The House of Yeel (28 page)

“You said the portal would
be at a shrine? It’s not here anywhere, is it?” Master Kasil
asked.

“No. And we should look for
it in a moment. It’s just that…there is still something
of…interest, here somewhere…” Yeel moved around the vats, looking
for a row of jars. At the same time, he watched for himself from
the preserved eyeball. He saw a blurry bit of movement near the jar
as he slid through the room.

“Something…of
mine.”

Yeel approached a shelf of
jars. The shadows moved toward the eye.

“There you are,” Yeel said
picking up the jar.

“What are you doing?” asked
Jymoor.

“You don’t want to know.
Give me but a moment,” Yeel asked.

This will be unpleasant,
but must be done I think. This eye has been useful, yet disturbing.
The chemicals have somehow tainted its view.

Yeel unstopped the jar and
drew the eye out. Nausea washed over him. Without thinking it over,
he put the eye onto the shelf, then smashed it with the
jar.

Arrrrrrrghhh.

Jymoor watched him
patiently. A tremor flitted through Yeel.

“I’m ready now. Proceed,”
he said. The brevity of his statement was almost as painful as
smashing his old eyeball. Jymoor led the Companions to a tunnel at
the far side of the room.

The passageway beyond
headed steadily downward. It was dark. The sounds of trickling
water mixed with their footfalls. Up ahead, the corridor widened a
bit. A glowing sphere lit the wider tunnel.

“I have a vague memory,”
Yeel thought to them. “This is it. We’re almost to the
shrine.”

“Everyone ready your
weapons. I’ll go first,” Jymoor said.

“Ideally, we would have had
the vlure deployed more quickly.”

“There’s no way you could
have known. Yeel, give me the last one.”

“What?”

“Give it to me.”

“The moon armor may awaken it.”

“Do you see a moon in here? Of course
not.”

“Still, the armor might be powerful enough to
make it hatch.”

“Life comes with no
guarantees. I’ll take the risk. We need to make sure it’s ready
instantly if we need it. I’ll be holding it, and I’ll be in front.
Whatever comes, it’s going to come right at me. I’m very
conspicuous in this armor. The next Meridalae we see is going to
hit me with whatever they’ve got.”

“Please don’t die. I don’t
like to use the Balancer.”

“Your concern is so
touching.”

“I mean, I don’t like it
when you die.”

“That’s a tad better. I
won’t die. Just be ready.”

Yeel handed her the
vlure.

She held it for a moment.
“I feel something odd in it,” she said.

Yeel pulled an old eye off
his ridge and held it close to the vlure. The sphere wobbled a bit.
An oily sheen moved on its surface.

“It’s growing!” Yeel
observed. “We must hurry! I’m moving to the back. I realize this
may seem like a cowardly act and may induce feelings of betrayal in
all of you, but I assure you I have a plan to help us, which can
only be implemented if I’m the last to enter. The most important
part, is, very simply, don’t look back. Rest assured I am not
saying that to cover my own shameful retreat, but rather because I
intend to blind our opponents, which I can only do if none, or at
least very few, of you, are looking back…”

“Sounds good. Don’t worry,
we trust you. I know you won’t abandon us.”

Jymoor took the lead again,
this time at a much faster pace. Her sword was drawn in her right
hand, the vlure rested in her left. Yeel fished a thick black wand
out of his pack and held it ready in two tentacles.

Such a huge risk. The
vlure is maturing with every step she takes.

The corridor widened again
as they advanced. The ceiling became vaulted above them. A huge
chamber opened up only a few paces beyond.

Standing above the entrance
on a stone stair, a tall man in a maroon robe raised his
arms.

“Above you!” Yeel warned
Jymoor. “Slightly to the right…”

Thin flames appeared,
roiling in the air between the man and the Companions. Yeel knew
the power would explode toward them at any moment. But Jymoor held
the vlure.

Jymoor’s bravery has
likely saved us all. I wouldn’t want to trade places with
that
—

Jymoor raised her hand in
front, letting the rising flames caress the vlure she held.
A
tiny white creature erupted from the orb
and flew straight for the mage’s face. It had several small limbs
like a bone-white hand that clenched themselves around his
head.

The mage screamed so
horribly it rattled Yeel’s brain. It was like the metabolic rush of
his stimulant sac when surprised by an oplex worm or when a xorgior
wraith darted out of a shadow toward his eye ridge.

