Portals (14 page)

Grant stared defiantly at Lhukharocet. “You are as weak and foolish as your brother.”

Lhukharocet looked at her with what I thought was sadness before he continued, “Then hear my words: I, Lhukharocet, first of my name, King and Supreme Commander of Phaete, sentence you, Satorah, to death for the attack on Dhavenbahtek, who stands third in line to the throne of Phaete. The sentence shall be carried out this night.”

Grant began to struggle. Perhaps realizing the futility in her current situation, she soon gave up and hung her head meekly. I watched her closely. I wasn’t buying her act.

Apparently Dhavenbahtek wasn’t buying it, either. He restored the immobility spell on her.

A daemon landed on the floor below the platform. A female, with dark brown hair and wings and skin the color of old leather. She knelt in front of the throne with her head bowed, wings kept tightly to her back.

Lhukharocet watched her quietly. “You may speak,” he said, after a few moments.

“Most glorious and magnificent Lhukharocet, I beg you to reconsider and spare the life of Satorah. I see we have elves here. She must have an illness of the mind. This is not the child I raised. I beg you to seek a cure for her madness and find some punishment other than death.”

“I hear your words, Marenkah, but what punishment can we devise for threatening and then attacking my brother? Perhaps, her madness could be cured, but the crime remains. Her behavior has been erratic for centuries. And we have excused it for the sake of family. We thought her time away from our world would ease her suffering, but you have heard her own words. We grieve with you for the loss of one of our own, but the sentence stands.”

The woman I assumed was Satorah’s mother bowed her head to her King. “I thank you for hearing my words.”

She quietly backed away and when she was a respectful distance, she spread her wings and flew toward the other end of the chamber.

I felt sorry for her, but was impressed with her dignity. It made me wonder how Satorah had become so warped.

“Satorah’s two servants will die with her. She will be accompanied in death as befits one of her station.”

Wow, I thought, sneaking a glance at Reo and wondering if he picked up on that. He gave a tiny nod of his head. I wondered if he thought it was as harsh as I did.

“Dhavenbahtek, my brother, you also ask for safe passage for our enemies.”

“Never would I do that, your magnificence. I asked for safe passage for our former enemies.”

“Explain.”

“Our people have suffered greatly in the past. It has taken us centuries to restore our decimated numbers. The one who ordered the war is no more. We all know that Light Ones follow their leader almost blindly. I do not forget what they did. I do not forgive what they did. But I grow weary of war and would not risk the lives of our brothers and sisters in another open war.

“I would ask you to consider a truce between our peoples. I do not believe there will come a time when we will be friends, but perhaps we can be enemies no longer.”

Lhukharocet looked at his brother for a long time. “I hear your words, Dhavenbahtek. I will consider them. I make no promise regarding any truce. However, I give you permission to take these Light Ones to the portal to their world. I would ask that you remain a short time with me before you leave, so that we may discuss family matters in private. Those who accompany you will be shown to rooms where they can wait for you.”

He looked at Sloane, Belus and Aurelia in turn. “I hope we shall be able to also speak privately before you leave.”

“It will be our pleasure,” replied Belus.

Lhukharocet rose from his throne, as did his companions, signaling the end of the audience. He motioned Dhavenbahtek to follow and proceeded back through the door he had entered earlier.

The others followed, but Dhavenbahtek lingered long enough to have a few words with the guards. However, there were enough daemons who surrounded each of the prisoners, that I doubted he needed to worry.

Dhavenbahtek came over to us and said we would be escorted to rooms where we could relax until he was done with his private audience. He seemed preoccupied. I wished I could be a fly on the wall for the conversation with his brother. He left us to go through the door the others had used.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was very thankful that the audience was over.

After another seemingly endless walk through hallways whose scale made me feel tiny, we were led to a series of connecting rooms. The rooms were furnished with large backless chairs and high tables. There were also lower tables, as well as pillows scattered around the room. The style was simple, yet elegant. I still got an Egyptian feel about the whole place.

The Light Ones seemed to relax somewhat since we were kept together. They spread out through two of the large rooms.

While the elves and fairies had understood Lhukharocet, the goblins and angels had not. So, I lost no time in bringing the rest up to speed on what had transpired in the audience chamber.

The Light Ones showed no noticeable reaction when informed they would be allowed to go to the portal to their world. That was typical of them. But I thought I detected an air of relief from them. Mirhen thanked me for the news. Apparently none of them spoke the daemon language.

Attendants brought us platters of food and pitchers of drinks. I was relieved to see that some of the pitchers contained plain water. It tasted different from the water on Earth, but Sloane assured me it was fine. He said the food was fine, too, although there might be certain dishes that disagreed with our systems.

He pointed out the ones we should avoid, which were the same ones that appeared to be popular with the Light Ones.

Some of the food smelled absolutely delicious, and I realized I was getting hungry when my stomach made its presence known. I helped myself to food with tantalizing smells, taking only tiny samples to start.

Thulu was right beside me and doing the same thing. We spent a pleasant time pointing out things we thought the other would like and shared bites from each other’s plates.

I’d opted for the floor, rather than feel like a small child on the enormous furniture in the room. The daemon furniture would’ve been uncomfortable for us. We made do with the pillows that were scattered here and there around the room and made ourselves comfortable on the floor.

