Portals (32 page)

He gave me a hug and planted a kiss on top of my head.

Aurelia sat in the chair next to us.

“How are you feeling, La Fi?” Her tone said it was more than polite banter and I closed my mouth right after opening it and really thought about how I felt.

“I’m a little off, Aurelia. Nothing bad, just things feel odd. I’m not sure I can describe it.”

She held out her hand. “May I?”

I put my own hand in hers and waited while she did whatever it was she did.

“I don’t sense much change from last week, although there is a subtle shift in your mind. Perhaps your medical technology could detect the difference, as well? It does not feel alarming to me. Are you frightened?”

I felt Thulu shift next to me and looked at him. His eyes looked into mine intently and his arm tightened around my shoulders. I turned back to Aurelia.

“I’m not sure frightened is the word for it, Aurelia. Concerned maybe? Curious. Certainly more than ready to control whatever is happening to me.” Another glance at my husband. “To us, actually. Well, if you have any tips to give us, please feel free to jump right in any time.”

“You’re in good hands, with Sloane. I have asked him to continue to work with you all. He assured me that he had already decided to do that.”

“Sloane is awesome indeed.” I said.

Suddenly, I heard Trabohren in my head.

“Our leaders have agreed to meet with your group.”

“Thank you, Trabohren. Do you need directions? Can you teleport to Jones’s estate?”
I wasn’t sure what to ask, but her amused answer came quickly.

“We will teleport to his estate.”

“I will let him know to lower the defenses for your arrival.”

She cut the connection again. Apparently she wasn’t big on hello and goodbye.

I quickly told the others and Jones briefly closed his eyes.

It was several minutes of tense waiting before three people appeared. I didn’t recognize any of them, which surprised me. I expected to see the two men I’d seen at the jail, but these were three strangers. At least until they spoke.

Aurelia and Belus, gracious as always, stepped forward. Jones made no move at all, which I found interesting.

“Welcome,” said Belus. “We are pleased that you accepted our invitation.”

“Speak what you have to say. We are not in need of pleasantries.” The voice I recognized as belonging to the one known as Khadentok. He was a rather ordinary looking human. Medium height, a bit chunky, with a round, cheerful face. His expression was far from cheerful, however, and at odds with how he looked. He looked around the room scornfully until his gaze hit Jones. The saying “if looks could kill” went through my mind.

“Very well,” said Belus. “May we at least know to whom we are speaking?”

Khadentok looked the elf prince over for a moment, before nodding shortly. “I’m Khadentok. This is Bhendaron.” He indicated one of the women standing next to him. Bhendaron was taller and thin, perhaps in her sixties, with thinning grey hair and piercing pale blue eyes. She didn’t acknowledge the introduction, simply watched us.

“Trabohren is our assistant. We are the rulers of our people,” Khadentok continued darkly.

“Thank you. I am Belus and this is my mate, Aurelia. You already know Dhavenbahtek, the others are friends. Perhaps you can tell us why you are on this world?” Belus showed that he, too, could get to the point.

“It does not concern you.” Khadentok said coldly. “All we require from you is that you turn over the traitor to us.”

“I’m afraid that will not be possible,” said Belus mildly.

I was curious about the term traitor. Why call Jones a traitor? I had a sneaky suspicion he hadn’t given us all the facts.

“Then we have nothing else to discuss.”

“Ah, but we have. You have invaded this world. We are aware of Satorah’s intentions to use humans to go to war with the Light Ones.”

Khadentok shook his head. “We are already at war. We have always been at war.”

“Not any more. The Light Ones are sequestered on their own world. Gabriel is dead. Michael has no desire to war with anyone.”

“There can be no peace until they are all dead. They are a menace.”

“But your Supreme Commander, Lhukharocet, has decreed a truce. Both sides hope to have it turn into a permanent peace,” Belus continued calmly.

“Bah, he is not our leader. He ceased being our leader when the traitor sent us away.” Khadentok’s disdain practically dripped from his voice.

“Our people no longer belong to Phaete. We are of the Rock.” Bhendaron laughed bitterly. “Such a lovely world the traitor sent us to.” she looked darts at Jones. “Did you even think to check on us? I’m guessing you never did. That world you sent us to seemed fine in the beginning. Plant and animal life in abundance. A veritable jungle of a world. We should have been able to thrive there.”

“I made every effort to find a world that would sustain you,” Jones said stiffly.

“Yes, yes, no doubt,” Khadentok said in a voice heavy with sarcasm. “However, the world had an interesting weather pattern. The weather was fine for several centuries. That wasn’t the issue in the beginning. It was the truly insane ones you sent through with us. Not everyone was violent, but you made no distinction, did you?

“With few healers, those who were sick or who had gone insane died off eventually, but not before they killed others. It took some time to find them as they scattered into the jungle. Eventually we were able to eliminate them. However, our numbers dwindled before we finally managed that. Once the murders stopped, we were able to build up our society again. It took centuries, but we were steadfast.

“Then the weather changed. It became hotter and hotter. Vegetation began to die off and the animals that thrived on it did as well.  We moved to cooler parts of the world, but always the same thing happened. Maybe in a year or ten or a hundred, but always the vegetation died. We maintained gardens and used our magic to bring the water from deep underground. Soon the only living trees and plants were those we kept alive. We lived under magical domes for centuries upon centuries. Finally, the rains returned, but gradually. We did not thrive on that barren piece of rock and our numbers dwindled.

