you are asking
me to go. You can even come back to my home world with me where you
will be safe. But I can’t follow you to Coran and risk my life for
people I only met yesterday! There is no price you could pay me to
do that.”

“I thought you cared about us, about our
family. I thought you were a good person,” David said angrily.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, David.”
Anthrow shot back at him. “I owed your family a debt and that’s the
only reason I’ve helped you.” He then pleaded, “Walk away. This
fight is too big for three as young as you.”

“I can’t do that,” said Jack, grabbing his
pouch from the ground and putting it on his shoulder. “If we have
to do this without you, we will.”

He looked at his cousins and flicked his
head, indicating they should leave. “Thankyou for your service
Anthrow. Your debt to the Gregson household is repaid.” Jack said
the words firmly and then walked away, hoping they didn’t hear his
voice trembling.

For the first time in his life he felt truly
betrayed.

Chapter
Thirteen

Coran

Jack walked in silence beside his cousins as
they approached the portal that would take them to Coran.

After he had walked away the others, Anthrow
had again suggested to Rosie that they come with him. When she
refused, he had hastily drawn them maps that he said would guide
them to Diamond Lake.

“I can’t even work out which way I’m meant
to hold this damn thing,” David said as he tried looking at the map
from different angles. “How the hell are we supposed to do this on
our own?”

Jack didn’t have an answer to the question,
so he didn’t bother replying. He was still angry with Anthrow, but
was starting to wonder if he’d been too hasty leaving him. Could
they have convinced him somehow to come with them?

He felt the portal to Coran before he saw
it, the low hum that had previously overrun his senses creeping
into his mind.

Rather than concentrate on it like last
time, he tried to ignore it, like you would the pain of a burnt
finger or a stubbed toe. The sound didn’t go away, but he was able
to focus on what they needed to do.

“This way,” he said as he turned into the
pathway towards the portal.

As they entered, Jack stopped in shock. The
clearing was the same size and shape as all the others they had
been to, but it looked poisoned. The grass was dead and the trees
leading to the caverns looked diseased and in distress.

“What could have done this?” asked Rosie

“If you could hear and see what I can, you’d
know. It’s like evil is seeping through the portal.”

“And we’re about to walk through it,” said
David.

“Anthrow said it will take us to a part of
Coran that is far from Theordan’s home. Once we get there, the area
should be clear and we can make our way through some marshes to the
second portal. It should only take us an hour…that’s what he said
when he was drawing the map anyway,” said Rosie.

“A map I can’t read.”

“We’ll work it out,” said Jack
determined.

He looked at the door, and took a deep
breath. He then reached out and grabbed the knob, pulling it open
to reveal the passageway leading into darkness.

Here goes, he thought as he took the lead
and stepped through.

“Gregson!” a large deep voice roared as Jack
arrived at the other side of the portal.

He stared in horror as an army of beasts,
monsters and men standing less than thirty metres in front of him
turned to look in his direction. There were at least a hundred of
them, all holding weapons, all ready for a fight.

The Horde carpeted the ground around them,
dark animal shapes coming to the surface to look in his direction.
The sky above was dark grey, full of angry clouds swirling as
lightning burst out in all directions. The landscape beyond was
desolate as if all life had been drained from the earth, replaced
with mud, sludge and water surrounding the dead remains of trees
that were once part of a forest.

David and Rosie appeared beside Jack as the
large group of Theorden’s followers started their way towards them,
battle cries filling the air.

“We need to go back through the portal now!”
yelled David.

“They’d just follow us,” replied Jack as he
continued to watch the army approach.

“Well we’ve got a mountain of rock behind us
and all of them in front! At least through the portal we’d have a
chance!”

Jack knew David was right, but if they left
now, then what? They had to get to Diamond Lake, and unless they
went this way it would take months. Months Theorden would use to
start invading Earth.

“They’re coming! Jack, David, we have to do
something now!”

Jack suddenly had a thought. “Quick, grab on
to me!”

David and Rosie didn’t question him but
immediately grabbed an arm each.

He concentrated on the black ring hanging
from his neck, willing it to activate.

A large green beast of a man was the first
to reach them, wearing a grin as he casually stopped and stood
metres away, a massive spiked club gripped in his right hand.

“Gregson’s must die,” he said in a deep,
drawn out drawl.

“Jack,” Rosie said.

“Just hold on.”

The magic in the ring came to life as all
three of them turned to mist. It worked! Soon all three of them
were as one, black mist resting low on the ground.

The green beasts grin turned to a frown as
he saw his enemy disappear before his eyes.

Quickly Jack thought as he willed his mist
body towards the Horde that was closing in on them. He felt
resistance from within the cloud, David or Rosie not agreeing with
what he was doing.

“We must,” he hissed. The resistance stopped
and he led them to the large black cloud ahead.

Several shouts of “stop them” and “where did
they go,” came from the army as confusion spread with their
disappearance.

A club came swooping through their mist
bodies to smack on the ground beneath them. Jack could feel his
grip on David and Rosie slipping as the mist cloud they had become
was spread apart from the clubs force.

“Hold on!” Jack said as he pushed forward to
meet the Horde.

They hit it and became one. Noise filled the
air, as millions of voices spanning miles and miles flooded through
the Horde and into Jacks thoughts. Animal howls, birds calling and
languages spoken. It was as if whatever the Horde had consumed on
this world had become one with it, trapped.