Yeel saw blood then looked away. The mage hit
the ground with a dull thud.

“Charge!” Yeel commanded.
The Companions ran into the shrine. Yeel didn’t take stock of the
enemies; as soon as he entered, he snapped the wand in half and
pointed both ends away from himself.

White-hot light flashed out
over the entire shrine. The lines of the huge chamber melted and
joined until there was nothing but a uniform bright glow from all
directions. The Companions slowed, momentarily blinded, but they
recovered quickly.

The shrine was huge.
Massive greenish stones formed the walls. Four thick pillars of
stone rose to support the ceiling at five times Yeel’s height. A
stone stadium covered most of one wall facing a set of altars and
the world portal below. The portal looked very much like Yeel’s
roveportal entrance. It flickered with a dim light.

Several other humans or
humanoids staggered about, covering their eyes. It was clear most
of them were helpless. The Companions leaped to the attack while
they held the advantage.

Yeel caught sight of one
decidedly nonneutralized enemy.
A large
spider-like being, with about a dozen long spindly legs, each as
long as a human, stood and walked up to the edge of a balcony
overlooking the portal. It wielded a device that looked like a
crossbow with three long tubes running its length perpendicular to
the arm.

That can’t be
good.

The creature leveled the
device. A missile shot forward with a loud snap, striking a
Companion named Sayas. He fell to the ground.

Another innocent gone. I
have to stop this one quickly. Perhaps a bluff will work just as
well as a real weapon.

“Such a quaint device. Wait
until you see what mine does!” Yeel thought to the
creature.

He brought out his
malinthander and planted the idea of a weapon similar to the one
the creature held, only larger. Jymoor and the other Companions
fought the other warriors in the shrine, but Yeel stayed focused on
the spiderlike creature.
It dropped down
from its ledge. Another Companion, a woman wearing thick leather
and holding a staff, faced off against it. The weapon snapped again
and she dropped, dead.

Clerr of the Liscenium
Temple.

Having dropped the
Companion blocking it, the creature skittered away through the
portal.

I wish that one hadn’t
gotten away. I’d better remember that I’m going to be seeing him
again, and he won’t be happy.

“The shrine is ours!”
Jymoor yelled. Blood dripped from her sword. She stepped down from
a set of stone steps built into the far wall.

“Then we have to obliterate
the portal. More enemies could erupt from it at any
moment.”

“How do we destroy
it?”

“That requires a diamond,”
Yeel said.

“You could have mentioned
that earlier. Perhaps King Aruscetar would have given us a
diamond.”

Yeel pulled a brilliant bit of stone out of
his pack.

“You have one?”

“Yes, I brought a couple. Of course I hoped
we would get this far.”

“You have another? Let me see.”

Yeel handed Master Kasil his other
diamond.

“This should just about do for my services,”
she said.

“I’ve already paid you to
train Jymoor. Oh, you mean for your part in the fight against the
Meridalae. I had rather hoped you would do that for
free.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.
Nothing’s free. I’ll split the money among the surviving
Companions.”

“That would be a bad idea. You would
incentivize the Companions to allow each other to die in order to
get a bigger share of the money.”

“I would never even think of the money over
the lives of my fellows!” bellowed a man.

That would be Alward. Glad to see his mental
insulator collar is still intact after the battle.

“Nor would I,” announced a female fighter
standing next to him. Yeel struggled for her name.

“Can we get on with it?” demanded Jymoor.

Yeel answered by gluing the diamond to the
end of a staff. He extended the gem out with the staff until it
just eclipsed the blurry light of its surface. He held it there for
long moments while everyone watched.

“Nothing is happening,” Master Kasil
said.

“Maybe someone stole the diamond and put a
fake in its place,” Alward suggested.

“It takes a moment—”

Snap!

The glimmering portal went black. Yeel
retrieved the gem. It shined with an inner light.

“Your world is safer now,” Yeel said. “This
is a solid victory. This moment should be remembered by all. Choose
carefully what details you—”

“Our world is no longer
connected to the Meridalae!” Jymoor yelled. The Companions
cheered.

“Well, yes,” Yeel muttered.
“Except for the portals at Eight Rod and Steelskull…”

“What did you say? I can’t
hear you over the sounds of celebration!”

“Nothing…enjoy your
victory!”