“We have repeated the cycle several times now. We have adjusted to the hateful world you gave us.”

Jones seemed pale under his dark skin. “I had no idea.”

Bhendaron spoke. “Do you think that exonerates you?” Her voice was low and rough. This was the malevolent entity I’d felt before with Daria. Her hatred of Jones came off her in waves. “You made no effort to know. You should have been there with us. You knew about the experiments and even encouraged them, but when the spells failed, you turned on your friends. You sent us off to die and cared little about it one way or the other.”

Jones raised an eyebrow. “Of course, I did. The spell failed. It had created defective beings. Everyone agreed they had to be removed. At least my way allowed you to survive. That was more kindness than you would have received from the others. And now you blame me for that? Perhaps I was wrong and should have allowed them to exterminate the entire group of you. I regret the world was not as it seemed. I never saw it in its desert incarnation and had no way to know it would undergo such a transformation.”

“Words. Meaningless words.”

“Yet, true words nevertheless. The fact remains that you are alive because I gave you an option. One that my brother and his advisors did not want to give you. One that the majority of our people did not want to give you. Blame me for this if you care to. You are fools and possibly as insane as you were that day I sealed you on your Rock.” Jones’s tone was ice cold.

Belus spoke up. “There may be accusations, but the facts remain as they are. You have appeared on this world and cannot remain. We will not allow you to take it over. Nor will we allow you to harm the people here. You must return to your own world or appeal to Lhukharocet to return to your origin world.  A third option would be to request assistance from the Council of Worlds. We can attempt to find you another world where your people can thrive.

“Make no mistake, the people of this world can be very violent. You may not find them as easily subdued as you imagine. Humans may not have your magical strength, but they have technology that is truly frightening and they will use it on you if they feel threatened.”

Khadentok gave a short bark of a laugh. “Humans? They are only good at fighting each other. They don’t stand a chance against our superior people.”

Belus smiled coldly. “You have not done your research then. Yes, they are good at fighting each other, but when threatened, they band together. They would join forces and turn on you if they felt you were a threat. They would spare nothing to eliminate you, including destroying their own planet, rather than let you have it.”

The three daemons looked shocked. “Are they mad? And you judged us to be insane?”

Belus shrugged eloquently. “Mad? Perhaps they are. But they are a young race. They will fiercely protect their own. You will not find them to be as easy to rule as you might think. Besides, the elves would assist them in their defense. We have descendants here. We would be obligated to protect family.”

“That is not what Satorah told us.”

Jones looked at the other three blandly. “Satorah was not truthful, nor was she sane. She was driven mad with her vision of vengeance. But even though her time here had not been very long, she still should have had a better understanding of humanity. She simply judged them as she had seen them in the past and saw no need to look at what they had become. Present day humans are much more than they were. They are evolving at an incredible rate.

“As Belus says, they can be very violent. They are also clever and cunning. There is no way Satorah could have made her dream a reality. She may have succeeded on a small scale, but she never would have won over the entire world. That would require them getting along and that wouldn’t happen for any great length of time. Humans would have rebelled. And probably sooner than she would have expected.”

“But you secretly rule them!” Trabohren exclaimed.

“I?” said Jones with a smile. “I rule no one. Very few humans even know I exist and only a handful know I am a daemon. If Satorah told you this she was more insane than I imagined.”

For the first time, the trio looked troubled.

“Could this be true?”
Khadentok asked silently.

“We have only been here such a short while. Perhaps he is telling the truth. No one is speaking to say he is wrong.”
Bhendaron seemed especially thrown by the information.

Khadentok looked directly at Aela. “It is known that fairies cannot lie. Tell us the truth of this.” It wasn’t a request.

Aela drew herself up and flew a few feet closer. “I am not one to be ordered about. Nor are you in a position to demand anything. Your position on this world is very precarious.” She looked at Jones, before returning her attention back to the trio. She inclined her head regally. “In spite of your rudeness, I will answer. Dhavenbahtek speaks the truth. Belus has also spoken truly. However, the elves are not the only ones who would help the humans defend their world. The peoples of Fairie will also defend them. We will not allow the portals to open, and we will ensure that we find any new ones you may create. Your force here is very small, easily eliminated. You will not be receiving the reinforcements you need to conquer this world. That is assuming you even have enough people on your home world. I recommend that you take one of the very generous options that Belus has explained.” She smiled, her mouthful of pointy teeth looking quite deadly. “We won’t let you have Dhavenbahtek either. He amuses us and we are partial to him.”

Khadentok had a sour look on his pleasant face, brow furrowed, eyes narrowed. Clearly, he hadn’t expected Aela to confirm the others. And the idea that it was his people in danger had to be a rude awakening. I could see the war in his thoughts between what Satorah had said and the truth that Aela had spoken. He communed silently with Bhendaron once more.

“We need to discuss this further, away from these creatures.”

“Dhavenbahtek must still be made to pay.”
Bhendaron said firmly.

“We shall leave now,” Khadentok said to Belus. “Perhaps we will be in touch.”

Belus inclined his head. “I look forward to it.”