Stuart, Reo and Sloane sat on similar pillows nearby, as did Romeo and Juliet.

Since the Light Ones were the same height as the Dark Ones, they were able to use the furniture with ease.

I watched as Barterian spoke to one of the attendants at length. Obviously they had found a common language. The two stood near a window and their silhouettes made them appear as if they were from the same race. I began to look around and compare the two races.

They really were very much alike. Opposite sides of the same coin, it seemed. I wondered if they had a common ancestor at one time.

Their eyes were different, with the faceted dark on dark of the angels versus the very human looking eye structure of the daemons. They had different needs, but when I thought about it, those were also just opposite sides. Both needed energy, just different kinds. The only other noticeable difference was one of complete irrelevance, the dark versus light coloring of wings, hair and skin. Color differences within a species meant nothing. Although, it was a rueful thought in light of events in our own human history.

The more I watched them, the more I saw how much they were alike and really thought that they had been one people at one time.

“You would not be the first to wonder that, La Fi,” said Juliet at my elbow. I looked at the little goblin, who stood almost at eye level to my sitting position.

“When did you start reading minds, Juliet?”

“I’m just good at reading faces.” Her slight accent was barely noticeable, unlike her husband’s which was a little stronger. Both were cultural anthropologists, who studied other races.

“Of course, we all are more alike to each other than we are different, if you think about it.”

Thulu had heard her comments and nodded.

“Still,” I said, “they seem more like each other than they do the rest of us.”

“True, but they have one major difference which you should not discard.”

I watched her little green face intently.

“The Dark Ones are much like the other races. They have males and females and their children are produced just as the rest of us. However, the Light Ones have one sex only and their children are created differently. They are not a race that mingles with the rest of us.”

She lowered her voice. “Many in the anthropological community would love to know how they do it, but they have not seen fit to share that information with any outsiders. We have the impression it has some ritualistic significance. One of the reasons Romeo and I were so keen on coming was the hope we could find out what process they use.”

Once we had filled up on the delicious food, one of the attendants suggested we might like to walk in the garden. The attendant did something and the wall opposite the hallway went completely transparent and became something similar to glass. It might even have been glass, for all I knew.

On the other side was a garden of the most fantastic plants and flowers I’d ever seen. An opening appeared in the wall and Thulu, Reo, Sloane and I made our way outside, followed by several others. The scents in that garden were positively intoxicating.

A short way in, I had to stop and take several slow, deep breaths. The olfactory sensory overload was threatening to make me dizzy and lightheaded. Sloane stopped next to me and held out his hand. I put my own hand in his and he did something that cleared my head right away. Reo and Thulu got the same treatment.

Being adjusted, or whatever it was that Sloane did to us, made it much easier to breathe. I could still smell the scents, but they weren’t impacting my brain like they had at first. I was able to enjoy the gorgeous colors and fantastical plants, bushes and trees of that garden.

One section held bushes that appeared to be made of crystal. The tinkling of their leaves in the breeze added a sweet music, almost like a hundred tiny wind chimes.

There were trees that seemed almost sentient. Their branches moved back and forth as they followed our progress and the sound of their leaves was like a multitude of whispers on the wind.

The colors defied anything I’d ever seen on Earth. Leaves were not restricted to the colors of Earth. There were also blues, reds, yellows and purples. And the flowers seemed to cover the entire palette. One type of tree, that reminded me of a willow, had the most beautiful lavender colored branches, draped elegantly to the ground.

The sky overhead was a blue unlike any I’d seen in a sky before. It was a deeper, richer, more electric blue than Earth’s. Obviously, their sun was not ours, although it seemed close in the color spectrum.

I’m not sure exactly how long we walked in that fabulous place, but it was at least an hour, possibly two. We eventually made our way back to the room we’d left and made ourselves comfortable once more on the pillows on the floor. We sat talking quietly and nibbling on leftover dishes.

At one point, I thought I heard a commotion in the distance. If that was what I’d heard, it wasn’t followed up by anything else.

An attendant came in and closed the doorway to the garden and restored the opaque walls.

The combination of the excitement and food, followed up by the walk had made me sleepy. I found myself dozing, with my head on Thulu’s shoulder.

I woke abruptly when I felt the presence of someone looming over me. Dhavenbahtek knelt next to Thulu and me. He motioned for us to follow him. Reo, Sloane, Belus and Aurelia and the fairies had already gathered at the door to the hallway. He led us out of the room and into the wide hallway.

I was surprised to see numerous daemon guards up and down the hallway by the rooms we occupied. They held weapons in their hands. Swords and spears mostly, but a few bows here and there as well.

Dhavenbahtek opened the door across from our room and we entered. He shut the door behind us. When he turned to us, I saw a frown creasing his brow.

My heart began to pick up speed and my mouth suddenly felt dry.

“Satorah has escaped,” he said. “Her mother and several friends went to visit her. In order to allow her to communicate with her mother one last time, they allowed the immobility spell to be partially lifted. Much as I had when I questioned her. The result was the same. She quickly threw off the rest of the spell and transformed into her daemon form. She overpowered and killed her guards and left with her visitors.